Cape Town - Liverpool FC, Manchester City, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Philadelphia Eagles - the four teams hoping to win the Beyond Sport Team of the Year Award here in December - made their cases to a distinguished audience in New York on Tuesday.

More than 250 influential figures from the world of sport attended the event of Beyond Sport United at the Yankee Stadium

The four teams have won through to the final stage of the Beyond Sport Award for Sport Team of the Year from a field of more than 30 nominated international teams, each selected for their outstanding community work.

The Beyond Sport Awards winners will be crowned at the Beyond Sport Summit, which will be staged in December in Cape Town. The Beyond Sport Awards programme provides support worth more than R12 million annually to projects across the world that use sport to address issues within their communities.

Representatives of each of the four teams stated their respective cases to an audience of some of sport’s most influential figures gathered at Yankee Stadium, including NFL team owners, the presidents of franchises from across the US major leagues and representatives of clubs from as far afield as Australia, England, Kenya and Israel – more than 80 teams from around the world in all.

The four teams were battling for an immediate boost of more than R100 000 for their respective foundations by impressing that audience. StubHub, Presenting Partner of Beyond Sport United, provided $50 (R400) Stand Dollars to every delegate in attendance, which the delegate then awarded to the project whose presentation most impresses him or her.

The Beyond Sport Summit, to be held in Cape Town for the first time in December, is an annual event that brings together the best sport-led social innovators with influential, global leaders to address sport's role in driving positive social change.

Nick Keller, Founder of Beyond Sport, commented: "The four teams nominated for the Beyond Sport Team of the Year Award provide standout case studies of the use of sport as a tool for social change and development in their local communities. Beyond Sport would like to thank StubHub for their support, and we look forward to the next stage of the four teams’ journey in Cape Town in December when, along with the many other benefits that come with the Sport Team of the Year award, the winning team will be named StubHub’s charity of the month. Teams have a vital role to play in our cities and this award is becoming increasingly important as our urban environments face new and more difficult challenges."