Frank Dunne

Seamus O’Brien, the executive chairman of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, strongly defended the level of the company’s investment in its recent renewal with the Confederation of African Football.

The International Champions Cup friendly tournament is thought to have broken the $100m (€89m) income barrier this summer. Its organisers, US-based Relevent Sports, expect continued growth in the coming seasons.

Italy’s top basketball league, Lega Basket Serie A, is satisfied with the outcome of its recent domes-tic rights negotiations, even though total fees remain well below the level of five years ago.

The global betting rights for Spain’s LaLiga will come to the market this summer, at a time when the betting rights market is reaching a fever pitch due to the aggressive entrance of the IMG Events & Media agency.

Several major sports-rights agencies are trying to buy Traffic Sports’s rights portfolio in the wake of the Fifa bribery scandal in which the agency is implicated.

The value of Premier League internet rights increased hugely in deals in China, but the value of digital clips in the UK remained flat in this week’s deal with Sky.

Interview with Michel Masquelier, chairman of IMG Events & Media, on the agency’s increasing expansion into the betting rights market.

The Italian rugby federation said this week its recent deals covering domestic and international rights will help the game continue to develop at home and abroad, while providing financial security for the sport in Italy.

Interview with Alfredo Gavazzi, president of the Federazione Italiana Rugby, on the Italian rugby federation’s recent domestic and international rights deals.