Below are the top headlines from the past week for this week’s Global Business of Soccer Recap.
Broadcasting is Final Piece to MLS Puzzle (Business of Soccer)
Now in its twentieth season, Major League Soccer (MLS) is off to a blazing start in the 2015 campaign – both on the pitch and off of it. Two new clubs to add to the growing roster, new sponsorship partners across the country at the club and league level, a new record domestic TV deal got underway, and the fans have been filling the stadiums to give MLS its best attendance numbers in league history – at least thus far.
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Stadiums Filled Season Low 78% On Average for MLS Week 7 (Business of Soccer)
MLS week 7 average attendance is 17,531. The regular season average has decreased 2.88% to 20,873 from 21,492 last week. Stadiums were 78.62% filled throughout the week, remaining at 93.44% of capacity for the season. One match was sold out this week – Real Salt Lake versus Vancouver Whitecaps at Rio Tinto Stadium.
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FIFA under new pressure over Mohamed bin Hammam’s Qatar 2022 role (The Guardian)
Fifa’s head of security during the controversial race to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has called for an investigation into claims Mohamed bin Hammam made a vote-trading pact with Spain’s Ángel María Villar Llona to aid Qatar’s bid. Chris Eaton said Fifa ought to look into allegations contained in a new book, The Ugly Game, which expands on a series of reports in the Sunday Times last summer about Qatar’s successful quest to host the tournament.
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Tottenham could host NFL and other sports in new stadium (ESPN)
Tottenham Hotspur are open to prospect of their new White Hart Lane stadium being used to host events other than soccer, sources told ESPN FC, though the club declined to comment on reports that they are in talks with the NFL about staging American football games at their futuristic venue. The Premier League club recently cleared the final legal obstacle to the start of their construction of a stadium that is expected to have a capacity in excess of 61,000, with the venue expected to be open in time for the start of the 2018-19 season.
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Japan to host FIFA Club World Cup in 2015 and 2016 (Reuters)
Japan have been reappointed as hosts of the FIFA Club World Cup for the next two years, the sport’s world governing body announced on Thursday. FIFA said the annual tournament would be held in Japan in 2015 and 2016 with this year’s edition scheduled for December 10-20. “This is a country with a proven track record when it comes to staging FIFA events, including six editions of the FIFA Club World Cup, which were all successful,” FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said in a statement.
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Qatar Unveils Fifth World Cup Venue: Al Rayyan Stadium by Pattern Architects (Arch Daily)
Qatar‘s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has unveiled the fifth proposed venue planned for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, this time designed by London-based Pattern Architects. Titled ”Al Rayyan Stadium,” the 40,000-seat Qatari-inspired structure will be built on the site of the former Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, of which 90 percent of its materials generated from demolition are expected to be re-used for either public art projects or on the new stadium.
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AC Milan’s five-step plan for the future (ESPN)
While speculation has rumbled on for months that Milan may well be the subject of a takeover bid this year, the latest reports suggest that a new investor could be in place as early as the weekend. According to La Repubblica earlier this week, Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol confirmed that he is close to securing a deal to purchase the club from the Berlusconi family.
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Liverpool FC renew Standard Chartered deal until 2018-19 (Soccerex)
English club Liverpool FC have renewed their main shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank for a further three years. The Premier League side, second last year and currently fifth in the table, signed their original deal with Standard Chartered in July 2010 for a sum reported at the time to be US$130 million in total. A two-year extension was subsequently signed in July 2013, with that contract due to expire at the end of the current campaign.
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Parma on the market for €20 million (Four Four Two)
Parma have begun the process of securing their long-term future after being put up for sale with a starting price of €20million.
The Serie A strugglers were declared bankrupt in March with debts of €218m, and have been deducted points on three occasions for failing to pay staff throughout the season. A rescue package was put together by the league to ensure they could complete the current campaign, but their future remains uncertain.
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Toronto FC looking to hire a club president (Sportsnet)
A well-placed source within Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment told Sportsnet that the organization is actively looking to hire a club president that would oversee all soccer operations for TFC. The same source said MLSE has courted and spoken to Italian executive Umberto Gandini about the position. Gandini is a club director at Serie A team AC Milan.
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