The Fédération Équestre Internationale has partnered with Sportcal to undertake two GSI Event Studies in 2018:
• The Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping and the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Finals taking place from 11 to 15 April in Paris, France
• The FEI World Equestrian Games™ due to take place from 11 to 23 September in Tryon, North Carolina, USA.
The FEI World Cup™ Finals represent the most important event of the indoor season for equestrian sport. This global competition brings together the world's top riders, who first qualify in their respective continents through regional leagues.
Since the opening of the Palais Omnisport de Paris-Bercy in 1984, renamed the AccorHotels Arena in 2015, the French capital has been the scene of many historic moments in equestrian sport.
Since 1990 the FEI World Equestrian Games™ have provided equestrianism with a trademark international platform from which to show the sport at its best.
It is one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar, combining eight World Championships at one event. The FEI disciplines – Jumping, Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting and Reining – are all included on the competition schedule. It will be the second time in history that the Games will take place in North America – after Lexington, USA, hosted them in 2010.
The Fédération Équestre Internationale, the global governing body for equestrian sport, is keen to obtain a holistic view of the various impacts its events can generate for host cities and commercial partners.
Sportcal will be undertaking a detailed analysis across the main pillars of the GSI Event Study for the FEI World Cup™ Finals and the FEI World Equestrian Games™. These include: economic, tourism, event experience, media, social media, sponsorship, sporting, social, sustainability and legacy plus key data comparisons against similar events.
Both studies will include a detailed tourism impact analysis which will establish the impact of tourism on the host economy in the regions of Paris and Tryon respectively, and will also establish what the spectators thought of the events and their level of engagement.
Ralph Straus, FEI Commercial Director, explains:
“The FEI’s equestrian events continue to generate substantial value for our hosts and commercial partners, despite an increasingly complex sporting and sponsorship environment.”
“This GSI Event Study on the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and the FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in Paris this April, and our flagship FEI World Equestrian Games this September in Tryon, North Carolina, will enable us to fully quantify investments in these high profile equestrian events, not just looking at direct return on investment but instead getting a much wider perspective of the impact economically, in the media, as a sporting legacy and the social effects.
“As the FEI moves forward with its discipline-centred sponsorship philosophy, we are working closely with our hosts and partners to make informed decisions on our events with the help of highly insightful data, which is possible with deep research like this large-scale, in-depth GSI Event Study.”
Sportcal will work in collaboration with key stakeholders involved in staging the events, including FEI; the event organisers; host cities; government authorities; sponsors; broadcasters and any third party organisations to gather, assimilate, analyse and compare the data and narrative around these events.
Mike Laflin, CEO and Founder of Sportcal and the GSI Project, stated:
“We are delighted to be working with FEI on the FEI World Equestrian Games and the FEI World Cup Finals this year. FEI is a very forward thinking organisation and has recognised that its major events deliver a wide range of impacts for its host cities. The GSI Event Study will not only help FEI capture the key data around its events but it will also help it capture the narrative and the unique stories that come out of its events. It is this combination of narrative and data, which is unique to a GSI Event Study, that helps explain the wider, more holistic impacts, like social and sustainability, which more and more cities and governments are looking for.“
Sportcal, the world's leading provider of sports market intelligence, will conduct the study in conjunction with its GSI Event Studies Programme which runs from 2017 through to 2020.
ABOUT THE GSI EVENT STUDIES PROGRAMME 2017 – 2020:
In January 2017 Sportcal launched a four-year programme to bring federations, rights holders, host cities, governments, academic institutions and key stakeholders together to work with Sportcal and engage in the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Project.
The programme involves the analysis of world championships, series and multisport games from a diverse range of sports and events, to help event owners and hosts understand the true impact of their events across a wide range of sectors, and to support them in the further development of their event strategies.
Over 30 international federations have already engaged in the programme, including a four-year agreement signed between ASOIF and Sportcal, to support ASOIF members via the studies programme throughout the 2017-2020 Olympic cycle.
In December 2017, the International Association of Event Hosts (IAEH) signed a long-term agreement with Sportcal to become a Strategic Partner of the GSI Project.
ABOUT FÉDÉRATION ÉQUESTRE INTERNATIONALE (FEI):
The FEI is the world governing body for horse sport recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was founded in 1921. Equestrian sport has been part of the Olympic movement since the 1912 Games in Stockholm.
The FEI is the sole controlling authority for all international events in the Olympic sports of Jumping, Dressage and Eventing, as well as Driving, Endurance, Vaulting and Reining.
The FEI became one of the first international sports governing bodies to govern and regulate global para sport alongside its seven able-bodied disciplines when Para-Equestrian Dressage joined its ranks in 2006. The FEI now governs all international competitions for Para-Equestrian Dressage and Para-Driving.