Australia
BASKETBALL IN, CRICKET OUT FOR COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Basketball will be played at the Commonwealth Games for the first time in Melbourne in 2006 but cricket is likely to be ruled out, state officials have said.
FOOT AND MOUTH WON’T AFFECT LIONS TOUR
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has declared that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain will not prevent the British and Irish Lions from touring in the summer.
FIJI WORLD CUP INVOLVEMENT IN DOUBT
The International Rugby Board will meet the Australian Government this week to discuss concerns over Fiji?s involvement in the 2003 World Cup in Australia.
ISRAEL REACHES $4M SETTLEMENT WITH ATHLETE
Israel's government has reached a $4 million settlement to compensate an Australian athlete injured in a 1997 sporting event near Tel Aviv, an Israeli source said on Tuesday. Sasha Elterman of Australia was seriously injured when a pedestrian bridge rigged for athletes competing in the Maccabiah "Jewish Olympics" collapsed and swept them into the polluted Yarkon River.
WAUGH FACES PROBE OVER BOOKMAKER CLAIMS
Australian cricket officials will meet Mark Waugh on Saturday to discuss allegations he took money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for team information during a tournament in Hong Kong.
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED NOT TO MATCH CONSORTIUM OFFER ON AFL TV RIGHTS.
Seven Network Limited has advised the Australian Football League that it would not accept its offer to match the News Limited led consortium bid for broadcast television rights for seasons 2002-2006.
BOOKMAKER’S ALLEGATIONS AFFECTED STEWART’S FORM
Former England cricket captain Alec Stewart has conceded that a bookmaker's statement accusing him of taking money in exchange for information affected his form during the recent tour of Pakistan.
MAYOR SIGNS DEAL FOR F1 TRACK IN MOSCOW
An agreement to build a multifunctional motor sport complex in Moscow, part of which will be a Formula 1 track, has been approved by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and president of the British company TWR Group Tom Walkinshaw.
ATHENS ORGANISERS FORECAST $800 MILLION TV REVENUES
Athens Olympics organisers (ATHOC) are forecasting revenues from TV rights for the 2004 Games will rise 16.5 percent from the Sydney figure to $800 million.
PARIS WOULD STAGE BEST GAMES, SAY BID ORGANISERS
Paris will stage the best Olympics ever if it wins the right to hold them in 2008, the bid organisers said in an official statement.
ESPN STAR NAMES VP OF PRODUCTION
ESPN Star Sports has hired Bob Kemp as VP of production.
BLIGH VOLLER NIELD WINS MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL AWARD
Australian architectural practice Bligh Voller Nield, whose designs were integral to the 2000 Olympic Games, has received the International Award in this year?s Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) National Awards for the WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand.
KINGSTON MEDIASTREAM WINS PRE-SPORTEL CONTRACTS
Sportel exhibitors, Kingston MediaSTream, the international satellite and broadcast arm of the Kingston Communications Group, has won two major international contracts.
AUSTRALIAN DESIGN FIRM BECOMES HOK PROPERTY.
Australian-based design and planning firm Hassell has formed an alliance with HOK, the world's biggest sports facility architectural firm.
OLIVER & OHLBAUM ADVISE GAA ON GLOBAL RIGHTS
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has appointed independent London-based advisors Oliver & Ohlbaum to find a purchaser for the federation?s global internet and broadcast rights.
TELSTRA REPORTS OLYMPIC COMMUNICATIONS RECORD
The Sydney Olympic Games represented the largest peacetime communications project in Australia?s history, according to the communications network that handled the traffic.
NBC RECORDS LOWEST GAMES FIGURES FOR 32 YEARS
The United States may have grabbed the most gold medals, but NBC's tape-delayed coverage of the Summer Games from Sydney limped across the finish line at a 32-year low in Olympic television ratings. For the full story see the `FEATURES? section of sportbusiness.com.
TICKETS.COM PREPARES FOR OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Tickets.com, the official ticket supplier to the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games, will make tickets available for online purchase, commencing October 10, 2000.