United Kingdom

Pay-TV and terrestrial broadcasters will soon be battling it out to win the rights show live matches and highlights of Scottish soccer Premier League matches after current contracts run out at the end of next season.

The head of the Australian Rugby Union has rejected claims by his English counterpart that the British Lions were not getting a big enough slice of revenue from their upcoming tour of Australia.

More than a dozen countries have declared an interest in hosting either of the next two editions of the World Club Championship, FIFA said on Thursday.

Sportal, the UK-based sports internet company, will know if it is still in business after a board meeting in London on Wednesday.

Emirates Airline is to sponsor the London and Wales rugby union World Sevens Series this season. The airline will fly in the 16 competing teams to play in the event on May 27 and 28 at the Stoop Memorial Ground and Twickenham in London and at Rodney Parade, Newport and the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on June 2 and 3.

Sportswear manufacturer Adidas-Salomon is to purchase a 10 percent equity stake in Bayern Munich, reports German newspaper Bild-Zeitung. Adidas is said to be paying DM150m ($68m).

The threatened merger between London soccer clubs Queens Park Rangers and Wimbledon has been officially called off after QPR said they would not be taking the matter any further.

For the first time in the history of the English soccer divisional play-offs, the four teams participating in the play-off for promotion to the Premier League from the first division are all quoted on the stock exchange.

Arena Leisure, one of the three companies behind the Go Racing consortium, said today that pre-tax losses for the nine months to December 31 widened to #6.2m ($8.9m) from #2.96m ($4.24m). It also reported an increase in losses per share to 2.29p from 1.21p. But confirmation that it is to become a 33.33 percent shareholder in Go Racing saw its share price rise by nearly 10 percent to 104p.

Royal Troon has been awarded Britain's Open golf tournament for an eighth time in 2004.

FA chief executive Adam Crozier?s position has come under pressure over the weekend as the fallout from the Wembley stadium fiasco continues to spread.

Racecourse and media group Arena Leisure Plc said today its Go Racing consortium had signed sufficient UK racecourses to advance with its plans to control TV rights for horse racing in Britain.

English soccer club Queens Park Rangers' owner Chris Wright has assured supporters he will not proceed with a merger with fellow London club Wimbledon against their wishes.

Alabama businessman Donald Watkins is interested in buying the Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball franchise, recently valued by Forbes Magazine at approximately $150m.

Audley Harrison, the British Olympic heavyweight boxing gold medallist, today launched his own sponsorship and television rights company called A-Force.

The collapse of plans to redevelop London's famous Wembley as a state-of-the-art national stadium, due to a lack of funding, may have signalled the end of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair?s affair with soccer. For further details, see the FEATURES section of sportbusiness.com.