North America

American football league the NFL has introduced a new model to assign hosting rights for the Super Bowl, according to NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk website.

Major League Soccer has announced that the 2018 edition of its All-Star Game will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia home of new MLS franchise Atlanta United and NFL American football team the Atlanta Falcons.

US sports technology, data and content company Stats has strengthened its pool of business expertise with the appointment of Casey Wasserman as its newest board director.

The World Rallycross Championship (World RX) motor-racing series will head to the United States for the first time next year after an agreement was reached for an event to be held at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) facility in Austin, Texas.

American football league the NFL has agreed a multi-year deal with StubHub for the online ticket exchange to become its authorised ticket resale marketplace.

NFL American football team the Green Bay Packers has partnered with US technology giant Microsoft to launch TitletownTech, an initiative designed to boost economic expansion in Wisconsin’s Fox River Valley area through digital innovations.

The New York Yankees Major League Baseball franchise has entered the esports sector through an investment partnership with Vision Esports, the parent company of the Echo Fox, Twin Galaxies and Vision Entertainment properties.

Golf’s PGA Tour has announced that its Barbasol Championship will move from Opelika, Alabama to Nicholasville, Kentucky from next year.

The NFL American football league has extended its long-running partnership with ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster, with the new deal set to result in the formation of the first open-architecture, fully digital ticketing system in professional sport.

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has approved the relocation of the San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas, with the franchise to begin playing in Nevada from the 2018 season.

Salt Lake City in Utah, United States, has established a committee to investigate a possible bid for the 2026 or 2030 winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has spoken of its “disappointment” that Innsbruck will not enter the race to host the 2026 Games.

Online sports apparel and merchandise retailer Fanatics has launched a new division that will focus on the US college sports market.

The owners of Columbus Crew have today (Tuesday) confirmed they are exploring the option of moving the Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise to Austin, stating that its current business model is unsustainable.

A consortium has lodged a bid to form a New York-based rugby league team that would begin competing in the third tier of the English game.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has confirmed that it is interested in bidding for the winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, but has admitted that it would prefer to stage the 2030 event so as not to interfere with Los Angeles’ hosting of the 2028 summer Games.

E-commerce giant Rakuten is making waves in the world of sport having recently signed off on sponsorship deals with the NBA, Barcelona FC and the Golden State Warriors. Ben Cronin spoke to the company’s global marketing director, Rahul Kadavakolu, at the recent Leaders business conference.