Monday, 19th November 2007

SPORTS SHORTS

* The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix has secured SingTel, the country’s largest telecommunications group, as its title sponsor. The event, which takes place on September 28, 2008, will be known as the ‘Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix.’ Further details of the sponsorship will be released at the beginning of next year. Formula 1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone described SingTel as ‘a powerful player in the world of telecommunications’ and said the deal would offer the company ‘the platform to achieve global recognition of their brand.’ The new street race will be Formula 1’s first-ever night grand prix. Source: Sportcal, 16th Nov 2007

* The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) hereby informs that two of its national federations, the Chinese Basketball Association and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, have presented bids to organize the 2008 Diamond Ball for Men. The FIBA Central Board, which will meet in Chicago (USA) from 7th to 9th December 2007, will decide which one of these two countries will be entrusted with the organization of this six-team invitational tournament scheduled to take place from 29th July to 1st August 2008 (eight days before the beginning of the Beijing Olympic Games). Source: Sports e-Media, Sportcal, 16th Nov 2007

* The Italian Soccer League has just inked a government-brokered deal that will change how the $1 billion per season local soccer TV rights will be split. Previously, Calcio rights were negotiated individually by team rather than collectively. That meant billionaire clubs got big bucks from broadcasters while smaller clubs were left with crumbs. Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri hailed the agreement as "a democratic revolution," noting that the Serie A suffered the highest TV coin disparity in Europe. While the league rights are now estimated to be worth €700,000 (US$1 billion) for a two-year season, in Blighty, BSkyB and Setanta Sports have paid more than five times that sum for a three-year Premiere League package. Source: Variety, 16th Nov 2007

* The English Rugby Football Union and Premier Rugby agreed a new deal which is hoped will put an end to club-v-country rows. The RFU will give the Premiership clubs £110 million in exchange for more time with elite players ahead of Test matches. Clubs will also have the right to sell their own TV and sponsorship rights. The deal runs from July 2008 to 2016. Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said the part of the deal which allows the clubs to sell their own TV and media rights - was crucial. The agreement means that England players will be released from club commitments 13 or 14 days before autumn internationals, Six Nations matches or summer tours matches, giving them more preparation time. The deal should put an end to a dispute that has run intermittently since rugby union turned professional in 1995. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 16th Nov 2007

* Carson Yeung wants more time to complete his £50 million takeover of Birmingham City. The Hong Kong businessman has been given until December 20 by the current co-owner David Sullivan to buy the Barclays Premier League club. However, the Birmingham Mail claims Yeung, who bought a 29.9% stake in the club in July, wants to extend that deadline. It is understood Yeung and his associates are struggling to raise the appropriate funds. Sullivan has said there will be no extension which means Yeung could be forced to pull out of the proposed takeover. Source: Football Insider, 16th Nov 2007

* Walt Disney Group is said to be in talks to take over English Premier League club Derby County. According to UK press reports, Roy Disney, the company chairman is negotiating a deal for a consortium of financial institutions to take a controlling shareholding in the club. If any deal goes ahead, Derby would become the fourth club to be bought by American owners following in the footsteps of Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa. Source: Sport Business, 16th Nov 2007

* A new website has launched offering fans a chance to access messages from some of their favourite sports stars. The www.bigredcarpet.com site allows visitors to receive greetings 'in person' from the likes of Ricky Hatton, Stephen Hendry, Younus Khan and Kenny Dalglish. The messages range from ‘happy birthday’ and ‘season’s greetings’ to ‘get the beers in’. Big Red Carpet’s site would be continually updated and there is an area for users to record and upload their own content so they can share it. Greetings are sent via WAP or email to consumers’ mobiles or PCs. Big Red Carpet is a non-subscription service, and customers are charged a one-off fee of £3.00 for video greetings. Source: Sports Media, 16th Nov 2007


MORE NEWS

Asia/General: City Makes Statement Of Intent With Raft Of Deals

Manchester City has illustrated its desire to secure a foothold in new commercial markets by unveiling a raft of new partnership deals. City has been busy securing a number of partnerships in the Far East this week, and as reported in yesterday’s Football Insider, the Barclays (sponsor) Premier League outfit has agreed a three-year link-up with leading internet and mobile rights provider Premier Goals to produce a Chinese language version of the club’s official website. City yesterday confirmed another three-year agreement with Singha Beer worth “seven figures”. As an official partner, the Asian beer will have stadium branding, advertising and promotional rights both in the UK and overseas, and will be on sale at the City of Manchester Stadium.

“Exceptional on-pitch performances have taken interest in the club to an unprecedented level around the world,” said City CEO Alistair Mackintosh. “This increased interest is most evident in Asia and specifically Thailand. Our partnership with Singha Beer opens up a range of new and exciting opportunities in key markets and provides a platform on which to interact with our rapidly growing supporter base outside of the UK.” City has also penned a strategic partnership with Chinese computer gaming company The9 Group. Part-owned by EA Sports, The9 is a major player in China's computer gaming market, and has the licence to market EA's 'FIFA Online' game in China. City chairman Thaksin Shinawatra said: “We believe that our partnership will help Manchester City become a major brand in the virtual world.”

City has this week additionally announced global alliances with Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shen Hua, as well as FC Moscow in Russia and Thanda Royal Zulu FC from Durban, South Africa. Thaksin told www.mcfc.co.uk: “My goals for the football team are ambitious - to secure Manchester City a position as one of the world’s biggest football brands. I intend to increase the club’s fan base by reaching out to Manchester City fans across the world, not least in Asia and specifically in China and my home nation of Thailand. I intend to deepen the links between the club and its international supporters. We are looking at now how best to link our fans through membership and other schemes. Our modest ambitions for City don’t end with domination of the world game, we want to be a major brand in the commercial world too.” Source: Football Insider, 16th Nov 2007

China/Broadcaster: New Deals for Chinese Digital TV

China Digital TV, a New York-listed, Beijing-based conditional access provider, signed 18 new deals with Chinese cable operators during the third quarter. In its first results as a publicly-traded company, China Digital TV saw profits for the quarter to end-September rise 53% on the same quarter the previous year to $8.8 million. Revenues rose 37.3% to $14.4 million, up 28.9% on the previous quarter.

China Digital TV accounts for some 45% of the Chinese digital CA market. Over 140 million homes in China subscribe to cable TV, but most are still analogue. However, the government has ruled that all analogue TV must be converted to digital by 2015. And a recent study from Media Partners Asia said its consultants expected around 84 million to have migrated to digital by 2010. At June 30, China Digital TV had installed CA systems at 130 network operators. And for the quarter to the end of September, the company shipped 1.9 million smart cards - 23.6% more than in the previous quarter.

However, while the company is attracting business and has a phenomenal operating margin (65% for Q3), its actual revenues are relatively low. China Digital TV expects revenues for the final quarter of 2007 to be between $15.5 million and $17.5 million. That said, those figures represent year-on-year growth of 61% to 82% so the potential for much greater revenues is there. Source: Rapid TV News, 16th Nov 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Kentaro and Pitch International Grab FA Rights in Europe

Sports agencies Kentaro and Pitch International have occupied ground previously held by rivals Sportfive and CSI Sports after the Football Association, English soccer’s governing body, awarded European distribution rights from 2008-09 onwards. Sportfive has regained the rights in France and Germany to England’s home internationals and the FA Cup knockout competition, but lost contracts elsewhere after Kentaro and Pitch International, who bid jointly, concluded a four-year deal covering the rest of western Europe and Scandinavia. The Scandinavian rights are currently held by CSI Sports, the agency this year acquired by IMG Media, the media arm of the international sports agency IMG.

Kentaro, the Switzerland-based agency, already holds the broadcast distribution rights for the home matches of a selection of international teams in Europe, including the Republic of Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Meanwhile Pitch International, the sport rights agency founded by former senior executives at Octagon CSI, has the rights for Germany’s home Euro 2008 qualifiers in the United Kindgom, Republic of Ireland, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. Pitch also represents the broadcast rights of the DBU, the Danish Football Association.

It was confirmed earlier this week that the UK-based agency AMI is to handle the FA's rights in 16 central and eastern European countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Balkan territories. The FA also announced today a new four-year deal with GO, the quadruple-play telecommunications operator in Malta. The various agreements with agencies and some direct deals with broadcasters have helped the FA secure more than £145 million ($296.2 million) from international rights in the period from 2008 to 2012. This is a 275-per-cent increase on the £38.5 million generated last time round. Source: Sportcal, 16th Nov 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

21st Century Sport: New World Order
Brian Oliver Blogs on The Guardian Unlimited UK, 18th Nov 2007

The event that sparked The Observer's '21st Century Sport' series was the match at Wembley between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants on 28 October, the first competitive, regular-season NFL game to be played in Europe.

On the same weekend, Manchester United, at the invitation of an Indian billionaire, were staging a training programme in Goa, run by their academy director Brian McClair. Today, as our series draws to a close, Chelsea are in India. Their team of chief executive Peter Kenyon, media director Simon Greenberg, former player Graeme Le Saux and famous fan Lord Coe are part of London Mayor Ken Livingstone's ambassadorial team promoting London and 'creating closer ties between the capital and India in business, tourism, education, sport and creative industries'.

Which has the better chance of reaching out to a new market in the next decade: American football in Europe, or English football in the subcontinent? Or maybe neither - perhaps the big mover will be Major League Baseball, which has just announced that the season-opening series next March, between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics, will be played in Tokyo. It will be the third time since 2000 that the MLB season has begun in the Japanese capital.

The world of sport, as we have been saying, is changing. So fast that we are in the middle - or end, or beginning, depending on your viewpoint - of the most important period of upheaval since the latter decades of the 19th century, when rules were made, leagues formed, players paid to perform and paying spectators turned up in large numbers week after week.

Dick Holt, an expert on Victorian sport who teaches at De Montfort University, says one of the biggest changes in the late 19th century was 'the emergence of a specialist sports press and a daily sports page for a new mass, urban, readership. Before radio in the 1930s, this was the only way to follow sport if you were not actually present'.

The key structural changes were in the Football League (formed in 1888), both codes of rugby and county cricket. 'These provided the basis for the 20th-century system of professional, but not commercial sport, largely still run by amateurs. They did not see team games as a commodity subject to the forces of the free market.

'In striking contrast to baseball in the United States, which was begun as a business by Spalding, a sports-goods manufacturer, county members subsidised their cricket teams and directors of professional football clubs were limited to small returns on their investments. Most of them lost their money. Profit-maximising never occurred to them. Tickets were cheap, advertising was almost non-existent and no one thought of hiring out the facilities for anything but sport. It was another world and one which lasted more or less unchanged until the advent of television.'

Now, we are in the post-television world. Within a few years, and with a lot of help from Asia, the Premier League, or the EPL as outsiders prefer it, could leapfrog the three ahead of it in the world league of leagues, all of them American: the NFL, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. 'We should be able to overtake one or two,' says the League's chief executive Richard Scudamore, which is strong stuff given that he does not, as he tells Observer Sport time and again, like to make predictions. Continues…