United Kingdom

NFL International managing director Doug Quinn is the latest high-profile sports sector executive to confirm his participation at Sport Business 2000, the prestige conference organised by Sport Business International and Dow Jones.

Manchester United, the world's first billionaire soccer club, is making a business play into Asia to lure supporters and further drive its share price, chief executive Martin Edwards has said.

Cable company, NTL, plans to acquire a 9.9% stake in Premier League Middlesbrough F.C according to the Guardian newspaper.

FIFA's technical inspection team has given South Africa's bid to host the 2006 World Cup finals an unequivocal thumbs-up on Tuesday after a five-day tour to check the country's readiness.

Prisma Sports & Media has launched a joint venture with The Fantastic Corporation to deliver sports content to mobile phones in a move which, they say, will change the sports environment forever.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) has rejected plans for a Celtic League involving teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

English Premier League club Arsenal looks set to be the next British football club in line to join forces with a media company, according to British newspaper reports.

Fox Sports? New England regional network is to launch SportsTalk, a broadband interactive sports programme.

Britain's first online lottery has been launched with a football theme and the backing of top soccer clubs, giving fans the opportunity to choose which club receives the proceeds from each game.

South Africa wants the 2006 soccer World Cup, deserves it and is more than ready to make it work, the country's newspapers declared on Thursday as a crucial FIFA inspection got underway in Johannesburg.

The BBC has secured a five-year deal to keep live Test cricket on BBC Radio.

Plans for the new futuristic $650m Wembley Stadium could be torpedoed by the local London council when the planning application is considered next month.

European soccer champions Manchester United have pushed back the commercial frontiers of sport even further today after a rise in its share price saw it become the first club in the world to be worth more than #1bn ($1.6bn).

Prisma CEO Peter Sprogis is just one of the latest big names confirmed to speak at the sport industry?s most prestigious conference of the year ? Sport Business 2000.

Interactive betting service Blue Square is to sponsor a entire race meeting at England?s Kempton Park Racecourse later this month.

UK all-sport radio station talkSPORT says it is being `robbed? of ratings after a survey revealed many listeners mistook its broadcasts for that of its rival the BBC.