🎧 Rise of American ownership in English football
It is not just at the top of the Premier League where American ownership has a foothold in English football.Twenty years on from the Glazer takeover of Manchester United, one third of the 72 EFL clubs now have either majority or minority US backers.In a special episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, Kelly Cates is joined by a group of experts to investigate whether this trend is likely to continue.Listen on BBC Sounds
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
14 minutes ago
- BBC News
Huddersfield bring in three assistant coaches
Huddersfield Town have appointed Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Paul McShane and Jonathan Robinson as assistant trio will support new Town boss Lee Grant after he took over at the League One side last who had spells with Port Vale, Bradford and Carlisle as a player, has spent the past 10 years coaching in the Liverpool Republic of Ireland international McShane joins from Manchester United, while Robinson has worked at Liverpool and Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq."Their diverse backgrounds, dedication and commitment to excellence will be invaluable to us as we continue to grow and build something special at this club," Grant told the club website, external."Each brings a unique outlook and energy that aligns with our values and future aspirations."
The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
Concerns raised over World Cup tickets and travel as tournament draws nearer
As the countdown continues to the largest World Cup in history, scheduled to unfold across 16 stadiums in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, key details surrounding the event remain shrouded in mystery. With just a year to go, FIFA has yet to announce when general ticket sales will commence, how much most seats will cost, where the draw will take place, or what security measures will be in place. The lack of information has stirred uncertainty, including whether fans from all nations will be welcome. Eleven of the venues are located in the US, where all matches from the quarterfinals onward will be played. Security is also a concern. The 2024 Copa America final in Miami Gardens, Florida, was delayed by 82 minutes after spectators breached security gates. "That was certainly a reminder and a wake-up call if anybody needed it that those types of things are going to be used in terms of the ultimate assessment of whether this World Cup is successful," said former US defender Alexi Lalas, now Fox's lead soccer analyst, highlighting the critical importance of robust security arrangements. US President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from 12 nations exempted athletes, coaches, staff and relatives while not mentioning fans. Vice President JD Vance made what could be interpreted as a warning on May 6. 'Of course everybody is welcome to come and see this incredible event. I know we'll have visitors probably from close to 100 countries. We want them to come. We want them to celebrate. 'We want them to watch the game,' he said. 'But when the time is up they'll have to go home. Otherwise they'll have to talk to Secretary Noem,' he added, speaking alongside Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Back in US for first time in 32 years The 1994 World Cup sparked the launch of Major League Soccer with 12 teams in 1996, and $50 million in World Cup profits seeded the US Soccer Foundation, tasked with developing the sport's growth. MLS now has 30 teams, plays in 22 soccer specific stadiums and has club academies to grow the sport and improve talent. Next year's tournament will include 104 games, up from 64 from 1998 through 2022, and the 11 US stadiums are all NFL homes with lucrative luxury suites and club seating. It also will be the first World Cup run by FIFA without a local organizing committee. 'The legacy initiative of 2026 is around how we ensure that soccer is everywhere in this county," US Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson said. "How do we ensure that every American can walk, ride their bike or take public transit to a safe place to play soccer? 'How do we make it to where every school in America has soccer accessible to their students? And how do we make it to wherever every American can truly see themselves in the game?' Interest in soccer has vastly increased in the US, with England 's Premier League averaging 510,000 viewers per match window on NBC's networks last season and the European Champions League final drawing more than 2 million viewers in each of the past five years on CBS. However, CBS broadcast just 26 of 189 Champions League matches on TV in 2024-25 and streamed the rest. MLS drew about 12.2 million fans last year, second to 14.7 million in 2023-24 for the Premier League 's 20 teams, but MLS has largely disappeared from broadcast TV since starting a 10-year contract with Apple TV+ in 2023. Apple spokesman Sam Citron said the company does not release viewer figures. In a fractured television landscape, different deals were negotiated by FIFA, UEFA, MLS, the NWSL, the USSF and the five major European leagues. 'You basically have over 2,800 game windows per season aired in the United States and so that requires distribution largely on streaming platforms like Paramount+ or ESPN+, but it's difficult for new fan adoption and it makes reach kind of challenging,' said Gerry Cardinale, managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, which holds controlling interests in AC Milan and Toulouse and owns a non-controlling stake of Fenway Sports Group, parent of Liverpool. ' Kids today are getting weaned on Premier League football and Serie A football, and when you watch that as a product, it's hard for MLS to compete.' 1994 World Cup set attendance record The 1994 World Cup, a 24-nation tournament, drew a record 3.58 million fans for 52 matches. Ticket prices ranged from $25-$75 for most first round games and $180-$475 for the final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. FIFA, which has about 800 people working at an office in Coral Gables, Florida, says it will announce information on general tickets in the third quarter. It wouldn't say whether prices will be fixed or variable. Hospitality packages are available on FIFA's website through On Location. For the eight matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, including the final on July 19, prices range from $25,800 to $73,200 per person. Variable ticket pricing possible FIFA appears to be using variable pricing for this year's Club World Cup, played at 12 US stadiums from June 14 to July 13, and some prices repeatedly have been slashed. Marriott Bonvoy, a US Soccer Federation partner, has been offering free tickets to some of its elite members. Asked about Club World Cup ticket sales and team base camp arrangements, Manolo Zubiria, the World Cup's chief tournament officer, hung up four minutes and five questions into a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Brendan O'Connell, the publicist who arranged the interview, wrote in an email to the AP: 'The guest was not prepared for those questions.' FIFA's media relations staff would not make FIFA president Gianni Infantino available to discuss the tournament. Ahead of the 1994 World Cup, FIFA announced in May 1992 the draw would take place at Las Vegas on Dec. 18 or 19, 1993. FIFA has not revealed plans for this year's draw but appears to be planning for Las Vegas on Dec. 5. Regular ticket sales began in February 1993 for the US soccer family and general first- and second-round sales started that June. Fans submitted lottery applications in October 1993 for games from the quarterfinals on. Teams could train away from World Cup cities While not detailing ticketing plans for next year's tournament, FIFA is spreading it beyond the host cities and lists about 60 possible base camps for teams to use, paired with hotels. Some are fancy — The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia — and some more Spartan — the Courtyard by Marriott Mesa at Wrigleyville West in Arizona. Thousands of arrangements must be coordinated. Major League Baseball is drawing up its schedule to ensure that the four teams whose ballparks share parking lots with World Cup stadiums — in Arlington, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Philadelphia; and Seattle — won't play home games on the dates of tournament matches. Boris Gartner, CEO of La Liga North America, a joint venture of the Spanish soccer league and Relevent Sports, said the 2026 World Cup should be viewed as just another step in the sport's long-term growth in the United States. 'If you have a clear understanding of the market and the audience, a clear understanding of the value that these properties bring to media companies, and you mix content with a commercial strategy, with the right media distribution strategy, this is something that will continue to grow over the next two decades," he said. 'If more people are watching the NWSL, more people are going to be interested in soccer that could potentially end up watching a Bundesliga game or La Liga game.'
The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
NCAA's Baker: Will Congress back $2.8B settlement with antitrust protection?
Now that the NCAA has taken care of its business, its president wants Congress to deliver. NCAA President Charlie Baker, like his predecessor a proponent of federal legislation to lock in some of the seismic changes hitting college sports, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that draft legislation circulating in Washington is what the association has been asking for. Now, it's simply a matter of passing it. ' One of the messages we got from them was, 'Clean up your own house first, and then come talk to us,'' said Baker, a former Massachusetts governor whose political acumen was a key selling point when he was selected for the NCAA job in 2023. The NCAA delivered, Baker said, with new rules that guarantee better post-graduate health care and scholarship protections for athletes, and then with the crown jewel of reforms — the $2.8 billion lawsuit settlement that a federal judge approved last week. The most fundamental change from the settlement is that schools can now directly pay players through revenue-sharing. For that to work, though, Baker and the NCAA have been lobbying for a limited form of antitrust protection that would prevent, for instance, lawsuits challenging the spending cap prescribed by the settlement, which will be $20.5 million in the first year. The Washington Post reported that draft legislation would include room for that sort of protection. Baker suggested that antitrust exemption might also include a carve-out for eligibility rules, which is not part of the settlement but that has landed the NCAA in court as a defendant in various lawsuits challenging a long-held rule that athletes have five years to complete four seasons of eligibility. 'The consequences of this for the next generation of young people, if you play this thing out, are enormous,' Baker said. 'You're moving away from an academic calendar to sort of no calendar for college sports, and that is hugely problematic.' Baker said the other top two priorities for the legislation are: —A preemption of state laws that set different rules for paying players, which amounts to 'competitive advantage stuff" for state legislatures seeking to give their public universities a recruiting edge. 'That's not just an issue for the NCAA on a level-playing-field basis, it's an issue for the conferences,' Baker said. Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, agrees with that, recently saying that it was not good to have a league spanning 12 states operating under 12 different laws guiding player payments and other elements of college sports. —A ban on college athletes being deemed employees. Recently, Tennessee athletic director Danny White suggested collective bargaining for players was 'the only solution.' Whether that would lead to a direct employment model is difficult to know, but Baker said he's not the only one against it. 'This is something every student leadership group I've ever talked to has pretty strong feelings about," he said. 'They want to be students who play sports, they don't want to be employees because a lot of them worry about what the consequences for their time as students will be if they're obliged to be employees first.' ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: and
