The sporting world had no shortage of global shockwaves this week — the once-unthinkable tie-up between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the likely move of World Cup champion Lionel Messi to Major League Soccer in Miami — that one could almost be forgiven for forgetting there’s a Champions League Final this weekend.
Inter Milan will take on Manchester City this evening in Istanbul in perhaps one of the last matches of an era of excess in European football. Come next season, participating clubs will be subject to new Uefa financial sustainability regulations, which will limit spending on player and coach wages, transfers, and agent fees to 90 per cent of club revenue, descending to 70 per cent by 2025-2026. Will such measures curtail the unstoppable run by City, with its seemingly limitless financial resources?
Before you enjoy the game, get up to speed on the next phases of the proposed golf merger and a dispatch from this week’s other Miami attraction, the NBA Finals — Sara Germano, US sports business correspondent
Why the PGA Tour gave in to Saudi Arabia
It’s still sinking in that the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund have buried the hatchet.
The US circuit, its European partner tour and Saudi’s Public Investment Fund are teaming up on a new venture that will unite the fractured game of golf.
Since the 2021 launch of LIV Golf, a team-based competition, all has not been well in the game, which descended into open warfare and court battles as top players ditched the PGA Tour for its Saudi rival.
A deeper look at how the battle was playing out explains why merging was a rational decision.
PIF governor Yasir al-Rumayyan had been dragged into the legal skirmish, with a federal judge ruling that he could not claim “sovereign immunity” to avoid deposition, an unwelcome precedent for Saudi’s business ambitions in America.
Recent performances at the majors dispelled the notion that LIV’s rebels were more motivated by money than sporting ambition after Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship after coming close in The Masters.
Plus, PIF’s $650bn heft gave it the capital to overlook LIV’s lack of commercial partners and a clear financial advantage against the PGA Tour.
The PIF stalked the PGA Tour for a long time before the world’s top golf circuit accepted that Saudi cash and influence would shape golf for potentially years to come.
One broadcast executive tells Scoreboard it’s almost certain the PGA Tour could have secured a better deal by negotiating with the PIF before the dispute turned bitter, avoiding a damaging affair for both sides.
George Pyne, founder of sports investment company Bruin Capital, said the debacle should prompt other sports federations to weigh up their opportunities and vulnerabilities.
“If you have a global application, one, aspirationally is there something you might like to do, and two, defensively, what do I need to do to make sure I’m as positioned as I can be?
“Sport is globalising because of technology,” he added. “Whoever you are, there’s a moment in time where you have to reflect.”
NBA discusses streaming basketball games
This year’s NBA Finals are a fascinating matchup by basketball standards. The Denver Nuggets, led by two-time league MVP Nikola Jokić of Serbia, are the top team in the Western Conference appearing in their first ever championship series. They face the Miami Heat, an eight-seed in the East that nearly lost the play-in tournament and who, on the backs of superhuman franchise star Jimmy Butler and a roster of mostly undrafted workmen, have fought and scraped their way back to their first finals since the 2020 “bubble year”.
All great fodder for die hard hoops fans. But for the NBA, which entered media rights negotiations this year for its next set of broadcast agreements, two mid-market teams are an interesting test for the sport’s broader popularity. The first three games of the best-of-seven series posted viewership figures which were effectively flat to last year’s marquee finals between the dynastic Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics.
The numbers give another bit of leverage to the league, which is in the midst of preliminary talks with existing rights holders Disney and Warner Media Discovery, before potentially opening up to non-incumbents next year. NBA brass have entertained executives from both companies, including ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Warner chief David Zaslav, at finals games in Denver and Miami this year.
One person involved in the talks told Scoreboard that the league is looking for media partners that would air games on a mix of broadcast and streaming platforms. Disney is the only incumbent partner with both — the finals games appear on free-to-air ABC, and the network has an existing streamer with ESPN+. Warner, which airs games on TNT and is home to the popular and influential Inside the NBA programme, has discussed the possibility of putting games on its Max platform.
To be sure, permutations can and may change. Fox and NBC as well as several of the major tech players have all expressed interest in securing some package of NBA rights, though they would have to work with incumbents to agree on a deal if such an agreement were to come before the exclusive negotiating period expires next year.
Bill Koenig, the NBA’s president of global content and media distribution, told the MoffettNathanson Media Conference last month that he would “be surprised if we don’t have a substantial streaming presence” when the next media contracts take effect with the 2025-2026 season. Additionally, all of the league’s international media rights in territories from China to the Philippines to Europe extend no further than 2025.
“So, if when we sit down, there’s a player who wants everything or a slice or a night of the week and distribute that globally, we have the flexibility” to do so, he added.
Highlights
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Lionel Messi, one of the world’s greatest footballers of all time, said he is likely to sign with Inter Miami for next season, bringing megawatt star power to US Major League Soccer at a time that Saudi Arabia is luring top footballing talent with monster contracts to its own league.
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The Qatari bid for Manchester United presented a new and improved offer for the English club in what people familiar with the matter said is a last-ditch effort to win the protracted bidding war.
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Fifa misled consumers by claiming the Qatar World Cup in 2022 was the first “fully carbon neutral” such event, according to a ruling by the Swiss advertising regulator in the latest sanction against so-called greenwashing.
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Snooker’s global governing body handed down lifetime bans to ten professional players from China — and suspensions to eight others — following a match-fixing probe.
Transfer Market
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AC Milan sacked legendary ex-captain Paolo Maldini, the technical director who played a key role in helping the Italian football club to win the Serie A title for the first time in a decade in 2022. It’s a bold move for former Goldman Sachs partner Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners following the investment firm’s €1.2bn acquisition of AC last year.
Final Whistle
As a reward for winning the title, Napoli ultras gave Luciano Spalletti the steering wheel and CD’s they stole from his beloved Fiat Panda in 2021 when they were protesting him. 😂🚗
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) June 6, 2023
Ah, Napoli. Winning the Scudetto for the first time in a generation has infused the southern Italian metropolis with sheer ecstasy. This week, a group of Napoli ultras commemorated the achievement with an only-in-Naples gesture for the ages: returning to manager Luciano Spalletti a package of personal effects they’d stolen from him during a 2021 protest. A true heartwarmer.
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