Wednesday, 20th February 2008

INFO BOX

France 07 'Was Most Successful Rugby World Cup Ever'

Last year’s Rugby World Cup, hosted mainly by France, was the most successful in the 20-year history of the competition, the International Rugby Board, the sport’s world governing body, has claimed.

The IRB, which is engaged in a long-running campaign to persuade the International Olympic Committee to add rugby to the Olympic programme, said that the competition had ‘smashed all previous attendance, broadcast and economic impact figures, reinforcing its stature as one of the world’s largest sporting events.’

Total attendances reached 2.24 million, exceeding 2 million for the first time, with average crowds of 47,000 across the 48 matches in France, Scotland and Wales. The 42 matches held in France scored a 97-per-cent attendance rate.

Meanwhile, the tournament’s travel and hospitality programme exceeded 100,000 sales, more than for the 1999 and 2003 tournaments combined. A total of 119 international broadcasters televised the tournament across 202 territories, with the organisers claiming a ‘potential cumulative reach’ of over 4.2 billion, an 800-million improvement on the 2003 tournament.

The IRB claimed that television coverage doubled in Spain, Italy, Portugal and across Asia, while enhanced levels of coverage in Russia, India, Canada and USA highlighted rugby’s ‘growing global appeal.’

Bernard Lapasset, chairman of the IRB, said: ‘It is also significant to note that RWC 2007 matches were the top six viewed programmes of any description in France during 2007, while over 20 million viewers in France tuned in to watch the France versus England semi-final at Stade de France, bettering the figure achieved for the soccer World Cup final involving France at the same stadium in 1998. ‘Coverage of the England versus South Africa final attracted the highest viewing figures for a single programme in the UK in 2007 with nearly 17 million tuning in to see whether England could retain the Webb Ellis Cup.’

Matches from the Rugby World Cup also topped the year's programming in South Africa and New Zealand. Sportcal.com, 19th Feb 2008


SPORTS SHORTS

* Soccer United Marketing agreed one-year deals with six sponsors for the Pan-Pacific Championship. Japanese agency Dentsu brought onboard Yamazaki-Nabisco Co., Johnson & Johnson of Japan, Japan Airlines and Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. Soccer United Marketing added deals with the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Onkyo Corp. The inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship is designed to determine the top club from the Asian and North American soccer federations and features MLS Cup champions the Houston Dynamo, Japan's J League champions, Gamba Osaka, Los Angeles Galaxy and Syndey FC, of Australia's Hyundai A-league. Sportsbusiness, 19th Feb 2008

* New Zealand commercial broadcaster TV3 is set to secure the TV rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup according to local press reports. International Rugby Board Chief Executive Mike Miller confirmed that Rugby World Cup Ltd is in talks with TV3. He said "they haven't put an offer on the table yet, but when they do we will discuss how compelling it is and whether we go to the market place". As New Zealand's broadcaster for last year's World Cup in France, TV3 has first option on the upcoming tournament. Sportsbusiness, Sportcal, 19th Feb 2008

* England’s women cricketers have become the first in the world to be awarded central contracts after they retained the ‘Ashes’ by defeating Australia yesterday. Ten deals worth between £40,000 ($78,450) and £50,000 will be offered by the England and Wales Cricket Board, allowing the team to focus on the Women’s World Cup in Australia in March 2009 without the distraction of other jobs. They could also feature in a Twenty20 competition planned to run alongside the men’s Twenty20 World Cup in England later that year. On Monday, England completed a six-wicket victory over Australia at Bowral in the only test match of their overseas tour. Sportcal.com, 19th Feb 2008

* The International Triathlon Union has launched its official website for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, featuring Olympic news, information on athletes nominated to take part by their national federations, course details and a breakdown of the qualifying process. The site, which can be found at www.triathlon.org/olympics, also includes videos, interviews, photo galleries and race reviews from the 2000 and 2004 Olympic triathlon events in Sydney and Athens, and all three Beijing test events in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Sportcal.com, 19th Feb 2008


MORE NEWS

Asia/New Media: Asia-Pacific will outpace Europe in IPTV

The global IPTV industry is rapidly expanding with the rising penetration of broadband in households all over the world, says "Global IPTV: Market Analysis and Forecast to 2011", a comprehensive market research report by RNCOS, a market research company.

The report has found that the global IPTV market is currently dominated by Europe but it is expected that Asia will emerge as a stronger competitor to Europe in coming years. The number of broadband subscribers will take long jump in the Asia-Pacific region and it is expected to grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 91 per cent during 2006-2011. RNCOS report has thoroughly studied the reasons that are promoting the IPTV market in the Asia-Pacific region with special focus on the implications of regulations, penetration of personal computers and quality of broadband service.

The report has also discovered that only six countries from the Asia-Pacific region, namely South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Macao, came in the world’s top 20 countries, which had good broadband penetration in 2005, as measured by the International Telecommunication Union. But India and China, two fastest developing economies, will also be included in these six countries as the number of broadband subscription is rising in these countries, including rural areas. In fact, the rural areas of both the countries are offering enormous growth opportunities for the expansion of broadband. However, the Philippines is also expected to join the league soon. ATV, 20th Feb 2008

India/Cricket-IPL: India’s Cricketing Money-spinner

The world’s top cricketers are about to find out exactly what they are worth as India’s new cricket league prepares to hold its first player auction on Wednesday. The Indian Premier League, a new tournament based on the shortened “Twenty20” format of the game, will auction more than 80 domestic and international players to eight new teams based in the country’s major cities.

The launch of the IPL by India’s supreme cricketing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, marks the final commercialisation of the gentleman’s game, putting it in a similar mould to football’s English Premiership or American baseball. The 44-day IPL starts in April and will feature 59 matches. Unlike Test and one-day formats, Twenty20 takes just a few hours to play. This, together with its cheerleaders and big-hitting action, renders it tailor-made for prime-time television.

It is already proving a huge money-spinner for the BCCI. The body last month sold the team franchises to companies controlled by people such as billionaire Mukesh Ambani and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for a total of about $724m (€490m, £371m). It also sold the TV and promotional rights for the tournament to Sony and Singapore-based World Sports Group for a total of $1.1bn, 80 per cent of which will be redistributed among the eight teams.

The BCCI and the teams will also earn money from sponsorships, merchandising, tickets, stadium hospitality and prize money. The players, meanwhile, stand to gain from the auction and brand endorsements. Up for sale are expected to be greats such as Australia’s Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist, while Indian champions, such as Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will play for their home team. Each team is allowed to spend upto $5m on eight contracted players. FT.com, indiantimes.com, 19th Feb 2008