LONDON: When Manchester United announced the long-teased recapture of Paul Pogba in August 2016, the Premier League club sought to maximize the marketing opportunity. Having successfully kept Pogba, the club and their principal sponsors in the headlines for majority of the summer window before formalising an initial €105 million ($129 million) transaction, United hyped the midfielder and the record transfer fee for all it was worth.
When Alexis Sanchez was spirited out of Manchester City’s grasp with the offer of financial terms on par with Pogba’s three weeks ago, the Old Trafford marketing machine powered through the gears again. “The announcement posts generated 75 percent more interactions than the announcement of the sale of the world’s most expensive player last summer,” executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward proudly informed shareholders.
Manchester United plc booked £581.2 million ($808.6 million) of revenue in the 2016-17 financial year. Some £275.5m of that derived from commercial income, the highest return of any Premier League club. In contrast to certain domestic and European rivals, all of that commercial revenue was self-generated; none of it dependent on cosy sponsorship arrangements with companies held by United’s owners.
Woodward’s marketing department is extremely good at what it does. There can, however, be unexpected repercussions to selling shirts, merchandise and assorted “global”, “regional”, “media & telecommunications” and “financial” partnerships by hyping and trading on the images of star acquisitions.
Back on the football pitch a partnership that should be generating goals for United has so far engendered strife. Of the four matches in which the earlier superstar signing has appeared, United have delivered two expected victories and suffered two worrying defeats. Critically, Pogba has spent a significant period of each game watching Sanchez from the bench.
The France international was rested for the FA Cup win at Yeovil, then substituted after 63 minutes in the defeat at Tottenham. Dropped from the starting line-up versus Huddersfield, Pogba played only the last 25 minutes. Reinstated for Sunday’s visit to Newcastle, he lasted 66 minutes before being removed from an underperforming team trying to recover a goal deficit.
A media debate has rumbled around him over tactics and the player’s capabilities. Prominent commentators like Graeme Souness argue that Pogba is unable to understand “the responsibility that comes with being a central midfielder.” “He plays like a schoolboy running after the ball in the playground,” was Souness’ most damning comment, in The Sunday Times.
When Wayne Rooney took the unusual step of advising an opposition manager on how best to use a key player, an amused Jose Mourinho responded to his former captain’s assessment that “Paul Pogba is a classic box-to-box player” who should be liberated of some defensive responsibility.
“This week I got a bit confused when some people say a box-to-box has to play free of defensive duties,” said Mourinho. “That is not box-to-box: That is a box in the box, and stay in that box, and doesn't move from that box. I think this country produced a lot of amazing box-to-box players — I had the pleasure to coach some of them - but I think nowadays with some pundits, some agents, some family members, I think the concept of the box-to-box is changing a little bit.
“When people ask what is the best position for Paul to play? Paul is a midfield player. Depends on the tactical system the team plays - he can play with two, he can play with one, he can play with three, but he will be always a midfield player. And it is difficult to find a midfield player with more potential than Paul has. Because Paul has everything."
Team Pogba agrees with Rooney. According to individuals familiar with the situation, the Frenchman wants to be played on the left-hand side of a midfield three with a third man charged with helping Nemanja Matic shield United's defence. The idea is to emulate the Juventus system in which Pogba's established himself as one of the game's most valuable players.
Ego lies at the core of the complaint. The perception is that Pogba's importance to United is such the team should be set up to allow him to be its key protagonist. Sanchez's signing is said to have piqued that ego, Pogba's representative initially making noises over reports that the new arrival was to be paid more than his client; the player himself discontent he's had to take on defensive duties to accommodate the new forward in the starting line-up.
Conscious of the need to protect a fragile back four, Mourinho emphasises the importance of positional diligence. He sees a footballer with the physical and technical potential to dominate a midfield and will continue to encourage Pogba to express that potential for the benefit of his team.
At this level of football, playing for yourself is a self-defeating exercise. No matter how your club markets you.
Paul Pogba ego takes a hit with Alexis Sanchez arrival at Manchester United
Paul Pogba ego takes a hit with Alexis Sanchez arrival at Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister describes Saudi Arabia as ‘safest place on earth’
- Katia Aviero posts message on Instagram in which she says of the Kingdom: ‘If there is a safe place to walk alone, it is here’
- Aviero, who joined her brother’s partner, Georgina Rodriguez, to watch him play in the King’s Cup semifinal on Wednesday adds: ‘Nobody disrespects you here and there are no thefts’
RIYADH: While Al-Nassr star Cristiano Ronaldo was busy scoring a brace on Wednesday in a 3-1 victory over Al-Khaleej that earned his team a place in the King’s Cup final, his sister was praising Saudi Arabia and describing it as the “safest place on earth.”
Asked whether it was safe to walk alone in the Kingdom, Katia Aviero posted a message on Instagram in Portuguese in which she said of the Kingdom: “If there is a safe place to walk alone, it is here.”
She said: “Saudi Arabia is one of the best in the world in terms of safety. You can leave your phone on the table and go and come back without anything happening.”
She added that “nobody disrespects you here and there are no thefts,” and she feels secure at all times.
A Saudi sports website quoted Aviero as saying: “You can also leave your keys and wallet in the car.”
She also posted a photo of herself with Ronaldo’s partner, Georgina Rodriguez, and another women watching the game on Wednesday from a VIP lounge at Al-Awwal Park stadium. She added a note, saying: “We came to give good luck for our king (Cristiano).”
Aviero, who has more than 1.4 million followers on Instagram, also added several posts to her Instagram Story on Wednesday featuring videos of Riyadh streets filmed from inside a car.
Ronaldo scored the first and third goals for Al-Nassr on Wednesday night, with Sadio Mane netting the second from the penalty spot.
The Portuguese star celebrated the semifinal victory with brief message on social media platform X in which he wrote: “The King’s Cup … let’s go.”
Al-Nassr will face fierce rivals Al-Hilal in the final on May 31.
Soccer jersey dispute between Algeria and Morocco clubs over Western Sahara goes to sports court
- The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions”
- The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup
GENEVA: A soccer politics dispute between Algeria and Morocco over a map of disputed Western Sahara territory on a team jersey will go to a full appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions” and set no timetable for appointing a panel of judges and setting a date for a hearing.
The Algerian soccer federation and the USM Alger club from Algiers are challenging a decision by the Confederation of African Football to let Moroccan club RS Berkane wear a team jersey that includes disputed territory on a map of Morocco.
The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup, in which USM Alger are the defending champion. Neither semifinal game scheduled on April 21 and 28 was played and both were awarded by CAF as 3-0 wins to Berkane.
Berkane are scheduled to play the two-leg final on May 12 and 19 — against Zamalek of Egypt — and the court did not indicate Thursday if the Algerian appeal will be judged before those games.
Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria, that held until four years ago.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021.
The laws of soccer state that “equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
Berkane arrived for the April 21 game in Algiers and had their team uniforms seized at the airport by Algerian authorities.
CAF refused an Algerian request to prohibit the shirts and, after Berkane refused to wear replacement shirts provided by USM Alger, the game did not go ahead.
CAF ruled the Algerian club were in breach of competition rules and Berkane were awarded a 3-0 win by default.
An urgent appeal by the Algerians to suspend CAF’s ruling on the shirt was denied last week by the sports court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
On April 28, USM Alger went to Berkane’s stadium for the second leg but refused to play if the hosts wore the jerseys with the map. CAF awarded a second default win to Berkane.
The full appeal in the case has now been brought against CAF, the Moroccan soccer federation and Berkane. One of the African soccer body’s most influential officials, FIFA Council member Fouzi Lekjaa, is president of the Moroccan federation and a former president of the Berkane club.
Saudi Smash 2024 draw held in Jeddah
- Ceremony signals start of weeklong table tennis competition
- ‘It is wonderful to be here in Saudi Arabia,’ Egyptian Omar Assar says
JEDDAH: The draw for the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Saudi Smash 2024 took place on Thursday.
The draws for the men’s and women’s singles, each of which has 64 players, and the doubles categories, with 24 pairs in each, were held at the Infinity Arena, Sports Hall King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
The tournament, which opens on Saturday and runs through May 11, is part of the WTT Grand Smash series.
Among the notable names in the draw were the men’s and women’s world No. 1s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China, Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi and Egpyt’s Omar Assar.
Assar, who made history by becoming the first Egyptian player to reach the quarterfinals of a World Championship, said: “It is wonderful to be here in Saudi Arabia and looking forward to being part of this eagerly awaited tournament.”
Wang said: “It is really a tough competition but I am ready to compete until the end.”
The competition’s total prize pool of $2 million is the highest ever for an officially sanctioned event.
Other top players taking part include Felix Lebrun of France, Shin Yubin of South Korea, Hana Goda of Egypt and Dang Qiu of Germany.
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Paris Olympics-IOC
- The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris
- IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world“
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday unveiled its largest refugee Olympic team to date for the Paris 2024 Games, with 36 athletes from 11 different countries.
The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris, the third time such a team has formed for the Summer Olympics.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence,” IOC President Thomas Bach said during the team’s announcement.
“This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world.”
For the first time, the team will compete under its own emblem.
The IOC unveiled its first refugee team for the Rio 2016 Olympics with 10 athletes to raise awareness of the issue as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere escaping conflict and poverty.
The team that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was already almost three times as big as the inaugural team at the Rio Games, with a total of 29 athletes competing in 12 sports.
The Paris Olympics refugee team announcement comes shortly after Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who ran as a refugee athlete in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
The continuous rise in value of the Indian Premier League
In the aftermath of the Punjab Kings’ record chase of 262 runs on April 26, team captain Sam Curran, remarked that the Indian Premier League “(is) becoming a bit like baseball, isn’t it?”
This was likely a moment that opponents of the IPL had predicted and feared — and, conversely, one that proponents of the IPL and T20 cricket in general relished.
T20 cricket is in line with the age of fast food. Instantly consumable, quickly forgotten and underpinned by mass advertising and high-profile personalities. Around the world, its sponsors include KFC for Australia’s Big Bash League, the very title encapsulating the format’s frenzy.
In England, the Hundred has a five-year deal with KP Snacks. Given governmental policy to reduce consumption of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar, the partnership has drawn criticism.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, SA20’s title sponsor is Betway, one of a growing number of betting companies associated with cricket. In the IPL, there is a myriad of sponsors. The title one, Tata, is paying $300 million between 2024 and 2028. Then there are three associate partners — My11Circle, Angel One and RUPay — plus an official broadcaster in Star Sports, official digital streaming partner JioCinema, official strategic timeout partner CEAT and an umpire partner in Paytm.
Each franchise team has a plethora of principal partners, associate partners, media partners and merchandise partners. These represent a broad range of different industry sectors which boost the brand value of the franchises. According to brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, the value of the ten franchises at the end of the 2023 season ranged from $43.7 million to $87 million. The estimated brand value of the IPL was $10.7 billion.
Estimates of brand value are derived differently by different bodies. This is because brands are not tangible assets — they are subject to beliefs, perceived reputation, trust and experience. Their value lies in how consumers associate with the brand and how it influences their behavior. Attempts to quantify these factors require measurable elements such as trademarks, logos, taglines, visual assets, digital assets, customer retention and social media engagement levels.
Since it began 17 years ago, the IPL has generated all of these in abundance. Along with experience and engagement within the stadiums, an exponential growth in viewership reached close to 500 million unique viewers in 2023. The new media rights regime in 2024 has created further growth, with the Disney Star Network acquiring broadcast rights for all IPL matches in 2024. Live broadcast of the first 18 attracted over 400 million viewers, a 17 percent like-for-like increase over 2023.
There is a big shift in live streaming, with Viacom’s JioCinema awarded digital streaming rights in the 2024-27 cycle. In 2023 it streamed the entire IPL season for free on its mobile app and website, a feature continued into 2024. The move took many by surprise but enabled it to set a record for the highest concurrent viewership for a live-streamed event — some 32 million viewers tuned in to watch the final. Now, digital streaming appears to be gaining momentum over traditional TV broadcasting with IPL viewers, depending on market segment. This can only increase as technology advances and accessibility improves.
As a result, brand value estimates after the 2024 edition are likely to be affected. Close inspection of existing estimates reveals the different methodologies in use. Cost-based valuations focus on how much it has taken to build the brand. Market-based valuations take account of how much sales of similar brands have raised. Income-based valuations focus on how much money the brand brings into the organization compared with non-branded similar products for services. Customer-based valuations analyze existing customers and predict future consumption patterns.
Another approach is the relief from royalty method, used by global investment bank Houlihan Lokey. This calculates value based on hypothetical royalty payments that would be saved by owning an asset rather than licensing it. In 2023, this produced a brand value estimate for the IPL of $3.2 billion — a difference of some $10.7 billion compared with other estimates. The methodology also produces different estimates of the franchise brand values. In this case, they are in a higher range of $83 million to $212 million, with a slightly different ranking.
Houlihan Lokey also undertook a valuation of the IPL’s value as a business, based on the standard discounted cash flow technique. This amounted to $15.4 billion in 2023, an increase of 80 percent over 2022. Most of this can be attributed to the renewal of the media rights deal covering 2023-2027, worth three times more than the 2017-2022 cycle. It is reasonable to assume that, given the year-on-year increases in viewership, the IPL will be able to command even more enhanced terms in the next cycle.
Intuitively, this makes the use of DCF techniques understandable. Under normal circumstances, the IPL can be reasonably sure of its future revenue streams. Once they are expressed in terms of present values, investors can assess what rate of return they are likely to achieve. Ultimately, returns on investment and profits are more important to stakeholders than differences in brand valuations, although the franchisees remain committed to brand enhancement through fan engagement, association with star players and top sponsors.
Since 2008, the IPL has established itself as a global phenomenon and it has done so in a relatively short time. It attracts millions of fans and viewers, providing instant entertainment. All the signs are that it will continue to grow through increased sponsorship, viewer numbers and media rights income which, in turn, proliferates advertising revenue for the media. This is big business and looks unstoppable, but it may morph into a caricature of the game from which it took its roots.
