Australia
Events

Michael Page International, the global executive recruitment company, is to become headline sponsor of this year?s Australian Football Cup at the Foster?s Oval on October 7th.

Christmas might be coming early to Australia's financial markets this year. Not in the form of end-of-year bonuses but in the long, lazy days of summer that stifle most interest in trading. Technical charts could turn flat as a pancake during the 17 days of the Sydney Olympics, when dealers will be more focused on their television screens than their trading screens. See SportBusiness `FEATURES? for the full story.
Business

The Vancouver-based equestrian web site, clipclop.com, has continued on an upward trend for site visitors for the fourth straight month.
Stadia

The Australian Olyroos soccer team may well be the unexpected hit of the Sydney Games but 83,000 tickets to Olympic soccer matches at Canberra's Bruce Stadium remain unsold.
Media

Speedo International is making a real splash at German trade fair ISPO in Munich with the launch of Fastskin.com.

Organisers of this year?s Paralympic Games say its worldwide television coverage will shatter previous records.
Business

A new race in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as well as first-time events in England, Germany and Mexico highlight the record 22-race FedEx Championship Series schedule for the 2001 season.
Media

The Sydney Games organising committee (SOCOG) is trying to put a positive spin on things following a ticket delivery public relations exercise went awry.
Business

Sydney's Olympic authorities have threatened to close an Aboriginal Arts centre immediately outside the main stadium if it was used as a focus for protests to highlight the plight of the country's Aborigines.
Events

Australia has said it was caught in the cross-fire of a row over foreign television access to news events rather than sporting competitions at the Sydney Olympic Games but would work towards a settlement. For the full story see the FEATURES section of SportBusiness.com.
Business

Pressure on organisers of the Sydney Olympics to lift its ban on foreign television media from Homebush during the Games is mounting after the US joined the European Union in calls to refer the issue to the World Trade Organisation.

FIFA is to implement a new rotation system in awarding the rights to host its premier property, the World Cup.
Business

Australian companies aim to learn from the mistakes made by sponsors dealing with the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), in anticipation of another major international sporting event hosted by an Australian city next year.
Business

The International Olympic Committee has dismissed complaints about restrictions on foreign television access to the Sydney Olympics as "a storm in a tea cup".
Events

FIFA will urge South Korea and Japan to co-host the 2001 Confederations' Cup as a test run for the 2002 World Cup.

For more than 18 months the International Olympic Committee has been battling to improve its image after the biggest corruption scandal in its history ? but now with the Sydney Olympics in sight, IOC members are feeling the relief of a traveller sighting an oasis in the desert. For more, see FEATURE.
Events

Most of the planet's inhabitants who have access to a television set will be watching the Sydney Olympics, according to viewing projections released by the IOC.
Business

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile has dismissed European Union warnings over curbs on foreign television access to the Sydney Olympics, saying it was a matter for the International Olympic Committee.