Events

Soccer club Manchester United is understood to be considering hiving off its multi-media division, focused around its manutd.com website, according to a report in the UK?s 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.

UK online betting service Bluesq.com has signed a $650,000 deal with sport-only radio station talkSPORT.

CricInfo, the digital cricket information company, is to sponsor the Women's World Cup 2000, which will take place in New Zealand in November and December this year.

Media Content Plc, a sports media rights consultancy whose clients have included the World Wrestling Federation, has bought a stake in a company planning to broadcast sports over the Internet.

The International Automobile Federation has accused the European Union Commission of mismanaging its antitrust investigation and threatened to sue.

Japanese electronics giant Sony has said its PlayStation division has extended its sponsoring of high-profile UEFA Champions League soccer for the next three years.

Italian broadcaster Mediaset has sold its television rights for Serie A soccer club Lazio's Champions League matches to Canal Plus unit Telepiu.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called for a soccer-free period to prevent overkill damaging the sport's allure.

The New York State Athletic Commission adopted this week reforms bringing boxing promoters, judges and sanctioning bodies under greater scrutiny in response to the controversial Holyfield-Lewis draw decision last March.

Ticket sales for the Sydney Olympics are $26 million over budget, but organisers only expect 20 per cent of failed applicants to use their credit to apply for other events.

Independent sponsorship consultancy BDS Sponsorship has been appointed by Wembley National Stadium Ltd to handle the legendary London venue?s `End of an Era? initiatives.

Sydney's Olympic Games organisers have handed back half a million tickets to the general public, most of which had been secretly siphoned off for premium packages for the wealthy.

BT are reported to be set to enter the English soccer TV rights battle.

UK broadcaster Sky Sports has won the exclusive live rights to the next two Ryder Cups between Europe and the United States.

The UK's Independent Television Commission (ITC) has recommended that the equity links between Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB and France's Vivendi, the owners of Canal Plus, should be further investigated.