F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has warned Canadian Grand Prix organisers that major construction needs to take place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve or risk losing the race.

The racetrack will host a F1 race until 2014 after a new deal was made after it was left out of the 2008 calendar.

One of the logistical problems of hosting the race on the man-made island is a lack of space – each year floating platforms are brought onto the St Lawrence River to extend the paddock.

Reports in Canada suggest that around £9.3million will need to be spent on giving the circuit a face-lift if they are to have a chance of retaining the race, cheap with pressure coming from state-of-art venues in the Middle-East.

“It is important to note that there are two years to run on the current contract with Formula 1 Management,” race promoter François Dumontier told Canadian newspaper La Presse.

“Given the fact that permanent structures at the circuit, such as the control tower and garages, are nearly 25 years old, it is likely that the rebuilding of these will be an important element in negotiations for an extension to the current agreement.”

ESPN has fired one employee and suspended another for using racist terms in connection to New York Knicks’ guard Jeremy Lin.

In both cases, an employee used the word “chink” in reference to Lin, a Palo Alto native of Chinese descent.

“We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin,” ESPN wrote. “His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.”

One employee used the word in a mobile headline “Chink in the Armor” after the Knicks lost to the New Orleans Hornets Friday night.

“I don’t think it was on purpose or whatever, but (at) the same time they have apologized. And so from my end I don’t care anymore,” Lin said after leading the Knicks to a 104-97 win over Dallas on Sunday. “Have to learn to forgive, and I don’t even think that was intentional. Or hopefully not.”

Lin is the NBA’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

The headline was only up from 2:30 a.m. ET to 3:05 a.m., but an SB Nation employee captured it.

A few days earlier, Max Bretos, an anchor on ESPN News used the same phrase while speaking with Knicks legend Walt Frazier. A radio commentator on ESPN’s airwaves also used the word, but the person is not an ESPN employee.

ESPN first apologized on Saturday, then issued the following statement:

“We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.”

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund also issued a statement on Saturday calling the phrase “racist and inexcusable.” The organization called on ESPN to issue an apology “aired prominently on ESPN’s television programs,” and also offered to meet with ESPN employees to prevent future racism.

ESPN’s employees are not alone in demonstrating poor judgment when it comes to Lin. MSG, which owns the Knicks, aired an image of Lin popping out of a fortune cookie while Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock posted an offensive tweet about basketball’s newest star last weekend.

Whitlock apologized, saying he surrendered to the “immature, sophomoric, comedic” part of his personality.

Lin, a Harvard graduate, has come out of nowhere the past few weeks to lead the Knicks to respectability.

His instant popularity has landed him a spot in the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in the events Saturday Feb. 25 but not the game Feb. 26  and also helped MSG and Time Warner Cable resolve a dispute. The two sides had been warring over fees, robbing New Yorkers of local sports programming.

by Ismail Uddin

 

The National Football League will repay its employees all wages and bonuses lost during the lockout, sale according to Bloomberg News.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in the letter that salaries will be restored to previous levels, allergy withheld bonuses will be paid and employees will get a full payment to cover income lost during league cutbacks.

The repayment will take effect as soon as the NFL’s next pay period.

The New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills previously announced that they will reimburse employees for team cutbacks and furloughs instituted during the lockout.

Goodell, who received about US$9.8 million in salary and bonuses in 2009, and Jeff Pash, the league’s chief negotiator in the labour talks, each had his annual pay reduced to US$1 during the work stoppage, whilst all other league employees had their salaries cut by 12 percent.

The cutbacks — for employees at the NFL’s New York headquarters, NFL Network, NFL Films and NFL.com — would have increased to 25 percent if the lockout continued into August. The shutdown ended two days ago when NFL Players Association leadership voted to accept a new labour contract that previously was approved by owners.

A Madrid court has ordered the Spanish Football League (LFP) to end its threatened strike, though the league has pledged to maintain its fight against government regulations.

Yesterday, March 30, the court ruled in favour of six breakaway clubs, who had argued against the LFP’s plans to strike during La Liga’s fixtures for April 2-3. The ruling has seen the League immediately issue kick-off times for this weekend’s set of games, while maintaining the war is not yet over.

A statement from the LFP read: “Despite the internal discrepancies at the heart of the LFP over the measures adopted at the assembly on February 11, all the clubs that make up the league continue to press their demands on the government. From this point on, a new route map will be established that will allow us to unblock the conversations in our search for solutions to the grievances suffered by professional football compared to other sectors of the Spanish economy.”

The dispute centres on broadcast regulations with Spanish clubs seeking to enhance their position ahead of negotiations for new media rights deals. The LFP has been in talks with the Spanish government with the aim of scrapping regulations which state one La Liga game per match day must be shown on free-to-air television.

However, La Liga soccer clubs Sevilla, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol, Real Zaragoza and Real Sociedad last week lodged a legal challenge to the mooted strike with the clubs arguing that the move was “disproportionate, inopportune, against the law, as well as against the interests of the clubs, the competition and the fans”.

Wednesday’s court ruling spells an end to the threat of a farcical conclusion to the 2010-11 La Liga season. Due to the packed fixture schedule the earliest available window for re-arranging the games had fallen on June 11-12, three weeks after the scheduled end of the season.

Speaking at a press conference, Villarreal vice-president Jose Manuel Llaneza expressed his delight at a “great day for football”, adding that a strike would have been a “disaster” for the Spanish game.

Stealth SME, an integrated consultancy, sports, media, and entertainment company has announced today the appointment of Rob Ponger as President.

Mr. Ponger will oversee the Sports, Media House, Entertainment and Consultancy divisions of Stealth. Most recently, Mr. Ponger served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Financial Operations at IMG Worldwide.

Mr. Ponger formerly served as Business Unit CFO of IMG’s media division from 2001 until 2007. In 2008, he moved into a senior vice president of IMG corporate financial planning & analysis role as well as served as the Senior VP, finance director — IMG Fashion / Models.

“I am excited and honored to be joining the talented team at Stealth SME,” said Ponger. “Stealth has aggressively moved into the Sports, Media and Entertainment space and my goal is to work with the team to develop a plan for growth, both organically and via strategic acquisitions and partnerships while building a global infrastructure that has the bandwidth to handle rapid growth. My vision is to build a world class organization and create a team culture that can be dynamic and strategic in developing new platforms for revenue.”

“We are fortunate to have Rob join Stealth at the helm, as he has an exceptional strategic finance and operations expertise in the industry,” said Stealth SME partner and co-founder, Christopher Aden. “Rob understands the agency business model and will bring value to Stealth SME across all of the platforms.”

“Rob Ponger is an outstanding operating executive with proven leadership skills. Over his 20-year career at IMG, Rob touched all aspects of the sports and fashion business and, like the best leaders, led by example. Without Rob, we could not have achieved what we did at IMG,” said Michael Dolan, interim CEO of Bacardi and former CEO of IMG.

Mr. Ponger will be based in New York City at the Stealth SME headquarters.

Diversified automotive, ambulance heavy manufacturing and engineering firm, viagra sale UMW Group, has expanded its Malaysian golf sponsorship programme by partnering with the Glenmarie Classic tournament, which starts this week.

The Glenmarie Classic tournament is run by Professional Golf Malaysia, a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2010 to help develop golf in Malaysia.

The deal is worth US$82,000 and the company has said it would also contribute US$164,000 to golf next year, making its total sponsorship of the sport from 2011 to 2013, a total of US$326,000.

The company will review its sponsorship of the Professional Golf Malaysia organisation at the end of next year.{jcomments on}