North America

Michael Jordan is in talks about possibly joining the Washington Wizards as head of basketball operations, with an eye to eventually assuming an ownership role, according to a report in the Washington Post.

US soccer officials have refused to bow to Moslem sensibilities and remove Budweiser beer advertisements from the stadium and programmes for a groundbreaking Iranian-U.S. game.

Michael Jordan and the majority owner of the Washington Wizards have agreed in principle to give the retired superstar control of team basketball operations, according to the Washington Post.

Scorpion Minerals Inc has entered into a letter of intent with ACS Sports.com which will provide for a business combination of the two companies.

International Speedway Corporation (ISC) has reached an agreement with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority through the ISC's wholly-owned subsidiary New York International Speedway Corporation to conduct a feasibility study to develop a motorsports facility at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J.

A consortium led by Beers Inc., a subsidiary of Swedish construction group Skanska AB, has received an order valued at 2.9 billion Swedish kronor ($344.5 million) to build an indoor football stadium in Houston, Texas.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig could fine teams up to $2 million instead of $250,000, and order increased revenue sharing under rule changes he hopes will be approved by baseball owners this week.

NFL owners have unanimously approved the sale of the New York Jets to Robert Wood Johnson IV.

Major League Baseball has approved the sale of the Cleveland Indians Baseball Co Inc to Lawrence Dolan, the franchise said, with the closing of the transaction expected in mid-February.

Michael Payne, the IOC's marketing chief, has said that negotiations to renew the 11 main corporate sponsorship contracts were "in their final stages" and "could be done this month".

Retired basketball legend Michael Jordan has confirmed he will head operations of the NBA's Washington Wizards and become a part-owner of the team.

Olympic organisers have been given a boost for the future when a survey of youngsters revealed the event was the most appealing in a recent poll.

NSTAR has entered into a two-year marketing and community relations agreement with the Boston Celtics. NSTAR is the parent company of Boston Edison, Commonwealth Electric, Cambridge Electric and Commonwealth Gas.

SportsYa! (www.sportsya.com), the first interactive Spanish and Portuguese language sports site, has signed NFL analyst Joe Theismann to an exclusive Spanish and Portuguese language editorial contract as a guest columnist.

The Canadian government has abruptly caved into public pressure and scrapped a plan to subsidise the country's six National Hockey League clubs, admitting it had underestimated opposition to the proposal.

The National Labour Relations Board, reviewing creation of a new bargaining unit for umpires, has rejected objections raised by the ousted union led by Richie Phillips, voted out after his plan for mass resignations failed.