Thursday, 10th May 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Blatter Backs United Tour Change

FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has backed calls for Manchester United to reschedule their controversial tour of Asia this summer. The new Premiership champion caused uproar by scheduling its visit to coincide with the running of the quadrennial Asian Cup, co-hosted by Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand in July. Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam launched a scathing attack on the English champions on Monday and Blatter backed the demands for United to reconsider.

“The Asian Cup is on a date reserved for competitions for the confederations and they should also be respected by clubs who are touring in the same region where these competitions are taking place,” said the FIFA president. “I would personally appeal to the club, to the associations, but also to the organisers in the different countries. We have an opportunity for solidarity for football.”

Malaysia is the last stop on United’s trip on July 27, with the tour kicking off in Tokyo on July 17 followed by a stop in Seoul three days later and a match in Macau on July 20. Those dates clash with the latter stages of the continental championship, which will feature all four co-hosts as well as defending champion Japan and nations such as China, South Korea and Iran and runs from July 7-29.

As a result, the tour was not ratified by the AFC during its Congress in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. The FIFA president has already been in contact with Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson and hoped the Old Trafford club would reconsider. “I had an opportunity to speak with him the other day when we met in Nyon and he said this was an invitation by the government (of Malaysia), and not the federation,” said Blatter.

“But we have a structure in FIFA and I told the Sports Minister here in Kuala Lumpur that when you organise a tour you have to go through the national association to ratify such a match. They have to inform the confederation. For the clubs, FIFA’s okay is not necessary but I’m sure if such a case will be presented to the club, Manchester United, that the organisers of the tour will understand such a situation.” Source: Football Insider, Sport Business, 9th May 2007

Related Excerpts: Manchester United’s Asian Tour

Source: ABC Sports Australia, Reuters, Tribal Football, Slam Sports, The Star Malaysia, 10th May 2007
Manchester United chief executive David Gill is "sad and disappointed" that his team is not welcome in Malaysia, according to local media. Gill wrote to Malaysia's Tourism Ministry after the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) bowed to pressure from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which does not want any football event to clash with its flagship tournament, the Asian Cup, from July 7-29. United were due to play in Kuala Lumpur against a Malaysian select team on July 27, two days before the Asian Cup final in Jakarta. The AFC and FAM had signed an agreement last year in which the Malaysians were barred from promoting any other football event in July.

Source: ABC Sports Australia, The Rising Nepal, The Star Malaysia, 10th May 2007
Malaysian fans also expressed their disappointment. Fans branded the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) "selfish" for pressuring Asian Cup co-hosts Malaysia to call off the match scheduled for July 27 two days before the tournament's final. Malaysian football bosses last year signed an agreement not to promote other matches during the Asian Cup, the region's premier football tournament. Lawrence How, president of Malaysia's Manchester United Fan Club, said: "I am not surprised that (the fans) are upset. You must remember that many of the fans cannot afford to visit Old Trafford to watch United play."

Source: New Straits Times Malaysia, 10th May 2007
"I don’t think the MU tour will take anything away from the Asian Cup," said UPB-MyTeam president Khairy Jamaluddin. “In Malaysia, we are passionate about our football and we cannot get enough of it. "In any way, MU are here for only one match so AFC has nothing to worry about. This is part of the Visit Malaysia Year and AFC should not hamper Government efforts, especially when I don’t see any adverse effect on the Asian Cup," said Khairy, who is also an MU fan. Note: Khairy is also a prominent politician, an Umno Youth Council member and the son-in-law of PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Source: Slam Sports, Four Four Two Australia, The Star Malaysia, 10th May 2007
Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia, said officials would appeal to the AFC on behalf of the government to salvage the planned match. "Give us a few days more to sort out matters," Tengku Abdullah was quoted as saying by The Star daily Thursday. "We don't want to rush and jeopardize our efforts to save the situation." Malaysian officials have said the match is part of a deal signed last year for United to support tourism in Malaysia, and denied it would undermine attendance at Asian Cup matches.

Source: ABC Sports Australia, 10th May 2007
The Hong Kong-based promoter of the United tour, which also includes matches in Japan, South Korea and Macau, is confident the Malaysian part of the program will continue. "All four legs will go ahead as planned," Paul Kam, chairman of ProEvents Management Ltd was quoted as saying by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. "There is a lot of speculation going on, but everything will be resolved soon." The paper said that Macau organisers would cancel ticket sales on June 2 should promoters fail to provide proper assurances that United will play there.


SPORTS SHORTS

* In Canada, the price of being a Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster continues to go up. The NHL team’s regional rights will cost Rogers Sportsnet and TSN about $700,000 a game – a 57 per cent increase over the $450,000 rights fee in the last deal. That would boost the annual Leafs regional broadcast revenue to $19 million, adding another $3.2 million a year into MLSE coffers. That figure that does not include the team's share of NHL national deals with CBC and TSN, estimated to be about $11 million a year. Source: The Toronto Star, 9th May 2007

* Pay-television, Setanta, has agreed on a deal to televise five boxing shows, including British welterweight Ricky Hatton’s forthcoming world title fight in Las Vegas. The deal with promoter Dennis Hobson could be worth up to £3.5 million ($7 million). Setanta is offering incentives to fans who pay to watch Hatton defend his IBO title against Mexico’s Jose Luis Castillo on June 23. Setanta presently has around 250,000 subscribers but hopes to increase this number to around a million when it begins showing Premiership matches, alongside BSkyB, in August. Source: Sportcal, 9th May 2007

* Barca TV Online, the new broadband video service of this season’s La Liga leaders FC Barcelona, has gone live. Barca TV Online will offer a range of on-demand video content similar to the club’s TV channel, Barca TV. Its streamed content will be divided into eight channels and audio will be available in Catalan, Spanish and English. Barca TV Online is powered by Servecast’s Media Studio platform. Source: Sport Business, 9th May 2007

* IMG Media will launch a new digital media production facility in Sydney, Australia. The Sydney operation will provide full range of digital media and technical services to clients in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia Pacific. Services include web and mobile site production, hosting and operations; digital content creation, rights management; commercial, technical consulting and implementation; live and VOD streaming and systems integration, as well as tapping into mobile content expertise of a recently acquired business in Germany. Source: Sport Business, 9th May 2007

* Organisers of the 2007 Women's World Open Squash Championship in Madrid have confirmed that the event will be staged adjacent to the Royal Palace (the Palacio Real) in the Spanish capital, from 23-27 October. An all-glass court will be the centre-piece of the event which will attract all the world's top players, led by world #1, Nicol David of Malaysia, who will be seeking a third successive triumph in squash's most prized championship. The event is the biggest-ever in women's squash, boasting a cash prize-fund of more than $100,000. Source: Sports e-Media, 9th May 2007

* Major League Baseball’s 2007 First-Year Player Draft will be carried live by ESPN2 from June 7, marking the first time that the Draft will be televised. The Draft will be at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. ESPN2 will air each club’s first round choice, with each outfit having a maximum of five minutes to make their picks during the first round. Following the pick-by-pick coverage of the first round, telecast will continue as the Draft carries on. Source: Sports Media, 9th May 2007

* CONCACAF has launched its official website for the 2007 Gold Cup in English and Spanish. GoldCup.org and CopaOro.org, produced by Terra Networks, will include the latest Gold Cup news, stats, video and audio interviews, information on all the 12 teams competing, photo galleries, a live "matchtracker" and exclusive post-match highlights during the event which will be held in six United States cities from June 6-24. Source: Football Insider, 9th May 2007

* Andy Priaulx feels it is time for television in the United Kingdom to take notice of the World Touring Car Championship. While WTCC is a major draw in Europe with broadcasters, the event in the UK attracts little coverage. Reigning world champion Priaulx feels it deserves a wider audience, given the calibre of the drivers. He said: “It is a huge championship, with a world title at stake, and there's only three of those - Formula One, World Rally and World Touring. All we need is the right TV coverage in the UK and it would really take off.” Source: Sports Media, 9th May 2007

* Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro has announced a link up with Major League Soccer outfit DC United. The one-year partnership will foster a respective sharing of expertise and experience between the two sides. The clubs will have exclusive rights to each other's training and medical facilities outside of their respective seasons, while also opening the possibility for coaching visits and player transfers. Source: Football Insider, 9th May 2007


MORE NEWS

China/General: Basketball Clash with Germans

Infront Sports & Media, exclusive global marketing partner of the Chinese Basketball Association, and the German Basketball Federation, has set up two exhibition games between Germany and China to take place this summer. The games should take place in Hamburg and Mannheim on 17 and 19 August respectively. China’s NBA superstar Yao Ming is expected to play.

The exhibition games have been organized by Infront’s “Gateway to China” resource based in Switzerland, which aims to serve European and Chinese based clients seeking to capitalise on sports opportunities in each others' market. Infront has already organised a series of contacts and technical agreements between Euroleague Basketball and the CBA and has also arranged a match-up between Team China and the NBA’s Orlando Magic this autumn in Macao. Source: Sports Media, Sports e-Media, Sportcal, 9th May 2007

Indo-China/New Media: Cambodia’s Mobile Market Growing 35% a Year

Research and Markets has unveiled its '2007 Asia - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam' report. The report profiles three countries which once made up the French colonial entity known as Indochina. According to the report, these neighbouring countries are still in relatively early stages of telecommunications development with expanding national infrastructure and growing subscriber bases across all market segments.

Cambodia’s mobile market has passed 1.5 million subscribers and was growing at an annual rate of 35 per cent, whereas fixed-line services were relatively low at 42,000, with no sign of a revival in interest. Internet penetration in the country remained low, with services being more expensive than other countries in the region. Laos had a fixed line tele-density of less than two telephones per 100 people by early 2007 and says more foreign investment is needed to boost the telecoms sector and the government must be judicious in deciding and licensing how this investment happens.

Vietnam has become a target for fresh investor interest. The country has had strong growths in both the mobile and fixed line sector, while internet user penetration was running at 18 per cent in early 2007. Mobile and fixed line penetration are as follows: Cambodia 15% and 37%, Laos 21% and 40% and Vietnam 30% and 60%. Source: Digital Media Asia, 9th May 2007

Elsewhere/General: Fifa President Could Seek Fourth Term

Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, has indicated that he could run for a fourth term in 2011. The 71-year-old is standing unopposed for a new four-year term at the Fifa Congress in Zurich at the end of this month and says he may need more time to complete his work after spending early years of his presidency dealing with challenges to his authority.

Previously serving as general secretary, Blatter succeeded Joao Havelange as president in 1998 and overcame corruption allegations and mismanagement to defeat Issa Hayatou and win a second term four years later. He claimed that his age would not be an issue: ‘I’m still in good shape, I’m convinced that what I’m doing is still good for our game and I have the necessary energy and pleasure to be in this job.’ Source: Sportcal, 9th May 2007