The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has secured exclusive media rights in 30 countries for the newly created national team qualifying matches competition, sickness for the Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018.

This deal will cover the media rights to all national team matches (home and away) across all media platforms for each EBU Member within its respective country. It also includes host broadcasting services for nearly 300 matches to be provided by EBU Members in high definition.

The EBU and its participating Members will guarantee substantial free-to-air coverage and have reaffirmed, apoplectic with this agreement, unhealthy their position of natural broadcast partner for national team football in Europe.

EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot said: “We are delighted that the EBU – on behalf of its Members – is one of the first UEFA broadcast partners for this ambitious new European Qualifiers competition. We are especially proud that European public service media continue to be the partner of choice for UEFA, UEFA’s national associations and their national teams, thus bringing the passion and excitement of national team football to the widest possible audience.”

With this major new deal, the EBU and its Members will benefit from an enriched portfolio of national team football media rights, complementing the rights previously acquired to the 2014, 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.

Swiss sports-retail chain Intersport International has set issued new goals for its football business, including ambitious plans in Asia, following a boost in sales during Euro 2012.

Intersport CEO, Franz Julen, said: “The goal for our football business has to be breaking €1B (us$1.2B) in revenue during the World Cup” year of  2014. For 2012, Intersport expects a revenue of about €900M (us$1.1B) from its football business and a total revenue of about €10B ($12.3B). Intersport’s partnership with UEFA “has been a success.”

“By 2020 we want to have 500 stores in Asia that generate annually us$1B in revenue.”{jcomments on}

The FA have announced today the appointment of Julie Harrington as Managing Director of St. George’s Park, prostate the new national football centre for England.

Harrington, ambulance 42, will begin her reign in The FA in March 2012 after leaving her post as Operations Director at Northern Racing, the horseracing and events operator.

St. George’s Park will be the training home of the 24 England teams, and a national coach education, development and sports medicine centre for football, sport and business.

Speaking of the appointment, David Sheepshanks, Chairman of St. George’s Park, said: “I am delighted to welcome Julie Harrington to St. George’s Park. Julie has a first class record of creating customer focused, high performance teams that deliver excellent results. Her background and understanding of the sporting world and experience of working alongside the business community, the media and government will stand her in good stead.

“Our focus in 2012 is not only on the completion of the development next summer, but also on driving the business plan and ensuring that the many constituent parts of St. George’s Park gel together effectively. We all look forward to supporting her in what will be a seminal year for English football with the arrival of St. George’s Park.”

The FA’s General Secretary, Alex Horne, said: “Julie is a welcome addition to the senior management team of The FA and brings with her a great deal of experience in operations and also in major sports venue openings.

“St. George’s Park represents a significant investment by The FA and our partners, not only in monetary terms, but in terms of the future of our game. Getting our delivery right, from day one, is important and we have every confidence that Julie will succeed in helping us achieve this.”

Harrington commented: “I am thrilled to be appointed as Managing Director of St. George’s Park. The facility taking shape in Burton will be truly inspirational and a fantastic asset to The FA, football as a whole and the region. The opportunity to be part of the future development of our national game is a challenge I relish and feel privileged to be given.”

Harrington was responsible for the delivery of the business plan for ten racecourses across the UK, and was also Northern Racing’s project lead on the successful £40m development of Ffos Las Racecourse – opened in 2009 – the first turf racecourse to open in the UK for over 80 years.

Karen Earl, sale Chair of the European Sponsorship Association (ESA) and Synergy, sales has taken part in an exclusive Featured Profile interview with iSportconnect.

Earl spoke of the beginning of her career in sponsorship having began her career in the PR industry, ampoule she looked to make the most of her enthusiasm for sports and plumped for the relatively new concept of sports sponsorship. She revealed that she ‘had heard about sponsorship agency, West Nally’ and stated that once she had discovered the opportunity she set her sights on a role within sponsorship. Karen went on to confirm that she had little fears of entering what was, at the time, a male-dominated industry, stating that that was the case in a number of industries, adding: “I really didn’t give much thought to being a woman in a man’s world; I gave much more thought to being good at the job.”

When asked as to whether the sponsorship market had become overloaded with emerging agencies she claimed that the growing amount of agencies proved that the industry had ‘matured’, adding that she believed there is still room for specialism. However, she went on to add: “The nature of sponsorship means that it works best when in harness with other marketing disciplines, agencies with access to those disciplines inevitably have the edge over those that practice in a niche area.”

Earl revealed that her decision to only work for companies sponsoring events, rather than selling the sponsorships themselves, was because she didn’t believe you could do both, claiming “it causes a conflict of interests.” She credited her success in the field and the key characteristic required by any sponsorship professional as ‘personability’, adding: “Being someone with whom people want to do business is essential.”

Karen manages her time between chairing both Synergy Sponsorship, formerly Karen Earl Sponsorship, and the European Sponsorship Association (ESA) and says that her position is far less time-consuming at Synergy compared to the ESA as “Synergy has a highly successful and competent senior management team.” Shed stated that her work with the ESA was a way of “putting something back into the industry”, adding: “The sponsorship industry needs an effective trade body which is committed to raising standards and protecting its interests.”

When asked if there were any initiatives that the ESA has launched which she held in particularly high regard, Earl stated: “The launch of the ESA Knowledge Series in 2009 was a significant step in embedding ESA’s commitment to raising standards across the sponsorship industry.  The ESA Insights Forums for senior management have proven very insightful, whilst the ESA Skills Workshops are more practical and aimed at middle managers to junior executives.” She revealed that the next initiative to be launched will be “the ESA Work Experience Certificate which aims to provide a framework for both employers and candidates”.

Karen said that singling out a sponsor which has had the largest impact on its affiliation with a sporting event was a ‘difficult’ task. She did, however, claim that Benson and Hedges ties with the likes of hockey, ice hockey and snooker was a success that has not been maintained or replicated since tobacco sponsorship’s demise. Earl added: “Other sponsors such as Nike have created their own events which embody the brand and would not otherwise exist. Bupa’s Great Run Series is a classic example of synergy between brand, event and participant; Coca-Cola’s recognition so many years ago that football was the perfect global partner for its brand remains one of the most successful sponsorship stories of all time.”

As well as speaking on Ofcom’s ruling to increase the time commercial breaks can be shown during programming and the ESA’s standpoint on the issue of alcohol sponsorship, Karen had the final word on his association with iSportconnect and the incentives it brings, stating: “It’s a valuable source of information and provides interesting features.  It’s “by the industry for the industry”.

Qatar Airways is not far from sponsoring a English Premier League team after the CEO confirmed they were approached by two clubs.

“Two English teams have approached us. We told them that we would consider it … but we are not yet ready to do it,” Akbar Al Baker said at the Farnborough Airshow.

He said the approaches had come from clubs looking to build new stadia and that Qatar Airways favoured a deal involving stadium naming rights – similar to Arsenal’s deal with Dubai-based Emirates Airline.

“If we do it we would like to do it in a big way,” he said.

Liverpool and Tottenham are known to be considering building new stadia.

 

 

Mark Stockwell has been appointed Chairman of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC), erectile Premier, ed Hon Anna Bligh has formally announced.

Mr Stockwell was appointed by the Governor in Council yesterday on the recommendation of the Premier and the President of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association.

Premier Bligh said she was thrilled when Mr Stockwell agreed to Chair the Games and reinforced the sentiment now that the appointment approval process has been finalised.

“Mr Stockwell managed to drive the Bid for the Games with a passion and energy befitting his days as an athlete and I have no doubt he will throw the same amount of enthusiasm into delivering a sensational Games that will do Queensland and Australia proud.

“He has a very solid business and commercial background that will ensure the infrastructure and venue upgrades are in accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth Games Federation and the international sporting bodies.

Premier Bligh said the next major appointment would be the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC), Chief Executive Officer – a role that will be widely advertised to ensure they fet the right candidate to fill such an important position.

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee newly appointed Chairman, Mark Stockwell said he would bring to the role extensive experience as an athlete combined with a solid business management background and knowledge and passion for the regions capabilities.

“The Bid for the Games was very intense and all about demonstrating what we could do and how we would deliver a fantastic and memorable Games.

“The Organising Committee is all about delivering on our promises to the Commonwealth Games Association delegations as per the detail outlined in the Bid Book.

“The Gold Coast will be on show to the world and it is paramount that we have the right staff in place, well trained volunteers and all aspects of the event combined are delivered to the highest standard,” Mr Stockwell said.

“We must now look to appoint a Board and a CEO so we can hit the ground running in 2012… however this is a marathon, not a sprint with lots of planning before the finish line in 2018 and lots of hard work ahead,” Mr Stockwell said.

The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Bid Chief Executive Officer, Mark Peters has been appointed Acting CEO of the Games Organising Committee until the role is permanently filled.

Umberto Gandini, generic Organising Director at AC Milan and Vice-Chairman of the European Clubs Association (ECA), stuff has taken part in an exclusive Featured Profile interview with iSportconnect.

Mr Gandini spoke in detail of his role at the European Clubs Association (ECA), doctor and explained that the mission of the body was to “give club football its proper position into the football family.” He confirmed that historically “the involvement of club football into the governing bodies has always been very poor” and this was something that the ECA hopes to address.

Umberto spoke of the importance of the change in Presidency at UEFA when Michel Platini was elected, stating: “He (Platini) came into UEFA’s presidency with a clear design of bringing the football families together,” adding “he was pivotal in convincing the major clubs to renounce their positions by joining the family and creating the ECA, in reality, merging the UEFA European Club Forum and the G14 into this new organisation.”

Gandini said that the ECA’s communication and relationship with UEFA was naturally and easier one to manage than that with FIFA, claiming: “The problem lies within the fact that the majority of our issues, such as the release of players, the international calendar and transfer regulations are all FIFA matters. It is a more difficult route to obtain access to FIFA, especially because FIFA represents all confederations, and the other confederations have not developed in the same way that UEFA has.”

Umberto confirmed that Italian soccer has suffered this season due to poor results on the pitch in European competitions, saying it had been “been highly detrimental to the status of Italian football within the European scenario.” However, he spoke of his club, AC Milan’s successes in the league thus far and confirmed that qualifying for the Champions League is of paramount importance, claiming: “It’s fundamental,” and adding: “The difference between the Europa League and the UCL is still huge. Without Champions League revenues, the club would be forced to resize its objectives in the long run.” He also revealed that although the ability to break into the emerging Middle Eastern market in sport was an incentive behind the latest sponsorship deal with Emirates, the main priority was to remain associated with top brands.

Mr Gandini spoke of the amount of FIFA’s total revenue from the World Cup afforded to the clubs whose player’s were represented at the tournament, less than 1.5%, saying the figure was “absolutely ridiculous”. He confirmed that the ECA is still strongly pursuing the fact that, “the clubs were the only part of the football family that were not going to get any benefit from the World Cup or the confederation tournaments.” He claimed that the agreement to compensate the clubs was a “starting point” but one that was “no longer enough”, revealing that: “players are going to the European Championships at 5,000 euros per day, and players going to the World Cup for 1,400 dollars per day!”

He also talked of the need to find a better solution to the current international calendar when asked as to whether the notion of friendly international fixtures should be scrapped and stated that, expecting players to be fit and able to compete in the Euro 2012 Championships and the Olympic Games just a month later was “nonsense”.

Umberto had the final word on his association with iSportconnect and the incentives it brings, stating: “It’s a great platform that offers the opportunity to be in touch with the leaders, and also the experts and the professionals of the Sport Industry, and to have the opportunity to get instant access to potential business partners. I think it’s a great concept. It gives you the possibility to follow the trends and best practise in Sport.”

Read the full article here – http://isportconnect.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6453&catid=56&Itemid=224

Editors Note:

Umberto Gandini is the organising Director of Italian Football Club AC Milan. Having obtained his degree in law, he started his career in the sports industry as a consultant for TV rights for the sports programme at RTI (now Mediaset Group). For more than 17 years, he has been working for AC Milan. In his current position, he is responsible for all first-team activities as well as negotiation of TV and New Media rights. He is a member of the Professional Football Strategy Council of UEFA and the FIFA Club Committee and he is First Vice-Chairman of ECA European Club Association.

Bird’s Nest in Beijing will host the 2012 Super Cup between Serie A champion Juventus and Italy Cup winner Napoli on August 11.

The Italian Super Cup made its debut in China in 2009, when Lazio beat Inter Milan 2–1 in theNational Stadium. Domestic league champion Inter Milan refused to play in China in 2010 dueto a scheduling conflict with the UEFA Super Cup final in Monaco.

The two countries joined forces again in 2011, bringing the Milan derby to China.

According to Wang Hui, who works for the Chinese organizers, the teams will arrive in China inearly August to participate in some commercial activities ahead of the game, and Napoli willplay another friendly with a Chinese team in a city nearby Beijing before the Super Cup.

Lord Goldsmith, a former attorney general has been appointed to FIFA’s new Independent Governance Committee (IGC), the organisation selected to reforming FIFA.

Lord Goldsmith will begin his stint in the committee which has been set up by football’s governing body following a number of scandals that have rocked the organisation.

Lord Goldsmith, said: “I have accepted the invitation as I believe that there are important issues of reform with which FIFA needs to deal.”

“I hope my experience from government and now in an international law practice with a heavy emphasis on corporate governance and compliance and anti-corruption issues will enable me to contribute to that work.”

The IGC does not contain a representative from Transparency International, however, after it expressed concerns earlier this month that the committee chairman, professor Mark Pieth, had been appointed by FIFA and was being paid by them.

“Our road map is very ambitious and we want to take time to look at the proposals made by the Independent Governance Committee so that we reach 2013 with results and decisions to be taken,” FiFA president, Sepp Blatter said speaking after a meeting of FIFA’s executive committee in Tokyo on Saturday.

“The executive committee is united and stands strong, and has a determination to respond to the FIFA congress and to public opinion. FIFA will carry out the necessary reforms,” he added.

The Premier League has secured three new radio broadcast deals with talkSport, BBC and Absolute Radio.

talkSport has bagged two Barclays Premier League packages for the next three football seasons.

The deal means that talkSPORT will be the exclusive audio rights holders for the Saturday late and Sunday lunchtime matches.

talkSPORT will broadcast between 60 and 64 matches in total each season, with the opportunity to build on the unprecedented increase in audience that Premier League commentary has given the station over the past three years, when it first grabbed these rights from the BBC.

talkSPORT Chief Executive, Scott Taunton, said: “We’re really pleased to have secured these two Barclays Premier League packages, as it puts us in a firm position to build on our past success and drive the business forward.

“Over the past six years, we have established ourselves as a major player in providing exciting, energetic and distinctive Premier League commentary. We have proved that we are providing what people want – and now, with the extra rights we have secured already and with a firm policy to continue investing in sports rights, we can move forward to gain recognition as a bigger player not just with the Premier League but across the board.”

The BBC has secured four existing packages of rights which kick-offs at Saturday lunchtime, first choice of Saturday’s 15:00 kick-offs, Sunday at 16:00 and Monday/Tuesday evenings – have been retained until 2015-16.

BBC director of sport Barbara Slater said: “Radio 5 live remains the home of live football on the radio, with more FA Premier League matches than any other broadcaster.”

She added: “The contract extension reinforces the BBC’s commitment to securing premium radio rights for the long-term, despite a competitive market.

“Comprehensive coverage of football on Radio 5 live is a key part of our audience offering and a driving force behind the continued integration of our football service.

Absolute Radio has got a further three year deal to broadcast live and exclusive Barclays Premier League football commentary across our Sony Award winning Rock N Roll Football Show. We only bid for one package and we’re pleased we have kept them.