The British and Irish Lions have announced that Warren Gatland is to be the Head Coach for next summer’s tour to Hong Kong and Australia.  It has also revealed that Microsoft has joined the Lions’ team of sponsors.
The company has been expanding its involvement with sport over recent months both from a technology and a gaming perspective and this is the first major deal with one of the big four sports.
In the build-up to the Tour, Microsoft will be reviewing all aspects of how technology can help the team prepare for 2013.  This will extend from innovation in training analysis in the cloud to the use of communications technology to ensure players on tour remain connected with life back home.
Announcing the deal, Charlie McEwen, Director of Sales and Marketing, British & Irish Lions said, “The Lions are a uniquely British & Irish institution celebrating the 125th year anniversary next year, but we are always looking for new ways to improve our game. We wanted to bring on board the latest in innovative thinking and technology and we’ve done that today with Microsoft. They understand that to achieve our goals in the modern game we need a blend of passion, skill and technology and I’m very excited to have them as part of our team.”
“Today we are proud to be joining The British & Irish Lions family, bringing together Microsoft’s passion for technology with the best in rugby. This is just the start of our journey towards success in Australia, Hong Kong and beyond and we have ambitious plans to embed technology throughout the team bringing this Tour closer to the fans than ever before. We’re looking forward to getting started.” said Microsoft’s General Manager – Marketing and Operations for Microsoft.
Microsoft is a corporate member of Sport for Business and we will be following the progress and the development of this sponsorship deal through a series of articles, interviews and a round table gathering for members in the spring of 2013.
The Sport for Business Round Table on Technology and Sport takes place on Thursday September 6th. Sport for Business will be supporting the first Rugby Business Network evening at Lansdowne Rugby Club on Tuesday, September 12th.
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