Rome’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be led by former Italian Sports Minister Mario Pescante, after Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has turned down the opportunity to lead the bid.

Pescante, 72, is the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and according to officials, is set to be formally confirmed as President of Rome 2020 on Wednesday, February 23.

Ferrari chief Montezemolo, who organised Italy’s 1990 FIFA World Cup and has been chairman of Fiat, was proposed as a bid head last week but said he would only take the job if there was enough financial and Government support.

Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno stated: “I’m sorry that Luca di Montezemolo has decided there are not the conditions to accept the role. He was a very good candidate. 

“We are now working together with the Government and Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) to find a chairman with a profile different from someone with an entrepreneurial background, which will be presented officially on Wednesday at the States General of the city of Rome.”

Pescante, a member of the IOC since 1994, is a professor who was Italy’s Sports Minister between 2001 and 2006 and was closely involved in the organisation of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin as the Italian Government Supervisor.

The Ferrari boss is not the first to have turned down the opportunity after Nerio Alessandri, the founder of London 2012 sponsor Technogym, had also turned down the job, meaning Pescante will be the third choice to head Rome’s campaign to bring the Olympics back to the Italian capital for the first time since 1960.

Gianni Petrucci, President of CONI, claimed that Pescante was the right person to lead the bid: “He is a good choice because he has a high-profile in sports and has followed the ideals of the Olympic Movement all his life,” he said.

Liverpool’s former co-owner with George Gillett, Tom Hicks has suffered a setback in his battle to claim financial damages over the sale of the English soccer club after a High Court judge ruled that he must bring any claims he has in the UK rather than his home country, the United States.

It wasannounced in October that New England Sports Ventures (NESV), now the Fenway Sports Group – had bought Liverpool for US$486.5m against the wishes of the controversial co-owners, in what Hicks claimed at the time was an “epic swindle”. He wanted Mr Justice Floyd to lift anti-suit orders that prevented him from pursuing action in the Texas courts to halt the deal.

However, the judge dismissed the application, although he did alter the injunction to allow Hicks to make applications in the US in support of any proceedings in the UK.

A statement released by Liverpool read: “We are delighted that Mr Justice Floyd has granted the applications requested by Sir Martin Broughton, RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) and NESV and that the anti-suit injunction prohibiting the former owners from commencing legal actions against these parties outside the EU has been upheld and clarified.

“Sir Martin, RBS and NESV continue to maintain that there is no basis to challenge the propriety or validity of any actions by them or any of those involved on their behalf in the sale of the club. They will continue to take all steps necessary to defend vigorously any litigation threatened or commenced by the club’s former owners,” the statement added.

Mr Justice Floyd also dismissed an application to strike out or stay claims by Broughton seeking damages against Hicks for his actions during his time as co-owner.

K&N Filters have been confirmed as an official sponsor of the 2011 Nascar season.

K&N, medstore | an automotive filter manufacturer, pharmacy ed will see their oil and air products become Nascar’s filter of choice under the terms of the agreement, as well as providing K&N a marketing platform for its products. K&N will also have the rights to use the Nascar brand name in their advertising and packaging.

Jerry Mall, K&N founder, said: “K&N is clearly a force to be reckoned with.”

President of K&N Steve Rogers added: “Some things were just meant to be. I always believed it was just a matter of time before Nascar and K&N reunited, I feel like we have so much in common as family run businesses driven by our passion for motorsports.”

K&N will continue as an official developmental series partner of Nascar, title-sponsoring the K&N Pro Series, and be a contingency sponsor in the Nascar Sprint Cup series, Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, Modified Tour and Whelen All-American Series.

The America’s Cup has been forced to slash it’s entry fees by almost three-quarters due to a lack of entries for the next event in 2013.

The flagship sailing event has seen just 5 teams commit to an interest in competing including defending champions BMW Oracle and challengers of record Mascalzone Latino. Worries are mounting ahead of the event due to kick off next June with a series of preliminary regattas in smaller versions of the official America’s Cup 72ft wing-masted catamarans.

The entry fee and performances amount was set to total at £2.6m (US$4m) but has been drastically reduced to £710,000 ($1.1m) following discussions between existing and potential competitors and the event organisers, America’s Cup Racing Management.

A further five months have also been allowed to make those payments in recognition of the difficult economic climate which is said to be preventing campaigns from raising the necessary sponsorships funds, said to be at least £15m ($23m) a year.

“These changes are designed to allow the teams to put their initial investments into building their teams and boats,” said Iain Murray, regatta director for the 34th America’s Cup and head of ACRM.

WBA World Heavyweight Champion David Haye’s trainer, Adam Booth says the ball is firmly in Wladimir Klitschko’s court after Haye agreed to a 50-50 split of revenues. 

In a bid to unify his titles, Haye has offered the deal Klitshcko a ‘has wanted from day one’ according to Booth. Klitschko set a deadline of January 4 to agree terms for the unification clash, and Booth claims all previous stumbling blocks have been removed. 

“We are now perfectly positioned to get together and make this fight with Wladimir Klitschko,” said Booth. 

“We have sorted out all the old problems and disagreements and are ready to sign the deal both (Klitschko’s manager) Bernd Boente and I discussed on Sky Sports’ Ringside show in November. 

“Despite the fact we know we bring more UK television money to the table, David and I are happy to split the entire pot 50:50 and grant Wladimir the deal he has wanted since day one. 

“We have offered them 50:50 on everything – just as they requested – and now see no reason why this tremendous fight can’t happen. The path is clear.” 

Haye added that he sees no reason why Klitschko should not agree to a unification fight in 2011. 

“We have now ticked every box they have asked us to tick and I just hope Wladimir is as eager to fight as he tells everyone he is,” said Haye. 

“We have removed every possible excuse and have shown we are serious about making this fight become a reality. I’ll smoke him out if I have to. 

“I only pray Wladimir is as serious as we are, because this fight needs to happen for the good of the sport.”

A deal has now been completed which has seen the New Orleans Hornets become the first ever National Basketball Association (NBA) side to be owned by the league itself. The NBA’s acquisition of the team has long been suspected but is now finalised after previous owner George Shinn was forced to sell the franchise due to financial troubles.

The NBA will run the side until a new owner can be found after New Orleans native, Jac Sperling was placed in charge of finding the right buyer. It is believed that as a local man himself, Sperling is focusing his attentions on keeping the side in New Orleans which is also the incentive for an amalgamation of local business owners calling themselves the Hornets’ Business Council.

The group have been attempting to boost home ticket sales to prevent the side from relocating, though the Hornets still have the third lowest attendance in the league. Shinn founded the Hornets himself in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He then relocated the club to New Orleans in 2002 where they play at the New Orleans Arena.

A new report released by the National Bank of Kuwait on Sunday 19 December stated that the World Cup 2022 in Qatar will provide a significant economic boost to the national and its neighbouring countries.

The study revealed that Qatar’s significant construction programme ahead of the event will have a knock-on impact on other countries in the Middle East. According to the report: ‘Hosting the World Cup will set tight deadlines, create extra spending, bring in new expertise and present additional motivation and incentives’.

Among the infrastructure projects planned include a $25 billion metro and rail network, a $7 billion deep water port, a $10 billion international airport at Doha and a $4 billion causeway linking Qatar and Bahrain. $20 billion is also set to be spent on building and expanding Qatar’s road network.

A further $4 billion will be spent on 12 state-of-the-art stadia with air conditioning. The study added that Qatari officials have pledged to add 90,000 new hotel rooms before 2022, surpassing the 65,000 demanded by FIFA.

Richard Davies will resign from his post as ATP properties CEO at the end of 2010, announced the ATP.

The position has been held by Davies since 2004 which saw him responsible for the company’s sponsorship sales. Amongst his achievements in the role includes and instrumental effort in securing Corona Extra as the Tour’s global premier partner.

ATP executive chairman and president, Adam Helfant spoke of Davies decision: “We thank Richard for his many contributions to the ATP over the past six and a half years. Richard will be missed and we wish him the very best.”

Recent developments at the have seen the organisation heed to the cry of an increased rest period by many of the games professionals. ATP announced that the men’s tennis calendar will be shortened by two weeks from 2012 to allow the players a seven-week off-season.

Visa, an official sponsor of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) is looking to enhance the profile of Britain’s Olympic athletes during its marketing activity ahead of the 2012 Games. Up until the event, Visa will be the official presenting partner of the British team and will look to boost the profile to encourage interest in the athletes progression.

Head of Partnership Marketing at Visa Europe, Colin Grannell stated: “The goal is to make the team famous, to make some of the individuals much higher-profile.”

In their attempts to achieve this goal, Visa will also create competitions that offer the chance to meet and train with athletes in the run-up to the Games. The campaign will be undertaken through digital and social media as well as point-of-sale activity.

The Football Federation of Belarus (BFF) have announced a new five-year partnership with Sportradar as the data company will become the official sports data partner of the organisation. 

Sportradar struck the deal with Sport Tube, adiposity which has been granted the rights and authorisations to market the commercial rights to all competitions governed by the BFF as well as the Belarus national team.

Under the agreement, buy Sportradar has acquired the worldwide and exclusive rights to collect, archive and distribute sports data for all matches organised by the BFF for the betting industry.

As part of the deal, Sportradar will co-operate with Sport Tube to build up a professional live scout network in Belarus.

“Together we will enable all fans of Belarusian football to be able to utilise the full breadth and depth of the content offered,” Sport Tube’s chief executive officer Alexej Vakulshik said.

Carsten Koerl, group chief executive officer of Sportradar, added: “Our market leading betting and sports data services will engage fans throughout Europe in new ways and across all platforms.”