United Kingdom

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed a three-year extension to its current television contracts with terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 and pay-TV channel Sky Sports.

Beach soccer is to win the official recognition of governing body FIFA this week in a move that will greatly enhance the sport?s chances of winning Olympic status by 2008.

A meeting of the G14 group of top European soccer clubs has failed to agree criteria for the admission of new clubs, reports sportbusiness.com soccer writer Simon Banks from Milan.

Birmingham City, the UK?s Nationwide League soccer club, said it must secure promotion to the Premier League next season to prevent it from financial ruin.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has agreed a new five-year sponsorship deal with Ansett Australia, the country's second-largest airline.

A lack of major sporting events in 2001 compared with last year could be contributing to a fall in advertising revenues for commercial radio and television companies, according to a report.

Formula One team Williams F1 has formed a partnership with marketing company World Sports Solutions to help develop a long-term strategy for its merchandising and licensing programme.

Cash-strapped Stadium Australia Group is in the process of signing a lucrative deal with the Australian Football League (AFL) that could help move the company back into profitability.

The BBC could this week win a battle with UK-based pay-TV group BSkyB for the rights to broadcast English international and domestic rugby union matches.

Former England rugby union captain Will Carling has proposed a radical shake-up of the game which would see the Zurich Premiership and Heineken Cup scrapped in favour of a European super league.

Craigie Taylor International, the UK-based sponsorship and PR agency, has been appointed by European drag racing venue Santa Pod to handle PR, sponsorship support and exploitation for the Northamptonshire, England based track.

Soccer fans in the UK are spending more than twice the money of their European counterparts on soccer merchandise, according to a football merchandise report carried out by Cologne-based market researcher Sport+Markt.

British Grand Prix organisers plan a $60m (#42m) revamp of Silverstone to make it one of the world's best Formula One venues.

The latest English soccer player?s agency to be floated on the stockmarket, Proactive Sports Group, made a sparkling debut on the junior AIM market yesterday. Shares were offered at 25p but soon rose to 42p before settling down to end the day at 40.5p, valuing the company at just under #40m ($57.3m).

Perry Crosswhite, general manager of Australia's team for next year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, believes England will surpass them in the medal tally, citing the National Lottery for the host nation's sporting revolution.

ZOO Digital, the UK-based company that helps brands optimise financial returns for their sponsoring rights, has bought digital marketing firm Startle Digital for an undisclosed sum.