Sportel Rendez-vous Buenos Aires announced its programme for its 2024 edition, which will take place between May 14 and 15. The event will welcome a host of new dynamic executive and innovative companies for the first event in the capital of Argentina. The international market and conference summit is taking place at the Hilton Buenos Aires in collaboration with expert regional event partners from the sports and entertainment industry including J&S EG, Lions Sports & Media and ProEnter.
Topics will cover new trends in streaming and digital content, to new evolutions in regional football, the global powerhouse of MMA, how AI is shaping the future of sports, LATAM as a hub for the pioneers of sports production, opportunities for in-play sports betting, to the boom in women’s sports, event ticketing, fan engagement and more. Featuring a speaker line up of decision makers and technology disruptors, a melting pot of international cultures, spanning not only North, South and Central America will also join from Europe and beyond.
Day 1 will kick off with a special opening address and welcome from the Comité Olimpico Argentino President, Mario Moccia. The scene will then be set with the opening panel featuring Bundesliga International (Robin Austermann), NBA (Arnon de Mello) and IMG (Guillermo Santa-Cruz), in collaboration with and moderated by the leading sports industry media, SportBusiness (Callum McCarthy). The panel will dive into how “Latin America: The Real Land of Opportunity” has long been a land of promise and untapped potential for global rights holders, media groups and agencies, especially as the growth of European and US sports media rights markets begins to slow.
Next up the Professional Fighters League (James Frewin) will share insights around how the “PFL has created a global MMA Powerhouse” and reshaped the sport and their remarkable growth trajectory. Following on from a presentation by Harmonic, Inc. (Leonardo Rombola) and the first AI nod of the programme will present “AI & Targeted Ads in Sports Content: Enhancing Engagement & Revenue” to heighten fan engagement and maximize revenues.
Next up the second panel, led by SportBusiness (Callum McCarthy), will explore “Reaching a New Generation: Trends in Streaming & Digital Content”, featuring platforms and innovators including Fanatiz (Juan Buscaglione), Protocol Sports Marketing (Lowell Conn), Sportian (Gonzalo Luthard) and CSN-Content Creator Network (Barrick Prince), who will illustrate how the growth of digital-only businesses are clearly charting the sports media industry’s future.
Following the lunch break, “AI Shaping the Future of Sports: A New Era of Creativity & Innovation”, with WSC Sports (Felipe Cabrera), Supponor (Massimo Magri) and Stats Perform (Igacio Iturraspe) and moderated in collaboration with Sports Value (Amir Somoggi).
Start-up BIZID (Facundo Pardo) will present “BRS – Behavioral Recognition System” an innovative platform for psychological and sociological analysis for the sports industry. Next up, the global company dedicated to the management and commercialization of sports rights, 1190 sports, will host a panel (Hernán Donnari, Julio Gianella) plus special guest Club Sporting Cristal (Joel Raffo) around “The Collaborative Model that is Changing the Landscape of Peruvian Football”.
The final Masterclass of the day: “Pioneers of Production for Major Sporting Events”, will feature global as well as regional heavyweight, MediaPro (José D’Amato), who will be joined by Panam Sports (Michael Muller) who as host broadcast and production teams, will share feedback from some of the region’s major sporting events including the Panam & Parapan Games, Copa Sudamericana among others.
As a finale to the day’s sessions, Javier Tebas, LALIGA’s President, will deliver a keynote address and interview around the latest from LALIGA.
Kicking off day two, the spotlight will shine on the Masterclass, “New Markets for In Play Sports Betting – Opportunities & Challenges” addressing the escalation of sports betting in the US, but also how LATAM offers an attractive market, although with regulators still treading with caution in some areas.
Next up is Telemétrico (Adrien Puente), which he presents on Fox Sports Argentina and specializes in Formula 1, focusing on the analysis of the invisible aspects of the sport. This will be followed by a presentation by TNT Sports (Gustavo Minaker), who will share insights into this global leader in the delivery of premium sports content.
Switching to ticketing Imply (Tironi Paz Ortiz) and ElevenTickets (Cesar Sbrighi), will share how they are “Sharing the Future Experiences in Sports” and fan engagement. Continuing the stadium theme, with a new twist, FanXp (Ariel Servetti) will present “Modernization & Monetization of Stadiums with Betting Companies” and how stadium owners can partner with betting houses to increase revenues.
The final Masterclass of the day will feature TNT Sports joined by THE WOMEN’S CUP CEO (John P. Reynal) with more speakers to be announced. The “Boom in Women’s Sports: From Viewership to Commercial Properties” will explore how men as well as women are investing in women’s sports both regionally and globally alongside established organizations and how this is panning out in a culturally diverse and immense region such as the Americas.
To close the Conference Summit on an innovative and entertaining note, a selection of SPORTEL newcomers will join the “Pitch Perfect” quick fire session to present their solutions or creative business models in front of the international jury and participants to see who will be crowned the Perfect Pitcher.
