BeIN Sport, the Al Jazeera owned start up channel in the United States, has acquired the package to show Concacaf World Cup qualifying matches.

The package was bought from South American agency Traffic Sports Marketing and will include all qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Yousef Al Obaidly, beIN Sport Manging Director said:  “By securing these exclusive TV rights, beIN Sport again shows why it’s the place for US fans to be in the best soccer action in the world.

“Fans can now cheer on the US men’s team as they compete on the world stage, and they can see it only on beIN Sport.”

The channel already has deals in place with Ligue 1 in France, La Liga in Spain, Serie A in Italy, and the Capital One Cup from England.

BeIN Sport launched last week in the US and is currently carried on DirecTV’s sports platform.

The channel shows Serie A, La Liga, Lique 1 and the Capital One Cup competition in England.

However, the network is only available to roughly seven per cent of US television households at present.

The news comes on the back of beIN Sport acquiring the rights to show the National Football League (NFL) in France.

Scottish Premier League side Motherwell’s objective of a creating a club wholly owned by supporters is starting to be realised after revealing they plan to bring two fans on to the board by early next year.

The club are devising a membership scheme to take over from former chairman John Boyle’s majority shareholding and Fir Park vice chairman Derek Weir is excited by the prospect.

Weir said: “John has kindly gifted his shares and we’ll use them to try and raise money and, more importantly, to get fans involved. We’ve come up with the idea of the Well Society and supporters can subscribe at different levels, starting at £300 for a season – going all the way up to local businesses putting in £25,000. It will be one member, one vote and the society will have representation, with an initial couple of slots on the board.

“The ultimate aim, once the society is up and running and functioning properly, is for all of John’s shareholding, which is the controlling interest, to be transferred over and the fans would directly own the club.”

Around 45% of Boyle’s holdings will be made available, with the remaining 55% moved when the society is ready to take on majority control of the Scottish Premier League club.

Around 300 fans turned up at an open meeting on Monday to hear more about the plans, which are awaiting approval from the Financial Services Authority.

The first to sign up was Scotland international James McFadden, who launched his career at Fir Park, while club captain Stephen Craigan has pledged to become member number two.

Weir expects the scheme to be launched in November, with the club hoping to raise £1.5m over the next 12 months.

Qatari-owned television channel, health BeIN Sport, arthritis have acquired the rights to show National Football League (NFL) games in France, from September.

The channel will broadcast four live games a week, starting with the New York Giants against the Dallas Cowboys on 6 September.

Games will be broadcast on Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays, and the deal includes the right to show the Super Bowl on 3 February 2013 in New Orleans.

The rights for the Super Bowl will be shared with fellow broadcaster W9, who extended their deal to cover one of the most popular sporting events in the world.

National Rugby League (NRL) clubs have every chance of becoming profitable businesses on the back of the AU$1 billion broadcast deal struck with Fox Sports and Nine.

That is the view of David Trodden, the NRL’s Club Council spokesman, who believes that the 15 clubs who have been operating at a loss, now have the chance to make money.

As reported on Tuesday, the NRL signed a deal with the broadcasters, worth AU$1.025 billion (US$1.08 billion), which included cash and advertising components.

Speaking to an Australian newspaper, Trodden expressed his hope for the deal: “There was always a view in club land about the TV deal delivering long-term financial viability for the clubs and the game. I think that this deal will do that.

“Fifteen out of 16 clubs have been operating at a loss and I think that this provides an opportunity for 16 of the 16 clubs to be on a solid financial footing and not make losses any more.

“It’s a pivotal moment in the history of the game.”

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The transfer window for the Barclays Premier League made clubs spent a estimated total of £485 ($786m) million in the summer window a 33% increase from last year but has the spending made clubs forget the importance of the FIFA fair play regulations?

Deloitte stated that England’s 20 top-flight clubs spent £120 ($194.6m) million more than in the corresponding window in 2010 after the 2011 summer window shut yesterday evening. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United each spent more than £50 million on transfers this summer, with these five clubs responsible for about two-thirds of the Premier League’s total transfer outlay.

Dan Jones, Deloitte Sports Business Group partner, said: “This summer’s spending is largely focused amongst the top end Premier League clubs most strongly competing for domestic and European success and the consequent financial rewards.”

The Net spending is expected to about £10m ($16.2m) for most clubs in the Premier League.

But Micheal Cunnah, Isportconnect Advisory Board member, believes that continued investment like this is not feasable as the fair play rules will be implemented in 2013/14 season. He is especially critical of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Stoke City.

“Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Stoke City all made big net investments in their playing squads. All are in UEFA competitions and so how is this continued level of investment going to affect their chances of staying within the UEFA financial fair play rules?” he asked on the discussion page on the Isportconnect website.

Financial fair play requires the clubs to break even- clubs must not spend more than they generate over a period of time.

To follow this discussion click here

 

National Basketball Association (NBA) side, the New Orleans Hornets and FOX Sports New Orleans, have announced the 2012/13 broadcast schedule that will feature a franchise-high 75 live regular season home and away Hornets games.

FOX Sports New Orleans is available statewide on cable, satellite and telco providers.

The schedule begins on 31 October against the San Antonio Spurs and will go on to feature 38 home and 37 away games.

Dennis Lauscha, President of the Hornets said: “We are proud of our relationship with Fox Sports and excited to be part of the launch of a new network that will bring Hornets basketball not only to New Orleans but to all our fans throughout the Gulf South with a franchise-record 75 broadcasts,”

Highlights of the schedule include both games against Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the World Champion Miami HEAT on Dec. 8 in Miami and Mar. 29 in New Orleans, all four games against Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Western Conference Champion Oklahoma City Thunder (Nov. 16, Dec. 1, Dec. 12, Feb. 27), all four games against Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and the Los Angeles Lakers (Dec. 5, Jan. 29, Mar. 6, Apr. 9) and all four series matchups against division-rivals Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

John Heidtke, Senior Vice President/General Manager, FOX Sports New Orleans added: “We’re anxious to get the season started and to begin our new partnership with the New Orleans Hornets.

“We look forward to what promises to be an exciting season.”

Hornets’ coverage on FOX Sports New Orleans will include ‘Hornets Live’ pre-game and post-game show and additional Hornets programming.

FOX Sports New Orleans

FOX Sports New Orleans will become the 21st regional sports network in the FOX Sports Networks family. The network will offer a robust lineup of local sports programming, including SEC football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, Olympic sports and coaches’ shows. Other regional programming on FOX Sports New Orleans will feature Big 12 and Conference USA collegiate events, Texas Rangers baseball and Dallas Stars hockey. FOX Sports New Orleans will be available to over 1.6 million cable and satellite TV homes throughout the Hornets territory.

FOX Sports is the nation’s leader in offering hometown NBA coverage through FSN, the largest owned-and-operated regional sports network group in the country. FSN serves as the local television home to more than half of all NBA teams, producing more than 1,000 live NBA telecasts per season.

Garry Cook has quit as the chief executive of Manchester City after claims he emailed defender Nedum Onuoha’s cancer-suffering mother ridiculing her illness.

Cook offered his resignation after an investigation by City found “there is foundation” to the allegations. He had denied sending the message, claiming his account was hacked and tampered with. Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak accepted Cook’s resignation and apologised to Dr Onuoha.

Defender Onuoha’s mother, who acts as his agent, had previously sent a message to Marwood and Cook, explaining that while she was “ravaged with cancer” it would not prevent her negotiating on behalf of her son.

Dr Onuoha then received an email, allegedly from Cook and addressed “Brian”, which apparently ridiculed her use of language in describing her illness.

The email is reported to have read: “Ravaged with it!!…I don’t know how you sleep at night. You used to be such a nice man when I worked with you at Nike. G”.

Dr Onuoha told the Sun the email had left her “humiliated and devastated”.

The claims led City’s board to launch an investigation and, following its findings, Cook offered his resignation and Khaldoon wrote to Dr Onuoha “to apologise for any distress caused”.

In the statement, Khaldoon said: “Garry has made a remarkable contribution to Manchester City Football Club over the past three years. His judgement in this matter should in no way lead to his accomplishments being overlooked.

“On every level, the club is unrecognisable from the organisation which he inherited and our staff and supporter services, community outreach and commercial activity have seen unparalleled growth under his direction with yet more projects to be realised on the horizon.

“On behalf of Sheikh Mansour and the Board, I would like to thank him for his energy and tireless commitment to serving all those connected with the football club. He will always be welcome at Manchester City.”

Cook said: “I am privileged to have held my position at Manchester City Football Club and to have experienced the opportunities that it has presented. The privilege is in part offset however by the significant personal focus which has at times, detracted from the magnificent achievements of those working at the football club. It is that factor, together with my error of judgement in this matter that has prompted me to reach this decision, which I believe is in the best interests of the football club.”

City director John MacBeath will assume the role of temporary chief executive officer while a replacement is found.

The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has announced that there is a possibility that National Rugby League (NRL) matches will be streamed on mobile devices in 2013.

The news comes only one day after the announcement of a historic billion dollar broadcasting deal with Channel Nine and Fox Sports.

Shane Mattiske, Interim Chief Executive at the ARLC said: “A key element of what was held out of the broadcast deals was our ability to deliver a stream that’s simultaneous to the broadcast signal to people for viewing over mobile devices.

“We’re in discussions now in terms of those media rights, we’re talking to a range of parties and we’re also considering whether or not the game should exploit these rights on its own rather than granting them to a third party.

“I think it’s something fans can expect to see in the 2013 season.”

Under the current broadcasting deal, live streaming is only allowed overseas, leaving Australian audiences to wait 24 hours after a game has finished.

English soccer club Birmingham City owners, Birmingham International Holdings Ltd plans to borrow as much as $10.3 million from its newly appointed deputy chairman.

The Hong Kong-based company entered into a two-year loan agreement with Yang Yue Zhou, who was appointed executive director and deputy chairman yesterday, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Birmingham shares have been suspended since June 30 when Chairman Carson Yeung was charged with money laundering in a Hong Kong court. Earlier this year, the company said its liabilities exceeded assets by about HK$348 million. Birmingham City was relegated from England’s Premier division last season, three months after winning the League Cup, its first major trophy in 48 years.

Castor Pang, Hong Kong-based head of research at Core-Pacific Yamaichi International Ltd, said: “The loan is borrowed at a very high interest rate and it clearly shows that Birmingham is short of cash. The company has difficulties generating sustainable cash flow, especially after the football club’s relegation.”

Proceeds from the loan will be used for the repayment of debt and as general working capital, the company said in today’s statement. Birmingham International generated 95 percent of its HK$375.4 million in revenue from its football operations in the six months ended Dec. 31, 2010, according to the company.

 

Spike TV has formed a partnership with K-1, price the world renowned kickboxing organisation, ambulance to broadcast a series of live events.

In the agreement, the cable TV channel will broadcast four live events on Spike.com and a series of televised events in 2013.

The US World Grand Prix Championship in Los Angeles on 8 September and events in Tokyo, New York and Athens will be available online.

Doug Kaplan, CEO of K-1 said: “K-1 is excited to join forces with Spike TV, a powerful and highly experienced cable network known nationally for its combat sports programming, presenting our live K-1 events.

“Spike is the perfect television home and stage to introduce our K-1 warriors and the fast-paced, aggressive style of K-1 fighting to fight fans across America.”

Jon Slusser, Senior Vice President, Sports and Multiplatform Events, Spike TV added: “We are thrilled to be in business with the world’s preeminent kickboxing organization.

“Spike has the most passionate and knowledgeable fans of combat sports and we are confident that they will enjoy the high-action of K-1, which serves as the perfect complement to our Bellator coverage next year.”