Sport England builds roster to inspire Olympic legacy

Sport England is building a roster of PR and sponsorship agencies to encourage the public to engage with grassroots sport over the next four years.

The procurement process comes after both David Cameron and Boris Johnson were forced to defend post-Olympic legacy activity, claiming that ‘this legacy hasn’t stalled’ in an article ?for the London Evening Standard.

The National Lottery and the Exchequer awarded £1bn of funding to the body in  January 2012 to launch a five-year youth and community strategy.

Running until 2017, when London hosts the World Athletics Championships, the funding spans four areas of work: a £450m investment for National Governing Bodies of sport; funding for facilities; local investment; and extra-curricular sports activity around schools.

Sport England has sent out a PPQ document to agencies that maps out plans to boost consumer interest in mid-sized sports within their local communities.

Sport England’s director of business and partnerships Tanya Joseph is leading the process.

She told PRWeek that the document comprises two lots: one handling PR and one for sponsorship and partnership, recognising that some agencies will be able to deliver on both fronts.

Joseph could not confirm a value for the brief or which sports were expected to be championed, but outlined that ‘football, cricket and rugby’ would not feature in the remit.

Agencies will be expected to work with individual sporting bodies to promote their programmes in local areas.

This article was first published on prweek.com