LA Liga will finally get under way this weekend after intense negotiations led to an agreement.

A resolution was reached on Thursday afternoon by the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) and Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE).

The AFE announced earlier this month that players from the top two divisions in Spain would go on strike for the first two rounds of the 2011-12 season unless an agreement with the LFP was reached.

The AFE wanted a guaranteed fund to protect players’ wages in the event of their clubs being declared insolvent and they claim clubs in Spain owe around $72 million in unpaid salaries to more than 200 players from the end of last season.

But, a statement on the AFE website confirmed the matter was now resolved.

”The committee of the AFE and LFP have reached an agreement that ensured, through various means, the salaries of footballers,” it read. ”After the meeting today between the AFE and the LFP, the strike scheduled for Friday August 26, Saturday August 27, Sunday August 28 and Monday August 29 is off.

”Here at the AFE, we thank for their understanding and patience all those who have been affected. Finally, and most importantly, we want to thank all the non-Spanish and Spanish players who play in our championship.

”We want to convey how proud we are of them all and the unprecedented unity and solidarity they have shown at a time when many of their colleagues were struggling.”

There was no coercion last week as negotiations failed ultimately leading to the scheduled opening round of Primera Division and Segunda Division fixtures being postponed at the weekend.

The first week’s fixtures are scheduled to be played on December 28, but this may procure another problem as players’ contracts ban them from playing during the festive period.

beIN SPORT, denture the new 24-hour network dedicated to live and exclusive coverage of the world’s best international sports in English and Spanish, look today announced it will be carried from its inaugural telecast which began August 15 on DISH Network, the third-largest pay-TV provider in the nation.

DISH subscribers will have access to beIN SPORT’s exclusive coverage as it kicks off the new fall season’s best soccer matchups, including games from top European leagues such as Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue Un, South American World Cup Qualifiers and Copa America 2015.

“Our association with beIN SPORT makes DISH the undisputed pay-TV leader in Latino sports,” said Dave Shull, DISH senior vice president of programming. “beIN SPORT is bringing together the best games, from the best leagues from around the world onto one channel.”

beIN SPORT is available on DISH’s America’s Top 250 (AT250) in English and on DISHLatino packages as beIN SPORT E, a Spanish-language version. In addition to its linear TV network, select beIN SPORT content will be available on DISHOnline.com exclusively for DISH TV customers.

“DISH recognizes that we have assembled one of the greatest exclusive collections of leagues, title cup matches and original sports programming that simply can’t be seen on any other channel. beIN SPORT is the ultimate international sports destination,” said Yousef Al Obaidly, managing director of beIN SPORT. “With electrifying stars and unmatched play, the avid fan to the all-around sports enthusiast will love our network.”

Soccer fans are the biggest spending tourists in Britain, order according to VisitBritain, the national tourism agency.

More than 750,000 people came to Britain to watch Premier League matches last year and they spent, on average, 38 percent more than other tourists at US$980 million.

Manchester United’s Old Trafford was the most-visited stadium, drawing 114,000 overseas fans. Liverpool’s Anfield (89,000), Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (88,000), Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge (54,000) and Tottenham’s White Hart Lane (38,000) rounded out the top-five destinations.

Richard Scudamore, chief executive officer of the Premier League, said in a statement: “Nothing quite beats the excitement of match day, being inside a full Premier League ground and seeing a competitive match in the flesh, so it’s very encouraging to hear that so many international visitors want to experience football in this country.”

About 40 percent of visitors going to a match said attending a sporting event was the main reason for their trip. The largest number of visitors came from Ireland (164,000), followed by Norway (77,000), USA (56,000), the Netherlands (41,000) and Germany (39,000).

RTVS and NOVA Group have secured broadcast rights to 2012–15 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League games in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Public broadcaster RTVS in Slovakia will screen the best Wednesday UEFA Champions League game live each matchweek on its :1 channel as well as a Wednesday highlights programme on :2.

With regard to the UEFA Europa League in Slovakia, arthritis RTVS will show the best game live each matchweek on :2 followed by a highlights programme. NOVA Group has been granted the rights to all remaining live matches, denture including the final, on a co-exclusive basis, and will broadcast each matchweek one live game per kick-off slot on NOVA Sport.

In the Czech Republic, further to the recent announcement of the award of the best UEFA Europa League live game each matchweek to public broadcaster Czech TV, NOVA Group has secured the rights to all remaining fixtures, including the final, on a co-exclusive basis and will transmit on its channel NOVA Sport one live match per kick-off slot.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on the internet, via the RTVS and NOVA Group websites, and on mobile.

Manchester United’s American owners the Glazer family are taking into consideration a possible sale of some shares in Singapore to cover off the growing debt they have with a possible net income of $1billion.

Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) is working on the transaction, which may take place this year. The Premier League team had been considering Hong Kong for the IPO but now favors Singapore, although no final decision has been made.

The Glazer’s are considering many financial options with initial public offering (IPO) just one of many. Another would be selling off a minority stake, probably no more than 25%.

A 25% equity should bring in a region of $657 million.

The Red Devils went on sale on the London stock market in 2005 until it was eventually bought by the glazers.

A partial sale share would mean that no outside person could take control of the club, while also providing the Glazers with much needed revenues towards paying of the club’s debt.

The Old Trafford outfit are very popular in Asia with an estimated 190 milion fans compared to the rest of the world where they have 300 million.

 

Viasat Broadcasting, part of the Modern Times Group has renewed it’s exclusive pay TV broadcast rights and acquired online rights agreement with the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Viasat has also acquired the exclusive free TV rights for Latvia, from the start of the 2012-2013 season and until the end of 2014-2015 season.

Viasat will broadcast more than 180 KHL games every season on its pay TV sport channel Viasat Sport Baltic in the three countries. The amount of games shown will increases by more than 50% under the new agreement. Viasat has held the rights for KHL since 2009.

Kaspars Ozolins, CEO of MTG Baltics, said, “It is another major step for Viasat in the Baltics to have prolonged and expanded the rights for this popular sports property as we always aim to provide our viewers with the best sports events available. Ice hockey is enormously popular in Latvia and KHL is the strongest hockey league in Europe. Latvia’s Dinamo Riga is the country’s most high profile sports team due to their consistent strong achievements in the KHL.”

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Celtic chairman John Reid can see the positive side after the club reduced its debt and recorded a small profit for the year ending June 2011 in the face of a poor economic climate.

The Scottish Premier League club announced its preliminary results for the year with net bank debt falling £5.32 million to £530, treat 000, while a £102,000 operating profit was reached compared to the previous year’s £2.13 million loss. Celtic’s figures were aided by the record £9.5 million sale of Aiden McGeady to Spartak Moscow, but the club was faced with the damage of an early exit from European football on top of the financial mess that is currently affecting the Scottish game.

As a result turnover fell 14.8% to £52.56 million, while revenue dropped £9.16 million to £52.56 million. Reid said: “Turnover decreased…affected by the reduction in European matches and the ticket and broadcasting revenues that they generate, and a decline in merchandising sales in a difficult retail market,” Reid said in his annual statement. “Against this background, the achievements of everyone at the club – management, staff and our faithful supporters – appear even more outstanding.

“To achieve and maintain financial stability, and attain a very manageable debt position, while continuing to invest significantly in strengthening the football squad and generate profit in the football sector in Scotland in these conditions is highly commendable. And yet, as our annual report shows, as a result of these efforts and our activity in the transfer market, we managed to turn last year’s loss into break-even, to reduce our debt considerably and still invest a substantial amount in new players.”

Pay-TV operator SportKlub has been awarded certain 2012–15 UEFA Europa League media rights in Slovenia and will show one live match per kick-off slot as well as highlights.

Pay television operator SportKlub has been awarded the right to all live matches, except the first pick. Each matchweek SportKlub will broadcast on its channel branded ‘SportKlub’ one live match per kick-off slot as well as a highlights programme.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on the internet, via www.sportklub.si, and on mobile.

South African broadcaster SuperSport has agreed a broadcast partnership with Netball South Africa

for the upcoming Netball Diamond Challenge with all the Internationals being broadcast live.

The Netball Diamond Challenge will see South Africa, Malawi, Botswana and Zambia competing in a round robin tournament at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria from 15 to 18 August.

The objective of the tournament is to celebrate the role of women in sport and in particular elevate the profile of Netball in South Africa during women’s month. 

Brandon Foot, SuperSport head of Acquisitions and Legal said, “SuperSport is delighted to have concluded a three-year deal with Netball South Africa to broadcast the Netball Diamond Challenge on all broadcast platforms throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the adjacent islands.”

“As SuperSport we support the view of the Honourable Minister of Sport Mr. Fikile Mbalula, that Netball is a sport with tremendous potential, which is deserving of support,” Foot concluded.

UEFA, Europe’s soccer governing body, has excluded Greek club Olympiakos Volos from this season’s Europa League competition after the club was involved in the Greek match-fixing scandal.

The news comes just a day after Volos was handed a Super League reprieve after the Hellenic Football Federation’s (EPO) appeals committee overturned its relegation. Volos and fellow Super League side Kavala were both relegated to the second tier of Greek football for their part in the scandal however both teams had decision was overturned on Wednesday in favour of a points deduction after an appeal.

Volos had qualified for European competition after finishing fifth in the 2010-11 Super League. However, a points deduction falls foul of UEFA rules implying exclusion from European competition. Volos have also received a suspended three-year ban.

A UEFA statement said: “The Greek club have until midnight on Monday to submit an appeal under Article 49 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations.”

Volos’ lawyer, Michael Mitzikos, told Reuters: “We will appeal first to UEFA’s appeal’s body and will also consider measures with the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).”

Luxembourg’s FC Differdange 03 has been announced as Volos’ replacement in the Europa League and will now face Paris Saint-Germain in the play-off round.