ROME - Avoid going head-to-head with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Jon Bostic Steelers Jersey .Dont stop for Christmas.Its that easy to make drastic improvements in the slumping Italian league, according to the man whose company controls Serie As foreign TV rights.Said Italian entrepreneur Riccardo Silva, The bottom line is that the Spanish league is more interesting than the Italian league.His remedies involve moving more Serie A matches to Friday or Monday nights, starting them earlier than the Spanish games, and playing over the Christmas and New Years holidays when TV viewership soars.Its the best period for viewing, Silva said in an interview with The Associated Press. People are home and they dont know what do. If you want to be viewed, do these types of things. Try not to clash with the Spanish league. Play at Christmas time. Its not so difficult to understand.In October, Silvas company, MP & Silva, renewed in a three-year deal with Serie A worth an average of 185 million euros (more than $200 million) per season — a 60 per cent increase over the previous deal.For a league beset by an exodus of top players, falling attendance, fan violence and racism, thats a lot of money. So its no wonder Silva is frustrated.I took my kids to see Tottenham-Chelsea on Jan. 1 while our (Italian) players were sitting in the sun, Silva said, referring to Serie As two-week holiday break, when clubs like AC Milan usually decamp to places like Dubai.Silva rarely speaks with the media, making him somewhat of a mystery man in the intertwined world of media rights.Most of the stories written about him have focused on his sprawling penthouse in Miami, the lavish parties filled with models on his luxury yacht, or his close ties to AC Milan and fellow media company Infront.Maybe it was our mistake. We didnt communicate enough, Silva said. I dont want a positive story. I just want the truth. I dont have anything to hide in my story.Born into a family that owns one of the biggest cleaning soap businesses in Italy, the 44-year-old Silva started a media career instead, and founded MP & Silva in 2004 with a couple of fellow Milanese.MP & Silva holds the rights for the English Premier League in 51 territories — mainly in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. The company also distributes Roland Garros in Europe; the NBA in Latin America and Scandinavia; plus numerous other leagues and events.We are not a business (for) consumers, so we dont really need to have advertising, Silva said. We just buy from the leagues and federations and they all know us. We sell to TV channels and they all know us.With an annual turnover of $700 million, MP & Silva ranks third in the sports media rights business behind New York-based IMG and Switzerland-based Infront.With 100 people in 20 offices dotted around the globe, MP & Silvas profits this year will be about $90 million.Last year, the company set up its tax base in Luxembourg.The first nine years we had 20 different companies. It was a nightmare. Then some of the leagues asked for consolidated balances. So we created a holding company, Silva said. Its super-transparent.Silva specializes in selling clients products like Serie A that they hadnt intended to buy.For example, when Silva throws Serie A into a package deal for a client in, say, Vietnam, that already includes the Premier League, the French Open, 10 smaller tennis tournaments and the NBA, the TV station is more inclined to take it.Then they can build a programming schedule, Silva said. The channels like to deal with one company that provides so much content.In the insular world of Italian football, however, Silvas connections to Infront have been a source of concern.The MP in MP & Silva stands for Media Partners, the Milan-based agency led by Marco Bogarelli that was folded into Infront, the company controlled by Philippe Blatter — the nephew of FIFA president Sepp Blatter — in 2006.Bogarelli and Silva each got their starts with Milan Channel and Infront advised Serie A in its bidding process for foreign rights, which MP & Silva was awarded over two significantly lower offers from IMG and B4 Capital.The leagues 20 presidents selected MP & Silva unanimously.In Italy its very transparent because its an auction, and whoever makes the best bid wins. There is no negotiation. It doesnt matter if Im friends with Marco Bogarelli, Silva said. We won with a 30 per cent margin so we probably overbid.What matters, Silva says, is improving the product, and thats an area where Serie A needs help.___Andrew Dampf can be followed at www.twitter.com/asdampf James Washington Steelers Jersey . The Toronto Maple Leafs forward and Nashville Predators goaltender highlighted Mondays waiver transactions, with Calgarys Chuck Kobasew and Edmontons Philip Larsen also being placed on waivers. Chukwuma Okorafor Steelers Jersey . Nothing pretty. But this is 1/4 World Cup. Usually plays out this way. http://www.steelersauthoritystore.com/ . Halak, 28, split his eighth NHL seasons between the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, compiling a 29-13-7 record in 52 games.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Blue Jays will try to figure out the Kansas City Royals on Saturday when the two teams meet at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays hope to follow the lead of prospect Marcus Stroman, making the first start of his Major League career, pushing Drew Hutchison back to Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. Stroman, a 23-year-old righty, struggled in five relief appearances with the Blue Jays earlier this month, giving up nine earned runs over 6 1/3 innings while opponents hit .419 against him. In seven starts at Triple-A Buffalo this year, Stroman has gone 2-4 with a 3.03 ERA. "We want to get Stroman up here to give him a look," Gibbons told his teams official website. "And the thinking was, well back Hutchison off a couple of days. (Mark) Buehrle will start Sunday, Hutchison on Tuesday in Detroit. Weve been trying to pick some spots, give Hutch a little breather. After his last start, I thought he looked a little bit tired. We thought it would be a perfect time to give him a couple of extra days." Hutchison gave up five earned runs over five innings in his last start on Monday versus Tampa Bay. Kansas City took the first two contests of this four-game set with an 8-6 win in extra innings on Thursday and a 6-1 victory on Friday night. Lorenzo Cain nearly single-handedly led the Royals to victory on Friday, going 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBBI. Chukwuma Okorafor Jersey. Billy Butler also went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Alex Gordon blasted his fourth home run of the season as well. "This is more of the offense that we envisioned coming out of spring training," Royals manager Ned Yost said. Jason Vargas earned his fifth win of the season as the starter, limiting the Blue Jays to just one run, while matching seven hits with as many strikeouts. "Vargas keeps you off-balance," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "If youre sitting on a pitch, you dont get it." Jose Bautista provided the only offense for the Blue Jays with his 14th home run of the season. J.A. Happ took the loss, laboring through 7 2/3 innings during which he gave up six runs on nine hits. Toronto has dropped back-to-back games after winning nine straight contests. Kansas City will turn to Aaron Brooks on Saturday. Brooks will be making his first MLB start, having just a single relief appearance to his name this season, his first in the majors. In his only other outing the 24-year-old let up six runs on seven hits over two innings during a 9-2 loss to Detroit on May 3. Brooks, who was drafted in the ninth round of the 2011 amateur draft out of Cal State San Bernardino, was 4-1 with a 3.12 ERA in eight games for Triple-A Omaha this season. The Royals have won three of the first five games between these teams this season. 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