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and raise more interest in their teams.
However, the team still has a very
long way to go and its founders have
big ambition. “I think in some ways
Saigon Heat is successful, but we really
have a long road ahead. Our long term
vision is making Vietnam the number
one country in basketball in Southeast
Asia,” explains Connor. He also has high
hopes for local talent – he wants Viet-
namese players to become so skilled
that will be better so the team will no
longer rely on foreign players.
With a dual background in business
and as a US academy tennis many think
Connor has what it takes to make these
dreams a reality.
Alongside Heat, he is also starting
two other major projects - the VUG (Vi-
etnam University Games) national sport
competition for university students,
and a new sport facility in District 2, Ho
Chi Minh City.
The VUG project, which is slated
to commence in March, will run year-
round in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
among students from 24 universities.
Meanwhile, the Saigon Sports Acade-
my’s new sport facility will cover a total
area of 4.5 hectares. The facility will
be home to ten tennis courts, two soc-
cer fields, a big swimming pool and an
arena and other facilities.
Connor’s passion is now one of the
major factors that could lead to Vi-
etnam’s success on the international
stage: “Aside from the Saigon Heat,
what we’re looking to do is build some-
thing very special in Vietnam to help us
to become recognised across Southeast
Asia,” he says.
I
MG Media has licensed the rights
to the Barclays Premier League in
Vietnam to Canal Plus for the next
three years.
The deal, which follows IMG Me-
dia’s acquisition of the Premier League
rights in Japan, Vietnam and Mon-
golia in November, will enable Canal
Plus access to all 380 games from the
English top flight until the end of the
2015/16 season.
IMG Media split the broadcast of-
fering into three packages, with Canal
Plus successfully acquiring the top two
packages. As such, according to an
official press release, ‘Canal Plus will
have non-exclusive rights to all Satur-
day, Monday and midweek matches
and access to the Premier League sup-
plementary programming, such as the
preview and review shows, Premier
League World and the 24/7 Premier
League content service, all produced
by IMG Sports Media.’
Chris Guinness, senior vice presi-
dent of IMG Media, Asia Pacific, said:
“This was a very competitive process
with a variety of interesting offers from
broadcasters for the top two packages
and we are delighted that Canal Plus
will continue to have live coverage of
the Barclays Premier League.
“We will continue discussions
with all of the other Vietnamese
broadcasters regarding the remain-
ing package consisting of over 250
matches per season, including non-
exclusive Saturday matches (ex-
cluding the early kick off), Monday
matches and selected mid-week
matches, and work towards conclud-
ing deals to ensure that they can
still continue to show the Premier
League to their viewers.”
Canal Plus picks up
Vietnamese EPL rights