New Zealand
Business

Sponsorship Intelligence (SI), the sponsorship research and consulting arm of ZenithOptimedia, has officially launched a dedicated online information service to help keep staff and clients informed of media and marketing developments from the Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Events

UK commercial free-to-air broadcaster ITV has claimed that its line-up of sports content over the last weekend pulled in over 26 million viewers to the network.
Business

S2 Marketing has been recruited as PR agency for Volvo Ocean Race syndicate Boating Partners UK (BPUK).
Media

Cricket headgear firm Albion has signed a joint venture with the MCC.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has started its search for a new global development manager.
Events

Two of the biggest players in the sports broadcast services market, Intelsat and TV New Zealand, have formed a strategic alliance - further proof of the sector's continuing consolidation.
Media

ESPN International and the National Football League (NFL) have agreed to extend their existing worldwide TV rights distribution agreement through the 2005 season.
Business

UK government office the Department for Transport is to sponsor the Great Britain Rugby League team for the next 12 months.
Business

The president of the Oceania Football Confederation has said he will step down - unless a political backlash against him following a FIFA decision to withdraw an automatic World Cup berth for the region, is resolved.

Andrew Eade, development manager of the ICC, is quitting to become CEO of the Auckland Cricket Association.
Business

After more than a month of negotiations, a row over bonus payments which threatened to disrupt New Zealand's Rugby World Cup squad, has been settled.
Events

With only two days to go before the deadline to sign the Rugby World Cup participation agreement, the New Zealand players have still yet to agree on the terms of the contract.
Business

Sports marketing company the GEM Group has been appointed to boost the Portuguese bid to host the 2007 Americas Cup.
Business

Rugby league's governing body has axed the World Cup in favour of an annual Tri-Nations tournament.

Ahongalu Fusimalohi, Oceania's representative on the executive board of soccer governing body FIFA, looks set to lose his post.
Sponsorship & Marketing

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided not to push forward its World Cup compensation claims at this moment, preferring to leave the matter in the hands of the International Cricket Council.
Business

The continuing row over image rights in the build-up to this year's Rugby World Cup has intensified with England players refusing to sign their participation agreement.
Events

The New Zealand city of Hamilton is weighing up a bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.