Events

An estimated 425,000 people are expected to travel to Japan for next year's World Cup, Japanese government officials were quoted as saying on Wednesday.

ITV Sport, the new UK subscription-only sports channel to be launched by Granada and Carlton on August 11, will break even by 2003/4, according to Granada’s finance director Henry Staunton.

TNT boosted by Nascar ratings

Boxing promoter Don King said British boxer Lennox Lewis has signed a contract with him to challenge WBC and IBF world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman to a rematch.

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) in Australia will use UK financial software house SunSystems to manage its revenue streams which total over £36 million ($100m).

Sports network Sportev has launched the world’s first online interactive boxing video channel just a few weeks after signing an exclusive agreement with boxing promoter Frank Warren.

The Brazilian championship, which has been in doubt due to a judicial battle, has been given the green light, just a week before its scheduled start.

Osaka is putting a positive spin on its status as underdog in the race to stage the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Satellite channel British Eurosport has secured the live television rights to the US Open tennis tournament held at Flushing Meadow in a new four-year deal.

The Chinese government will welcome bids from international investors to take part in the design, construction and operation of competition venues for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing via a public bidding process.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has denied that it is on the verge of making a bid for London to host the Olympic Games in 2012, sportbusiness.com has learned.

The Los Angeles Track and Field Organising Committee (LATFOC) filed a complaint against Coca-Cola North America in a Los Angeles court this week for damages allegedly suffered when a dispute over sponsorship led to the cancellation of the Powerade Indoor Track and Field Championships in Feburary at Staples Center.

NTL, the UK’s largest cable company which will broadcast Premiership pay-per-view soccer next season, is to axe 5,000 jobs over the next two years in a bid to meet its ambitious growth forecasts.

Turkey's Olympic chief looks disdainfully upon the report that may crush Istanbul's bid to host the 2008 Olympics.

In the wake of the recent test case ruling involving the Independent Television Commission (ITC), 2002 World Cup TV rights holders the Kirch Gruppe could decide not to part with the rights, meaning UK viewers would be unable to watch the tournament to be held in Japan and South Korea.

The National Basketball Association's web site, NBA.com, set a single-day record with nearly 1.2 million visitors the day after the exciting opening game of the NBA Finals, the league has said.

Britain's Craig Reedie will bid for a place on the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s ruling executive board when the organisation appoints a new president for the first time for 21 years next month.

Win or lose, Toronto plans to show the world that it can throw a party of Olympic proportions.