Events

Germany's Kirch Group and public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have reached a television rights agreement for the next two World Cups after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder asked them to work out a deal.

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.

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.

Sporting events across Europe are under threat as fears about the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain spread to the continent.

England Premiership soccer club Leeds United has launched LUTV, a behind the scenes insight into the club through their official website.

The Melbourne Cup, Australia's most famous horse race, will carry a purse of US$2.12 million this year, the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) has said.

The Houston-based sport-marketing agency Global Productions has been selected as sponsorship agency for the Texaco Havoline Grand Prix of Houston for 2001.

A small Utah software company is keen to find a distributor, while a biomedical firm needs a partner and both hope they can meet with international companies at next year's Winter Olympics.

Car makers may set up their own motor racing championship if talks with German media group Kirch, which owns 75 percent of Formula One broadcast rights' company SLEC, do not lead to a deal, German media reported.

The relationship between Channel Seven and the Australian Football League appears to have turned nasty with the Seven Network signing a major sponsorship deal with brewery Lion Nathan.

British Eurosport has secured live rights to this year?s CART FedEx Championship Series.

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has signed multi-year agreements for Asian broadcast rights to Formula One motor racing and the leading tennis Grand Slams ? the US Open and Wimbledon.

Formula One teams, car manufacturers and sponsors will resist any move by German media companies to shift their glamorous sport from free to pay television.

Eurosport has signed a new two-year deal with Gillette for an extensive package of football broadcast sponsorship on the pan-European channel.

A UK government select committee has led a critical inquiry into the nation?s capability to stage international events.

Extreme International has signed a three-year deal content agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment's AXN channel in Spain.