OPENING PLENARY: A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME

As clubs adopt PLC status, is football's role as a cultural, sporting and social institution being undermined? As rights to broadcast live football have become key assets for media groups, how are the new competition and public interest concerns best handled? Leading industry analysts describe what this new era means - the opportunities, the threats, and the possible solutions.

CLOSING PLENARY: THE FUTURE REGULATION OF FOOTBALL -
DO WE NEED AN OFFOOT?

Considers the likely response to the Football Task Force, the blocking of BSkyB's bid for Manchester United and the Restrictive Practices Court case concerning Premiership TV rights. Can the FA rise to these challenges or does football need an independent regulator? Representatives from the Football Association, the Professional Footballers Association and leading analysts debate the way forward.

PARALLEL SESSIONS INCLUDE:

1. Implications of the MMC case
   Analyses the implications of BSkyB's attempted takeover of Manchester United and the MMC's ruling

2. Uniting the fans?
   Considers developments in supporter representation and the governance of football

3. Nurturing the grass roots: local clubs and community involvement
   Analyses local partnerships in stadia development, provision of sports facilities and the promotion of the game at grass roots level

4. Football Task Force
   Considers the work, findings and recommendations of the Task Force and the likely response from Government and others

5. The Restrictive Practices Court case
   Debates the OFTs case in the Restrictive Practices Court challenging the Premier League's collective sale of television rights

6. International and European developments
   Considers recent developments, such as talk of a European Super-League and the likely response of football's governing bodies at World, European and national levels

7. Euro-clubs
   Supporter representatives from major clubs in Germany, Spain and France report on the new commercialism and changing ownership structures in their countries

8. PLCs and other ownership structures
   Analyses issues in corporate governance and the various governance structures open to football clubs from PLC status to supporter-trusts

9. Broadcasting revenues and league balance
   Considers the role of broadcasting revenues and the likely impact of pay-per-view on league balance

10. Accounting and financing for clubs
    Deals with issues in accounting and financing for clubs - from their record of financial (mis)management to the valuing of players in clubs' accounts and the implications for regulatory reform

11. The new commercialism
    Supporter representatives, football analysts and sports journalists discuss the new commercialism, football's grass roots and the dangers of social exclusion