Asian sports confident of surviving financial crisis

By Julian Linden - Analysis

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian sports bosses remain confident they can ride out the global financial crisis despite conceding the region is not immune and they will have to start tightening their belts.

Leading officials from football, cricket, golf, rugby and the Olympics are already bracing themselves for the possible flow-on effects of the global financial meltdown.

However, while most administrators are adopting a cautious approach, they also believe the burgeoning Asian sports market is better placed to weather the storm than the more established American and European sports.

"The vast majority of sport in Asia is still amateur and the cost of the financial crisis (will) not mean anything for them," Asian football's most powerful man, AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam, told Reuters."

"For the time being I don't think any of these (major sporting) projects will be affected. But we must wait and see for the coming future how it develops."

Bin Hammam said the AFC were already prepared for any financial problems because they had begun reducing their own expenditure well before the market collapse.

"We have been facing these before the financial crisis. It started since the beginning of the year and not with the collapse of the markets," Bin Hammam said.

'SIGNED CONTRACTS'

"The cost of services went up sharply because of the increase in oil prices. It increased our operating costs by 40 per cent.

"(But) in terms of sponsorship and TV rights, these have not been affected and I don't anticipate that it will. We have signed contracts until 2012 and I don't see any chance of revenues from these going down."

The Dubai-based International Cricket Council (ICC) is also optimistic about its future with the sport currently enjoying a boom period in Asia.

Cricket is a hugely popular sport in India, which has already been awarded the co-hosting rights to the next World Cup in 2011 and is leading the push for the expansion of television-friendly twenty20 competitions.

"The ICC has a number of long term commercial and broadcast agreements that we believe should stand it and the game of cricket in general in good stead during any potential downturn in economic conditions," an ICC spokesman told Reuters.

"Also, as a sport, it is possible to argue that the situation is slightly different from some other businesses in that people are still highly likely to watch and be interested in the game -- and therefore offer an attraction to potential sponsors and broadcasters -- despite that possible downturn."

'HEAVILY DEPENDENT'