In what has been claimed as a big step forward with regards to the discussions regarding a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the National Football League (NFL) and the players’ union (NFLPA), a U.S. government mediator will help progress talks aimed at reaching a new labor deal.

The U.S.’s most-watched television sport and its players agreed to have the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) run negotiations starting tomorrow in Washington, according to a news release yesterday, February 17.

Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, stated in an interview: “This is a very positive sign. If the parties don’t want to reach a settlement, they won’t. But the mediator will help them along.”

The sides are arguing about how to share almost US$9 billion in league revenue. Owners want to double the $1 billion they take out to cover expenses before dividing the remainder with players, according to the NFLPA.

Other areas of dispute include rookie salary scales, the addition of two regular-season games and health care for players.

In “highly confrontational situations” mediation can help parties back away from original positions and demands, or retreat from bellicose rhetoric, improving the chances of compromise, Chaison said.

Director George H. Cohen said in the FMCS release: “Negotiations will now be conducted under my auspices in Washington, D.C.”

The International Triathlon Union’s (ITU) premier series, the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, today welcomed Rock-It Cargo as a new sponsor.

Rock-It Cargo is renowned in its extensive freight services particularly in concert and event touring, serving for U2, PINK, The Police, Boeing, APR Energy, Cirque Du Soleil and the PGA Tour. Rock-It Cargo is the sixth Series partner, titled as Official Transport Logistic Services of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series.

Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member, said: “It is our great pleasure to have partnerships with such a professional logistic partner. Rock-It Cargo has a great reputation in the concert touring industry and we are delighted to tie in with them on the Series events worldwide.”

Andreas Mattick, Managing Director of Rock-it Cargo Germany GmbH, said: “Similar to the needs of a triathlon athlete, a sport logistics provider also requires persistence, focus, a good strategy and a strong will to achieve their targets. That’s why we’re extremely pleased to support the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series.”

Paul Coleman, Managing Director of ITU World Championship Series, said: “We are extremely delighted that Rock-It Cargo finds the partnership as enhancing its brand image. ITU is keen to establish win-win partnerships with global brands, and the new partnership with Rock-It Cargo is an excellent showcase demonstrating the Series as a major sport platform.”

Entering its third year, the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series is the premier triathlon series in the world and the most competitive. Athletes compete in seven Series events vying for the title of ITU Triathlon World Champion. In 2011, the Series will be staged in seven world-class sites. Starting off in Sydney in April and touching down in Yokohama, Madrid, Kitzbühel, Hamburg, London and finishing in Beijing for the Grand Final in September.

The deal is brokered by Upsolut Event GmbH, ITU’s Organisation and Marketing Partner. Existing partners and sponsors of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series are: Dextro Energy, Suunto, Skins, Specialized and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

The Quarterly Economic Report by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) was published yesterday, February 14, with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) revealing costs for the London 2012 Olympic Games have increased by US$110m since the last quarter. However, they claim that despite this, the Games are still on course to be delivered on time and on budget.

Figures from the Government’s Annual Report on London 2012 show that the overall funding package for the Games remains at $14.870bn while the Anticipated Final Cost (AFC) of the ODA programme is $11.676bn.

This includes a like for like increase in the ODA’s spend of $19m, plus additional funding for park operations – which has been included in the AFC for the first time – of $91m, making the overall increase in the quarter $110m.

The UK’s Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson stated: “The construction phase is progressing on time and to budget putting the London 2012 programme in the best possible shape.

“This is the year when tickets will go on sale, test events start, volunteers are recruited, the torch relay route is announced and venues start being prepared for competition. Now is the time for everybody to start planning their Games.”

In other news, the schedule of events for the London 2012 Olympic Games has been released with the first action represented by women’s soccer in Cardiff, Glasgow and Coventry on 25 July, two days before the official opening of the Games.

The middle weekend of the flagship international athletics meet promises much for British fans, with trio Jessica Ennis (heptathlon champion), Christine Ohuruogu (sprint hopeful) and Paula Radcliffe (marathon and long-distance running icon) set to be going for gold.

Perhaps the most anticipated event of any Olympic Games is the men’s 100m final, with Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt likely to be centre stage, taking place on Sunday, 5 August.

London 2012 chairman and double Olympic champion Sebastien Coe described the tickets as the “greatest tickets on earth for the greatest show on earth”, stating: “This is a really big moment, a huge moment. In my own experience as a competitor this is the point that it suddenly becomes very real.

Malaysian entrepreneur and team principal of Lotus Racing Tony Fernandes, has rejected an offer of almost US$10m to settle the ongoing dispute over who has the right to use the Lotus name in Formula 1.

In an interview with AFP Fernandes stated: “It was £6m ($9.67m) for an out-of-court settlement. Of course I would like to end it but the proposal by Proton would have bankrupted the company. We could not accept it.” 

Fernandes said that 250 jobs along with substantial investments by shareholders were at risk, adding: “We never created the situation. We had a five-year agreement. Proton thought they can bully us out. We honestly worked hard to revive the Lotus name in F1.” 

Fernandes did however, claim that he was willing to listen to ‘sensible’ offers prior to the court hearing to decide the outcome, scheduled for March 21. “I hope it will end soon,” he added. “The legal row does not help, that’s for sure.”

A confirmation has been made by the SportAccord Convention that its 2011 City Forum in London will take place on April 5 in the Debating Chamber of London’s County Hall.

The annual gathering for registered SportAccord Convention delegates will explore how to avoid ‘white elephants’ and whether emerging markets are really ready to host sporting events. There will also be a session on bringing sports events to city centres, with a case study on Big Air Snowboarding.

H.E. Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, secretary general of the Qatar National Olympic Committee, Olympic Park Legacy Company CEO Andy Altman and FIFA competitions director Inaki Alvarez will speak at the City Forum. Populous senior principal Jerry Anderson, Architecture for Humanity executive director Cameron Sinclair and Spyros Capralos, the chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange who served as the executive director of the Athens 2004 Olympics, will also take part.

BBC Sports have awarded the rights to broadcast coverage of next year’s MotoGP to Century TV.

The company, based in Northern Ireland, have announced a three-year deal to provide coverage of the MotoGP season which begins in Qatar next march and comes to a close in Valencia, Spain in November.

Rohan Browning, Managing Director, Century TV, said: “We are delighted to have secured the BBC MotoGP contract. These are very exciting times for Century TV and as our production base continues to grow with our recent expansion into Northern Ireland, it is high profile projects such as the BBC MotoGP that will help to underpin and support this process.”

Ticket sales for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand are booming according to Martin Snedden, the man responsible for the events successful delivery with almost two-thirds of the target being reached at this early stage.

In total, 864,000 tickets have been sold since the programme was released earlier in the year which has brought in revenues of NZ$166m (US$122.7m). A target of 1.45 million sales had been set across the 48 matches played in the tournament with around 662,000 having been snapped up already.

RNZ 2011 Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden claimed that key match ticket sales and revenue targets had been met this year with organisers preparing for the arrival of 85,000 international visitors next year.

Snedden stated: “This is a very good position to be in with 267 days to go until kick-off. We still have a lot left to do, but event preparations, coupled with ticket sales to date and strong international visitor projections mean we are getting ourselves in good shape to host the tournament.”

Snedden added: “We are on track to achieve the forecast total ticket sales revenue of $NZ268 million. (That target) was always going to be a big leap into the unknown given that the biggest grossing event previously in New Zealand’s history was the 2005 Lions tour during which the New Zealand Rugby Union grossed NZ$24 million from ticket sales. We’ve now achieved seven times that figure. In the end, we’ll need to do 11 times that amount to hit budget.”

A financial advisory partnership has been agreed by HSBC Personal Bank to support IMG’s stellar sports division, which includes the likes of Tiger Woods and Colin Montgomerie.

The bank will now have the opportunity to offer its clients the opportunity to play alongside some of the world’s top golf professionals in pro-am tournaments whilst they also have a commitment to provide advisory services to the players.

The bank is believed to be funding a rise in the prize money for the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship to US$2.7m, up from $500,000.

HSBC has strong ties in golf having agreed a deal earlier in the year with The Open Championship to become the tournaments official banking partner. The bank also sponsors IMG’s World Golf Championships in Shanghai as well as several golf days in Malaysia and Singapore.

Some of Britain’s elite athletes have written to prime minister David Cameron to arrange an urgent meeting to keep the annual £162m (US$250m) grant for school sports in the UK.

A decision was made by Education Secretary Michael Gove to cut the fund from March 2011 which helps 450 school sports partnerships across England. 75 high profile athletes including Denise Lewis, Gail Emms and Tessa Sanderson have signed a written letter to attempt to arrange an urgent meeting to change the decision made by Mr Gove.

Badminton star Emms was behind the letter which speaks strongly in its disapproval of the cut on funding to school sports. The money is currently used to run PE classes where no trained staff are involved and also organise and run clubs, competitions and events. The cut is set to be replaced with a new school Olympics scheme costing £10m ($15.5m).

The passionate letter to the PM reads, ‘With one ill-conceived cut you are on the brink of destroying everything schools, clubs and the national governing bodies of sport are doing to ensure this and future generations embrace sport and physical activity, not shun it.’

The letter adds: ‘The future health of all our children is at risk if you axe this funding. We urge you to act now, please, prime minister, and look again at the permanent withdrawal of funding for school sport partnerships before you condemn millions of children to a lack of sporting opportunities and therefore a bleak future of lethargy, obesity and unhappiness.’

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will be on the Hall of Fame veterans committee ballot next month for the first time.

Steinbrenner was the owner of the Yankees from 1973 until his death in July.  During his ownership, the team won 16 AL East titles, 11 AL pennants and seven World Series championships.  

Also on the ballot with Steinbrenner will be former New York manager Billy Martin.  Martin had five different stints as Yankees manager under Steinbrenner, who fired him four times.

Also on the ballot will be former union head Marvin Miller, former Toronto, Baltimore and Philadelphia GM Pat Gillick and players Vida Blue, Dave Concepcion, Steve Garvey, Ron Guidry, Al Oliver, Ted Simmons, Rusty Staub and Tommy John.  Some may be surprised to know that Tommy John was not the doctor who invented the popular ligament replacement surgery, but a pitcher who was the first player to undergo the procedure.

To be elected, a candidate must appear on at least 75 percent of the ballots.  Results will be announced Dec. 6 at the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

This year’s veterans committee ballot covers baseball’s expansion era.  Players, managers, executives and umpires whose significant impact was from 1973 on were considered in the first of a three-year cycle.  Under changes announced last summer, the golden era (1947-1972) will be voted on in 2011 and the pre-integration era (1881-1946) will be voted on in 2012.

Anyone elected will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Cooperstown on July 24