CONMEBOL terminates contract with Datisa over corruption scandal

The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) notified Datisa, a sports marketing company based in Argentine, of its decision to revoke the contract for the acquisition of Copa América 2019 and 2023, signed in 2013.
Conmenbol ends ties with Datisa over corruption scandal

This unilateral termination of the contract by Conmebol was due to the acts of corruption that shook international football in May 2015 and of which the agency was a victim.

The decision comes at a time when the US Department of Justice has completed the investigation phase during which several members of the Board of Directors of Datisa pleaded guilty to committing acts of corruption to obtain the rights of sponsorship and retransmission property of Conmebol. Therefore, the entity has evidence to support the termination of the contract and thus cut the links definitively.

Three ex-presidents of the organization face accusations: the Paraguayans Nicolás Leoz and Juan Angel Napout, as well as the Uruguayan Eugenio Figueredo.

Alejandro Dominguez, president of Conmebol, said, “Since I took office as president, the new Conmebol has launched a series of legal actions to break ties with the old traps and begin a new era of open and professional marketing that generates more value for South American football.”

“Conmebol has been demanding from Datisa SA for more than a year, without conditions and at zero cost, the return of sponsorship and dissemination rights that they acquired through acts of corruption.” He further added.

This action is part of the integral reform agenda led by Domínguez, who was chosen by the national federations to preside over Conmebol in January 2016 with the mandate to clean up South American football.

“These gentlemen have admitted to the American courts that they have paid bribes to former Conmebol officials so that Datisa could obtain the rights that are owned by the regional body. In an absurd and desperate attempt to continue to profit with rights that they obtained illegally and corruptly, Datisa and its shareholders insist on hiding behind a corporate veil.” Dominguez said in the statement by Conmebol.

Srikanth pulls out from China Open

Indian star and world number 2 Kidambi Srikanth has to wait to clinch his fifth super series title of the year, as the shuttler has pulled out of the China Open Super Series, beginning in Fuzhou on November 14.

Srikanth has withdrawn from the series in the wake of an injury.

Talking to ANI, he said, “There is muscle strain and my doctor has suggested me to take at least one week rest. So this is the reason I am not playing the China Open.”

The Pullela Gopichand protege recently established him as world number 2 in the latest BWF men’s singles ratings, trailing Denmark’s Victor Alexon by 4527 points in the world rankings.

When asked if there is a chance for him to climb to the top spot, the 24-year-old replied in an affirmative matter.

“Yes. But with the injury, I can’t manage the upcoming tournament. So I need to take rest and recover.”

Last month, the Hyderabadi shuttler won the French Open and lifted his fourth Super Series title of the year. He has already clinched the Denmark Open Super Series Premier, the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier and Australian Open Super Series earlier this year.

Premier League and Stonewall signs three-year deal

The Premier League has announced a three-year collaboration with Stonewall to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality in soccer.

The top-tier soccer league and its member clubs will work together with the charity organisation to encourage LGBT people to get involved in the sport in various capacity, including playing, supporting a club or working in an off-pitch role.

Through this alliance, the Premier League will join Stonewall’s Global Diversity Champions programme, becoming one of 750 organisations working towards improving the lives of the LGBT community in the UK and internationally. This will include the League taking steps to ensure it provides an inclusive environment for LGBT people it employs and engages with.

The parties will work towards addressing unacceptable language and homophobic abuse, whether in stadiums or on social media. This will focus on improved reporting measures, staff training and other programmes where the League will use the power of football, and its significant reach, to promote LGBT fan groups.

Additionally, the two entities will work closely with teams to ensure that equality and diversity are integrated into the various community programmes that they operate across the UK.

Last year, the Premier League took part in the biggest show of support for LGBT equality in sports to date. Premier League clubs, along with the EFL and The FA, turned sports rainbow for a weekend in a mass show of support for LGBT people.

According to Richard Scudamore, executive chairman of the Premier League, “Premier League football is for everyone, everywhere and our clubs are committed to equality and diversity at all levels of the sport.

“We view the LGBT community as an integral part of our community and, working with Stonewall, we want this partnership to improve the experience of LGBT people already playing football, and supporting clubs, and to signal to others who might be interested in getting involved, that they are welcome to do so,” Richard added further

Stonewall chief executive Ruth Hunt said: “This is an important milestone for football, and for sport. When we started this campaign we asked people to lace up. We knew this simple act wasn’t going to solve the problem, our aim was to raise awareness of the issue. We also knew we can’t tackle this on our own, we need allies.

“The Premier League have stepped up and demonstrated how committed they are to helping make football inclusive and welcoming of LGBT people. We look forward to working together with the Premier League to create a game where everyone is able to be themselves.”

Formula One reports INR 1060 Crore loss

Formula One is running into rough weather amidst reports of over a thousand crore rupee loss in the past nine months.

Lewis Hamilton is surely creating new records at Formula One tracks this year but the new race owners seem to be loosing the plot. Liberty Media Corporation, the new owner of Formula 1, has declared that its F1 Group losses for the first nine months of its operations have crossed a whooping INR 1000 crores. As per the release, the loses have been fueled by increased costs and extremely high interest payments.

Not only this. The prize money paid to Formula One teams also crashed by more than INR 266 crores. The teams revenue share and prize money come to around 68% of F1’s profits. So the more races means, higher revenues and profits for the circuit and better revenue shares for the F1 teams. This year hiatus of German Grand Prix and no significant new sponsorship deals led to lower revenues for Formula 1.

Filings released by Liberty also revealed that F1 Group’s ‘selling, general and administrative expense’ increased by 19% to USD 88 Million (Approximately INR 572 Crores) over the first nine months of this year, primarily driven by higher personnel costs as a result of addition headcount due to the acquisition by Liberty of Formula 1.

These are tough days for the world’s biggest motor sport showpiece. Despite being in the driver seat for almost a year now, Liberty is yet to sign any major sponsor or new races. The existing race contracts are dropping out. Other than German Grand Prix, British Grand Prix cancelled their contract seven years early due to high organization costs and also Malaysian Grand Prix terminated its contract earlier this year.

Not only the races are shrinking but there looms a threat to exit by the most successful team of the F1 history. Ferrari has threatened to pull out in-case Liberty does apply new engine regulations. Former Formula 1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone had boosted Ferrari’s prize money when the team threatened to quit in the past. It will be interesting to watch the steps new owners take to pacify Ferrari. As per the reports, Liberty Media are expected to announce next week plans to introduce a budget cap and balance the prize money to level the playing field that would put a stop to Ferrari’s bonus.

No doubt these are difficult times for Formula One.

Star Sports broadcast partner for Khelo India Games

India’s premier sports broadcaster Star Sports has joined Khelo India movement as the broadcast partner for the Khelo India Games. Khelo India is the vision of Prime Mininster Narendra Modi, which is being driven by an iconic athlete, Olympic medalist and Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

The Ruport Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox-owned media house has acquired is the broadcast and production partner for the event, which is being envisaged as the mission to make India a sporting nation. The games are part of the KHELO INDIA national programme for development of sports.

Star Sports as part of the deal will be in charge for broadcast and television production of the Games, slated to be held in New Delhi in the first week of December. The broadcaster will also live-stream the competition.

The inaugural Khelo India Games, having a total of 16 disciplines, will feature select participants who meet the specified criteria in the under-17 age group.

The competition will take place in archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho-kho, shooting, swimming, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling disciplines.

Each discipline will have a specific number of players and teams. There are a total of 209 gold medals up for grabs – with (36), swimming (35), wrestling (30), boxing (26), gymnastics (20), judo (16) and weightlifting (16) gaining the major share.

The selection criteria for each discipline includes top eight athletes from the 63rd SGFI National School Games, four nominations from federation, and one each from CBSE and host State beside the two wild card entries for the individual events.

In team competition, the top four teams from the National School Games will be joined by two nominated by the federation and one each from the host State and the organising committee.

For archery, badminton and shooting, the top 16 from the National School Games will be joined by eight nominated by the federation, one each from CBSE, host State and organising committee, apart from six wild cards.

The top talent selected from the Khelo India Games will get an annual scholarship of up to ₹5 lakh each.

Eearlier in September, the Union Cabinet in a move to identify and groom young sporting talent has approved a revamped Khelo India scheme. The scheme offers an annual scholarship of ₹5 lakh each for eight years to selected 1,000 athletes.
The scheme would cost the government ₹1,756 crore between 2017-18 and 2019-20. The budget also includes schemes to promote 20 universities across India as hubs of sporting excellence.

Sony gets lukewarm response for U-17 WC ad sales

Sports Business News FIFA 

The FIFA under-17 World Cup, the biggest football event in Indian sports history, got off to a grand start on Friday amidst great media attention and an unprecedented Government support. Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium had packed galleries as the debutant hosts took on the USA to set the ball rolling for the 22-day mega football carnival. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in attendance.

The newspapers next morning dedicate more space and give more prominence to the Under-17 Fifa World Cup, with cricket confined to secondary pages on a day when Virat Kohli’s Blue Brigade will hit the turf to start the three-match T-20 series against visiting Australians.

For once football, even at a junior level, appeared bigger than cricket. But, that doesn’t hold true for the official FIFA Under-17 World Cup Finals broadcaster for the Indian sub-continent –Sony Pictures Network India.

Sony, which had paid $ 40 million for the FIFA media rights cycle up to 2014, has committed US$ 60 million to FIFA for the Indian sub-continent media rights during the2015-2018 period. FIFA World Cup Finals in Russia next year will be THE REAL opportunity to monetize these rights. However, the Under-17 Finals coming to India could have been one important window to generate considerable returns on this $60 million commitment.

The broadcaster so far has not been able to make precious little from the World Cup on-air inventory. Hero MotoCorp, Life Insurance Corporation and the Indian Super League (IMG) are the only worthwhile on-air sponsors in India.

The broadcaster has an approximate 900 seconds per match inventory for the 56 games. But there are no major conversions. The broadcaster is not much worried either. “This (the Under-17 World Cup) is not a big revenue driver for us,” says Rohit Gupta, President, Network Sales and International Business, Sony Pictures Network.

“We have got Hero MotoCorp and Life Insurance Corporation as sponsors. There also a couple of others. You cannot just compare any other sport with cricket in India. This is not even the main FIFA World Cup. This just a junior World Cup. If there is some hype, it’s only because it is happening in India. It is not a big property from an advertiser perspective,” Gupta told insidesport.co.

The Local Organising Committee has got the likes of Bank of Baroda, BYJU’s, Coal India Limited, Dalmia Cement India, Hero MotoCorp and National Thermal Power Corporation as the national “on-groud” sponsors. The national partners have reportedly paid between INR 8 crore and INR 13 crore to bag the sponsorships. Surprisingly, only Hero MotoCorp from this list has shown an interest for on-air promotions.

Also Read: ON GROUND PARTNERS FOR U-17 WORLD CUP

Sony has also not been able to convert any of the FIFA’s seven global partners Coca-Cola Co, Beijing-based Wanda Group a Adidas AG, Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd, Qatar Airways Ltd, Visa Inc., and Russian energy firm Gazprom PJSC. Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Visa and Adidas do have major business interests in India. Albeit, through their Indian entities.

Sony’s FIFA Under-17 simulcast of English, Hindi and Bangla feeds have a pan-India reach. The matches are broadcast live with English feed on SONY TEN 2, SONY TEN 2 HD, SONY ESPN and SONY ESPN HD channels. For Hindi and Bengali language feeds are simulcast on SONY TEN 3 and SONY TEN 3 HD channels.

ISL 2017 campaign kick starts an acclamation: “Future Hai football”

Sports Business 

he football frenzy of the nation is attaining new heights as rightly conveyed by the newly-launched TVC by Star Sports to kick start the upcoming Indian Super League season.

Under-17 World Cup is catching the attention of the nation with India’s first ever appearance in a FIFA world tournament. There could have been no better occasion  to enhance this enthusiasm with an additional, creative dose of football. Star has rightly banked on the big occasion in pursuit of its big ISL goals.

Star India has launched the marketing blitzkrieg for the ISL Season 4, starting a mere three weeks after the World Cup. The opening campaign film designed and conceptualized by Ogilvy and Mather is out. The 2-minute film is an attempt to give an authentic feeling of football – from street to stardom.

While the initials campaigns were aimed at announcing the football revolution in India, to be followed by invitation to the youth and the nation to come together to support that revolution, this year the TVS is a celebration of the stars and stardom that this league has provided.

The film reflets on the life, journey and achievements of Eugene Lyngdoh, Anas Edathodika, CK Vineeth, Jeje Lalpekhula and Sunil Chettri – the prodigies with in-born talent who are Indian football’s household names today. The film also showcases the celebrity owners (Sachin Tendulkar,  Saurav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Abhishek Bachchan) living the joy these new football icons offer to the nation. It is a story of established stars celebrating the new-found stardom of Indian football heroes.

The new campaign continues with the same ‘Lets Football’ anthem, which over the years has become the identity of brand ISL and its associates.

The Football Sports Development Ltd Chairperson Neeta Ambani aptly summarises the campaign in the last few seconds of the TVC with a new acclamation – FUTURE HAI FOOTBALL, that football is the gen next sport for India.

The campaign is currently on air and will be followed by a 360 degree campaign across OOH, radio and digital.

The upcoming ISL will include two more franchisees along with the eight existing. Atletico De Kolkata, Chennaiyin FC, Delhi Dynamos, FC Goa, FC Pune City, Kerala Blasters FC, Mumbai City FC and Northeast United FC are the existing eight and the two new to join the fray are JSW owned Bengaluru FC and TATA owned Jamshedpur FC.  With the increase in the number of participating teams, the duration of the league is also extended to five months starting from 17th November.

Proposal for substantial pay hike to women cricketers

Playing first class cricket may not become economically viable for women cricketers. To the extent that they don’t end up paying from their own pocket for the pride of playing for their State. There may well be considerably lucrative revenues for donning India colours.

Cheteshwar Pujaras of men’s cricketing world may feel the financial pinch for not being picked by an Indian Premier League franchisee for being considered good enough for conventional Test cricket, but not the tamasha and razzmatazz of the rapid fire version of the game.

BCCI’s officiating treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary has mooted a proposal to address these concerns. He has also proposed to board’s financial committee to substantially raise the match fee of women’s first class cricketers, senior male cricketers, umpires, match referees and other match officials.

The recommendations will only be sent to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators for the final nod after a clearance from the finance committee.

The recommendations propose a daily match fee INR 25,000 and INR 12,500 for senior male and female cricketers for the domestic first class matches. If cleared, this will mean the senior male cricketers playing Ranji, Duleep, Deodhar and other national championship will get an increase of INR 15,000 over the INR 10,000 they presently receive for each match day. The women cricketers, who are at presently paid INR 3,500 per match day, will be getting a hike of INR 9,000.

Suggestion is also made to address the calls for better payment structure for the women cricketers representing India. The BCCI treasurer has proposed INR 50 lakh each in annual retainer ship for the top four women players in Grade A. The proposal for the next six players in Grade B is INR 30 lakh each per annum, and INR 15 lakh per annum for the 10 players in Grade C. Presently, the women players are getting an annual retainership of INR 15 lakh and INR 10 lakh each in two categories.

There is also a proposal to address the concerns of test specialists that go unsold in the IPL even as the uncapped Twenty-20 specialists pocket big amounts, Indian Express has reported quoting sources. Like a batsman of Cheteshwar Pujara’s stature and calibre went unsold in the last IPL auction and went to play English county cricket for exposure and match practice. If the proposal is approved, he stands to gain INR 2 crore as his annual retainership for the Grade A contract. An unsold player contracted in Grade A may get INR 1 crore if he doesn’t get an IPL contract.

Interestingly enough, the payment to these unsold players will have no additional burden on the BCCI balance sheet. There is proposal to create Test Player Fund. It is recommended to have a IPL fee cap for the uncapped Indian and foreign cricketers. An IPL franchise though will have the liberty of bidding for more than the prescribed limit for a player, but any bid amount over and above the limit will not go to the player. Instead, it will be sent to the Test Player Fund. This, the proposal says, will prevent youngsters from opting for the cash-rich T-20 league over First-Class cricket.

Umpires, referees and other match officials also stand to gain from the new proposals. Umpires in the Elite and ICC panels may get a daily match fee increase of INR 5,000 and get INR 20,000 per day. The BCCI panel umpires may start getting INR 15,000 daily, while match referees fee is proposed to be doubled to INR 20,000 per day. Substantial hike is also proposed for the scorers and video analysts.

Petition for Liverpool to drop sponsorship deal in China

English football club Liverpool is facing an increased pressure to drop a sponsorship deal with its Regional Water Partner in China. Pro Tibet groups are building pressure on the club to drop the sponsorship deal with the Tibet Water Resources Limited.

The club had signed the deal with the water company this summer to grant it the Official Regional Water Partner status. However, the Tibetan activists, fighting for freedom for the region from China, say club’s deal is legitimising the “brutal military occupation”.

The Premier League club had signed the agreement with Tibet Water Resources Limited in July. However, it is under pressure with the Pro-Tibet groups asking the club to terminated the deal. Over 27,000 people have signed a petition calling on the club’s owner John W Henry to cancel the contract, Indipendent.co.uk has reported.

The petition on SumOfUs, an international consumer advocacy organisation, reads: “TWRL is only able to take resources from Tibet because the brutal Chinese military occupation allows it to. It owes its profits to the repression, torture and denial of political freedoms that have become commonplace there.

“In turn, its brand – and now Liverpool FC – lend legitimacy to the occupation, creating a cycle of violence and repression.”

Liverpool had announced the deal in June with a sense of pride when club’s chief commercial officer Billy Hogan has stated that the club was “proud to welcome Tibet Water to the LFC family”.

Tibet Water too had termed the partnership as a major milestone in the history of the company.

Activists have accused China of human rights abuses in the occupied territory of Tibet. “Under the occupation, a new invasion of Chinese companies has taken place, with Tibet, once a remote country with a pristine environment, now crisscrossed with mines to dig up its natural resources,” SumOfUs petition had added.

“There has been a boom in water bottling companies arriving in Tibet, drawn by the fact that Tibet is the source of some of Asia’s largest rivers, which flow as far as Bangladesh and Vietnam and provide water to roughly a fifth of the world’s population. The glaciers on Tibet’s mountain peaks feed into these rivers and are prized by water bottling companies for their purity.

“Tibet Groups around the world have expressed concerns that these water bottling, mining and extraction activities in Tibet are only able to take place due to China’s military occupation. Tibetans have been given no say over how their resources are used and have expressed widespread opposition to their natural resources being taken, regularly defying police to carry out environmental protests across Tibet.”

John Jones, Campaigns and Communications Manager at Free Tibet, is one of those who wants Liverpool to cancel its deal. “By terminating this deal, Liverpool FC’s ownership and directors would be able to demonstrate to both these groups that the club’s commitment to human rights and ethical conduct is founded on action, not just words,” the website has quoted him as saying.

SonyLiv’s India-SL ODI series campaign takes ancient route

Lanka will be set ablaze. No mythological drama will that be. But, a high-octane limited overs battle between the Indian and Sri Lankan cricket teams in royal blue and blue flannels respectively. So suggests the campaign from the official webcaster- SonyLiv.

Ab Lagegi Lanka Mein Aag! is the tagline of SonyLiv’s creative for the forthcoming one-day series. This of-course has a reference to the mythological drama of Hanumaan setting Ravana’s golden Lanka on fire. But, it is certainly not without a cricketing and competitive substance.
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Sangram to make comeback, to promote wrestling

Sangram Singh will return to the mat. The former Commonwealth heavyweight wrestling champion has announced the launch of KD Jadhav Memorial International Wrestling Championship. The one-day is a tribute to the legendary wrestler and Independent India’s first individual Olympic medallist KD Jadhav, and is aimed at giving opportunity to deserving talent and “unearth talent from tier-2 and tier 3 cities”.

The one-day championship is slated for September 15 at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.Read More...

Pro Kabaddi scores over cricket in BARC ratings

The Week 32 of BARC ratings show that cricket now has some competition. And it is none other than the praiseworthy game of Kabaddi.

Virat Kohli’s men in Sri-Lanka created record by thrashing hosts Sri-Lanka on the field but in the game of television ratings men in blue got royal thrashing by the PKL boys, second week in running.

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Dipa leads Tata Tea ‘wake up’ call to make India a sporting nation

Alarm Bajne se pehale #jaago re. Wake up before it’s too late. That is the theme of a serious campaign by Tata Tea to make India a sporting nation. Iconic gymnast Dipa Karmakar leads the campaign, that is a serious attempt to get the nation together to develop a sports culture. The campaign calls for making sports a compulsory element of school curriculum.

Tata Global Beverages Limited, the Tata Tea brand owners, have rolled out a video with Dipa Karmakar. The 40 second TVC reveals how the Padmashree gymnast would dream of representing India at the Olympics. Dipa while narrating her story urges the nation to contribute the cause by signing the campaign by giving a missed call.

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Bengaluru FC announces its high profile signing in style

Bengaluru FC has announce its most high profile signing Gurpreet Singh for the forthcoming Indian Soccer League season. The JSW Group-owned franchisee has put a TVC on club’s official website to welcome the star goalkeeper from Norwegian club Stabaek FC.

The video titled “we have got him” opens up as a news bulletin on television, which says that Bangaluru is on a high alert because a “mysterious creature in yellow” is spotted on various grounds , which is “really big, yellow. Is like a human but it has really big hands”. The mystery solves with Gurpreet Singh appearing on the screen just before the hash tag #GURPREETISABLUE concludes the TVC.

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India creates FIFA history with U-17 World Cup

Hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup finals was historic for India. The prestigious championship on the international football calendar has created many historic numbers for the most followed sport the world over.

The 17th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup will as much be remembered for the records on and off the field as for India’s hosting abilities.

After the massive turnout in Kolkata on the final day, India edged past China to become the most attended FIFA U-17 tournament ever. The record of 1,230,976 attendance set in the first FIFA U-17 finals edition in China in 1985 has taken 32 years and 16 editions to be bettered. India 2017 is the most attender FIFA Under-17 finals now.

The Indian edition has registered a historic 1,347,143 spectators with 66,684 spectators turning up at the Salt Lake Stadium on the final day. A mere 6,949 attendance was needed to break the record before the final day.

The 2011 edition in Mexico had also attracted a total of 1,002,314 spectators, becoming the third one to have more than one million attendance.

Kolkata’s love for football reciprocated in breaking this record as understandably, Salt Lake Stadium recorded the highest attendance per match. The venue logged a total of 5,42,125 spectators from 10 games, at a staggering average of 54,212 per match.

In terms of the number of spectators per match, this edition is second behind the inaugural edition in China (which was 38,469) as the number of participating teams and matches were lesser then.

The India edition of tournament also set a record for the longest distance between two venues in the event’s history. The distance between Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium is a whopping 2,431 kilometres – the highest there has ever been between two venues hosting a FIFA U 17 World Cup matches.

Amongst other records, the tournament of 52 matches’ registered record 183 goals at an average of 3.5 goals per match, highest till now for FIFA U-17 tournament. Earlier, the highest ever 172 in a single edition were scored in the UAE 2013 at a rate of 3.31 goals per game.

India creates FIFA history with U-17 World Cup

Hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup finals was historic for India. The prestigious championship on the international football calendar has created many historic numbers for the most followed sport the world over.

The 17th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup will as much be remembered for the records on and off the field as for India’s hosting abilities.

After the massive turnout in Kolkata on the final day, India edged past China to become the most attended FIFA U-17 tournament ever. The record of 1,230,976 attendance set in the first FIFA U-17 finals edition in China in 1985 has taken 32 years and 16 editions to be bettered. India 2017 is the most attender FIFA Under-17 finals now.

The Indian edition has registered a historic 1,347,143 spectators with 66,684 spectators turning up at the Salt Lake Stadium on the final day. A mere 6,949 attendance was needed to break the record before the final day.

The 2011 edition in Mexico had also attracted a total of 1,002,314 spectators, becoming the third one to have more than one million attendance.

Kolkata’s love for football reciprocated in breaking this record as understandably, Salt Lake Stadium recorded the highest attendance per match. The venue logged a total of 5,42,125 spectators from 10 games, at a staggering average of 54,212 per match.

In terms of the number of spectators per match, this edition is second behind the inaugural edition in China (which was 38,469) as the number of participating teams and matches were lesser then.

The India edition of tournament also set a record for the longest distance between two venues in the event’s history. The distance between Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium is a whopping 2,431 kilometres – the highest there has ever been between two venues hosting a FIFA U 17 World Cup matches.

Amongst other records, the tournament of 52 matches’ registered record 183 goals at an average of 3.5 goals per match, highest till now for FIFA U-17 tournament. Earlier, the highest ever 172 in a single edition were scored in the UAE 2013 at a rate of 3.31 goals per game.

Legalizing betting will generate employment, revenue: Experts

Legalizing and regulating gambling and betting will not only create employment opportunities for millions of people but would also help government earn huge revenue from the sector, experts have opined.

The experts while supporting legalization of betting to generate employment and revenue to the exchequer, also warned that the responsibility to ensure welfare and safeguard the interests of the vulnerable sections of society should be kept in mind while regularizing betting, they said.

Law Commission Chairman Balbir Singh Chauhan, speaking at the All India Gaming Summit, has said the issue of gambling and betting had to be addressed by experts from the industry and that the Law Commission would welcome their opinions and incorporate them in its report.

“As per the industry reports, regularizing and legalizing the sector will bring in revenue and employment. But responsibility of ensuring welfare and safeguarding the interests of the vulnerable sections of society should be kept in mind while regularizing betting and gaming,” a statement quoted Chauhan as saying.

The summit organised by All India Gaming Federation addressed topics such as ills of the present system, issues and challenges and self-regulation in skill gaming.

Rajya Sabha Member and senior advocate of the Supreme Court K.T.S. Tulsi said if betting was legalized and regulated, it would provide direct employment to 5,70,000 people and indirect employment to millions.

“Besides, the government can earn huge revenue by legalizing the sector. For example, on a turnover of Rs 1,50,000 crore, the government can earn a TDS of Rs 4,500 crore,” he said.

Sarika Bijen Patel, Commissioner of UK Gaming Commission, said that the UK’s gambling laws were very comprehensive and included both betting and gambling.

Phil Harisson, Regulator at Gaming Laboratories International (Australia), said it was impossible to restrict gambling and hence regulation was the best solution.

Olympic Summit acknowledges esports as sporting activity

he possibility of esports inclusion in Olympics has received a major boost. The one big obstacle is cleared as an Olympic Summit in Lausanne has acknowledged the legitimacy of eSports as a sporting activity.

There still are a few key issues and riders for the gaming bosses to realize their dream getting a formal nod for esports entry in Olympics as a medal sports. However, it may still happen as early as at Paris 2024.

The top functionaries of the Olympic movement, while recognising the growth of esports, discussed and deliberated on various positives about electronic gaming.

Gaming fraternity is excited about the latest development. “This was bound to happen and we are excited to see this happening very soon. Esports is the fastest growing sport and cannot be ignored. The numbers and engagement in eSports are huge. The game is rising at a rapid pace. Esports’ inclusion at the Paris Games will be a realisation of realistic goal. We are confident that this will happen. The potential, rapid growth and popularity of gaming cannot be ignored,” Lokesh Suji of the Esports Federation of India told insidesport.co.

Esports will be a medal event at the 2024 Asia Games. The members at the Lausanne Summit have asked the International Olympics Committee and the Global Association of International Sports Federations to work together in exploring the industry further.

The summit while acknowledging the growth of gaming sports has stated that “esports is showing strong growth, especially within the youth demographic across different countries, and can provide a platform for engagement with the Olympic Movement.”

The members while acknowledging E-gaming as a ‘competitive’ sport also highlighted the fact that the “players prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports.”

“Esports was there as a demonstration sport this year at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games-2017 at Ashgabat and will be there at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The 2022 China Asian Games will have esports as a medal discipline. For esports things are moving in the right direction and in India ESFI is already gearing up for that,” adds Suji, also the VP-South Asia for Asian Esports Federation and Founder/Chief Gamer of Indian League Gaming.

However, the IOC President would still like to force a number of changes for allowing esports to be a part Olympic moment. He was a guest at the summit. “In order to be recognized by the IOC as a sport, the content of esports must not infringe on the Olympic values,” said Bach, who in the past has been a strong opponent of egaming. “We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing,” Bach had said earlier.

If Bach’s words are valued, games lime CS:GO, Call of Duty, Leagues of Legends and Overwatch may never get an Olympic recognition.

Players paid 18% less from BCCI’s broadcast rights revenue: Report

Board of Control for Cricket in India’s revenue sharing formula prescribes a 26% share to the players. However, the BCCI does not apply this to the players’ income from its major revenue source – the broadcast rights. They are effectively getting a mere 8% from the broadcast rights income.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators has discovered that the Indian cricketers get just about 8% of BCCI’s gross revenue as salaries and bonuses, according to a Times of India report.

The 26% revenue – earmarked for players – is meant to be split as 13% for international players, 10.6% for domestic players and the rest for women and junior cricketers.

The decision for the 26% revenue-sharing formula was arrived at after long deliberations between the board officials and two veteran cricketers Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. The BCCI general body in 2001 had adopted to clear the resolution, which was finally put into place in 2004 by then BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The report, quoting sources, reveals that BCCI doles out 70% of its gross revenue to the State Associations. The players are paid 26% of the remaining 30% of gross revenue, and not from the entire gross revenue. The amount left over is used for stadium construction, infrastructure maintenance and running of the board administration.

“The CoA has been trying to change the formula for a long time to give players more, but the members are not willing. The cricketers are making a small share. The bigger problem is that the board members who are spending the 70% are unwilling to share details with the CoA. Whenever the CoA points fingers at them, they keep saying that it is their money,” ToI has quoted a top BCCI source as saying.

The revenue share formula though gives BCCI an advantage to deduct TV production cost from the media rights revenue. Of the remaining income 26% is prescribed for the players. But the board subtracts 70% after deducting the production cost and this significantly reduces the revenue pool meant for the players.

However, a senior BCCI member, talking to insidesport.co defends the BCCI decision. “The decision was taken by the general body in the best interests of the game. Money going to State associations is ultimately used in the interest of the players. BCCI might be the supreme body, but it is the State associations which run the game in the country. Think in a bigger perspective. The infrastructure and competition players need to reach the level where they become eligible for this revenue is created by the State Associations. Should we compromise with the interest of the next generation of players? Should we ignore cricket nurseries?,” said the veteran administrator, who was part of the board GM to determine the revenue sharing.

CoA’s hands are tied because the decision to dole out cricketers’ salaries from the gross revenue is a general body decision and, until a BCCI special general meeting doesn’t take a call, this discrepancy cannot be rectified.

Further, till an SGM decides the payment structure, the annual contracts of players, selectors, coaches and support staff, which are renewed during the annual general body meeting, cannot be looked at, the source said. The Indian team’s contracts ran out on September 30 this year. Right now, the men in blue are playing without contracts, the report read.

When TOI reached out to top board officials, they agreed that players weren’t being paid as per the formula defined by the BCCI general body resolution. But they argued that a player like Virat Kohli can earn nearly Rs 200 crore per year from BCCI, the IPL and endorsement contracts. However, of the 100-odd Indian cricketers in the IPL, only 15 to 20 are in the crorepati club; most fall in the Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh categories. Sports business 

FIFA U-17 registers record 800,000 fans in stadiums

FIFA U-17 World Cup may not have created ripples in clocking broadcast ratings but have registered unprecedented attendance numbers in stadiums. India hosting a football world cup for the first ever time has exceeded expectations with fans attendance in the stadiums crossing 8 Lac in numbers. And the FIFA U-17 World Cup has just crossed 36-match league stage.

These numbers look more impressive when it is compared with the fans turnout at Chile during the last edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. According to, the tournament director, Javier Ceppi,”The attendance here in Indian is already double of what was recorded at the end of the previous edition in Chile. The world cup in India has exceeded expectations in creating infrastructure and with attendance”

The average attendance per match too has broken all records. Matches featuring India drew an average attendance of 49,000 spectators in the grounds, though all matches together till league stage got average numbers of 23,000 fans per match.

“We have seen an average attendance of 23,000 in every match, which is surely going to make this World Cup one of the best-attended tournaments. The outcome of this tournament will be very positive, and will help India in hosting higher level tournaments in future,” FIFA has stated in a press release.

This is the best ever average turnout per match since 1985 FIFA (Under 16) World Cup in China.

Star Sports backs Kohli’s ‘Believe’ in his ‘Mission’

The blue brigade of the Indian cricket team is aiming for the unique distinction of achieving number one status in all three formats of the game. At the centre stage of this ‘Mission #1’ is the captain- Virat Kohli, who is being backed by the broadcaster for the ongoing exciting home season.

The broadcaster has recently launched a film to promote the ongoing cricket season that includes team India recently concluded series against Australia, followed by New Zealand and Sri Lanka later in the year.

Star has captured in its new film captain Kohli on a mission to take the Indian Cricket team to the top spot in all 3 formats this home season. The skipper showcases his determination and perseverance in the pursuit of excellence. One of the most sought-after global sportspersons, Kohli’s discipline, relentlessness and unmatched drive has made him the leading ODI and T20I batsman in the world and an inspiration for legions of young fans in India.

The film takes the audiences through a day in the life of Virat Kohli, portraying his never-say-die attitude. It begins with Kohli waking up at the crack of dawn, driven by a commitment to his goals. His day begins at the gym, as he works out to stay focused and fit, and always aiming to better his last best performance. At the practice pitch, Kohli is seen hard at work honing his batting prowess, as the film calls-out his cricketing achievements. “When you’re ready to expend every ounce of your energy, all you need to do is Believe,” says Kohli, as the film concludes.

A Star India spokesperson said, “We, at Star Sports, constantly strive to raise the bar when it comes to showcasing world-class cricket, and bringing fans closer to the sport and its heroes. Virat Kohli embodies a commitment towards sport and fitness, which is evident in his relentless pursuit of excellence. Under his dynamic leadership, Team India is looking to dominate world cricket across all formats. We are confident that cricket fans across the country will join to cheer the men in blue as they reach their true potential in this exciting home season.”

India has already climbed to the top in ODI and Test cricket but to complete the ‘Mission #1’ they need to close in on the No.1 ranking in T20Is as well. However, a 1-1 draw in the series against Australia has not helped things for Team India. They remain at No. 5 in the ICC T20 rankings.

However, the upcoming series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka can have a chance for men in blue to grab the top spot across all three formats with their current form. India-New Zealand T20I series will start off on November 1. Prior to that, the two teams will also face-off in a three-match ODI series starting October 22.

Proposal for substantial pay hike to women cricketers

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Playing first class cricket may not become economically viable for women cricketers. To the extent that they don’t end up paying from their own pocket for the pride of playing for their State. There may well be considerably lucrative revenues for donning India colours.

Cheteshwar Pujaras of men’s cricketing world may feel the financial pinch for not being picked by an Indian Premier League franchisee for being considered good enough for conventional Test cricket, but not the tamasha and razzmatazz of the rapid fire version of the game.

BCCI’s officiating treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary has mooted a proposal to address these concerns. He has also proposed to board’s financial committee to substantially raise the match fee of women’s first class cricketers, senior male cricketers, umpires, match referees and other match officials.

The recommendations will only be sent to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators for the final nod after a clearance from the finance committee.

The recommendations propose a daily match fee INR 25,000 and INR 12,500 for senior male and female cricketers for the domestic first class matches. If cleared, this will mean the senior male cricketers playing Ranji, Duleep, Deodhar and other national championship will get an increase of INR 15,000 over the INR 10,000 they presently receive for each match day. The women cricketers, who are at presently paid INR 3,500 per match day, will be getting a hike of INR 9,000.

Suggestion is also made to address the calls for better payment structure for the women cricketers representing India. The BCCI treasurer has proposed INR 50 lakh each in annual retainer ship for the top four women players in Grade A. The proposal for the next six players in Grade B is INR 30 lakh each per annum, and INR 15 lakh per annum for the 10 players in Grade C. Presently, the women players are getting an annual retainership of INR 15 lakh and INR 10 lakh each in two categories.

There is also a proposal to address the concerns of test specialists that go unsold in the IPL even as the uncapped Twenty-20 specialists pocket big amounts, Indian Express has reported quoting sources. Like a batsman of Cheteshwar Pujara’s stature and calibre went unsold in the last IPL auction and went to play English county cricket for exposure and match practice. If the proposal is approved, he stands to gain INR 2 crore as his annual retainership for the Grade A contract. An unsold player contracted in Grade A may get INR 1 crore if he doesn’t get an IPL contract.

Interestingly enough, the payment to these unsold players will have no additional burden on the BCCI balance sheet. There is proposal to create Test Player Fund. It is recommended to have a IPL fee cap for the uncapped Indian and foreign cricketers. An IPL franchise though will have the liberty of bidding for more than the prescribed limit for a player, but any bid amount over and above the limit will not go to the player. Instead, it will be sent to the Test Player Fund. This, the proposal says, will prevent youngsters from opting for the cash-rich T-20 league over First-Class cricket.

Umpires, referees and other match officials also stand to gain from the new proposals. Umpires in the Elite and ICC panels may get a daily match fee increase of INR 5,000 and get INR 20,000 per day. The BCCI panel umpires may start getting INR 15,000 daily, while match referees fee is proposed to be doubled to INR 20,000 per day. Substantial hike is also proposed for the scorers and video analysts.

Three clubs face rejection for I-league berth, post AIFF evaluation

Three corporate-backed clubs, who submitted the bid documents for the upcoming I-League season had to face rejection, post their bid evaluation by AIFF.

As per reports, the bid made by Gokulam FC (Kerala), Ozone Group (Bengaluru) and Crown Sports (Rajasthan) could not meet the requirements of the Request for Proposal (RFP) when evaluated by reputed auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
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