Tariq Panja
@tariqpanja.bsky.social
18K followers 140 following 940 posts
⚽️💰🚓 Co-author Football's Secret Trade| NYT Global Sports Correspondent| ✉️[email protected] |[email protected]|
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Reposted by Tariq Panja
gdunbarap.bsky.social
Note the hierarchy in play here...
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Not the only game in town.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Perhaps threat of a wider legal problem here but then again why get into bed with an organisation that is pushing something that you fundamentally oppose? Relevent’s position on this issue has been very clear from long before Uefa entered into agreement with it.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Uefa going out of its way to disavow something it has actually approved is a real head scratcher. Reminder that Relevent, which filed the lawsuit in favour of overseas games in the US, is a Uefa partner. 😵‍💫
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Uefa clears Spanish and Italian leagues’ plans for overseas games. Says they are two exceptional cases but opposes principle. So Barcelona-Villarreal in Miami and Milan-Como in Perth, Aus.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Uefa clears Spanish and Italian leagues’ plans for overseas games. Says they are two exceptional cases but opposes principle. So Barcelona-Villarreal in Miami and Milan-Como in Perth, Aus.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Perhaps another reminder that inequality is growing across the developed world.
bloomberg.com
From extra legroom to lie-flat beds, major US carriers are unveiling new plane cabins that expand premium seats and cut back in coach.
Airlines Go Beyond First Class to Adapt to Luxury-Seeking Flyers
Major US carriers are unveiling new plane cabins that expand premium seats and cut back in economy
bloom.bg
Reposted by Tariq Panja
petergeoghegan.bsky.social
A backbench Labour MP posed with the Premier League trophy.

Photograph snapped, she thanked the league’s reps: “Hopefully I’ll see you guys in parliament. Anything I can do to help, let me know.”

Me from Labour conference:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/labour-and...
Labour's lobbyist friends
I went to Liverpool this week. I found lots of "Labour specialist" lobbyists, and barely a word on cleaning up politics.
democracyforsale.substack.com
tariqpanja.bsky.social
All for the good of the game.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
More than two dozen new committees created by Infantino in last year, positions that will allow more random FA officials from nations that vote for the FIFA president every four years to get paid. Hard to square all this with need to have excessively high ticket prices to fund world football.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
The FIFA point that they are squeezing World Cup until the pips squeak because all the money is invested in football would carry far more weight if the shear amount of money wasted on grace and favour position, executive travel and luxury accommodations wasn’t so blatantly visible.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
FIFA has very strict demands on host countries, imposes tax exemptions and so on. They should have made the resale of tickets/price gouging a condition of taking the World Cup to North America if they were so concerned about the legal basis of resellers affecting the World Cup. They didn’t.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Already spending far more than they probably should to attend World Cups given economic circumstances many fans from Latin America face enormous costs in 2026 (if they’re let into the US). FIFA’s argument is the N. America. resale markets mean funds would leave football but this hits fans in pocket
tariqpanja.bsky.social
The FIFA pricing model for the World Cup penalises teams with the most loyal traveling support, typically this has been fans from across South America in recent tournaments. 2014/18/22 they brought the noise/numbers. Dynamic pricing model means FIFA will profit from their passion.
Reposted by Tariq Panja
theathletic.com
LIV Golf Ltd, the United Kingdom-based entity which manages the upstart golf league’s activities outside of the United States, lost £461.8million in 2024 ($590.1million).

🔗 theathletic.com/6686158/?sou...
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Protests in Morocco with youth complaining about among other things prioritising massive spending on World Cup projects over more urgent public needs. Eerily similar to what happened in Brazil 2013/14.
mamjahid.bsky.social
Morocco witnessed some of its most significant anti-government protests in years over the weekend, as youth-led demonstrators clashed with police, decrying what they termed the government's misaligned priorities.
Moroccans clash with police during protests against World Cup spending
Slogans included ‘Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?’
www.independent.co.uk
tariqpanja.bsky.social
The deal is now public. Subject to completion it would become the largest purchase of a publicly traded company to date.
Reposted by Tariq Panja
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Not mentioned in this story but the other investor Silver Lake, which owns a bit of Man City, has significant UAE state investment in its tech fund. So should EA takeover go through, the company will be heavily backed by two Gulf regimes, both have invested in Trump’s son-in-law too.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
The biggest single revenue stream for this company is the FIFA game, or what’s now known as the FC series. Worth billions to the business and FIFA had promised a new video game years ago, which Gianni said would be even better. That has so far failed to materialised. Was worth $150m/yr to FIFA.
tariqpanja.bsky.social
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has been spending billions in video games companies, and now if this deal goes ahead he will be a major owner of EA which acrimoniously split with FIFA, another Saudi partner, a few years back. The Kushner firm - in which KSA invested - a vehicle for this.
Reposted by Tariq Panja
frankctangberg.bsky.social
FYI. Amnesty International calling for the suspension of the IFA from FIFA and UEFA bsky.app/profile/fran...