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  • Vitality Netball World Cup

The Vitality Netball World Cup took place at the M&S Bank Arena between the 12th and 21st July 2019 and was hailed as the most successful Netball World Cup ever.

16 teams from around the world were cheered on by 111,000 spectators across the 10 day event. As part of the event, Culture Liverpool produced an in-house spectacular opening ceremony, unique for a local authority which saw inspirational and motivational female voices taking centre stage to welcome the competing teams with a show that included a pyrotechnic and multi-media show, aerialists, 28 dancers from around the world and a 250 strong choir intertwined with the music of Liverpool. A team of globally acclaimed specialists, many homegrown including choreographers Darren Suarez and Valentina Temussi, musical director Andy Frizell, costumes by Mary Lamb and Fabrication Studios, projection experts Illuminos and world-renowned pyrotechnics company Titanium were directed by the team. In addition a handover ceremony took place following the final which saw Mayor Joe Anderson hand over the tournament to the 2023 Netball World Cup hosts, South Africa.

Liverpool also welcomed 44,000 people to the Fan Park at Chavasse Park, Liverpool ONE which was free to attend across the whole 10 days. As well as showing all 60 matches on the live screen it also broadcast the end of the Cricket World Cup Final! Activities included performances from choirs, singers, pipe bands and dancers representing Liverpool's cultural communities, a pop up netball court ran by England Netball with exhibition matches and opportunities to play the game, official merchandise, a special visit from Clare Balding and sponsor activations. Players from each of the participating countries visited for meet and greets, as did Jude the official mascot and the Netball World Cup Trophy.

The Fan Park was also host to numerous news outlets including Sky Sports, ITV News, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio Merseyside, Good Morning Britain and BBC North West Tonight alongside other international media. Liverpool ONE forecast that footfall increased by 7.7% against the same period last year.

The Netball World Cup had a worldwide TV audience of 11M with over 845 hrs of global TV and the word Liverpool was seen or mentioned on TV 593,000 times globally & 81,375 in the UK. The media value of the Liverpool branding was measured at just over £16M and we welcomed 151 accredited media (65 International, 76 National and 10 Local). The event also had an online readership of 803M & 37.2M offline with Liverpool’s online media value on BBC.com alone coming in at £351,829.

The Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 was voted 'Event of the Year' at the Sport Industry Awards 2020.

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