Football Partnerships

By Alex Kotler

Football’s Gamble

Theo Leggett, a business reporter for BBC News has published a fair survey of English football’s winners and losers, accounting for the sports main revenue streams and how clubs fall off the ‘financial tightrope’.

A point of interest is that, despite the recession, deals made in early 2009 reflected no signs of the faltering economy. Another is the gamble made by ambitious teams striving for promotion or tournament places within the league table, that may catapult a side upwards or, catatrophically, downwards.

Learn from Coventry City’s ‘community approach’ and read about Dr. Simon Chadwick’s suggestion that regulation may be a necessary evil to ‘protect [the clubs].

Read Theo Leggett’s article on Football’s Winners & Losers

It Takes Balls

Congratulations to four Baldwin-Wallace College men’s soccer student-athletes, Nate Smith, Russ Mika, Jamie Shipley and Zac Gaydosh, who have launched an initiative charged to provide soccer balls to the children in Haiti.

Their program, known as Soccer Balls 4 Haiti, set a goal of collecting a 250 new or gently-used soccer balls to send to the children affected by the devastating earthquake.

What are some of the soccer-related charitable programs that you are involved in?

Learn more about Soccer Balls 4 Haiti

Bartender, Another Round of “_______”!

According to research by Dr. Fiona Davies at Cardiff Business School, there is no significant statistical correlation between sports sponsorship awareness and attitudes to alcohol use.

In summary, boys with interests in sport are driven to drink by traditional machismo rather than by the presence of alcohol sponsorship. Girls’ attitudes are also unaffected.

The study will certainly be embraced by the football industry, which counts alcohol brands as a major source of sponsorship revenue. The pertinent questions on the flip side are (1) whether the absence of alcohol sponsorship would coincide with a decrease in alcohol consumption and (2) how would a decrease in sponsorship revenues from alcohol brands impact English football.

What do you think?

Have another pint and read more in SportBusiness

Togo appeals CAF ban

According to SoccerexBusiness Daily, “the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) has confirmed Togo’s appeal against the banning of its national team from the next two editions of the African Cup of Nations.”

The appeal will allow the Togolese national team to be included in this Saturday’s draw for the 2012 Cup of Nations qualifying. The formal request has been lodged by Football Federation of Togo (FTF), which will submit a written report to the court for consideration.

The Togolese team withdrew from the 2010 competition following a gun attack on the bus carrying the players and staff. Three people died in the assalut.

While the ban is purportedly a response against government and political intervention in football affairs, the question undoubtedly remains - is this necessary?

Be certain to wear your goggles…

Sports broadcast ESPN has announced that Sony will serve as an official sponsor of its new 3D network. Coverage will begin on June 11 when South Africa faces Mexico in the first match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The significance is that ESPN will enjoy rights to utilize Sony’s professional HD cameras to present programming to its subscribers.

But what will the googles look like?

Read the original source (with or without special glasses)

By Jose Fermoso

The Arsenal English soccer team will offer live wireless streaming of game highlights to fans’ Sony PSP gaming systems by next year, a club official declared this week.

The system has been tested over the last two seasons and it has received a good enough response that the team is going forward with the full implementation.

Read the rest of the article

SONY Gulf will sponsor the 19th Gulf Cup, the Gulf’s most popular soccer event which is set to take place in Muscat from January 4 to 17, next year.

This is the first major Middle East soccer tournament Sony is partnering with and is an extension of the Sony’s global eight-year Fifa partnership from 2007 to 2014 that covers the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

“Football is the GCC’s favourite sport. I can’t think of a better way for Sony to enter the hearts and minds of the people and celebrate the game with them than to partner with the best of the Middle East football action through the Arabian Gulf Cup of Nations,” said Sony Gulf managing director Osamu Miura.

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English movie channel Pix has bagged the India telecast rights for the FA Cup. Pix hopes the telecast of the British football tournament will help grow its reach and increase sampling of the channel. Matches will begin airing on Pix from November.

As part of the agreement between Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment Television India) and The Football Association, Pix will also have the rights to air a series of England International matches in which the national team will attempt to qualify for World Cup 2010 and European Cup 2012.

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By The Gaffer

If you’re in the market for a new TV between now and the end of the year, be sure to boycott Sony’s Bravia HD TV. Why? The Japanese manufacturer is making fun of soccer in its TV commercials.

The new TV commercial features Peyton Manning, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other celebrities hating on soccer.

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