Media

The San Francisco 49ers have quashed rumors that Dwight Clark, the club's executive vice president, is about join friend and former 49ers president Carmen Policy to help assemble the new Cleveland Browns.

The New York Mets and Mike Piazza are close to a long-term contract agreement that could make the All-Star catcher the highest paid player in baseball, according to broadcast reports.

FIFA concerns have 1999 Pan American Games organisers scrambling to save their soccer tournament in next summer's multi-sport extravaganza.

Motor sport's ruling body has dismissed any suggestion that a media rights deal it had negotiated with racing mogul Bernie Ecclestone could be nullified by the European Commission.

Organisers are considering radical reforms to the Davis Cup on the eve of its centenary in a bid to enhance its appeal and make the top players take it seriously, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has said.

Reinforcing its image as South Florida's pre-eminent sports carrier, Barry Diller's local programming station WAMI-TV has bought a six-year exclusive broadcast rights to baseball's Florida Marlins.

English soccer's premier league has said top clubs could be lured away to a European super league if it loses a landmark legal hearing into the way television rights to its matches are sold.

The Italian government are to prepare new rules limiting a single digital television broadcaster from owning more than 60 percent of rights to the total amount of football games, an Italian newspaper has reported.

Olympic boss Juan Antonio Samaranch has painted a depressing picture of sport's drug problems when he opened a world conference on doping.

An Australian IOC member alleged to have taken his family on four free holidays to Salt Lake City has angrily denied any wrongdoing and accused the city's Board of Ethics of defamation.

A season-long experiment of using two referees to control matches is likely to be approved at the annual meeting of soccer's law-making International Board on Saturday.

The Nine Network in Australia is expected to retrench up to 25 sports staff after confirming that it will axe its two long-running weekend sports programmes.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's UK pay-TV operators BSkyB are anxiously watching recent moves in the cable and telephony sectors in the US and UK.

Cablevision Systems, owners of the NBA New York Knicks, the NHL New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden, have reported a narrower-than-expected loss, boosted by strength in its cable televsion and programming businesses.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was among several speakers who called on the IOC to be more open, accountable and representative as the IOC opened its debate on ways to change post the Salt Lake City vote-buying scandal.

The BBC are likely to pay approximately #50m to retain the live broadcast rights for Wimbledon according to UK press reports. The five year deal would replace their current #30m contract which expires on July 4th.