O/T Sports and the Pandemic | Vital Football

O/T Sports and the Pandemic

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https://www.investing.com/news/stoc...ing-in-itays-serie-a-soccer-league-ft-2161818

CVC, Blackstone consider investing in Italy's Serie A soccer league: FT


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Stock MarketsMay 05, 2020 08:50PM ET
© Reuters.


(Reuters) - Private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) Inc are in separate talks about investments in Italy's Serie A soccer league, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

CVC is in talks to buy a 20% stake for 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion), valuing the league at 10 billion euros, the newspaper reported https://on.ft.com/2xBzAPV, citing two people briefed on the discussions, which began at the end of last year.

Blackstone is separately considering lending to clubs to help cover their costs during the shutdown of fixtures, the report added, citing people familiar with the proposal.
Blackstone declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

CVC and Serie A did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The talks are at an early stage and there is a potential legal hurdle, the report said, citing one person with knowledge of the proposal.

The deal could give CVC, which has had sports deals in the past, a role in selling broadcasting rights for 10 years from 2021, the report added citing sources.
Last year, CVC had held talks with soccer's global governing body FIFA on acquiring the commercial rights to the revamped Club World Cup.

On March 9, Italy suspended the league campaign as part of a nationwide lockdown and the country's sports minister said it is unlikely to resume the league championship because of the COVID-19 epidemic
 
With the great weather we have been having in the UK I am soooooooooo missing the cricket.

My default TV channel now is Sky cricket and the sounds and sights of previous summers are making me and the Mrs so nostalgic for the good times that will never return.

One major thing is that cricket crowds were always smiling, dressing up in fancy dress and the whole thing was a good time , unlike the snarling and grimacing faces that made up a modern football audience.

And the commentators, Mikey, Bumble , Nass, Beefy, Athers , Warne etc, all badly missed compared to their crap football counterparts.
 
I do love cricket . It probably is the best game in the world for me . The shame is that now I actually have the chance to watch the whole of a five day test match , there isn’t any .
Never mind , the snooker will be on soon at the Crucible . Fourteen hours a day for two weeks .
Strange how football is dropping down the list of things I must watch .
 
I love Bumble . He would be on my list at a dinner party . Richie Benaud would have been as well.
Now I am not at work , I also miss Test Match Special on the radio . Some days I could have been on the road for two or three hours . There are some great characters on there as well .
Brilliant.
 
Walthamstow wanderer said:
I love Bumble . He would be on my list at a dinner party . Richie Benaud would have been as well.
Now I am not at work , I also miss Test Match Special on the radio . Some days I could have been on the road for two or three hours . There are some great characters on there as well .
Brilliant.
Click to expand...
Walthamstow wanderer said:
I love Bumble . He would be on my list at a dinner party . Richie Benaud would have been as well.
Now I am not at work , I also miss Test Match Special on the radio . Some days I could have been on the road for two or three hours . There are some great characters on there as well .
Brilliant.
Click to expand...
UK cricket commentary is by far the best in the world. Bumble, Hussein, Atherton and Gower are all outstanding in their respective roles. Unfortunately I don't rate Botham to the same extent. No question about his knowledge and commentating ability, but invariably he's very parochial and somewhat over the top with his lack of impartiality.
 
Funny how moments in history fix where you were when they happened...I was walking back from playing cricket with my mates on the edge of Epping Forest when we spotted a courting couple doing something we didn’t understand at the time...the guy was real class though...he had a portable radio...something very rare at the time...tuned to the Test Match commentary of England vs Australia at Old Trafford...we passed by just as Jim Laker took his 10 th second innings wicket to win the match...

A few years later when my aunt had a tv I used to spend many summer days watching test match cricket with the likes of Trueman and Statham bowling ( my heroes) but in later years when SKY bought the rights I couldn’t afford to watch, and although I played the game into my 40’s I lost interest in Test Cricket other than listening to TMS which was always more entertaining than just cricket...the famous Johnson cream cake interviews and other stories....if you want a good laugh I can recommend “ Rain Stopped Play” by Brian Johnson and a couple of books by Michael Parkinson ( can’t remember the titles but full of amusing anecdotes)
 
SmithAndJones said:
UK cricket commentary is by far the best in the world. Bumble, Hussein, Atherton and Gower are all outstanding in their respective roles. Unfortunately I don't rate Botham to the same extent. No question about his knowledge and commentating ability, but invariably he's very parochial and somewhat over the top with his lack of impartiality.
Click to expand...
Seem to remember Botham and Gower retiring from tv last summer . Not sure who will be replacing them .
I don’t like cricket ..... I love it :band2:
 
I always knew Walker was dumb you could tell by the way he would always lose concentration for us. But he really is next level dumb.

I can see why Poch wanted him out in the end. A very selfish man who clearly only does things that benefit his personal need.
 
Real Deal said:
I always knew Walker was dumb you could tell by the way he would always lose concentration for us. But he really is next level dumb.

I can see why Poch wanted him out in the end. A very selfish man who clearly only does things that benefit his personal need.
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Footballers historically have generally all been tarred with the same brush, the thicky brush. Not always a fair assessment. Since the increasing trend toward using ex players for football punditry, a lot of ex players have shown a lot of expertise and intelligence, either on TV or in the print media. I'm not expecting any of the national dailies or networks to be queuing up for Walker's services when his playing days are over. That can be sooner rather than later if he continues to disrespect and embarrass the Clubs that he plays for.
 
The NHL, Super Rugby in NZ and football are all going back in the next few weeks.
 
BBC:

Premier League clubs given training restrictions
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Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Tackling will be banned, pitches disinfected and players restricted to groups of five when England's Premier League football clubs start a first phase of team training - which it is hoped will begin on Monday,
Official protocols sent to players and managers and obtained by the BBC reveal that social distancing must be "strictly observed".
Corner-flags, balls, cones, goalposts and even playing surfaces will also be disinfected after each training session, which will be restricted to 75 minutes.
Ongoing surveillance measures included in further guidance include twice-weekly testing, and a daily pre-training questionnaire and temperature check.
Under a section titled "health screening", players are also told a central register of Covid-19 test results (subject to their consent and Professional Footballers' Association agreement) will need to be maintained.
Recommended "control measures" include "meticulous personal hygiene and use of PPE personal protective equipment, no congregation in communal areas, including but not limited to medical rooms and gym areas".
Club officials met this week to continue talks on "Project Restart", with the English top flight aiming to resume fixtures on 12 June.



75 minutes and no tackles?...NDombele will be pleased.
 
LOL just abandon the season for crying out loud. It's impossible for it to work.

I know one thing if the Premier League go ahead it's free reign for the average Joe's to play football as well.

Don't give me that football should come back for the moral of the country either. It's all about the money and taxes.

Danny Rose called the government out yesterday on this.
 
I saw this yesterday but I have edited it a bit:

From Wednesday you can play football, but only with members of your own family.

Arsenal vs. West Ham kicks off at 4:00pm
 
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