ESPN ANNOUNCED AS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR BEYOND SPORT IN 2018
ESPN will continue and develop their longstanding collaboration with Beyond Sport as they become the new International Media Sponsor
ESPN to provide funding to winners of the Beyond Sport Global Awards
ESPN is set to expand its collaboration with global sport for social change organization Beyond Sport, which will see the organization become International Media Sponsor, supporting Beyond Sport events that focus on key social issues, sports, sectors and demographics.
Since the beginning of the five-year collaboration, Beyond Sport and ESPN have opened five community sport courts across Asia and Latin America, hosted senior leaders at the ESPN Leadership Dinner Series, and promoted, informed and progressed the use of sport and social responsibility in professional sport teams and leagues each year in New York.
The organizations share common values and beliefs; that sport can uplift the human spirit and play a key role in positive change throughout communities, cities and countries around the world. The evolution of this collaboration will bring these beliefs to life with joint activations across 2018 that help to promote, develop and fund sport’s role in social change in communities around the world.
“Beyond Sport is one of the premiere organizations for sports and social change, and we’re excited to be able to work together to convene, celebrate and collaborate with the sports industry on using sports to inspire social good,” said Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN Corporate Citizenship.
ESPN will bring its international media platform and expert knowledge in corporate responsibility to support a range of activations. This includes the flagship event, Beyond Sport United, which brings together all of the professional U.S. sports leagues and their teams, along with social innovators and change makers to discuss, inform and promote social responsibility in New York, and the Beyond Sport Global Awards, which celebrates the use of sport to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
ESPN will also support events taking place in San Francisco in May, including the annual sport & STEM education gathering, Beyond Innovation, where they will become an active member of the Sport & STEM Alliance, and will host leading thinkers and decision makers from the worlds of sport, business, government and social responsibility at the ESPN Leadership Dinner.
Nick Keller, founder & president of Beyond Sport added “as a celebrated story-teller of sports’ role in our communities, ESPN have proven that they are not just a spectator to this great work, but they themselves are actively working in disadvantaged communities, and making change happen across the world. This exciting collaboration for Beyond Sport offers us an opportunity to work with an organization that truly understands the power of sport to change lives.”