Americas

Golf fans attending the Ryder Cup in Ireland next month have been told they will face tougher-than-ever security checks – and will be banned from brining in mobile phones or cameras.

With more than 2 months to go before the opening of SPORTELMonaco 2006, exhibitors have committed to more than 85% of the expanded floor space in the Grimaldi Forum.

Sports betting company BETonSPORTS told its employees that it would be shutting down its Costa Rican and Antiguan offices.

Spanish Primera Liga club Barcelona expects its pre-season tour of USA to generate four times more revenue than its tour there in 2003.

Interest in sponsoring the London 2012 Olympics has been so strong that companies are reportedly prepared to pay around £100 million to become official partners, double the original estimate.

Soccerex, the world's largest business to business football convention, is delighted to announce that subject to Parliamentary commitments, the UK Minister for Sport, Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP will be attending the 10th annual Soccerex convention, held at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, 26th-28th November 2006.

The International Olympic Committee signed a four-Games agreement for the broadcast rights in Korea with South Korean commercial broadcaster SBS.

The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network said it would expand to a 24-hour programming line-up that will eventually feature NCAA basketball, football and lacrosse games.

The British alpine skiing funding budget up until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver has been reduced from £1.72m to £922,000.

The US Olympic Committee has narrowed down its list of possible bidding cities for the 2016 Olympics to three.

The Organisers of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies said they are confident of putting on successful World Cup.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced another year of record TV broadcast figures for the popular IRB Sevens World Series.

The US Olympic Committee is considering the launch of a new 24-hour network, provisionally called the United States Olympic Sports Network.

Online gaming company BETonSPORTS faces a civil case in the US over its operations taking bets on sports events.

The South American Football Confederation said it was unaware of a Colombian bid to host football's 2014 World Cup finals.

The World Cup final between Italy and France was a ratings winner in France, Italy and the USA. In Italy over 23 million watched public-service broadcaster Rai’s coverage of the final, some 84 per cent share of the audience, with an estimated two million more watching coverage on pay-broadcaster Sky Italia.