*** SOLD OUT ***
***The event was held on the basis of the Chatham House Rule and therefore was not recorded***
Join us for another highly topical ESA Breakfast event, co-hosted with Northridge, to hear from both legal and commercial experts involved in the negotiation and management of naming rights deals and title sponsorships.
Covering stadia, venue, title and event partnerships encompassing sports, entertainment, arts and culture, our panel of speakers from Six Nations Rugby, Three and TikTok will focus on key strategic and legal considerations in relation to these deals for both rights holders and sponsors, including reflections on trends in the market.
Breakfast will be available during a networking session starting at 08:15 BST, with the session beginning at 09:00. The event will close at 10.30.
Paul Shapiro (host)
Partner, Northridge Law LLP
Paul specialises in commercial and regulatory advice to clients in the sports sector. Paul’s experience includes acting for athletes, brands and rights holders on sponsorship, licensing and merchandising programmes. He also regularly advises on governance issues and financial regulation in sport and on player contracts and football transfers. In addition, Paul has particular experience in advising on major sponsorship projects, establishing new sports competitions and event hosting.
Recent work highlights include advising The FA on the ongoing restructure of women’s football; putting in place a new sponsorship, merchandising and retail program for a major Premier League club; Betway’s global sponsorship programme; a range of sports marketing and merchandising matters for Puma; and various football transfers and contract negotiations.
Dan Gaunt
Director of Revenue and Strategy, Six Nations Rugby
Dan began his career in professional services as a management consultant before moving into the Sport & Entertainment industry in 2013, where he has since held senior strategy, commercial and general management roles at the National Rugby League in Sydney and the global valuation agency Turnstile. Dan is currently Director of Revenue and Strategy at Six Nations Rugby.
His key areas of expertise include strategy, commercial advisory, rights valuation, rights sales, sponsorship and digital / data transformation in sport.
Tanya Townsend
Senior Sponsorship & Brand Activation Manager, Three
Tanya has had a remarkable 17-year journey in the industry having worked across telco and utilities, and with a collection of award-winning campaigns under her belt.
Tanya’s adventure began at O2, as Music and Digital Media Manager, creating bespoke brand campaigns with A-listers like Justin Bieber and Beyoncé. Her efforts helped O2 become the number 1 brand associated with music. Tanya also led negotiations for digital contracts at The O2 venue and launched their first live streaming platform.
In 2012, Tanya brought her talents to Bord Gáis Energy (BGE), where she spearheaded the BGE Theatre sponsorship and created engaging initiatives like the BGE Student Theatre Awards. After a decade, she made her return to the telco sector, overseeing Three’s sponsorships for 3Arena, 3Olympia, Electric Picnic, Longitude and Chelsea Football.
In recent years, Tanya has been on a mission to elevate Three’s Music Sponsorship with the exciting launch of Three’s new music position “3 All For Music” and our brand campaign “City Stages” – winner of the Arts & Culture Sponsorship award at the 2024 ESA Awards. These initiatives aim to support Irish talent and showcase Three’s unwavering dedication to supporting upcoming talent!
Stu Wood
Lead Counsel – Commercial (Sport, Entertainment & Media), TikTok
Stu is a lawyer and business advisor who is Chief of Staff to the EMEA Legal Director alongside his main role at TikTok. Stu and his team support global and multi-territory sponsorship, content licensing, advertising and distribution deals with rights holders, media partners and agencies.
His key areas of expertise include legal and business strategy, commercial advisory and negotiation, risk analysis and legal operations. He began his career as an IP lawyer before moving in-house into telecommunications (Three) and then sport / tech (DAZN).
PLUS…
Alex Burmaster, Co-Founder of sports marketing intelligence company caytoo, will kick off the event with a brief outline of key trends across 800 naming / title / headline sponsorship deals signed since the beginning of 2023. This analysis will include the categories most likely to do such deals, the most common rights-holder properties securing them, the main motivation for why the sponsor undertook the deal and the biggest reported deal values.
