A not-yet-built National Hockey League (NHL) arena to be constructed in Quebec, Canada, will be called the Videotron amphitheatre after reaching a naming-rights deal with the cable provider via its parent company, Quebecor according to the city.

Videotron will pay US$33.85m for naming rights for a period of 25 years.

An additional $3.23m fee has been agreed annually for arena management rights. Videotron will give the city 15 per cent of profits from the facility. In return, the arena will be built entirely with taxpayers’ money.

Terms are specific to the building and profits from any future NHL team would be separate.

Italian Serie A soccer giant Juventus has posted a loss of US$54.6m in the first half of the 2010/11 season, in stark comparison with a $19.6m profit from the previous year.

This was largely down to the fact that revenue for the period was $122.8m, down 29 per cent on the $172.8m figure in the same period 12 months before due to a the financial hit of only qualifying for the Europa League as opposed to the Champions League.

It has also been affected by changes to the way Italian clubs share money from television rights.

The Turin-based club’s board admitted to predicting “a significant loss” between now and the end of the season.

The club released a statement, reading: “Economic trends in the 2010/11 financial year were negatively influenced by the club’s failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, implying lower revenues from European competitions and lower commercial revenue, as well as the effects stemming from the regulations of the centralised sale of [Italian] television rights coming into force.

“Accordingly, on the basis of the information currently available and in the absence of any extraordinary events, the 2010/11 financial year is expected to close with a significant loss.

“Nonetheless, the company is confident it has the resources necessary to tackle the negative trend of the current financial year.”

The first document in the so-called “lockout insurance” case between the National Football League and its players’ union (NFLPA) became yesterday, February 24.

The document regards the union’s brief to the federal court in Minnesota contending the court should overturn a special master’s decisions allowing the league to use US$4bn of media fees in 2011 if there is a lockout.

All documents have been sealed in the process since it began early last year, and the brief is redacted, with key numbers darkened out.

However, it does include excerpts of deposition transcripts and testimony, including from league execs like NFL Exec VP/Media and NFL Network President & CEO Steve Bornstein and Commissioner Roger Goodell conceding that the lockout insurance was a critical element in renewing the broadcast deals.

The news comes after late on Wednesday, February 23, DirecTV filed a motion in Minnesota federal court seeking to block the unsealing of its confidential records in the closely watched NFL media fees case.

Two local Minnesota newspapers are seeking a complete unsealing of records in the players union’s case against the NFL, in which the union alleges the league took lower media payments in return for guaranteed payments during a possible lockout. The arguments in that case were thought to be heard yesterday, February 24, but the DirecTV and the NFL could not prevent the unsealing.

DirecTV had said unsealing the records, which includes the contract and privileged communications, would expose the satellite channel’s NFL strategy, thereby impairing its ability to renew the deal in 2014.

A comprehensive venue testing programme has been revealed by the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) to ensure that everything from results, asthma scoring, timing systems, operational procedures and field tests, are working correctly for next year’s Games.

The programme consists of international invitational events delivered by LOCOG, international federation events, and international events organised by sports national governing bodies and other organisations.

Chairman of LOCOG Seb Coe, stated: “Our approach to operational delivery is similar to that of an athlete.   You do not want to face any conditions at competition time that you have not prepared for. When the world’s greatest Olympic and Paralympic athletes come to London in the summer of 2012, every aspect of our delivery needs to be the best it can be.”

Some of the events involved with testing will form part of UK Sport’s world class events programme, with the body having worked closely alongside LOCOG on the programme. The world class events programme invests National Lottery funding to help stage major international sporting events in the UK. 

Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, added: “UK Sport’s world class events programme has been preparing Britain’s sports and elite athletes for their home Games in London for the past five years, so it is fantastic to be supporting LOCOG’s testing programme at this crucial time.” 

The testing programme begins with the Bupa London Marathon on 30th May and runs all the way through to May 2012.

Formula One is expected to lose about US$100m in revenues due to cancelling its season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix amid safety fears due to civil unrest in the nation, currently home to violent human rights protests.

Some of the “biggest losers” will be the 12 teams, as it is believed there are penalty clauses in their contracts with sponsors that would be triggered by missing a race.

The biggest-spending race sponsor is Bahrain’s Gulf Air, which pays an estimated $6m for naming rights. That fee comprises around half of the total income from advertisers at the circuit.

Despite heavy losses being estimated, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has claimed that Bahrain will not have to forfeit its $40m staging fee after calling off the race.

Ecclestone looked to clarify the situation after reports suggested that Bahrain would still have to pay the bill, so to speak, despite not actually staging the event, telling the Daily Telegraph: “The fee that is normally being paid for the event is not being paid.I am not charging them for a race they are not getting.”

Ecclestone continued: “Whether they are covered by their insurers for loss of revenues, ticket sales etc., I am not sure. But if anything is force majeure then that (the political unrest) is. It is similar to if an earthquake had struck – no one could have foreseen that a month ago.”

It is unknown as to whether or not the Bahrain Grand Prix will be rescheduled for later in the calendar with Ecclestone adding: “If and when it is rescheduled they will pay their usual fee. If everything is peaceful, which we hope it will be, then we will try our best to fit it in.”

Another suggestion has been made that would see the postponed Bahrain race allowed to take Abu Dhabi’s place on the schedule. World Motor Sports Council VP Mohammed ben Sulayem said: “Abu Dhabi and Bahrain agreed to have a big separation on the calendar to make the most of the exposure that a grand prix brings. However, this is an emergency and in an emergency we need to work together.”

Danny Jordaan, the man praised with steering the highly successful organisation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, has seen his efforts seemingly fall short from the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF), having lost out in his bid to join the executive committee of world football’s governing body, FIFA.

With two new delegates to join FIFA’s ruling panel, Jordaan came fourth out of five candidates, with Mohamed Raouraoua and Jacques Anouma securing the two places. The former will replace Amos Adamu, who FIFA suspended in the build-up to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.

Jordaan received just 10 votes from the 53 federations that make up the CAF at the confederation’s 33rd ordinary general assembly.

Raouraoua, from Algeria, won the election with 39 votes, while Anouma, from the Ivory Coast, picked up 35 votes. Suketu Patel (Seychelles) came third with 12 votes, followed by Jordaan and then Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima (Nigeria) with five votes.

It has been confirmed that Stamford Bridge, the home of English Premier League soccer club Chelsea, will host the Leaders 2011 conference for a fourth consecutive year.

Organisers of the Football, Sponsorship and Performance conferences confirmed yesterday, February 21, that this year’s main event will take place on October 5-6, with the event once again coinciding with ‘international football week’.

The event is expected to be another sell out, with attendance capped at 1,000 senior level executives from a range of different sports, linked to clubs, leagues, associations, federations and brands.

With Leaders in Football, Leaders in Sponsorship and Leaders in Performance running concurrently over the two days, there will be an expanded programme of events and numerous networking opportunities.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has sent a letter to FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter congratulating world football’s governing body for the results achieved by its anti-doping programme, ed which it considers to be in line with the World Anti-Doping Code.

In the letter, WADA mentions that, in accordance with its reporting responsibilities, it will submit an official report on Code compliance to its Executive Committee and Foundation Board in November 2011. WADA adds that, in the lead-up to this official report, it considers FIFA’s anti-doping programme to be in line with the World Anti-Doping Code.

“It is very encouraging to see that our efforts in the fight against doping are recognised by WADA. We remain fully committed to sustaining our anti-doping programme and will endeavour to ensure that it continues to be successful,” said President Blatter.

Speedo, ambulance the leading worldwide swimwear brand, ailment has appointed its new UK commercial director in Mark Wyatt.

Wyatt replaces the outgoing Tim Ives who has become the European business development director for the company having worked as managing director of Sodastream as well as a number of senior leadership and commercial roles.

Speedo CEO, vialis 40mg  David Robinson commented: “We are delighted to have Mark on board. He is an experienced and innovative senior leader with an outstanding track record in developing businesses in a diverse range of markets, products and cultures, particularly within tough trading climates.”

Mark Wyatt added: “Speedo is an iconic, world-renowned brand and I relish the challenge of developing its UK growth and brand presence through a variety of commercial routes, in conjunction with the Speedo UK management team”.

The Chairman and CEO of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Colin Graves has revealed it will not bid to host an Ashes Test in 2013 or 2015 at their Headingley home because it would represent too great a financial risk.

After confirming losses of £2m (US$3.2m) for 2010, the club are not prepared to take the risk following poor attendances for the Pakistan v Australia Test at Headingley last summer.

Yorkshire has a staging agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board that guarantees it one Test and a one-day international each year between 2012 and 2019, but counties have to bid for the right to host Ashes matches.

In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Graves stated: “There’s no chance at all of us hosting an Ashes Test. For 2013 and 2015 we are not allocated an Ashes Test, we won’t be allocated one, and we are not going to bid for one to put ourselves at risk again.

“The figure is not fixed but it could cost anything between £1m ($1.6m) and £2m ($3.2m) to make a bid. I’m not putting between £1m and £2m at risk because it’s not worth it. I’d rather stick with what we’ve got.”