Professional football in Germany employs 110,000 workers and had a turnover of €5 billion in 2007-08, according to a report by consultancy McKinsey, produced in co-operation with the Deutsch Fussball-Liga (DFL).
ESPN Star Sports (ESS), the Asian arm of the international sports broadcaster, has held on to its media rights for the English Premier League in Asia, agreeing deals covering 18 markets until 2013.
In a first for the Commonwealth Games, parts of central and south-east Asia will enjoy both television and radio coverage of the event, increasing the reach by 10 countries and some 500 million television viewers compared to Manchester.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) representatives completed a seven-day visit to East Timor on Wednesday aimed at helping the tiny country establish its own National Olympic Committee.
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Robert Steadward has declared the Paralympic Games, the best Games ever, as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch had done on October 1. Steadward said the Paralympics had had been "an absolutely outstanding event".
The people of East Timor will get to see the Olympics after all thanks to the help of an Australian broadcaster.
Almost every person on the planet with access to a television will watch the Sydney Olympics at some time in the next month.
