Year In Review: Quotes Of The Year, Part One

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein

January

You mess with it at your peril.

-- Six Nations CEO John Feehan, on moving the tournament, which generates $1.8B over four years, to later dates.

Unless you are blond, tall, Russian and a tennis player, there’s so little money in women’s sport.

-- Coventry University sports business professor Simon Chadwick, on the dearth of sponsorship money available to women athletes.

When you find out who bought it [the club], let me know so I can send the bill.

-- Chivas Guadalajara Owner Jorge Vergara, on rumors that the Liga MX club was about to be sold.

There are no sugar-daddies in Scottish football but plenty of sharks.

-- MSP Kenny MacAskill, encouraging supporters of Scottish club Hibernian to be open to fan ownership.

If they can put a man on the moon then they can find a ball for day-night Test cricket.

-- Nine Head of Sport Steve Crawley, on Cricket Australia conducting tests on pink balls for use in night matches.

These deals are not done until they’re done.

-- Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver, declining to offer details on the ARU's new deal for broadcast rights.

I believe this deal can be described as historic.

-- Atlético Madrid CEO Miguel Ángel Gil, after Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin bought 20% of the club to become the first non-Spanish stakeholder.

The same person can't be player and umpire.

-- Supreme Court Lawyer Sanjay Hegde, on the ruling that BCCI President N. Srinivasan must pick between the BCCI post and his Super Kings franchise.

I'm not going to spend city money cutting that grass.

-- Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes, on hiring a private company

Eduardo Paes

February

I guess it’s just the way it has gone; money talks you know.

-- Rory McIlroy, on Sky Sports outbidding the BBC and taking the Open Championship off free-to-air TV.

We’re a challenger brand. We’re not going to outspend Nike. We’re not going to outspend adidas.

-- New Balance Exec VP Joe Preston, on the company's move into the football market.

China is the new El Dorado for football.

-- Brazilian sports lawyer Marcos Motta, on the increasing flight of Brazilian players to the Chinese Super League.

Anyone who can’t say what they want in a short sentence doesn’t know what they're saying.

-- Jung von Matt/sports co-Managing Dir Christoph Metzelder, advising marketers to get to the point.

Am I surprised? Of course, the little old Premier League, doing quite well here.

-- Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore, after the league closed a $7.8B deal for broadcast rights in the U.K.

I don’t think we’ve got too much to fear from going up against the Premier League on a Friday night.

-- Super League GM Blake Solly, on the new EPL TV deal that will include Friday night games for the first time.

Sky have made it clear they will do what they can to absorb the extra cost. But it’s a bloody big sum to recover.

-- Enders Analysis' Toby Syfret, on the broadcaster passing the cost of its Premier League deal on to subscribers.

You can’t rule anything out, but we are not particularly mad keen to go down the route of pay operators.

-- Six Nations Rugby CEO John Feehan, on following the R&A's example and selling TV rights to pay-TV outlets.

Christine Ohuruogu

It's very hard to promote our sport when he doesn't know what the hell is going on.
-- Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu, criticizing IAAF President Lamine Diack for saying the sport faces a "crisis" over doping allegations.

That is their money, not FIFA’s money.

-- FIFA Presidential Candidate Luis Figo, promising to give $1B of FIFA's reserve fund back to member associations.

The big European leagues are the ones who have to pay for a number of wrong decisions.

-- Bundesliga President Reinhard Rauball, on FIFA's decision not to compensate clubs' financial losses due to the winter World Cup.

We need to take some risks and it’s better to take risks now because we’re stronger than we’ve ever been.

-- Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos, on the IOC's $600M TV venture.

March

We are like a carcass in the middle of the desert and around us there are vultures and jackals.

-- Parma coach Roberto Donadoni, claiming the Serie A club has been abandoned by the Italian Football Federation.

There are always places to sell. I don't think you can ever be sold out.

-- Andretti Sports Marketing CEO & Chair Michael Andretti, on sponsorship packages for the upcoming Formula E race in Miami.

It’s Christopher Columbus setting sail and not really knowing what’s out there. How big is big?

-- Female Sports Group Founder & CEO John Postlethwaite, on opening a consultancy focused solely on women's sports and events.

The fact of the matter is passion is immune to any recession.

-- Octagon Brazil co-Managing Dir Aykan Azar, on the importance of passion in the sports marketing industry.

The whole of France is in mourning.

-- French PM Manuel Valls, after three French Olympic athletes were killed in a helicoper crash in Argentina.

I hope 10 years from now, 20 years from now the smell of exhaust will be as much a thing of the past as the smell of cigarettes at a restaurant.

-- Virgin Founder Richard Branson, on Formula E's potential to be a driving force in making the world carbon neutral by '50.

They couldn't have raced if someone had gone there with a machine gun and put it to their head.

-- F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, on Manor Marussia not fielding a car for the season-opening race in

Melbourne.

I will always oppose boycotts of sport, because I don't think they actually achieve what they set out to do. The only people they really damage are competitors and athletes.

-- British Olympic Association Chair Sebastian Coe, on the Ukrainian president's call to boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

It was either a tongue-in-cheek comment or David woke up this morning thinking he was living in Brazil.

-- Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, responding to FFA CEO David Gallop's claim that football was Australia's true national sport.

It's just sad.

-- Mercedes Non-Exec Chair Niki Lauda, after the '15 German GP was officially canceled by FIA.

Now why does anyone imagine that this Senate would be likely to approve changes that would be clearly as unpopular as that?

-- Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, on rule changes that could push AFL, NRL onto pay-TV channels.

You don't need a third voice at the table when you're negotiating with Kerry Stokes and Rupert Murdoch.

-- Collingwood President Eddie McGuire, on the AFL players' request to be in on TV negotiations.

I have raced my whole career in motorsport as a normal competitor. Why would I ever look for a race where I

Susie Wolff

-- F1 Driver Susie Wolff, on Bernie Ecclestone's proposal for an all-women's series.

I will let the whole world know about those guys who are doing these mischievous things.

-- ICC President Mustafa Kamal, threatening to expose misdeeds within the organization after he was "dishonored" at the Cricket World Cup.