As a resurgence of the Covid pandemic brings continued uncertainty for the coming months, organisers of Sportel Monaco have given up trying to pursue their February event at the Grimaldi Forum.
Sportel Monaco was originally scheduled from 26th to 28th October 2020 and was pushed back to 22nd to 24th February 2021 at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco.
However the event organiser, Monaco Mediax, revealed on Wednesday that it has now decided not to pursue the event at all this winter.
“When I postponed Sportel Monaco to February 2021, the horizon was quite positive, but today I have to face the reality,” said Laurent Puons, CEO of Monaco Mediax, in a statement. “We cannot hold an international event in this current sanitary context. The regulations and health situation in Monaco, France, Europe and the world as a whole, evolve and change by the day, stating the obvious that the sports industry is not able to travel and meet face-to-face. However, the vaccine is giving us hope for the near future. We are not giving up and will continue to work hard to be ready for the day we can organise an event that can meet the expectations of our clients.”
Replacing the physical event at the Grimaldi Forum will be a series of free webinars starting in March 2021, allowing for deal making and face to face networking to continue. It follows the success of the company’s collaborative e-sports webinar last November.
“Sportel will continue to connect with the sports business community digitally,” said Mr Puons. “Industry heavyweights and dynamic innovators will discuss key industry trends emerging through the disruptive Covid climate including: navigating media rights negotiations, ‘crossover’ partnerships between parallel ecosystems such as e-sports, exciting new tech and digital evolutions, and more.”
Sportel Monaco, the world’s leading Sports Content Media Rights and Technology Convention, will return to the Principality from 5^th to 7^th October 2021.