Patrick Nally
Encyclopedia
Patrick Nally is a British entrepreneur
and specialist consultant, widely acknowledged as the ‘founding father’ of modern sports
marketing
and a principal pioneer of today’s sports business industry.
, Nally grew up in Clapham
, south
London
, the youngest of three children born in consecutive years. A chess
champion at Spencer Park School in Wandsworth
, he gravitated towards his parents’ professions of journalism
and public relations
, beginning his career in business as a messenger boy at Notley Advertising before joining the Erwin Wasey Advertising Company as a junior accounts executive. His mother Margaret Nally, who was the first female chair of the National Union of Journalists
’ Press & P.R. department and the first female President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
, is commemorated each year at a Memorial Lecture given at Britain’s House of Lords
.
presenter and sports commentator
Peter West
in 1969, Nally founded the West Nally Group the following year as a public relations agency with a specialized sporting events mandate. With West as chairman, and managing director Nally its driving force, the company would go on to redefine the sports business industry by pioneering the offering to ‘blue chip’ companies of exclusive, off-the-shelf packages of sponsorship rights to the world’s largest sports tournaments on behalf of the world’s leading sports federations. Early successes included securing investment to establish the Masters in snooker
, the Squash
World Open, and an annual one-day cricket competition which would run for three decades in the UK. In 1976, on brokering an agreement to sponsor the FIFA World Cup
, the company assured its reputation as a leading innovator within the expanding sports marketing field. Employing over 400 staff in 14 offices across 11 countries in its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, West Nally has served as partner to, among others, the International Olympic Committee
, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
, the Davis Cup
and Federation Cup
in tennis
, the Hockey World Cup, the International Swimming Federation (FINA)
, the International Rowing Federation (FISA)
, the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the FIS
World Ski Cup. The company helped secure the financial foundations of the first London Marathon
, held in 1981, before playing an instrumental role in the inception of the International Association of Athletics Federations
‘ Track and Field Program and in initiating the IAAF World Athletics Championships, first held in Helsinki
in 1983
. For the International Rugby Board (IRB)
, West Nally helped to commercially package and launch the Rugby World Cup
, first held in 1987
in Australia
and New Zealand
. Known within the industry as the ‘university of sports marketing’ on account of its comprehensive training procedures responsible for cultivating a generation of leading sports business executives, the company’s founder Patrick Nally was in 1988 described by Marketing magazine, along with Adidas
owner Horst Dassler
and IMG founder Mark McCormack
, as one of the “three godfathers of sport” who at one time, between them, “controlled the commercial destinies of almost every major sports event in the world”. Credited with first perceiving and harnessing sport’s unique potential as a medium for global brand communication, Nally is today alternatively hailed as “the ‘Founding Father’ of sports marketing”, “the father of modern sports marketing”, “the founding father of the sports business industry”, “the godfather of sports sponsorship” and the ‘Dean’ of the ‘Sports Marketing University’. In 2009, his pioneer status within the industry was recognized with a nomination in the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ category at SportBusiness Magazine’s annual Sports Event Management Awards.
’s successful 1974 bid for the Presidency of FIFA
, Nally set out to fulfil the campaign’s election promise to expand the federation’s global development programme. Having restructured FIFA’s rules and regulations and modernized its commercial structure, Nally conceived and designed the FIFA World Youth Championship, first held in Tunisia
in 1977
, for which he secured sponsorship from the Coca-Cola Company. The landmark agreement that followed, with which Coca-Cola
became the primary sponsor of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina
, would help set the cast for the future development of soccer globally, as the relationship between the FIFA World Cup and Coca-Cola matured to produce what has been described as “the biggest, most sustained corporate sponsorship programme in the world”. Signed by West Nally in 1976, the original agreement is today considered a watershed moment within the evolution of the sports business industry. Nally himself has described it as “the best deal” he ever made.
, the European Nations Cup
and the World Champions’ Gold Cup
, which the agency marketed together in a four-year package called the ‘InterSoccer4’. Guaranteeing sponsors category exclusivity, advertising
exposure, tickets and VIP access, after its successful implementation in the lead-up to the 1982 World Cup in Spain
, the ‘InterSoccer’ model rapidly became the new industry standard by which sponsorship rights to international sporting events were administered. Signalling what has been called “sport’s Big Bang Moment”, the InterSoccer program’s offer of a package of rights to multiple tournaments over several years is still today widely emulated across the sports business industry. According to SportBusiness International magazine, the concept became “the lingua franca
of sports marketing for the next 20 years,”, confirming Patrick Nally as “in many respects, the man who made the World Cup what it is today”. While the world’s largest sports tournament grew to signify a multi-billion dollar sponsorship proposition, Nally oversaw the InterSoccer program’s evolution through the 1986 and 1990 competitions, held respectively in Mexico
and Italy
, before helping to establish a dedicated company to host the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
of Japan
’s 2022 World Cup bid which, on December 2, 2010 in a ceremony in Zurich
was finally awarded to Qatar
. Based around the slogan ‘208 smiles’, the centerpiece of the Japanese offering was a proposal to broadcast the tournament via 360-degree, 3D free viewpoint television
to over 400 fan sites across FIFA’s 208 member-nations. In his vocal support for the innovative, technology-driven offering which would have brought the World Cup to Asia for the second time in two decades, Nally openly criticized FIFA for adhering to a development model he had himself been instrumental in originating. “It was almost part of our development programme brief to take it to Asia, as it was to take it to Africa,” he told SportsPro Magazine in the lead-up to the decision:
In the same article, Nally further admitted that he views the introduction of goal-line technology
to the World Cup as all but “an inevitability”.
and Australian
Olympic Associations in the late 1970s, Nally began working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an advisor to the organizing committee of the 1980 Summer Games
held in Moscow
. Afterwards, he played a key role in laying the commercial foundations of the future of the Olympic Movement by adapting the InterSoccer program he’d devised for FIFA to the Olympic Games
. The result was a package combining the rights of the IOC’s organizing committees and those of the national Olympic committees in one sponsorship deal. Initially rolled out for the 1984 Summer Games
in Los Angeles
, the concept would culminate the following year in the launch of the IOC’s innovative TOP (The Olympic Partners) program.
, Nally has, over the course of his career, worked with an array of international Olympic and non-Olympic federations, helping them to ensure their commercial viability while also promoting enhanced global cooperation across the sporting world. His involvement with the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) dates from 1976 when he was instrumental in re-establishing the organization and securing for it a permanent home in Monte Carlo
. He later devised the GAISF Calendar to assist international sports federations in avoiding conflicting event schedules.
Pan American Games
held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
, and the 1986
and 1990
Commonwealth Games
held respectively in Edinburgh
and Auckland
, West Nally has also served non-Olympic world class sports federations with strategic advice, sponsorship procurement and by expanding their profiles at both single and multi-sports international championships. Of the 23 sports featured at the second quadrennial
World Games
, which West Nally was instrumental in staging across eight London venues in 1985, taekwondo
would be introduced at the 1988 Summer Games
in Seoul
, netball
would receive Olympic recognition within a decade and korfball
would twice feature as a demonstration sport at the Summer Olympics. Having served the International Federation of Poker (IFP)
since its foundation in Lausanne
in April 2009, West Nally helped secure the federation membership within the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA)
in April 2010.
’s World Academy of Sport and has, since March 2010, written a monthly column advising on sponsorship-related matters for the UK-based, sports business trade publication Platform. An impassioned advocate of the role of education within sport, he has advised UNESCO
on the use of sport as a showcase to attract private sector support for educational and cultural programs, and has long been a vocal proponent of degree-based education tailored specifically to the sports business industry. In 2010 Nally became the Academic Director of IE Business School’s Sports Management Master degree course.
As with Japan’s 2022 World Cup bid, Nally is an ardent supporter of non-traditional sponsorship methods that enhance the immediacy of sport as live action experience. “Sport has a tremendous ability to galvanise people. It is instant drama and instant theatre and it makes for the perfect live events,” he has said. “People want to be part of the event, they want instant connectivity and instant access.” As live events play an ever more crucial role in marketing, Nally argues that new media can provide powerful opportunities to revolutionize traditional methods of activating brand-connection within any sport's audience. Recalling his early success in transforming the ways in which sports federations market their product to the world, in a 2003 interview Nally lamented what he saw as the industry’s failure to respond sufficiently to the increasing needs of sponsors within a rapidly evolving media marketplace: “The creation of the product was what fascinated me and it fascinates me that it hasn’t really gone on much further,” he avowed, “but it could.”
'Diamond Vision' screens to Wembley Stadium
in 1984. A decade later, he was involved in the planning stages of the watershed redevelopment of England’s national stadium which reopened after a four-year reconstruction in March 2007. Alongside his sports marketing activities, Nally has also secured sponsorship for major music events including The Rolling Stones
’ 1982 European Tour
, the David Bowie
Serious Moonlight Tour
, Duran Duran
’s 1984 UK Tour, Leonard Bernstein
’s 1986 series of Anniversary Concerts sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Ebel
, The Three Tenors
’ 1990 concert in Rome
, and the 2007 Tribute Concert to Maria Callas
at the Acropolis
. In addition to serving diverse companies in music, leisure and live entertainment, Nally has himself produced several theatrical musicals
, notably Casper: The Musical based on the animated cartoon series Casper the Friendly Ghost
, which ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End from 1999 to 2000, and Theatre of Dreams, chronicling the history of Manchester United
from the emergence of the Busby Babes
to the Munich air disaster
to the arrival of Alex Ferguson
, which premiered in 2001 at Manchester
’s Bridgewater Hall
and was a financial disaster.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and specialist consultant, widely acknowledged as the ‘founding father’ of modern sports
Sports marketing
Sport marketing is divided into three sectors. The first is the advertising of sport and sports associations such as the Olympics, Spanish Football league and the NFL. The second concerns the use of sporting events, sporting teams and individual athletes to promote various products. The third is...
marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
and a principal pioneer of today’s sports business industry.
Early life
Born in 1947 to parents who met while serving in the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, Nally grew up in Clapham
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
, south
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the youngest of three children born in consecutive years. A chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
champion at Spencer Park School in Wandsworth
Wandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
, he gravitated towards his parents’ professions of journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, beginning his career in business as a messenger boy at Notley Advertising before joining the Erwin Wasey Advertising Company as a junior accounts executive. His mother Margaret Nally, who was the first female chair of the National Union of Journalists
National Union of Journalists
The National Union of Journalists is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists .-Structure:...
’ Press & P.R. department and the first female President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
Chartered Institute of Public Relations
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations is the professional body for PR practitioners in the United Kingdom. Founded in February 1948 as the Institute of Public Relations, by 2009 it had grown to over 9000 members involved in all aspects of the public relations industry, and is the largest...
, is commemorated each year at a Memorial Lecture given at Britain’s House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
West Nally
Having been introduced to the journalist, BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
presenter and sports commentator
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
Peter West
Peter West
Peter Anthony West was a BBC presenter and sports commentator best known for his work on the corporation's cricket, tennis and rugby coverage as well as occasionally commentating on field hockey. Throughout his television career he remained freelance.-Early life:He was an only child...
in 1969, Nally founded the West Nally Group the following year as a public relations agency with a specialized sporting events mandate. With West as chairman, and managing director Nally its driving force, the company would go on to redefine the sports business industry by pioneering the offering to ‘blue chip’ companies of exclusive, off-the-shelf packages of sponsorship rights to the world’s largest sports tournaments on behalf of the world’s leading sports federations. Early successes included securing investment to establish the Masters in snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, the Squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
World Open, and an annual one-day cricket competition which would run for three decades in the UK. In 1976, on brokering an agreement to sponsor the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
, the company assured its reputation as a leading innovator within the expanding sports marketing field. Employing over 400 staff in 14 offices across 11 countries in its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, West Nally has served as partner to, among others, the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
, the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
and Federation Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...
in tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, the Hockey World Cup, the International Swimming Federation (FINA)
International Swimming Federation
Fédération Internationale de Natation is the International Federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee for administering international competition in the aquatic sports...
, the International Rowing Federation (FISA)
International Rowing Federation
The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron, or FISA for short, is the International Rowing Federation which is the governing body for international Rowing. Its current president is Denis Oswald...
, the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the FIS
International Ski Federation
The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski is the main international organisation for ski sports...
World Ski Cup. The company helped secure the financial foundations of the first London Marathon
London Marathon
The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...
, held in 1981, before playing an instrumental role in the inception of the International Association of Athletics Federations
International Association of Athletics Federations
The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded in 1912 at its first congress in Stockholm, Sweden by representatives from 17 national athletics federations as the International Amateur Athletics Federation...
‘ Track and Field Program and in initiating the IAAF World Athletics Championships, first held in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
in 1983
1983 World Championships in Athletics
The inaugural World Championships in Athletics were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between August 7 and August 14, 1983....
. For the International Rugby Board (IRB)
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
, West Nally helped to commercially package and launch the Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
, first held in 1987
1987 Rugby World Cup
The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. New Zealand and Australia agreed to co-host the first ever tournament with New Zealand hosting seventeen pool stage matches, two quarter-finals and the final with Australia being the junior partner hosting seven pool matches, two...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Known within the industry as the ‘university of sports marketing’ on account of its comprehensive training procedures responsible for cultivating a generation of leading sports business executives, the company’s founder Patrick Nally was in 1988 described by Marketing magazine, along with Adidas
Adidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
owner Horst Dassler
Horst Dassler
Horst Dassler was the son of Adolf "Adi" Dassler, who founded Adidas. Horst Dassler started Adidas France in Landersheim, France, competing against his father's Adidas Germany and his uncle's Puma...
and IMG founder Mark McCormack
Mark McCormack
Mark Hume McCormack was an American lawyer, sports agent for professional athletes and a prolific writer...
, as one of the “three godfathers of sport” who at one time, between them, “controlled the commercial destinies of almost every major sports event in the world”. Credited with first perceiving and harnessing sport’s unique potential as a medium for global brand communication, Nally is today alternatively hailed as “the ‘Founding Father’ of sports marketing”, “the father of modern sports marketing”, “the founding father of the sports business industry”, “the godfather of sports sponsorship” and the ‘Dean’ of the ‘Sports Marketing University’. In 2009, his pioneer status within the industry was recognized with a nomination in the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ category at SportBusiness Magazine’s annual Sports Event Management Awards.
Relationship with FIFA
After playing an instrumental role in João HavelangeJoão Havelange
Jean-Marie Faustin Goedefroid de Havelange , more commonly known as João Havelange , was the 7th President of FIFA, serving from 1974 to 1998. He received the title of Honorary President when leaving office. He succeeded Sir Stanley Rous and was succeeded by Joseph Blatter...
’s successful 1974 bid for the Presidency of FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
, Nally set out to fulfil the campaign’s election promise to expand the federation’s global development programme. Having restructured FIFA’s rules and regulations and modernized its commercial structure, Nally conceived and designed the FIFA World Youth Championship, first held in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
in 1977
1977 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1977 FIFA World Youth Championship was the inaugural staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship and was held in Tunisia from June 27 to July 10, 1977. The tournament took place in four venues — Tunis, Rades, Sousse and Sfax — where a total of 28 matches were played, the smallest number in its...
, for which he secured sponsorship from the Coca-Cola Company. The landmark agreement that followed, with which Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
became the primary sponsor of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, would help set the cast for the future development of soccer globally, as the relationship between the FIFA World Cup and Coca-Cola matured to produce what has been described as “the biggest, most sustained corporate sponsorship programme in the world”. Signed by West Nally in 1976, the original agreement is today considered a watershed moment within the evolution of the sports business industry. Nally himself has described it as “the best deal” he ever made.
The ‘InterSoccer4’ Program
After the 1978 World Cup, West Nally was awarded rights to all FIFA and UEFA competitions, including the European Cup FinalUEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, the European Nations Cup
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
and the World Champions’ Gold Cup
CONCACAF Gold Cup
The CONCACAF Gold Cup is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the regional champion of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.The Gold Cup is held every two years and when it does not fall the same year as an...
, which the agency marketed together in a four-year package called the ‘InterSoccer4’. Guaranteeing sponsors category exclusivity, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
exposure, tickets and VIP access, after its successful implementation in the lead-up to the 1982 World Cup in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, the ‘InterSoccer’ model rapidly became the new industry standard by which sponsorship rights to international sporting events were administered. Signalling what has been called “sport’s Big Bang Moment”, the InterSoccer program’s offer of a package of rights to multiple tournaments over several years is still today widely emulated across the sports business industry. According to SportBusiness International magazine, the concept became “the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of sports marketing for the next 20 years,”, confirming Patrick Nally as “in many respects, the man who made the World Cup what it is today”. While the world’s largest sports tournament grew to signify a multi-billion dollar sponsorship proposition, Nally oversaw the InterSoccer program’s evolution through the 1986 and 1990 competitions, held respectively in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, before helping to establish a dedicated company to host the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
Support for Japan’s 2022 World Cup Bid
In 2009, Nally teamed with the organizing committeeJapan Football Association
The Japan Football Association, sometimes known as the Japan Soccer Association , is the governing body responsible for the administration of association football in Japan. It is responsible for the national team as well as club competitions....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
’s 2022 World Cup bid which, on December 2, 2010 in a ceremony in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
was finally awarded to Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
. Based around the slogan ‘208 smiles’, the centerpiece of the Japanese offering was a proposal to broadcast the tournament via 360-degree, 3D free viewpoint television
Free viewpoint television
Free viewpoint television is a system for viewing natural video, allowing the user to interactively control the viewpoint and generate new views of a dynamic scene from any 3D position....
to over 400 fan sites across FIFA’s 208 member-nations. In his vocal support for the innovative, technology-driven offering which would have brought the World Cup to Asia for the second time in two decades, Nally openly criticized FIFA for adhering to a development model he had himself been instrumental in originating. “It was almost part of our development programme brief to take it to Asia, as it was to take it to Africa,” he told SportsPro Magazine in the lead-up to the decision:
- “That stage of the whole evolution of development is now done… If you’re not going to embrace all those hyper-technological applications and opportunities to bring the excitement of a major live event like the World Cup into a local market, one, you’re not capturing where the world actually exists now; and two, your sponsors are not going to be too happy because activation is becoming a challenge. This responds to the sponsors’ activation needs, which is essential. It’s not a matter of FIFA wanting to do it, they have to do it.”
In the same article, Nally further admitted that he views the introduction of goal-line technology
Goal-line technology
In association football, goal-line technology is a proposed technology currently in testing stages, which determines when the ball has completely crossed goal line, assisting the referee in calling a goal or not. So far FIFA, footballs governing body, has resisted goal-line technology as well as...
to the World Cup as all but “an inevitability”.
Involvement with the International Olympic Committee
Having established relationships with the BritishBritish Olympic Association
The British Olympic Association is the national Olympic committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1905 in the House of Commons, and at that time consisted of seven national governing body members from the following sports: fencing, life-saving, cycling, skating, rowing,...
and Australian
Australian Olympic Committee
The Australian Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee in Australia for the Olympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds to send Australian competitors to Olympic events organised by the International Olympic Committee .-Background:The...
Olympic Associations in the late 1970s, Nally began working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an advisor to the organizing committee of the 1980 Summer Games
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
held in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Afterwards, he played a key role in laying the commercial foundations of the future of the Olympic Movement by adapting the InterSoccer program he’d devised for FIFA to the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. The result was a package combining the rights of the IOC’s organizing committees and those of the national Olympic committees in one sponsorship deal. Initially rolled out for the 1984 Summer Games
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the concept would culminate the following year in the launch of the IOC’s innovative TOP (The Olympic Partners) program.
Foundation of SportAccord
Through his decades-long association with the IOC and its longtime partner, the Japanese advertising and sponsorship agency Dentsu IncorporatedDentsu
is one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Its headquarters are located in the Dentsu Building in the Shiodome district of Minato, Tokyo....
, Nally has, over the course of his career, worked with an array of international Olympic and non-Olympic federations, helping them to ensure their commercial viability while also promoting enhanced global cooperation across the sporting world. His involvement with the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) dates from 1976 when he was instrumental in re-establishing the organization and securing for it a permanent home in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
. He later devised the GAISF Calendar to assist international sports federations in avoiding conflicting event schedules.
Campaigns on behalf of new Olympic Sports
Having secured sponsorship for numerous international multi-sports tournaments over the years, including the 19791979 Pan American Games
The 8th Pan American Games were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to July 15, 1979. The capital of Puerto Rico played host to 3,700 athletes from 34 countries competing in 22 sports, making the VIII Pan American Games the largest to date. Security was a concern due to turmoil over the...
Pan American Games
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, and the 1986
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...
and 1990
1990 Commonwealth Games
The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January-3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo,...
Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
held respectively in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, West Nally has also served non-Olympic world class sports federations with strategic advice, sponsorship procurement and by expanding their profiles at both single and multi-sports international championships. Of the 23 sports featured at the second quadrennial
World Games 1985
The second World Games were held in 1985 in London, the capital city of England. Three venues were used, the main one being Crystal Palace. Sports included Taekwondo, Karate, Sambo, Powerlifting, Flipper/Snorkel swimming, roller skate sports, casting, korfball, waterskiing and netball...
World Games
World Games
The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that are not contested in the Olympic Games...
, which West Nally was instrumental in staging across eight London venues in 1985, taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
would be introduced at the 1988 Summer Games
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
would receive Olympic recognition within a decade and korfball
Korfball
Korfball is a mixed gender team sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. A team consists of eight players; four female and four male. A team also includes a coach. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1902 by Nico Broekhuysen. In the Netherlands there are around 580 clubs, and over a...
would twice feature as a demonstration sport at the Summer Olympics. Having served the International Federation of Poker (IFP)
International Federation of Poker
The International Federation of Poker is a non-profit organization incorporated as a legal entity pursuant to articles 60 to 79 of the Swiss Civil Code and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. IFP's stated purpose is to "serve as the global governing body for poker".-History:IFP was founded...
since its foundation in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
in April 2009, West Nally helped secure the federation membership within the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA)
International Mind Sports Association
The International Mind Sports Association is an institution of the world governing bodies for contract bridge, chess, draughts , and go, namely the World Bridge Federation , World Chess Federation , World Draughts Federation , and International Go Federation...
in April 2010.
Support for Sports Business Education
A respected authority on all aspects of sports marketing and sponsorship, Nally has since 2006 lectured as a Touring Fellow of the University of ManchesterUniversity of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
’s World Academy of Sport and has, since March 2010, written a monthly column advising on sponsorship-related matters for the UK-based, sports business trade publication Platform. An impassioned advocate of the role of education within sport, he has advised UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
on the use of sport as a showcase to attract private sector support for educational and cultural programs, and has long been a vocal proponent of degree-based education tailored specifically to the sports business industry. In 2010 Nally became the Academic Director of IE Business School’s Sports Management Master degree course.
Views on the Impact of New Media on the Sports Business Industry
Addressing the fourth annual Sports Marketing 360 conference in London in October 2010, Nally declared: “Conventional advertising is dead and conventional sports sponsorship is dead. The world is digital.” Having, for much of his career, seen the sports business come increasingly to be dominated by large advertising, marketing and talent representation agencies, Nally is outspoken in his anticipation of a future in which new media has replaced conventional controlling interests. “The era of dominant agencies is gone,” he told SportBusiness Magazine in 2003:- “The industry will inevitably undergo a major change over the next few years because it has to. The whole packaging and presentation of sport — the teams, the players, the dressing, the stadia, the corporate hospitality, the TV will all come together. It will be managed by high-quality, streamlined federations and professional leagues, with a lot more people in-house as opposed to a dominant agency like an ISL, IMG or Dentsu.”
As with Japan’s 2022 World Cup bid, Nally is an ardent supporter of non-traditional sponsorship methods that enhance the immediacy of sport as live action experience. “Sport has a tremendous ability to galvanise people. It is instant drama and instant theatre and it makes for the perfect live events,” he has said. “People want to be part of the event, they want instant connectivity and instant access.” As live events play an ever more crucial role in marketing, Nally argues that new media can provide powerful opportunities to revolutionize traditional methods of activating brand-connection within any sport's audience. Recalling his early success in transforming the ways in which sports federations market their product to the world, in a 2003 interview Nally lamented what he saw as the industry’s failure to respond sufficiently to the increasing needs of sponsors within a rapidly evolving media marketplace: “The creation of the product was what fascinated me and it fascinates me that it hasn’t really gone on much further,” he avowed, “but it could.”
Entertainment
Throughout his career, Nally has consulted on a range of aspects pertaining to sport as collective, immediate, live action experience, from stadia environment and venue design to the technological enhancement of audience appreciation systems. He helped popularize magazine-style sports TV programming, alongside pioneering the use of big screen technology within stadia by introducing MitsubishiMitsubishi Electric
is a multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group....
'Diamond Vision' screens to Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
in 1984. A decade later, he was involved in the planning stages of the watershed redevelopment of England’s national stadium which reopened after a four-year reconstruction in March 2007. Alongside his sports marketing activities, Nally has also secured sponsorship for major music events including The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
’ 1982 European Tour
Rolling Stones European Tour 1982
The Rolling Stones' European Tour 1982 was a concert tour of Europe to promote the album Tattoo You. It was in effect the European continuation of their long and successful 1981 US tour, and promoted by Bill Graham...
, the David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
Serious Moonlight Tour
Serious Moonlight Tour
The David Bowie Serious Moonlight Tour was thus far Bowie's longest, largest and most successful concert tour. The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal - Brussels on 18 May 1983 and ended in the Hong Kong Coliseum on 8 December 1983; 16 countries visited, 96 performances, 2,601,196 tickets...
, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
’s 1984 UK Tour, Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
’s 1986 series of Anniversary Concerts sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Ebel
Movado
Movado is a Swiss luxury watch company whose name is Esperanto for "continuous movement". Movado was founded in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Achilles Ditesheim....
, The Three Tenors
The Three Tenors
The Three Tenors is a name given to the Spanish singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and the Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti who sang in concert under this banner during the 1990s and early 2000s. The trio began their collaboration with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla, in...
’ 1990 concert in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and the 2007 Tribute Concert to Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
at the Acropolis
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens or Citadel of Athens is the best known acropolis in the world. Although there are many other acropoleis in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as The Acropolis without qualification...
. In addition to serving diverse companies in music, leisure and live entertainment, Nally has himself produced several theatrical musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, notably Casper: The Musical based on the animated cartoon series Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...
, which ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End from 1999 to 2000, and Theatre of Dreams, chronicling the history of Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
from the emergence of the Busby Babes
Busby Babes
The Busby Babes were a group of Manchester United players, recruited and trained by the club's chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the eponymous Matt Busby.The Busby Babes were notable...
to the Munich air disaster
Munich air disaster
The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the "Busby Babes",...
to the arrival of Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
, which premiered in 2001 at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
’s Bridgewater Hall
Bridgewater Hall
The Bridgewater Hall is an international concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build and currently hosts over 250 performances a year....
and was a financial disaster.
External links
- http://www.westnally.com/ West Nally Group
- http://www.redmandarin.com/defining-sponsorship/perspective-patrick-nally-principal-of-emc2-ltd ‘Perspective: Patrick Nally’, redmandarin: Definining Sponsorship
- http://www.synergy-sponsorship.com/blog/20101202/the-synergy-interview-patrick-nally/ ‘Patrick Nally — What’s the greatest sports marketing innovation?’, Lucie Bartlett, Synergy-Sponsorsip (December 2, 2010)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKQdprV-K-0 ‘Patrick Nally — CEO of West Nally Ltd.’, IE Business School: Sports Management
- http://www.sportsmarketing360.com/news/full-2010-conference-video-now-available-81 ‘Sports Marketing 360 — 2010 Highlights’, Luke Upton, SportsMarketing360 (October 6, 2010)