Media

Internet media giant America Online has formed a multiyear alliance with the National Basketball Association and the Women's National Basketball Association with the intention of increasing traffic to its Web sites NBA.com and WNBA.com.

Golf.com has launched its second joint venture based on fantasy games with Smallworld.com, an independent developer of online fantasy sports games.

Reports that a major UK soccer club has been the subject of a stake-holding bid from a leading international sports marketing company have been rebutted.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said a venue switch for the Euro 2000 match between England and Germany from the small Belgian stadium of Charleroi should be considered to minimise the risk of crowd trouble.

The Pan-American Sports Network (PSN) has signed a multi-year agreement to broadcast LIVE WNBA games to millions of viewers across Latin America.

The NFL wants to bring fans even closer to the action by introducing miniature cameras into the safety helmets of the players during preseason games.

UK media groups, NTL and Ondigital, are understood to have complained to the European Commission over the sale of the next set of live Premier League television rights, according to The Independent on Sunday newspaper.

Benfica, the leading Portuguese soccer club wants to recapitalise itself and is set to announce plans to offer up to 25 per cent to outside investors.

Senior executives of UK sports video-on-demand company VNL Sports are describing a new deal with ESPN as a turning point for the company.

British fans are set to bet more than #100 million pounds ($149m) on Euro 2000, making it the world's biggest single sports betting event, bookmakers Ladbrokes said on Friday.

Meddling councils and tourist bodies in Sydney are creating a bureaucratic nightmare for overseas television stations hoping to film in the Olympic city during the run-up to this year's Games, reports the South China Morning Post.

Norman May, the man who stirred a nation with his radio commentary of Australia winning a swimming relay gold at Moscow in 1980, is to be awarded the Olympic Order by the International Olympic Committee.

Japan has begun the official two-year countdown to the 2002 World Cup, unveiling a display indicating the number of days to go until the first match in the tournament it is co-hosting with South Korea.

Dave Neubecker has been named vice president of sports marketing for Foxsports.com, a division of News Corporation's News Digital Media.

The first live webcast of a Paralympic Games will take place later this year following a deal signed by the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC) and US firm We Media Inc.

Octagon, the global sports and marketing group, has taken a substantial equity position in one of Germany?s most famous clubs.

All-soccer network The International Football Channel (TIFC) has acquired the exclusive rights to broadcast the upcoming Women?s 2000 Pacific Cup throughout the Americas.

SimPlayer.com, a developer of interactive applications for the sports market, has formed a strategic partnership with The New England Patriots NFL franchise.