Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour financial success has led to him being named top of this season’s Football Rich List with a personal fortune of £20 billion ($31bn).

Mansour, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling Al-Nahyan family, has spent a reported £400 million on transfers since taking control of City in 2008 and has been rewarded by seeing the team qualify for this season’s Champions League and win the 2011 FA Cup.

The 2011/12 rich list, compiled by magazine FourFourTwo, reveals Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov is now wealthier than QPR shareholder Lakshmi Mittal, and moves up to second. The Russian is now reported to be worth £12.4 billion ($19bn), with Indian steel magnate Mittal slipping to third with a fortune of £11.8 billion ($18.2bn).

Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, who was the first of a new breed of rich foreign owners to make an impact on the Premier League when he bought the Blues in 2003, only sits fourth on the list, despite the fact his fortune grew by £2.9 billion ($4.5bn) over the year to reach £10.3 billion ($16bn).

Malcolm Glazer, the controversial owner of Manchester United, has reportedly increased his fortune by £110 million ($170m) to remain ninth on the list.

Liverpool owner John W Henry, whose consortium completed their buy-out of the club just over a year ago, is the highest new entry on the list, with the American going in at 20th.

Former England captain David Beckham tops the player list with his wealth growing by £35 million ($54m) to give him a personal fortune of £135 million ($208.6m) according to the list, making him the wealthiest player on their list and 42nd overall.

Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand remain second and third on the players’ list, with Ferdinand’s United team-mates Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney fourth and fifth respectively.

England boss Fabio Capello’s reported fortune of £3 8 million ($5.8m) puts him top of the managers list.

ESPN has signed a contract with the English Football Association (FA) for the exclusive TV rights for South America of the FA Cup, as well as matches of the English men’s national football team, the under 21 squad and the annual FA Community Shield match.

The contract includes TV, internet, broadband and mobile devices. The 2012-2013 championship starts on November 3 with a total of 59 matches, including the final.

ESPN will air the competition on conventional channels in live streaming and on demand on WatchESPN in Brazil and ESPNPlay.com in Latin America (in Spanish).

English Blue Square Premier League team Wrexham FC will receive new owners in the shape of their fans after a takeover deal was concluded.

Wrexham Supporters’ Trust (WST), which has been the preferred bidder, said it would take over the day-to-day running of the club on Tuesday.

Earlier, one of the club’s owners Geoff Moss threatened to talk to a rival unless he received a deposit by 17:00 BST.

A joint statement said a “suitable financial agreement has been reached”.

“The directors of Wrexham FC are delighted to annnounce that agreement has been reached with WST today to purchase the football club,” said the statement from the club. During this period Wrexham Supporters Trust will run the football club under a licence agreement pending approval by the football authorities.”

Spencer Harris, one of the WST’s directors, said the news was “fantastic” for fans, Wrexham and supporters in general. “We’re taking over the club as a going concern, breaking new ground in Wales and looking forward to a bright future.”

The deal will need to be approved by the Welsh FA and the Blue Square Premier League.

ESPN are reportedly close to signing an eight-year extension for Major League Baseball rights according to SportsBusiness Journal.

The deal estimated at $5.6B (an average of $700M per year), ambulance approximately doubling the nearly $306M ESPN currently pays MLB every year for domestic TV rights.

The new deal adds in digital, medicine international and radio, for which ESPN is paying MLB around $50M currently, sources said. Sources added the deal will be announced as soon as this afternoon. As part of the deal, which runs through 2021, ESPN retains the rights to “Sunday Night Baseball,” its Monday and Wednesday night games and highlights for “Baseball Tonight.” 

ESPN also will carry one Wild Card playoff game, sources said. In its current deal, ESPN does not have rights to any MLB playoffs. As part of the deal, ESPN adds more digital rights, the rights to show games in-progress and some radio and international rights. ESPN also picked up rights to carry games featuring more popular teams, like the Yankees and Red Sox, more frequently.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has lined up a very tempting deal for Tottenham Hotspur to give up their hold on the Olympic Stadium and instead accept a $26.6 million package to stay put in north London.

Johnson said in a statement: “Tottenham Hotspur has long been an integral part of the community and by staying true to its roots the club now has the power to revolutionize an area of the capital that has been neglected for far too long.

“Last month’s riots were a telling reminder of just how important it is for Spurs to press ahead with the development at Northumberland Park and to help kick-start a much wider regeneration project that would create jobs and give Tottenham the economic boost it deserves.”

The package provides for $7.8 million to go toward vital infrastructure and public works as well as an additional $5.5 million to improve transportation in the area around the historic White Hart Lane ground and the nearby Northumberland Park site that Spurs are proposing for their new stadium.

The local borough, meanwhile, is offering up another $13.3 million but insisted that’s the final offer.

Claire Kober, Haringey Council Leader, said: “The club knows there is no more money available from the public purse and I sincerely hope that they accept the offer we have made.”

“It is critically important that Spurs commit to Tottenham to help drive forward regeneration in this very deprived area.”

In a statement, Spurs revealed that the club had already invested $94m in land acquisition in order to facilitate the site assembly for the new stadium scheme and a further $39m on the planning process.

Club chairman Daniel Levy said the proposed stadium scheme and wider area development had the ability to provide the are with much needed cash and restoration. 

“But we cannot be expected to do this single-handedly. We have seen land values fall again post the recent riots and this is a further concern for the club as it considers the nature of the investment,” he said.

Levy added: “The overall scheme requires a complex package of financing of which the correct level and nature of public support is critical.

“We have held discussions with Haringey Council and the Mayor’s office regarding the funding of the public infrastructure works associated with the scheme.

“It would be wholly irresponsible of us to announce we were proceeding with the scheme without the appropriate agreements and support firmly in place. Discussions are continuing with all the relevant stakeholders and we shall, as always, keep our supporters updated.”

English Premier League rivals West Ham won the bid for Olympic Stadium back in February which Tottenham believed was unfair and have since appealed against.

A court hearing slated for Oct. 18 will decide whether to overturn the decision following the revelation that an Olympic Park Legacy Company director was on West Ham’s payroll.

The length of the stadium dispute has tainted London attempt to bid for the 2017 World Championships as if Tottenham overturn the decision their plan to not incorporate a running track will fold the deal while West Ham will keep the track.

Doha is also vying to stage the IAAF worlds in 2017. The final decision by the IAAF Council will be made in Monaco on Nov. 11.

Australia’s National Basketball League have announced a partnership with Perform Media Australia which will stream every game on the internet throughout the season.

The venture will produce five-camera live broadcasts for all matches outside the games shown by the league’s television partners, which will be simulcast online.

Boomers and Opals games will also be shown on NBL.TV, but those broadcasts will be subject to television deals and may not be live.

The Basketball Australia chief executive, Kristina Keneally, said: “This is a landmark deal in Australian sport – the very first of its kind in our country.” 

“New media and digital broadcasting are already having a huge impact on the media landscape, and basketball fans rightly expect broad access to high-quality live programming in this space.

“This deal truly puts us ahead of the pack: basketball is the first sport in Australia to give fans such comprehensive digital access to live sports content on-the-go.

“This is also the first time in NBL history that every game will be broadcast and available live.”

Ms Keneally said NBL.TV could become a major moneymaker for the league.

“On top of that, NBL.TV will be a league-owned platform rather than one owned by a rights-holder – so the NBL will retain control of its own broadcast product and benefit directly from the revenue generated by it,” she said.

“It gives us a major new revenue stream, as well as an attractive new proposition for sponsors.”

Basketball Australia has yet to announce the WNBL’s broadcast deal for this season.

Barcelona’s members have given full backing to the club’s controversial sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment, the final hurdle to securing a cash injection of as much as 170 million euros ($230 million).

Members gathered at the Spanish and European champions’ general assembly voted 697 in favour of the record five-year deal, the biggest for any soccer club, with 76 against and 36 blank votes, the club said on their website.

Barca president Sandro Rosell and his board of directors had been lobbying members to vote in favour of the agreement amid criticism the club was compromising its ideals by taking money from an unsavoury regime.

Rosell, starting his second season in charge, has argued that the money is needed to help improve the club’s financial situation and help pay for the development of its sports teams.

“I would like things to be different and that the Barca shirt could be blank,” Rosell said. “But it can’t be because that way our opponents would overwhelm us.”

The Spanish and European champions were one of the few sides in world soccer not to have a corporate logo on their shirts, instead displaying the name of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), for which they paid the organisation 1.5 million euros ($2 million) a year.

Their shirts now carry the name “Qatar Foundation” on the front, with UNICEF relocated to the back below the player’s name.

Some members spoke out against the deal, pointing to what they said was Qatar’s poor human rights record.

“We want an explanation as to what this deal means,” member Marc Ferrer was quoted as saying in Sport newspaper. “I urge reflexion. Vote no so that a dictatorship does not become Barca’s sponsor.”

Vice president Javier Faus said the cash from Qatar was needed so Barca could live up to its motto of “More than a club”.

“It is true that Qatar does not treat its immigrants well. It’s not much different to what happens here. They (Qatar) are aware of it and are working on it.”

 

Time Warner Cable SportsNet announced today that it will air San Diego State, adiposity UNLV and Fresno State football and basketball games beginning with the 2012-13 season.

The network, ailment which launches October 1, will telecast 12 live Mountain West Conference football games and more than 24 Mountain West basketball games, making Time Warner Cable SportsNet the exclusive regional home for Aztecs, Rebels and Bulldogs fans starting this fall.

“The addition of San Diego State, UNLV and Fresno State football and basketball games to our telecast schedule makes Time Warner Cable SportsNet the media destination for sports fans in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Fresno,” said Mark Shuken, Senior Vice President and General Manager, TWC Sports Regional Networks. “Our network will give fans access to the teams they care about, from high school to college to the professional level.”

Time Warner Cable SportsNet’s college football schedule begins with Fresno State at Colorado State on Saturday, October 6.

Pay TV operator Starhub TV will be the home of Bundesliga football in Singapore for three more seasons after concluding a contract extension with broadcast rights-holder DFL Sports Enterprises for up to, viagra 40mg and including the 2014/2015 season.

The rights package includes ‘live’ coverage of up to 170 Bundesliga games, the Supercup, weekly match-week previews and an hour-long highlights show. The rights to content for online and mobile platforms are also included.

Starhub VP of home solutions, content Iris Wee said, “The Bundesliga is one of the top football leagues in the world and has a fast-growing global following. Singapore viewers enjoy the fast-paced, attractive football that the league offers and we are pleased that it will continue to excite our customers for three more seasons. It has been a joy working with DFL Sports Enterprises and we look forward to our continued partnership.”

Valencia have taken a bold move in absence of a shirt sponsor by putting their Twitter handle on the front of their shirts.

Valencia decided to take the opportunity for a little self promotion in their match against Barcelona on Wednesday. Valencia are one of the nine clubs in the Spanish Primera without a shirt sponsor this season. This is the first time a top flight club advertised a Twitter account on their kits and with just over 36,000 followers as of today, it seems like they needed to get the word out.

Now that the precedent has been set, it probably won’t be long until a company pays a club to put a Twitter handle on their shirts possibly Valencia itself.