There were two major events in London's Battersea Park on Wednesday night: the first was the Sport Industry Awards and the second was Sky Sports News presenter Charlotte Jackson's dress. Enjoyed by hundreds of party-goers and talked about in every news room, marketing office and sports HQ this morning, it was a success. The ceremony went well too.
For the first five years of the awards' lifetime they were relatively parochial affairs but that changed in 2007 when royalty visited in the shape of Posh n' Becks. What had been an event for the ad men, sales staff and other suits that make up the back office, was now somewhere to do deals, somewhere to gossip, somewhere to be seen.
There were moments during Wednesday's jamboree when it felt like the centre of the sports news universe, which is a bold claim for a little island but not a totally ridiculous one when you consider the reach of the Premier League and the magnitude of the coming Olympics. The wine was flowing too.Among the 1,700 guests furiously networking under the big plastic tent were leading lights from every national governing body, agency and brand.
On one table Nike, another Adidas, whilst the daddies of the Jerry Maguire business, IMG, were guests of honour as recipients of an "outstanding contribution" award. And for those who enjoy a frisson of tension with their cheese, on the table behind mine was the man who led England's doomed 2018 World Cup bid, only yards from the man who helped Qatar get it in 2022. There was no need to chill the Chablis.
But this was a night for celebrations, not recriminations, and the list of winners gives an indication of the strength of British sport and its top brands. English cricket, buoyed by what happened over the winter in Australia, picked up two gongs, Celtic Manor won the venue prize for providing the backdrop to one of 2010's best sports stories anywhere and BSkyB earned plaudits for shaking up the peloton with its headline-grabbing cycling team.
But behind all the back-slapping and glad-handing was an important message: sport matters. This did not look like an industry in recession and austerity was short on the ground. Be it international prestige, jobs or old-fashioned cash, the UK sports sector is punching above its weight.