Australia’s largest community sporting network, SportingPulse, today announced the acquisition of BellevueIT (BViT), an online membership and content management system for sporting clubs and bodies.

The partnership means BellevueIT’s current list of sporting clubs and bodies will now be able to access the broader benefits of the service SportingPulse offers its sporting partners.

Chief executive and founder of SportingPulse, Nick Maywald said: “We are delighted to announce this acquisition. BViT is a perfect fit for SportingPulse. It has an excellent network of sports, with a strong summer focus.  

“SportingPulse’s current strengths lie in the winter months when our local sporting portals receive over three million visits from local sporting participants searching for information and advice regarding their sporting season. The addition of BellevueIT’s client base extends our reach through the summer months providing us a strong year-round proposition for our customers – participants and advertisers.”

SportingPulse provides some of Australia’s largest sporting organisations with the tools to manage their organisations and competitions, publish websites, and communicate with participants at a community level. These organisations include the Australian Football League (AFL), Football Federation Australia, Basketball Australia, Hockey Australia and the National Rugby League (NRL). 

The company’s acquisition of BViT gives the company’s clients including Yachting Australia, Baseball Australia, Gymnastics Australia and Equestrian Australia access SportingPulse’s service features. These include:

• SportingPulse’s unique online payment solutions in partnership with the National Australia Bank
• Benefits provided to local sporting participants through SportingPulse’s commercial partnerships 
• SportingPulse’s commercialisation approach that transfers half of all commercial profits back into community sport

Mr Maywald also announced that BViT CEO Paul Pascoe will be remaining with the business.

“Paul has a wealth of sports technology experience and has built a very successful company. Not only does he bring strong technology experience, but he is one of the rare executives that really understands the intricacies of all levels of sport - from the smallest club through to national and international governing bodies.”

Paul Pascoe, BViT’s founder and CEO said: “This is a great opportunity for the team at BViT.  The synergies between the companies give me confidence about the future of community sport in Australia and New Zealand. I am excited about being able to tap into the much larger SportingPulse and News Limited resource base to offer new and exciting opportunities to our sports that will help their development and growth.”

The acquisition follows the announcement that News Limited increased it share in SportingPulse to 51 per cent which has enabled SportingPulse to increase its service capabilities. With geo-targeting and ad serving capabilities based on sport, location and competition age groups, SportingPulse represents a unique opportunity for brands to communicate with the participants and families at the heart of community sport.   

Alastair Sinton, News Limited deputy chief financial officer and SportingPulse chairman said: “SportingPulse is an integral part of the News Limited network. News is passionate about sport and the extensive and highly engaged community audience that the SportingPulse network attracts. The BViT acquisition provides a great fit for the business. I congratulate the board and executive team on this exciting acquisition.”