Thursday, 22nd November 2007

HEADLINE NEWS

BWF and Marketing Partner in Race to Deliver Masters Final Venue

The Badminton World Federation, the sport’s international governing body, is putting pressure on its marketing partner to secure a venue for the Masters Final in its inaugural Super Series after Qatar said it was unable to raise the necessary funding to support next month's event. The climax to the season, featuring the top players from the season, was due to take place in the wealthy Gulf state from December 18 to 23, but the BWF has been informed by Sports Marketing Promotions, the Malaysian company responsible for organising and promoting the Super Series, that there was insufficient sponsorship in place.

The onus is on SMP to find a venue for the $500,000 event, according to Anne Smillie, a BWF executive board member and new chair of the events committee, who said: ‘The contractual responsibility lies with the company.’ Alor Star in Kedah, Malaysia has been put forward as an alternative host, but the proposed new dates of December 18 to 22 are impractical because Malaysia’s religious ceremony of Hari Raya Haji falls on December 20.

Smillie said: ‘In fairness to players, officials, and most of all the thousands of spectators who support our great game worldwide, BWF are in close and urgent discussions with SMP to resolve this situation but the contract places the responsibility for the event with SMP.’

The Super Series is due to draw to a close with the China Masters in Guangzhou, China and the Hong Kong Open in Wangchai, Hong Kong on the next two weekends, but the failure to have a venue in place for the Masters Final threatens to mar the inaugural season. It will also be difficult to reschedule the event given that it is due to take place so late in the year and the 2009 series commences with the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur from January 15.

The Super Series was launched this year to raise the profile of badminton and provide continuity on the global stage. It has brought together events, offering at least $200,000 in prize money, in Denmark, England, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and China (2 events).

BWF executive deputy president Datuk Punch Gunalan said: ‘We are delighted with the success of the first 10 tournaments in this new 12-event circuit. 'Naturally BWF is aware of the frustration of our member associations regarding the Super Series Masters Final. We would like to stress that we are working hard to ensure the tournament proceeds and that all the players who qualify for the Masters have adequate time to prepare. ‘We want it to be the big success it deserves, with big crowds, worldwide TV coverage and great badminton.’ Source: Sportcal, 21st Nov 2007


WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

EURO 2008 QUALIFIERS: ENGLAND 2 – 3 CROATIA

* Croatia demolished England's dreams of a place in the Euro 2008 finals with a dramatic 3-2 triumph at Wembley that sent Russia through as Group E runners-up. Croatia players celebrate their astonishing victory at Wembley which sent England crashing out. England coach Steve McClaren saw his selection gamble backfire in a big way when rookie goalkeeper Scott Carson handed Croatia a crucial early goal. And McClaren is almost certain to pay for the multi-million pound defeat with his job after England proved second best on the night in almost every department. McLaren sent off David Beckham for his 99th cap along with Jermaine Defoe at the start of the second half and they briefly featured in a revival that saw England draw level. Source: CNN, 22nd Nov 2007

* A packed house at rain-soaked Wembley Stadium in London watched as Croatia's Mladen Petric launched a game-winner from 25 yards away in the 77th minute to lead his country to a dramatic 3-2 victory over England. The Croatian victory, which effectively eliminated England from qualifying for the EURO 2008 Championship, sparked widespread celebrations among soccer fans in England, who had feared that Steve McClaren would be the English team's manager for the remainder of the decade. Fans rejoiced in watching McClaren prove their constant chatter about how terrible a manager he is to be correct. Rallying cries of, "You dropped points to Macedonia, you pratt!", were heard in several pubs throughout London. Source: AOL Sports, 22nd Nov 2007

* The Football Association (FA) would have earned between £12 million and £24 million in extra income had England qualified for the finals of UEFA Euro 2008 . England only needed a draw against Croatia at Wembley to go through to the finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer. The FA had 45 licensees including companies such as Tesco and Kellogg's, which would have deals kicked in when England qualified for World Cup or European Championship finals. Under the agreements, the companies are allowed to sell England-endorsed products and memorabilia and the deals will bring in around £8 million to the FA. Substantial prize money also awaits the 16 finalists with a minimum payment of around £4 million, and if England or any other team wins all its matches and the final, it can expect to earn a total of around £16 million. Source: Football Insider, 21st Nov 2007

* The consequence of England’s failure against Croatia at Wembley in the UEFA European qualifiers could be worth £1 billion. Figures from past World Cup and European Championship tournaments demonstrate there was a significant economic boost that would have accompanies England's participation. According to a study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research the effect of non-qualification could be as much as £1 billion, based on an examination of the impacts of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2004. The report predicts that an England failure to reach Euro 2008 would lead to a dramatic drop in TV advertising revenues and a fall in revenues for betting companies. The CEBR suggestes that a successful tournament for England would have contributed to a boost of more than £285 million for pubs, clubs and off-licences. Prior to the game, the English Football Association said that the immediate financial impact of failure was manageable. Source: Sport Business, 21st Nov 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Fans who attend the Morumbi stadium today to support Brazil in its FIFA World Cup qualifier against Uruguay will have the opportunity to buy a new commemorative shirt. Nike , Brazil’s sportswear partner, has produced a special yellow shirt for fans in which the Morumbi is included in the design. This is the second edition of shirts released by Nike, with the first being released last month for Brazil’s clash with Ecuador at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium. The main goal behind the scheme is to attempt to battle counterfeiting with adult shirts available for US$28 and children shirts for $23. Source: Football Insider, 21st Nov 2007

* Uefa has announced new television rights deals for Euro 2008 in Indonesia and Vietnam. All 31 Euro 2008 matches will be shown live on free-to-air networks of Indonesia’s Media Nusantara Citra, RCTI, TPI and Global TV. The networks will also show daily highlights. Additional pay-television coverage will be available on Indovision, together with further radio and internet coverage and mobile phone coverage on MNC’s Mobile8. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, Vietnam Television has been awarded free-to-air and pay-television rights. Free-to-air channels VTV2 and VTV3 will show live coverage of all 31 matches, while VTV’s cable and satellite pay-television arm Vietnam Cable Television will show 27 matches live on VCTV3. Source: Sportcal, 21st Nov 2007

* Three German Bundesliga sides are to travel to Indonesia and China next month in a bid to raise the league’s profile in Asia. Borussia Dortmund will face the Indonesian national team in Jakarta on December 19 while Energie Cottbus will travel to China to play the national team and a Chinese Olympic select team on December 18 and 20 respectively. Arminia Bielefeld, which make up the trio of touring Bundesliga sides, are set to play matches in Wuhan, China, including one against a team from the country’s top-tier Super League. Joerg Daubitzer, director for rights and licensing at the DFL, the German Football League, said that the trip was designed to increase the league’s television presence in Asia. He said that the league’s television distribution into 169 countries was comparable with competitors, but that work must be done to try and create more airtime for the league. Source: Sportcal, 21st Nov 2007

* The Asia Cup, the one-day international cricket competition featuring national teams from the sport’s power base, will now take place in June 2008, according to Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. The event was due to be held in Karachi in April, but has been moved to avoid a clash with the inaugural Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition which will involve top players from various countries. The 2008 tournament will involved the continent’s four test-playing nations – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – plus Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The last Asia Cup was held in Sri Lanka in 2004 and won by the host nation. Source: Sportcal, 21st Nov 2007

* You could be forgiven that the market for videotape is dead. Not so in the professional market, and the EU have hit three Japanese suppliers hard for price fixing. The three firms, Sony, Fuji and (Hitachi) Maxell have been found guilty of controlling prices in the tape market between 1999 and 2002, and been hit with a €75m ($110m) fine. Sony’s slice of the fine is the largest at €47.1m. Fuji’s fine was reduced 40% because it co-operated with the EU investigation. Maxell also earned a discount of 20%. Fines are capped at 10% of global sales, in this case valued on the market for Betacam SP and Digital Betacam tapes which back in 2001 had sales of some €115m in Europe. Source: Rapid TV News, 21st Nov 2007

* Cricinfo has become the world’s first dedicated cricket website to enter the free-to-access mobile content sector with the launch of Cricinfo MobiCast, a live ball-by-ball update and score card application. With the services, fans will be able to select from a menu of match action to receive live updates from Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball coverage and scorecards for international games, including England’s Test match tour of Sri Lanka. The new application is compatible with over 500 internet/GPRS-enabled handsets. There are no subscription or user tariffs from Cricinfo for the service and data is compressed to minimise network charges that may apply, based on individual service contracts. Source: Sport Business, 21st Nov 2007


MORE NEWS

Elsewhere/Rights: Sportfive Hopes to Raise €70m from Euro 2008 Rights in Spain

Sportfive, the international sports marketing giant, is reported to be looking to raise at least €70 million ($104 million) from the sale of broadcasting rights in Spain for soccer’s 2008 European Championships. Public-service broadcaster TVE and commercial channels La Sexta and Cuatro are expected to fight it out for the rights, according to the El Periodico de Catalunya newspaper. Sportfive is marketing the Euro 2008 broadcast rights in Europe on behalf of Uefa, European soccer’s governing body. Spain is the only market out of the big five in Europe yet to agree a broadcasting deal for the tournament, which takes place in Austria and Switzerland next June.

Uefa has targeted at least €600 million from the sale of European broadcast rights and around €410 million has already been generated in France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Sportfive has intensified efforts to seal in agreement in Spain since Saturday, when the national team qualified for the finals, and representatives from the agency are expected in the country in the next few days to talk to interested parties.

A TVE spokesperson admitted yesterday that the broadcaster was interested in televising Euro 2008, saying: ‘We’ll push for the rights, as long as it’s economical and that the price meets our expectations.’ Sources close to the negotiations suggest that TVE is considering sharing the rights with FORTA, the federation of autonomous radio and television bodies.

La Sexta has also confirmed its interest and althouth Cuatro is yet to comment, there are reports that it could share the rights with the Digital Plus satellite platform. La Sexta is owned by Mediapro, while Cuatro and Digital Plus are in the stable of Sogecable. Mediapro and Sogecable have been embroiled in a fierce row over the rights to Spanish soccer’s top-tier Primera Liga, which has disrupted the start of the 2007-08 season. Source: Sportcal, 21st Nov 2007