NBA Commissioner David Stern said Friday he thinks eliminating teams will be on the table during collective bargaining as a way to solve the league’s financial woes.

“It’s a sensitive subject for me because I’ve spent 27 years in this job working very hard not only to maintain all of our teams, but along the way add a few,” Stern said during his preseason conference call.

“But I think that’s a subject that will be on the table with the players as we look to see what’s the optimum way to present our game, and are there cities and teams that cannot make it in the current economic environment. I’m not spending a lot of time on it.”

CBSSports.com first reported Thursday that the league would “continue to be open to contraction,” after Stern said he wanted player costs reduced by $700-800 million.

That set off predictable panic in some small-market cities whose teams have struggled on the court and at the gate. Asked if contraction should be a chilling word in Memphis, Stern said: “No, it shouldn’t be. It’s a good word to use, especially in collective bargaining.”

The players likely would fight contraction because of the loss of jobs it would entail.

“That would be more for them in their decision-making process than ours,” union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said. “We have a responsibility to protect as many jobs as we possibly can, so that would be more for the commissioner and the league and the owners to make a decision on contraction and numbers of teams and those things.”

For now, Stern is more interested in making teams in smaller markets competitive and profitable than he is in taking them away.

“I would say that we’re committed to small market teams,” Stern said. “We are going to have a new CBA eventually and we’re going to have a more robust revenue sharing.”

The labor deal between the league and players is set to expire June 30, and Stern revealed Thursday the league wants salary costs slashed by one-third in the next agreement. The union released a statement later Thursday in which executive director Billy Hunter said the owners’ stance could lead to a lockout and loss of part or all the 2011-12 season.

“I don’t believe that Billy wrote that, because he wouldn’t threaten me with a lockout,” Stern said. “And all I can say is that’s what negotiations are for and we’re looking forward to our next negotiating session.”

Stern disclosed other aspects that could be part of a new deal. Though the owners are seeking a hard salary cap, Stern thinks any system will continue to give teams a financial edge when re-signing their own players, which they currently enjoy through the use of the Bird exception.

The commissioner also said the idea of a “franchise player” is an interesting concept that he believes will come up in bargaining. NFL teams have a franchise tag designation they can use on their own player, something NBA owners may want after a summer in which LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire left their clubs, and Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul reportedly decided they want to do the same.

Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday the league is projecting losses of $340-$350 million this season, and Stern reiterated Friday that major economic changes are needed.

“I would say the league is viable as long as you have owners who want to continue funding losses. But it’s not on the long term a sustainable business model that we’re happy to be supporting,” Stern said. “It needs to be reset.”

Stern also provided contrasting updates on the NBA’s two Northern California teams, saying he still expects the sale of the Golden State Warriors to close next week. However, his optimism for a new arena in Sacramento has “faded completely.”

Otherwise, it was largely labor talk for the second straight day. And despite the large gap between the sides, Stern maintained he is still optimistic about reaching a deal.

“We know we’re going to get an agreement done, and we think that the enthusiasm of the season and the prospective growth that it will ultimately represent will enable us to sit down with the players and negotiate in good faith, and we both seem intent on doing all that we can to reach a deal,” he said.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have announced today they have launched their own TV destination, WTA TV developed by Xerox.

The channel will provide an interactive viewing guide that will allow fans to track the latest broadcast information for WTA Premier events based on users’ locations.

In 2013, WTA tournaments were broadcast in 164 international markets, showing more than 400 matches from 22 Premier events. The introduction of WTA TV is aimed to empower the fans and create a more user-friendly experience when following the tournaments throughout the year.

“Since Xerox has joined the WTA family as a partner, they’ve brought the fans of women’s tennis closer to our stars and enriched the fan experience,” said WTA Chairman & CEO, Stacey Allaster. “For fans who travel, they’ll never have to wonder again what channel is covering a WTA tournament.  Now, with a simple click, they’ll know.”

“Xerox and the WTA are always considering natural ways to help each other achieve business objectives and amplify reach. It’s the essence of our partnership,” said Jon Levine, Vice President, Xerox Global Experiential Marketing. “WTA TV is just one proud example of a program we were able to develop for our partner through the services that Xerox has to offer.”

Following the recent announcement that England will host the women’s Hockey World Cup 2018, drugs England has also won the bids to host two further major international tournaments.

England will also host the Women’s Champions Event in 2016 and the Men’s World League Round 3 in 2017.

With the EuroHockey Championships already secured for August 2015, there’s now an exciting calendar of major international hockey events to look forward to in this country, with back-to-back tournaments from 2015 to 2018.

The purpose-built Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is currently being developed as part of the hockey legacy following the London 2012 Olympic Games and will host the events.

England Hockey Chief Executive Sally Munday commented: “It’s such fantastic news for our sport to have back-to-back events hosted in this country. We put a huge amount of work into these bids, so we’re all delighted. This will really help us raise the profile of hockey and deliver a lasting legacy of participation.

“We’re extremely grateful for the support given to us from our partners including the London Mayor’s Office and UK Sport, who have committed to significant funding to help us stage these events which will benefit the hockey and sporting communities in this country hugely.

“I’d also like to thank new Minister for Sport Helen Grant for her support, who I’m sure will be a valuable supporter of our sport in the coming years.”

The Women’s Champions Event in 2016, Men’s League Round 3 in 2017 and World Cup 2018 all form part of UK Sport’s Gold Event Series, which is investing £27million of National Lottery funding to bring up to 70 world-class events to Great Britain to help build a strong legacy from London 2012.

Liz Nicholl, Chief Executive of UK Sport, said: “Through UK Sport’s Gold Event series we will be bringing major hockey championships to Great Britain on a regular basis from 2015.

“Supporting the staging of these high profile, world-level events demonstrates our commitment to helping to build a strong legacy from London 2012. Hockey is doing an excellent job building on their medal success in London and it is particularly pleasing to have won these bids which will showcase our committed, skilful and talented role models to inspire the next generation.”

The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) has revealed no new sports will be added to the event meaning sports such as beach volleyball will miss out. 

“The sports program will reflect the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) stipulated 10 core sports (including para-sports) and an additional seven optional sports, no rx ‘ GOLDOC said in a statement today. 

“The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) caps the number of sports at 17.’

GOLDOC Chairman, Nigel Chamier OAM, confirmed there were no changes to the sports detailed in the Gold Coast Candidate City File submitted to the CGF in May 2011.

“The sports program was carefully developed to provide a balance of sports with consideration given to potential athlete participation levels, the number of Commonwealth nations hosting international tournaments and participant numbers from the Commonwealth at world championships’ Mr Chamier said.

Mr Chamier said formal submissions for inclusion were received from Beach Volleyball, Canoeing, Judo and Ten Pin Bowling and were reviewed over the last six months.

“All four applicants failed to meet a sufficient number of criteria to warrant being proposed to the CGF for inclusion in the 2018 sports program,’ Mr Chamier said.

UK Athletics chairman, Ed Warner has branded the delay in re-opening of the Olympic Stadium as ‘a farce’.

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) confirmed last week that the stadium will not re-open until 2015 at the earliest and possibly the summer of 2016 – which would be two years later than expected.

UK Athletics had planned events such as Diamond League meetings, trials and school competitions from 2014 and Warner admitted he had been stunned to learn of the delay last week.

He is not worried however about any threat to the 2017 world championships which is to be held in the stadium in Stratford, east London.

Warner said: “My biggest concern is that we have some major events planned for that stadium and we thought they were going to be from the summer of 2014 onwards.

“All of the legacy use was scheduled to start in two years’ time and now it might be four years’ time which strikes me as ludicrous and to be a paralysis of decision-making which I hope the mayor [Boris Johnson] is going to cut through.

“I wouldn’t say this is a Whitehall farce but this is fast becoming a Stratford farce.

“We want to lock into the legacy of the Games while people still remember the Mobot, Greg Rutherford, Jonnie Peacock and David Weir.

“Let’s have a bit of imagination here and let’s have a decision – we want one, West Ham want one and we all want it open as soon as possible.”

A decision is expected by December 5 and West Ham’s bid remains the favourite – it includes retaining a running track although the club want the stadium to be converted to have retractable seating over the track, but not at their expense.

Sports minister Hugh Robertson said the issue was “closing the financial gap” because West Ham do not want to pay for the retractable seating which could push the cost up to £200million.

Robertson said: “We know the 2017 world championships will be fine because that is a contractual commitment we have made. The question is how quickly can this be done.

“There is a commercial negotiation going on with West Ham and it’s a question of how quickly the Mayor and the Legacy Company can close the gap.

“There is a package on the table which includes the conversion costs that were built into the budget and a contribution from the local authority and some money that West Ham might put into it, and then there is the bill for all the things they would ideally want to do to have what they would see as a modern stadium.”

Dennis Hone, chief executive of the LLDC, told the London Assembly last week a 2014 reopening is “completely out, it would be August 2015 at the absolute earliest and possibly August 2016.”

iSportconnect, ampoule the world’s leading sports Business platform have agreed a partnership with the European Golf Course Owners Association (EGCOA).

The deal see’s iSportconnect become the official Social Media partner and exclusive networking tool provider for the upcoming 2012 European Golf Business Conference taking place in Cannes on the 21^st-23^rd November.

The partnership sees the EGCOA make full use of the prestigious pre-conference networking tool, allowing delegates of the conference to see who else is attending and schedule meetings with one another.

iSportconnect CEO Sree Varma said: “We are really looking forward to working with the European Golf Course Owners Association and hope to develop our relationship even further. The European Golf Business Conference looks to be shaping up really well and I’m delighted that delegates have the platform to connect with each other, before, during and after the event.”

EGCOA said “We are delighted to be working together with iSportconnect at this year’s European Golf Business Conference. Our theme “Recreating the golf business” ties in well with what the team at iSportconnect are doing. We welcome new technology to the industry and look to embrace these advances to improve golf business as a whole.”

The EGCOA is a trade association, which provides a range of services to support golf course owners.

The EGCOA supports owners through the dissemination and sharing of knowledge, and through the creation of a range of programs for growth of the game, and through cooperation with other EU stakeholders. The EGCOA represents more than 950 members in 24 European countries.

iSportconnect is an exclusive online platform that brings together thousands of sports business professionals worldwide. The site provides news, market data and analysis, columns and features, forums, listings of events and jobs and great opportunities for online networking.

The future of the Heineken Cup will not be resolved until next month after a five-hour meeting in Dublin yesterday ended without a resolution.

European Rugby Cup (ERC) executives said”productive” talks with all stakeholders would resume in Rome on October 8.

But Premiership Rugby, price which is representing the English clubs, pills are in dispute with with ERC after both parties agreed conflicting television contracts that due to become effective in 2014.

Premiership Rugby agreed a £152million (US$246m) contract with BT Vision, to try to establish a “dazzling new European tournament” when the current Heineken Cup participation agreement ends.

But ERC signed its own Heineken Cup broadcasting contract with Sky from 2014 and said Premiership Rugby had broken International Rugby Board (IRCB) regulations by choosing a solo deal.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) said they had not given the clubs permission to strike a separate  deal with BT Vision.

Premiership Rugby believes its plan to restructure the Heineken Cup would greatly benefit the European game financially.

But, an official ERC statement issued after the meeting of 17 executives focused only the beginning of a formulation of a new Heineken Cup deal.

The statement read: “Representatives of ERC stakeholders met in Dublin today (yesterday) to begin the formulation of a new accord which provides for the structure and format of European club rugby tournaments for the 2014/15 season and beyond.

“The meeting included productive discussions regarding the future of the club game in Europe with a general resolve among all stakeholders to reach agreement towards a new accord.

“It was decided that all parties would continue the consultative process at a meeting in Rome on October 8, 2012.”{jcomments on}

Diageo opted against sponsoring the London 2012 Olympics because they were worried about the returns they were going to receive.

The drinks company chief marketing officer Andy Fennell told Marketing: “We won’t be sponsors of the World Cup or the Olympics.”

“It’s really expensive and hard to get a return.”

He added: “Brands have to do [such sponsorships] on conviction. I’m sure some of them will get real benefit from being associated with the world’s most extraordinary sporting festival.”

“Nonetheless, sickness ” said Fennell: “If they try to do two-decimal-place ROI analysis, generic they will struggle, which is why most of them had board-level corporate conviction, and that’s what needs to happen.”

The fourth edition of The Queen’s Cup, one of Thailand’s most popular golf tournaments, will will be played at the Santiburi Samui Country Club in Koh Samui from June 14 to 17.

Bangkok Airways, the Sports Authority of Thailand, Thailand PGA and Asian Tour announced Thailand’s upcoming event in a press conference.

A total prize fund of US $300,000 will be on offer.

The Queen’s Cup is held in honour of Her Majesty, Queen Sirikit. The competion is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Thailand PGA.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, President of Bangkok Airways, said: “We are particularly excited to be organising this tournament for the fourth year in honour of our beloved Queen Sirikit. We have always strived to take Thai golf tournaments onto the international level and through this tournament, we hope to draw a larger number of golf enthusiasts who consequently will stimulate Samui’s tourism.”

Kanokphand Chulakasem, Director of Professional Sports Competitions Division, Sport Authority of Thailand, said: “The Queen’s Cup Bangkok Airways – SAT Samui Golf Tournament 2012 is one of the major golf tournaments each year which continues to significantly develop Thai golf to the next level. This is an excellent opportunity for Thai golfers to compete side by side with the world’s top players.”

The Queen’s Cup is sponsored by Bangkok Airways, Sport Authority of Thailand, Santiburi Samui Country Club. The competition has a several of co-sponsors— Samui Municipal and Tourism Association of Koh Samui, Bangkok Hospital Group, PTT, Kiatnakin Fund Management, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Insurance, Sabre, Hertz Media partners are The Nation, True Visions, Bangkok Shuho and Elite magazine.

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