Ecclestone involved with Super League
Formula One boss admits helping to get league started
Posted: Monday September 21, 1998 12:35 PM
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Ecclestone: "I think a Super League is a great idea. I don't know much about football -- at least not as much as I know about motor racing -- but I think this is necessary and I do think it would work." Pascal Rondeau/Allsport |
LONDON (AP) -- Formula One auto racing boss Bernie Ecclestone has
admitted he is involved in a move to create a Eureopan soccer Super
League.
Eccleston said "yes I am involved" in plans to form a
breakaway European Super League embracing clubs such as Manchester
United, Arsenal, Juventus, Inter and AC Milan, Barcelona, Real
Madrid and Bayern Munich.
He was also linked Sunday with a 700-million-pound ($1.18
billion) bid for Manchester United to rival the 623-million-pound
($1 billion) takeover of Britain's biggest club by Rupert
Murdoch's satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
The Sunday Mirror and News of the World reported the 67-year-old
businessman was the "secret" client who asked American investment
Salomon Smith Barney to investigate a takeover of Manchester
United.
The BSkyB takeover is currently being investigated by the
British Office of Fair Trading.
Eccleston on Sunday confirmed his association with Media
Partners, the Milan-based marketing company behind plans to create
the rebel Super League.
The concept has been opposed by UEFA, soccer's European
governing body, which controls existing European competition.
"My interest is getting this whole thing off the ground. I am
involved but only a little bit at the moment. I do not know what my
involvement will be in the future," he was quoted saying in the
Mirror.
"I think a Super League is a great idea. I don't know much
about football -- at least not as much as I know about motor racing
-- but I think this is necessary and I do think it would work.
"This is something that would satisfy everybody. I like good
ideas and this is a good one."
Eccleston owned a successful car dealership in England before
establishing the Brabham Formula One racing team in 1970. He is now
in charge of the Formula One Constructor's Association, an umbrella
organization for all Formula One teams, and is No. 2 official in
the sport's world governing body, FIA.
He controls television coverage of the sport through his digital
television broadcasting company, which he could also be used to
screen pay-per-view soccer matches throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, opposition to BSkyB's takeover of Manchester United
continues to grow.
The Independent Manchester United Supporters Association and the
Football Supporters Association are sending anti-BSkyB literature to
more than one millon soccer supporters in England.
The groups have also called for fans to boycott subscriptions to
Sky TV.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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