The World Curling Federation and Infront agency have extended their media and marketing partnership for four more years, taking the contract period up to 2022.
The new agreement was announced today (Monday) following the 2018 World Men’s Curling Championship in the US city of Las Vegas, where Team Sweden claimed gold.
The deal broadens the scope of Infront's curling mandate, adding joint marketing rights with the WCF and media rights in key territories for the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships to the current partnership.
Beyond the increased rights portfolio, Infront will continue to manage the global media rights for the European and World Curling Championships and the marketing rights for the same tournaments outside Canada.
The partnership between the WCF and Infront began in 2008. The two parties said the extension will enable curling to increase its exposure in new Asian territories – a crucial step leading up to the 2022 winter Olympic Games in Beijing – and to further build on its strong presence in Europe and North America.
Infront and the WCF have recently partnered on the new Curling World Cup, which was formally launched in January. Under agreements with the Chinese Curling Association and China-based sports promotional company Kingdomway, each season of the four-stage Curling World Cup will begin in China in September and will be followed by legs in Europe in December, America in January and a Grand Final in Beijing in May.
Infront will also look into new digital opportunities and solutions for the WCF with its subsidiary Omnigon set to provide expertise in ways to strengthen fan engagement and the sport’s reach worldwide.
Kate Caithness, president of the World Curling Federation, said: “(Infront) is an agency that goes beyond the traditional model, working closely with us on the development of new events and formats and making sure the sport of curling is best positioned in the market.
“Thanks to Infront's strong footprint in the Asian market and the overall strong growth of our sport in this region, we will create the highest prerequisites for successful representation at the 2022 Beijing Olympic winter Games.”