Australian sports and government officials are "formulating plans to bid" for the FIFA World Cup, part of a strategy to "bring a string of major events to Australia before and after" the '32 Brisbane Games. The bid would be for the '30 or '34 World Cup, with Football Australia CEO James Johnson noting that a bid would be a "natural step after a successful joint hosting in two years" of the '23 Women’s World Cup with New Zealand. Johnson said, "There’s a trend. Look at Canada, which hosted the women’s World Cup in 2015 and 11 years later they’re going to host the men’s World Cup with the U.S. (and Mexico). Look at Brazil -- they hosted the World Cup in 2014 and Olympics in 2016."

He also said that he believed the '30 event "was more likely to be awarded to ­Europe or South America." However, Asian countries, including Australia, "would be in contention" for '34, two years after the Brisbane ­Olympics. ­Preliminary discussions between FA and state-based major events officials "have ­already taken place," a "­decade after Australia’s ill-fated pursuit" of the '22 World Cup (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/11).

During Wednesday's events celebrating the arrival of Lionel Messi, PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi "reaffirmed his desire to increase the size of the Parc des Princes in the near future." Increasing the capacity of PSG's 47,900-seat venue is something that has "regularly come up" since Qatar Sports Investments bought the club in '11.  Al-Khelaifi on Wednesday said, "I love the Parc des Princes, but we need to make it bigger. It's important for the future. Every big club has a stadium with 80,000 fans. We can't fall behind." PSG has to "get sign-off from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo" on any major changes to the stadium. Increasing the venue's capacity is an "extremely complex subject" because one of Paris' most-important highways, the peripherique, "passes just under the stadium." PSG's "ultra-modern new training center" in Poissy is "expected to be ready by 2023" (RMC SPORT, 8/11).  

Meanwhile, Messi coming to PSG is "sure to delight" French soccer's domestic TV partners Amazon, Canal+ and RMC Sport, who "surely never imagined they'd have the opportunity to showcase the six-time Ballon d'Or winner." Amazon earlier this year won the rights to 80% of Ligue 1 matches through '23-24 for around €250M ($294M) per season, and the streamer has the "rights to the ten best matches of each season." One TV-rights insider said of Amazon's deal, "They already did great business getting the rights for that price. With Messi in the fold, it would be the steal of the century." Sources said that Canal+, with the rights to the other 20% of matches, "can air Messi up to 22 times" this coming season as part of its deal (L'EQUIPE, 8/11).

LaLiga is confident it will win backing for its €2.7B ($3.2B) tie-up with CVC Capital Partners, despite "fierce opposition" from Barcelona and the threat of legal action from Real Madrid to block the deal. LaLiga has sent clubs a report from its bankers at Rothschild & Co that says the deal -- which values the league at around €24.2B ($28.4B) -- "offers a fair price." The proposal requires the support of 32 of LaLiga’s 42 clubs, which are due to vote on the deal in a secret ballot on Thursday. The private equity deal has become the "latest flashpoint in a long-running power struggle" between LaLiga and two of its most important clubs. LaLiga Corporate Managing Dir José Guerra Álvarez insisted that "without this agreement, without this investment, without this partner, we are going to have difficulties to keep growing our TV rights [in a] difficult market" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/11). 

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said that it is "totally opposed" to LaLiga's plan to sell a stake to CVC. The RFEF says the proposed deal will have "serious implications" for Spanish soccer and is "completely illegal" and "appalling" (SKY SPORTS, 8/11). The RFEF claims it has received complaints from LaLiga and second-division clubs, "without specifying which ones" (MARCA, 8/11).

Even with Lionel Messi’s departure now confirmed, "so much remains uncertain at the club" ahead of its '20-21 LaLiga season opener against Real Sociedad on Sunday. Negotiations between club President Joan Laporta and most of the squad over taking "significant further pay cuts" have yet to be resolved, while "many players are going through pre-season well aware that the club have been trying hard to sell them." The "worrying thing for Barcelona is it may only get worse before it might get better." One source said, "Maybe what you need to do is reduce everybody’s salary by 50 percent. But that is tough as everybody is fighting for something different." The small print of La Liga’s financial control rules "does not make Barcelona’s situation any easier" (THE ATHLETIC, 8/11).

Barcelona's Messi shirts for the '21-22 season disappeared from official team stores after the Argentine signed with PSG, and now Nike will "be in charge of deciding what to do once the shirts have been returned," but significant economic losses are not expected. Sources close to Barcelona's team stores "explain that Nike sends them unpersonalized shirts and the material for names and numbers separately" (EFE, 8/11).

ManU is partnering with American food and water safety company Ecolab to implement hygiene solutions at Old Trafford stadium and the Carrington training ground. The EPL club will work with Ecolab to create a cleaner environment for fans and promote public health. All areas of Old Trafford and Carrington are being equipped with Ecolab hand disinfectant. ManU will look to deliver a higher level of cleanliness based on protocols, training and audits that will eventually earn the Club the official Ecolab Science Certified seal. A customized textile care solution for ManU's laundry will aim to deliver improved quality, safety, and sustainability when washing kits and linens; and the groundskeeping team will be advised on how to optimize the quality of water used to irrigate pitches. Ecolab also has designated an in-house expert to advise ManU and oversee implementation of the new solutions and technology (ManU).

EPL side Crystal Palace "secured new investment" from American businessman John Textor. The club announced that Textor, "perhaps best known for his work in visual effects in the film industry in Hollywood," has joined as an investor and director alongside Chair Steve Parish and American co-Owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer. Parish retains a controlling 18% stake in Palace, and it is understood Texter has bought a "substantial minority holding." Palace has been seeking fresh investment and Parish has said the deal with Textor will "help to facilitate the rejuvenation of the squad," suggesting it will "boost transfer funds available to Palace as they continue to overhaul their squad" under new Manager Patrick Vieira (London EVENING STANDARD, 8/11). Textor was "close to buying shares in Benfica earlier this summer" until Benfica President Luis Filipe Vieira was placed under house arrest over allegations of tax fraud and money laundering in July (SKY SPORTS, 8/11).

Berlin-based gaming and esports full-service agency Freaks 4U Gaming announced that it has secured a €15M ($17.58M) investment from Co-Investor Partners to drive the company’s growth and expansion plans. The investment marks a first for both, as Freaks 4U Gaming raises its first funding since it was established in '11 and Co-Investor Partners makes its first investment into the gaming and esports ecosystem becoming a minority shareholder of Freaks 4U Gaming. Leading up to the investment, Freaks 4U Gaming worked with Denis Kuhn and Christian Blasberg from CARRY Corporate Finance -- a European M&A and corporate finance advisory boutique completely focusing on the international gaming and esports industry -- to identify and approach potential investors that are a good fit for the company, including the private equity investor Co-Investor Partner, which is focused on mid-sized growth companies in German-speaking countries (Tobias Seck, SBJ).

AC Milan named crypto brand BitMEX its first sleeve sponsor in a multi-year deal starting in '21-22. The BitMEX brand will be featured on the sleeve of both the men's and women’s team's playing kit and on the sleeve of AC Milan's esports team, AQM, another first for the club (AC Milan).

Real Madrid is naming Unicaja its new financial partner, replacing Liberbank. With Unicaja and Liberbank merging, Real Madrid is "changing banks, but not partners" (2PLAYBOOK, 8/11).

LaLiga side Real Betis named telecom Finetwork its shirt sponsor in a three-year deal starting with the '21-22 season, with the option to extend for two more seasons (Real Betis).

Topps released its first ever Bundesliga NFT trading cards Wednesday through its website via the Avalanche blockchain platform (Topps).

Spanish pay-TV broadcaster Movistar+ has secured the rights to broadcast the Bundesliga through the '23-24 season (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 8/11).

Soccer experiences company TOCA Football, which recently completed a Series E funding round of $40M, appointed Chicago Red Stars Co-Owner and NFL Senior VP Julie Haddon to its Board of Directors (TOCA).

National Rugby League clubs estimate they will lose A$22M this season "after being forced to move en masse to Queensland to ensure the competition could continue" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/11).

The Australian Olympic Committee has "lashed the South Australian government for imposing additional quarantine on a group of athletes returning to that state from Tokyo via Sydney, meaning they will be in isolation for 28 days" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 8/11).

"It is impossible that I have had any influence neither on the departure of Messi nor on any other decision of FC Barcelona" -- Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, responding to an accusation that he convinced Barcelona President Joan Laporta to "let Messi go" and not accept LaLiga selling a stake of its business to CVC (ESPN.com, 8/11).

"We can’t be more competitive than this team. He has no excuse to do something else. We can’t be more competitive than this team. He has no excuse to do something else" -- PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi, when asked about the future of Kylian Mbappe (N.Y. TIMES, 8/11).

"Sports really capture the imagination of literally billions of people. We aspire to reach those billions of people. Is it opportunistic? I don’t think so. The timing happened to line up" -- FTX COO Sina Nader, on the trend of crypto companies sponsoring prominent teams and leagues (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/9).

The N.Y. Times' Ryan Mac & Tariq Panja examine how Facebook has "failed to stem racist abuse of England’s soccer players."

The Ringer's Michael Baumann addresses LaLiga's talks with CVC, writing that the "creeping involvement of private equity is the real threat" to the league, not "Barcelona’s financial troubles or Messi playing in a different blue and red top a few hundred miles northeast."

PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi: “We follow Financial Fair Play regulation since the day 1. Before we do anything, our financial team checks everything. We had the capacity to sign Messi for Financial Fair Play and we will always follow the rules”. 🇫🇷 #PSG #Messi

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 11, 2021

McLaren Racing is delighted to introduce its first ever #ExtremeE driver, @TannerFoust. 🙌

Welcome to the team, Tanner. 🧡

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 11, 2021

#LFC and @Sonos, the world's leading sound experience brand, have signed a multi-year agreement which will welcome Sonos as the official sound partner to the Reds. Find out more 👇

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 10, 2021