Wie das Magazin „sponsors“ berichtet, story hat der dramatische Einzug des FC Bayern München ins Champions-League-Finale Sat. 1 erneut Traumquoten eingebracht. Den Sieg über Real Madrid verfolgten in der Spitze fast 14 Millionen Zuschauer. Ein neuer Quotenrekord wurde nur knapp verpasst.

Bereits die erste Hälfte der Begegnung verfolgten ab 20.45 Uhr schon 10,99 Millionen Zuschauer ab drei Jahren, was einem Marktanteil von 32,7 Prozent entsprach. Zur zweiten Halbzeit legte Sat.1 nochmal kräftig zu. Durchschnittlich 13,52 Millionen Zuschauer sahen die Aufholjagd der Bayern, was den Marktanteil auf 43,8 Prozent schießen ließ.

Die anschließende Verlängerung ab 22.36 Uhr verzeichnete dann zwar einen kleinen Rückgang, kam aber immer noch auf eine hervorragende Quote von 13,15 Millionen Zuschauer (MA: 48,9 Prozent). Die zweite Hälfte der Verlängerung brachte es anschließend auf einen Marktanteil von 52,5 Prozent (13,25 Millionen Zuschauer).

Den krönenden Abschluss brachte schließlich aber das ausgetragene Elfmeter-Schießen ab 23.12 Uhr, das mit 13,97 Millionen Zuschauern einen überragenden Marktanteil von 57,9 Prozent erzielte. Auch die nachfolgende Übertragung der Highlights des zweiten Halbfinalrückspiels zwischen dem FC Chelsea und dem FC Barcelona vom Vortag, die bis weit nach Mitternacht reichte, verfolgten immerhin noch 4,54 Millionen Zuschauer (MA: 37,0 Prozent).

Somit war das Halbfinalrückspiel gegen Real Madrid erfolgreicher als das Champions-League-Finale des FC Bayern gegen Inter Mailand im Jahr 2010. Damals verfolgten die zweite Halbzeit 12,64 Millionen Zuschauer. Insgesamt verpasste Sat. 1 mit der gestrigen Übertragung nur knapp einen neuen Senderrekord. Lediglich den UEFA-Cup-Gewinn des FC Schalke 04 im Jahr 1997 wollten mit 14,44 Millionen noch mehr Zuschauer sehen.

Double Olympic gold medallist gymnast Peter Vidmar has resigned from his position as US Chef de Mission for the London 2012 Games just days after his appointment due to controversy surrounding his public opposition of same sex marriage.

Vidmar, 49, is a devout Mormon and contributed US$2,000 to the 2008 campaign for a statewide proposition in California, defining marriage as between a man and women.

Having been appointed to the post on April 28, Vidmar said he was not interested in dealing with the distractions the controversy would have on the US team to London. 

He stated: “I wish that my personal religious beliefs would not have become a distraction from the amazing things that are happening in the Olympic movement in the United States. I simply cannot have my presence become a detriment to the U.S. Olympic family.”

United States Olympic Committee (USOC) CEO Scott Blackmun said of Vidmar’s resignation: “Peter is respected the world-over for his dedication and commitment to the Olympic Movement and is rightly considered one of America’s great Olympic champions. I believe Peter would have served our athletes well, but given the nature of this issue, I certainly respect his decision to resign.”

Liverpool’s 107.6 Juice FM has partnered up with Aintree Racecourse, allergy which see’s the station become the Official Radio Partner of the 2013 John Smith’s Grand National Festival. 

The three day event takes place from Thursday 4^th April through until Saturday 6^th April. The Saturdays will perform on the Juice FM Stage on the Grand Opening Day. The girl group will also perform on Saturday 6^th April, the day of the Grand National meeting.

John Baker, Regional Director of Jockey Club Racecourses said: “We wanted to add something new to the race experience across all three days and together with The Saturdays on Grand Opening Day we see Juice FM as the perfect station to do just that.”

Station Director for 107.6 Juice FM, Graham Sarath, said: “The Grand National, like Juice, is a Liverpool institution and the biggest event in the sporting and social calendar for the city. To be Official Radio Partner of the festival is fantastic for Juice and I’m really looking forward to working with the team at Aintree and having a bit of fun on air in both the build up and at the festival itself.”

Last year’s festival attracted a record breaking 154,000 race-goers, bringing in an estimated £10 million boom to the Merseyside economy.

Juice FM is based in Liverpool and broadcasts to over 220,000 listeners. Last year Juice FM was crowned ‘Station of the Year’ at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.

Chelsea’s on field heroics leading to a place in the Champions League Final may have boosted revenue as they are expecting a huge television pay out, according to chief executive Ron Gourlay.

The Blues are set for the biggest television cash pay-out for reaching the final of at least £45 million ($73 million, 55.5 million euros) after a dramatic 2-2 draw in Barcelona on Tuesday, and a 3-2 aggregate win.

The £45 million represents European football governing body UEFA’s payments of TV cash alone and studies have shown the clubs can double that income from ticket sales, sponsorship and merchandise. 

Manchester United had previously held the record pay-out of Champions League television cash at £43.5m last season, but this year earned only £28m as a result of failing to qualify for the knockout stages. 

English clubs have topped Champions League television payments for several years as a result of the sums paid by commercial broadcasters Sky and ITV. 

However, with Chelsea currently outside the top four in the English Premier League they may have to win this season’s Champions League final if they are to qualify for next term’s tournament. 

And with UEFA set to introduce financial fair play rules designed to cap the influence of wealthy owners such as Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich and the Blues based at a Stamford Bridge ground that holds less than half of Barcelona’s near 100,000-capacity Camp Nou, Gourlay also urged fans to reconsider their opposition to a new stadium. 

“To find ourselves in the final has given the club a fabulous lift, and the fans as well,” Gourlay told Chelsea’s official website. 

“Financially, as well, it is a big boost for the club. It helps us continue our investment in the team as we go forward but we still have the challenge of making sure we are in this competition next year, and that is very important.” 

And he added a significant increase in stadium size, which Chelsea insist cannot be done at their existing west-London home of Stamford Bridge, was part of the process of strengthening the club’s finances. 

“The way Chelsea has geared ourselves up the last few years puts us in a good position to take the club forward but, at the same time, remaining in the elite teams in the future is a challenge because it is no secret that while we are the fifth or sixth biggest club in Europe from a financial point of view, our stadium is outside the top 30 at this present time,” Gourlay said. 

“The money generated from matchday through the stadiums is considerable. If we are not able to take the money on matchday then we have to look at other parts of the business to generate the revenues and allow us to continue the circle of success to invest into the team to give the results or entice sponsors to come to the club.”

by Ismail Uddin

iSportconnect launched its new Jobs section yesterday, May 12, as it develops and establishes itself as the multi-service providing platform for the sports business community, having grown significantly over the past six months.

No matter what your sector, you can be sure that it will be covered by iSportconnect in its new feature, the ultimate resource for anyone involved in the sports business industry who needs to be kept in the know.

The iSportconnect Jobs feature enables its members to search across the industry by sectors, sports, experience level and location.

The feature will be launching new initiatives such as a ‘Job Organiser’: A new section in your profile page to show matching roles when you login, enabling you to be contacted by our recruitment partners. A ‘Show Availability’ facility will monitor those looking for work to be submitted, confidentially, to iSportconnect account managers at our Recruitment Partners as well as members receiving email notifications of relevant positions.

iSportconnect CEO and Founder, Sree Varma stated: “The iSportconnect Jobs section is a feature that we have been developing and perfecting for some time. We are delighted to announce the launch of the new section as another step to ensuring our members have the widest range of opportunities and services available. We see the Jobs feature as a logical progression of the community to partner the social media services that the company provides. The fact that our members have personal up-to-date profiles enables us to effectively match roles posted by our Recruitment Partners to a persons experience and availability.”

iSportconnect would like to take the opportunity to remind its members to make sure that their personal profile is complete and up-to-date as our Recruitment Partners will match profiles to the roles available.

If you haven’t updated or completely filled in your profile, you can easily do so by going to ‘Community’ –> ‘Profile’ –> ‘Edit Profile’. If you have a Linkedin account, you can save time by going to ‘Import Linkedin profile’ instead of ‘Edit profile’ in order increase your business opportunities.

USA Swimming and Universal Sports Network have announced an extension of the deal to air the swimming bodies’ events in the United States until 2016.

Under the terms of the agreement, allergy Universal Sports will hold exclusive multi-platform rights to USA Swimming Grand Prix competitions, anabolics including the annual Arena Grand Prix series.

Universal Sports will broadcast all of the remaining events in the 2012-13 Arena Grand Prix Series and will then team with NBC from July 20 for coverage of the 2013 FINA Aquatics World Championships.

CEO of Universal Sports, viagra pharmacy David Sternberg, said: “We are pleased to continue our partnership with USA Swimming, and build upon the success of the past four years of our relationship. Swimming is an integral part of our programming lineup, and this agreement reinforces our commitment to these outstanding athletes and providing the growing U.S. Swimming community with the events they crave.”

USA Swimming Assistant Executive Director, Mike Unger, added: “Our extended partnership with Universal Sports allows swim fans the opportunity to watch world-class swimming throughout the year, not just once every four years.”

The Football League have announced they are to implement Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations in all three of its divisions, after Championship clubs voted in favour of a breakeven approach based on UEFA’s FFP regulations.

From the beginning of next season, the Championship will join League 1 and League 2 clubs in applying rules that exert greater control over club expenditure with each division having the flexibility to determine their own specific approach.

Championship clubs, who will have to provide the Football League with their accounts by December 1st each year, will be obliged to make sure their annual losses drop from an “acceptable deviation” of £4 million in 2011/12 to £2 million by 2015/16, certain areas of spending being excluded, including academy and community programmes. 

The allowed level of shareholder equity investment will be reduced from £8 million in the 2011/12 campaign to £3 million by 2015/16. 

Clubs which fail to comply with the rules will face sanctions but not until 2013/14, after “a sensible period of transition”. 

Sides that have been promoted to the Premier League will have to pay a Fair Play Tax on their spending excess, which ranges from 1% on the first £100,000 to 100% on anything over £10 million with that cash going equally to the clubs who have kept to the regulations. 

Teams not playing by the rules and remaining in the Championship will face a transfer embargo. 

Clubs relegated from the Premier League won’t face sanctions during their first season in the Championship if they have kept to Premier League regulations. 

Football League chairman, Greg Clarke, said: “On the pitch we have three exciting, competitive divisions with crowds at their highest levels for 50 years. 

“But that success isn’t necessarily being reflected on our clubs’ balance sheets and we have to remedy that situation or face an uncertain future. 

“I’d like to commend the Championship clubs for the courageous decision they have taken today. It means that for the first time, all 72 Football League clubs have agreed to take concerted action towards controlling their financial destiny. 

“Whilst we cannot promise that these rules will deliver results overnight, they will begin to lay the foundations for a league of financially self-sustaining football clubs.”

by Ismail Uddin

Tim Hollingsworth has been appointed as the new chief executive of ParalympicsGB.

The announcement made yesterday, May 5, sees Hollingsworth join the British Paralympic Association (BPA) from UK Sport, where he has been chief operating officer since September 2010 having previously been director of policy and communications there for five years.

After previous CEO Phil Lane unexpectedly announced his resignation earlier in the year, a comprehensive and rigorous recruitment process was rolled out, selecting Hollingsworth, who stated: “I am thrilled to join the BPA at this vital time in its history.

“With not much more than a year to go before London 2012, there is a tremendous opportunity not just to maximise our athletes’ success at the Games but also to drive a step-change in Paralympic sport and its ability to impact on attitudes and change people’s lives.

“I look forward to playing my part with a great team to deliver this. I would also like to thank everyone at UK Sport for their support and good wishes.

“UK Sport is a great organisation playing a vital role in British sport and I look forward to working with them and all the BPA’s partners to further the success of our athletes, ParalympicsGB and the Paralympic movement in this country.”

Hollingsworth will join the ParalympicsGB in July in time for a very busy period of both Games preparation and international engagement for the organisation.

ParalympicsGB chairman Tim Reddish said: “This is a crucial appointment for our organisation as we head into what will be the most important Games ever for Paralympic sport in the UK.

“Tim stood out from a field of high calibre candidates and impressed us with his track record of building relationships in both the sporting and commercial sector.

“This, coupled with his clear passion for Paralympic sport and in depth knowledge of the challenges and opportunities presented by a home Games, mean that we believe he is the ideal candidate to lead the organisation through 2012 and beyond. We’re delighted to welcome him on board.”

A large number of senior figures in British sport have praised the appointment including UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl, who has worked closely with Hollingsworth and added: “Since joining six years ago Tim has made a tremendous impact at UK Sport, was an important part of our team and it is easy to see why his skills and attributes were recognised by the British Paralympic Association.

“While we are all sad to see him go, we also recognise that this is a great opportunity for Tim to take on this significant lead role at a special moment in British sporting history and although UK Sport will lose a valued team member, British sport will gain a very strong lead for Paralympic Sport in the run up to 2012 and beyond.

“I would like to place on record my personal thanks for Tim’s hard work and support over the past six years and to wish him well in what I am sure will be an incredibly exciting and rewarding new role.

“The next 18 months is a hugely important time for sport in this country and we look forward to working with Tim and his team to help ensure British Paralympic athletes are best prepared when they reach the start line in 2012.”

Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), said: “I’d like to welcome Tim to the Paralympic Movement and wish him well for his new role which, with London 2012 less than 500 days away, will certainly be an exciting start.

“Tim is no stranger to Paralympic Sport or the Movement having spent six years at UK Sport. I am fully confident that this experience will be invaluable to him as he joins ParalympicsGB at what is arguably the most exciting time ever for Paralympic Sport in the UK.”

Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said: “This is one of the most important jobs in sport as we approach the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

“Tim Hollingsworth has done an excellent job at UK Sport, at the heart of this country’s high performance system, so he is ideally placed to lead the BPA forward.”

London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton added: “Tim is an excellent choice.

“His knowledge of the British sporting landscape will be hugely valuable to the BPA on its journey to London 2012 and beyond.”

ONE World Sports, viagra the sports network with live, vcialis 40mg world-class competitions from around the globe, announced exclusive North American coverage of the inaugural season of the Hockey India League.

ONE World Sports will air the daily matches of the world’s top professional men’s field hockey league comprising five India-based franchises with an international mix of the world’s best players. The high-intensity one-month season culminates in the championship match on Sunday, February 10th.

Sanctioned by the International Hockey Federation, the Hockey India League (HIL) was created to provide a 30-day window at the beginning of the year to engage the world’s top players in a condensed tournament. Each HIL franchise carries a total of 24 players — 14 from India and 10 of the best field hockey players from throughout the world, many having represented their countries in the 2012 London Olympics. The franchise cities span India: Delhi (Delhi Wave Riders); Mumbai (Mumbai Magicians); Mohali (Punjab Warriors); Ranchi (Ranchi Rhinos); and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh Wizards).

The full series will be available on two platforms: ONE World Sports’ television channel, which is distributed by multiple platform video distributors; and on broadband for sports fans outside ONE World Sports’ distribution markets — thus making the HIL available to virtually all households in the United States and Canada. 

Dr. Narinder Batra, Secretary General of Hockey India and Chairman Hockey India League, stated: “We are very pleased to be available live throughout the USA and Canada, thanks to ONE World Sports. Our teams are composed of the finest field hockey players in the world, and ONE World Sports is committed to delivering live coverage of important, popular sports from around the globe.”

“Field Hockey has a rich tradition around the world and is truly a global sport as evidenced by the breadth of world-class players in this new league,” commented Alexander Brown, President and CEO of ONE World Sports. “We are proud to introduce the HIL on our network. It is another solid example of the type of quality global sports programming we deliver.”

 

Duff and Phelps, Rangers administrators, have suggested the rebuilding of the crisis stricken club have been seriously undermined by a 12-month signing embargo handed out by the Scottish Football Association and will appeal the decision.

The punishment, which prohibits them registering any player aged over 17, came with fines totalling £160,000 following a three-day hearing by an SFA judicial panel last week.

Duff and Phelps reacted with “utter shock and dismay” to what they labelled “Draconian” sanctions arising from the SFA’s independent inquiry into the club’s finances and appointment of owner Craig Whyte as chairman.

Rangers vowed to appeal but the decision creates another obstacle to completing the sale of the club with the party apparently closest to a bid, American Bill Miller, having stated his offer was dependent on his new club receiving no penalties.

The inquiry last month ruled Whyte “not fit and proper” and the Rangers chairman was expelled from Scottish football for life and given £200,000 in fines.

Joint-administrator Paul Clark argued the club were being unfairly punished for the actions of their owner, whose withholding of tax payments sparked their descent into administration in February, with the bill now more than £14million.

Clark said: “The thrust of the charges against the club focused on non-payment of payroll taxes and evidence was produced that all such decisions in this area were taken by Craig Whyte during his tenure.

“Given this evidence, it is difficult to comprehend that the disciplinary panel has seen fit to effectively punish the club even more heavily than Mr Whyte. As everyone knows, it has already been decided he is not a fit and proper person to run a football club and any further punishment on him will have little or no impact.

“However, for Rangers, a ban on signing players will seriously undermine the club’s efforts to rebuild after being rendered insolvent. Furthermore, we do not know how bidders for the club will react to these sanctions and what affect they will have on their proposals.

“The club has asked for full written reasons for these decisions and intend to appeal against the findings.” The outcome of the disciplinary charges came towards the end of a day initially earmarked as the time Duff and Phelps would announce a preferred bidder.”