United Kingdom

Basketball will be played at the Commonwealth Games for the first time in Melbourne in 2006 but cricket is likely to be ruled out, state officials have said.
Business

British Olympic chiefs are planning a bid for London to stage the 2012 Summer Games, the Daily Mail newspaper has reported.
Sponsorship & Marketing

Newcastle United's St. James' Park will host England's World Cup qualifier against Albania, the FA has said.
Business

Fanball.com, the fantasy sports media company, has signed agreements with several radio stations across the USA to provide its ?Million Dollar Bracket Madness? game to the stations' listeners.
Stadia

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is to plead with fans to sit down at future matches or face having sections of Old Trafford closed down.
Business

English Premiership clubs have condemned plans for the postponed Six Nations match between Ireland and England to be played the weekend of May 5-6 because it will clash with the league's play-offs.

Drew Bledsoe became the NFL's second $100 million quarterback after agreeing to a deal that will likely keep him in a New England Patriots uniform for the rest of his career.

Brazilian lawmakers investigating corruption in soccer are to provide FIFA with information on the illegal transfer of players to European clubs, they said on Wednesday.
Business

French horse racing and show-jumping is due to resume after the government agreed to lift a ban on moving horses to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, race organisers France Galop has said.
Business

The Cheltenham Festival has been postponed because of Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis, the BBC quoted the British Horse Racing Board as saying.
Business

Ireland's Six Nations games with England on March 24 and with Scotland on April 7 have been postponed because of Irish fears over the threat of Britain's foot-and-mouth disease.
Business

Players' representatives have reacted angrily to new rules governing soccer transfers agreed in their absence and hinted at court action.
Stadia

England soccer star David Beckham will be asked to kick off the Commonwealth Games in Manchester next year.

English county cricket club Kent Club has appointed Mike Denness as its new chairman of cricket.
Media

Britain will not restore terraces at soccer stadia after studying a report into standing accommodation in Germany, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary of State Chris Smith said in a statement.
Events

The Cheltenham Festival next week has been threatened by a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease at the Lambourn stables 70 kilometres from the course.
Events

Irish soccer fixtures have been wiped out for a second successive weekend because of Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis, football authorities said on Tuesday.

The England & Wales Cricket Board has invited a BBC Radio Four team to spend the next six months making a three-part series about the work of the ECB.