British Eventing Premier League fails

The British Eventing Premier League has been terminated due to lack of sponsorship and public interest. British Eventing’s directors decided to end the £10,000 series, which was won by Andrew Hoy in 2006, and concentrate its support on the PAVO BE Breeding Championships.

British Eventing has expressed disappointment at the failure of the League which was designed to create marketing opportunities and increased sponsor benefits as the top events.

“The ideas behind the BE Premier League were commendable but we have been disappointed by the response from the general public and media and, as yet, no large sponsors have been forthcoming to support the project,” said British Eventing chairman Alex Fox.

The league featured an accumulator leader board and points were distributed at nine top BE events including Badminton and Burghley. A prize pot of £10,000 was distributed at the end of the season with £6,000 awarded to the winner.

But the series did not gain the support it needed from sponsors and failed to impress riders. “I’d rather see us [the riders] working together with BE to sustain prize money at all events, rather than just throwing money at the top riders,” commented Event Riders Association chairman Clayton Fredericks, who finished sixth in the British Eventing Premier League in 2006. “We have to find ways of encouraging bigger prize money but the Premier League’s effect wasn’t very tangible.”

Alex Fox added: “The concept of linking top events will be investigated in the future but for the present time, the Board has decided to concentrate support on the PAVO BE Breeding Championships and develop this series and the Final at Tweseldown into one of the sport’s annual highlights.”

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