Sponsorship & Marketing

US sports marketing agency Millsport has hired John Tarkas as general manager of its Athens office.

Following reports that German sportswear and equipment maker Adidas-Salomon AG have been fined 2.4 million euros ($2.3 million) by a French court for anti-competitive practices, the company have said that the fine was actually paid in 1997.

The fizz wars in China are set to bubble into life again with reports suggesting ISL is trying to secure Coca-Cola as a major sponsor of the China national soccer team.

German sporting goods manufacturers, Adidias-Salomon, was fined nearly $2.5million by a French Court when an exclusive supply contract with the French football league was ruled anti-competitive.

Prost Grand Prix has signed a multi-year marketing and sponsorship deal with Pan American Sports Network (PSN).

US online retailer Netgrocer.com is to add a line of official merchandise for Italian Serie A soccer club Parma AC.

United Parcel Service has ended its sponsorship of the Olympic Games by deciding not to renew its partnership with the IOC.

Sportal, the interactive sports media company, has secured new funding to sustain the business until it becomes profitable.

Insurance group, The St. Paul Companies will sponsor the PGA Tour?s 2001 West Coast Swing events.

Prost Grand Prix said on Thursday they had signed a marketing and sponsorship deal with Miami-based television company PanAmerican Sports Network (PSN).

Only a handful of dot com companies will advertise during the upcoming Super Bowl, the most watched event on TV, after last year?s free-spending hordes bet the bank on outrageous ads.

A new website that matches potential sponsors with rights holders has recorded more than 15,000 hits in its first two weeks of trading.

The NFL has signed a new 10-year exclusive licensing deal with sportswear giant Reebok.

World soccer chiefs said on Wednesday they were considering new proposals from the European Commission on a player's right to terminate his contract.

The MBNA Corporation has signed a long-term deal with the United States Tennis Association for MBNA to become the official credit card issuer for the USTA.

Digital satellite television service provider DirecTV Inc. said on Tuesday it bought the Latin American broadcast rights to the World Cup soccer competition in 2002 and 2006 in a deal valued at $400 million.

US marketing giant Octagon has acquired the California-based football operation of Mike Sullivan and Jeff Sperbeck.

Soccer's international governing body FIFA will raise more than $1 billion in the bond market to cover its costs in the run-up to the next two World Cups.