Deloitte Tohmatsu Group is the first professional business firm to conclude an alliance agreement with J.LEAGUE

TOKYO, JAPAN, 25th May, 2017 — Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory LLC (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Managing Partner: Hitoshi Karasuno, “DTFA”) and Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Managing Partner: Akira Kondo, “DTC”) have concluded an alliance agreement on corporate strategy and digital marketing strategy with the Japan Professional Football League (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Chairman: Mitsuru Murai, “J.LEAGUE”).

Through this alliance, both companies will provide the insight and awareness of the sports business, including the corporate strategy and data analysis developed globally over the years that DTFA’s - Sports Business Group^*1 has been in operation, along with the digital strategy know-how of DTC’s Deloitte Digital*2. We aim to work on expanding the number of spectators for the 2018 season, which is J.LEAGUE’s 25th anniversary year, creating new supporter experiences and enhancing conveniences for spectators in cooperation with J.LEAGUE.

This is one approach where focus is placed on promoting sports from a business perspective, which Deloitte is continuously striving to achieve on the global level as a global business professional network. Deloitte also contributes to the practical benefits of supporters who enjoy watching sports.

Through designing of medium-to-long term growth strategy plan and its monitoring, DTFA and DTC aim to provide support in improving the satisfaction of existing customers, while attracting new customers with the strategic utilization of funds and data.

J.LEAGUE will share various data points and industry information that has been accumulated with the two official supporting companies and will aim for even more specific strategy planning and firm implementation, while accelerating efforts towards expanding business infrastructure in the sports business.

About Deloitte’s relationship with the football business:
Deloitte has announced the sales volume of European football club teams titled as “Deloitte Football Money League,” for over 20 years since 1997, and has published the results of the analysis of each football club’s corporate management. In Japan, the Sports Business Group^*1, which DTFA leads since its establishment, has analyzed football from a business perspective and accumulated knowledge and information since 2016 and has been making announcements regarding “J.LEAGUE Management Cup,” in which business management has been quantified and ranked in four perspectives from marketing, management efficiency, corporate strategy, and financial situation. The Group also has experiences in providing various forms of support for international sports events, other than football.

Together with J.LEAGUE, we have promoted a transition project to make application procedures paperless for a club license system (reference: press release on 26th December 2016) and have realized, not only the resolution of issues such as improving efficiency in J.LEAGUE management and reducing costs, but also, the simultaneous simplification of procedures of each J.LEAGUE club, who are the system users. In addition to the insight and awareness of the sports industry and management analysis, possessed by Deloitte Tohmatsu Group, and the experience and actual results obtained in an advisory capacity for the smooth processing of projects, Deloitte Tohmatsu Group has embodied these with utilization of the latest IT technology (such as agile software development) to provide the business improvement consultation, thus structuring the foundation of the next-generation of J.LEAGUE.

(*1) Sports Business Group
This is a business unit that DTFA led since its establishment in April 2015. In order for sports to succeed from a business perspective, the Group recognizes many issues that need to be resolved, such as strengthening the team, attracting spectators and fans, developing products and services to maximize profit, constructing and operating stadiums, etc., while providing comprehensive business support by utilizing Deloitte Tohmatsu Group’s rich global and professional experiences in the sports business in various fields from finance and accounting, strategy, marketing, and business reforms.

(*2) Deloitte Digital
This is a specialized organization in digital consulting that Deloitte established, which was the first in the world in the consulting industry. The service started in Japan in 2013 after establishment in Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. Deloitte Digital currently has 17 Creative Studios in 18 countries around the world that employ approximately 6,000 specialists. Its global digital strategy plan has been created through the gathering of knowledge/information and personal exchange with digital specialists around the world.