Events

Irish state broadcaster RTE has accused a Turkish television company of excessive demands for the rights to broadcast next week's Euro 2000 play-off.

SFX Entertainment has acquired SME Power Branding, a leading sports brand identity company based in New York.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Juan Antonio Samaranch has admitted he was not certain the IOC would agree this week to stop its members from visiting cities bidding to host Games in the future despite a damaging corruption scandal in the last year.

Tiger Woods has signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Buick, worth a reported $20 million to $25 million.

The Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (CPLG) has appointed ROI Marketing Inc as its agent in the US for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the ATP Tour.

PSINet , the Internet solutions provider and full sponsor of Euro 2000, expects up to 150 million hits per day next summer from visitors to the official Euro 2000 site - a figure which would break records for daily site usage. World Cup France '98 recorded 70 million hits per day compared to less than a million hits per day for Euro 96.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has entered into a marketing partnership with Subaru of America, Inc, whereby Subaru vehicles will be provided for use by LPGA staff and extend to programmes with designated LPGA Tour events and selected LPGA Tour players.

The FIA, motor sport?s world governing body, is to formally reject charges made by the European Commission that its control of broadcasting rights to Formula One and other motor sports breaches European Union competition regulations.

Total spectator attendance at the Nagano Winter Olympic sports events was 1,275,929, according to figures issued by the International Olympic Committee. A further 167,200 attended victory ceremonies.

Hungary hopes to score a first on the Internet by broadcasting a soccer game live on the web later this month, a local sports newspaper reported.

STAR Sports new pay channel service delivered record viewing figures for the Sharjah Cricket final, between India and Australia, broadcast on April 24th.

Winners of this year Whitbread Around the World yacht race EF Language have announced they will not be competing in the 2002 race to be sponsored by Volvo and named The Volvo Ocean Race.

Delta Air Lines is to sponsor the ATP Senior Tour of Champions this year.

International athletics chief Primo Nebiolo has said he no longer fears the stadium for next year's world championships will not be ready on time.

South Africa became the latest edition to the world motorcycle calendar when organisers said the country would host a round of the 500cc world championship next April.

The new World Golf Championship series, comprising three tournaments in 1999, will each offer minimum prize money of $5 million with winner's cheques of at least $1 million.