Octagon and Sparta. There will be a sports and business conference in Prague
Oktagon MMA owners Pavol Neruda and Ondřej Novotný and wrestler Karlos Vémola will perform at Sport Alive
Sports, at least the elite ones that we watch on TV screens or with our own eyes in stadiums around the world, is also a business. The sporting aspect, i.e. who scores the most goals, runs the fastest or scores the most points, is still key, but also football, hockey or combat sports need to build the most attractive products to be able to sell. That is why a new sports and business conference Sport Alive was created in the Czech Republic, which wants to show how to do it. For example, the founders of the successful Oktagon MMA project, representatives of football Sparta and other personalities not only from the sports world will perform on it.
The first year of the conference Sports Alive 2022 takes place on Tuesday, October 4 in Prague’s O2 universe, with a total of 37 speakers. The packed program, which will take place in two halls in parallel, will offer a total of 19 presentations, panel discussions and interviews, with Czech experts and athletes also joined by six colleagues from Slovakia and two from Germany. CzechCrunch will be there as a media partner. The goal of the event is to show the way to building, presenting, measuring and selling Czech sports in order to increase independence from public finances.
“This is the most powerful line-up of speakers from the world of sports and sports business that has ever come together in the Czech Republic or Slovakia. We are very grateful for her helpfulness and willingness to share her experience and knowledge. We bring extraordinary inspiration and know-how to Czech sport to reach even better new fans and a chance to increase its value.” says one of the organizers of the event, Tomáš Janča. The goal is also to connect the world of sports, the world of advertising-media and the public sector, which is supposed to increase the long-term sustainability of Czech sports and ensure further sporting successes.
Michal Krček, Business development manager of football Sparta, will speak at the event
Ideas, inspiration and suggestions on how to measure, present and sell sport will come to Prague in front of representatives of various industries and sports. The keynote speaker at this year’s conference will be Martin Geisthardt, sales and marketing director of the legendary German football club FC St. Pauli, who took a slightly different path and has been emphasizing his social attitudes and sustainability for a long time, also has a large fan base in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both its founders Ondřej Novotný and Pavol Neruda will talk about how to successfully build the pan-European MMA organization Oktagon.
At Sport Alive 2022, the trio of AC Sparta Prague managers will reveal how they approach marketing and commercial activities in the historically most successful domestic football club, and the brand will also be presented by managers of major brands such as Tipsport, Mastercard and Uniqa, heads of major sports media, representatives of media companies and club directors from various sports. The conference also includes a double interview with former NBA player Jiří Welsch and MMA wrestler Karlos Vémola. The challenges of Czech sports, the potential of esports or the phenomenon of university hockey will also be debated.
The whole event also includes the Sport Alive Awards 2022 sports and business awards. The competition is in six categories, and among the most successful organizations are the Česká obec sokolská and Český floorball with five nominations, the Raul and AC Sparta Praha agencies with four nominations, and the VMLY&R agency with two nominations each , Czech Radio, FK Dukla Praha, Czech Olympic Committee, Go4G, Orlen Unipetrol, Statutory City of Ostrava and additionally also Floorball Židenice. It’s a shame Auto, Lidl, Kaufland, Dr. Max or the very popular FC Rokycany Twitter campaign.
“I have to say that we absolutely did not expect such interest in the first year. We feel a great responsibility to choose the best, especially since there are practically no projects that are really very inspiring from different regions and sports. The goal of the Sport Alive platform is to present and appreciate the good from Czech and Slovak sports, so we are glad that there is really something to present.” adds Tomáš Janča. The selected projects are evaluated by a ten-member jury consisting of sports marketing experts, who also form the previously announced Sport Alive advisory committee.
The Sport Alive Awards ceremony, including the big conference, will take place on Tuesday, October 4, in Prague’s O2 universe. CzechCrunch is the media partner of the entire event and its program together with tickets and other information you can get it on the SportAlive.cz website.