Al Jazeera Sports has beaten current incumbent Canal+ Group in the award of the international distribution rights for the French Ligue 1 soccer tournament over six seasons in a deal believed to be worth as much as US$276.6m.

The network, prostate owned by the Qatar Media Corporation, has won the rights from Vivendi’s Canal+ Group, despite interest from the French broadcaster in continuing its contract.

Canal+ Events’ existing international broadcasting rights agreement, an eight-year deal covering 2008/09 to 2011/12, saw the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) receive $21.6m during each of the first two seasons and $27.4m during each of the second two.

The LFP have chosen to exercise an option in the original eight year deal, to break the contract midway through its duration.

Al Jazeera will be paying $46m per year to the LFP from 2012/13 onwards with the deal spanning over the 2012/13 to 2017/18 seasons. In addition to all international distribution rights for Ligue 1, Al Jazeera obtain the same package in Ligue 2, the Coupe de la Ligue and the Trophée des Champions.

LFP president Frédéric Thiriez said: “It’s an honour for the LFP to announce this deal with Al Jazeera Sports for the international distribution rights. This new deal will help Ligue 1 to continue its growth and reinforce its presence on the world football stage. Al Jazeera grants us a worldwide exposure and its bid was much higher than the two others received.”

Al Jazeera Sports had already concluded a four-season deal, spanning 2012/13 to 2015/16, to broadcast Ligue 1 soccer in several Middle Eastern markets earlier in the year.

The international distribution rights deal coincides with the opening of negotiations for domestic rights to French league soccer from 2012 to 2016, with Monday, June 20, the deadline for bidding broadcasters to declare their interest.

Volvo Car Australia have announced a new naming rights partner of the Volvo Polestar Racing team for the 2015 and 2016 V8 Supercars Championships.

Wilson Security will be the lead and naming rights partner of Volvo Polestar Racing, and the team will be known as Wilson Security Racing GRM from January 2015.

“Synergies between brands are often spoken about in situations like this, but we’re genuinely excited about this partnership as we can see clear opportunities for all parties,” said John McMellan, Chief Executive Officer Asia Pacific for Wilson Security.

“We have been keeping a close eye on Volvo and Polestar’s progress in their debut season of the V8 Supercars Championship, and it’s not often you get the opportunity to partner with a global luxury car manufacturer so we’re looking forward to it.”

“Like Volvo Car Australia, Wilson Security and Payce have strong local objectives and we’re looking forward to working together collaboratively to help fulfil our goals,” said Kevin McCann, Volvo Car Australia Managing Director.

Team owner Garry Rogers commented on the partnership: “2014 has been a year of great change at GRM with our partnership with Volvo and Polestar. 2015 is a new chapter and we are certainly proud to represent an iconic brand such as Wilson Security – we welcome them and Payce in joining Valvoline at GRM, all tremendous supporters of Australian motorsport.”

ESPN and National Basketball Association (NBA) TV have reached an agreement which will see a transatlantic television audience witness the first Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) game to be played in Europe.

Both ESPN and NBA TV revealed that they will present the WNBA Atlanta Dream against The Standard Life Great Britain Women’s basketball team on May 29. 

The game, held at the Manchester Evening News Arena (MEN) as part of WNBA Live – Manchester 2011, will be live on ESPN in the UK, while NBA TV will televise the game live throughout America.
 


The game will be presented to UK viewers on ESPN and also to more than 55 million homes in the United States through NBA TV, the National Basketball Association’s 24-hour television network.

The Standard Life GB Women, who will be making their first Olympic appearance in 2012 when London hosts the Summer Games, enjoyed a successful summer in 2011 when they qualified for EuroBasket 2011 for the first time. 

WNBA Live – Manchester 2011 is part of the multiyear partnership between the Manchester City Council, the NBA, WNBA, and USA Basketball that will give basketball fans in Manchester the opportunity to attend live games in the city. 

Along with the WNBA game and the USA Basketball games scheduled for July 2012, the partnership will also bring the first-ever NBA preseason game to Manchester in the autumn of 2013, marking the first time an NBA team has played away from America and outside of London in the UK.

Italian soccer’s fight between its bigger and smaller Serie A clubs continues after a TV rights meeting in Milan failed to see an agreement reached.

Adriano Galliani, vice-chairman of AC Milan, said to reporters: “Zero-zero, the ball stays in the middle. But negotiations will restart next Monday. The assembly remains open.”

The next meeting is scheduled for June 6 and will see the league’s big five clubs (Milan, Inter, Juventus, Roma, Napoli) contest their case against five representatives of the smaller clubs: probably Lazio, Udinese, Catania, Palermo and another yet to be named.

Lega Serie A president Maurizio Beretta said during a press conference: “We need quickly an agreement for 2011/12 and we still have to sell those from 2012 to 2015. Even if it is hard and difficult, we have to look at reality and walk the road to a deal.”

Andrea Agnelli, president of Juventus, said: “The big five clubs have 3 million audience against 300,000 of the other 15 clubs.

“Unfortunately, those who don’t invest huge amounts in this moment have more power to decide. We will appeal to [the Italian National Olympic Committee] to protect the development of sport. We are compact with the other 4, and also evaluate the hypothesis of an exit from the league.”

Neo Sports, pills a Mumbai-based sports broadcaster, symptoms  has entered into a three year agreement with Total Sports Asia to obtain the rights for the Osim BWF World Superseries from 2011 to 2013 for the Indian Subcontinent.

The OSIM BWF World Superseries comprises of 7 Superseries events, 5 Superseries Premier Events and 1 Superseries Finals.

With badminton experiencing a rise in viewership because of the success of its native stars in recent times, this deal will ensure that all Osim BWF World Superseries events are accessible to viewers and badminton fans across India.

Total Sports Asia, which holds the worldwide media rights for the OSIM BWF World Superseries events has partnered with Neo Sports in the past for various other sport properties including the Copa Libertadores and AVP Beach Volleyball.

German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have renewed their agreements with the German Equestrian Federation for another year and will continue to show German eventing until 2012.

The renewal is believed to match the value of the existing contract at around US$1.4m. 20 per cent of this figure will go directly to the federation, health with the remainder going to tournament organisers.  

The German Equestrian Federation is fighting back after a string of scandals in recent years over illegal doping and medication scandals. Both ZDF and ARD had reportedly been considering pulling out of equestrian sport coverage, order but have now recommitted for at least the next year.

The federation’s general secretary Soenke Lauterbach stated: “Roughly 1.5 million people ride at horse shows in Germany every year. Through television, rx an even wider audience is available for equestrian.”

ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky added: “We have reached another important milestone in the fight for a clean sport. By continuing our long-term media partnership in equestrian, horse fans can still look forward to great TV pictures.”

Muscle and joint cream producer BLUE-EMU have signed a partneship with Richard Petty and Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM).

BLUE-EMU will be an associate sponsor of RPM with their logo appearing on the roof strip and the lower-rear quarter panel of the No. 9 Ford Fusion beginning this weekend at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The multi-year agreement will also integrate Richard Petty as a spokesperson for the brand.

This will not be the first venture into sports marketing for BLUE-EMU, but it will be the first to combine two legendary and Hall of Fame sports figures, Johnny Bench and Richard Petty. Bench and Petty will be featured together in new television ads to debut in 2015 for BLUE-EMU. The company has already grown expediently with Bench and expects the same with their latest partnership with RPM and Petty.

“Our group at Blue-Emu is truly excited about this opportunity to have Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty and his team on board with our brand,” said Susan Gregory, President and COO of parent company NFI Consumer Products. “Johnny has exceeded our expectations for Blue-Emu in 2014, and having Richard Petty and his team join our group will allow us to reach a new demographic and inform them about how Blue Emu can soothe their joints and muscles.”

RPM and Petty were a perfect fit for BLUE-EMU to expand its marketing presence. Available in retailers nationwide, BLUE-EMU is used by active people everywhere to keep joints loose. BLUE-EMU is also the muscle and joint cream that will keep Petty and his team active on and off the track.

“I always stay with products that help,” said Richard Petty, Co-Owner of Richard Petty Motorsports. “I am as busy as ever and BLUE-EMU will continue to keep me going. I can count on them for fast comfort after long days. We’re going to trust them to always keep our crews in the race too and welcome them to our team.”

The addition of BLUE-EMU to the RPM partnership portfolio continues their aggressive formula of creating winning marketing platforms for companies and brands. BLUE-EMU is the latest multi-year partner to find success with the RPM brand.