On The Ball
The definitive guide to finding opportunities, building partnerships and generating new income in the sports industry.
Hello and Welcome
On The Ball is a fortnightly newsletter sharing opportunities, tools, tricks and templates to help you unlock new income for your business or non-profit in sport.
This week we’ve got eleven opportunities for you to consider, from upcoming networking events and exhibitions to grants, funds, incubators and so much more. From here on in we’ll be jam-packed full of the latest funders, guides, events & tools curated specifically for sales, business development and fundraising in sport and the surrounding industries.
But first, a word to our partners
Exactly three weeks have passed since World Football Summit Europe 2022, which took part in the beautiful city of Sevilla. Almost 1,000 industry members gathered across two days to discuss all things football business, featuring hundreds of sessions on topics including purpose and impact, web3, the growth and potential of the women’s game, sustainability, and ever-changing sponsorship trends. It was a really great event - not to mention the sun, tapas and sangria - and we’re already wading through the hundreds of leads generated from a steady stream of meetings and speed-networking experiences.
We are therefore delighted to be partnering with the team at WFS to promote their next event, the inaugural World Football Summit Africa. Touted initially for 2020, the WFS team have waited patiently throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and are finally able to bring the global football industry together in Durban, South Africa. The event again features hundreds of fascinating sessions on the future of the game in Africa, headlined by the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Cynthia Mumbo and Danny Jordaan.
WFS Africa takes place on the 16th-17th November 2022, so register here before it’s too late.
TOP TIP: whether you visit in-person or stream from home, make sure you get access to and fully utilise the WFS networking app. It’s the easiest way to connect with speakers and attendees, set-up meetings, and follow up post-event. We were overwhelmed by how effective it proved at WFS Europe.
So, let’s get into it:
⚽️ The USL and Women in Soccer have launched their second Pitch It competition, offering entrepreneurs and leaders a chance to secure $4,500 to kick-start their startup. Open to founders and organisations using football/soccer as a tool for good.
🚴♀️The 2023 UCI World Cycling Championships have launched a competitive tender to identify and appoint an event branding supplier to manage the end-to-end design, development, project management and application of the Look for each venue at next year’s event. Contract open until 12pm on the 10th November 2022, worth up to £1.2m.
💸Check-out Athletic Ventures; a syndicate of current and former elite athletes who are looking to partner with and invest in “Champion Founders” building high-growth companies. AV is focused mostly on Series A investments, and prefers companies who value the input and experience of Professional Athletes.
🗣️Seeking investment? Guy Kawasaki, famously Chief Evangelist at Canva and Apple, shares the Only 10 Slides You Need in Your Pitch. Guy believes a pitch should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. We agree.
☮️Taking place in Monaco, the Peace and Sport Forum is a unique event that encourages the exchange and promotion of good practice in using sport as a lever for peace. Over 600 decision-makers from around the world of sport and international development will gather on the 30th November and 1st December 2022 for the 13th annual edition. Whilst the location may not be the most inclusive of destinations, the opportunity to meet and learn from so many great speakers and organisations might be worth a shot.
🏅Based in or near to London? Sport Industry Group’s membership might be worth considering if you’re trying to build relationships in the sector. The Light Membership offer is decent value at £1,200 per year, entitling you and a colleague/partner/prospect to one Dining event, two Sport Industry socials, one award entry and one ticket to the annual awards. The Light Offer looks good value, so we suggest trying this first rather than the “Full” membership option.
💰Registered NGOs and Charities from anywhere in the world can apply to the Swedish Postcode Foundation for a grant to support their work using sport to help fulfill at least one of the Sustainable Development Goals. Applications for funding must exceed $45,000 USD and be for projects taking place over more than 12 months.
And finally, a few tools you might find useful:
Use Upwork to find a freelancer for quite literally anything.
Try WebFlow if you’re building a website without code.
Sign-up for Ahrefs to get everything you need to rank higher & stimulate more website traffic.
Have a read through this; possibly the clearest explanation of strategy, mission and vision you’ll have seen for a while.
