Media

A new state-of-the-art racecourse has been planed for a 165-acre site at Great Leighs, north of Chelmsford in the UK.

The monetary value of Champions League football to English soccer clubs has been dramatically emphasised with the revelation that Leeds United has increased turnover by 67% for the last six months of last year.

Jacques Rogge, a Belgian surgeon who has won a reputation for fixing the pains and strains of organising Olympic Games, on Monday joined the race for world sport's most powerful job - the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency.

A World Rally Championship Commission and Technical Working Group which will mirror the system in Formula One has been created by the World Motor Sport Council.

The European Broadcasting Union has appointed Jean Stock, president and CEO of TV5 and Canal France International, as its new secretary general.

The English Rugby Football Union said it expected profits and cash reserves to double by 2007-2008, as it outlined an eight-year strategic plan to increase investment in the game.

While Beijing sprayed its grass green to impress Olympic Games inspectors, Toronto is about to greet the officials with a thick blanket of new snow as it makes its pitch to host the 2008 Summer Games.

RTL, Europe's largest television group, is close to an accord with European pay-TV group Canal Plus over sports broadcasting rights, RTL, according to its CEO Didier Bellens.

Formula One's five European car makers said on Tuesday they opposed any moves that would lead to one television company controlling the commercial rights to races.

Sports retailer and event sponsor Vans Inc. has signed a three-year sponsorship programming deal with NBC Sports under which NBC will broadcast skateboarding championships and other events.

China urged International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates arriving on Monday to assess Beijing's bid for the 2008 Games to focus on its credentials as a "sports superpower of 1.2 billion people", not its human rights record.

The AFL has had a much-needed sponsorship boost as the league and naming-rights backer Coca-Cola denied their relationship would end prematurely.

A possible rescue attempt by Kirch of cash-strapped Germany media group EM.TV seems closer after EM.TV management seemed to resolve their differences.

U.S. network NBC has denied that it was trying to exert pressure to put back the times of events at the 2004 Athens Olympics because of prime time television at home.

The Premier League will sell their overseas rights in separate geographical blocs when the rights come up for negotiation in the next two weeks.

Octagon Marketing has won the exclusive rights to capitalise on the commercial potential of chess worldwide over the next three years.