Media

Sports.com, the website which claims to be Europe?s biggest sports news and data site, has bought the UK's Daily Star?s website Megastar.co.uk from Lord Hollick?s United Business News for about #100,000 ($144,000).

The St.Louis Cardnals wants to redevelop its Busch Stadium and offer up to 3.3m of its fans a retro-style, baseball-only ballpark which it said would offer spectators more ambiance and amenities.

Sportsworld Media, the sports marketing and television production company, has increased its foothold down under after buying Elite Sports Properties (ESP), an Australian athlete management company which represents about 20 Olympic and Commonwealth champions, as well as a number of leading Australian Football League players.

The television ratings for the NASCAR Winston Cup have risen this year following the switch to new host broadcaster Fox Sports. The first quarter of races in the 2001 series averaged a rating of 6.8, up 39% on the same period the previous year.

The lucrative sports sponsorship industry will come under increasing pressure if the world economy continues to slow down, the UK Institute of Sport Sponsorship has warned.

England?s Football Association could be asked to give a #120m ($172m) National Lottery grant back if plans to reconstruct Wembley Stadium cannot be saved.

German entertainment firm EM.TV Group, which earlier this year agreed a bail-out package with broadcaster Kirch Group, has announced a preliminary net loss of 2.8 billion marks ($1.27 billion) for 2000.

The world?s largest media company AOL Time Warner is in talks with the UK?s largest cable company NTL about a distribution alliance for content over high-speed broadband networks.

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) will develop its broadcast feeds in Asia with the addition of the Philippines.

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton has urged fellow elected officials not to do anything that could jeopardise efforts to lure a National Basketball Association team there.

Nasdaq-listed Quokka Sports, the company at the forefront of developments in online sports content, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in preparation for an asset fire-sale.

Sportbusiness.com can exclusively reveal that the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is to invest $122 in Sports Capital Partners, the private equity fund co-established by marketing giant IMG.

GG Media has stepped up its bid to broadcast horseracing in the UK in competition with the Go Racing consortium, by launching an advertising campaign.

Arena Leisure, the racecourse and media group, is set to announce this week it has clinched a deal to control television rights to British horseracing, according to newspaper reports.

Wireless Group, the owners of Kelvin McKenzie?s TalkSport radio station said losses for the year to December 31 2000 widened to #34.2 million ($49.3m) from #27.5m ($39.7m). Operating losses at TalkSport widened by #200,000 to #7.9m. Despite the losses, McKenzie said it had been a good year for the company, especially for TalkSport which saw its advertising market rise by 15 per cent.

A series of proposed amendments to the constitution of the Rugby Football Union will be debated and voted on by members at a special general meeting in London late Friday.