Strikes against the MLS, FLEC violence marring the Africa Cup venue in Angola,
bankrupt Premiere League clubs, the tremendous profits being made by some clubs,
the deal between SUM, SportsMark Management Group and FIFA, the flare up over
charges that Africa is not an appropriate venue for the World Cup, which drew
the fire of FIFA chief Blatter, the heated battle between Adidas, Nike, and
Puma...with Puma's interesting attempt to play off of Pan-Africanism (the Unity Kit) to protect
its market edge in Africa and build a base for attacking Nike's and Adidas'
positions all these and more are just as much a part of the world of modern
soccer as defensive acumen and striker power.
Africa,. to win, to really win in this highly competitive world of big money
soccer has to be better managed, on and off the field. We must not allow our
fans to be insulted as happening with the Israeli flag waving member of the
Ghanaian team a few years back.
To contribute to the kind of dialog African soccer supporters and well-wishers
need to engage in we have listed a few useful articles below. Just click on
the entry in the table of content, and when you finish with the article return
here to the top.
Articles
SUM, SportsMark Management Group announce strategic partnership
for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Soccer United Marketing Communications
November 5, 2009
NEW YORK -– Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the preeminent soccer company
in North America and marketing arm of Major League Soccer (MLS), and SportsMark
Management Group, a global sports marketing, corporate hospitality, and event
management company, have agreed to partner on offering FIFA’s official
hospitality program of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ to SUM partners
and MLS team owners. SportsMark will become Major League Soccer’s Official
Hospitality Supplier for 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
Historically, the FIFA World Cup™ has provided companies with an unrivaled
opportunity to host key clients on a global stage. This emotional and experiential
platform is a key business opportunity for any company. FIFA’s official
hospitality program, MATCH Hospitality, has been masterfully designed providing
access to the best match tickets, hotels and transportation in South Africa.
These official packages can guarantee a turnkey and hassle-free guest experience,
calming the anxieties of weary travelers.
In 2010, South Africa presents the perfect backdrop to develop and strengthen
business relationships in a setting with unique attractions including safaris,
wine tasting, and cultural excursions.
“This new partnership brings incredible business development opportunities
around the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ to the forefront of the U.S. business and
soccer marketing community,” said Kathy Carter, executive vice president,
Soccer United Marketing. “Through SportsMark, we are excited to offer MATCH
Hospitality to our wide array of business partners.”
As the exclusive sales agent for MATCH Hospitality in the United States, SportsMark
Management Group is authorized to offer FIFA’s official hospitality program,
as well as customized itineraries to include top hotels in each venue city at
pre-negotiated rates, direct secure and accredited transportation to/from each
match, and access to some of the best excursions and sightseeing tours that
South Africa has to offer.
“Our clients and many corporate groups have used the FIFA World Cup™
as an opportunity to create and strengthen global business relationships,”
said Keith Bruce, president of SportsMark. “South Africa is taking the
FIFA World Cup™ experience to another level. We are able to offer corporations
a wide range of very flexible and unique hospitality packages, which will introduce
them to the world-class hospitality and soccer experience we are providing for
the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.”
Aimed primarily at corporate customers, MATCH Hospitality packages combine skybox
suites or Category 1 match tickets with on-site match-day hospitality, including
food, beverages and entertainment in a private area within or close to the stadium,
a match program, commemorative gift and preferential parking with access to
other travel services.
FIFA World Cup™ ticket demand remains high, especially in the U.S., which
had the highest draw of any country outside South Africa with nearly 74,000
tickets awarded to U.S. residents during FIFA ticketing lottery. Globally, nearly
631,000 tickets have been sold in 188 countries, further reinforcing the international
appeal of the FIFA World Cup™.
About Soccer United Marketing
Founded in 2002, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) is the preeminent soccer business
company in North America. SUM holds the exclusive rights to the most important
soccer properties in the region, including: all commercial rights to Major League
Soccer; the United States Soccer Federation; promotional and marketing rights
to Mexican National Team games played in the United States; the marketing and
promotion of the CONCACAF Gold Cup™, and marketing, promotional and broadcast
rights to the prestigious eight-team Mexican club tournament - InterLiga™.
SUM also manages promotional and marketing rights in the United States for Mexico's
most popular sports team, Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas).
In addition, SUM created SuperLiga, the innovative professional tournament between
MLS and Mexico's First Division clubs that debuted in 2007, as well as the Pan-Pacific
Championship 2008, an international soccer tournament that crowns the top club
from the Pan Pacific region. In 2008 SUM entered into a long term partnership
with FC Barcelona which includes tours of the legendary Spanish club. These
global properties are represented by SUM's slogan: One Sport. One Company.™
For more information, please visit www.SUMworld.com.
About SportsMark
SportsMark Management Group is a global sports marketing, event management,
and corporate hospitality company. Recognized as SportsBusiness Journal’s
Sports Event Marketing Firm of the Year in 2008, SportsMark excels in using
the live sporting event as a marketing platform to strengthen and grow key business-to-business
relationships for their Fortune 500 clients.
SportsMark is part of The Radiate Group, an Omnicom-owned network of marketing
services agencies in sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and all other areas of
emotional brand building and experiential marketing.
For more information, please visit www.sportsmark.com.
About MATCH Hospitality
MATCH Hospitality AG was appointed by FIFA as its worldwide exclusive rights
holder of the FIFA Hospitality Programme that includes the FIFA Confederations
Cup South Africa 2009, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa™, the FIFA
Women´s World Cup Germany 2011™, the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013
and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. MATCH Hospitality AG is based in Zurich
(Switzerland) with offices in Johannesburg.
MATCH Hospitality is the only company worldwide that is officially allowed by
FIFA to offer and guarantee exclusive hospitality packages including tickets
and services for every match of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 and the 2010
FIFA World Cup™ through its appointed sales agents.
For more information, please go to: www.fifa.com/hospitality or www.match-ag.com.
Soccer United Marketing : SUMWorld.com © 2010 SUMWORLD.com. All Rights
Reserved.
MLS, Major League Soccer, the MLS logo, MLS team identifications, MLS Cup, MLS
All-Star Game, their designs, logos, uniform designs, color combinations and
slogans used on or in connection with this site are trademarks, copyrighted
designs and other forms of intellectual property of Major League Soccer, L.L.C.,
and may not be used, in whole or part, without the prior written consent of
Major League Soccer, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.
Back to Top
World's Largest Soccer Clubs Return 4
Billion EUR of Profit Annually
During the season of 2008-2009, the total revenue of twenty most profitable
soccer clubs increased significantly and now amounts to nearly €4 billion.
Real Madrid with €401.4 million in profit once again retained its place
at the top. The club has been the top earning team of the Football Money League
for the last five seasons.
The club's financial matters were not affected by the fact that the last soccer
season was not very successful for Real Madrid. Yet, the club's profit has increased
by 10% compared to the season 2007-2008. The revenue from broadcasts of the
club's matches alone is higher than total revenue of any club in the second
half of the rating, €161 million.
Catalane club Barcelona placed second in the Football Money League rating prepared
by Deloitte. The club managed to outrun Manchester United thanks to its victory
in the Champions League. The victory in the most prestigious European Tournament
has brought the winners €57 million in revenue. During the season, Barcelona
has doubled its profit to €365.9 million. This is the most significant
growth among the top twenty.
The fall in exchange rate of Pound Sterling to Euro has affected the financial
standing of Manchester United. Deloitte's representative made a suggestion that
if the exchange rate of the British national currency was on the pre-crisis
level, Manchester United would certainly be on the top of the list. Now it is
number three with €327 million.
Another representative of Deloitte said that if the British Pound does not strengthen
its position to Euro, Real Madrid and Barcelona will be on the top of the Football
Money League in the future. He emphasized that British clubs will have a good
earnings gain in the season of 2010-2011 due to new broadcast contracts for
the British Premier League.
Deloitte's representatives believe that it is not the financial crisis that
matters, but weak expenses control and mistakes made by the club management.
Britain has its own example of soccer bankruptcy. Portsmouth went down in history
as the only Premier League club that ran bankruptcy.
According to the revenue rating, the British cannot complain. Out of twenty
clubs that made it to the Football Money League for the season 2008-2009, seven
play in the Premier League. Bundesliga is on the second place in the top twenty
with five teams. The most profitable one is Bayern Munich, which placed fourth,
like a year before, with €289.5 Euro.
Bayern Munich is followed by two London teams. Arsenal managed to force Chelsea
out of its place. "Cannoneers" earned €263 million, while "Aristocrats"
made €242.3 million.
The Spanish were third in representation with four clubs in the rating, two
clubs each.
Anatoly Miranovsky
Bigness
http://newsfromrussia.com/business/companies/05-03-2010/112489-soccer_clubs-0
Spanish soccer team Real Madrid has again topped the league table of the world's
richest football clubs, according to a report from Deloitte.
The Football Money League survey is based on data for the 2008-2009 season,
and shows that Real is the first global sports team to top revenues of 400 million
euros, helped by sales of Christiano Ronaldo shirts.
Real's arch-rival Barcelona, has taken second spot in the list, ahead of Manchester
United which drops to third. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are fifth, sixth
and seventh respectively, the BBC reports.
Seperately, Manchester United has reduced its debt by about Stg 20 million.
Pre-tax profits for the quarter were Stg 6.9 million compared with a loss of
Stg 2.7 million in the same period in 2008.
The news comes as a consortium of financiers, dubbed the Red Knights, are planning
a possible bid for the club.
Copyright © 2010 Radio New Zealand
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/03/03/1247f76d29c2
Back to Top
Financial
problems adding up for England's Premier League teams
England's Premier League likes to bill itself as the richest, most exciting
league in the world. You'd never prove it by the clubs' finances.
When Portsmouth was placed in financial administration - a form of bankruptcy
protection - Friday, it became the first Premier League club to suffer that
fate, but from all appearances, it won't be the last.
Since the Premier League was formed in 1992, by owners of big clubs anxious
to break away from England's Football League so it wouldn't have to share the
burgeoning television wealth that was coming with the three bottom leagues,
soccer clubs in all four divisions have entered some form of financial administration
53 times.
Even last week, while Portsmouth was dominating the news, Chester, a team in
the Conference, one level below the Football League, was thrown out. Its finances
were in such poor shape it was unable to pay its players, who refused to play
in several recent games. And Bournemouth, in second place in Division Two, the
lowest sector of the Football League, was served with a winding-up order by
the British taxman. That's old hat for Bournemouth, which has already been in
financial administration once and was relegated to the lower division after
suffering a points deduction.
Soccer officials scoffed in 2008 when Lord Triesman, newly in charge of England's
Football Association, warned that clubs' reliance on rich owners was endangering
their financial health.
"Debt is at high risk levels," he said. "The clubs are owned
either by financial institutions, some of which are in terrible health, or very
rich owners who are not bound to stay - or not very rich owners who are also
not bound to stay."
Well, who's scoffing now?
UEFA, soccer's European governing body, has tried to step in, insisting that
teams would be barred from European competition as of 2012-13 unless they break
even financially. The Premier League agrees, but argues that rich owners should
be allowed to inject money to fund overspending.
That's precisely what got Portsmouth into this mess. Former owner Alexander
Gaydamak poured money into the team, to the extent that Portsmouth won the FA
Cup two years ago, its first major trophy since 1950. But Gaydamak's pockets
weren't deep enough, and he sold to another wanna-be soccer mogul who also didn't
have enough money. Two more owners later, Portsmouth is almost certain to be
relegated from the Premier League.
Financial reports show a mere six of the 20 Premier League teams actually made
money last season - Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Everton
and Birmingham.
And two of those teams, Man U and Liverpool, have been saddled with enormous
debts after being taken over by U.S. businessmen (including Liverpool co-owner
George Gillett Jr., the former owner of the NHL Canadiens). The new owners promptly
loaded the debts they ran up in the purchase on the clubs.
United, for example, owes more than $700 million Cdn. United makes money, but
an increasing chunk of those profits go to pay down debt.
At Liverpool, Gillett and co-owner Tom Hicks have been told to find a new investor
with more than $150 million to inject into the club to pay down its debts.
Several other teams - hello, Chelsea and Manchester City - have mega-rich owners
prepared to inject millions of dollars interest-free into their playthings.
But how long will it be before some of those owners tire of their hobby?
How bad is it? UEFA is set to release a report soon that shows the Premier League
teams owe more money than all other clubs in Europe's top leagues. According
to Britain's Guardian newspaper, which obtained a copy of the report, 18 Premier
League teams had combined debt of an astounding $5.6 billion in 2007-08. Actually, the figures are even worse. Portsmouth and
West Ham weren't included because they didn't get UEFA licences to play in Europe
that season because their finances were so bad.
pcarbray@sympatico.ca
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
By PAUL CARBRAY, FreelanceMarch 1, 2010
http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Financial+problems
+adding+England+Premier+League+teams/2626181/story.html
Back to Top
Namibia To Wear
African Unity Kit Against South Africa
Namibia's Brave Warriors will don the unique Africa Unity Kit when they take
on South Africa in a friendly at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban tonight.
Mar 3, 2010 6:04:00 AM
The Africa Unity Kit, created by Puma, is sanctioned by FIFA and is the first
ever continental football kit. It is the official third kit of the 12 Puma-sponsored
African teams, including continental champions Egypt, World Cup qualifiers Ghana,
Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Algeria, as well as Namibia, Senegal, Angola, Mozambique,
Togo, Tunisia and Morocco.
The kit features an Africa Unity badge depicting two hands locked in a solidarity
handshake, and the brown colour on the shirt was created by mixing soil samples
from Mozambique, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
According to Kickoff.com, a portion of the profits from sales of the replica
fanwear for the kits help to fund biodiversity programmes in Africa, in partnership
with the United Nations Environment Programme's International Year of Biodiversity
2010.
Nine of the planet's 35 biodiversity hotspots, the richest and most threatened
reservoirs of plant and animal life, are in Africa; by supporting the Africa
Unity Kit, Puma teams are making a powerful statement for unity and raising
awareness of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.
Back to Top
Arsenal Pumps Up Soccer Profits
Lionel Laurent, 02.22.08, 11:15 AM ET
London
For proof that soccer is a true money spinner, look no further than British
team Arsenal. The world's third-most valuable soccer club has seen profits almost
double on the back of additional games and broadcasting deals.
Arsenal Holdings (other-otc: AENLF - news - people ) said Friday that pre-tax
profits for the second half of 2007 rose 55.0%, to £20 million ($39.4
million), excluding one-off charges. Non-executive chairman Peter Hill-Wood
said the growth was thanks to new broadcasting deals in Britain and abroad,
as well as from Arsenal's new Emirates Cup two-day soccer tournament.
Arsenal hosted the first Emirates Cup tournament last July, beating Italy's
Inter Milan, France's Paris Saint-Germain and Spain's Valencia, to win the trophy.
The tournament is named after Dubai-based Emirates, an airline that signed a
record £100 million ($197.0 million) sponsorship deal with Arsenal in
2004.
But the practice of coming up with extra games and tournaments to squeeze more
money out of soccer is generating a lot of controversy in the United Kingdom.
The British Premier League's latest plan to hold extra games abroad was panned
last week by Sepp Blatter, head of the FIFA international soccer governing body.
He told the BBC that it gave the impression that money was a prime motive, and
that as head of FIFA he would never let it happen.
Britain's Premier League wants to add one extra game to every team's 38-game
soccer season in 2011. The "39th game" would be held abroad, and would
probably bring in lots of extra cash from eager foreign fans.
"A lot of people are making snap comments on it," said Arsenal Holdings
managing director Keith Edelman on Friday. He told reporters that the proposal
deserved to be looked at and analyzed "very carefully," but added
that he did not yet know whether Arsenal would vote for it.
The popularity of British soccer abroad has also been mirrored by an influx
of foreign owners in the industry. American billionaire Malcolm Glazer controls
Manchester United, the world's most valuable soccer club according to Forbes.com's
2007 valuations, Russia's Roman Abramovich owns Chelsea and now even Arsenal
could join the swelling ranks of foreign-owned teams: Russian billionaire Alisher
Usmanov upped his stake in the club last week to 24%. He is hot on the heels
of majority shareholder Danny Fiszman, who holds 24.1%.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/22/arsenal-usmanov-soccer-markets-equity-cx_ll_0222markets12.html
Back to Top
The Recession Killed Profits in
MLS
by Sounder At Heart on Mar 12, 2010 2:16 PM PST in Major League Soccer 29 comments
http://www.sounderatheart.com/2010/3/12/1370301/the-recession-killed-profits-in-mls
So we all know the Forbes study about 2007. We should all know that it did not
include the money from Soccer United Marketing. SUM makes a lot of money. That
will be true in recession or not, but recently the Timbers had to publicly declare
how they as an MLS side would make money and pay back the city for all those
great tax breaks, etc.
Let's first look at 2007 though - only 3 teams were "profitable"
without SUM money.
THREE - Los Angeles, Toronto and Dallas. One could argue that with SUM money
that another 3-6 clubs likely made money in that single year. At least it could
be argued. Let's also remember that sports teams almost never make money on
a year-to-year basis, but instead are like real estate, and have annual costs
past their income, but when sold makes the owner some bank. This is true for
all but the top 10% of teams in pretty much any league in the world.
But since 2007 the world has changed. Iceland nearly doesn't exist as a financial
entity. Governments in most democracies have changed their ruling party. The
WORLD has reached a Recession nearing on depression. How did that hit MLS?
The answer is HARD. It hit MLS very hard. Despite the Seattle Sounders magical
attendance numbers the league was still down. This is a league that makes more
money off of gate than it does off of TV, and that hurt. The shine of Beckham
is gone. The newness of TFC is GONE. Dallas still doesn't know how to market
in Frisco.
So I did some math. Really basic stuff, but the Portland release filled in
some data points and I could extrapolate a range of profits for MLS sides in
2009 based in part on the 2007 study and in part on how the Timbers plan to
make money.
Things in MLS aren't really that good. Revenue is high, but profits aren't
following, unless you include SUM. There are some mysteries surrounding how
that money is distributed, but let's ignore SUM for a bit.
Only 2 clubs turned a profit in 2009 - Seattle and Toronto. I'm going to have
to deal with ranges, because the math is a bit fuzzy, and I had to estimate,
but Seattle took in about 36M$ in revenue. No joke. In the down economy Seattle
launched to a perfect storm. No other team in any American league will ever
do that again. Toronto barely turned a non-SUM profit though. While Seattle
had a non-SUM profit of between $10 and 17 Million, TFC only came in at about
$1 to 3 Million US.
No one else likely made a profit during the Recession. If we count SUM money
the way Portland does (which isn't necessarily the "right" way to
do so, as I have heard that it is an incentive rather than even distribution)
the following "profits" were made in MLS, accounting for gate, and
announced sponsorships since 2007:
The Galaxy had about $2M less in Gate revenue from 2007 to 2009. Dallas still
mainly makes money from non-soccer revenue, so it was harder to estimate. Salt
Lake will start climbing the revenue ladder as it starts to pay off the stadium.
In all things in MLS aren't good. A 12% reduction in attendees crushes a league
that depends on gate.
Seattle 15,322,672
TFC 2,819,697
RSL 934,144
FCD 678,151
San Jose 501,318
LA 259,161
Houston 258,397
C-USA -612,923
NER -962,664
CR -2,079,073
KCW -2,278,705
DCU -4,203,862
CCrew -4,232,625
Chicago -4,348,156
NY -6,068,760
Obviously these are ugly estimates. Quite rough. One would likely be better
having a range, based on some unknown factors not listed in either report, so
let's do some jujitsu on the numbers;
Seattle 10m to 17m
TFC 0m to 3m
RSL neg2m to 0m
FCD neg2m to 1m
San Jose neg2m to 0m
LA neg5m to 2m
Houston neg3m to 0m
C-USA neg3m to neg1m
NER neg4m to neg1m
CR neg5m to neg3m
KCW neg4m to neg3m
DCU neg7m to neg5m
CCrew neg6m to neg5m
Chicago neg7m to neg4m
NY neg8m to neg7m
There are still teams that despite having labor costs in the $2-3M range are
losing twice that much money. At least if the Forbes estimate and Portland numbers
are remotely accurate. Yes, a majority of clubs are making money if we COUNT
SUM, which is technically a seperate entity, but let's also remember that almost
ZERO MLS players are responsible for the earnings from SUM.
SUM holds the rights to the World Cup, the Gold Cup, the WPS, the US MNT, the
Mexican NT when in the USA, Barcelona in the USA, Interliga, Superliga and the
PanPacific Championship. Those last two are the only ones that MLS players participate
in by nature, and they are also the only two that don't exist in 2010. Should
MLS players get a portion of that money? Likely no.http://www.sounderatheart.com/2010/3/12/1370301/the-recession-killed-profits-in-mls
ABOUT SOCCER UNITED MARKETING
Founded in 2002, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) is the preeminent soccer company
in North America. SUM holds the exclusive rights to the most important soccer
properties in the region, including: all commercial rights to Major League Soccer
and the United States Soccer Federation; promotional and marketing rights to
all Mexican National Team games played in the United States; the marketing and
promotion of the CONCACAF Gold Cup™, the region's premier soccer tournament
for national teams; and marketing, promotional and broadcast rights to the prestigious
eight-team Mexican club qualifier tournament, InterLiga™.
SUM manages promotional and marketing rights in the United States for two world-renown
sports teams, Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas) of Mexico and FCBarcelona
of Spain. In addition, SUM has created two innovative, international club competitions
in SuperLiga, an annual tournament between MLS and Mexico's First Division,
and the Pan-Pacific Championship, event that crowns the top club from the Pan-Pacific
region.
These global properties are represented by SUM's slogan: One Sport. One Company.™
For more information, please visit www.SUMworld.com
http://web.sumworld.com/about/index.jsp |
