Charlton Broadcasting Company ins Israel who only air sports have secured the media rights to the 2012–15 UEFA Europa League, cough Uefa have announced.
Pay television operator Charlton will broadcast two live matches each kick-off slot on Sport 1 and Sport 2, with the weekly highlights programme being shown every matchweek on Sport 1.
They will broadcast through TV, mobile and internet outlets.
by Ismail Uddin
In an interview on Russian state television, ambulance Arsenal investor and owner of Metalloinvest, anesthetist Alisher Usmanov stated his desire to raise his stake in the top English soccer club to 29.9 per cent.
Usmanov who currently holds a 27 per cent stake in the club would join Stanley Kroenke as the majority shareholder, were he to increase his stake to the desired amount.
The Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) has positioned itself as an Australian leader in internet game broadcasts by revising its broadcast agreement with Network Ten.
The NBL will get a weekly, live game each Sunday afternoon on Ten and a delayed game at 9.30pm each Friday on Ten’s digital channel One.
The deal will continue until the end of the 2014-15 season and supersedes the previous deal in which One showed three NBL games each weekend, all starting at 10.30pm or later.
New Zealand pay-TV network Sky Sport has a separate deal to broadcast all New Zealand Breakers home games.
Ten will retain the right to show Breakers home games on Australian free-to-air TV but the league is able to offer those games to other digital media including pay TV.
All other games each round are now available to any non-free-to-air broadcaster with the league opening talks with Fox Sports and reaching out to other IPTV (internet television), sports websites and content providers.
NBL commission chairman Justin Milne made it clear the league did not ”lose a cent” from the new deal with Ten.
He also said the NBL could provide live streaming of matches next season and was talking to a number of potential suitors.
With internet-capable televisions expected to expand rapidly in the next five years, Milne said the NBL, with indoor games and short running times, was a prime candidate for web broadcasters.
”There are a number of opportunities out there to get these games shot, coded and broadcast to the net,” he said. ”In the Czech Republic, there is a company webcasting professional ice hockey for about $3000-$5000 per game compared to $50,000 to $70,000 for TV games.”
NBL legend and Ten commentator Andrew Gaze said the live game and possible new broadcasters would help the league grow. ”The Sunday afternoon timeslot on national television is something we haven’t had for some time,” he said.
by Ismail Uddin
Manager of English soccer giants Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson has launched a scathing attack against the power of agents in the game. Ferguson picked out special criticism for SEM Group managing director Jerome Anderson in his tirade.
The Scot has become the club’s longest serving manager this weekend and has made his thoughts clear about the quick turnaround of manager’s in soccer after the sacking of the likes of former Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton and Blackburn Rovers boss and friend of Sir Alex, Sam Alladyce.
Ferguson placed the blame for the eventual departure of Alladyce on the SEM Group’s involvement as player agency and sports rights agency Kentaro in advising the club’s new owners to part ways with the manager.
Ferguson stated: “I think it’s very difficult these days [to build a club] with the life we’re in now. There’s intense pressure on managers.
“You’ve got that issue at Blackburn of an agent involved and deciding the future of the club, Jerome Anderson, he couldn’t pick his nose.
“It’s baffling and it’s a serious threat to how clubs get run and how they conduct themselves.”
A plea has been made by England Women’s soccer team coach, Hope Powell and head of the national game for the Football Association (FA), Kelly Simmons, to move the whole of women’s soccer schedule to the summer period.
The call comes just four months before the start of the newly revamped Super League’s inaugural season.
Powell said: ‘When I was a player I always felt we should be playing in the summer. Moving the entire game to summer couldn’t realistically be done from day one, but hopefully we can work towards that and it would be great if it happens.’
Simmons added: ‘We want to grow the women’s game and I believe that taking it into the summer would attract more players and spectators. The WSL will be a closed league for two years but if the Premier League then becomes the feeder it would be a better fit if that league and the pyramid below it were played in the summer.’
Outgoing Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Nic Coward is to return his interests to soccer and the English Premier League (EPL). Coward will become the EPL general secretary and will take his position in the second quarter of 2011.
After spending the last 4 years at the BHA, Coward announced on Tuesday 14 December, that he would be leaving his post for pastures new and just a day later it was revealed that he will make the switch in sports to back to soccer.
Before becoming chief executive at the BHA, Coward had spent 5 years at the Football Association (FA). In his time at the FA, Coward held a number of senior roles including acting chief executive and corporate and legal affairs director.
It will now be the new general secretary’s duty to manage relationships with his former employers at the FA and the Football League, as well as with the world’s leading soccer governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA.
Richard Scudamore, Cheif Executive for the Premier League stated: “We are extremely pleased to have recruited someone of Nic Coward’s calibre for what is a key role on the Premier League’s senior management team.
“His wealth of experience will make him an extremely valuable asset.”
Detailed plans have been revealed regarding the Football Association’s (FA) plans to launch a new Women’s Super League for English soccer. The league will consist of the top 8 club’s in the country and is backed by a television deal which will run from April until August of next year.
The news comes as the most significant in the history of women’s soccer in England though the FA are being conservative in their approach after the American league, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) has hit hard times of late.
Head of the National game at the FA, Kelly Simmons said: “We’re not going too big too quick. We won’t have full squads of professional footballers straight away. Ours is more of a conservative approach, which we think is more sustainable. It is a very different model. The US have struggled, they invested too much in salaries. They haven’t got the revenue to pay the salaries they’re paying, and their costs are much higher than us because of travel.”
The FA have revealed that US$3.1m worth of investment will be provided to support the plans over the next two years. Half of this will go directly to the clubs and the rest will cover the running costs of the league including central contracts for 20 England players at $24,000 a year. The new funding brings the FA’s support of the plans for women’s soccer in England to $4.7m.
Major broadcasting company ESPN have been announced as the official rights holder to air 30-minute weekly highlights along with 5 live matches from the first season. Although the league will not command any TV revenue, the FA will not be expected to cover production costs for ESPN – a rarity in women’s sport.
While the WPS offers significantly improved wage packages than in this country, the new Super League is unlikely to attract international stars, though this is not the priority according to England Women’s team manager, Hope Powell. Powell stated: “If I’m honest there’s great talent around the world, but my ambition is to have this league produce homegrown talent. I’d like it to be an all-English league that encourages younger players coming through.”
A sponsorship deal worth almost US$20m has been agreed over a three-year period between major telecommunications company MTN and the Nigeria and Zambia soccer federations.
The Nigerian Premier League is set to be the majority benefactor as the company look to invest US$17m over four-years, coming as a major boost to the league’s powerbrokers. The deal comes at a time when Davidson Owumi, chairman of the league, has been taken to court contesting the legitimacy of his position.
The agreement is the latest occurrence in an ongoing battle for the major sponsorship platforms of Nigerian soccer between MTN and Globacom. Globacom reportedly owes the Nigeria Premier League almost US$6 million in unpaid sponsorship fees from last season. This supposed money owed has led to the league’s debts of more than US$4.5 million.
An unnamed Globacom executive told Nigerian press: “The last has not been heard of this. The entire process has been less than satisfactory. We have a situation where one company put it in a bid and then another organisation, which did not formally enter the race, is said to have won the bid.”
MTN will also sponsor the Zambian Super League in a deal worth US$827,000 to become title sponsor for the next three years.
The England Soccer Team’s exclusive commercial interests management company, 1966 has appointed The Sports PR Company to look after all media across its clients. The partnership will also see the company responsible for all charitable work which includes the Team England Footballers Charity (TEFC).
The England squad made a decision to donate their match fees as well as dedicate their time to partners such as the Children’s Hospices UK, WellChild and the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK. The decision saw over £1.3m (US$2m) raised for good causes.
TEFC has also launched its own ‘Outreach Programme’ that uses football to improve opportunities for disadvantaged children and young adults across the country.
A three-year deal has been agreed which will see Coca-Cola extend their sponsorship of German Bundesliga soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt.
Coca-Cola will remain a second tier partner of the club, with pouring rights for non-alcoholic drinks at the club’s home ground, the Commerzbank Arena. Coca-Cola will also participate in a range of promotional activities in a deal thought to be worth an estimated US$450,000 a year.
Heribert Bruchhagen, Eintracht Frankfurt chairman said that the support of a global brand like Coca-Cola would help the club build for the future.