North America

Sportswear manufacturer adidas will be the official footwear and apparel sponsor for the European X Games Qualifier, the European debut of ESPN's X Games franchise.

Rival cable television broadcasters HBO and Showtime are negotiating to present a fight between former champions Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis.

National Football League owners have unanimously approved a realignment of the expanded 32-team league into eight four-team divisions beginning with the 2002 season, the league said.

Speculation is growing that media giant Kirch is planning to go public following the appointment of an American investment banker as the group?s new chief financial officer.

Former LA Raiders owner AL Davis has lost his $1.2bn law suit claiming the NFL forced them back to Oakland in 1995.

The 32 owners of The National Football League (NFL) will convene in Chicago this week to discuss and, as seems likely, approve the most significant shake-up since its merger with the American Football League 35 years ago.

New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani is set to unveil a $100m investment in a new sports and entertainment complex at Randall's and Ward's Island Park.

The New Orleans Saints was the only team in the National Football League in the US to report a loss in operating profit last season.

John Skipper, the boss of sports web operator ESPN.com, told the Interactive Sport West Conference in Los Angeles this week that his site would move out of the red in the second half of 2002.

The "soft" US advertising market for sports broadcasts could force networks to reduce prices or return ad space to affiliate stations, according to a leading industry consultant.

Drafting on the surging popularity of NASCAR stock car racing, a New York sports marketing firm unveiled plans on Tuesday for a racing league with up to a dozen teams set to begin competing in 2003.

Nike?s attempts to remove its `sweatshop? label were shattered today after the San Francisco-based labour rights organisation Global Exchange accused the sportswear giant of failing to meet its promises of improving conditions at its factories.

NBC has sold ? just under 70 percent of its available commercial air time? for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, according to NBC Olympics chief operating officer Randy Falco.

Rainbow Media Holdings, the subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation and NBC, has promoted Andrea Greenberg to president, Rainbow Sports Networks.

Morocco will bid to host the 2010 World Cup soccer finals to be held for the first time in Africa, a Royal Palace spokesman has confirmed.

Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, the American owner of the east Berlin professional hockey team, the Ice Bears, has struck a deal to share a new arena with west Berlin rivals, the Capitals.