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.”

After losing out in attempts to gain preferred bidder status for the Olympic Stadium, a crucial step in the process of the venue’s award, English Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur are pursuing legal action against rival bidders West Ham, to ensure their proposals are upheld.

A vital impact on the decision to award West Ham with the Olympic Park Legacy Comapny’s (OPLC) backing, was that the club had promised to ensure the athletics legacy, and in turn the running track, was kept at the stadium.

Tottenham’s joint bid with AEG consistently refuted that these plans would work and opted to offer a solution of ensuring an Olympic athletics legacy elsewhere, and the club are reportedly seeking assurances that theri rivals will not do away with their proposals to leave the track intact.

A statement from Tottenham read: “The Olympic Stadium site is an essential element in the creation of a viable Olympic Park and we know that, together with AEG, we provided a first class proposal to support the sustainability of the whole project.”

The statement added: “It was never an option, however, that we would retain the running track as we believe this to be unacceptable for our supporters and therefore wholly unviable in the long term…Much has been made of the promise to keep the athletics track within the Olympic Stadium and, therefore, we should all expect to see the retention of this track firmly embedded and legally guaranteed by those entrusted with this legacy commitment, today and in the future.”

The statement continued: “The OPLC’s decision has still to be approved by two Government departments and the Mayor’s Office. We shall continue to monitor the bid process over the coming weeks up until its final determination, whilst reviewing our position and holding discussions with our advisors. We shall spend time assessing our situation in respect of a new stadium and when we have any further information we shall update our supporters.”

Francois Fillon, the Prime Minister of France, has pledged state support for Annecy’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation commission arrived in France yesterday, February 8, for its first inspection of the three candidate cities.

Fillon travelled to the city to welcome the 11 members of the commission, which will be shown technical presentations and will undertake site visits. The inspection will take place until Saturday, February 12,  before the commission makes further trips to the other two candidate cities of Munich in Germany and PyeongChang in South Korea.

Fillon told AFP: “I met the commission with the aim of convincing them of why our bid should win. On top of this I offered the total support of the state.

“The candidature file has excellent technical quality and is focused around the two legendary hubs of Chamonix – which hosted the first Winter Games in 1924 – and Annecy. We would organise an exceptional Winter Games under a theme of sustainable development and legacy.”

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) have announced that Liebherr, buy a German manufacturing company, arthritis will become the title sponsor for the 2011 ITTF Oceania Cup.

The deal will see the company, purchase who extended their partnership with the ITTF in March, rename the event as the Liebherr 2011 ITTF Oceania Cup. The announcement was made after the recent revelations that Fox Sports Australia were agreed as host broadcaster.

Patrick Gillmann, president of the Oceania Table Tennis Federation stated: “For the first time an important Oceania event has a title sponsor that is recognised as an international company and not just any sponsor but one of the major sponsors of the International Table Tennis Federation. It gives me great satisfaction that we are able to organise a high level event in our continent with ambitious organisers, confident sponsors, live television coverage by Fox Sport and some trusting supporters with the Oceania Table Tennis Federation and International Table Tennis Federation family; the Liebherr ITTF-Oceania Cup is on track and, with all these partners, I am sure that it will be a success.”

ITTF marketing director Steve Dainton added: “It just goes to show what is possible with the right motivation, strategy and event concept; over the last two years the International Table Tennis Federation, TMS and the Oceania Table Tennis Federation have been working hard to put this together and now the results are showing.”

“Television broadcast in the region, Double Happiness as equipment sponsor, Tinsue as the sports flooring sponsor and now the announcement that Liebherr will be the title sponsor is really the icing on the cake; we are all looking forward to what will be an excellent event in 2011”.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) hosts ten team owners who are worth ten figure sums, topped by New Jersey Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov. Prokhorov is believed to have funded the club, which has been in desperate need of financial backing, with around US$250m to buy 80 per cent of the team along with 45 per cent of the Barclays Center. The injection has meant that the team will be able to push through their ambitious plans to relocate to Brooklyn, New York.

Pokhorov, a former Russian basketball player himself, earned his fortune through metal and is currently worth $13.4bn, the highest in the league. A close second is Microsoft billionaire and owner of the Portland Trail Blazers, Paul Allen who is worth $12.7bn. Allen is funding a $13m upgrade of the teams home stadium, the Rose Garden.

Completing the top five wealthiest owners list for the league are Philip Anschutz, owner of the LA Lakers ($7bn), Orlando Magic’s Richard DeVos ($4.3bn) and Miami Heat’s Micky Arison ($4.1bn). Arison recently parted with around $100m to entice the league’s highest profile player, LeBron James.

The figures were released by Forbes in a top 10 list, to read the full story visit the site here – http://www.forbes.com/2010/12/16/lakers-nets-blazers-magic-business-sports-nba-billionaires.html?partner=alerts