«Сумма» поможет показать футбол
The new season of Zenit’s (of Saint Petersburg) matches will possibly be broadcasted by Saint Petersburg TV channel. As the channel’s General Director recently told newspaper Vedomosti, negotiations are almost finished. In his words, these are centered on the live broadcast of 15 of Zenit home games and 15 recorded away games.
TV rights to Zenit and other teams’ games are owned by Liga-TV, a subsidiary of the Russian Football Premier League (RFPL). The RFPL’s founders are the teams that play in the league itself.
A source at Liga-TV has confirmed that negotiations are underway. In the words of Boyarsky, the deal with Liga-TV will include broadcasting of Zenit’s matches in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and could be signed today. The sum of the deal has not been disclosed. According to information from Fontanka.ru, the figure could be around 80 million rubles. Boyarsky says it isn’t far off the mark.
Liga-TV representatives are not commenting on negotiations or the financial details.
Boyarsky claims that the funds for the Liga-TV contract (air time for showing the matches will be given for free) will come from Summa Group. A Summa Group representative confirmed intentions to “provide free broadcasting of Zenit matches in the 2014/15 season as part of the Russian Championship”. Upon hearing of the problem with the free broadcasts, Summa Group offered to help, says the newspaper’s source: “The team is one of the city’s symbols. Lots of Saint Petersburg residents closely follow their matches and will be totally disappointed if they can’t watch the new season’s games on a public TV channel”.
The Russian Football Championship kicks off today but as yet no public TV broadcast agreement has been reached. Currently it has been announced that 30 out of the 240 matches will be aired by NTV with a more complete broadcast to be aired on the paid channel NTV-plus and Nash Football.
Summa will be mentioned as a sponsor during the airing of the matches says a representative of the Group. According to Boyarsky, Summa will also be mentioned as a sponsor during the football talk show that will be aired on the channel. However, retail brands that the average consumer is familiar with aren’t a part of Summa. Summa is made up of transportation companies FESCO and NCSP, construction companies Stroynovatsiya and Intex, Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company, a share in the United Grain Company and others.
But, as the Summa representative notes, advertising isn’t the main thing. The Group is already working on a few sport projects. And, as the representative emphasizes, Saint Petersburg is a city which the company has long been working in.
SUMMA AND SPORT
In recent years Summa Group has been actively investing in sports projects. Last year Summa became the co-owner of the Continental Hockey League club Admiral from Vladivostok. The Group has decided to invest in Admiral since the Far East is one of the key regions for the Group. Bought by Summa in 2012, FESCO’s main assets are concentrated in the Far East. In addition, Summa financed the creation of the Academy of Martial Arts in Dagestan, acts as the sponsor of the Sambo Federation and supports a number of other sports projects.