San Francisco Awarded SuperBowl L; Houston Lands LI

The Super Bowl is headed back to the Bay Area for the first time since 1985. Houston didn't have to wait so long.

NFL owners voted Tuesday to award Super Bowl L in 2016 to San Francisco, and the game will be played in the 49ers' new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The result came as no surprise: San Francisco beat out South Florida, which had stadium issues, for the honor of hosting the 50th championship game.

America's Cup: Despite Tragic Capsize, Sailing Event Will Go On as Scheduled

Days after a fatal capsize darkened the run-up to this summer's America's Cup, event officials announced Tuesday that the world's most famous sailing race will go on as scheduled. "The America's Cup remains on track and racing will take place this summer, said Tom Ehman, vice commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which is hosting the event.

ACEA CEO Stephen Barclay Looks Back Over the Nine America's Cup World Series Events

What a finale! Naples delivered huge crowds (again), great weather and exciting competition.  Proof, if any was needed, that this in-shore racing in fast boats with the world’s best sailors is what the fans want.

As I have written before, it is also what the sailors want because the best excel when they are pitted against the best.  To illustrate the point, there have been 6 different winners of the 9 fleet racing competitions and 4 different winners of 8 match racing competitions.

Brazil Unveils the Caxirola, an Instrument to Replace Vuvuzela at the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Move over vuvuzela.

Brazil has unveiled the "caxirola", a yellow and green percussion instrument set to supplant the distinctive drone of the South African plastic horn at next year's football World Cup.

Oracle Christens America's Cup Catamaran

With a traditional splash of champagne, defending America's Cup champion Oracle Team USA christened and launched its new 72-foot, wing-sailed catamaran on Tuesday. Then, with the wind blowing 27 knots on some parts of San Francisco Bay, the syndicate canceled the fast cat's maiden voyage, deciding it didn't want the shakedown cruise to potentially become a breakdown cruise.

Hospitality Hoists Sales Over Sponsor Deals at America's Cup

It’s still the most important race in sailing, but over the past few years, the America’s Cup has been wandering the waters of sponsorship looking less like the sleek, 72-foot, wing-sail catamarans that will compete for sports’ oldest trophy this fall and more like a leaky scow sailing against the wind.

SportsMark Client 49ers Foundation in the News: 2013 Winter Fest Brings in $2 Million

The San Francisco 49ers organization spent a weekend in late March in the snowy slopes of Olympic Valley, Calif., where they joined former Olympians and other celebrities to bring in over $2 million for the San Francisco 49ers Foundation at the 13th Annual Winter Fest. This year’s total marks the highest in the event’s existence. The exclusive, weekend-long event, co-presented by Chevron and Thomson Reuters, celebrated football, family, philanthropy, and food and wine, while supporting at-risk youth in the Bay Area through the 49ers Foundation and highlighted beneficiary, Center for Youth Wellness.

America's Cup: High-end Options for High Seas Viewing

There will be many options for watching the America’s Cup this summer, but none so luxurious as the offerings by SportsMark. The official corporate hospitality management partner for the 34^th America’s Cup, the San Rafael company has created a suite of choices designed for fans or companies seeking a first-class experience.

SportsMark & GMR Recognized Among 2013 Sports Business Awards Nominees

The nominees are set for the sixth annual Sports Business Awards, which will be presented during a live ceremony May 22 at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square.

ESPN and NBC Sports Group garnered the most nominations, with four each, while CAA Sports, IMG, the NFL and Wasserman Media Group each are nominated for three awards. Overall, 75 nominees are up for awards across 15 categories. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in sports business from March 1, 2012, to Feb. 28, 2013. Each of the nominees listed below will be featured in a special Sports Business Awards preview issue that will be published May 20.

SportsMark Announces New Operations Manager in Rio

We are pleased to announce the hiring of Luciana Wolf as the Operations Manager for SportsMark/GMR based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Over the past 12 years, Luciana has performed extensive planning and management for international events in areas such as golf, equestrian, beach volleyball, extreme sports, X-Games, product and property launches, and cultural events. With her event operations experience, network in Brazil, and passion for service and hospitality, Luciana is well prepared for the demanding global projects we will be activating for our clients in Brazil.

Luciana will be responsible for SportsMark’s operational and logistics support in Brazil, client and supplier relations, as well as liaising with the Organizing Committees for both FIFA and Rio 2016.

Please join us in welcoming Luciana Wolf to the team.

Countdown to "Summer of Racing"

The Countdown has started! We’ve taken possession of the new cruise ship terminal and are now starting to transform all of Piers 27 and 29 into what will become the America’s Cup Park. The America’s Cup Park and America’s Cup Village (Marina Green) will be the two major event locations during the “Summer of Racing” here in San Francisco. These sites will be linked by a two-mile “fan walk” along the Embarcadero, starting from Pier 27 and passing Pier 39, SS Jeremiah O’Brien at Pier 45, Aquatic Park and around to Marina Green.

SportsMark Ramps Up in Russia: One Year Before Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

The Olympics are returning to Russia for the first time since the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. Next winter, elite athletes from around the globe will travel to Sochi, a coastal city on the southern border of Russia, adjacent to the Black Sea. 98 events in 15 winter sports will take place in two areas - the coastal cluster and the mountain cluster. 

Summer of Racing in San Francisco to Culminate with New America's Cup Finals Format

The calendar for the 2013 ‘Summer of Racing’ in San Francisco has been released, culminating with the America’s Cup Finals from September 7-21, when the defending champion, ORACLE TEAM USA, will face the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup (the America’s Cup Challenger Series).

SportsMark Celebrates 25th Super Bowl in New Orleans

SportsMark kicked off our 25^th Super Bowl in New Orleans on February 3^rd, managing some of the most exclusive corporate hospitality programs and entertainment events associated with Super Bowl XLVII, on behalf of our clients. Our silver jubilee at Super Bowl included nine separate clients serviced by the collective SportsMark and GMR Marketing teams, featuring prominent brands such as Adobe, CBS, Chevron, NFL, and Visa. Throughout the weekend, our expert on-site operations and management staff hosted and managed the Super Bowl experiences of more than 5,000 VIP guests and consumers in New Orleans – one of our largest Super Bowl operations to date.

Sochi Counts Down One Year to Games

One year before Russia hosts its first Winter Olympics, this Black Sea resort is a vast construction site sprawling for nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) along the coast and 50 kilometers (30 miles) up into the mountains. After arriving at Sochi's new airport, there's no escape from the clang and clatter of the drilling, jackhammering and mixing of cement that drowns out the hum of the sea and the birdsong.

National Sports Marketing Experts Say Super Bowl Blackout Doesn't Dim Prospects for New Orleans

Sports marketing and event producers who were in New Orleans for the last week of football championship festivities said they doubt the Super Bowl blackout will have any lasting effect on the city's prospects of hosting more of the National Football League's culminating games. "Everyone was safe," said Greg Busch of GMR Marketing in Milwaukee. "That is first and foremost."

Is Sochi a Tough Sell for Sponsors?

When sponsorship executives from the International Olympic Committee’s nine worldwide sponsors landed in Sochi last month for a sponsor summit, the first things they noticed were the cranes. Hundreds of them dotted the skyline in various sizes and colors. They worked day and night building hotels, finishing venues and transforming a small town on the Black Sea into a host city for the world’s biggest winter sporting event.

GMR Marketing and SportsMark Management Group to Merge

GMR Marketing, the global sports, entertainment, and lifestyle marketing agency, has begun a merger with global sports marketing, event management, and corporate hospitality agency SportsMark Management Group. The worldwide merger will harness the agencies’ collective B2B and B2C proficiencies, bringing together GMR’s strategic digital and consumer engagement capabilities with SportsMark’s global event operation and hospitality experience.

NFL House Bound for New Orleans

The NFL is bringing back its Super Bowl hospitality venue, NFL House, for a second year. The high-end spot for corporate sponsors and other NFL business partners, run in conjunction with SportsMark, returns with a larger footprint and some outdoor space, given New Orleans’ warmer climate compared with Indianapolis, last year’s Super Bowl host. This year’s NFL House is composed of three buildings on Fulton Street, in the warehouse district of New Orleans, and square footage has increased from 15,000 last year to around 20,000 this year.

SportsMark Launches Sale of Official 2013 America’s Cup Club Hospitality Packages

SportsMark Management Group, the Official Corporate Hospitality Management Partner and Exclusive Global Sales Agent of the America’s Cup Club hospitality program, has launched the sales of 2013 America’s Cup Club packages. In 2013, San Francisco will host the ‘summer of racing’ culminating with the America’s Cup Finals, where the top challenger will battle the defending team, ORACLE TEAM USA, for the oldest trophy in international sport, the America’s Cup.

SportsMark Recognized at International Sports Event Management Awards

On Wednesday, November 8, 2012 at the International Sports Event Management Awards in London, SportsMark was honored in front of an audience of 300 gala attendees by winning third place in the hospitality category. SportsMark was actually shortlisted twice as two of six finalists in the hospitality category for our work with Visa and ArcelorMittal for their London 2012 sponsor hospitality programs. The bronze award was received for the work we did on behalf of Visa between 2009-2012, which incorporated all of the planning, management, and onsite execution of their consumer and VIP guest experience programs.

GMR Marketing Announces Launch of Moscow Office

GMR Marketing, the global sports, entertainment, and lifestyle marketing agency, announced the launch of a new office in Moscow, Russia today. The expansion into Russia and CEEMEA comes as a response to the market’s continued emergence as a global stage and, correspondingly, interest among the agency’s top brand clients to strategize around it. The effort, a move that is further widening GMR’s already-extensive international footprint, will be led by highly respected Russian marketer, Julia Scherbakova.

When Things Have to go Right: When Putting the Pieces Together, Hospitality and Experiential Marketing Programs Leave Little Room for Error

When it comes to what companies can expect at the U.S. Open each year, Mimi Griffin takes no chances. Nine months before the golf championship begins, Griffin, working alongside tournament governing body the U.S. Golf Association, begins a series of seminars with companies that have purchased hospitality packages.

She and other organizers tee up as many scenarios as they can conjure: where tents and other VIP areas are located, how long travel times are likely to be, even the distance in yards between the drop-off parking lots and the course. Is it 200 yards or 400 yards? And why can’t corporate guests get closer access? Whatever the question, the emphasis hews toward transparency, she said.

SportsMark Client Sainsbury's Renews Paralympics Sponsorship

Sainsbury's will continue its sponsorship with the British Paralympic Association through 2016.

P&G Sets Standard with London Home for Olympian Families

Worldwide Olympic sponsor P&G sets the bar high with its London 2012 operation. Set in a 68,000 square feet brick warehouse in the Borough Market area, the P&G Family Home hosted 68,000 visitors during the Games. Upwards of 400 guests at a time could be accommodated; nearly 150 separate events were held during the Games, about 100 of them specific events for National Olympic Committees.