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Celebrating a winning summer of sport event partnerships

It’s very tempting, in our business, to claim too much ownership over almost anything. Let’s face it, the events that we support every day are not ‘ours’. We’re proud of the role we play in bringing incredible events to life, but we’re also well aware of where the credit should lie.

We see brands ‘owning’ industries, and even entire sports, all the time. Nike seems to own running and it’s hard not to notice Canterbury’s ownership of Cricket and Rugby.

Sporting summer events 2017

So, it’s with a degree of care that I claim that over the course of this summer, we’ve really ‘owned’ a number of sports. GL events UK’s relationship with golf has become stronger and stronger as, this year, we agreed a series of new long-term contracts with some of the best sporting events on the planet; not only in the world of golf. Watch our video of GL events’ audience infrastructure installation at The Open this summer to learn more about our part in this truly memorable event.

And how about horse racing? From Cheltenham to Ascot, right through to the Longines Global Champions Tour in London last month; we’ve earned some amazing relationships in the world of equestrian events where, time and time again, our teams have helped these events come alive with incredible success.

Finally, athletics. This country has done so much to make global athletics events welcome, and this year we hosted the IAAF and World Para Athletics Championships. This was a wonderful event that resonated with all kinds of live and television viewers across London and around the world. The event was one of our biggest activations since the London 2012 Olympics. Again, it wasn’t ‘our’ event, it’s not ‘our’ sport, but we’re pretty proud to have installed 65,000m2 of temporary infrastructure across London, impacting upon the fantastic live event experience of more than one million ticket-holders.

Event partners to our clients

Like many others in this industry, I feel this summer has flashed before my eyes; but I also look back on some amazing achievements by our business. From the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to a massive summer of England Cricket (click through for more video to learn about GL events’ work on behalf of Emirates Old Trafford Stadium); from Hay Festival – again, take a look at our fantastic film – to West Green House Opera, we’ve once again been active, professional and proactive in enabling great events, and great event organisers, to do their thing.

So, maybe we don’t own sport, or sporting events. But I couldn’t be more proud of the work we do to help make them happen. No matter how big or small, we’re a massive partner to our clients.

Scott Jameson, GL events UK Group Managing Director