La Liga side Real Betis launched its "No hay palabras, sólo hechos" ("There are no words, only facts") season ticket campaign for the upcoming season. The campaign "has several key points: there will be a price increase of about 15%, fans with tickets in the Gol Sur zone will be moved due to construction and the club will maintain the same prices next season" (AS, 6/9).
Talks over the sale of a majority stake in AC Milan to a group of Chinese investors have reportedly "not been affected" by the hospitalization of former PM Silvio Berlusconi. The Berlusconi family holding company Fininvest, which owns the whole of AC Milan, "started exclusive non-binding talks with the Chinese consortium in May, in an effort to seek an outside investor able to inject new capital." The 79-year-old center-right leader and media mogul "was admitted to hospital on Monday suffering from what his doctors called a cardiac deficiency" (REUTERS, 6/9).
Police have launched a formal investigation into National Rugby League side Parramatta Eels, "raising the prospect of fraud charges being laid as a result of the NRL's investigation into salary cap rorting." New South Wales Police Force Commander of the Fraud & Cyber Crime Squad Arthur Katsogiannis "broke the news to club officials on Thursday." The development comes as the club "prepares its response to the NRL breach notice" by Friday's deadline. An NSW Police spokesperson said, "Following a review of the report, an investigation has commenced. At this stage, no other information is available." Five key officials -- Parramatta Chair Steve Sharp, Deputy Tom Issa, Football Manager Daniel Anderson, CEO John Boulous and Dir Peter Serrao -- are alleged to "have arranged, or been aware of, payments to players outside of the game's rules" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/9).
After 16 years under Brian Kennedy’s control, Premiership rugby side Sale Sharks have been sold to corporate acquisitions and investment firm CorpAcq Ltd., run by Simon Orange and supported by BetFred Founder Fred Done and others. CorpAcq is aiming to build on Sale’s success in the Premiership, is targeting a "top spot" and will invest in the senior squad as well as the academy and the commercial team. The CorpAcq group is made up of 42 different companies with a combined turnover of £130M ($188.2M), according to companies house (RUNNING RUGBY, 6/9).
