BAMMA has announced a significant TV deal with UK broadcaster Channel 5. 

BAMMA’s debut on Channel 5 with ‘Kong v Ninja’ drew aproximately 500, cialis 000 viewers, making this one of the most watched MMA events ever to be screened in the UK. 

Now BAMMA is to take an unprecedented step into the mainstream in a partnership that is set to be pivotal for British Mixed Martial Arts. BAMMA 10 is to be broadcast for the first time live on Channel 5’s sister channel, 5*; with Channel 5 televising a highlights package the following week. 

BAMMA 10 will take place at London’s iconic Wembley Arena on Saturday 15 September and the two hour live broadcast goes out on 5* at 21:00hrs. 

BAMMA’s director, David Green said: “We are thrilled to clinch this game-changing deal with 5; and based on our recent viewing figures feel certain that the partnership will be a great success. We are proud to be leading MMA into the UK mainstream under a British banner and welcome the opportunity that Channel 5 brings to further establish the sport of Mixed Martial Arts in this country.”

LeBron James, order iconic star of the National Basketball Association (NBA), health has acquired a minority stake in Barclays Premier League soccer club Liverpool under the terms of a partnership announced on Wednesday evening, order April 6.

An agreement was reached between the two-time NBA most valuable player’s company, LRMR Branding & Marketing, and Fenway Sports Group – the parent company of Liverpool as well as Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, New England Sports Network and the 50 per cent owner of NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing.

Fenway Sports Management, the marketing arm of Fenway Sports Group, will team up with LRMR to secure global marketing and sponsorship deals for the Miami Heat forward while the player and LRMR CEO Maverick Carter will acquire a stake in Liverpool.

Liverpool and Fenway Sports Group co-owner Tom Werner stated: “We believe this will be a powerful collaboration between FSM and LRMR and LeBron. There are very few sportsmen who can match his global reach, appeal and iconic status.”

Werner added: “LeBron and Liverpool each has a powerful presence internationally, with particular strength in Asia, but we feel the business opportunities for both working and being identified together in emerging international markets will result in unforeseen opportunities that neither would have been able to realise alone.”

Al Jazeera’s new French sports channels will be carried by CanalSat after the two parties agreed a deal.

After weeks of negotiations, herbal CanalSat is now offering beIN Sport 1, case which launched on June 1. BeIN Sport 2 will be available from July. The channels will cost €11 (US $14) per month.

Al Jazeera launched the channels after winning the rights to broadcast French Ligue 1 and Champions League football.

Last month, police raided the office of the head of beIN Sport, Charles Biétry, because Canal Plus made a complaint accusing the broadcaster of malpractices in poaching Canal Plus staff.

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The English Premier League’s two biggest spenders, Chelsea and Manchester City soccer clubs, could be excluded from European competition in the future as they currently fail UEFA rules that are about to be introduced.

A new set of Financial Fair Play Regulations were announced to be rolled out by European soccer’s governing body in recent times and will come into force on June 1 of this year, though they will not really bite until 2013.

However, a BBC Sport study of recent accounts shows that both clubs currently placed in the top 4 of the Barclays Premier League would fall well short of the rules if they were being applied today.

City were £110m (US$180.1m) in the red while Chelsea showed a deficit of over £50m ($81.9m). UEFA’s rules allow clubs to run up losses of £65m ($106.4m) over the first five years.

The thinking behind the new financial fair play rules is to try and level the playing field between clubs funded by the super rich and those less fortunate. In simple terms, teams cannot spend more than they generate from the soccer side of their business.

Under the terms of the new rules, UEFA will have the power to ban any side that repeatedly flouts the rules, from European competition.

The guidelines aim to measure a club’s soccer business. Any revenue earned from side businesses such as property, hotels or media are excluded. So too are any costs not directly associated with the football club – such as huge interest payments like the ones incurred by Manchester United’s owners the Glazer family.

United made a pre-tax loss of £79m ($129.3m) in 2010 but, by UEFA’s measure, actually returned a positive break-even result of £42m ($68.8m). The remaining top 4 side Arsenal would also easily meet the guidelines, posting a surplus of £55m ($90m).

Soccer finance expert Andy Green carried out the analysis of the clubs’ accounts. He believes Chelsea and Manchester City in particular have a mountain to climb to meet the guidelines, stating: “For Chelsea, I think if they can get a bigger ground they can probably get there.

“For City, they’ve got a long way to go. They need to get into the Champions League, stay there year after year, probably put their ticket prices up and really turn around their commercial side – in fact they need to make it one of the best in the world – to even have a chance of meeting these rules.”

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said he was optimistic that English clubs would be able to comply with the rules though, telling BBC Sport: “I don’t think it will be difficult for the English clubs to comply because they are very well managed and very well aware of what is coming.

“There is sufficient time in order to implement the regulations. The English clubs are among those generating the highest revenues in Europe.

“The basic rule is the break-even rule that says you cannot spend more than you generate, so if you generate more than the others you have an advantage. So I am not worried at all about the English.

“I’m sure the managers of the English clubs are thinking about this, because they know the regulations are coming into force.

“They know what these rules mean and how we will implement them. I am sure that tomorrow they will put their finances in order so they are able to break even.

“Our president spoke to Manchester City’s owners over a year ago when we started with this process and they were very happy with it.”

ESPN has renewed their deal to broadcast College Football’s Rose Bowl through 2026.

The extension, which takes effect in January, 2015, includes having the game played on January 1, or on January 2 if New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday.

The deal means that whatever happens with a potential college football playoff or changes to the Bowl Championship Series, ESPN will keep the Rose Bowl TV rights. ESPN’s current deal has two years left, and has the 2013 Rose Bowl and 2014 Rose Bowl and 2014 BCS title game.

“The Rose Bowl Game is one of sport’s most meaningful and celebrated events,” ESPN president John Skipper said. “Extending our relationship long term with such a prestigious brand will play a significant role in the way fans continue to define ESPN – as the leading destination for college football all year long.”

American majority stakeholder in English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, Stan Kroenke has confirmed he has increased his stake in the club to 62.89 per cent as he closes in on a takeover.

Kroenke had owned 29.9 per cent of the club but has increased his shareholding after agreeing deals to buy shares owned by Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith.

The deal sees Kroenke acquire the 16.1 per cent owned by Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith’s 15.9 per cent stake to take his holding to 62.89 per cent.

Under stock market rules, having surpassed the 30 per cent threshold, Kroenke must now make a takeover bid to buy the remaining shares at the club at the highest price. This means that a takeover bid would be triggered and he has agreed terms for the purchase of the remaining stock which values the club at £731million (US$1.19bn).

The remaining major shareholder is Russian Alisher Usmanov who had been looking to build on his stake having increased it to 27 per cent earlier in the year. Usmanov now has a decision to make as to whether to sell his shares to Kroenke, if he were to do so he will earn almost £200m (US$326.9m) from his stake.

Terms have also been agreed for Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE) to buy up the remaining share capital at a cost of £11,750 ($19,226) a share. The group has announced an offer the club’s ownership company, Arsenal Holdings PLC, revealing that the offer will not be funded by debt finance secured against the club.

The Independent Directors of Arsenal comprising of Mr Hill-Wood, Ivan Gazidis, Ken Friar, Sir Chips Keswick and Lord Harris of Peckham have considered these confirmations as well as the offer price and, having received advice from an independent adviser, Rothschild, are recommending that shareholders accept the Offer.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Kroenke said: “We are excited about the opportunity to increase our involvement with and commitment to Arsenal.

“Arsenal is a fantastic club with a special history and tradition and a wonderful manager in Arsene Wenger.

“We intend to build on this rich heritage and take the club to new success. I am delighted that Peter Hill-Wood has agreed to support us by continuing as chairman.

“We especially wish to acknowledge and thank the board, Danny Fiszman and the Fiszman family as well as Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and her family for the confidence they have had in me over the past years and in allowing us to move forward in this more prominent role.”

Four years ago Kroenke first took a stake in Arsenal, purchasing the 9.9 per cent which was owned by Granada.

Kroenke’s company also has major interests in sporting teams throughout America, owning the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Denver Nuggets, Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Colorado Rapids and the National Football League’s (NFL) St. Louis Rams.

BHRT and Telekom Srbija have been awarded media rights for the 2012-15 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Further to the recent announcement of the award of the best-pick live match each Wednesday to free-to-air broadcaster OBN, illness pay operator Telekom Srbija has secured the rights to all remaining matches including, on a co-exclusive basis with OBN, the final and the Wednesday semi-finals. A comprehensive selection of the matches will be broadcast live across the Arena Sport family of channels.

In addition, free-to-air broadcaster BHRT has been awarded, on a co-exclusive basis with Telekom Srbija, media rights to the best-pick match each Tuesday. The live match and highlights programme will be broadcast each matchweek on BHT1, FTV and RTRS.

With regard to the UEFA Europa League, BHRT has been awarded the rights to the best-pick match each matchweek and will broadcast the live match and highlights across BHT1, FTV and RTRS. Telekom Srbija has secured the rights to all matches with the best-pick match being co-exclusive with BHRT. The pay operator will show each matchweek multiple matches from each kick-off slot as well as a highlights programme across the Arena Sport family of channels.

Japan has withdrawn from this summer’s Copa America soccer tournament as the country deals with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated its northeast region.

Japan had been invited, having been crowned champions of Asia, alongside Mexico to play as guest nations in South America’s continental championship, which will take place July 1-25 in Argentina.

Japanese Football Association president Junji Ogura said on the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) website: “The priority at this moment is to continue saving lives and rebuilding the country. We are sorry to be pulling out.”

CONMEBOL President Nicolas Leoz said in a statement that he “deeply lamented” Japan’s withdrawal from the 12-nation event and that he’d consult other members of the organization to decide what to do with the vacant place in the tournament.

Georgian Public Broadcaster and Rustavi 2 have secured the media rights for the 2012-15 UEFA Champions League in Georgia.

Georgia Public Broadcaster and commercial broadcaster Rustavi 2 will each broadcast every matchnight one live match on 1 Channel and on Rustavi 2 respectively. In addition 1 Channel will show a highlights programme on Tuesday and Rustavi 2 a highlights programme on Wednesday.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, healing with the rights also being exploited on the internet, via www.1tv.ge and www.rustavi2.com, and on mobile.

According to the organisers of the inaugural Mundialito de Clubes beach soccer tournament in Sao Paulo, order Brazil, more than 100,000 spectators flocked to the event which took place from March 19-26.

Some of the world’s biggest football clubs were involved in the tournament including Barcelona, Boca Juniors, Sporting Lisbon, Lokomotiv Moscow and Seattle Sounders who all signed up for the competition along with Brazilian clubs Vasco da Gama, Flamengo and Corinthians.

During the eight days of competition, more than 40 beach soccer hours were watched live in over 75 territories around the world thanks to agreements reached with up to 25 broadcasters, including international giants such as Fox Sports, Al Jazeera, Supersport, ESPN Star Sports and Globo, among others.

A statement from the event organisers read: “The 106,000 people who watched from the stands during the competition created an amazingly loud and colourful environment. Mundialito de Clubes is here to stay.”