BearingPoint pens five year deal with Leinster Rugby
European headquartered consultancy BearingPoint has confirmed a new multi-year partnership with Irish rugby giant Leinster Rugby. The firm will work with the four-time European championship winning team to provide innovation opportunities and enrich the experiences of fans.
Irish rugby has enjoyed several long relationships with the consulting industry. Notably, Big Four firm PwC recently announced it would continue to support the Irish Rugby Football Union until 2020, extending a partnership that goes back to 2006, with a deal including support of the IRFU’s Elite Player Pathway Programme that seeks to foster young sporting talent toward competitive competencies in both rugby and business.
Now, management and technology consulting group BearingPoint has signed a five year deal with Leinster Rugby. The club is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from Ireland, and the team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) Leinster Branch, which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU and is responsible for rugby union throughout the geographical Irish province of Leinster. It is also the island’s most successful team both domestically and in European competition. The current European Rugby Champions Cup holders achieved a 4th title in 2018, tying for the record for that competition alongside Toulouse.
The deal with global consulting firm BearingPoint will see the rapidly growing firm become Leinster's official innovation partner. In this respect, one key element of Leinster Rugby’s current growth strategy is the redevelopment of its home stadium at the RDS in order to provide increased capacity and improved facilities. BearingPoint will play a key role in this, as with permission recently secured for the development, the consultancy will support Leinster Rugby in the design and selection of all technology elements of the stadium, which will bring a number of opportunities for innovation.
Eric Conway, Leader of BearingPoint Ireland, said, "Innovation is crucial to the continued success of any organisation. BearingPoint, with our track record in delivering results for our clients, and team-based values, is an ideal fit for Leinster Rugby.” He added, “Leinster Rugby has some of the best rugby supporters and fans in the world. They expect to be engaged, involved, informed and entertained in the build-up to a match, on match day in the stadium, and afterwards. BearingPoint will work with Leinster Rugby to develop a number of new initiatives to maximise the opportunities arising from the increase in touch points between the club and supporters.”
Remarking on some of the other opportunities for BearingPoint to serve the sporting institution, Mick Dawson, CEO of Leinster Rugby, said that there were a number of projects, such as the redevelopment of the RDS Arena that Leinster is actively engaged in, "and partners like BearingPoint are a key part of the future of Leinster and what that future looks like."
Elsewhere, the consulting industry is thoroughly involved with providing innovation to rugby as a whole. Accenture notably developed a wearable for in-game information to improve a seamless in-game experience for fans, as well as opening up a new way to reach consumers with information. Meanwhile, the 2018 Rugby World Cup 7s event in San Fransisco was home to a number of pioneering digital techniques, similarly aimed at improving fans experiences during the tournament. Insight and statistic tools for this were provided by Rugby 7s global innovation partner Capgemini.
