Cleveland’s City Council has approved giving $5.8 million to the Browns to help fix the football team’s 12-year-old, city-owned stadium.

The council voted 16-2, in approval of the repairs with one councilperson absent.

The Browns lease of the stadium, and the agreement requires the city to pay $850,000 annually for major improvements. But the team’s general counsel says that’s not enough to cover routine work. The Browns want to use the larger payment to refurbish seats and fix up concrete at the weather-battered facility.

Mayor Frank Jackson’s chief of staff says the city confirmed that the repairs were needed and reviewed the planned fixes.

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) has warned European soccer’s top clubs of the sanctions which will befall them if they do not comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

Sides could be hit with fines or excluded from European competition outright, as well all being prohibited from fielding new players, suffering points deduction or limits on squad sizes.

UEFA are currently trying to secure European Union law ratification for these sanctions, and UEFA’s senior lawyer, Alasdair Bell, has stated the organisation is ready to take the “risk” and defend itself in court against any club who questions a sanction.

“The system is not going to have much credibility if a big club that is in serious breach of the rules is not punished in an effective way. For me the sanctions need to be effective enough that people come into compliance with the system otherwise clubs are going to become disillusioned rapidly”.

The announcement is a self-entitled “last wake-up call” and come as it was revealed that the losses of the continent’s top sides rose by 36% to 1.64 billion euro ($2.2 billion) in the 2010 financial year.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said 13 clubs currently playing in European competition , either the Champions League or the Europa League, would have failed the break-even tests required from the 2013-14 season.

“It’s the last wake-up call that this red trend has to be inverted very, very quickly if we want to safeguard European soccer”.

UEFA’s financial fair play rules will come to fruition in the 2013-14 season but this analysis will include clubs’ accounts for the previous three years, including with the current 2011-12 financial year.

The stipulation is that all clubs competing in European competition will be permitted to lose only 45 million euros over these three years.

UEFA’s fourth club licensing benchmark report revealed on Wednesday this week explored the fiscal health of the European game in some depth.

It included the financial figures of 90% of all top-division sides – 665 clubs in total –  and revealed that 56% of clubs are making a loss with total debts of 8.4 billion euros ($11 billion).

While revenues rose 6.6% to reach a record 12.8 billion euros ($16.8 billion); costs rocketed in turn by 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to 14.4 billion euros ($18.9 billion).

 

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Have your say on whether clubs will listen to UEFA here

 

Castrol has appointed JMI (Just Marketing International) to support the lubricants brand’s international motorsport partnerships and activities. 

Castrol currently operates in the World Rally Championship (WRC), clinic Endurance Racing series and World Superbikes.

JMI will use its motorsport marketing and activation experience to help Castrol maximise its involvement in a range of categories, including: the WRC; World Superbikes; Moto GP and Endurance Racing; Castrol Motorsport Experience Events around the world. 

JMI is delivering services to Castrol through several of its capabilities, from consultation on sponsorship rights and assets, to guidance from the agency’s Event Marketing discipline on the brand’s hospitality programmes. 

JMI’s digital specialism is tasked with creating and managing a motorsport sponsorship intranet portal, supplying information to Castrol markets, employees and stakeholders.

Donald Smith, Global Sponsorship manager at Castrol, said: “Castrol chose to work with JMI because of their vast knowledge and expertise in the motorsport marketing arena.

“This unrivalled experience will enable Castrol to elevate its established portfolio of global motorsport assets and leverage new opportunities in line with our strategic brand and business objectives.”

Jon Flack, president and chief operating officer at JMI, added: “This announcement represents an important addition to JMI’s client portfolio. Castrol is a highly-respected, premium brand with strong roots in international motorsport, a perfect match for JMI’s global motorsport marketing expertise. 

We share Castrol’s passion for motorsport and, through our experience, relationships and knowledge, are proud to be supporting Castrol’s exciting and diverse motorsport sponsorship universe.”

It has been confirmed by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) that a decrease in the size of the Principality Premiership will begin from the 2012/13 season, reducing its number of teams from 14 to 10 after plans were approved by the majority of Premiership clubs.

The WRU board did however, reject a proposal to introduce the reforms for the 2011/12 season as the changes were considered to be too soon. 

Under the new format, clubs qualifying for the Premiership at the end of the current season will have until May 22 to inform the WRU whether they wish to be considered for a place in the final 10.

To earn a place they will have to qualify for an ‘A’ license based on criteria and sign a participation agreement, as well as being judged on league results across the past six seasons.

The WRU says that the identity of the 10 Premiership teams will be decided by the end of August but media reports indicate that the governing body will not reveal the identities of the clubs until the end of December.

The four teams who fail to qualify for the 10 team league will fall into a newly-formed National Championship League, receiving parachute payments for the first two years.

The Championship League will be formed of the teams from the current Swalec Division One East and Division One West, alongside the four former Premiership teams.

WRU head of rugby Joe Lydon added: “These reforms have now been confirmed and we will now need to work even harder to form a strong future for this level of rugby in Wales.

“These are radical changes and as such were never going to be simple to achieve, however it was important that they were agreed in totality and that the fundamental aims of the reforms have been recognised by all involved.”

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has approached Ghana and South Africa about hosting the 2015 Nations Cup after Morocco revealed their reluctance in hosting the competition due to the ebola fears. 

Last week, scheduled hosts Morocco asked CAF to postpone the January tournament because of fears over Ebola.

“CAF wrote to us and indicated that Morocco had given strong indications they would pull out if CAF did not change the date,” Ghana Youth and Sports minister Mahama Ayariga said.

CAF has stated there are no changes to the schedule of next year’s tournament and it would discuss the Moroccan health ministry’s request on 2 November before meeting Moroccan officials the following day.

Speaking in an interview with Ghanaian radio station Citi FM, Ayariga added: “CAF also indicated that it was firm on the tournament dates but they will meet the Moroccan authorities and take a decision at that meeting.

“But in the meantime they are writing to a number of countries that they think have the capacity to be an alternative venue… in the event of Morocco actually pulling out.”

Almost 4,500 people have died in the Ebola epidemic that broke out in west Africa at the start of the year.

While Moroccan youth and sports minister Mohamed Ouzzine said on Thursday his country had not withdrawn as hosts, he reiterated that they will follow the lead of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has advised against big gatherings in the fight against the Ebola outbreak.

“Our concern is the health of Africa, and based on WHO reports and guidelines, we have to listen,” Ouzzine said.

“Zero safety does not exist, but one has to take the necessary precautions so that the coming tournament will be a football feast, bringing together our African brothers, but given the current Ebola situation we don’t think such a feast can take place as expected.

“We are talking about the Africa Cup of Nations where we are expecting between 200,000 to 400,000, even one million spectators to converge in Morocco.

“I don’t think there is any state or any country that has the necessary capabilities to monitor, check and control the current Ebola situation when faced with these numbers.

“This is our real problem. We don’t have a problem with visiting teams, we have a problem with visitors.”

South Africa have also tried to distance themselves from hosting the finals. 

“There are just too many factors to consider for South Africa,” the department of sport and recreation said in a statement on Friday.

The World Cup of Softball extensive worlwide reach has boosted World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) 2020 inclusion bid.

ESPN is broadcasting the tournament across its family of networks for coverage in more than 140 countries. 

Games which were not shown live on ESPN were available through web streaming. High school broadcast students were given the opportunity to run the production and work behind the scenes with ESPN allowing for youth to be gain value experience and exposure in international web and television coverage.

The tournament has also demonstrated the capacity of softball, like baseball, to create an electrifying atmosphere in the tournament venue, the Hall of Fame Stadium, while also generating strong interest in the sport across Oklahoma City, the host city, the state and insoftball communities across America and around the world.

Players, fans and supporters highlighted their passion for the Olympic Games by wearing special WBSC Olympic Playball2020 campaign tattoos, and displayed banners and brochures calling for softball and baseball to be included at the Games, while signage, screens other demonstrations of Olympic support were on display in the main competition venue and the other surrounding venues.

The WBSC Olympic 2020 bid brings the full power of gender equality to the Olympic programme, with Softball offering the Olympic Movement a new opportunity for more women to participate at the Olympic Games. Softball provides new pathways into sport for women from all cultures and religions, and is popular among Muslim girls because it is a non-contact team sport that can be adapted to local culture and conditions.

WBSC co-president Don Porter said: “Sport is good for women, and softball at the Olympic Games would inspire more young girls into sport. That’s what we’re fighting for – for young women and girls to have the opportunity to realise their dreams and to go to the Olympic Games.”

At the professional level, baseball and softball are a $20 billion business worldwide, and are among the leading professional sports. Baseball is broadcast into 200 countries and the sport and its audiences are continuing to globalise and grow in key regions of the world including India, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Caribbean, South America and China, and the sport now boasts 250 million fans worldwide.

With 65 million active players around the world at various levels, baseball and softball currently rank as the largest sport not on the Olympic programme, and with the full support and resources of the sports’ professional partners, the potential for baseball and softball to become the next great global game is very real.

“The World Baseball Softball Confederation regards the Olympic Games as the highest honour and goal for every athlete and sport, and we will place our full global resources and passion for the Games at the disposal of the Olympic Movement,” co-president Fraccari said.

Mark Parker, CEO and President of Nike has decided to change the name of the Joe Paterno Child Development Center, a child care facility at the company’s headquarters due to his association in the child sex scandal surrounding Penn State.

Joe Paterno, who was the head coach of Penn State college football for a period of 46 years, is closely affiliated with the child sex scandal that broke late last year.

“I have been deeply saddened by the news coming out of this investigation at Penn State. It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent crimes.   With the findings released today, I have decided to change the name of our child care center at our World Headquarters. My thoughts are with the victims and the Penn State community,” said Parker.

Nike founder Phil Knight, who defended Paterno at the coach’s memorial service, says ”it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences.”