A new year brings a "new sporting calendar," according to Roger Blitz of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Football, the "most global of sports, will get most attention." Even in an odd-numbered year, without the sport's "big sporting showpieces of a World Cup" or Euro, there is "little to halt football's growth -- not even the tarnished reputation" of FIFA. It is a "pointless task for other sports to try to get anywhere close to football’s global dominance." They "do their best to generate broader interest, coming up with new formats or advances into new territories." In some cases, "this is more to do with arresting decline than growing their game." For rugby traditionalists, all eyes are on the World Cup, beginning this September. Yet rugby is "gearing up for a more significant moment -- next year's Olympics." The sport's "sevens" format will make its entrance at the 2016 Rio Games. Consulting firm AT Kearney's Emmanuel Hembert said that this is what could "really change rugby appeal." Hembert: "The Rugby World Cup remains really focused on the big nations. But when you become an Olympic sport, a lot of governments devote funds to your sport and you get a boost in terms of developing the game." University of Michigan Sport Management Professor Stefan Szymanski said that the "cultural heritage of some sports restricts their international expansion." Rugby and cricket are "seen by the wider world as very British, American football and baseball regarded by outsiders as very American." Szymanski said that advances in broadcasting have given the suppliers of football's highest levels of competition -- FIFA, the Premier League and UEFA -- "the chance to cash in and reach the largest audiences." That much "should be evident in one of the biggest business moments in sport this year -- when the English Premier League conducts its latest round of broadcast rights negotiations for live coverage." The value of the '13-16 int'l rights rose more than 50% on the previous three-year period to £2.2B, "and it can expect to rise significantly again." What does "football have that other sports do not?" Hembert said that a sport wanting to compete with football needs five characteristics -- "it must be reputable, transportable, easy to understand and easy in which to compete." He added that you also need an organization or governing body "driving it forward" (FT, 1/20).
