Features

China's president, XI Jinping, reportedly keeps a framed picture of himself kicking a football on the wall of his Beijing office.

The media glare burns brightest in the 24 hours after a scandal breaks, and the wrong word at the wrong time can lead to heads rolling at the highest positions. The protectors-in-chief are the in-house communications team. They can usually be found sitting just off the shoulder of a disgraced leader – or in the case of Fifa president Sepp Blatter – out on the front-line to take the bullets from the press pack looking for an exclusive line. Any aspiring communications specialist has to be prepared for the day when the news breaks on their doorstep.

Following New York City FC’s first ever game in Major League Soccer (MLS) earlier this year, Frank Dunne caught up with the soccer franchise’s president Tom Glick about his future plans.

Owen Evans asked Ma Guoli, chairman of Infront China, why the one-size-fits-all broadcaster policy in the country’s media market is under threat from the digital revolution and a trio of entrepreneurial upstarts.

SportBusiness International looks at the rise of digital media company LeTV, and how it is disrupting the Chinese media market.

After adidas prised Houston Rockets star, James Harden, away from Nike for $200m last month, we look at whether it was enough to give the German giant the upper hand in its age-old rivalry with the Americans.

China’s status as one of the key pillars of the Olympic Movement was secured last month after Beijing won the vote to become the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympics. Mark Dreyer, editor of China Sports Insider, tells us what impact it has had on the rest of the country.

We ask John Collins, chief operating officer of the National Hockey League, why he turned to a rival to help revamp the digital media output of his sport.

Owen Evans looks at how NBC’s billion dollar investment into Premier League rights will take shape over the next six years.

McDonald’s corporate director of sports marketing in Latin America, David Grinberg, talks about his journey from a sports journalist to the head of sponsorship activation for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Elisha Chauhan asks industry experts to assess the Tokyo 2020 national stadium saga, and whether it will be ready on time and on budget, having dropped Zaha Hadid Architects’ controversial design.

Elisha Chauhan asks whether opening and closing ceremonies for major sports events should be held outside the walls of a stadium in order to truly showcase host regions and their iconic landmarks.

Elisha Chauhan travelled to Kazan to watch the biggest ever Fina World Championships, but in a time of cost-cutting and efficiency why is the aquatics showpiece growing in size?

Owen Evans asks the Paralympic Movement how it is planning on using lessons learned in Sochi to break down cultural barriers in the Middle East at the inaugural IPC World Championships in Doha.

I’ve been working on a football chant based on the fact that the club I support has a better wages-as-a-proportion-of-turnover ratio to that of all of our main rivals. It’s not quite there yet, so I can’t unveil it, but if it catches on there will be more to follow. Themes include match-day income, global media-rights revenue, and profit before player trading and amortisation in the most recent accounting period.

If you live outside of Nigeria it’s likely you will never have heard of Dr. Larry Izamoje.