The future of the Belgian Grand Prix was secured for the next three years after race organisers signed a deal with Formula One (F1) chiefs.

The Spa Francorchamps race had its fate in the balance, ambulance amid concerns it was seeking a race-share deal with Nurburgring or Magny-Cours.

The contract will run from 2013 to 2015 and is providing better financial gain for the circuit.

In other news regarding the Belgian Grand Prix, organisers will allow 5,600 spectators into the ground, after The Ticket Enterprise (TTE) collapsed, leaving fans without tickets they had paid for.

Chief Promoter, Etienne Davignon confirmed the news at a press conference and said: “We will see how we can recover (the money).

“It is too early to judge just how much we are going to lose.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) have introduced an innovative plan to more than double the prize money for the annual number one Test team from 2013 in order to boost the profile of the sports traditional international game.

England currently top the rankings, but that position may come under threat before this year’s cut-off date in April if they lose a third successive Test against Pakistan.

A press release from the ICC read: “A total of $3.8million (£2.4million) in prize money will be shared among the top four sides on April 1 2013, 2014 and 2015 after the ICC board approved a proposal to substantially increase incentives in the form of prize money to promote Test match cricket in the period before the ICC Test Championship event in 2017.”

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat added: “This worthy increase in prize money for the top four teams in the Reliance ICC Test Rankings can only be right.

“We are delighted at the growing interest and quality of Test match cricket and we must continue to promote the pinnacle form of the game before and beyond the Test Championship in 2017.”

Previously, the number one Test team received $175,000 (£110,000) but in future will receive a minimum of $450,000 (£283,000) rising to $500,000 (£315,000) in 2015.

It was also announced after the world governing body’s two-day meeting in Dubai that the ICC will have a board chairman and president from 2014 onwards, splitting the role currently filled by the president alone.

A chairman will lead the board, while the president’s function will become an ambassadorial one.

Lorgat told a press conference of the intended change following a meeting which also considered Lord Woolf’s 60-page report into the organisation’s governance.

However, there will be no decisions on the key recommendations of the independent governance review until at least the next board meeting in April.

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The planned NBA regular season games to be staged in London ahead of next summer’s Olympics have been cancelled the National Basketball Association (NBA) has confirmed.

The New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic were due to play regular-season games at the O2 Arena as part of an effort to promote basketball in the lead up to the Olympics.

The cancellation has followed the curtailment of the new season due to the long labour dispute fought out between players and owners.

With a new reduced 66-game regular season schedule, squeezed into a shorter period with an increased number of back-to-back-to-back games for all teams, it had increased pressure on the league and the Nets to scrap their dates at The 02 Arena, slated for March 7 and 8.

The league is still scheduled to play at least one pre-season game in London next autumn with another to follow in Manchester in 2013.

 

Yesterday, April 25, US District Judge Susan Richard Nelson gave the National Football League (NFL) players an early victory in their lawsuit against the league’s lockout by ordering an end to the sanction after backing the players’ argument that the work stoppage is causing irreparable harm to their careers.

In riposte the NFL has promised an immediate appeal after Nelson’s judgement supported the players in their fight with the owners over how to divide the competition’s US$9 billion annual turnover.

Nelson wrote that the plaintiffs “made a strong showing that allowing the League to continue their ‘lockout’ is presently inflicting, and will continue to inflict, irreparable harm upon them, particularly when weighed against the lack of any real injury that would be imposed on the NFL by issuing the preliminary injunction.”

The NFL responded by stating: “We will promptly seek a stay from Judge Nelson pending an expedited appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labour disputes. We are confident that the Eighth Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans.

“We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal.” DeMaurice Smith, the NFL Players’ Association executive director, said: “I am happy for our players and for our fans. Today, those who love football are the winners”, the league added.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has since claimed that the league faces a future with no draft or salary cap, unlimited free agency and a handful of dominant teams if players and owners fail to negotiate a new labor accord.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal, Goodell wrote that the decision to back the players may ‘endanger’ the sport, adding: “A union victory threatens to overturn the carefully constructed system of competitive balance that makes NFL games and championship races so unpredictable and exciting.”

Owners imposed the initial lockout after talks broke down in March ahead of the deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In turn the players disbanded their union and a group of players, led by quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees filed the injunction request along with a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

If the appeals court upholds the injunction, the League will be forced to open its doors for the first time since the lockout began March 12.

The week commencing 16 January 2012 has been scheduled by the English High Court to hear the four-pronged intellectual property infringement claim by Force India F1 Team Ltd. against 1 Malaysia Racing Team SDN BHD, buy 1 Malaysia Racing Team (UK) Ltd, Michael Gascoyne and Aerolab Srl.

1 Malaysia Racing is the current owner of Team Lotus, which incidentally is in the midst of a naming rights spat with Renault F1 backer Group Lotus.  

The Vijay Mallya-owned Force India F1 team last year included F1 rival Lotus in the suit it filed against aerodynamic design company Aerolab and Fondtech, which it had accused of copying its VJM03 wind tunnel model.

Force India released a statement, reading: “Separate criminal proceedings are currently ongoing in Italy in respect of the  wrongful disclosure of confidential information, as a consequence of the filing by Force India F1 Team Ltd of a complaint with the competent authorities. In respect of these proceedings, articles in the Italian press have recently revealed that Tony Fernandes, Mike Gascoyne and Jean Claude Migeot have been formally charged.”

Soccerex announced that Dr João Havelange the Honorary Life President of FIFA and father of modern football has confirmed that he will address delegates on the opening day of the Soccerex Global Convention 2010.

As well as being President of FIFA from 1974 to 1998, Dr Havelange is the longest serving member of the International Olympic Committee, was President of the CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol) for 17 years, a member of the Brazilian Olympic committee from 1955 to 1963 and even competed as a swimmer in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and as part of the Brazilian water polo team in 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki.

The Global Convention will be exhibiting a selection of the many prestigious awards received by Dr Havelange during his lifetime, just some of which are the Cavalier of the Légion d’honneur (France), the Order of Special Merit in Sports (Brazil), the Commander of the Cavaliers of the Ordem Infante Dom Henrique(Portugal), the Cavalier of the Vasa Orden (Sweden) and the Grand Cross of Elizabeth the Catholic (Spain).

The event will also feature a football legacy panel named after Dr Havelange, who has done so much to promote the importance of legacy in sport. It will bring together a panel of experts and key figures involved in social responsibility with the football industry and will focus on the situation in Brazil and the social legacy the 2014 World Cup needs to leave on the country.

The Soccerex Global Convention (20-24 November 2010) will consist of an in-depth conference schedule, packed exhibition, a large range of networking and two-day Football Festival all taking place in the Forte de Copacabana, Copacabana beach and Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro. iSportconnect is the official Social Media Partner of the event.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club chief executive Mike Siddall has revealed he will step down from the role at the end of the season.

Siddall said Leicestershire’s FLT20 triumph in 2011 was the highlight of his time at Grace Road, but he also cited various off-field achievements including securing the release of the city council covenant on the club’s traditional home.

The University of Colorado has signed a partnership with SSB Consulting, a Denver based enterprise data management and business intelligence consulting company.

“We are thrilled that our home-town team, the University of Colorado, has joined our roster of college and pro teams,” said Andrew Brodie, SSB president. “SSB’s Central Intelligence platform will enable CU’s athletic department to have a much greater understanding and quality of engagement with its customer base, and near real-time dashboard reporting will enable CU executives to make critical decisions in a timely manner in order to maximize revenue.”

The Central Intelligence platform gives teams a previously unavailable view of their customers across all of their touch points with the athletic department, including ticket purchase history, seating preferences, donor status, merchandise purchases, and other aspects of the relationship.

“The high level of customer intelligence and instantaneous reporting will allow us to interact with our season ticket holders, donors, alumni, sponsors and fans in ways that we’ve never been available to do,” said Matt Biggers, University of Colorado Associate Athletic Director. “Imagine arriving at a Buffs’ home game where a CU team rep greets you by name and offers to upgrade you to a premium seat or suite. Having access to this level of customer intelligence is going to be game-changing for CU.”

Progress on the Rio 2016 Olympic golf course may be halted according to reports out of Brazil.

Rio organizers confirmed that a state prosecutor could halt work on the course unless the developer shows it is following environment regulations and other requirements under Brazilian law.

Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada confirmed the inquiry on Saturday and said developers had been asked to provide documentation that would allow the work to continue.

“The state prosecutor is asking for the papers to show the work is proceeding according to the law, symptoms ” Andrada told The Associated Press. “We believe all the rules are being followed.”

Gil Hanse, the 2016 Olympics golf course designer, says work is moving ahead, with the entire layout now shaped and getting ready for grassing. 

Hanse, who lived on site for the first year of construction and now spends a week to 10 days every month on site, is set to return to Rio on June 9 to oversee the final preparation of the two or three greens so they can get the Paspalum. Hanse’s own on-site crew, consisting of two shapers and a finish man, will be floating out the surface contours and making sure the greens mix is properly amended with nutrients for successful grown in.

“Work was being done on the course today,” said Hanse, who is currently working on the East Course at Winged Foot. “I have no knowledge of any issues about halting construction or environmental issues.”

There are an additional 40 laborers on site manually weeding and transplanting grasses. Three holes have operational irrigation, with more slated for the summer and fall. Hanse says the hope is to get all of the grassing done by October 2014. 

Ty Votaw, the vice president of the International Golf Federation, said that the process is in the hands of the Brazilian government and will take about 10 days before a determination will be made.

Australian Football League team St Kilda have renewed their partnership with Victorian Football League (VFL) Sandringham Zebras until the end of 2015. 

Through the new deal both parties are looking to establish their own stand-alone VFL teams from 2016 onwards. 

“The objective for both St Kilda and Sandringham to field stand-alone VFL teams from 2016 would mean that there is a clear development pathway for players of each respective club,” said St Kilda head of football Chris Pelchen.

“In the meantime, our partnership continues to be an important part of St Kilda’s development program and we remain committed to bringing success to Sandringham in the VFL competition.”

The Saints have been aligned with Sandringham since 2009, strengthening the alliance in 2012 with the appointment of Simon McPhee working in a dual role as Sandringham’s senior coach and as a development coach with the Saints