BT make their move

THE £4billion Premier League TV rights tender goes into a second round this morning with revised bids due by midday. The seven packages are expected to be awarded later in the day.

Although the Discovery Channel and BEIN Sports have shown interest, the most likely scenario is that Sky will retain four prime packages while BT get an increased number of games, up to 56 out of the 168 live matches being sold per season for three years. Overall, the likely cost will be around £8m per game.

However, retaining the 4pm Sunday slot package (which has the most first picks attached to it) will allow Sky to dominate the choice of games, as they have done since the start of the Barclays Premier League.

THE

FA, whose relationship with FIFA can hardly get worse, are further exasperated by Zurich not only dumping the regulation of agents back on national associations but also banning third-party ownership across world football but not giving proper guidance as to how this will work. This follows the FIFA executive decision to ban emergency loans between clubs despite the FIFA executive and players status committee supporting the practice — as do the whole of English football. ENGLAND’S Ashes-winning women’s cricket team have posed in contemporary ball gowns for a magazine photoshoot in the Lord’s Long Room for sponsors Waitrose.

The original idea was for them to wear Downton Abbey style dresses. Not a good move after the ‘Downton Shabby’ Twitter attack launched on England cricket chief Paul Downton by Kevin Pietersen’s cheerleader, Piers Morgan.