Sunday, January 20, 2008

Discussing plans 'a waste of time' - marketing expert

The Singapore-based businessman, who is president and chief executive of World Sport Group, said it was pointless to debate the matter without the sanction of the national associations and regional confederations.

"Discussing this now is a complete waste of time," he told PA Sport. "Firstly, before they go anywhere, they would have to get the sanction of the national association, they would have to get the sanction of the confederation and, because it's a league outside national boundaries, I believe they have to get the approval of FIFA.

"So any discussion is totally premature and a long way from now."

O'Brien has been a major player on the sports marketing scene in Asia since the mid-90s and his company owns the commercial rights to a number of football events around the region, including the Asian Football Confederation's flagship event, the Asian Cup, and the Asian Champions League.

WSG also acted as promoter for the Premier League's Asia Trophy matches in Hong Kong last summer, which featured Liverpool, Portsmouth and Fulham.

But while O'Brien admits that the Premier League's idea is a good one, he feels that there are a lot of complex issues that must first be addressed.

"It's a nice idea and if you're asking me what I think, I'd say 'great'," he said.

"But this isn't like the NFL getting out of bed and saying 'let's have a game in London at Wembley' because nobody cares about that. That's just a bit of fun on a Sunday afternoon.

"Football is a different game. It's a global game played in every country and everything everybody does affects somebody else. That's why they have rules and regulations.

"On the face of it, what the Premier League is trying to do is a good idea. They're actually building their brand and I would be thinking along the same lines.

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