Real Madrid Retains Position as Most Valuable Sports Franchise

Real Madrid has remained the world’s most valuable sports franchise, according to Forbes.

For the second consecutive year, Real Madrid takes the No. 1 spot as the most valuable sports franchise, worth $3.44 billion. 

Soccer teams occupy the next two spots as well: Barcelona comes in at No. 2 with a current value of $3.2 billion and Manchester United ranks No. 3 with a value of $2.81 billion.

The New York Yankees are No. 4, valued at $2.5 billion. The Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.3 billion,hold the No. 5 spot. With 30 teams in the top 50, for the second consecutive year, the NFL occupies 60% of this year’s list.

The average value of the top 50 teams is $1.34 billion, which is an 8% increase from last year. The New York Mets were one of three teams that dropped off this year’s list of the top 50.  Other drop-offs include: the Oakland Raiders (NFL) and McLaren (Formula 1).

The 20 non-NFL teams in the top 50 include six from MLB, eight from soccer, four from the NBA, one from the NHL and one from Formula 1. 

Forbes has been valuing teams in the major sports leagues since 1998.

Top Ten (courtesy of Forbes): {jcomments on}

2014
Rank

Team

Owner

Current Value
($bil)

Sport

2013
Rank

1

 Real Madrid Club members

$3.44

 Soccer

1

2

 Barcelona Club members

3.2

 Soccer

3

3

 Manchester United Glazer family

2.81

 Soccer

2

4

 New York Yankees Steinbrenner family

2.5

 MLB

4

5

 Dallas Cowboys Jerry Jones

2.3

 NFL

5

6

 Los Angeles Dodgers Guggenheim Baseball

2.0

 MLB

7

7

 Bayern Munich Club members

1.85

 Soccer

12

8

 New England Patriots Robert Kraft

1.8

 NFL

6

9

 Washington Redskins Daniel Snyder

1.7

 NFL

8

10

 New York Giants John Mara, Steven Tisch

$1.55

 NFL

9

Sandro Rosell Quits as FC Barcelona President, Successor Named

FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell has resigned from his role with immediate effect.

Rosell made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday night after an extraordinary board meeting.

Rosell named vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu as his successor who will be president until 2016. The decision comes after a Spanish national court judge, Pablo Ruz, this week accepted a lawsuit that alleges Rosell misappropriated funds from the £49m signing of the striker Neymar from Santos last June. A Barcelona club member, Jordi Cases, has alleged that the amount paid was more than the €57m (£48.6m) fee reported at the time.

Explaining his decision to step down, Rosell said: “For some time my family and myself have suffered threats and attacks in silence. These threats and attacks have made me wonder if being president means having to jeopardise my family.

“In recent days an unfair and reckless accusation of misappropriation has resulted in a lawsuit against me in the Audiencia Nacional. From the beginning I have said that the signing of Neymar Jr has been correct and his signing has caused despair and envy in some of our adversaries.

“The right of the club members to be informed needs to be compatible with the defence of the club and confidentiality of certain matters and facts. This confidentiality is essential in the world of football because otherwise the club could be damaged.

“The board of directors is a team. And this team leads a project that has brought the club great success. I don’t want unfair attacks to negatively affect their management or the image of the club. This is why I think my time here has come to an end.

“Now, in accordance with the club’s statutes, I have presented my irrevocable resignation of the presidency of FC Barcelona to the board of directors.”

The 49-year-old took over as Barça president in the summer of 2010 after winning a landslide vote to succeed Joan Laporta. During Rosell’s presidency, Barça have won two Primera División titles, the Champions League, the Copa del Rey, the Fifa Club World Cup, the Uefa Super Cup and three Spanish Supercopas.

Rosell added: “In these four years we have enjoyed and suffered because we are Barcelonistas, just as many generations of Blaugranas have enjoyed and suffered for more than a century.

“In all of these years we have seen that our successes are the result of our victories on the pitch and overcoming innumerable obstacles off the pitch: political, external and, what’s worse, at times the pressure has come from our own environment.

“It has been an honour to serve the Barcelonistas. It’s been a privilege to be the president of FC Barcelona.”

Bartomeu, who was sitting alongside Rosell, said: “My first desire is to announce the continuation of the board’s project until 2016. I ask the club members for their support. I encourage them to continue to have confidence in this project.”

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Athletes Boosted by Canadian Olympic Committee Support

The Canadian Olympic Committee says it’s doubling its support to elite athletes over the next four years thanks to new and “unprecedented” support from the corporate sector.

The combination of ongoing government funding and this new corporate support “will guarantee … a bright and golden future for Canadian athletes, ailment ” COC president Marcel Aubut said on Wednesday.

There were few details provided about where the $100 million in corporate funding came from or which sports will benefit from it. The funding will be doled out to both summer and winter sports in four priority areas, arthritis Aubut said. Those include support for high-performance sport, Olympic preparation, national sport federation development and a specific envelope for Toronto’s 2015 Pan American Games team.

Those priorities have been endorsed by all the sporting communities, said Marie-Claire Rouleau, president of Speed Skating Canada. She was one of several heads of sport federations who welcomed the announcement saying it would support athletes’ Olympics dreams.

“Money makes it possible,” she said.

Many winter sport federations have struggled since the 2010 Vancouver Games to keep existing corporate sponsors and find new ones.

Sportfive Partners with bwin to Provide Free Live Streaming of 2014 World Cup Qualifiers

Online gambling company, bwin has signed a partnership with SPORTFIVE International to bring football fans free live streaming of 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

The two firms have unveiled ‘Qualifiers 2014 – Road to Brazil’, a new app that offers a digital multi-platform experience bringing live matches directly to football fans’ phones, tablets and PCs.

The initiative is part of bwin’s digital sponsorship strategy, which is focused on engaging with sports fans directly by offering premium content, closely integrated into online, mobile and social media platforms. 

This strategy is already being brought to life through bwin’s long-standing relationships with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, as well as its recently launched partnership with Manchester United.

NFL Players Association & IMG Partner to Showcase AstroTurf Collegiate Bowl

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and IMG Worldwide Inc (IMG), the global sports, fashion and media company, have announced a strategic partnership on the inaugural AstroTurf NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

Under the terms of the agreement, IMG Events and Federations, a division of IMG, will utilize its 50 years of expertise in organizing and managing major sporting events around the globe, to consult and support event and game day operations for the AstroTurf NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

The game will be played at the Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA on January 21, 2012 and is expected to be Southern California’s premier football event.

The inaugural AstroTurf NFLPA Collegiate Bowl will showcase the top draft eligible collegiate football players from across the country. In addition to developing a premier collegiate bowl game, the NFLPA is creating a unique opportunity to educate and prepare these college athletes for a successful transition into a career within the NFL.

Jay Ogden, Senior Vice President at IMG, said: “We are very excited to partner with the NFLPA on this inaugural event and to have the opportunity to support the NFLPA in their goal of creating a great event for both players and fans alike.”

Clark Gaines, Assistant Executive Director, NFLPA, added: “IMG will bring an elite management team and unparalleled sporting event expertise to the first-ever NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, ensuring a professional-level experience for its players, fans and sponsors.”

Barcelona to Build Supporters Terrace at Nou Camp

FC Barcelona members have approved plans to bring in a supporters terrace as it looks to improve the atmosphere at the Nou Camp stadium.

Barcelona’s social vice-president Jordi Cardoner has outlined the proposal, doctor which aims to create a section in the stadium for the club’s most passionate supporters who can set a “world standard” and “transmit the Barça values around the world”. The section will accommodate 1, pills pills 400 members and received 295 votes in favour, ed 198 against and 33 abstentions at Barcelona’s general assembly.

Cardoner stated that the proposal requires ratification by local authorities, who will need to be satisfied that it doesn’t present safety or security concerns. Therefore no timeline has been set for the implementation of the project.

He said: “This is pending project for Barça fans…it was designed to make the support in our stadium heard more. Sometimes we are lacking in volume at difficult times. Perhaps it’s because we Catalans sometimes find it hard to express ourselves collectively. Our stadium needs the kind of support that our team deserves. Many other teams have much noisier supporters than we do, and our team deserves more.”

FIFA Act Against Recent Crisis at Syrian FA

FIFA have counteracted the recent crisis at the Syrian FA by appointing a normalisation committee to resolve the issues. 

It will be responsible with organising elections for a new Syrian FA Executive Committee by Dec. 11 “with none of the members of the committee having the right to contest in the elections”, the Asian Football Confederation reports.

Last week, a FIFA spokesman said that it was monitoring the crisis in Syrian football after the board of its federation resigned following the country’s ban from Brazil World Cup qualifying. 

FIFA’s disciplinary committee ruled last month to disqualify the Middle Eastern country from the ongoing Asian qualifiers after Syria thrashed Tajikistan 6-1 on aggregate during July’s second round. 

Syria had fielded an ineligible player in George Murad who had played for Sweden earlier in his career.

FIFA’s disciplinary panel on Aug. 17 declared the first-leg to be lost by Syria by forfeit (0:3) due to Mourad taking part. It reached the same decision regarding the second leg for the same reason.

Tajikistan, world ranked 153, advanced to the third round instead. 

Syria coach Nizar Mahrous quit soon after his national side was booted out of 2014 qualifying. 

“I have lost the will and power to work after all that has happened,” Mahrous was quoted by the Syrian press. “All the efforts we did have been wasted.”

But Tajikistan’s hopes of reaching Brazil 2014 have since evaporated after 1-0 losses to Uzbekistan and North Korea earlier this month.

Currently lying bottom of Asia’s Group C qualifying table, Tajikistan will next play Asian Cup champions Japan home and away in October and November.


Russia 2018 Not Expecting ‘any major issues’ from Ukraine Conflict

Russia’s hosting of the 2018 World Cup will not be affected by the conflict in Ukraine, according to the country’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko.

The local organising committee chairman and a FIFA board member, said he did not foresee “any major issues.”

“It’s a different subject and it will not influence preparations for the World Cup at all,” Mutko told a briefing designed to explain Russia’s $US20 billion project to host the next World Cup.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is scheduled to attend Sunday’s (Monday AEST) World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro, and take part in a handover ceremony between host nations with Brazil president Dilma Rousseff.

Mutko said Putin would express Russia’s “immense gratitude” to Brazil for a successful tournament.

Brazil and Russia, which hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February, have defied widespread doubt about their ability to host safe and well organised events.

“Sometimes you have to suffer some criticism,” Mutko said through a translator. “Criticism is important. It is stimulating, it’s constructive.”

Mutko also said he expects Russia to be cleared of any doubt when a FIFA investigation of the 2018 and 2022 bid campaigns is resolved, likely in September.

Rugby World Cup 2015’s Data and Digital Strategy to be Discussed at The Sports CRM Summit 2014

Leading Sports CRM agency, prostate  Goodform, impotent  has announced England Rugby 2015 (ER2015), tournament organisers for Rugby World Cup 2015 which will be hosted in England between September 18 and October 31 2015, as a keynote speaker at its Sports CRM Summit.

The Summit will take place on Tuesday 16th September at The International Conference Centre in Birmingham.  Delegates will hear first-hand how England Rugby 2015 has successfully used data and digital strategies to underpin the key objectives in advance of the Tournament; to increase the game’s appeal at all levels, to make it the best Rugby World Cup ever and to achieve record ticket sales. England Rugby 2015’s Marketing Manager, Zarah Al-Kudcy, will provide insights on how and why data and digital communications have been placed at the core of its strategy.

Rugby World Cup is the third largest sporting event in the world, and it will be the biggest sporting occasion that England has hosted since the Olympics. There is now less than 500 days to go until the Tournament kicks off, with the first tranche of tickets on sale to the Rugby Community through clubs in England and Wales this month. General sales will then open on September 12, 2014.

At the Summit Zarah will provide tactical insights into the engagement strategies deployed to excite fans and build momentum for the event. Her keynote will cover the digital techniques used to capture as much data about fans, from geographical location, age, gender through to behaviours and preferences such as the fan’s favourite team. She will also outline how this information is utilised to inform the ‘event experience’ and drive its ticketing pricing strategy and volunteer programme.

Zarah comments on her keynote speech, “We’re working hard to ensure that Rugby World Cup 2015 is one of Britain’s most successfully hosted sporting events and that it provides a legacy for future sporting events in our country. The Sports CRM Summit is an ideal forum to share our learnings with the sports and leisure industry as well as other event organisers. Developing a strong digital and data communications strategy has put us on the right track to achieve our goals.”

Alison Dalrymple, Managing Director of Goodform, commented, “Zarah’s keynote speech will provide inspiration to other event organisers to get serious about the benefits of unlocking the value of fan data and provide a host of tactical ideas and tips to take away from the day.”

The Sports CRM Summit is an established forum for sports industry professionals and event organisers to explore the latest CRM strategies and tactics to achieve their objectives, such as; maximising fan engagement, increasing participation levels, improving commercial processes and revenues and enhancing the customer experience.  Data management and digital optimisation strategies will also feature throughout the Summit as sports organisations continue to seek to drive value and engagement from their databases.     

This year the Summit will also focus on the customer journey and the ‘live experience’ in the digital age, exploring the tactics that sports brands can employ to engage with their audience before, during and after the event.

For more information or to book your place online visit www.goodform.info or call 01926 458 180.  Or email Jennie Spillane, Marketing Manager:jennie@goodform.info

FOX Sports Appoints Sam Leadsom to VP Role in Singapore

Sports production veteran Sam Leadsom has joined FOX Sports as Vice President of Production based in Singapore with immediate effect.

Leadsom is responsible for overseeing FOX Sports’ production of all sports content across Asia, including the LIVE coverage of golf, motor-racing, tennis, football, mixed-martial arts and other sports, as well as their associated original programmes. The production department that Leadsom is leading includes teams responsible for Content Creation and Event Production, based in FOX Sports’ multiple sports hubs across Asia. 

Zubin Gandevia, President of FIC for Asia Pacific & Middle East, welcomed his appointment and said, “Offering the best content to our viewers and packaging it with best-in-class editorial, presentation, and analysis is key to growing the love for sports in Asia. With Sam’s experience, expertise and passion this is one more step for FOX Sports in that direction.” 

With more than 20 years of experience in the United Kingdom, across various sports, Leadsom joins the FOX Sports team from IMG Media in the UK, where he was the Executive Producer on PLTV, the Premier League’s 24/7 content service, responsible for Live Matchday production, news bulletins, studio, magazine shows, phone-ins and archived programming.

Leadsom has also worked with BSkyB, the European Tour, UEFA Live Productions and HBS as a producer and director for tennis, cricket, snooker and football, which has seen him on-site at the FIFA World Cup 2002 & 2006, and Euro 2008.