Australia

AIM-listed ocean racing company, Clipper Ventures, has confirmed Durban has become the latest city to invest as a host port.

UK commercial network ITV has reported an audience of more than 70 million viewers for its coverage of the opening rounds of the Rugby World Cup from Australia.

Oil giant Shell has appointed the Carlson Marketing Group as its event management agency for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

The ITF has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with watch firm Fossil to become an international sponsor and ‘official watch’ of the Davis Cup.

Organiser of the Clipper Race have reported pre-tax losses of $797,000 (EUR680,000) in its latest finance figures for the period ending April 30, 2003.

Australian drag racing’s iTEL Community Telco Drag Racing Nationals has secured its first major international TV rights deal.

Australian based bookmaker SportOdds has successfully completed the purchase of Centrebet, the online gaming division of Jupiters Limited, creating one of the world's largest, privately owned sports betting businesses.

Cable network ESPN has reached a new multi-year agreement for the broadcast rights to the Spanish football league (La Liga) throughout Latin America and the Pacific Rim.

Building on the platform of this year's Rugby World Cup, Japan is lobbying to be included in the Southern Hemisphere's Super 12 series from 2006.

Rugbyworldcup.com, the official web site of Rugby World Cup 2003, served 183.3 million hits in the first nine days of the tournament according to the event organisers.

UK agency the GEM Group has won the account handling contract for energy supplier BG Group's yacht sponsorship in the fourth Global Challenge race.

Australian Rugby Union managing director and CEO John O’Neill has expressed his delight with the support for the Rugby World Cup and that crowd figures had exceeded expectations.

Sponsorship Intelligence (SI), the sponsorship research and consulting arm of ZenithOptimedia, has officially launched a dedicated online information service to help keep staff and clients informed of media and marketing developments from the Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Host broadcaster the Seven Network broke the record for the number of viewers for a rugby union game in the country with its coverage of Australia's opening game of the Rugby World Cup against Argentina.

S2 Marketing has been recruited as PR agency for Volvo Ocean Race syndicate Boating Partners UK (BPUK).

BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) has been signed a $1million deal to transmit UK broadcaster ITV Sport's coverage of the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.