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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2019

  Relevent and LaLiga: Bringing Spanish Soccer to America

  Anita Elberse and David Moreno Vicente

  “Barcelona backs out of proposed LaLiga match in Miami.” It is December 2018, and Daniel Sillman, chief executive officer of sports and entertainment company Relevent, is tasked with finding a way forward after a significant setback. Relevent had found success by convincing some of Europe’s highest-profile soccer clubs to play pre-season matches in North America as part of its annual International Champions Cup (ICC), held during the summer months. Building on that success, Relevent is now seeking to bring at least one official LaLiga match to the U.S, each season—an effort that is a key pillar of Relevent’s new, 15-year partnership with the Spanish soccer league, aimed at promoting the LaLiga brand in North America. However, the match that Relevent had selected to take place in Miami in January 2019, between FC Barcelona and Girona FC, had become a source of tension, drawing protests from the Spanish football federation, the Spanish players’ association, and the president of worldwide governing body FIFA. Today, FC Barcelona’s leadership team had announced the club would withdraw. Would Relevent find success in bringing a LaLiga match to the United States? And, more generally, did Relevent have the right approach to growing the LaLiga brand in North America?

  Keywords: soccer; football; superstars; Talent; talent development; general management; Marketing; Entertainment; Sports; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Globalization; Strategy; Sports Industry;

  Citation:

  Elberse, Anita, and David Moreno Vicente. "Relevent and LaLiga: Bringing Spanish Soccer to America." Harvard Business School Case 520-021, October 2019.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2017 (Revised June 2019)

  The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament

  Anita Elberse and Saskia Van Rheenen

  Should the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament gamble most of its player budget on superstar player Rafael Nadal, even after the event’s previous two editions saw Nadal and Roger Federer pull out at the last moment due to injury, leaving the tournament without any top-five players? That is the question that Richard Krajicek, former Wimbledon champion and current tournament director, is debating with Jolanda Jansen, the director of the venue that hosts the event. It is June 2017, and earlier in the day, Nadal won the French Open (“Roland Garros”) for a record tenth time. Krajicek’s plan for the upcoming edition was to focus his recruiting efforts on five exciting, mostly younger, players, and assemble a group of top-20 players around them—but after Nadal’s record-breaking performance, Krajicek is now considering pursuing the Spanish superstar for the 2018 tournament after all. What is the best course of action?

  Keywords: entertainment; superstar; Talent; general management; Marketing; Sports; Media; Entertainment; Talent and Talent Management; Negotiation; Strategy; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry;

  Citation:

  Elberse, Anita, and Saskia Van Rheenen. "The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament." Harvard Business School Case 518-041, September 2017. (Revised June 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2019

  Roger Federer's TEAM8: Launching the Laver Cup

  Anita Elberse

  Roger Federer, widely regarded as the best tennis player in the history of the sport, walked onto the court to thunderous applause during in the second edition of the Laver Cup in September 2018. Named after tennis legend Rod Laver, the Cup pitted many of the greatest players from Europe against those from the rest of the world. Federer was more than one of the Laver Cup’s main stars—he was an owner and co-creator. In fact, the idea for the event had originated in his boutique company TEAM8, which he co-founded in 2013 with his agent and business partner Tony Godsick. The Laver Cup’s success had not gone unnoticed in the world of tennis. With traditional tennis tournaments such as the Davis Cup attracting new investors and with governing bodies such as the Association of Tennis Professionals planning to relaunch their team event, the competition for top players and for desirable slots on an already very full tennis calendar was stronger than ever before. Was TEAM8’s Laver Cup well positioned for long-term success?

  Keywords: superstars; tennis; tournaments; Entrepreneurship; Sports; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation; Sports Industry;

  Citation:

  Elberse, Anita. "Roger Federer's TEAM8: Launching the Laver Cup." Harvard Business School Case 519-093, June 2019.  View Details

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