RLWC2021 brings in The Value Xchange to ramp up sponsorship sales

Rugby League World Cup 2021, the organising committee of the sport’s flagship tournament, has appointed The Value Xchange, the London-based sports and media consultancy, to support its continued sponsorship sales activity in the lead-up up to the event in England later this year.

Through the tie-up announced today, the organisers are seeking to add to the tournament’s existing sponsorship roster, which presently includes principal sponsor Cazoo, Eversheds Sutherland, Deloitte, Manchester Metropolitan University, Kappa, Kuehne+Nagel and Assura.

RLWC2021 owns all the commercial and broadcast rights for the competition, which will see men's, women's and wheelchair tournaments played concurrently for the first time, from 23 October to 27 November, with 32 national teams contesting 61 matches across 21 venues.

Jonathan Neill, RLWC2021 commercial director, said: “Sponsorship plays a hugely important role for the tournament in driving revenue, supporting our wider tournament objectives, and the commercial legacy beyond the event this year. We’ve made progress to date and are very grateful to the brands who have shown trust in us.

“We want to continue to build on this and welcome further brands, whilst supporting the business community at such a critical time as we emerge from the pandemic. We take a flexible, data and insight-led approach to partnerships, and are finding brands want to align and add value to our vision and values, whilst delivering against their brand and business objectives via positive engagement with our audiences.”

The organising committee appointed Sophie Pontifex from the Octagon agency as its sponsorship lead last October with responsibility for the management, activation and delivery of sponsorships in the build-up and during the tournament. 

Last September, The Value Xchange set up a new rights owners sales division in an effort to provide cost effective commercial consultancy and sponsorship sales representation to in-need sports properties in a market rendered more challenging by the coronavirus pandemic.

The consultancy has a few non-exclusive relationships with rights owners which are commission-only, including with the UK's Lawn Tennis Association, freestyle soccer media organisation Street Soccer International, live event promoter Live Nation and Dugout, the digital media platform backed by multiple European soccer clubs.

Earlier this month, RLWC2021 selected RDA, the UK-based firm that has established itself as one of the leading sports media rights agencies in both codes of rugby, to help sell international media rights to the tournament.

This year's men's competition will be the largest ever, with 16 nations, two more than in 2017, as Jamaica and Greece making their tournament debuts.