North America

Leading global sportswear brand Nike has risen to the highest since it went public in 1980, posting $559 million in net profits for the quarter to August, a nine-per-cent increase on the same period last year.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) plans to begin negotiations over the sales of TV rights in the US for the 2014 Winter Games and 2016 Summer Games at the end of this year or the start of 2011.

National Football League (NFL) franchise Seattle Seahawks has appointed a new president in Peter McLoughlin, who has been chief executive officer at National Hockey League (NHL) team St. Louis Blues for the past four years.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, will have to face insider-trading allegations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that were thrown out last year by a lower-court judge. In the 2008 lawsuit, the SEC accused Cuban of trading on confidential information when he sold his stake in Canadian Internet search company Mamma.com in 2004.

The National Football League’s Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Noto, is leaving after two years in the position to return to investment bank Goldman Sachs.

US-based Glazer family, who own Manchester United, has allegedly bought back around 20 per cent of the high-interest loan owed by the company they use to control the English Premier League club.

San Diego Chargers’ season home opener is to be blacked out on local television after the franchise failed to sell out a game for the first time since 2004.

National Basketball Association (NBA) star LeBron James’ US popularity has suffered a sudden drop since he announced his move from Cleveland Cavaliers to Miami Heat on national television in July.

The 2013 America’s Cup is to go through a major overhaul following the legal battle between 2010 contenders Alinghi and BMW Oracle that shooed sponsors away and reverted the event’s growth trend.

Spanish financial giant BBVA has signed a four-year sponsorship to become the first-ever official bank of the North American National Basketball Association (NBA), the Women’s NBA (WNBA) and the NBA Development League.

The USA Track and Field (USATF) board of directors has voted to sack outspoken chief executive officer Doug Logan, the first commissioner of Major League Soccer who had been hired to promote a reshuffle in the sport after a disappointing performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The North American National Hockey League (NHL) has fined the New Jersey Devils $3 million and taken away the franchise's first-round draft pick for trying to get around the league’s salary cap with its initial contract offer to Ilya Kovalchuk.

The US and International Olympic Committees have reached an agreement to resolve their long-standing dispute over the Olympics. According to the Associated Press, the USOC will contribute $18 million to cover administrative costs of staging the Games.

Business advisor Heidrick & Struggles International has become a sponsor of global sport and development initiative Beyond Sport.

Season-ticket sales for the National Football League are down 5 per cent in 2010 from last year and a decline in overall attendance is projected at one or two per cent. The season kicks-off today when the Minnesota Vikings play the New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome.

The Arena Football League, the indoor American football competition founded in 1987, has hired long-time sports marketing and media veteran Stuart Layne as its new Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer.