Events

Greece has pledged speed up the completion of key 2004 Olympic venues to please an International Olympic Committee (IOC) team who are in Athens to inspect preparations for the troubled Games.

China is contemplating throwing Tiananmen Square - mostly known to the outside world for the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators - into its 2008 Olympic bid as the venue for beach volleyball.

London and Hong Kong-based international sports marketing group World Sports Group has won the sponsorship and broadcasting rights for cricket matches in Sri Lanka for three years, the local cricket board said.

A new sports marketing company, headed by Stephen Pearson, formerly marketing director of TEAM AG and commercial director of the English Premier League, has been launched to develop the market for sports venue naming rights in Europe.

A race for the media rights to British horse racing has neared the finish as the UK's racecourse body met to pick a winner today to take the spoils of what is expected to be a lucrative interactive TV market.

Tom Hicks, head of Southwest Sports Group (SSG), which owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, has credited Mike Cramer for his crucial role in SSG's negotiations with Fox Sports Net for the non-cable broadcast rights to the Stars and Rangers games.

Verizon Wireless, the US-based largest wireless communications provider, has become the official wireless service provider of the Milwaukee Bucks and the Bradley Center.

The Australian Football League (AFL) is thought to have set a November 24 deadline for rival bids to be placed for the broadcast rights to the Australian Rules Football.

CBS Television and Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc. (MDEA) have entered into an agreement in which MDEA will sponsor high definition television coverage of the 2000 Thanksgiving Day football game between the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions.

The President-elect of Europe's public broadcasters has appealed to the United Nations for national governments and international bodies to guarantee that all major sporting events are shown on free-to-air television.

Internet TV company Kamera is to broadcast the ATP Scania Stockholm Open online next week.

The GAA has denied that it is in talks with the Irish government about the possible use of Croke Park for rugby.

UK cable company NTL has exclusively associated itself with the consortium bidding for the broadcast rights to Britain's 59 racecourses.

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) has enlisted legal representation it its bid to win a slice of earnings from the Australian Football League?s (AFL) broadcast rights.

British Olympic boxing gold medalist Audley Harrison is in talks with BBC executives, which could lead to the boxer?s fights being broadcast on terrestrial television.

The eastern German city of Leipzig plans to order a feasability study on bidding for the summer Olympics in 2012 or 2016.

Australian architectural practice Bligh Voller Nield, whose designs were integral to the 2000 Olympic Games, has received the International Award in this year?s Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) National Awards for the WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand.

Sportsworld Media Group (SMG) and the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) have agreed plans for a 5-year exclusive media and marketing partnership, intended to re-launch pro' surfing as a globally competitive sports and lifestyle property.