Chairman of UK Athletics, Ed Warner, has conceded that it will be practically impossible to fill the Olympic Stadium post 2012 for athletics events.

UK Athletics main event is the two-day London Diamond League Grand Prix, currently held in Crystal Palace, but this draws a capacity crowd of just 17,000, under a third of the 60,000 capacity promised by West Ham’s bid which is still pending approval.

Some of the lesser meetings are likely to struggle even more to attract spectators, with the likes of the UK Championships being the next in line in terms of prestigious events, bringing a capacity crowd of around 8,000 to Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium.

The success of West Ham’s bid to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) to occupy the stadium involved a crucial commitment to 20 days of “top-class athletics” per year. Warner however, has stated: “‘Top-class’ is not a technical term in athletics as ‘first-class’ is in cricket. By ‘top-class’ we mean the two days of the Diamond League, down to championships for each major age group. Some will attract a significant paying public, others a smaller paying public. We will also be able to bid for major European and world championships.”

In defence of why having a 60,000-seat venue still makes sense for events watched by crowds in the hundreds, Warner said: “We have never argued that athletics makes the stadium commercially viable. But we want our athletes to aspire to run on the track in a facility of such quality, and the warm-up track underneath is also important. West Ham made the call that they can make the stadium work financially, and we were able to piggy-back on that.”

Additionally he attempted to allay fears that West Ham may be forced to pull the athletics track promise which was so integral to their bid, adding: “We have a commitment to an IAAF category one facility, to be maintained in the stadium, for the duration of the lease.”

The Associated Press (AP) may be forced to suspend text and photo coverage of England’s cricket tour of India because of new restrictions introduced by the Board of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI).

The BCCI said it would prevent photo-only agencies from covering games and limit the number of its own photographs available to media. International photo-only agencies, as well as some similar Indian companies, have been refused accreditation for the England tour.

Other international news organisations are considering suspending coverage.

The first of four Test matches is scheduled to start in Ahmedabad on Thursday, when the new BCCI conditions are being introduced.

Lou Ferrara, AP’s Managing Editor for Sports, said”: “We are surprised at these terms for photo agencies and remain hopeful that they will be lifted. AP wants to provide cricket coverage to the world and it is only in the best interest of the organisers to allow that to happen for all news outlets, especially in this rapidly changing media landscape.”

AP is working with the News Media Coalition to try to find a solution.{jcomments on}

Der Präsident des Deutschen Olympischen Sportbundes (DOSB), cough Dr. Thomas Bach, hat die Entscheidung der ARD, die Wettkämpfe der Olympischen Spiele in London zusätzlich über bis zu sechs parallele Livestreams im Internet zu zeigen, gelobt. “Das ist nur zu begrüßen, weil die Olympischen Spiele nur über eine Vielzahl von Kanälen abgewickelt werden können”, sagte Bach in einem ARD-Interview.

Die ARD geht gemeinsam mit dem ZDF in London neue Wege und lässt die sportinteressierten Zuschauer umfassend an den Olympischen Spielen teilhaben, indem sie vielen Sportarten eine zusätzliche Bühne bietet. Die Livestreams ergänzen das Fernsehprogramm und präsentieren Olympia im Internet, auf mobilen Endgeräten wie Smartphones und Tablet-PCs, sowie im HbbTV. Die Livestreams werden auf sportschau.de/olympia bereitgestellt.

“Das Internet bietet großartige Möglichkeiten, um zielgerichtet dem Fan einer bestimmten Sportart, aber auch um möglichst vielen Zuschauern die Olympische Begeisterung und die Olympischen Wettbewerbe zu vermitteln”, sagte Dr. Bach, der auch Vize-Präsident des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees ist.

Die ARD plant, täglich bis zu 60 Stunden Live-Sport aus London zu streamen. “So garantieren wir größtmögliche sportliche Vielfalt”, sagt Thomas Luerweg, Online-Sportchef des NDR.

Mit insgesamt rund 900 Stunden zusätzlicher Live-Berichterstattung decken ARD und ZDF von Badminton bis Wasserspringen alle Sportarten umfangreich ab. Dabei werden rund zwei Drittel der Sportereignisse von den ARD- und ZDF-Fachreportern kommentiert. Ob Bogenschießen oder BMX – vor allem Rand- und Trendsportarten profitieren von der neuen Strategie der ARD.

Über einen elektronischen Programmführer (EPG) sieht der User auf einen Blick, welche Disziplin oder welche Entscheidung live übertragen wird. Die Online-Zuschauer haben darüber hinaus die Möglichkeit, ihre favorisierten Sportarten auszuwählen und zu sehen, welche Übertragungen geplant sind. “So können die Zuschauer und User ihr Olympia-Programm individuell zusammenstellen und möglichst viele Medaillenentscheidungen live erleben”, sagt Luerweg.

Um nichts zu verpassen, bieten ARD und ZDF Highlight-Videos und ein so genanntes Time-Shifting-Verfahren an. Mit einer Pausenfunktion können die Live-Übertragungen angehalten und zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt angeschaut werden.

Für die kleinen und großen Olympischen Momente sorgen allein die Athleten. Auf sportschau.de/olympia sind die deutschen Sportfans dabei – jederzeit und überall.

Sony is extending its sponsorship of ESPN 3D for another year.

Sony was named the first official sponsor of the network when it was announced in January 2010. The network launched June 11 2010 and became to a 24/7 network on February 14 2011.

Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN Customer Marketing and Sales, said: “We’re doubling the number of college football games on the network this fall, which was made possible by our strategic relationship with Sony.”

ESPN 3D produced more than 115 live sporting events and was launched with the commencement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer championship games.

3DTV is still to become an established part of people’s homes. First-year set sales was just 1.1 million in the United States, whilst this year’s number is expected to hit 1.9 million. That’s still a fraction of ESPN 3D’s footprint, which covers 65 million households.

Recent research from the United Kingdom on 3D reveals conflicts. 3DTV penetration is expected to grow, but 3DTV usage for viewing stereoscopic content is not.

Mohamed Bin Hammam is meeting with English FA chairman David Bernstein today, April 28, and has claimed that the British media has a responsibility to support efforts to build bridges between FIFA and British member associations.

Sepp Blatter’s FIFA Presidential Candidacy opponent said that while it was the body’s responsibility to take “the initial step to clear the air between itself and the British people” the move needed to be reciprocated not only by the four home nations “but also by the clubs, league, fans and media in Britain”.

With England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup falling at the first hurdle, relations between the FA and FIFA are at an all-time low and Bin Hammam added: “Building the bridges between Britain and FIFA is not only the task of FIFA or the British associations.

“A gesture of goodwill between Britain and FIFA must be supported and embraced by all those who have issues and differences in opinions with the others.”

The FA are thought to be seriously considering backing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president’s candidacy after England’s bid leaders and British media criticised FIFA and the 2018 bidding process following the country’s shock first-round elimination in the December 2 vote. 

FIFA were severely antagonised by the British media in the build-up to the vote when a Sunday Times investigation in October led to the banning of two FIFA Ex-Co members, one of whom was caught on film requesting bribes. 

This was followed shortly after by a BBC Panorama investigation, broadcast days before the vote, which named another three Ex-Co members as taking bribes from the collapsed sports marketing company, ISL. 

Bin Hammam was among those critical of the methods used by the Sunday Times reporters in the run-up to the vote and said that now the British media are among those who have a responsibility to get the FA’s relations with FIFA back on track.

The Qatari national added: “FIFA has to come forward and take the initial step to clear the air between itself and the British people. But I believe this has to be reciprocal, not just by the British associations but also by the clubs, league, fans and media in Britain.”

Steve Lawrence, the architect who wrote the original masterplan for the London Olympics and Paralympics, has written to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, stating that he should not approve West Ham’s bid for sole use of the Stratford venue after the 2012 Games.

The architect has constantly stood by his view that West Ham should ground-share with Tottenham Hotspur at a revamped Olympic stadium – with the revenue being used to build an adjacent athletics venue to preserve the legacy.

Lawrence was commissioned by Stratford Development Partnership over 10 years ago, to carry out an alternative feasibility study for the Olympics. He proposed that any venue in Stratford should, after the Games, be shared by Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United as anchor tenants with the idea being rejected by local land-owners, who were fearful of rowdy fans.

Johnson, along with two UK government officials, are believed to be ready to ratify the decision to award West Ham the rights to the Olympic Stadium after the Premier League strugglers secured preferred bidder status from the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) last week.

However, Lawrence says that the solution is doomed and has urged Boris Johnson not to let it happen for fear of wasting public money, and instead to support the ground-share scheme he initially proposed.

Lawrence wrote to the Mayor, as well as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, stating: “It is appalling that the original proposal for a shared use of the Olympic Stadium by Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham with the revenue stream being used
to fund a Centre for UK Athletics has not been considered appropriately.

“I wrote to your predecessor, Ken Livingstone, several times from 2000 on about this, your office has therefore been aware of the proposal for ten years.

“I cannot understand why this proposal has not been considered, it is far and away the most cost effective and in not considering it properly, your office is complicit in wasting vast sums of taxpayers and ratepayers money.

“I hope you will now set aside the OPLC recommendation which is highly flawed and instigate a more accountable analysis of proposals including the possibility of a shared use of the stadium.”

Related Discussion: West Ham Olympic Stadium Financing by Stephen Pearson

Mestalla stadium, home to La Liga club Valencia, has been revealed as the host of this season’s Copa del Rey final between Real Madrid and Barcelona in April.

The announcement was made by the Spanish Football Federation who also decided the kick off will be at 9.30pm local time.

The stadium was chosen to hold the final three years ago, the last time it was contested between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Real thrashed city rivals Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, while Barca overcame Real Sociedad.

Barca have won the cup a record 26 times, while Real have lifted the trophy 18 times.