March 2007 Edition

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Heather Mills (McCartney) headlines a group of 11 competitors in the next season of the USA, ABC's Dancing With the Stars.  Guus Hiddink - the Dutch football coach of PSV Eindhoven 2002-2006 and now living in Belgium - was found guilty of evading close to US$2 million worth of taxes.  He was fined around US$60,000 by the Dutch Prosecution Service. The IOC award the 2007 Women and Sport Trophies on March 8, 2007 - International Women's Day.  The annual event takes place at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. Poland beat Croatia on penalties in Sarajevo at the Euro Priests Soccer Championships. And religious leaders from the Church of Scotland alongside Jewish, Muslin, Hindu and Seik communities take a trip to Parkland where they will be hoping to banish sectarianism while watching the Old Firm match between Celtic and Rangers. A pioneering project at a Hong Kong Health Club takes the excess energy from gym members working out on machines and uses it to power the fluorescent overhead lights. The Tennis Masters Tour will be cut from nine to eight events in 2009. One Masters event will be held in China while the year-end Masters Cup will move from Shanghai to Europe.  Oscar De La Hoya takes on Floyd Jr, (son of Floyd Mayweather Sr.) in Las Vegas on May 5.   The FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium will be preceded by 2 hours of entertainment and an opening ceremony before kick-off.  With only 2,900 parking spaces it is trying to tempt the crowds in early.  And finally, The All England Club is likely to cave in to pressure and pay women the same prize money as men as opposed to the US$50,000 approx. lesser amount awarded last year.

spotlight on: crowd control

Once again, football (soccer) is under scrutiny as an international at Lens in France became the latest of a serious of incidents 'blacking' the game of football.
Uefa are investigating whether French police over-reacted - as fans tried to climb over a high fence dividing the crowd from the pitch - by mistaking a safety issue with hooliganism.  Similarly, there is an investigation into the mis-use of tear gas.
International games are often fraught with tension and one measure which may help reduce some of the conflict is the introduction of goal-line technology which will help determine whether a ball has crossed the goal line. 
Consistently used in other sports such as tennis, cricket, athletics and horse racing, the use of technologies such as Hawk-Eye and a German designed microchip inside a ball may help reduce debate over line decisions and assist in reducing 'disputes' triggering crowd violence.

hot spot: stand-up vs.sit-down

A couple of years ago I went to my first Rugby match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.  As a rookie 'business of rugby' journalist, I was seated in the press box next to the last man to have captained Wales when they beat the All Blacks approximately fifty years on.  We were at the Stadium to hopefully reverse a trend.  Sitting just in front of us was a tall man who spent a great deal of time standing up. Despite his seniority, Bleddyn Williams MBE was not intimidated and repeatedly asked him to sit down, to which he received several colorful negative/abusive responses.
Just at the end of half-time the man returned to his seat. He had obviously been told that he was swearing at a living legend.  He stretched out his hand to shake the hand of former Welsh international and then sat throughout the second half.  This gesture of respect did not help Wales beat the Kiwis, but it did make a point: standing at sports events in neither desirable nor sociable.
Surprisingly in the UK, the debate over standing areas at soccer matches rears its head once again, in spite of the lives lost at Hillsborough in 1996.
As 125 Members of Parliament have signed an Early Day Motion to review the case for limited sections of 'safe' standing areas, it is hard not to wonder at their motives.  Many smaller venues continue to have stands. And the introduction of standing room designated areas does not mean that you can fit more spectators into larger stadia - at least not according to health and safety expert .
However, while there is currently tension between fans who block the view of other spectators and resent the stewards' attempt to regulate their behavior, does it justify a 'knee-jerk' response leading to even a limited amount of standing. 
The US has always been a model for the family attending sports events; and a backwards step in the UK is likely to prove a costly disaster.

hot shot: transferable assets?

It's not just football team owners and players that get rich quick as a result of the growing global fascination in sport.  Sportswear entrepreneur, Mike Ashley joined the ranks of the mega-rich as his retail empire had its IPO.  Ashley sold 43 percent of his wholly-owned business Sports Direct - which includes Sports World Discount stores such as the very famous Lillywhites and brands such as Dunlop, Donnay and Slazenger.  In the process he netted almost US$2 billion.  He still retains the majority of stock worth in excess of the US$2 billion which he just made.  He has also promised not to sell any more of the stock for another two years. 
Last year
Sports Direct made underlying profits of around US$180 million on a turnover of around US$2.2  billion.

sidelines - say hello to New Jersey

fashion icon - corporates go head-to-head



When it's time for a little rivalry and there's something even more tangible than the big bonus, top City of London executives take themselves very seriously.  All the way up the motorway lies Bletchley Park (where they cracked the code during W.W.II) located near Milton Keynes (England's fist new town). The Intelligent Sport City Challenge has just found its 'natural home' for the April 21, 2007 event.
If you feel like throwing your 'brand' into the pot, entries for the 2007 Challenge must be submitted before March 18, 2007. More than just a bit of fun, your team's performance will come under the scrutiny of those ever competitive city kids.
Leukaemia Research is the official charity of choice, as around 100 teams of four compete in a series of mental and physical challenges.  Last year's winners, Qinetiq are defending their title against stiff competition from the likes of top UK business teams including representatives from Microsoft, Credit Suisse, Lloyds TSB and Cisco Systems - and all for a good cause.

home and away  staying away - either way

Fans staying away from football (soccer) is not just a rumour; it's part of a trend; and the reasons are numerous.
First up: the increased cost of season tickets and individual tickets.  Secondly, the change in ownership, to foreign ownership in combination with the ever increasing number of 'overseas' players.  A third contributor may be the huge increase in content available on a multitide of multi-level media with more repeats, more anyalsis and more action replays, all at the touch of a button.
But perhaps one of the most significant changes to the game is the demise of some of the more familiar and 'charming ' stadiums - now replaced by the iconic, but less intimate designs. A day out at the footie no longer incorporates the experience of enjoying the historic backdrop of past successes.
This combined with another trend: the ever increasing number of expensive club seats/season-tickets holders and corporate boxes wearing a warning strip 'empty but unavailable' only makes the average viewer experince all the more unpalatable.
Manchester City FC - the friendly local competition to United moved into the Stadium built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.  City's contribution was a mere US$40 million approx. to build bars, restaurants, and of course those 'must have' corporate entertainment suites.  The income from the corporates is the life-blood of most modern stadium, but the more glamorous side of the business has led to a world divided by the 'have and have-nots'. Only a change in stadium design thinking will provide the long-term solution. And oner such solution is already a reality in the USA.   Arlington Stadium have built underground bunker boxes with elevators to seats in the stands. This new and more fan-friendly approach to stadium design gives almost equal status to all.  And having set the trend, the new 100,000 capacity Dallas Cowboys stadium is following suit.

sport culture: all change

All change as The Royal and Ancient and the United States Golf Association are attempting to bring back the importance of driving accuracy by making changes to the grooves on clubs which will limit the amount of spin that can be generated for shots from the rough.
And it's all change to the peace and tranquility for the Arsenal FC local residents.   With the influx of a new and wealthier profile to the area since the opening of the new Emirates Stadium, the number of burglaries in the area has almost doubled. 
And the new plan for Team GB's success at the London 2012 Olympics may result in the more established athletes missing their chance to go to Beijing and compete in the 2008 Olympics.  If the policy of encouraging new talent stretches beyond the rankings - as the BOA uses the selection process as a stepping stone for developing the younger athletes on the road to 2012 - will litigation follow?
Plus a new and welcome 'take' on autism as in the last 4 minutes of a US high school game, eighteen year-old autistic basketball enthusiast, Jason McElwain ran out and scored a record seven times, six at long range.  Despite the fact that the game was already in the bag for his school team, Greek Athena from Rochester, New York, and despite the fact that he still works at the local supermarket - Jason has become an All-American hero. The movie of his life is soon to follow and it's in the capable hands of another superhero: basketball professional Magic Johnson.

starting blocks: saving talent for the long game

In Florida, the Mets Number 1 draft picks are handled with kid gloves.  Expose young talent to too rigorous a schedule and it is likely that they will be all washed out before they can claim that their career will stand the test of time.
According to Mets management - their long-term plan does not include compromising early and fleeting success.  They have calculated that a yearly addition to the rookie's timetable should max out at about 30 innings.  More than that and a young pitcher may risk injuries that can affect their future development. 
In the last ten years the vast majority of young pitchers have had either arm and/or shoulder surgery; or spent significant periods of time on the bench.
So its a delicate balance between winning games and not putting too much strain on individual players: a lesson that can be applied to almost every team  sport.

life after..... going gold

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson - Britain's most successful Paralympian announced that her final race wearing Team GB's vest will be at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England in May.  In addition to her media work and training a new generation of elite paralympic athletes, Tanni has created the brand 'pure gold' which represents her achievements in the past, as well as aspirations for the future.