Archive → October, 2011

Fox Claims Broadcast Rights to 2018, 2022 World Cup Tournaments

27 October, 06:36, by admin Tags: , ,

For the World Cup matches in 2018 and 2022, held in Russia and Qatar respectively, fans will no longer flip to the Disney-owned ESPN channels to watch coverage of the soccer playoffs. This week Fox, Telemund and Spanish language Futbol de Primera Radio paid a combined $1.2 billion to rights to broadcast the two-tournament package in the United States.

Fox, which individualy paid around $425 million, will own the rights to all FIFA events between 2015 and 2022, including the men’s World Cup in 2018 and 2022, the women’s world cup in 2015 and 2019 and all Under-20 and Under-17 matches. Gaining the broadcast rights to the World Cup is the crowning achievement to the network’s portfolio that already includes the UEFA Champions League, the English Premier League and Italy’s Serie A.

ESPN, which broadcast the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and will host the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, paid $100 million in a package deal with Univision that totaled $425 million for broadcasting rights. ESPN and Univision were favored to retain the rights for upcoming World Cup tournaments. These recent deals have proved that while the United States may not have the widest soccer fan base, it is FIFA’s most lucrative market. FIFA earns about 90 percent of its revenue from broadcasting, marketing and sponsorship deals tied to the World Cup. As a whole, the association estimated that it earned approximately $2.4 billion in broadcast sales worldwide for the 2010 tournament alone.

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Abby Wambach Wins Sportswoman of the Year Award

20 October, 08:55, by admin Tags: , ,

Last night, the Women’s Sports Foundation held the 32nd Annual Salute to Women in Sports Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The event, which was hosted by ESPN personality Bonnie Bernstein, was attended by high-profile celebrities such as Venus Williams, Michelle Kwan, L.A. Dodgers manager Joe Torre, WSF Founder Billie Jean King, WSF President Laila Ali and members of the 2011 U.S. Women’s National Soccer team.

Abby Wambach, a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, received the Sportswoman of the Year award due to her exceptional performance and leadership during this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. During the World Cup Wambach led the U.S. team with four goals, bringing her total number of World Cup goals to 13. She now stands at number three on the list of all-time scoring with the Women’s World Cup.

Each year, the Women’s Sports Foundation recognizes an individual sport athlete and team sport athlete with outstanding performances in the previous calendar year. A Women’s Sports Foundation’s Awards Committee and the public select award winners through a 50-50 vote. The winners are the two athletes who receive the highest combined share of both the public and Award Committee vote. Past winners include Venus and Serena Williams, Nastia Liukin, Jessica Mendoza and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

U.S. Men’s National Team Beats Honduras 1-0

11 October, 07:42, by admin Tags: , ,

Score one for the U.S. Men’s National Team! On Saturday, the men’s national team defeated their regional rival Honduras 1-0. It was the first win for head coach Jurgen Klinsmann as the new leader of the U.S. team.

The team’s sole goal game less than 10 minutes before halftime and was scored by Clint Dempsey; it was his 23rd international goal. The team came close to scoring again in the game’s 45th minute but Honduran player Maynor Figueroa blocked a diving header from Danny Williams just before it went in the goal. Unfortunately, the U.S. missed two wide-open goals in the second half of the game due to the soggy field conditions. During the match, officials issued five of eight yellow cards to the U.S. team.

Even though this weekend’s match was played in the rain, the men’s team has a sunny record in Florida; 15 wins, 3 losses and 9 ties to be exact. And their record against Honduras is even brighter; 11 wins, 3 losses and 3 ties since the two teams began playing back in 1965. The men’s team, however, had not played in Miami since 1994.

Ancelotti Hopes to Return to Coaching, But Only in London

03 October, 14:48, by admin Tags: , ,

Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has recently been very vocal about his desire to return to soccer and made it clear that he would like to stay in London if the opportunity presents itself. He noted that he had no specific team in mind and would be pleased to coach for Arsenal, Liverpool or Tottenham.

Explaining his desire to stay in England, Ancelotti said, “For a coach, it is the ideal country. The difference is in the pace of the game and the training. In Italy, it’s hard to obtain maximum intensity during the week, but it’s the opposite in England – it’s difficult to reduce it.”

He continued, “It’s a different type of work culture, plus there’s the passion and respect in the stadiums. In two years on the bench at Chelsea, I wasn’t insulted by opposition fans.”

A return to the Premier League would allow Ancelotti to once again coach against Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. The two men have a healthy sense of competition when it comes to one another, but they also have a mutual feeling of great respect.

“The more time goes by, the more I fall in love with Ferguson,” Ancelotti said. “He is unusual as a coach. He understands football like few others. Ferguson is very good, very humble, as a person, despite his place in football history.”

Ancelotti also conceded that he was in no great hurry to return to the sport. “The fact that I’m not coaching does not cause me aguish,” he said. “In fact, I am enjoying life.”

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