Barcelona President Joan Laporta said that negotiations to keep Lionel Messi at the club "are over" and that he does not want to generate "false hope" that the situation could be fixed. Laporta explained on Friday that the "disastrous" situation inherited from the previous board and "LaLiga's rigid spending limits have made keeping Messi impossible." Laporta said the only way to keep Messi would have been to "accept the deal proposed by LaLiga this week," which would have seen 10% of the league's business sold to CVC. Weighing up the "pros and cons" of the CVC deal, Laporta said that "no one is bigger than the club and that accepting the terms of the sale could have put the club at risk in the long term" (ESPN.com, 8/6). Sources suggested Barcelona hopes the announcement of the departure of LaLiga’s biggest star "will force the league to relax its rules" (LONDON TIMES, 8/5).

PSG is the club "best positioned to land Messi," although it still "remains to be seen if the French club can pull it off economically" given Financial Fair Play regulations (RMC SPORT, 8/6). It is “difficult to see how the club could cut costs enough” over the next year to make Messi’s contract FFP-compliant. For PSG, the “absolute priority” is extending the contract of F Kylian Mbappe “rather than launching an all-out attack for Messi” (L’EQUIPE, 8/6).

Messi "will continue his career with PSG, barring a major surprise." The Parisian club "is the only one capable of acquiring his services." There have already been talks between Messi and PSG, "which have been admitted to by Manager Mauricio Pochettino, and it is expected that in the coming weeks, Messi's arrival in Paris will be confirmed" (MARCA, 8/6).

Messi's exit from Barcelona dominated headlines across Europe. Below are a sample of some of the reactions from the continent's top media outlets:

• Reuters' Marc Jones: Messi's departure "confirmed what many fans have feared for years -- star player wages are now so stratospheric that they risk bankrupting even the grandest clubs."
• The London Times' Henry Winter: "Lionel Messi’s bitter Barcelona exit is strange, sad and wrong."
• As' Alfredo Relano: "Messi leaves. It was beatiful while it lasted."
• Ryan O'Hanlon (writing for GQ): "Lionel Messi’s Barcelona Career Is the History of Modern Soccer."
• The London Telegraph's Sam Wallace: "Disastrous spending, a rancorous presidency and power struggles - Barcelona has betrayed Lionel Messi."

The Australian Olympic Committee is "spearheading a fresh funding pitch" to the Australian government for a "green and gold runway" of an extra A$130M ($95.6M) over four years to "appropriately invest in the sports industry" for the '32 Brisbane Games and the "generation of athletes to follow afterwards." This comes as the Australian Commonwealth Games Federation is in talks with the New South Wales government to host the '26 Commonwealth Games. The AOC and Commonwealth Games have written a 54-page report on behalf of 42 sports, which has been "well received by the Federal government."

Aussie sports have "long argued that they have been underfunded in real terms since the halcyon days of the Sydney Olympics" -- this year to the tune of nearly $60M ($44M). Federal Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck said that Canberra gives sport A$480M ($353M) over four years and is "looking at other ways to fund sport" rather than to "whack the taxpayer." This includes looking to boost philanthropic donations from the current A$50M ($37M) a year to levels of the arts, around A$300M ($221M) a year (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/6).

FINA has increased its prize money pool for the upcoming World Swimming Championships, which will be held in Abu Dhabi in December. The short course event will now have a total prize purse of more than $2.8 million, the largest total payout for any FINA event in history. Payouts for individual events have been increased by 50%, and the organization has also added a $50,000 bonus for world records set at the meet.

The prize money increase is one of the first major initiatives under new FINA president Husain Al Musallam, who was elected in June. Al Musallam has advocated for prioritizing athlete support and giving athletes a greater share of decision-making power; at his acceptance speech earlier this summer, he said FINA would become the first IF to institute democratic elections for active athletes. A bigger prize purse is also likely intended to help attract the sport’s top competitors, an important consideration given the recent launch of the rival International Swimming League. The ISL’s 2021 season is slated to begin later this month.

The rules on free-to-air broadcasters’ access to sports events including the Olympics are "set to be reviewed" following a recommendation to the U.K. government by broadcast regulator Ofcom. There has been a "furore" around the BBC trading its full broadcast rights for Tokyo 2020 with Discovery "in return for reduced rights for these Games, the Beijing Winter Olympics next year and Paris 2024." A response from Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes' letter to to MP Damian Green revealed the regulator is recommending that rules around listed events, "sports events which must be shown on free-to-air channels such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4," be "updated" as part of a government white paper this fall.

Dawes' letter to Green states the BBC/Discovery Olympics deal does "not need Ofcom consent as the pay-TV operator does not have exclusive rights." She adds: “The BBC’s current partial rights package is entirely compliant with the legislation.” The letter states however the Olympics “are unlikely to be available on public service channels without regulatory intervention." The government will be considering Ofcom’s recommendations "as part of its strategic review of public sector broadcasting" (LONDON TIMES, 8/6).

French net Canal+ "will honor its agreement" to purchase the rights to 20% of Ligue 1 matches from beIN Sports and "will air those matches" starting on Saturday after the Nanterre commercial court sided with beIN Sports in litigation involving the two nets. Canal+ pays beIN Sports €332M ($390M) a year for the rights under a sub-license agreement, which the Qatari net in return pays to Ligue 1's governing body, the French Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP). Canal+ has said that it will "appeal the decision," but it is "required to pay" beIN Sports in the interim (L'EQUIPE, 8/6). Sources said that Canal+ on Friday "sent payment" to beIN Sports for its first installment for this season's rights, which was for €56M ($66M) (L'EQUIPE, 8/6).

The court's ruling is "another success" for the LFP and Ligue 1, after it got a legal victory over beIN Sports in a Paris court earlier this week. Canal+ said it was "leaving Ligue 1" after Amazon surprisingly won the domestic rights to 80% of Ligue 1 matches through '23-24, for which it will pay a reported €250M ($294M) per season. BeIN Sports is still taking the LFP "to the European court, alleging 'abuse of dominant market position,'" so Ligue 1 "still has legal challenges to deal with" regarding its TV rights future (L'EQUIPE, 8/6).

Juventus has been "forced into an apology" after a tweet was posted on the official account of the women’s team which showed one of their players making an offensive eye gesture. The post was live for around 25 minutes before it was deleted. The tweet attracted "universal condemnation," with the club being accused of "blatant racism." Juventus then posted an apology which read, "We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone. Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination." The offensive tweet showed Juventus D Cecilia Salvai "using her fingers to narrow her eyes while she also wore a red training cone on her head." Keith Olbermann tweeted, "Another one of those ‘we’re sorry if YOU are offended’ non-apology apology. It’s blatant racism, Juventus. Acknowledge it, apologise, ask for forgiveness." Earlier this year, Juventus described itself as being “at the forefront of the fight against discrimination" (London GUARDIAN, 8/5).

Turkish grocery delivery service Getir has signed a three-year partnership with Tottenham to become the EPL team’s newest global partner. The deal is the company’s "first sports tie-up since it launched in London in January." It now operates in Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton, Cardiff, Liverpool and Bristol, with plans for further outposts in 15 U.K. cities by the end of the year. Getir branding will appear across stadium advertising for the first time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend for the preseason game with Arsenal. Financial details have "not been disclosed," but it comes at a "critical time" for Tottenham, which expects to take a £200M ($277M) revenue hit from the absence of crowds at matches (London EVENING STANDARD, 8/6).

EPL side West Ham's owners "insist they will not sell the club to PAI Capital," with club sources accusing the consortium of being "property developers" rather than "football people." PAI, which is funded by Azerbaijani millionaire Nasib Piriyev and includes former Queens Park Rangers CEO Philip Beard, announced on Thursday night that they had "outlined an agreement with the owners of the London Stadium to take control of the ground should a bid be accepted." An informal approach to buy the club was made to co-Owner David Sullivan in February and firmly rejected. Sullivan recently described the offer as "derisory," though Beard claims it "matched the price asked" by Sullivan. The two sides "also dispute whether proof of funds were provided." PAI Capital claims it wants to "overhaul the stadium and surrounding area, but no progress on that front can ever be made by the consortium unless they have control of the club" (London EVENING STANDARD, 8/6).

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The bulk of the British & Irish Lions rugby squad "will be forced to quarantine in Jersey" after the U.K. Government "rejected the touring squad’s request for an exemption." With South Africa remaining on the government’s red list, English, Scottish and Welsh players "will not be allowed to fly directly home when the Test series against South Africa concludes this weekend" (London TELEGRAPH, 8/6).

F1’s income "continued to bounce back" in the second quarter of '21 after the first part of last season was "wiped out by the COVID pandemic." No races were held from April-June in '20, and F1 claimed income of just $24M, but this year, with seven Grands Prix taking place during those three months, income rebounded to $501M (MOTORSPORT, 8/6).

The '21-22 rugby Allianz Premier 15s season will "incorporate a new cup competition in its fixtures" intended to give more players game time in the international window (BBC, 8/6).

"I know there are programs to promote women, I know (AFL coaching development manager) Julia Lawrence and (AFL general manager of women’s football) Nic Livingstone are trying to redress the imbalance but more advocacy needs to be done. We need men supporting us as well" -- former Australian netball coach Lisa Alexander, calling for the Australian Football League to address gender inequality (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/6).

The Athletic's Steph Yang reacts to Juventus Women's offensive tweet, writing, "Juventus Women casually makes racist tweet, offers bad apology, and I’m very tired."

The London Times' Rick Broadbent reacts to nine-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi's retirement under the headline, "Farewell Valentino Rossi – you were witty, wicked and wild."

The Athletic's Paul Taylor examines how 35-year-old former soccer player Dane Murphy became CEO of League Championship club Nottingham Forest.

With PSG potentially so close to Lionel Messi, it cannot be underestimated how much of a coup his arrival would be for Ligue 1 after some savage recent beatings. Barcelona’s awful mismanagement could, in a way, help to undo some of French football’s self-inflicted damage.

— Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) August 6, 2021

Marca with a nice infographic on Messi’s time at Barca. pic.twitter.com/87RDGSmBQG

— Brendy Boyle (@BrendyBoyle) August 6, 2021

pic.twitter.com/x5nXkyvqo1

— Harry Kane (@HKane) August 6, 2021

PSG have reportedly booked the Eiffel Tower on August 10th for reasons unknown ( via Jose Alvarez/ El ChiringuitoTv) 👀

The last time PSG booked the Eiffel Tower it was to welcome Neymar Jr. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/NcDUNacmSX

— International Champions Cup (@IntChampionsCup) August 6, 2021

📰 Launching soon, the $LUFC Fan Token will create new experiences for Leeds supporters across the world

— Leeds United (@LUFC) August 5, 2021