Thursday, September 10, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
Soccer club sold for $1 billion
hefty purchase causes commotion
The Associated Press
LONDON — Rupert Murdoch will pay $1 billion for famed soccer club Manchester United in what would be the highest price for a sports team.
The offer was nearly double the amount paid by billionaire Alfred Lerner to buy the NFL's new Cleveland Browns, the costiest team transaction in U.S. sports. Lerner paid the league $300 million, including $44 million for stadium costs.
The board of Manchester United agreed yesterday to sell the team to Murdoch's BSkyB satellite television company. The sale must be approved by shareholders and the government.
If the deal goes through, Murdoch's media empire will own two of the most prized teams in sports. In March, he took control of baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers.
Los Angeles, Brooklyn
However, the price for Manchester United far outstripped the $350 million that Fox Sports, a division of Murdoch's News Corp., paid for the Dodgers in March — a record price for a baseball team.
Murdoch's purchase of the soccer team evoked a storm of protest from fans and some lawmakers. Many charged it would give the Australian-born tycoon a stranglehold on televising Premier League soccer. A fans club vowed to deal the.
"We've certainly not betrayed our supporters," said Martin Edwards, Manchester United chief executive, at a news conference. "We've secured a safe future for them."
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor
Party government reiterated that the takeover would be referred to the Office of Fair Trading.
The issue is sensitive for Blair. The Murdoch-owned Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily newspaper, switched support from the Conservative Party to Labor at national elections last year, and Blair is vulnerable to charges of owing Murdoch a favor.
As well as concerns about a major broadcaster now owning a major soccer club, the criticism reflected strong emotional attachments to Manchester United.
Asked how many times Murdoch had visited Old Trafford, the club's stadium, BSkyB chief executive Martin Booth said: "It is not relevant whether Mr. Murdoch goes to the game or not."
He also denied BSkyB had struck the deal because its sole rights to
broadcast Premier League games expires in 2001.
"Murdoch wants to sit on one side of the table offering a price for televised games, then move round and sit on the other side for Manchester United, accepting or rejecting it," said Joe Ashton, a Labor lawmaker who is chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on soccer. "That can't be fair."
But rivals, invoking Manchester United's nickname, stoked the criticism.
The Sun, under a front-page headline "It's A Deal," and the other big British daily newspaper owned by Murdoch's News Corp., The Times of London, reported the takeover enthusiastically.
"Sold To The Red Devil," announced The Mirror, alongside a front-page picture of Murdoch with horns.
Iowa State-Iowa rivalry becomes legacy
Cyclones seek win against Hawkeyes after 15 defeats
The Associated Press
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Have hope, Cyclone fans. Iowa used to beat Wisconsin and Northwestern like a drum, too, until only recently.
The worm may have turned in those series. Wisconsin won 13-10 last year after not winning the previous 18 seasons. Northwestern has beaten Iowa three straight seasons but was 0-21 before that.
This Saturday, it is Iowa State's turn to stop the madness and start its own streak.
The Streak.
The Cyclones haven't beaten their in-state rival since a 19-7 victory in 1982. That's 15 straight games. That in itself should provide loads of incentive for the Cyclones, who were swamped 63-20 a year ago at Ames.
But incentive works both ways, too.
The Hawkeyes don't want to be remembered as the team that blew
so many years," said senior defensive tackle Jared DeVries, of Aplington, Iowa.
Even to out-of-state Hawkeyes, the annual game is a biggie.
"It's special to me because we have a lot of guys on the team here from the state of Iowa. We know that this game means a lot to them, just like when we play Illinois, that game means a lot to me," said senior Eric Thippen of Dolton, III.
It is understandable that the seniors want to keep their record unblemished against the Cyclones. That attitude, season after season, keeps rubbing off on the youngsters.
Kahili Hill, who made his first start in last week's 38-0 win against Central Michigan, didn't know anything about the intense rivalry among players and fans when his family moved from Buffalo, N.Y., to Iowa City four years ago.
But after an indocrination by his teammates, the redshirt freshman
would like nothing better than to burn the Cyclones with a punt
return touchdown and a kick off
return touchdown, just as he did
against the Chippewas last weeke-
end.
"It's a big week. I never knew about the in-state rivalry until I got here, but I quickly learned they want to beat the Cyclones, and the Cyclones want to beat the Hawks," Hill said.
"Expectations are high around here. We don't want to lose and break the streak," he said.
Iowa coach Hayden Fry cannot be accused, publicly at least, of stoking the Hawkeyes' fire with bulletin board material and vile words about the Cyclones.
As far as anyone can tell, he is their biggest booster. Well, other than ISU President Martin Jischke, perhaps.
"I truly mean this, other than when Iowa State plays us, I hope and pray they win all their ball games," said Fry, whose first Iowa team in 1979 beat ISU 30-14 but then lost three straight before dominating the series.
Fry says his daughter even earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine at Iowa State.
"It kind of solidifies my feelings towards Iowa State. I have the greatest respect for those people," he said.
Iowa State has come close. In 1988, the Cyclones lost just 10.3. The next year, it was only 31-21 and then 45-35 in 1990.
In 1992, it was a 21-7 followed by a 31-28 setback in 1993.
The Hawkeyes have scored at least 27 points in each of the last five games, with last year's score marking the biggest margin in the 45-game series that began in 1894.
The Cyclones did win a century ago — 1895 and 1897 — to account for three of their wins in the overall 33-12 series advantage held by Iowa.
"It's not really that big a rivalry, but it's a big game," DeVries said. "A lot of fans make it bigger than it really is. It's just another game. We prepare for them all the same way. We want that 'W.'"
But what is the reason Iowa has been dominant for so long?
"I don't really know," DeVries said. "They always say the best team wins, right? The last 15 years, I guess we've been the better team."
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