Reports are circulating in the Italian press that Premier Mario Monti has turned down government support for Rome’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics.

The official announcement is due to come later today.

With the current economic crisis and after a careful examination of the costs the government doesn’t feel that the conditions are right to send a letter of guarantees.

The government had delayed a decision until the last minute to back the Eternal City bid as the applicant files are due in tomorrow at the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The predicamnet with Athens 2004 and the escalating budget of London 2012 impacted the negative decision.

IOC vice-president and president of the Rome 2020 bid, Mario Pescante, was the one that championed the effort going back almost two years.

He said, “It has been six months that I am been hoping, and I am a bit tired. If they say no?  The decision will be accepted but there will be some accusations.”

Pescante was the driving force behind the Rome 2004 and Torino 2006 bids for the Games.

by Ismail Uddin

Read Mario Pescante’s exclusive interview with iSportconnect here

The ISF, the international softball division of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, has announced that all 67 games of the 14th Women’s Softball World Championship will be web-streamed.

The pinnacle women’s softball championship featuring the top sixteen national teams begins Friday in Haarlem, Netherlands continuing through August 24.

Coverage of the Women’s World Championship will be available globally through live web streaming as well as archived (on demand) on a subscription basis via ISFsoftball.org.

In addition to the live streaming, the bronze and gold medal games on August 24 will be carried on major television networks. Agreements have been reached with multiple broadcasters that will provide coverage in Japan and the USA to approximately 185 million homes. TV Tokyo has also secured the exclusive rights for Japan to its 32 million households.

“We are very pleased to showcase the 14th Women’s World Championship to the entire global audience,” said ISF President and WBSC Executive Vice President Dale McMann. “The ability for the international community to access the highest level of women’s softball will only enhance our capacity to drive spectator interest and the growing consumer demand of our sport.”

The ten-day tournament will include national teams from Australia, Botswana, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, and USA.

“The Softball World Championship provides a dedicated international platform for women athletes to shine and be the focus of sport, which highlights the power and potential of softball as a promoter of women’s sport, helping shape a sporting world that is more balanced and relevant to women,” ISF and WBSC Secretary General Low Beng Choo commented.

Japan is the defending champions having defeated the United States 2-1 in extra innings in Whitehorse, YK, Canada in 2012.

The second round of bids for the highly sought after Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team is due around February 23, according to several people familiar with the process.

The Dodgers are expected to fetch more than $1.5 billion, a record for a baseball team, and have attracted an impressive lineup of sporting and financial moguls, ranging from Magic Johnson to hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen. Terms of a settlement between Major League Baseball and team owner Frank McCourt stated that McCourt must sell the team by April 30.

Some of the suitors are likely to team up for what is expected to be steep bidding, according to people familiar with the process.

On January 27 the Dodgers said a preliminary round of bidding had been completed and bidders had been notified of the results.

Between 15 to 20 parties submitted non-binding preliminary bids, and some well-known bidders like former sports agent Dennis Gilbert and former Dodgers stars Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser were cut from the process on January 27.

MLB can approve up to a maximum of 10 bidders who will be allowed to move forward in the process, sources said. Blackstone Group and McCourt will make the final determination in the sale. The list seems to change on a daily basis, with several bidders adding backers with deep pockets to their efforts.

The latest name to pop up as a bidder is Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump and son of New York real estate powerhouse Charles Kushner. A spokesman for Kushner declined to comment, although a person familiar with the matter confirmed his interest.

Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso and Dodgers ex-manager Joe Torre head one group; Stanley Gold and the family of the late Roy Disney head another.

SAC Capital Advisors chief Steven Cohen, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, former Lakers legend Magic Johnson, former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and New York media executive Leo Hindery are all still in the game.

Sources have said these suitors were required to convince Blackstone Group, the bank conducting the sale, that they had the finances to participate in the bidding.

The second-round bidders are reviewing more in-depth financial data, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Hedge fund mogul Cohen is also considering taking a small stake in another team — his hometown New York Mets, people familiar with the matter said.

The billionaire trader, known for his knack in delivering strong and steady returns at his $14 billion SAC Capital Advisors, first flirted with the Mets early last year when the team tried to sell a one-third stake for $200 million to satisfy the team owners’ debts.

People familiar with his thinking said that buying this stake would not take him out of the running to try to win the Dodgers. But if he were to succeed, Major League Baseball would require him to sell his stake in the Mets.

The Dodgers landed on the auction block after owner Frank McCourt was forced to place the team under bankruptcy protection last year.

News Corp’s Fox Group, the current broadcast partner of the Dodgers, has also received a nondisclosure agreement from bankers involved in the sale and has been talking with bidders about potentially buying a minority stake to help secure TV rights beyond 2013.

Fox owned the Dodgers from 1998 to 2004, but a spokesman said the company has no desire to own the team.

The sale being conducted by Blackstone is overseen by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. McCourt bought the team in 2004 for $430 million, primarily financed with debt.

by Ismail Uddin

Cincinnati Bell has agreed a deal to broadcast ESPN’s new SEC Network to its Fioptics lineup.

Cincinnati Bell Fioptics customers will have access to the new network on Aug. 14 when it launches.

The SEC Network will broadcast 45 exclusive SEC football games this season. During its first year on-air, medic the collegiate network will also air 75 baseball games, order 100 men’s basketball and 60 women’s basketball games.

“We are happy to enter into a new agreement with ESPN and offer the SEC Network to our Fioptics customers,” said Michael Morrison, Cincinatti Bell director of video & entertainment product development. “There’s no better way to watch sports than with the razor-sharp picture quality of our Fioptics TV.”

The Southeastern Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that is home to some of the nation’s most storied athletic programs including the University of Kentucky and the University of Tennessee.

Wasps FC have appointed former England and Wasps ladies star, Sue Day as Club President.

Day becomes the first female President at the Club, taking over from Dick Cargill, who has been involved at Wasps FC for over 60 years, serving as President for the last five.

Wasps FC was formed in 1867 and currently caters for rugby for players aged 5 and up. The Club has over 1,000 registered players and 10 Minis teams, three senior men’s sides and two ladies teams.

The Club is the amateur arm of London Wasps – the professional team which uses Wasps FC’s training base in Acton, which is home to 23 acres of playing fields.

Day takes over as one of the leading figures in both Wasps and English women’s rugby in recent years. A frequent captain of Wasps in her playing days, she led the side to a Premiership title in 2003 and a League and Cup double in 2005. She has held various administrative roles with Wasps ladies over the years as well as coaching positions.

As an England player, Day has an enviable playing CV having won 59 caps and scored 61 tries for her country. She was part of numerous Grand Slam winning England sides – including leading the team as captain to a Six Nations clean sweep in 2007, and she’s played in three World Cups. She also captained England at the 2009 Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens.

She said: “It is a huge honour to become President of Wasps FC. I have been a Wasp for over 16 years since I first arrived in London. I have black and gold blood running through my veins and so it is a very proud moment for me. Of course I am also proud to be the first female president of Wasps FC but in all honesty that side of it has not been an issue at all which tells you a lot, I think, about how inclusive, friendly and generally wonderful the Wasps Club is! Over the years that I have been at Wasps we have faced all sorts of challenges, and were even homeless for a while when the old Sudbury ground was sold, but we have always come through those challenges by pulling together as a club and working hard for one another.”

“We now have a stable base and strong men’s, women’s and junior sections and are really well-placed to build for the future and make sure that Wasps FC remains a significant force in the rugby world. I have taken on the role quite simply because I love Wasps and I want to do my bit to achieve that.”
Day will combine her role as President along with her day job at KPMG where she is an Associate Director.

Outgoing President Dick Cargill said: “I am thrilled, delighted and proud to be making way for one of our most distinguished recent players. Sue had a glittering playing career and is the perfect choice to make history as our first ever female President.”

“She is highly respected throughout the game, and I have no doubt that she will be as successful in her new role as she was as a player. The immediate future of our great club could not be in better hands, and I wish her all the best.”

The British government says more than $800 million remains in reserve for any unexpected costs at the London Olympics.

With 150 days to go until the games, 96 percent of venues and infrastructure are complete, and sports minister Hugh Robertson says the project is expected to remain within the public sector budget of $14.7 billion.

The government has given another $57 million to the organizing committee, taking the total contribution of public money to $244 million.

A security bill that has climbed to more than a billion pounds had prompted fears that taxpayers would have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for the July 27-Aug. 12 Games.

“We are now increasingly confident that we can land this on time and on budget,” Robertson told a news conference.

The budget – more than double the estimate when Britain was awarded the Games in 2005 – includes a contingency of more than half a billion pounds and Robertson does not expect to spend all of that.

“I don’t think we will quite empty the piggy bank,” said Robertson.

by Ismail Uddin

The Azerbaijani parliament filed a bid to the International Olympic Committee to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games for Baku in 2020.

The executive committee for promotion of Azerbaijan for hosting the games of 2020 held a session in Baku in late December 2011. The committee set goals, doctor one of which was to send the Candidature File to the IOC by February 15, denture Kenul Nurullayeva, clinic Executive Director of the Baku-2020 Committee, said in December.

The file consists of 97 pages with information on economy and culture of the city, infrastructure projects and stadiums. The Candidature File will be presented in Azerbaijan on February 12-13.

Other candidate cities bidding for the 2020 Games are Madrid, Rome, Tokyo, Istanbul and Doha.

The host city announcement is to be made on September 7, 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

FIFA said it has “immediately requested to receive all potential evidence,” from Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper regarding its reporting of comments from Michel Zen-Ruffinen, who was general secretary of soccer’s world governing body for four years until 2002.

Zen-Ruffinen was secretly filmed saying Spain-Portugal and Qatar have struck a deal giving each seven votes from the 24-man FIFA executive committee which is choosing World Cup hosts in December. Spain and Portugal want to co-host in 2018 and Qatar is a 2022 candidate. Both need 13 votes to guarantee victory under existing rules.

FIFA said it will refer the evidence to its ethics committee which last week officially launched an investigation into alleged illegal collusion between bidders, which it did not name. Officials from the Spain-Portugal and Qatar bids have not confirmed they are being investigated.

“FIFA has immediately requested to receive all the documents and potential evidence that the newspaper has in relation to this matter, and will in any case analyze the material available,” it said in a statement.

“FIFA and the ethics committee are committed to have zero tolerance for any breach of the Code of Ethics and the Bid Registration. FIFA and the ethics committee are determined to protect the integrity of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process.”

The ethics panel also is investigating two current and four former members of FIFA’s ruling executive following Sunday Times allegations that the bidding process was shrouded by corruption.

Zen-Ruffinen, who left FIFA after alleging financial mismanagement under Blatter’s leadership, also was recorded suggesting FIFA voters could be bribed with offers of money or women.

The Swiss lawyer later told the newspaper he exaggerated his claims to help gain a consultancy fee and had only offered to assist reporters contacting FIFA officials.

Zen-Ruffinen’s claims will heap more work onto the FIFA ethics committee, which is scheduled to deliver verdicts on its separate investigations into officials and bidders at a meeting in mid-November, less than three weeks before polling day. He could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

The four former executive committee members also provisionally suspended are Tunisian lawyer Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite of Mali, Botswana’s Ismail Bhamjee and Ahongalu Fusimalohi from Tonga.