New York Cosmos Director of Soccer confirmed for March event

9 January, drugs 2012: Barcelona:

Global Sports Forum Barcelona, pill the world’s leading exchange platform for sporting movements, symptoms has today announced that ex-international footballer turned actor, Éric Cantona, will take part in the 4^th edition of the Forum, 7 – 9 March, 2012.

Cantona, the newly appointed Director of Soccer at New York Cosmos, will join many of the world’s leading brands, government institutions, rights holders and governing bodies from sport already signed-up to attend the Forum, which has quickly established itself as one of the industry’s most influential thought leadership platforms.  The Manchester United legend will focus on the various projects he has been involved in since retiring from football in a session on “Life after Sport.”

Lucien Boyer, General Commissioner of the Global Sports Forum Barcelona, said:

“We are extremely excited to announce that one of the most influential footballers of his generation will be attending the Forum this year, to provide his thoughts on his new role in America and look ahead to the future of sport.  Signing up such a sporting icon is further evidence of the Forum’s growing reputation in the industry and I am very much looking forward to hearing what he has to say.”

Cantona joins a distinguished line-up of speakers already confirmed to take part in the Forum, which provides a year-long community for people to debate the latest issues and share opinions on sport.  LOCOG Chairman, Sebastian Coe, FC Barcelona President, Sandro Rosell, Head of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing at Coca-Cola, Emmanuel Seuge, YouTube’s Head of Sports Content, Claude Ruibal, and England 2015 CEO, Paul Vaughan, are already confirmed to take part.

“Eric Cantona’s career has developed full-circle since he finished his playing career, with acting, painting, photography and charity work all featuring in his life after sport,” continued Lucien Boyer.  “Now that he’s back in football with New York Cosmos, I am sure many of our delegates will be keen to hear from him, along with many of the other fantastic speakers we already have lined-up to discuss the future of the sports industry.”

In 2011, the Forum was attended by more than 1,000 delegates from 54 countries, featuring the likes of global superstar Didier Drogba, Carlos Nuzman (Rio 2016), Sergei Bubka (IOC) and Guy-Laurent Epstein (UEFA) amongst its 40 different speakers from diversified backgrounds.

BeIn Sport, the TV sports channel operated by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, is one of the bidders reportedly in the running to net the broadcasting rights for the English Premier League in the Americas.

The rights to screen the prestigious English football league in the US, Canada, South and Central America, the Caribbean and Brazil are up for renewal in 2013 and a decision on the winning bidder is expected to be made next month, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The league made around £1.4bn (US$2.3bn) from overseas bradcasting rights during the last three years and the next round of three-year contracts are expected to reap even higher revenue, the report added.

Fox Entertainment Group currently holds the rights to screen the Premier League, with Walt Disney’s ESPN, Qatar’s BeIn Sport and NBC Sports reportedly among the bidders looking to gain the rights until 2016.

Earlier this summer, Al Jazeera reportedly lost out on the rights to screen the Premier League in the UK to BSkyB and British Telecom.

BSkyB has secured five packages totalling 116 matches while BT won two packages totalling 38 matches in deals worth GBP£3.02bn.

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, which beat Canal Plus to the French Ligue 1 and Champions League rights last year, was expected to be part of the bidding process.

Al Jazeera is taking aim at Europe’s pay-TV market, using sport to build a global media brand, just as owner Qatar is raising its profile by hosting the 2022 World Cup.

The sports world is also buzzing with anticipation that Al Jazeera, with Qatar’s gas and oil wealth behind it, could put big money on the table to bid for rights to global sporting events.

“The Qataris see sport as being an entree for themselves on the world stage, and the next piece in the jigsaw puzzle is a really big rights acquisition,” said Graham Shear, a lawyer specialising in sports matters.

Fenway Sports Management (FSM) and the Boston Red Sox have jointly announced today that Adam Grossman has been named Senior Vice President, Marketing & Brand Development for both organizations.

Grossman will be responsible for directing strategic marketing and branding for FSM and the Red Sox, and Fenway Sports Group’s portfolio of properties including Liverpool FC, NESN and Roush Fenway Racing. Grossman will report to FSM President Sam Kennedy and Managing Directors Billy Hogan & Mark Lev.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Adam back to the family,” said Kennedy. “He contributed greatly during his first stint with us and now with his NFL experience, there’s no doubt he’ll help us solidify our position as a leading global sports sponsorship sales company and enhance the brand identities of the premiere properties we own and represent.”

Prior to joining FSM and the Red Sox, Grossman served as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for the Miami Dolphins where he oversaw the organization’s marketing, community relations, events and entertainment and government affairs departments as well as the Miami Dolphins Foundation. During his tenure with the Dolphins,

Grossman expanded the club’s traditional marketing strategies and integrated the grassroots community initiatives with the team’s community and philanthropic endeavors, greatly contributing to the Dolphins eclipsing the 50,000 season ticket mark for the first time since 2007.

He also developed the Miami Dolphins Special Teams volunteer force and was instrumental in the creation and expansion of several major team initiatives including Fins Weekend, the Miami Dolphins Foundation’s annual golf and fishing fundraiser, and the Dolphins Cycling Challenge, which raised more than $500,000 for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami.

“FSM has quickly gained a reputation as one of the world’s leading sports sponsorship sales organizations, and I’m excited to work with Sam, Billy and Mark to help build on their impressive accomplishments,” said Grossman. “Working with Larry Lucchino and the unbelievably talented executive leadership team he assembled at the Red Sox was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and now to have the chance to re-join the Red Sox and help write the next chapter of this great franchise’s story is more than I could have hoped for.”

Grossman began his career as an intern with the Red Sox and quickly rose through the corporate ranks, becoming Special Assistant to President and CEO Larry Lucchino in 2004. He was promoted to Vice President of Marketing in 2008, where he was responsible for executing the ballclub’s first season-long advertising and branding initiative, played an instrumental role in developing the Red Sox Nation fan club program and coordinated the club’s regional marketing activities.

When the Red Sox made their historic visit to Japan, Grossman liaised with MLB International on all aspects of the Red Sox presence in the region, including the 2008 Opening Series in Tokyo. Grossman developed a number of successful, non-major league baseball initiatives at Fenway Park including “Futures at Fenway” minor league doubleheaders, a sold-out event which brought the first official minor league games to America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.

beIN SPORT has announced a partnership today with MP & Silva, see a leading international media company, to launch the global sports broadcaster in Indonesia.

beIN SPORT will launch three high-definition channels featuring a world class line-up of football content, led by the most extensive and complete coverage of the Barclays Premier League (BPL), as well as other compelling top sports events such as the 17th Asian Games INCHEON 2014. The channels will be known as beIN SPORT 1 HD, beIN SPORT 2 HD and beIN SPORT 3 Premier League HD.

The beIN SPORT channels will be available on some of Indonesia’s leading pay-TV systems from 1 July 2013. All three channels will be available on Orange TV and NexMedia, while beIN SPORT 1 HD and 2 HD will be available on First Media.

Commenting on the news Nasser Al Khelaifi, Chairman of beIN SPORT, said: “Expansion into the Asia market has been a priority objective for beIN SPORT and in particular we have been keen to be involved in the growth potential of pay TV in Indonesia.” He added, “We are delighted to be partnering with MP & Silva who bring to our joint venture exceptional expertise in the Asia market.”

“We are delighted to partner with beIN SPORT to launch three television sports channels featuring the best football in Indonesia as it is the market where we foresee will have the highest pay-TV growth in terms of subscription in the next five years.  beIN SPORT is a consolidated and successful international broadcaster with an excellent track record of delivering high quality sports programmes. Most importantly, we believe that sports fans across Indonesia will appreciate and welcome the introduction of the fastest growing sports channel brand today, with their expertise in sports television production”, said Andrea Radrizzani, MP & Silva Group CEO.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has suggested Manchester City sponsorship deals have made a ‘mockery of financial fair play’. 

City, owned by Sheikh Mansour, and Paris St Germain have been criticised for massive sponsorship deals with companies enjoying close links to their billionaire backers.

Etihad Airways have a 10-year agreement with City bringing in close to £400million with many believing they have deliberately paid above the market price to pump money into the club.

Arsenal boss Wenger, whose side drew with City 1-1, said: “If the sponsorship deals are just a way of getting round financial fair play then it’s not financial fair play.

“It makes the system worse for me, as that would mean it makes a mockery of financial fair play.

“Originally, for financial fair play, sponsorship deals had to be at the level of the market price and I don’t know whether they will work or not.

“But what City do off the pitch, we’ve spoken about many times.

“On the pitch, they are an advert for football that’s always good to see.”

Daniel Geey, a sports law specialist from Field Fisher Waterhouse suggested how Manchester City’s sponsorship will be assessed by UEFA.

He said: “First, UEFA will need to establish whether the sponsorship deal is a Related Party Transactions. The Abu Dhabi government own Etihad Airways whose ruler Sheikh Khalifa is the half-brother of Man City owner Sheikh Mansour. In order for the deal to be caught under the UEFA RPT provisions, it would probably need to be demonstrated that Sheikh Khalifa had some type of influence or control over Man City (see Annex X(E) paragraphs 3-4). If the agreement is not a RPT, UEFA will not look at the value of the deal in any more detail.

“Second, if the Etihad deal is deemed to be a RPT, UEFA will be faced with an interesting issue of how to divide the deal revenues between the shirt sponsorship, the stadium naming rights deal and the Etihad Campus development. A type of benchmarking exercise will need to be carried out to assess what UEFA considers will be “fair value.” If UEFA considers the deal has been at a fair value, that will be the end of the matter. Therefore UEFA will need to assess the counter-factual position should question marks be raised over a particular transaction. The devil is obviously in the detail but issues over how revenue can be correctly valued may become a particularly thorny issue. In order to investigate a shirt sponsorship deal to assess fair value it would be necessary for UEFA to use comparators to identify whether a particular deal is extraordinary in any particular way.

“In using a rather blunt example, should an entity with a relationship to Premier League club X who has Champions League aspirations enter into £70m per season in shirt sponsorship deal with Club X, UEFA may study the top shirt deals in the Premier League and throughout Europe to see the current market rates. Remember also that ‘market value’ will be different to UEFA’s ‘fair value’ test.

“Lastly, if UEFA concludes a deal has not been at a fair value, the revenue for the benefit of calculating a club’s FFP licence application would be reducedto the level UEFA believe is appropriate.”

Ben Wells, the former head of marketing at Chelsea, added: “It’s a tough call for Platini. FFP is founded on good ethical principles – even though there are those that point to the fact that leading clubs will use it to maintain the status quo – as I can’t see football clubs ever getting their own houses in order without an initiative like this.

“The City deal with Etihad is not the only one that UEFA need to look at. There are several out there which are in my view grossly overinflated in terms of return. The response from UEFA to this is crucial. If UEFA don’t display a decisive response then FFP runs the risk of being stillborn.”

NIKE, Inc. has announced that its subsidiary company, Hurley International, has appointed founder and Chairman Bob Hurley the interim CEO role at Hurley, replacing Michael Egeck who has decided to leave the company.

Hurley will work closely with Roger Wyett, President of NIKE, Inc. Affiliates, and a former CEO of Hurley, during the transition.

“I’d like to thank Michael for his work during his time with the brand. Hurley continues to be an important part of the NIKE, Inc. portfolio as a deeply authentic and innovative surf brand, and serves as a key component of our integrated action sports strategy alongside the NIKE Brand and Converse,” said Wyett.

BT Sport has revealed they will televise the inaugural World Club 7s tournament live from Twickenham on August 17-18.

The ground-breaking event brings together some of the biggest names in club and provincial rugby for the first time in the history of sevens rugby.

Teams from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, ambulance together with some of the emerging names in the sevens game, will compete for the new trophy in mid-August.

BT Sport will act as host broadcaster for the tournament, which is then set to expand further in 2014 and 2015 as sevens rugby heads towards its debut at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Plans are underway to have the strongest club and provincial teams in the world qualifying through domestic 7s championships.

“We are delighted that BT Sport are showing the World Club 7s live”, said Dominic Hayes, Premiership Rugby’s commercial director.

“It’s an indication of the pace the tournament is gathering pace on a daily basis!

“BT Sport will broadcast three hours live on Saturday followed by five and a half hours on Sunday starting with ACT Brumbies against Auckland, as the competition reaches a crescendo.”

Head of BT Sport, Simon Green, said: “BT Sport is the new home of rugby union and we are delighted to be showing world class 7s to kick off our rugby coverage.

“Rugby union is entering a thrilling phase and we will be bringing the very best of the action to our viewers.”

The new BT Sport channels launch on August 1 with coverage of the first round of the Premiership 7s competitions, while the first live Aviva Premiership matches on the network will be broadcast in September.

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has revealed he sees no problem with offering rival teams a cash bonus to win, and it it is not a form of match-fixing.

Former Denmark international Laudrup has spent time in a wide range of countries throughout his career as a player and manager, and played for Italian sides Juventus and Lazio during the 1980s, a period associated with match-fixing investigations in the country.

He believes that match-fixers should be hit with lifetime bans, but believes the ‘suitcase’ culture prevalent in Spanish football, where one team will pay another team to take points off their immediate rivals in the league table, is not an issue.

“To say I’m against that [match-fixing] is obvious,” Laudrup said. “The worst match fixing I’ve heard was what happened in Italy before I came there in the beginning of the ’80s, where somebody bought three or four of the players in a team to lose a game.

“That means that seven or eight players in a team were playing to win, like normal, and three or four of them just to lose.”

However, he added: “If Swansea play the last game against a team and a third team pays Swansea to win the game, I really don’t see anything bad about that. It’s just a bonus. For me, match-fixing is when somebody pays someone to lose a game.”