The continued and escalating violence in Bahrain has not deterred Formula One Supremo Bernie Ecclestone and FIA from racing in the Gulf kingdom next year.

Both the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) Ecclestone made clear after Tuesday’s anniversary was met with tear gas and petrol bombs that the fourth race of the season remained on track.

“The FIA, like many in the diplomatic community in the kingdom, the main political opposition…believes the staging of a Grand Prix would be beneficial in bridging some of the difficulties Bahrain is experiencing,” said an FIA spokesman on Wednesday.

“The FIA is not in a position to influence political matters in a sovereign country such as Bahrain and we can only wish for a long-term peaceful solution.”

Bahrain has considerable clout in F1 circles, with the country’s sovereign wealth fund major shareholders in the McLaren team while Sheikh Abdulla bin Isa al-Khalifa heads the FIA’s karting commission and sits on the world body’s 26-man motor sport council.

Ecclestone, whose Formula One Management is estimated to receive $40 million a year from Bahrain as the fee to host the race, and FIA president Jean Todt are also on that decision-making council.

The grand prix is the biggest sporting event hosted by Bahrain and one that gives the country global television exposure.

Bahrain became the first country in the Middle East to have a Formula One race when it made its debut in 2004 but last year’s grand prix was postponed and then cancelled due to the unrest.

Both Ecclestone and the FIA fought a long and ultimately failed battle to keep it on the 2011 calendar and swiftly reinstated it for this year despite calls from rights campaigners for it to be dropped.

Two groups of British parliamentarians have written letters to the Times newspaper in the past week arguing for and against the race, while Britain’s 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill has spoken out in favour of a return to Bahrain.

Armoured vehicles patrolled the capital Manama on Tuesday in a security clampdown after youths threw petrol bombs at police, who fired tear gas at protesters.

It was the first time since martial law was lifted in June, after protests that killed at least 35 people, that armoured personnel carriers had re-appeared on the streets.

“I don’t think it’s anything serious at all. It doesn’t change our position in any shape or form,” Ecclestone told the Guardian newspaper of the continuing unrest that he described as “a lot of kids having a go at the police.”

“If the people (rulers) in Bahrain say ‘Look Bernie, it wouldn’t be good for you to come over here’, then I would think again. That is what they said last year.

“I am in regular touch with the Bahrain government and they would tell me if we shouldn’t be there.”

Formula One teams have said they are concerned with the situation but trust Ecclestone and the FIA to make the right decisions.

“If they think it is the right thing to go then we will definitely go there,” Sauber’s Indian-born CEO Monisha Kaltenborn said earlier this month.

This year’s race is on April 22 and follows immediately on from China, creating a logistical dilemma for the Formula One circus with teams and media having to book flights back from Shanghai via Manama without knowing for sure whether the grand prix will happen.

by Ismail Uddin

US District Judge David Hittner has ruled Texan financier Allen Stanford mentally fit enough to stand trial for supposedly running a £4.5bn ($7bn) Ponzi scheme; one of the biggest white-collar fraud cases since Bernard Madoff.

The trial was initially due in January, but lawyers had put forward the case that a prison attack in September 2009 has impaired the former one time cricket mogul’s memory. Three doctors testified that the man once known as ‘Sir Allen’ was unable of aiding his defence team due to “extensive retrograde amnesia”.

He has spent more than eight months undergoing psychological tests and being weaned off a strong anti-anxiety medication at a North Carolina prison hospital. More than 16 neuropsychological tests and a brain scan has been cited as evidence to the fact that he is faking amnesia, while two prison doctors found that Stanford’s test results were worst than those with advanced dementia.

Dr Robert Cochrane, psychological evaluator at the prison, said “I see no brain injury that stands in the way of his standing trial.”

Mr Stanford stands by his plea of not guilty to charges of charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He denies operating a Ponzi scheme concerning the sale of fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by his offshore bank in Antigua, following charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009.

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NBA players and owners spent a monumental 16 hours in talks with a federal mediator and planned to return Wednesday morning to continue the discussion.

No deal was done, but things went well enough that owners decided to change their plans after previously saying they weren’t available Wednesday. Owners originally ruled out labor talks for Wednesday and Thursday because they have two days of board meetings planned, but the labor relations committee that was set for a morning presentation will instead return to resume discussions with the players.

The sides met at 10 a.m. Tuesday and went late into the night, finally breaking after 2 a.m. Wednesday. It was more than twice as long as any previous negotiating session since owners locked out players when the old collective bargaining agreement expired June 30.

Both sides left the meeting without commenting at the request of federal mediator George Cohen.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass issued a statement, saying: “Federal mediator George Cohen has asked both sides to refrain from making public comments. Both sides have agreed.”

Owners still will meet later in the day to discuss plans for expanded revenue sharing among teams. Players have wanted that as part of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) process, believing it’s a way for the league to address its losses. But Stern said it can’t come until after the labor deal, so they first know what savings are coming from there.

Although the fact that talks didn’t break off is good news, one person with knowledge of the process said not to presume there was any serious progress. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of Cohen’s request.

Joining Stern, Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver and other top league officials Tuesday were 13 team executives making up the labor relations committee, including Dallas owner Mark Cuban, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Knicks owner Jim Dolan, Spurs owner and committee chair Peter Holt and Heat owner Micky Arison. The players had their entire executive committee, led by president Derek Fisher of the Lakers, except for Bucks guard Keyon Dooling.

The sides have been divided mostly by two issues, the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap system.

Players oppose a hard salary cap, and they believe owners’ attempts to make the luxury tax more punitive and limit the use of spending exceptions will effectively create one. Also, each side has formally proposed receiving 53 percent of basketball-related income after players were guaranteed 57 percent under the previous collective bargaining agreement.

The National Football League (NFL) and its players’ union have given little indication with regards to the progression over collective bargaining agreement (CBA) talks after a 15th day of mediated discussions with a third ‘deadline’ approaching at midnight ET tonight, March 11.

Owners did not meet with players in yesterday’s talks, instead meeting with union representatives and league officials in Washington, while owners convened with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and attorneys for their own discussions.

The NFL and its union are struggling to agree on how to split up US$9 billion in annual revenue with the expiration of the current CBA occurring last Thursday, March 3. Since then the deadline for an agreement to be made was pushed back 24 hours before delaying the talks for another week meaning that, assuming no further adjustments to the deadline are made, the league could face a lock out of its player’s next season. In turn the union may stop representing its members, allowing individual players to sue the league, citing antitrust violations.

Jeff Pash, the NFL’s lead negotiator, told reporters as he left talks yesterday: “If both sides have an equal commitment to getting this done, it will get done. Things can come together quickly and they can fall apart quickly.”

The sides return today to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service for more talks under the supervision of mediator George H. Cohen, head of the government agency.

Numerous NFL writer’s have been speculating as to whether an agreement is imminent with social media network Twitter hosting a barrage of opinions. NFL Network’s Albert Beet posted: “So the 9 labor committee members are here, which means lunch is about to end. Heard things should heat up late afternoon.”

ESPN’s Andrew Brandt revealed what he believed to be the details of the discussions as they stand, tweeting: “On 9B (US$9bn) revenue split, players still asking for 50/50: 4.5B. ($4.5bn) Owners offering roughly 43%: 3.9B ($3.9bn). Gap of approx. $600m and shrinking.”

Michele Roberts has been named the National Basketball Players Association’s (NBPA) new executive director replacing Billy Hunter.

Washington, D.C., attorney Roberts will become the first woman to head up a major North American sports union.

At the close of a chaotic Monday filled with meetings, conference calls, presentations and an array of emotions, NBPA executive committee members and team player representatives cast 32 votes in favor of Roberts as the successor to the ousted Billy Hunter, six more than she needed for election.

Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul said he was impressed by Roberts’ grace under fire, fresh ideas and quiet resolve during an extensive interview process.

“Today, we started out by telling the players how monumental today was,” said Paul, the president of the players association. “We’ve never had this amount of players here for a meeting, to give their input and feedback. After all the hours and time our executive committee, along with an amazing search committee that helped throughout this process, it’s an unbelievable feeling to have the wonderful Michele Roberts now as a part of our team.”

Paul said Roberts was flush with fresh ideas.

“One particular member from our search committee … asked her a very tough question in the interviews and [vice president] Roger [Mason Jr.] almost fell out of his seat after she finished giving her answer,” Paul said. “Even though she’s a female, she’s very relatable to a lot of our players. I think that’s what really hit home for not only myself but some of these other guys as well.”

Roberts said she would assemble a management team to run the union, perhaps even changing the union bylaws, before diving into negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. The players can opt out of the current CBA after the 2016-17 season.

“They’ve got their union back, and I’m going to make sure that they are empowered to take their union exactly where they want their union to go,” Roberts said. “It’s going to be a team that’s going to empower them to be able to do their business as they decide.

“I am a bad woman, but I’m not that bad,” Roberts said. “We are going to have a team, a very strong team, what I call a team of Gladiators, that’s going to help these men and women, again, go in the direction they choose to go. It’s a new day. It’s not a one-person, Superman, ‘I’ve got this.’ It’s going to be a team.”

Italy’s top soccer league Serie A and its strategic media rights advisor Infront Sports & Media announced yesterday the tender process details for the Serie A media rights on Italian territory.

The tender, which expires on 5 June at 12.00pm, covers 380 matches in each of the 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18 Serie A seasons. 

In summary, Infront has proposed four innovations in order to enhance competition and the possibility of access by new market players:

• An offering that not only includes exploitation rights through digital terrestrial or satellite platforms, but also primary rights for exploitation through online and other audio-visual platforms. This allows licensees to offer Serie A content through other channels;

• An offering structured “by matches”, covering a certain number of fixtures, but overall not more than 35 per cent of the championship;

• A dedicated offering for direct exploitation, containing live broadcast rights, reserved for licensees offering OTT (“over-the-top”) content via Internet, IPTV and mobile phones;

• An ancillary rights offering, designed to enrich editorial content and allow for differentiation of the core packages (e.g. exclusive feeds, priority in the pre- and post-match interviews, etc.).

The following exclusive domestic tender packages are available to media companies in Italy:

• Packages A and B include home and away matches of 8 selected teams (248 of 380 total matches) for transmission via satellite and digital terrestrial platforms respectively (plus related exploitation rights via Internet, IPTV and mobile phones);

• Package C is an upgrade of package A or B and includes ancillary rights related to live broadcast (e.g. different isolated feeds, (unilateral) camera positions, etc.);

• Package D includes 132 matches which are not included in packages A and B and are complemented by ancillary rights as indicated in package C (for exploitation through all platforms);

• Package E provides 3 matches for each match day, for a season total of 114 matches. These rights might only be offered as OTT content via Internet, IPTV and / or mobile platforms.

Marco Bogarelli, President of Infront Italy, said: “The innovations introduced for the 2015 to 2018 period ensures a system that stimulates competition, guarantees market players to further segment their offer and provides the final consumer with multiple ways to access the football product. This means that the new tools meet consumer demands, allowing fans to get closer to football in a new and more modern way. The ultimate goal is to maximise resources for the league, expanding the number of viewers and ultimately Lega Serie A fans.”

Maurizio Beretta, President of the Lega Serie A, stated: “We are very pleased with the result. On Friday, clubs unanimously gave the green light to the presentation of the packages, expressing satisfaction and approval for the work done. This is a significant arrival point, but is only the first step in the selling process. We are happy to have made a good and confident start for future engagements. We will bring to market new technologies to spread football more and more globally, with a particular attention to new generations.”

California-based World Skateboarding Grand Prix (WSGP) has revealed today it is actively seeking strategic partners in India and China with intentions to bring a world-class skateboarding championship to the country in the next 24 months.

Set on a custom-designed, world-class skate park and featuring the most comprehensive group of professional street and vert skaters from around the world, WSGP events offer one of the largest prize purses in the action sports industry. The contest draws thousands of fans and reach 173 countries and 367 million homes through television broadcasts and live webcasts.

The recent South Africa world championships, the Kimberley Diamond Cup, drew some of the biggest names in skateboarding, including Nyjah Huston, Felipe Gustavo, Ryan Decenzo, Louis Lopez, PLG, Andy Macdonald and Marcelo Bastos.

“South Africa has experienced a skateboarding movement over the last few years and the Kimberley Diamond Cup was the most highly anticipated event of the year,” said John Block, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. “This year’s contest had the largest number of skaters and the biggest names of any skate event we’ve ever hosted. The hotels in Kimberley were at capacity and the flights were sold out. This event has established Kimberley as a tourist destination and paid a tremendous boost to the local economy.”

WSGP CEO Tim McFerran is an expert in the skate events management industry. He previously ran the Maloof Money Cup skate championships and is responsible for many of the innovations seen in skate contests today.

“We’re excited about the possibility of bringing a WSGP championship skateboarding event to India and China,” said McFerran. “Our mission is to not only host a world-class contest, but to develop a program to support host cities economically and socially by promoting skateboarding as a positive and affordable recreational activity for youth of all ages.”

The international skiing federation (FIS) has provided opposition to any plans to stage the 2022 soccer World Cup in the winter, fearing it will damage their own competitions.

Following a council meeting late on Sunday, FIS said it planned to agree on a resolution with the other six winter sports federations in a combined attack on world soccer’s governing body FIFA’s plans to switch the dates of the tournament in Qatar.

“FIS will submit a proposal to the other six International Winter Sports Federations to sign a resolution against organizing the World Cup during the winter sports season in 2022,” it said in a brief statement.

FIS has long viewed FIFA’s plans with suspicion, aware that a soccer World Cup, the world’s biggest and most popular single sports event, would take away viewers and sponsors from the skiing season.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has since said it was a mistake to award a summer tournament to Qatar and is now looking for dates in the winter.