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(20-12-2023, 10:13 PM)dvboy Wrote: Eurosport have ATP Tour rights in other countries. It was very rare in recent years that they would pick them up for the UK. Most likely the few ones they had they let expire.
Davis and Billie Jean King Cup coverage is on Tennis Channel International these days, that's where you'll find the upcoming United Cup also. Add in some junior events and several exhibitions. Not bad for £2.49/month but some months the content will be sparse.
Of course the BBC showed Great Britain’s Davis Cup and Billie Jean Cup matches live on iPlayer this year. They also showed the Davis Cup final live on iPlayer. The United Cup was shown on what was BT Sport last time but it was a one-off deal.
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A rather poor start to the Formula E coverage on TNT Sports. It is truly hidden away there.
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I’m not sure what the problem with it being on TNT Sports 3 is. Sky literally put F1 on a channel away from the rest of its Sports content when they got rights and no one complained.
The bigger problem is, I can’t see the sport growing without any more free to air coverage.
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To be fair “hidden away” is what they’ve done with the Champions League Goals Show - demoted it to the red button and virtually pretended it doesn’t exist any more. If they were stuck for channel space I’d understand but when they are running repeats on TNT Sports 1 at the same time, I don’t. It’s like they want to kill it off but don’t have the heart to do so.
(This post was last modified: 21-12-2023, 07:56 AM by
Rdd.)
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If it's not football or rugby is was unlikely to ever be on TNT 1/2.
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DAZN have reported a reduction in losses, though still around the 1 billion mark.
www.sportbusiness.com
Monday saw the draw for the next stages of UEFA men's club competitions. The match schedule for the Champions League is below. Not many blockbuster ties.
In the Europa League and Europa Conference League, all five British teams qualified as group winners, meaning they all advance to the Round of 16 in March. This also means they're all due to be at home for their second leg ties, which in theory means that there will be five ties with British clubs taking place at 2000 on March 14th. You would imagine some could be moved to 1745, but that certainly wouldn't be popular with fans.
www.uefa.com
On the subject of European competition, the European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of the European Super League in UEFA and FIFA being unlawful in banning their teams from forming a breakaway competition. Of the original twelve, only Barcelona and Real Madrid remain committed, though a rival competition to the Champions League could now gather pace if they tried. 'Interesting' times ahead.
www.bbc.co.uk
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As the BBC article says, this doesn’t mean a Super League will be set up tomorrow or next week or even next year. It has clear reprucussions for the manner in which FIFA and UEFA run the game, mind, but green light for a Super League it is not. The English clubs in particular will I think be slow to touch it given what happened the last time (doesn’t mean they could stay out indefinitely, if their peers on the continent all moved to a Super League model, I think for commercial reasons they’d eventually have to go with the wind).
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(21-12-2023, 12:19 PM)Rdd Wrote: As the BBC article says, this doesn’t mean a Super League will be set up tomorrow or next week or even next year. It has clear reprucussions for the manner in which FIFA and UEFA run the game, mind, but green light for a Super League it is not. The English clubs in particular will I think be slow to touch it given what happened the last time (doesn’t mean they could stay out indefinitely, if their peers on the continent all moved to a Super League model, I think for commercial reasons they’d eventually have to go with the wind).
Quite agree, but A22 have unveiled a new proposal for the Super League.
I don't believe for a minute all matches will be FTA - that is traditionally the biggest source of income for sporting competitions and I doubt there will be many FTA broadcasters who would be willing to air so many games.
I'm also not sure why there is an 'X' for UEFA in the home & away row. Unless I've missed something, the only match at a neutral venue will be the finals. Unless the new Champions League format is like the current Champions Cup rugby, and no team plays the same team twice in the Swiss League format.
Overall, even more matches and less hard for the big teams to not qualify. Yay.
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a22sports.com
For the Emglish teams, joining should be illegal by the time it all comes together and today's ruling doesn't change that (a Brexit benefit for football's status quo).
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(This post was last modified: 21-12-2023, 12:44 PM by
RhysJR.)
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It may actually gain a bit of fan support when the awful new Champions League format comes in.
Re: DAZN. I really don't get how a company can lose more than $1bn every year and still be in business - don't really see them on a trajectory where future revenue would cover those losses. Business is a funny old world though - lose a billion a year and you carry on regardless. See your profit though drop from $5.1bn to $5.0bn and it's job cuts all round and panic stations.
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Making it illegal is all well and good, but misses two points.
Firstly, the whole point of the judgement today, is that the Super League, should it come to pass (and I emphasise, not a done deal at all) won’t be an “unapproved competition”. It would be a fully approved competition, and the point of today’s judgement is to force UEFA and FIFA to approve it, should it meet clearly set out criteria. Ie that it can’t be blocked for the sole reason that UEFA are not the organisers.
Secondly, if it does come about, will English clubs be willing to stay out of European football completely, or play in a Champions League competition more likely to resemble the Conference League in terms of the standard of the opposition (if UEFA even continues to run their own competitions). The likelihood is that after a few years out in the cold, at most, there would be lobbying to change the law, on the basis that reality would need to be recognised at that point.