Nordics
Business

New Balance Athletic Shoe, the Boston, USA-based footwear provider, has renewed its four-year sponsorship of modern pentathlon until the Athens 2004 Olympic Games for an undisclosed amount.
Business

French President Jacques Chirac, promoting the Paris bid to stage the 2008 Olympic Games, has told Russian Olympic officials that the organisation of the Games would be problem-free if they were held in the French capital.
Business

FIFA president Sepp Blatter faces the toughest fight of his career this week when delegates from around 200 national associations meet in Buenos Aires for FIFA's Extraordinary Congress.
Business

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) plans to step up its fight against drugs in sport by helping to finance testing for the stamina-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO).
Business

Sports Resource Group plc is to acquire Sweden-based IEC in Sports International Events and Communications AB for an initial consideration of up to £17.5million ($25.04m/B

UK-based pay-per-view (PPV) film and sports service u>direct TV has gone into voluntary liquidation, sportbusiness.com can confirm. Roger Hall, the company’s chief operating officer told us this morning that the company had failed to attain financial profitability and was therefore forced to shut down its operations.
Media

The September 8 fight between former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and Denmark's Brian Nielsen has been finalised, Danish promoter Mogens Palle has confirmed.
Events

The two clubs who reach the European Cup Final next May will each receive up to 25,000 tickets for the match at the Stade de France in Paris, UEFA has announced.

Denmark goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has bought Copenhagen soccer club Hvidovre, where he made his debut in 1984. No price for the deal, announced on Wednesday, was given by the club but it confirmed Schmeichel had bought a 100 percent shareholding and that Swedish telecoms carrier Telia would act as Hvidovre's main sponsor.

Toyota Motor Corp has announced it would return to the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race this year after developing its new Toyota GT-one.
Business

Sepp Blatter's bid to become FIFA president was given a significant boost on Friday when England declared it would vote for him in Monday's election.

The Malaysian Open badminton championships starting on Wednesday have fallen victim to the Asian economic crisis which has cut prize money by $60,000 and deprived the event of some big names.

Soccer's World Cup continues to pull major TV audiences, even in countries whose national teams are not involved in a particular match.

The World Cup failed to boost advertising revenue for Britain?s ITV network which saw June figures fall some #8 million ($12m).
Business

Everyone is caught up in the World Cup and the spirit of soccer.
Business

Kellogg's and the National Basketball Association have signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement.

Just five players from outside the British Isles made it onto the Football League's list of '100 legends' when it was announced to mark the league's centenary season.
Business

This season's European Cup Final - likely to be the last under the current format - will be played at the Nou Camp Stadium, home of Barcelona.