The BBC was under pressure on Friday "to stop using licence fee money" to fund FIFA while Sepp Blatter remains as head of football’s governing body, according to Rumsby & Mendick of the London TELEGRAPH.
The demand, made by senior MPs, "followed an orchestrated attack" on Blatter by four of FIFA’s leading sponsors. Politicians said that "it was time the BBC and ITV joined the growing call for Blatter to quit" -- and that if he did not "they should tear up the expensive contracts that give them the right to televise the World Cup." It is estimated that about half of FIFA’s £1B ($1.5B) annual revenue comes from TV contracts.
BBC and ITV "signed deals last year for the right to broadcast the football World Cup in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar." Damian Collins, a Conservative MP and member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said, "They should speak out. They have to follow through and I think it’s incumbent on football associations around the world to support them as well." Labour Shadow Sports Minister Clive Efford: "Broadcasters and sponsors can’t just put out a press release and shrug their shoulders if he doesn’t go. That’s pathetic" (TELEGRAPH, 10/3).
