North America
TURNER SPORTS AND NBC PROVIDE ONLINE RYDER CUP
Turner Sports and NBC Sports, the US Ryder Cup broadcaster, will produce and distribute online streaming video content for the 2006 Ryder Cup tournament.
2010 ORGANISERS LOOKING TO SIGN MORE SPONSORS
The organisers of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games expect to sign up to 10 new sponsorship deals this year as they look to surpass more than C$700 million in total domestic sponsorship.
NFL AND SKY ANNOUNCE NEW FOUR-YEAR PARTNERSHIP
American football’s National Football League has awarded Pay-TV broadcaster Sky the UK and Irish rights to the NFL under a new four-year deal, up until the end of the 2010-2011 season.
SETANTA SPORTS CLOSE TO DEAL
Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports is said to be close to agreeing a fund-raising deal with a private-equity firm.
US OPEN SETS TOURNAMENT RECORDS
The 2006 US Open set several records in attendance and website traffic and generated significant television ratings.
CBC WINS 2010 AND 2014 WORLD CUP RIGHTS
Canadian public-service broadcaster CBC acquired the TV right for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
CHAIRMAN OF SPORTINGBET QUITS
Peter Dicks, chairman of online gambling company Sportingbet, has quit his post. The move follows his arrest in America last week on charges of “gambling by computer”
NFL AND APPLE OFFER NFL HIGHLIGHTS VIA ITUNES STORE
The National Football League (NFL) and Apple® agreed a deal for highlights of all Regular Season NFL Games & NFL GameDay to be available via the iTunes store.
EUROPEAN TOUR AND SKY PRODUCE HDTV RYDER CUP
European Tour Productions will produce The Ryder Cup for the first time ever in High Definition format.
SPORTINGBET CHAIRMAN ARRESTED IN US
The arrest of online bookmaker Sportingbet’s chairman Peter Dicks in the US is linked to "the alleged violation of Louisiana State laws relating to gambling by computer".
EUROSPORT EXTENDS US OPEN TV DEAL UNTIL 2012
Pan-European broadcaster Eurosport extended its TV deal with the US Tennis Association for the US Open for an additional six years until the 2012 US Open.
NFL AND FMI EXTEND MERCHANDISE PARTNERSHIP
The NFL has signed a new long-term deal keeping Facility Merchandising Incorporated (FMI) as the exclusive merchandise partner for the Super Bowl.
USTA TURNED DOWN $100M ROOF PLAN
US Open chiefs have admitted they had investigated putting a roof on the Arthur Ashe Stadium – but turned their noses up at the $100m price tag.
KING DELIGHT AT USTA VENUE NAMING
The US Tennis Association has turned its back on potentially millions of dollars and opted not to sell the naming rights to its new National Tennis Centre.
SONY ERICSSON SIGNS $20M TITLE RIGHTS DEAL
It is already naming sponsor of the WTA Tour – now Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has served up its latest tennis deal; a $20m-plus, four-year contract for title sponsorship of the former Nasdaq-100 Open.
GOLTV SCORES LA LIGA DEAL
Soccer channel GolTV has confirmed a new exclusive multi-year agreement to broadcast Spain’s La Liga in the US and Canada.
RECORD COVERAGE FOR WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP
The International Rugby Board says the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2006, which kicks off on 31 August in Edmonton, Canada, will be shown on more television stations than ever before.
LERNER’S VILLA STAKE CONFIRMED
The London Stock Exchange has announced that Randy Lerner, who owns the Cleveland Browns NFL team, now owns 59.69% of EPL Club Aston Villa.