INTA’s 2020 Europe Conference: Traditional Sports Brands Have Lessons to Share

A unique lineup of speakers discussing a wide variety ofcutting-edge issues related to both sports and esports will take center stageat INTA’s 2020 Europe Conference-Brands,Sports, and Esports: A Brand (R)evolution, February 17-18, in Madrid,Spain.

Speakers will include representatives of some of the biggestbrands in the sports and esports industries, including Major League Baseball,FC Barcelona, World Rugby., Fnatic, NBA Properties Inc., and my employer, the FédérationInternationale de Football Association (FIFA).

Working in the sports industry, I see day-to-day howtraditional sports are still very important, but also how esports are gainingmore and more momentum. It’s a real evolution.

Four or five years ago at FIFA, we didn’t yet have a very largeesports side, but we did have the popular EA Sports FIFA video game. We saw theopportunity for growth in that world. Now, there are tournaments for nationalteams and basically every member association has a national team that playsesports. It’s really come a long way in a short time.

Many lessons from the traditional sports industry cantranslate directly to the esports world. For example, a gamer builds up his orher brand with sponsorship and endorsement deals, and now their name becomes a brand,maybe even a household brand. They can learn lessons from some of the big athletes,teams, and sports leagues in traditional sports that work diligently tomaintain brand value.

It will be valuable to hear panelists speak about othertopics related to the business of sports and esports. They’ll provide importantinsights on constructing great sponsorship deals, the importance of socialmedia influencers, how to capitalize on fan movements, and more traditionaltopics like enforcement and counterfeiting.

This Conference is not only for trademark attorneys. It’sfor the wider legal community and for the business community, to get a holisticoverview of cutting-edge topics that are relevant for the sports and esports industriesand for the legal industry at large.

Learn more about INTA’s 2020 Europe Conference here: www.inta.org/madrid2020