Friday, 9th November 2007

WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

Now Renault Faces Charges of Spying on McLaren

Formula 1 motor racing’s spy scandal looks set to spread after the FIA, the sport’s world governing body, today said that it had summoned representatives of the Renault team to appear before its World Motor Sport Council in December 6. The FIA said that the team had been called to answer a charge that it had ‘unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to [rival team] Vodafone McLaren Mercedes…’

These, it said, included details of McLaren’s fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a ‘novel suspension component.’ In September, the McLaren team was fined $100 million and stripped of its points in this year’s constructors’ championship after being found guilty of benefiting from the possession of confidential information belonging to Italian rivals Ferrari. Source: Sportcal, 8th Nov 2007


INFO BOX

Rich List Reveals Investment Boom
Source: Football Insider, Sport Business, 7th Nov 2007

British football’s spending power is burgeoning with new investors worth more than £11 billion becoming involved in the sport during the last 12 months. FourFourTwo magazine’s latest football ‘rich list’ is dominated by the billionaires who have taken over Barclays Premier League clubs. David Beckham may have a fortune of £112 million, but the richest player is down in 45th place in the list. Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich is comfortably the richest man in football with an estimated value of £10.8 billion. The newcomers are headed by another Russian, Alisher Usmanov, who has taken a significant stake in Arsenal and whose personal fortune is said to be £2.76 billion.

Two new players on the list are Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, 29, who is at 96 with a £14 million fortune and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who creeps in at 100th place with a bank balance of £12.25 million. FourFourTwo editor Hugh Sleight said: “Of the 25 new entries this year only two are players, who now number just 14. So while their wages rise, their bank balances pale into insignificance compared to the men who pay them.” The other new entries are Mike Ashley at Newcastle United, Stanley Kroenke at Arsenal and Conservative party grandee Lord Ashcroft, who bought 42% of Coca-Cola (sponsor) Championship outfit Watford. The total value of this year’s Top 100 is £41.7 billion compared to £20.45 billion four years ago.

Top 10: 1) Roman Abramovich, Chelsea, £10.8 billion; Joe Lewis, Tottenham Hotspur, £2.8 billion; 3 Alisher Usmanov, Arsenal, £2.76 billion; 4 Bernie Ecclestone, Queens Park Rangers, £2.5 billion; 5 Mike Ashley, Newcastle United £1.6 billion; 6 Dermot Desmond, Celtic £1.6 billion; 7 Malcolm Glazer, Manchester United, £1.25 billion; 8 Stanley Kroenke, Arsenal £1.2 billion; 9 Trevor Hemmings, Preston North End, £980 million; 10 Lord Ashcroft, Watford, £950 million.

Players' top 10: 1) David Beckham, LA Galaxy, £112 million; 2) Michael Owen, Newcastle United £37 million; 3) Robbie Fowler, Cardiff City £30 million; 4) Wayne Rooney, Manchester United £30 million, 5) Sol Campbell, Portsmouth, £28 million; 6) Andriy Shevchenko, Chelsea £25 million; 6) Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United £25 million; 8) Ryan Giggs, Manchester United £23 million; 9) Michael Ballack, Chelsea £18 million; 10) Steven Gerrard, Liverpool, £15 million.


SPORTS SHORTS

* China is to host the World Korfball Championships 2011 after the event was awarded to the city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province by the council of the International Korfball Federation. The federation said that the bid was supported by the province and the national sports ministry, as well as by sponsors and various television stations. The bid beat off competition from New Delhi, India and Pretoria, South Africa to win the right to stage the event. The sport is growing rapidly in China, with over 60 universities taking part, and the Chinese national team is presently participating for the first time in the IKF World Championship, in Brno, Czech Republic. Source: Sportcal, 8th Nov 2007

* Singapore’s bid to host the 2010 Youth Olympics has been boosted by the commercial support of at least 80 companies. Some of the companies are to carry the bid campaign logo on their packaging and headquarters, while some will sell Singapore 2010 t-shirts and merchandise. The bid committee is hoping to encourage more companies to join the campaign and build their brand through the exposure generated by the bid. The nine cities vying to host the inaugural Youth Olympics are: Athens (Greece), Bangkok (Thailand), Debrecen (Hungary), Guatemala City (Guatemala), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Moscow (Russia), Poznan (Poland), Singapore (Singapore) and Turin (Italy). Source: Sportcal, 8th Nov 2007

* The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced during a special press conference on Wednesday that FIH’s premier event, the 12th Men’s Hockey World Cup, played by the 12 top nations, will in principle be staged in New Delhi over two weeks in February 2010 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Hockey Stadium. The Hockey World Cup was first held in Barcelona, Spain in 1971, when Pakistan won the title. Since then the event has travelled to nine countries and seen five different winners hold the Cup aloft. India hosted the Men’s Hockey World Cup in 1982 in Mumbai. Source: Sports e-Media, Sportcal, 7th Nov 2007

* The importance of the forthcoming tender for Bundesliga TV rights has been illustrated by German network Premiere’s refusal to give specific forecasts for 2008. The pay-TV platform in the summer struck an agreement to air Bundesliga matches live through to the end of the 2008-09 season after having initially lost the live rights to the top flight of German football to Unity Media. State broadcaster ARD currently airs Bundesliga highlights on Saturday evenings. Leo Kirch’s Sirius will market the Bundesliga rights for the 2009-15 period in the German-speaking region, and the bidding process is scheduled to commence in April 2008. Source: Sports Media, 7th Nov 2007

* Infront Sports and Media is still in discussions with the German Ski Federation, regarding a rights dispute, raising a question mark over claims that public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF were close to signing a television deal with the federation. Infront has been unable to exercise its rights distribution deal with the DSV because of a challenge from the previous incumbent, and ARD and ZDF, or its representative rights agency SportA, had been reported to be negotiating directly with DSV and not Infront. Infront has been unable to implement its €15-million ($22 million) -a-year deal for the distribution of domestic and international broadcast rights for Germany’s FIS World Cup events with the DSV, agreed earlier this year, because of a complaint made by RTL, the previous distributor of the rights. Source: Sportcal, 8th Nov 2007

* A Spanish court has ruled that Mediapro must purchase rights from Sogecable SA's Audiovisual Sports (AVS) if it would like to continue to air games from the Primera División, according to Spanish newspaper El Economista. Mediapro has been broadcasting games from the domestic football top flight through free-to-air La Sexta, but the Catalan producer has been in a dispute over rights to the competition with Sogecable for several months. AVS has claimed that it is the rights-holder for the games, but Mediapro has disputed that by stating that a contract signed last year regarding the rights is no longer valid. Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, 7th Nov 2007

* The Brazilian national soccer team is set to return to Europe in February next year to take on the Republic of Ireland in a friendly match at Croke Park in Dublin. This year, Brazil played twice in London, against Portugal and England respectively, twice in Sweden, against fellow South Americans Chile, and African nation Ghana, and once each in Germany and France, against Turkey and Algeria. The match against Ireland is scheduled for February 6. Source: Sportcal, 8th Nov 2007


MORE NEWS

Global/Rights: Glasgow Aims to Spread Commonwealth Games TV Coverage

Scotland’s first minister today detailed a commitment to bring television and radio coverage of the 2014 Commonwealth Games to all 71 Commonwealth countries, should Glasgow be awarded the event. Responding to a question by Sportcal.com, Alex Salmond said: ‘A number of countries did not see their athletes winning medals at the last games [in 2006 in Melbourne] because they didn’t have the television coverage and that isn’t right. The idea of the games as an inspiration to young people throughout the Commonwealth is communicated – and we will communicate it – through modern media.’

‘The right of access to broadcasting and media coverage to every single member of the Commonwealth seems to us of fundamental importance and a right that has not been established before.’Broadcasting rights for the Commonwealth Games are the property of the Commonwealth Games Federation and are being distributed on the federation's behalf by Fast Track, the UK-based sports agency, for the next games in Delhi in 2010.

But CGF chief executive Mike Hooper said that it will be in the body's interest if a games organiser can provide a signal and/or highlights package to all Commonwealth countries. The CGF retains the broadcasting rights to the event – which it will market itself or through an agency – with all the proceeds going to the organising committee. The CGF is looking to form a long-term relationship with broadcasters, he added. Asked whether organisers would have the power to enter negotiations over the broadcasting rights for the 2014 event, Salmond added: ‘We know exactly what is required. In not all countries is it appropriate to have television coverage […] we will use radio, we will use internet, we will find the best way to ensure that the message is spread.’

Glasgow and Abuja, Nigeria's capital, are the two contenders to host the event and will discover their fate when voters elect a host in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday. As part of Glasgow’s attempt to extend the benefits of the games throughout Commonwealth countries, its bid has pledged $100,000 for each Commonwealth Games Association to help domestic sport development and assist countries in covering travel costs for attending the games. This compares to a $125,000 pledge from Abuja for the same fund, although Glasgow’s team believes that with its other incentives, such as free rooms for a certain number of officials throughout the games, there is little to choose between the bids’ financial promises. Source: Sportcal, 7th Nov 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Uefa Tallies Up Champions League Income for 2007-08 Season

Uefa, European soccer’s governing body, has revealed that commercial revenue from this season’s Champions League, the continent’s top clubs competition, will come to around €824.5 million ($1.2 billion), a slight improvement on the last campaign. According to projections, the figure will comprise €819 million from television and other commercial contracts and €5.5 million from new media deals.

Under the competition regulations, 75% of the revenue from television and commercial deals, up to a maximum of €530 million, will go to the 32 clubs which participate in the group stages, with the remaining 25% going to cover organisational and administrative costs at Uefa and solidarity payments to associations, clubs and leagues. The clubs also receive 82% of the revenue above €530 million and 50% of the income from new media contract.

As a result, the clubs which qualified for the 2007-08 Champions League will share €588.6 million, with €31.4 million going to the professional leagues of the participating associations and €185.4 million to Uefa for ‘European football purposes.’ Handouts are determined by performances in the competition and the proportional value of each television market represented by the club. Source: Sportcal, 7th Nov 2007