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* Americas * November 30 2007
MLS Looks To South America
Despite the fact that MLS commissioner Don Garber claimed that David Beckham should make $250m during his 5-year contract, deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis insists his transfer wasn't the biggest event in the league this year. “The actual story has been looking to South America and importing players from South America who are very significant performers in our league.” Gazidis also indicated that this would be the market “we are mining internationally in the short term” and that in the wake of the US’s poor performance in the 2006 World Cup, MLS has been studying player development in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Source: Sports Illustrated and Reuters
Red Bulls Begin Stadium Construction
14 months after the formal groundbreaking, construction on Red Bull Park in Harrison, New Jersey will begin next week. The announcement comes less than 2 weeks after Red Bull, which owns the New York MLS franchise, bought out AEG's 50% stake in the facility. The final design has been modified to become a soccer-specific facility, which will seat 25,189. Gone are the concert stage and the supports that would have obstructed views from some seats, and the number of luxury suites have been reduced from 50 to 30. Perhaps the biggest change is that a translucent polycarbonate and aluminum structure will cover every seat, as opposed to the cantilevered roof that would have left several thousand fans exposed to the elements. Source: the Star Ledger
Lalas Claims Galaxy Plan On Being Superclub
Despite all the measures that MLS has put in place to promote parity, GM Alexi Lalas still has grand plans for the LA Galaxy: “Make no mistake, we are hell-bent with the vision of being the first MLS soccer team to emerge as a Superclub. I think what we've done in the past year has certainly established ourselves as a global brand in that there are people now that wake up and, when they think about American soccer, they think about the Galaxy.” In a related story, Commissioner Don Garber announced that the Home Depot Center in Carson, California will host the MLS Cup on November 23, 2008. Source: Yahoo! Sports and Goal.com
Pan-Pacific Cup Announced
David Beckham and the LA Galaxy will lead a 4-team field in the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship exhibition tournament in Hawaii next February. The event also will include Japanese league cup champion Gamba Osaka, the MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo and a team from the Australian A-League Final Series. The tournament will consist of doubleheaders February 20 and 23, with winners of the 1st matches playing for the title and the losers for 3rd place. Source: Yahoo! Sports
Bundesliga Reaching Out To MLS
There have been few tangible results from the strategic partnership between the Bundesliga and MLS announced last spring, but Bundesliga chief executive Christian Seifert indicated that some German clubs may conduct preseason training in the US, which would allow them to compete against MLS clubs, possibly in the All-Star game. “Right now we have 12 teams that do preseason training in Spain, which is not a big help for us because we see the U.S. as one of our strategic markets with Russia, China and India. We want to put out our message that the Bundesliga is entertaining and exciting, we do our own TV production in high-definition, and we want to share our expertise.” Source: the New York Times
* Europe *
Nike And Football Foundation Form Partnership
Nike and the Football Foundation* have agreed to run a number of initiatives aiming to boost community sport, including the ‘Nike Player Panel’, beginning next year. The scheme will see 4 soccer players, based in 4 regions, become ‘Football Foundation Ambassadors’ charged with helping community sports projects get funding. Clubs and schools will also be able to apply for football strips on the Junior Kit Scheme, via the Football Foundation’s website, and the Foundation will also be helping to promote Nike’s global competition ‘Sport for a better world.’ Source: Leisure Opportunities * The Football Foundation is the UK's largest sports charity funded by the EPL, The Football Association, Sport England and the Government. Its mission is to ‘improve facilities, create opportunities and build communities throughout England’.
Five Arrested In Bung Probe
City of London police arrested 5 men - including Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, the club's CEO Peter Storrie and its former chairman Milan Mandaric - on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting after launching a series of raids across England. Redknapp, who said he was "bitterly disappointed" at the way police have handled an inquiry, and three others have since been released on police bail, though a 30-year-old remains in custody. Source: BBC
FIFA Considers Olympic-Style Bidding Process
President Sepp Blatter said that FIFA may adopt an Olympic-style bidding process to cut down the number of countries applying to host the 2018 World Cup finals. “If there is actually as many candidates as there appears to be then we will have to do what the IOC does and have a preliminary elimination and only go with those who have given the right guarantees.” During the week Spain and Portugal stated that they are considering a joint bid for the tournament. Although Portugal staged EURO 2004 and Spain hosted the tournament as recently as 1982, a combined bid will make it difficult for England to win support in Latin America. Source: World Soccer & The Daily Telegraph
‘Celtic Cup’ Launched
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have agreed ‘in principle’ to play a series of three biennial ‘Celtic Cup’ tournaments beginning in 2009. England, who like other four failed to qualify for EURO 2008, have not ruled out participating, but the FA might be able to generate more income from summer tours and high-profile friendlies. Source: BBC
Boardroom Maneuvering At Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday
Birmingham chairman David Gold may buy back Carson Yeung's 29.9% stake in the club if the Hong Kong businessman's prospective takeover of the club collapses this week. Yeung has until Friday to convince the Blues board he can come up with the $72m he needs to become the club's new owner by December 20th. Despite the resignation of Chairman David Allen and debts exceeding $55m, Sheffield Wednesday's board has insisted “the club's finances are not in any way threatened.” Millionaire casino owner Allen, the club's second largest creditor after loaning them $5.5m, quit his post last Friday, citing a breakdown of trust in his fellow directors as the reason for his sudden departure. Coventry City are also believed to be in negotiations as they look to fight-off Administration. Sources: BBC and The Daily Mail
Le Mans Sets Naming Rights Precedent
Le Mans has become the 1st French club to sign a contract for commercial naming of its stadium, with the insurance company MMA agreeing to pay nearly $15m over 10 years to be associated with the club’s new 25,000-seat stadium beginning in 2009. In a related story, Espanyol have hired Mediapro to find a sponsor willing to pay approximately $6.5m for the naming rights to its new Cornella-El Prat stadium. Mediapro will also be in charge of the club’s commercialization in Spain and internationally, including the emerging Asian markets. Sources: FrenchLeague.com & Soccer Investor
* Rest of World *
FIFA Makes Investment In African Infrastructure
FIFA pledged to spend $70m to develop soccer infrastructure throughout Africa. An important part of the ‘Win in Africa with Africa’ campaign will be the construction of artificial pitches across the continent. Danny Jordaan CEO of the 2010 World Cup Organizing Committee said, “This is a truly momentous moment for African football. The 20 centers for 2010 Campaign reflects our goal to make a difference for all of Africa. This campaign is a very concrete step towards giving thousands of African youngsters the chance of a better future.” Source: sagoodnews.co.za
Indian Corporation Becomes WC Sponsor
India’s Satyam Computer Services announced that it signed up as one of the 4 sponsors of the FIFA World Cup and has become an official IT services provider. The relationship, the 1st FIFA have inked with a corporation from India, will cover the next 2 World Cups and Confederation Cup tournaments. Source: The Hindu
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* The information contained herein is believed to be correct, but should not be relied upon as such. All financial figures should be seen as indicative only as they may have been converted from another currency.
