Tuesday, 16th January 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Best Of Mexico To Test MLS In SuperLiga

With the ink on David Beckham’s astronomical contract with Los Angeles Galaxy not yet dry, Major League Soccer (MLS) over the weekend took another important step towards establishing itself on the international football scene by announcing the formation of a new competition following a link-up with Mexico’s Primera Division.

The SuperLiga will involve a total of eight clubs - four from each league - competing for a US$1 million first prize. The first edition of the tournament, which will be held in the US from July 24 to August 29 later this year, will include LA Galaxy, FC Dallas, DC United and Houston Dynamo from MLS and Club America, Monarcas Morelia, CD Guadalajara and CF Pachuca from the Primera Division.

The SuperLiga will have a similar format to the UEFA Champions League in Europe, with two groups and then a knockout phase. Apertura champion Guadalajara, FC Dallas, LA Galaxy and Copa Sudamericana winner Pachuca will contest Group A, with CONCACAF Champions Cup holder America, DC United, Houston Dynamo and Morelia in Group B.

The games will be played at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, RFK Stadium in Washington DC, Robertson Stadium in Houston, Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver, Toyota Park in Bridgeview and Home Depot Center in Carson, where David Beckham is likely to make his LA Galaxy debut on July 24 when his new team faces Guadalajara. Source: Football Insider, Sportcal, ESPN, Soccer America, 15th January 2007

World Broadcast Market Growing Fast

In an industry first, the global broadcast and media technology industry has been sized, valued and analysed. The results of the 10 month study commissioned by the IABM (International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers) and conducted by Screen Digest reveal a global media and broadcast technology supply industry valued at $11.6billion and predicted to grow 11.4 per cent year on year.

The study identified that there were only 100 companies with revenues of over $10 million a year and some 200 with revenues of $1 million a year or more, demonstrating that there are still a very large number of small, specialist niche suppliers. Nonetheless, the top eight manufacturers account for 45 per cent of total revenues. Source: Advanced Television, 15th January 2007


INFO DIGEST

Info Box – TV Stats
* 26% of HDTV owners have more than one HDTV set in the US
* 27% of sports fans watch significantly more TV after getting HDTV in the US
* 355 million cable TV households worldwide
* 39 million HDTV subscribers in Asia-Pacific in 2011
* 6.3 million IPTV subscribers in China by 2010
* Top cable TV markets: China - 106 million, USA - 69 million, India - 46 million
Source: Info IQ


SPORTS SHORTS

* Japanese viewers are becoming more sports mad. Seven of the 10 most viewed programs last year were sports-related, up from five in 2005. Video Research’s list for 2006 showed TV Asahi's June 18 FIFA World Cup 2006 match between Japan and Croatia was No. 1 with 52.7%, followed by the June 12 Japan-Australia World Cup match on NHK with 49%, and Nippon TV's March 21 World Baseball Classic Japan-Cuba finals with 43.4%. That is in contrast to 2004 when only three Athens Olympics-related programs made the top 10. Source: Television Asia, 15th January 2007


MORE NEWS

Asia/Rights: FIBA Partners With SPORTFIVE in Asia

Sportfive will assist FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basketball) in the sale of media rights throughout Asia and the Middle East for the FIBA World Championships and FIBA Asia Championships from 2009 until 2011. SPORTFIVE will also assist FIBA with the sale of marketing rights across Asia and the Middle East for the FIBA Asia Championships from 2007 until 2011. SPORTFIVE, on behalf of FIBA, will also offer worldwide sponsorships to Asian-based companies.

The FIBA Asia Championships are the continental qualifying tournaments for the FIBA World Championships and the Olympic Games. SPORTFIVE is very pleased about its collaboration with FIBA for the Asian market. SPORTFIVE’s offices in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are in an ideal position to successfully manage a professional and wide-ranging sales process for FIBA. Source: Sports e-Media, Sportcal, 15th January 2007

Vietnam/Rights: VTC Has Sole Rights for Football

Exclusive live broadcast rights to all national football matches belong to Viet Nam Television Technology Corporation (VTC) including the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup. VTC has permitted some 24 provincial TV stations to broadcast all games but it denied a request for shared rights with Viet Nam Television (VTV) for broadcast rights for the AFF Cup in Thailand and Singapore.

VTV had sent four proposals to VTC. VTC did not explain why it snubbed VTV, saying merely it was for "many subjective and objective reasons". Last month it signed an exclusive deal with the AFC-sanctioned World Sports Group, a sports marketing and management agency operating primarily in Asia. Source: Vietnam News, 13th January 2007

China/General: Infront Unveils Chelsea Partnership

The Chinese men’s Olympic football team (Team China) will visit Chelsea FC as part of a new partnership developed by Infront Sports & Media between the Chinese Football Association and the London club. Infront is the exclusive marketing partner of China’s national football teams in a wide-ranging relationship that goes beyond the commercial arena and includes the implementation of a comprehensive technical development plan for the teams.

Infront’s partnership with Chelsea will begin with a two-week training camp to be held in London in February 2007. Based on how the training goes, the parties plan to discuss the feasibility of a wider ranging and longer-term strategic partnership. Team China and Chelsea will also play three matches against London-based teams and work on a number of joint promotional initiatives during the stay.

Infront has a strong presence in China, with an office in Beijing and a staff of close to 50 people. This project is one of the first organised by Infront’s European Competence Centre Asia, a new unit that specialises in developing links between Europe and China through sports marketing activities and sporting contacts. Source: Sports Media, EUFootball.biz, 15th January 2007

Elsewhere/General: FIFA Could Still Agree to Deal with Visa

Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, has suggested that they could still agree a sponsorship deal with Visa, blaming an unrelated trademark dispute with MasterCard for the governing body’s controversial decision to ignore MasterCard's right of first refusal. Fifa is appealing against a New York court ruling that it should ditch the deal with Visa and instead award an eight-year sponsorship contract to MasterCard.

Blatter blamed the dispute over the logos of Fifa and MasterCrad, both of which employ two overlapping globes, saying in an interview in Paris. Blatter’s claim came despite the fact that two previous sponsorship deals with MasterCard were unaffected by the existence of the trademark dispute. Blatter said that Fifa is in discussions with MasterCard, but that it had had no recent talks with Visa which, it said, is ‘just watching and waiting.’

MasterCard took legal action against Fifa after it broke off negotiations with the company over a new contract covering its competitions from 2007 to 2014 and agreed an alternative deal with rival Visa, worth $180 million, plus $15 million in so-called ‘marketing-in-kind’ benefits. In a damning, the presiding said Fifa had lied to MasterCard when it said it would respect the firm’s right of first refusal over a new sponsorship contract.

Fifa responded by sacking Jérôme Valcke, the former head of Fifa Marketing and TV, and three other top officials involved in the negotiations with Visa and MasterCard. Source: Sportcal, 15th January 2007

Elsewhere/General: German League Cup Set for Major Expansion

The DFL, the German Football League, is pressing ahead with plans to significantly expand its league cup competition in the 2008-09 season. DFL officials have been discussing the possibility of opening the ‘Ligapokal’ competition up to all 36 teams from the two top Bundesliga divisions. At present, only six teams participate in the tournament, the curtain raiser to the domestic season.

According to Germany’s Bild Am Sonntag newspaper, the revamped tournament would offer €25 million ($32.4 million) in prize money, with the winners earning €2.5 million and a place in the Intertoto Cup, the third-tier European clubs competition. It is also claimed that the DFL would consider playing the final in Asia in an attempt to boost the Bundesliga’s profile in that lucrative market. The favoured model would allow automatic entry to the top ten clubs in the first division and the top six clubs in the second division, with the remaining sides having to qualify.

The idea of playing ties over two legs has also been suggested, although leading figures in German soccer, such as national team manager Joachim Löw, have voiced concerns over the impact this would have on the domestic calendar.Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of Bayern Munich, has long been a supporter of a radical reform of the league cup competition and suggested that the winners should receive a place in the Uefa Cup, the second-tier European clubs competition.

In his latest outpouring, Rummenigge has hit out at the DFB, the German Football Federation, for failing to help Bundesliga clubs in their efforts to raise their profile abroad. The former captain of West Germany said: ‘The time has come for the DFB to take into consideration the interests of the Bundesliga. In the coming years we are going to demand considerably more from the DFB than was the case previously.’ In particular, Rummenigge wants more freedom and time to arrange exhibition matches for Bayern Munich in foreign cities.