Posts tagged 'soccer'

The economics of EURO 2012

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 08 2012 21:08 | Comment |

No, we’re not talking about stuff like this…

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Mervyn Maradona

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jun 23 2011 11:56 | Comment |

The Bank of England governor is a rule-breaker, just like Argentinian football star Diego Maradona.

So says Malcolm Barr over at JPMorgan: Read more

Soccer club’s sale to Red Sox owner faces battle

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Oct 07 2010 09:27 | Comment |

Two of the world’s largest sports franchises will come under joint ownership if the Boston Red Sox wins a legal battle to buy Liverpool soccer club for £300m, the FT says. New England Sports Ventures, which owns the baseball team, and the Liverpool board exchanged contracts on Wednesday but must overcome opposition from Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the US owners of the indebted English club. The BBC reports that Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton is “confident” the sale can be done. Read more

Higher GDP makes footballers more attractive

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Aug 18 2010 08:38 | Comment |

Some August fun below.

A new paper from the University of Toronto’s Feng Chi and Nathan Yang seeks to determine whether there’s a link between social status and wealth. In particular, it tries to examine a possible connection via the perceived social status of 2010 World Cup football players and their country’s GDP per capita. Read more

Spurs 1 – Autonomy 0

| Jul 22 2010 10:00 | Comment |

Just weeks after signing a deal to have its name emblazoned on the shirts of Tottenham Hotspur, shares in FTSE 100 software company Autonomy have dropped following the publication of half year results, reports FT Alphaville. And there’s plenty for the bears to chew over: earnings are lower than expected in spite of a lower tax rate, costs are rising, cash conversion was just OK, and that’s before R&D capitalisation is considered. Read more

World Cup final an all-European encounter

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jul 07 2010 03:21 | Comment |

Sunday’s World Cup final will be an all-European encounter – just as it was four years ago – after Holland overcame Uruguay 3-2 in Cape Town in the first semi-final, the FT says. They will contest the final in Soweto against either Germany or Spain who meet in Wednesday’s second semi-final in Durban. Separately, the FT reports that Barcelona, whose players will make up the bulk of Spain’s team in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against Germany, are seeking a €150m loan to help pay player and staff wages. FT Alphaville has the stock market implications of a Holland-Germany final. Read more

England team seeks new sponsor

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jul 05 2010 03:20 | Comment |

Marketing departments will have to weigh the benefits of being associated with the England football team now that Nationwide is set to end its sponsorship deal after 11 years, according to the FT. The country’s largest building society is unlikely to renew its £20m, four-year contract with the Football Association after the two parties were unable to agree a price. Read more

Crédit Agricole pulls World Cup ads

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jun 22 2010 03:15 | Comment |

France’s World Cup campaign, crippled by dire performances on the pitch, internal strife and a players’ strike, went from bad to worse when Crédit Agricole pulled an advertising campaign and sponsors demanded action by the country’s football authorities, says the FT. The French bank said on Monday it had stopped early the advertising campaign, due to run until June 25, “in view of the current controversy surrounding the French national team”. Read more

The World Cup effect

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jun 18 2010 12:30 | Comment |

Standard Chartered says markets have drifted higher over the last fortnight because of the World Cup effect, reports FT Alphaville. Which suggests Europe should perhaps forget the European Financial Stability Fund, and focus on organising the European Football Soccer Federation, to hold a tournament forthwith. Read more

Take on the World Cup quants

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jun 09 2010 08:55 | Comment |

Data prediction site, Kaggle, has, er, borrowed FT Alphaville’s prize collection of World Cup notes.

But, being the light-hearted new media types that we are, we won’t hold that against them. Read more

Wage demands pose Premier League threat

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jun 08 2010 03:08 | Comment |

England’s Premier League has maintained its ranking as the leading European football moneyspinner by turnover but its profitability remains threatened by the wage demands of players and their agents, says the FT. Buoyant gate receipts and TV revenues helped England’s top flight to generate nearly £2bn ($3bn) last year, a report by business adviser Deloitte said. Read more

Two very different quant models say Brazil will win World Cup

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 28 2010 08:40 | Comment |

Continuing our recent theme of financial analysts-turned-soccer-experts, we bring you a Friday edition of 2010 World Cup predictions, FT Alphaville writes. Brazil looks like a winner — thanks to some rather… odd quant criteria. Read more

England sponsor confident England will lose

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 27 2010 08:52 | Comment |

Not really (probably).

However, England-squad sponsor Nationwide are offering four-year ‘football bonds’ with a bonus, should the team win the 2010 World Cup: Read more

England to win World Cup, says JPM quant model

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 18 2010 08:30 | Comment |

With the 2010 World Cup a mere three weeks away, the trickle of investment bank World Cup research continues apace. Yes, suddenly all the analysts have become football experts going on bookies, reports FT Alphaville. According to the quants, Brazil is seen as the strongest team taking part in the tournament but the world cup winners will be England. Read more

World Cup visitor forecast down 23%

| Apr 21 2010 21:54 | Comment |

The number of foreign visitors to the football World Cup in South Africa will be about 110,000 fewer than originally forecast, the FT said, citing a report by consultancy group Grant Thornton. The recession, slow ticket sales in Africa and high prices will combine to depress the number of arrivals for the event in June, the report said. Read more

Fresh Arsenal takeover battle looms

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Apr 13 2010 03:19 | Comment |

The prospect of a fresh takeover battle for Arsenal edged closer on Monday night after the Premier League football club’s fourth-biggest shareholder decided to put her stake up for sale, the FT says. Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, who was ousted from the Arsenal board in 2008, is understood to have hired bankers at Blackstone, the private equity group, to find a buyer for her 15.9 per cent stake in the club. Read more

Chart du jour, European soccernomics edition

| Mar 05 2010 14:52 | Comment |

From our cousins at the Economist, a nifty graphic of Europe’s most valuable football fans:

Europe's most valuable football fans - The Economist

The Economist

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