TfL & ESPNFC team up to deliver football updates
10 Jun 2014 02:56 PM
Commuters will see news, results and score
updates from ESPNFC’s team of global football experts in
Brazil.
- Updates to be displayed in more than 140 stations across
the London Underground network
England legend John Barnes today launched a partnership
between Transport for London (TfL) and global football website ESPNFC to bring
live football updates to London’s commuters this summer.
The
partnership will see ESPNFC and TfL bring news, results and score updates from
Brazil to commuters via overhead platform Dot Matrix Indicators (DMIs), and on
400 Electronic Service Update Boards (ESUBs) located at the entrances of London
Underground stations.
The
DMI updates will be displayed at more than 140 stations including the entire
Central line, Northern line, Bakerloo line and Jubilee line.
The
service will begin on Thursday 12 June with live updates from the Brazil and
Croatia game in Sao Paolo, and will continue until Monday 14
July.
With matches in Brazil kicking off in the afternoon and
evening, fans will be able to stay up to date during rush hour and on their way
home from a night out.
In
addition, each morning ESPNFC will deliver recap news and results from
overnight, and provide all the latest news from Brazil through the
day.
ESPNFC ambassador John Barnes, who lived in London from
the age of 12, and played for England in two World Cups,
commented:
'This is a great way to keep fans up to date during
the big games. There will be plenty of people who have to travel while matches
are being played, or may have missed the results from matches the night before
– ESPNFC is ensuring they won’t miss out. There are often debates
about the use of technology in football, but I think everyone will agree this
is a good one.'
Mike Brown MVO, Managing Director of London Underground
and Rail, said:
'This is a great way to keep our passengers up to
date on the football and we are really pleased to be teaming up with ESPNFC to
deliver this. It also generates a bit of money to allow us to keep investing in
further improvements to the tube network.'
Alan Fagan, Group Director, ESPN EMEA,
said:
'ESPNFC is dedicated to going the extra mile to keep
fans updated wherever they are, so we are delighted to reach this innovative
agreement with TfL. Bringing football scores and news to the London
Underground’s passenger information services is an industry first, and
reflects the kind of creative, fan focused approach we have to covering sport.
This initiative together with the coverage on our sites means that fans in
London won’t need to miss a thing.'
The
partnership will help secure income for reinvestment in London’s
transport network as part of a wider commercial strategy that is currently
forecast to generate £3.5bn over the coming years.
It
follows announcements earlier this year to bring ‘click and
collect’ services from major retailers as well as the introduction of
pop-up shops to the London Underground network.
The
collaboration follows the recent relaunch of ESPNFC.com and the ESPNFC
App.
The
site has undergone a comprehensive redesign making it fully responsive across
all devices – mobile, tablet, desktop, laptop and other devices –
to bring fans unrivalled coverage of football in the UK and around the
world.
As
part of the partnership, ESPNFC will run an advertising campaign on the home
page and journey planner section of the TfL.gov.uk website, as well as
experiential activity involving football freestylers at Stratford, Charing
Cross and Tottenham Court Road stations later this week.
Notes to
Editors:
Images of John Barnes, Nigel Holness (Operations
Director JNP and SSL, London Underground) and Alan Fagan (Group Director, ESPN
EMEA) are available here.