SuperSport Secure Football League Championship & Capital One Rights

SuperSport TV has acquired the five-year rights to broadcast the nPower Championship and the Capital One Cup in the Sub-Saharan region.

The package was attained from Pitch International and is five-seasons long.

The Championship kicks off on Friday, and August 17 and the Capital One Cup begins a week earlier on Saturday, medicine 11 August.

The Capital One Cup is a knockout competition that features the 20 Premier League clubs and 72 clubs from the Football League. The winners qualify for the Uefa Europa League.

MLS Franchises Agree New Partnerships

Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise FC Dallas have announced that Budweiser has become the official domestic beer partner of the side and their home, Pizza Hut Park.

Under the terms of the agreement, the stadium’s beer garden will be renamed the Budweiser Beer Garden with drink specials at every FC Dallas game. In addition, there will also be a fan-selected text-vote for the Budweiser Man of the Match after every game.

The new agreement will also see Budweiser become the associate sponsor of the Rio Grande Plate derby between FC Dallas and Mexican side Tigres, the second leg of which will be played at Pizza Hut Park on September 3.

Nick Vander Linden, Budweiser geographic marketing manager for North Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, stated: “The Budweiser team is excited to announce our new partnership with FC Dallas. We are extremely proud of the club and look forward to building a relationship with the growing number of soccer fans through a sport and a team they are truly passionate about.”

Matt McInnis, FC Dallas vice president of business development and partnership marketing, added: “We’re looking forward to developing our FC Dallas partnership with Budweiser this year and for many years to come. There are several great opportunities that can be maximized at Pizza Hut Park but, more importantly, throughout the market at various retail outlets that allow us to grow both of our businesses.”

In other news, Wells Fargo has become the newest partner of Dallas’ MLS rivals the San Jose Earthquakes. Its sponsorship of San Jose makes the bank the presenting partner for two home games, including Saturday’s July 2 fixture versus the New York Red Bulls and the game against Portland Timbers FC on August 6.

As part of the deal, the banking behemoth will support a host of community soccer initiatives including Goals for Education, Soccer Mom of the Match and the Earthquakes 4v4 tournaments.

Earthquakes president David Kaval said in a statement: “They are a wonderful organisation to work with. Any time you can partner with a local organization that is looking to give back to the local community it’s a win-win for all involved.”

CBC Extend Olympic Broadcast Rights Until Rio 2016

The IOC announced that CBC/Radio-Canada has regained the rights to broadcasting the Olympics for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“We thought it was very important for the national public broadcaster whose strategy is signature events,” CBC president Hubert Lacroix said. “And there’s nothing more significant, more signature and more of an event that brings Canadians together.”

According to the Canadian Press, the network has broadcast 19 different Olympics for almost 60 years in Canada, most recently the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. “We actually made sure that this was, based on our prior experience, a cost-neutral proposal,” CBC executive Kirstine Stewart told the CP. “This isn’t a deal that’s built to cost the CBC money and in fact, what we’re hoping for is a bit of a profit out of it.”

IOC president Jacques Rogge added in an official statement: “CBC/Radio-Canada has a wealth of experience in broadcasting sports and the Olympic Games and we are pleased that we will once again be joining forces with them in the future.”

For the current 2012 London Summer Olympics, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, comprised of a partnership between Bell Media and Rogers Communications, have the broadcast rights. In the past, CBC and Bell Media submitted joint bids on the Games, however a month ago they announced this would no longer be the case.

“CBC/Radio-Canada has been an unwavering champion of amateur sport and our nation’s best athletes,” said Marcel Aubut, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee Wednesday, to CBC News. “They have unparalleled experience in broadcasting major multi-sport events, most notably the Olympic Games.”

QSI Complete 70pc Takeover of PSG in USD72.4m Deal

Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has completed the takeover of French Ligue 1 soccer club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

QSI completed the acquisition of a 70 per cent stake in PSG for a reported Eur50m (US$72.4m), generic with the agreement furthering Qatari interest in French football. QSI president Al-Khelaifi also serves as president of Al Jazeera, order which last week snapped up a package of domestic broadcast rights to Ligue 1 for the 2012-16 seasons, buy order | adding to the broadcaster’s capture of the league’s overseas rights in a six-year deal.

Sebastien Bazin, president of PSG’s former majority shareholder Colony Capital Europe, hailed the QSI agreement as a “great moment” adding “I am convinced that I have left PSG in good hands”.

Al-Khelaifi said in a statement: “We will work over the coming years to make PSG a great team and a strong brand on the international scene, one that will make all the fans proud. I am excited to see the Parisians come to enjoy family games and support their team. I know that PSG has recorded a large increase in season tickets, a sign that we made the right decision.”

GolTV Obtains U.S. Open Cup Rights Until 2014

GolTV is to air the U.S. Open Cup in a new three-year agreement with the U.S. Soccer Federation.

The final of the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, prostate the oldest national soccer tournament in the U.S., cialis will air live Wednesday, cheap pills August 8 at 9 p.m. (ET), when the three-time defending champion Seattle Sounders FC faces off against Sporting Kansas City at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Known then as the National Challenge Cup, the U.S. Open Cup was first played in 1913 and is open to teams at all levels in the States, from amateur sides to the Division I professional teams of Major League Soccer. All told, 64 teams competed in the final stages of the 2012 tournament, with the winner to add its name to the Dewar Cup and earn a spot in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League. Teams from MLS have won 15 of the last 16 U.S. Open Cups.

“Acquiring the broadcast rights to the final of the U.S. Open Cup through 2014 is an important milestone for GolTV as we continue to offer our passionate viewers more soccer content than any other network,” said Rodrigo Lombello, COO of GolTV, in announcing the acquisition. “With concerted efforts to expand our portfolio of matches from the Americas, we are tapping into one of the fastest growing markets, as the popularity of the sport in the U.S. continues to reach new heights.”

Birmingham City President Helping Police with Criminal Investigations in Hong Kong

English Premier League soccer club Birmingham City FC’s president Carson Yeung is helping police in Hong Kong with criminal investigations, according to the club’s website.

A statement put out by acting chairman Peter Pannu said Mr Yeung, who is Birmingham’s largest single shareholder with a 29.9% stake, was assisting police in Hong Kong, according to Birmingham International Holdings’ lawyers, who had informed him of the situation.

He said he believed the inquiries were nothing to do with the club’s parent company or subsidiaries.

He said he had also been informed by the lawyers that Mr Yeung was assisting with inquiries that had nothing to do with BIHL in Hong Kong and therefore nothing to do with the operation of club.

The statement said: “People are reminded that in recent years members of the previous board were placed on bail for a significant amount of time and nothing came of it. I am only using this as an example to calm any fears.”

The statement also said the law says a person is innocent until proven guilty and that until the club found out any more information there would be no further comment.

Yeung is Birmingham’s largest single shareholder with a 29.9% stake.

HRTV Acquire Breeders’ Cup Broadcast Rights

HRTV, ampoule the television network co-owned by Churchill Downs and the Stronach Group, allergist will broadcast all of the Breeders’ Cup races for this year’s event live with the exception of the Classic under a deal reached with Breeders’ Cup covering cable broadcast rights.

The deal is the first in Breeders’ Cup history allowing a network other than the primary rights-holder to broadcast races live on television. This year’s Breeders’ Cup will be broadcast live by NBC and its related networks, viagra sale under a four-year deal reached last year replacing ESPN and ABC.

The deal also gives HRTV the rights to produce the Breeders’ Cup simulcast show, a production that is distributed to simulcast sites around the world. HRTV’s main competitor, TVG, had previously produced the simulcast show.

According to an HRTV official, the network’s television coverage will be different than the simulcast show, which caters more heavily to gamblers who may or may not be able to hear the show’s audio feed.

Under earlier television-rights agreements, horse racing networks were not allowed to broadcast the Breeders’ Cup races live. An exception occurred last year, when ESPN allowed TVG to broadcast the Breeders’ Cup Marathon live. ESPN’s coverage of the Friday races began after the Marathon had been run.

The Breeders’ Cup races also will be streamed live on HRTV.com and breederscup.com.

This year’s Breeders’ Cup is scheduled for Nov. 2-3 at Santa Anita Park in Southern California. HRTV is based at Santa Anita.

River Plate Relegation Heavily Damages TV and Sponsorship Revenue

River Plate, Argentina’s most successful soccer club, faces a major financial overhaul after their relegation from the top flight of Argentinian soccer left the club facing a possible 90% drop in broadcast revenues.

The Buenos Aires-based giants were relegated to the Primera B Nacional for the first time in its 110-year history after failing to overturn a two goal deficit against Belgrano in a play-off on Sunday. The match ended 1-1 and was abandoned with a minute left to play due to security fears as angry fans fans ripped up seats and threw them on the pitch.

Reports state that TV rights revenues could drop from the US$7.5m to US$850,000, an amount which is the equal share earned by clubs in the second tier. In addition to this, River’s sponsorship contracts, which were so lucrative with the club being in the top flight, are expected to fall by about 50%. These deals include a US$20m contract over six years with Adidas and a deal worth US$2.5m per year with Petrobras.

Advertising revenue is also  expected to fall from just short of US$1m to just US$300,000 per season. These drops in revenue means River may have to sell many of it’s squad members to reduce the club’s wage bill and ease the financial burden of relegation, particularly as the club announced in November that it was in debt to the degree of US$53m, which is the biggest deficit of any Argentinian club.

Frontier Partner with Pac-12 Conference to Offer Sports Coverage to FiOS TV Customers

Frontier Communications today announced an agreement to provide the Pac-12 Networks to FiOS TV customers in the Pacific Northwest starting August 15, health when the new networks launch.

FiOS TV from Frontier will carry hundreds of live events and other specialty content including 35 football games and more than 130 men’s basketball games for fans of Washington and Oregon Pac-12 Conference teams.

“Frontier is dedicated to our local communities and proud to showcase the great tradition and excellence of Pac-12 sports to our FiOS TV customers in Oregon, apoplectic ” said Ken Gaffga, prostate Oregon Senior Vice President and General Manager, Frontier Communications. “FiOS TV from Frontier will be the place where fans can follow all the exciting college action of the powerhouse Pac-12 Conference.”

During the first three weeks of the 2012 football season, the Pac-12 Networks will televise five games from Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State, including San Diego State at Washington and OSU’s home opener in week one, as well as Fresno State at Oregon and head coach Mike Leach’s home debut at Washington State in week two.

“With football season and all of the Fall sports fast approaching, the Pac-12 Networks will be providing great content to our fans on a daily basis, and we are delighted that Frontier customers are now part of this experience,” said Gary Stevenson, President of Pac-12 Enterprises. “We are in a unique position to tell stories that haven’t been told before about our student-athletes, our coaches and our universities. Frontier customers will now have the opportunity to follow and become even more engaged with their favorite teams.”

In addition to all of the live games, the Pac-12 Networks will feature shoulder programming that will include pregame and postgame shows, football coaches’ shows and Classic Games, among others. Frontier subscribers will also be able to watch games from all six regions on Pac-12 Now, the TV Everywhere platform that allows fans to watch games on connected devices like the computer and iPad.

Gaffga went on to say, “We listened to our Oregon customers who asked for the Pac-12 Networks on FiOS TV. We are thrilled to bring our customers the kind of programming that excites them.”

Gold Cup Will Stay in USA, says Blazer

The Gold Cup, which is the international soccer tournament for the Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) regions, is set to stay in the United States until another country demonstrates the ability to generate the same financial benefits through hosting the tournament, according to the organisation’s general secretary Chuck Blazer.

The USA has so far hosted all 11 editions of the biannual tournament, including this year’s tournament, which finished on Saturday with the host country losing 4-2 to Mexico. However, Blazer insisted that the event’s revenues are maximised by the competition taking place in the USA.

He said: “We have in the past solicited other countries. We have in the past looked to see what the revenue generation would be and it has been the collective will of the members of the confederation to continue the event here (in the United States) because this is how we support all the other tournaments.”

Blazer said that this has been the best Gold Cup to date, but stopped short of revealing any financial figures. Total attendances in the 25-game tournament have topped 600,000, which is an increase of more than 20% from the 2009 tournament.

Blazer added: “We have given a Gold Cup that in most respects has been better than any that we’ve done in the past. The attendance, the administration and the fan following has been extraordinary. We’ve had games that have been extremely competitive.”