Tuesday, 26th February 2008

SPORTS SHORTS

* AVP, Inc. a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, announced today famed footwear company Crocs, Inc. will be the official tour title sponsor and exclusive footwear sponsor of the newly formed Crocs Tour Australia through 2012. Yahoo!Finance, Centraldaily.com, 25th Feb 2008

* The Board of Control for Cricket in India has rejected plans for a one-day international series in Pakistan next month. The Pakistan Cricket Board had hoped to welcome the Indians for three matches in Lahore between March 12 and 18. However, the PCB said yesterday that BCCI president Sharad Pawar had contacted his Pakistan counterpart Nasim Ashraf and ‘explained that the tour was not possible due to the hectic schedule of the Indian cricket team.’ India are currently involved in a triangular one-day international competition in Australia, which also involves the hosts and Sri Lanka, and are due to start a home test series against South Africa in late-March. The PCB hopes that India will consent to play a one-day series in Pakistan before the Asia Cup in June or the ICC Champions Trophy in September and October. Sportcal.com, 25th Feb 2008

* Fifa has expressed satisfaction with the state of progress following an inspection of six of the ten stadiums being redeveloped or built to host matches during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Concerns have been expressed about the pace of the construction work, which has been affected by labour strikes, but Ron DelMont, the head of the Fifa inspection team, offered comfort to the organisers, saying: ‘I can assure you we are arguably ahead of previous Fifa World Cup organisers at this comparative stage.’ Sportcal.com, 25th Feb 2008

* Sky Italia has acquired all TV rights for the Olympic Games in Vancouver (2010) and London (2012). According to the International Olympic Committee, Sky Italia acquired all the rights for the two events including free-to-air, pay-TV, pay-per-view and near-video-on-demand (NVOD) rights for all the available distribution platforms: terrestrial, cable & satellite, IPTV, internet and mobile. Sky Italia has guaranteed the redistribution on free TV of the two Olympics events in order to give them maximum visibility. The value of the deal has not been disclosed to the press. The Bejing 2008 Olympics Games will be broadcast in Italy by the public broadcaster RAI. RapidTV, Sportcal.com, 25th Feb 2008

* Nike agreed a seven-and-a half-season contract, worth €320 million deal to sponsor the French national football team from 2011. Under the deal, Nike will pay the French Football Federation an average of €42.66 million per season. On top of this, Nike will kick in €2.5 million worth of sporting equipment per complete season. “On the whole, the new contract will bring the Federation four times and half times the resources over the current contract”, said the FFF. Nike beat off competition from Adidas and Airness of France for the FFF contract. Adidas has sponsored the French national team since 1972. Its current deal ends in 2011. Sportsbusiness, 25th Feb 2008


MORE NEWS

Myanmar/Olympics: Now Myanmar Activists Call for Olympic TV Viewing Boycott

Political activists in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, have called for television viewers to boycott television coverage of this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing in protest at China’s support for the ruling military junta in the country. The activists called in a statement: ‘for citizens around the world to pressure the government of China to withdraw its unilateral support of the Burmese military junta and to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

‘China is a major trade partner, major arms supplier and major defender of the junta in the international arena. ‘The military junta in Burma is still in power to this day, despite strong and continuous resistance by the people of Burma, because of China's support.’ The activists, who represent a group called the 88 Generation Student group, also called for a boycott of Olympic merchandise.

The boycott call is the latest in a series of political issues to be linked with the games by human rights and other activists. Other issues include China’s involvement in a humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, controversy over the independent status of Taiwan and accusations of interference in press freedom. Sportcal.com, 25th Feb 2008