North America

Tiger Woods has turned down a $75 million, five-year sponsorship deal with Ireland-based bookmaker Paddy Power.

The “special relationship” between the US and the UK has come to Olympic sport, as the British and American Olympic associations have signed a new agreement which they say will benefit all countries.

The bookmaker Paddy Power is planning its biggest-ever sponsorship deal, a £5 million-per-year minimum contract with Tiger Woods.

The US-based Formula One team USF1 will not race this season as planned, and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has said it will not be replaced by another team.

The biggest US television audience for an ice hockey match in 30 years was drawn by the Winter Olympics men's gold-medal match between Canada and the US on Sunday night. But that still doesn't mean NHL players will be at the Sochi 2014 Games, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.

ESPN has launched ESPN Player, a new online video streamer for Europe and in the Middle East similar to its US service ESPN360.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics were generally hailed as a success by news outlets and major figures in sports around the world this morning, despite the litany of problems which threatened to overshadow the event early on.

A sponsorship deal with Russian Railways RZD has taken the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics to $1.1 billion in revenues from domestic sponsors, more than three times the initial target.

Nike wants Tiger Woods to stay off the golf course until he is completely rehabilitated, after the trauma of the disclosure of his extra-marital afters, but says it will stand by their commercial deals with him.

Major League Soccer’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) – the deal which sets the commercial terms of players' involvement in the league – has run out, and the 2010 season looks likely to start without a new one being signed.

The USF1 team’s future was cast in doubt after financial services group, Locstein, withdrew its sponsorship yesterday.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics accounted for six of the seven most-watched primetime ratings last week on US network NBC.

Sports network ESPN was voted the most innovative sports company in the world by US business magazine FastCompany.

The United States does not plan to bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics after Chicago was passed over for the 2016 Games in October last year.

The International Olympic Committee is satisfied with the progress of the Vancouver Olympics halfway through the competition, despite a lack of snow in mountain venues and the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

Public relations experts say Tiger Woods's first effort to repair his image at a press conference today actually threatens to undermine his reputation further.

Tiger Woods will make a public statement on Friday in which he is expected to apologise for his extra-marital affairs, and discuss his playing future.

American Formula One team USF1 is beset by financial problems and will struggle to make its planned debut in the 2010 season.