http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=awyhOzCK25yc#
Liverpool to Tour Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Official Says
By Tariq Panja
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Liverpool, the record 18-time Englishleague soccer champion, will play in Singapore, Bangkok and HongKong at the end of the season, a club executive said. The clubalso renewed a sponsorship deal with Bank of America Corp.
The Reds, who have millions of supporters in Asia, haven’tbeenas active as Manchester United and Chelsea in touringabroad. Unitedwill return to the region for a fifth time in 10years in July, whileChelsea will take part in the Barclays AsiaTrophy that same month.
“If you are going to build a business overseas a key partis toallow people to touch and feel the product on a regularbasis,”commercial director[url=http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ian+Ayre&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date :S:d1]IanAyre[/url] said in an interviewyesterday. “What’s clear is that there’san opportunity forLiverpool to do much better than they had in thepast.”
The team intends to continue climbing up soccer’s rich list,saidAyre, 45, who is a candidate to replace outgoing chiefexecutive officer[url=http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Rick+Parry&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:S:d1]Rick Parry[/url]. Ayre joined the club two years ago.
According to a Deloitte report released last month,Liverpool isthe seventh-richest club in the world with revenuesof 210.9 millioneuros ($265 million). The third-place PremierLeague team gained oneplace from the year before and Ayre sayssponsorship gains made in thepast 12 months mean he “would beshocked if we didn’t climb further.”
The Bank of America sponsorship will last four years and isworth5 million pounds ($7 million). The American bank can usethe five-timeEuropean champion’s logo in its branding and getsaccess to corporateseats at Anfield stadium, Ayre said. Othertransactions are underdiscussion.
“We are in very, very late stage discussions with two orthreevery big sponsors,” he said, without giving details. Hesaid they werein the consumer electronics, gaming and automotivesectors.
‘Heaven Sent’
Ayre wouldn’t comment on speculation about him replacingParry,who’ll step down at the end of the season. The director,who ran Asianoperations of satellite dish maker Pace MicroTechnology Plc, is closeto Liverpool co-owner[url=http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Tom+Hicks&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:S:d1]Tom Hicks[/url], whodescribed his appointment two year’s ago as “heaven sent.”
“At this stage I am just committed to driving forward thecommercial operations of this football club,” said Ayre.
To contact the reporter on this story:Tariq Panja in the London newsroom on [email protected]
Last Updated: March 3, 2009 23:01 EST |
發表於 2009-3-6 02:37 AM
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