Broadcast bonanza bags bumper deals for stars

Money flooded into sport in 2016 faster than ever and bloated the salaries of stars who have become multi-million-dollar brands.

Paul Pogba's world-record transfer to Manchester United set the tone for a year of big-money deals, handing the French 23-year-old wealth beyond the dreams of most of his Old Trafford fans.

But even Pogba has a long way to go to catch up with gold-plated stars like Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal international Ronaldo is the world's highest-paid athlete, according to Forbes, banking almost $1.7 million a week in salary and endorsements.

Pogba's five-year contract to join United may have raised eyebrows among soccer fans and critics but top-flight managers and sports-business insiders had already factored in mega inflation.

The explosion of TV rights made the Pogba contract possible, filling the pockets of the English Premier League and making a mockery of austerity and jobless queues.

The tide of high finance in sport did not stop there.

TV income rose 40 percent for Germany's Bundesliga, the NBA enjoyed a vintage financial year and Formula One motor racing attracted a multi-billion dollar US takeover bid.

Three years after Welshman Gareth Bale set a world-record fee of $105 million when he joined Real Madrid, Pogba upped the ante with his $114 million move to Manchester in August, despite having a lackluster Euro 2016 finals for host France.

Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson told the Daily Mail that the moment the $10.75 billion British TV deal covering 2016-2019 was signed between the Premier League, Sky Sports and BT Sport, "transfer values and salaries were going to go up".

Pulling power

The result was not long in coming. EPL clubs spent $1.44 billion during the 2016 summer transfer market window, 34 percent more than in the previous year.

The English game's star power also spilled over into foreign markets, where broadcast rights sell to the highest bidder.

The biggest deal was signed in November with Chinese video-streaming service PPTV for $626 million.

The Bundesliga cashed in, too, with a TV deal worth $3.63 billion over the next three years, a jump of nearly 40 percent over the previous season.

If economic hardship tightened purse strings in other parts of Europe, the cash flowed thick and fast in basketball in the United States, where TV income tripled and the sport generated global revenue of $5.2 billion, with a record $900 million operating profit, according to Forbes magazine.

At the same time, NBA franchises saw their value rise by an average 13 percent. The New York Knicks topped the financial league at $3 billion.

With TV income up sharply - and slightly higher than Premier League levels - NBA clubs are pushing up salaries.

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers had his $23 million paycheck boosted to $30.9 million for the 2016-17 season.

Formula One was also a major winner in the financial stakes. The sport has been perceived to be in severe decline, but it still attracted high-rollers at every stop on its global schedule.

US firm Liberty Media, run by billionaire John Malone, bought out F1's parent company in a deal which valued the sport at $8 billion.

F1 is gambling on gaining more exposure worldwide, including in the US, hoping to generate an even wider revenue stream.

Invariably, that will translate as even more money in the bank for the big stars.

(China Daily 01/02/2017 page12)