LONDON: Sportcal.com has announced that it will hold a seminar on sports rights on 17 February. The theme is 'Sports rights - what does the future hold?' The event will be held at The Swedenborg Society, Swedenborg House, London.

The sports rights market is going through a turbulent period, with rights-holders seeking new ways of packaging and distributing their rights, in a bid to offset the slump in the value of rights in the wake of the US-led advertising recession and a widespread perception that some top rights, particularly those of soccer, had been overvalued.

Regulatory factors as well as economic ones are also influencing the rights market, with the European Commission's recent ruling on the sale of the rights for Uefa's Champions League setting a precedent that has already been ignored by some domestic leagues.

So what are the new factors influencing the value and make-up of sports rights packages, and how can rights-holders such as sports federations extract the maximum value of their rights in a fast-changing marketplace? 'Sports Rights - What Does the Future Hold?' presents a lineup of speakers that aims to tackle these issues, in an interactive forum giving delegates plenty of opportunity to participate in the debate.

Speakers at the seminar include FIFA marketing AG CEO Patrick K. Magyar, Sports Management consultant Jon Wigley, rbi Network consultant Richard Bunn.

Key issues that will be mulled over include:

- What effect has the changing commercial landscape already had on top sports rights, and what further developments are likely?

- How do broadcasters react to the perception that rights values are falling? Do they simply pay less, or does their involvement with the sports, they cover, give them a responsibility to continue to support them?

- How do sports federations and other rights-holders view the changes? Are there new opportunities, as well as new pitfalls?

- What are the recent legal and commercial developments affecting the sports rights market?

The deliberations at the above mentioned forum will be eagerly awaited by sports marketers all over the globe considering the level of transformation which the sports marketing arena has undergone in recent times.