Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich have announced a record turnover of €373.4 million ($475.5m) for the fiscal year.

The announcement was made during the club’s general meeting on Thursday, with the FC Bayern Munich AG group – consolidating accounts for Bayern Munich and the Allianz Arena – responsible for the football operations and achieving €332.2 ($423m) million, compared to last season’s €290.9 million ($370.5m). The profit after tax was announced as €11.1 million ($14.1m).

It is the 20th successive year that Bayern have made a profit and financial boss Karl Hopfner was delighted with the news.

“I think the members of Bayern Munich can be proud of their club today,” he said. Bayern Munich has never been in such a strong financial position in its 112-year history.”

Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge added: “All’s very well indeed with the world of FC Bayern at the moment. The club is in good health.”

Bayern President Uli Hoeness, in a good mood after being re-elected with a 97% vote, also announced further new records. Club membership is on the up with 187,865 members compared to last year’s 171.445. There are also a further 250 officially-affiliated fan clubs, upping the total to over 3,200 worldwide.

“These are unbelievable numbers,” Hoeness said.

 

Sports retailer, generic Nike has announced that Daniel Eppler will take over as General Manager for the AGS Region (Austria, Germany and Switzerland) this September.

He will succeed Mark Pinger, who will move on to the position of Western European General Manager for basketball, tennis and men’s athletic training. 

Eppler was born in Switzerland and started his career in 1993 at the Swiss UBS bank. He has been with Nike since 2002, where he has previously served as General Manager Football AGS and Asia Pacific. Most recently he worked as Global Football Sales Director at the Beaverton-based Nike headquarters.

Sportech 2012, discount a unique high level conference in Doha focusing on technology and IT management for sports events, announced BT as gold partner of its upcoming event in Doha, Qatar.

Taking place on 7-9 May, Sportech will bring together CIOs and CTO’s from organising committees and federations, as well as telco providers and technology suppliers.

Sally Nastys, Conference Director for Sportech: “We are delighted that BT have come on board as partners for Sportech. Sportech’s programme matches well with BT’s services for major sports events and we are looking forward to hearing about their expertise and services”

Sportech represents a great platform for BT to showcase its capabilities and know how in supporting major sport events. Michael Cole, BT Global Services Head of Marketing and Communications, said: “BT has a strong history of delivering programmes for major sporting events, and technology continues to play a pivotal role. Qatar has great ambitions for staging sporting competitions, and BT is pleased to be supporting this unique conference in Doha.”

BT will join the A-list speaker line up which includes International Centre for Sport Security, Sochi 2014, German Football Association, Qatar Olympic Committee, Manchester City FC, The European Tour, Innsbruck 2012, England Rugby 2015, Qatar Foundation, along with attendees from Commercialbank Qatar, Qatar Sports Investments, Qatar Golf Association, Supply Chain Navigators, Network Qatar, Creative Technology, Qatar Tennis Federation, LOCOG, ICT Qatar, Aspire Logistics and many more.

Sportech is organised by Informa Sports Group, a division of Informa plc, one of the largest conference and exhibition companies globally. 

Find out more information on Sportech on www.sportechconference.com

Southern Methodist University (SMU) have announced a seven-year athletic multimedia rights agreement with Plano-based Learfield Sports.

The exclusive partnership is effective immediately and will officially commence with the start of football and the 2013-14 athletic season.

Learfield Sports, impotent a prominent leader in the collegiate multimedia rights space with a 40-year history and over 50 individual institutional and conference relationships, impotent will establish “Mustang Sports Properties” as the local entity to work directly with Hart and SMU athletics administration. In addition, the SMU in-house staff, which has been handling the university’s athletic rights, will be transitioning to the Learfield team and Mustang Sports Properties.

Learfield Sports’ Mustang Sports Properties will manage every aspect of the comprehensive rights relationship that includes signage, sponsorships, corporate hospitality, event marketing, play-by-play radio, television and radio coaches’ shows, and official athletic website advertising.

“When we made the decision to outsource our rights, our goal was to select a leader in collegiate multimedia rights as our partner,” said SMU Director of Athletics Rick Hart. “I trust and respect Learfield and could not be more pleased they agreed to run alongside us. Learfield is the right choice for SMU moving forward, especially with their corporate offices nearby in Plano, and we anticipate a successful, fruitful relationship over the next seven years. This is exciting news for Mustang Athletics.”

“There’s no question we’ve developed a unique relationship with Rick over the years, and we couldn’t be more excited to again have the opportunity to work closely with him and to represent the Mustang brand on a local, regional and national level,” said Learfield Communications President and CEO Greg Brown. “SMU has a rich athletic tradition and is based in a very important market. Those attributes are fundamental to a successful sponsorship program and provide sponsors with great benefits.”

Learfield Sports now represents three American Athletic Conference schools – SMU, Memphis and Tulsa – and three universities in the state of Texas, with the Mustangs joining Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

West Ham United co-owner David Gold has suggested he would be open to selling part of his stake in the English Premier League club but only to a wealthy investor.

In order for the Hammers to compete with the Premier League elite, and push for a top-four finish, they must first find a fresh injection of cash, while also pressing ahead with their plans to move into the Olympic Stadium.

Gold concedes that he and fellow co-owner David Sullivan, who took charge of the club in January 2010, do not possess the funds required to challenge the ever-increasing number of billionaires who are pumping their fortunes into football.

They are, however, willing to bring someone in alongside them to help manage the financial burden at West Ham.

Gold said in the Daily Mirror: “You have to be a billionaire to make a major difference and there aren’t many of them about.

“Of course, I’d welcome a Father Christmas. But then you look and discover that it might not be the real Father Christmas. And you know why? Because there isn’t a real Father Christmas. He doesn’t exist.

“In an ideal world, though, if you ask what I’d like to see happen, I would like a very wealthy person to come and join us.

“David and myself are wealthy by normal standards, but not by football standards.

“We would be reluctant to sell the whole football club because we feel part of it. It’s taken us a lifetime to earn enough money to return to our roots and we won’t give that up lightly. We’re doing our best but it would be that much easier if there were three of us.”

Gold added: “We’re not going to be a top-four club straightaway. But one day it’s possible, if there is a super-wealthy West Ham fan who wants to come and join the club, that could change things for us.

“Now we have to do the best we can within the areas of our ability.

“To grow the club, fingers crossed to get to the Olympic Stadium would change our whole image, would help us attract better players.

“But it all boils down to income and we have to generate more income.”

Qatar Foundation’s Director of Strategy and Business Planning, therapy Khaled Helaly is the latest expert to join the A-list speaker line-up of international speakers at Sportech 2012, Doha. 

> View the speaker line up at Sportech 2012

> View Website

> Download the Brochure

 Khaled has a wealth of experience which includes his work on the volunteer programmes at the Asian Games, prior to his current role at Qatar Foundation.  Khaled will share his expertise in a panel discussion addressing the challenges that organising committees face when staffing some of the biggest, most complex sports events in the world.  This session will cover HR operations and skillset drivers for CTO’s and CIO’s as well as exploring new, innovative technology for staffing and volunteer systems.

Khaled will join over 100 senior level CTO’s and CIO’s in the sports events sector at the Sportech Conference in the Renaissance Hotel City Centre, Doha on 7-9 May.

With only 2 weeks to go, make sure you don’t miss out and reserve your place!

> Register today

Supported by the Qatar Olympic Committee, Sportech 2012 is the only conference internationally to focus on the delivery and management of technologies for major sports events. 

Experts will be attending from Qatar Olympic Committee, Qatar Foundation, Supply Chain Navigators, BT Global Services, Network Qatar, Qatar Football Association, Qatar Tennis Federation , Sochi 2014, Aspire Logistics, Bahrain Olympic Committee, German Football Association, Manchester City FC, The European Tour, Sport360, LOCOG,  Commericalbank Qatar, Qatar Golf Association, England Rugby 2015, Innsbruck 2012, Qatar Sailing & Rowing Federation, Doha Stadium Plus, Al Jazeera Sport, The Look Company, Creative Technology, Al Fereej Group, TMS – Transport Management Services, International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), Qatar Badminton Association, Qatar Sports Investments, Maldives Olympic Committee, Doha Golf Club, Production resource Group and more…

> View attending companies 

Would you like to boost your company’s profile among an influential and decision making audience?

 

Partners include BT Global Services, Supply Chain Navigators, Creative Technology, Network Advertising & Events and The Look Company. If you would like to join Sportech, meet senior level sports professionals in the region and showcase your technology, please contact Richard Arrowsmith on +971 4 407 2602 or at sponsorship@informasportsgroup.com

Sally Nastys

Divisional Director

Sportech Conference 2012

The winner of the series between the Opals and Tall Ferns will quality for the 2014 FIBA Women’s World Championship in Turkey while the Boomers-Tall Blacks winner will take a higher seeding to next year’s worlds in Spain.

The two-match series tips off in Auckland on August 14 with highlights from both games to be shown on ABC1 from 11:30pm in the eastern states, 11pm in SA.

Basketball Australia chief executive officer Kristina Keneally said the FIBA qualifier would bring many 2012 Olympians back together alongside new faces from the recent World University Games and FIBA U19 World Championships.

“This is undoubtedly the biggest event on our high-performance calendar this year, so we’re pleased fans right across the country will be able to catch the elite action on free-to-air TV with our broadcast partner ABC,” Keneally said.

The coverage is a coup for BA, which will have many of its biggest international “name” players on show in the Oceania Series.

ABC-TV’s Head of Sport and Events, Justin Holdforth said: “The Opals and the Boomers are two of Australia’s most important national sporting teams, so it’s appropriate both will be seen on the national broadcaster.

“It’s a privilege to have superstars like Lauren Jackson and Patty Mills on ABC1, and we look forward to seeing both teams emphatically qualifying for next year’s World Cup.”

GFH Capital, health the Bahrain-based investment bank hoping to negotiate a deal for Leeds United have been granted an extension to the exclusivity period as they bid to complete the deal.

GFH Capital has been in talks with Leeds chairman Ken Bates for several weeks, viagra 60mg and the two parties now have additional time to finalise a deal.

David Haigh, denture deputy chief executive officer at GFH Capital, said in a statement: “The fact that we are in such advanced talks means this extended exclusivity window is merely to ensure we can get past the final post without distraction.

“We have come so far and are looking forward to what we hope will be a positive statement about change in ownership of Leeds United shortly.”