| British football clubs are getting deeper into the Internet According to the English magazine Business 2.0, since 2001, British football clubs for the first time have the opportunity to broadcast live the most important matches on their official websites. Some local television crews are said to have been shocked by the news of such serious competition (according to Jonathan Wright, author of an article in the magazine's September issue, football is "not only the favorite game of millions of fans, but also the favorite toy of many media companies"). According to the June contract between the Premier League, on the one hand, and BSkyB, ITV and cable television company NTL, on the other, the broadcasters acquired the rights to broadcast Premier League matches for the next three seasons, paying 1.6 billion pounds sterling for this.
True, this fear is rather a matter of show. Thus, for NTL, the new Internet capabilities of British clubs are more likely not a “minus”, but a “plus”: this summer, the company announced the launch of an Internet project carried out jointly with the football league. It is designed for five years, is estimated at 65 million pounds and provides for the creation of its own portal for the football league (by the way, with the participation of NTL, a portal is already being developed for the Premier League club Middlesbrough).
There is little reason to worry about the future for BSkyB: it recently acquired Sports Internet, which supports the websites of nine Premier League clubs (including Leeds, Everton and Newcastle), for £301 million, and moreover, which controls the football news site Planetfootball.com. According to market participants, this deal is designed to strengthen Sky's position both on the Internet and in the football business. They say that Sky has plans to enter the capital of some clubs, in particular the legendary Manchester United. NTL is also looking at football promotions.
From the above, it does not at all follow that initiatives to develop the Internet come exclusively from broadcasters. Thus, the legendary team Liverpool announced plans to create a joint company with Granada Media. Granada, which has a 50% stake in the new Liverpool FC Broadband venture, is expected to contribute £20m. And Liverpool will make its contribution in the form of the assignment of part of the commercial rights, including the right to broadcast its matches.
Fun fact: According to Business 2.0, Manchester United's market value reached a billion pounds in March this year. This happened immediately after Warburg Dillon Read reported in one of his studies that Manchester United shares should be considered as shares of an Internet company, because the website club “generates up to 8 million visits per month” (and this despite the known problems with the NASDAQ index, which took place around the same time!).
It must be said that the Manchester United club has generally succeeded in exploiting its brand. According to Business 2.0, back in February 2000, one of the operators in the cellular communications market in the UK - Vodafone - signed a sponsorship contract with Manchester United for 30 million pounds. According to the company's calculations, using new generation devices, fans of the club anywhere in the world will be able in the foreseeable future - the contract with United is valid for four years - listen to live broadcasts of matches involving their favorite team, receive up-to-date information about its tournament position, and also make purchases in the Manchester United online store (note that for now, a computer is still required to receive the latter service). It is expected that all these services will be available in languages other than English. Given the prospect of this type of opportunity, BSkyB has also approached Manchester United with a proposal for cooperation. And this time we are talking about a contract of 625 million pounds...
In connection with such an active growth of interest in football business in Internet technologies, experts are expressing well-founded concerns. For example, they believe, Internet broadcasts of matches of such giants as Arsenal and Liverpool can cause “simply crazy traffic” with all the ensuing consequences. However, these are rather technical issues. And quite solvable. And therefore, few doubt that the demand for Internet technologies in the football business will increase. Yaroslav SKVORTSOV |
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