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* Americas * May 16, 2008
Spanish Giant
Signs 5-Year Agreement with MLS
FC Barcelona
will tour the US later this year as part of a 5-year commercial agreement with
MLS. No details of the tour were disclosed, but officials of MLS' marketing arm,
Soccer United Marketing, revealed that the contract also included the soccer
league negotiating the club's sponsorship rights and handling the PR and
marketing in the US. “If you want to be a global brand, you have to be in the
United States” said a club marketing executive. “We want to have a permanent
presence here, and maybe that permanent presence will mean a team here someday.”
Source: the Toronto
Star
Texas Southern
University Offers Help with Dynamo Stadium
Texas Southern
University athletic director Charles McClelland said the university is
interested in investing in the Houston Dynamo’s stadium in exchange for the
rights to use it as a home to Tigers Athletics. The Dynamo, who are still
negotiating with the city of Houston, were quick to point out that any such
stadium would not have a track around it or those football lines soccer fans
can't seem to stand. “We definitely understand the issue and I think we will be
sensitive to it if the deal is done” said Dynamo president Oliver Luck. “We
understand that football lines are something the soccer community isn't really
interested about.” Source: the Houston
Chronicle
AEG Buy Stake
in De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions
AEG, owners of
the LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo among other properties, has become the
2nd-largest shareholder in Golden Boy Promotions - behind De La Hoya. Golden
Boy, which was founded by the former Olympic champion in 2001, will use the deal
to put boxing events in many of AEG's arenas, probably starting later this year.
Source: ESPN
ESPN and
Coldplay Strike EURO 2008 Deal
Coldplay and
ESPN have signed a marketing deal that will see Coldplay's music used in
promotions for ESPN's coverage of Euro 2008. ESPN, which has the broadcast
rights for the tournament in the US, Canada, Mexico, South America and India,
will also incorporate music from Coldplay's new release, ‘Viva La Vida,’ due out
12 June, into game and studio production. Source: ESPNsoccernet
* Europe *
Manchester
United Seeing More Red
Accounts
released this week by Red Football Joint Venture Ltd show that Manchester United
posted a nearly $115m loss in the financial year ending 30 June, 2007. While
this figure represents a significant improvement on the $160m loss recorded in
the previous year, figures suggest that the club is being adversely affected by
the global credit crunch. The club still owes almost $300m to hedge funds, at an
annual rate of interest of 14.25%, and it paid off only $80m of the $160m in
interest due on their debts last year. The figures also revealed that the club
had borrowings of nearly $1.3b, up from less than $1.2b in the previous year,
which took the total owed to all creditors to just under $1.5b, including
approximately $110m in transfer fee instalments. Source: the Daily
Mail
Gunners
Chairman Reverses Stance on American Bidder
Chairman Peter
Hill-Wood softened his stance against American Stan Kroenke eventually
purchasing a controlling interest in Arsenal FC. “Contrary to what I said
before, I now believe he may well have a vital contribution to make to the
future of this football club.” Kroenke, who currently owns a 12% stake, might
soon be invited to join the board. Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has
amassed a 25% stake, but he is seen as a less palatable candidate. Source:
the Daily Telegraph
Hicks
Reportedly Approaches Hedge Funds to End Dispute
Liverpool
co-owner Tom Hicks is seeking help from hedge funds to end his acrimonious
relationship with partner George Gillett. Hicks has approached several hedge
funds about financing his buyout of Gillett, including some that helped finance
fellow American Malcolm Glazer’s purchase of Manchester United in 2005. But,
according to the Daily Telegraph, at least one of those funds has balked at
Hick’s request. “It was turned down because the investment case for Liverpool is
not the same as Manchester United.” Source: FINalternatives
Financial
Figures for Juve Show Improvement
Juventus, which
returned to Serie A this season, announced a net loss of approximately $1.25m in
its 3rd-quarter, significantly less than the $7m loss it reported a year
earlier. The rise is attributed to higher sales of TV rights, which rose to from
$40m to around $59m, and sponsorship sales, which grew from $11.5 to nearly
$16m. The club said that operating results in the three months to March saw
profit of just over $3.5m, down from around $4.2 the previous year, while sales
rose to $84m, up from $60m. Source: SportBusiness.com
EURO 2008
Predicted to Boost Austrian Economy
Austrian
economists estimate that the EURO 2008 will generate $490m, equal to about 0.15%
of annual GDP. In addition, net spending of more than $400m and the creation of
the equivalent of 6,000 jobs are predicted for the duration of the tournament,
which Austria is jointly hosting with Switzerland. Source: Reuters
The Fourth Most
Watched Soccer League
Only being
beaten by the EPL, Germany’s Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga, the English
Football League has announced that the Coca-Cola Championship is the fourth most
watched league in Europe, with an average of over 17,000 visiting games this
past season Source: The
Scotsman
Porto Escape
Severe Punishment in Corruption Scandal
FC Porto was
deducted 6 points Friday for trying to bribe referees in 2 games during the
2003-04 season, but the punishment will not affect its ability to collect a
3rd consecutive title this weekend. Other clubs involved in the
biggest scandal in Portuguese soccer history were not so fortunate. Cross-city
rivals Boavista dropped to the 2nd division and Leiria lost points.
All three clubs denied the charges, but 5 referees also were found guilty and
drew suspensions ranging from 2½ to 6 years. Source: ESPNsoccernet
Relegated Derby
Earn $56m Windfall
Despite the
fact that Derby County secured only 11 points in the worst ever EPL campaign,
they banked around $56m in prize money and TV revenue. All 20 clubs receive an
equal payment of about $26m from the domestic TV package, plus an extra $18m
from the overseas deal. They also receive extra money each time one of their
games is screened live or ‘near live’. This explains why Manchester United,
which had 25 such matches, earned just short of $100m. Source: the Daily
Mail
Wembley Could
Stage 2011 Champions League Final
Wembley Stadium
could stage the 2011 Champions League final after the British Treasury announced
that foreign players involved in the match would be exempt from a law
stipulating that even sportspeople based overseas are liable to pay tax on
earnings from bonuses and endorsements if they appear at UK events. Uefa had
indicated that Wembley would not be given the lucrative game unless the tax was
waived. Source: the Times
Cup Finalists
Turn Down Offer
The major
sponsors of Cardiff City, who play Portsmouth in tomorrow’s FA Cup Final, have
turned down an offer of $1m from an Asian gambling company to buy their
advertising rights for the game. The value of current sponsors CommsDirect’s
2-year deal is believed to be in the order of $0.5m per year – and expires after
the match. Source: SportBusiness.com
* Rest of the World *
UAE Seeks Club
World Championship
The United Arab
Emirates FA wants to stage the 2009 and 2010 Club World Championship, which has
been held in Japan up until now. UAE FA president Mohammed Khalfan al Rumaithi
expressed confidence: “We have sufficient experience of hosting events of this
kind. The most important was the Fifa World Youth Cup in 2003, which according
to the participants and observers was a great success in more than just
organisational terms.” Source: Goal.com
* Comment: ESPN's Coldplay *
The news that
ESPN has struck a partnership with Coldplay could signify an important step
(depending on your musical taste) for US soccer broadcasting. The last 2
European Championships were only available on pay-per-view via Setanta, which
meant that the event passed virtually unnoticed in the US, but ESPN is clearly
committed to promoting it more heavily. Not only did they sign Coldplay, but
they indicated that matches will be shown in HD on ESPN and ESPN2 too. It will
be interesting to see if the network promotes the event during other broadcasts
and whether SportsCenter will show more than goal highlights. Still, it’s
another step forward.
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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.
