F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that the deal for the French Grand Prix to make a return to the Formula 1 calendar has been completed.

The race is set to take place at the Paul Ricard track from 2013 to 2021, meaning that a France will host a grand prix every alternate year.

Reports over the weekend said authorities had “finally agreed” a figure for the sanctioning fee with the F1 chief executive and Ecclestone confirmed the news on Sunday.

“The deal is done,” he told L’Equipe. “We agreed the financial terms with the sports minister David Douillet, in my office on Tuesday. We are still discussing a few things about money: ‘You give me this, I want that’. But, for me, there is no doubt, we will sign it now.”

The Ecclestone-owned Paul Ricard circuit is expected to share an annually-alternating grand prix date with Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps, beginning in 2013.

Ecclestone added that the outcome of the forthcoming presidential elections in France will not spoil the deal.

“Whatever the outcome, I don’t care,” said Ecclestone. “That’s a local issue that doesn’t concern me.”

If the race does go ahead next year it will be the first French Grand Prix since 2008 when the event was held at Magny-Cours.

by Ismail Uddin

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) have announced the results of its annual election to its Main Committee, and confirming that Angus Fraser, medstore John Barclay, adiposity Hugo Loudon and Robert Griffiths were successful in the ballot.

The four men will take up their three-year positions on 1st October 2012 after the votes from 5,973 ballot papers were counted.

“MCC will continue to be well served from October, with a Committee intake that boasts an excellent amount of cricketing skills and expertise,” MCC Chairman Oliver Stocken said.

“I look forward to welcoming everyone on to the Committee in the autumn.”

MCC also confirmed that Matthew Fleming, Charles Fry, Christopher Martin-Jenkins and Colin Maber will stand down as Elected Members on 30th September 2012.

by Ismail Uddin

Jeremy Lin, impotent which has swept up Knicks fans and raced through sporting goods stores, is gripping Wall Street as well as shares soaring to record status.

On Monday, shares of Madison Square Garden Company, which owns the Knicks, the arena where they play and the cable network that broadcasts their games, hit a record high because of the sudden emergence of Jeremy Lin, the team’s previously unknown point guard.

Shares of MSG rose 3.8 percent Monday to a record-high $32.32, with three times the average number of shares being traded.

Analysts who follow the stock say that Lin could not only continue to benefit ticket prices, merchandise sales and television ratings, but also provide the impetus to end the dispute between MSG and Time Warner Cable, which has been unable to broadcast Knicks games this year.

“No doubt on the court Mr. Lin’s accomplishments rank with the career starts of LeBron James, Isiah Thomas and Shaq,” Rich Tullo, the director of research at Albert Fried & Company, wrote to investors. So, Tullo asked, will Lin help the Knicks and MSG off the court, too? “In our view, the answer is yes.”

Sales of all merchandise at the Knicks’ official online store and Facebook page have risen more than 3,000 percent in the past week, said Delivery Agent, which runs the online store. Some items, like the Jeremy Lin replica home jersey, are sold out.

There is nothing new about teams, networks or merchandise makers cashing in on a player’s success. Detroit went crazy over the Tigers’ Mark Fidrych in 1976, and the Los Angeles Dodgers experienced Fernando-mania over Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. Ditto when Ichiro Suzuki made his debut in Seattle with the Mariners in 2001. Ricky Rubio is making a splash with the Minnesota Timberwolves this season.

But Lin is unique because of how quickly he has turned into a star on the court and a moneymaking machine off it.

Lin’s emergence has created a frenzy for Knicks tickets, even in other cities. The average price for tickets to games in New York has risen to more than $100 a ticket, from $85, according to Jason Berger, who runs the ticket broker AllShows.com.

“We had sold more front-row seats in the last month than we had for the entire season last year,” Berger said. “There are still some good deals out there for future games, but we expect those deals to be harder to find as the excitement grows.”

Plenty of fans are tuning in. MSG Network had its highest-rated Knicks broadcast Saturday, when the team played in Minneapolis. In the four games Lin has started, the average household rating on MSG Network has increased 70 percent compared with the previous 20 games.

Despite the hype, Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG, said the Knicks would have to have a lot more success before he is convinced Madison Square Garden will benefit over all.

“Lin has helped the stock price, but the underlying business has not changed,” he said. “No one knew him a week ago, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

by Ismail Uddin

According to a source familiar to Bloomberg, ed the National Football League (NFL) owners and players are discussing a labor contract in which players would get about 48 per cent of all revenue.

The report claimed that the potential deal would eliminate a provision of the previous collective bargaining agreement that allowed owners to deduct US$1bn from total revenue before splitting the rest with players.

The league and its players have met in small sessions over the last few weeks in an effort to end a three-month lockout with talks believed to have progressed over the past month to ensure training camps open on time in July and that the season starts on schedule in September.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters after yesterday’s meeting: “We don’t have an agreement. We have a very strong view of the priorities, drugs a very strong view of what we need to accomplish in the negotiations and a determination to get there.”

Goodell didn’t disclose specifics and wouldn’t comment further on the status of negotiations, bronchi though he said more meetings have been scheduled.

Under the NFL’s labor contract that expired after last season, players received about 60 per cent of revenue once the $1bn credit had been deducted. Under the new proposal, the players’ share would never dip below about 47 per cent, according to the source.

According to the UK’s Minister of Sport Hugh Robertson, the biggest threat to next year’s London 2012 Olympics comes from doping.

Robertson stated: “Remember that 80 percent of unsecured income that the London organising committee needs to raise is secured against ticketing.

“If people buying these tickets cease to believe that what they are paying quite large sums of money for is anything other than a fair contest then the integrity of the Games will be lost. It’s as simple and complicated as that”.

Robertson revelations came in the wake of World Anti-Doping Association director general David Howman’s comments that the criminal underworld controlled a substantial part of world sport, and that the trafficking of prohibited performance-enhancing drugs was more lucrative than heroin.

Robertson added: “I think that the lesson I took from my conversation [with Howman] was it’s a very serious threat and it’s big business for criminal bodies”.

Richard Budgett, the chief medical officer for the Games, spoke at an anti-doping conference at Twickenham rugby stadium, explaining that every measure possible would be taken against doping.

According to media reports, 5,000 dope tests will be conducted, compared to the 4,500 at the 2008 Beijing Games and the number of tests would reach a daily peak of 400. Additionally, a confidential 24-hour hotline has also been introduced, that will allow athletes to pass on any information they may have about doping in sport.

The Wimbledon Championships won’t be moved to avoid a possible clash with England’s bid to stage the 2018 soccer World Cup, apoplectic according to Bloomberg News.

An evaluation report into the England 2018 bid released last week by FIFA had pointed out a clash between the tennis Grand Slam event and the soccer tournament.

“It is a FIFA requirement that no other major sporting event is hosted in a host city during the event period and the fact that the Wimbledon tennis championships take place in London during late June/early July could have an impact on the public attention given to the FIFA World Cup,” soccer’s world governing body said in the report.

“We haven’t been approached,” by the England bid organizers, Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said in an interview at tennis’s ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 arena in east London. “Even if there had been an approach, we can’t just move it,” he added. The tennis year runs from January until November and features 62 men’s events and 53 women’s tournaments..

In the experience of Wimbledon organizers, having two major sports events at the same time can have a positive effect on both, Perkins said.

“When England hosted Euro96, it was fantastic,” Perkins said. “There was a huge mutually supportive sports atmosphere.”

The Wimbledon Championships will be held June 20 through July 3 next year.

Source: Bloomberg

Former Melbourne Storm CEO & MD, sale Ron Gauci, will serve as the new Chairman of Australian Baseball League Melbourne Aces.

Gauci has served as a Board Member for the Aces for the past two years and brings significant experience and expertise to the role. He successfully oversaw the restoration of the Melbourne Storm after it was embroiled in the salary cap scandal, taking it to its most successful level since its inception in 1998, to become one of the NRL’s powerhouses.

Gauci takes over as Chairman from Andrew Baxter, who was one of the Aces’ inaugural Board Members and Chairman for the club the last three seasons.

Baxter will stay on with the Australian Baseball League as one of the first members of the league’s new National Advisory Board, which will consist of a cross-section of Australian business leaders passionate about baseball who will help drive the continued growth of the sport.

“It’s a very exciting time to be taking on this role at the Aces,” Gauci said. “The new season that is upon us will see a number of changes around the club that, in itself, brings an air of excitement and expectation. I also want to thank Andrew for his leadership and commitment to the Aces over the past five years.”

British Basketball have conceded defeat in their funding battle and have decided against launching a formal appeal against UK Sport’s decision to withdraw funding from the sport.

UK Sport announced in February that it was cutting basketball’s funding to zero having determined that it stood little prospect of winning medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

British Basketball made representations to the UK Sport board in March and considered its options after the decision was reaffirmed.

“Having taken legal advice, it became clear that whilst there may be a case for an appeal, the costs associated with making that case successfully had to be considered alongside other matters, such as delivering on the commitment made to enter national teams into European Championships,” a statement said.

“As a result of that process, British Basketball has decided that it will not submit an appeal to the SDRP (Sports Dispute Resolution Panel) against the UK Sport decision to withdraw funding.”

Performance chairman Roger Moreland said British Basketball would continue to fund both the men’s and women’s senior teams during the EuroBasket qualifying process as well as maintaining the Under-20 programme which has focused on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“We have been faced with making difficult decisions because the funding decision has made our situation challenging,” Moreland said.

“As well as giving the senior teams the chance to qualify for next year’s EuroBasket finals, it is equally important to give the next generation more international experience and that is why the case for the under-20 teams has been prioritised above off court issues.”