Chairman of the English Football League, Greg Clarke spoke at a UK parliamentary inquiry into soccer governance yesterday, February 15, warning that clubs are heading towards the “precipice” because of excessive debt levels.

Clarke told MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee: “Debt’s the biggest problem. If I had to list the 10 things about football that keep me awake at night, it would be debt one to 10.

“The level of debt is absolutely unsustainable. We are heading for the precipice and we will get there quicker than people think.”

The Football League has set up working parties to investigate all three of its divisions and it will publish a five-year plan aimed at improving the finances and running of its 72 clubs.

Clarke added: “We will hope to catalyse change. We will share it with our chairmen and say this where you are going unless you change now.”

Speaking upon the appointment of David Bernstein as chairman of the Football Association, Clarke added: “I would be amazed if he doesn’t drive hard for independent directors – he comes from a background where it’s normal to have independent directors. And he will have our support.

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association also shared Clarke’s fears, stating: “The game has never had more income but on the other hand has never had more debt.

“It is going to be open house again if we are not careful. The transfer market can be a vehicle for abuse because of the vast amounts of money involved. There needs to be some form of control on agents.”

Related Discussion:FA Community Shield Started by Michael Cunnah.

A new development, or lack there of, has occured with regards to the National Football League (NFL) and the league’s Player’s Association (NFLPA) collective bargaining agreement (CBA) discussions.

Progress toward getting a new labour deal completed before the current CBA expires on March 4 appear to have stalled, as a decision was made following talks on Febraury 9’s bargaining session, to cancel scheduled talks for yesterday, February 10.

One source said that today’s session between the NFL and NFLPA was canceled due to lack of progress though NFLPA officials did not respond to multiple phone calls and e-mails.

NFL Senior VP/PR Greg Aiello declined to answer questions about the negotiations, saying: “We are not confirming, denying or commenting on CBA meetings”

NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora reported both sides “thought that this week could maybe build some momentum and start hacking away at certain issues,” but added that the two parties are currently “at a loggerhead.”

He added: “It’s not as if they won’t talk in the future though. They do still have other meetings scheduled, they do still hope to make progress on a CBA and at some point establish the kind of momentum hour after hour, day after day that it will take to strike a deal.”

Rugby is now the third fastest growing sport in the United States according to a major study on sports participation.

The study, anesthetist conducted in 2010 by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), viagra reveals that new sports are beginning to carve out a greater share of the market, cialis even though overall participation in mainstream team sports has declined. The significant changes include:

• Fast?pitch softball – up 13.8%
• Ice hockey – up 12.2%
• Rugby – up 8.7% and
• Beach Volleyball – up 7.3%

Lacrosse (up 6.2%), Indoor Soccer (up 3.7%) and Gymnastics (up 3.6%) also all experienced growth during the period.

For Rugby, which is played in more than 117 countries by 3.5 million registered players, the trend marks another significant milestone for a sport that has been boosted by Olympic Games inclusion with Sevens to debut at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

International Rugby Board Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “These are extremely exciting times for Rugby in the United States. We are witnessing strong growth in popularity and participation in one of our key markets for the sport. Also thanks to a strategic vision of development and the hard work and dedication of the national governing body, USA Rugby, more men, women and children are able to engage in Rugby throughout the country.”

Nigel Melville, USA Rugby CEO & President Rugby Operations, added: “Our goal has been to create a strong foundation for the Game through the development of youth, high school and college programmes following a traditional sports model. Americans are attracted to Rugby’s values of respect, integrity and discipline and we are seeing new players coming to the Game. We are also increasing awareness through media and broadcast channels.”

The research on the growth of Rugby in the country provides a boost ahead of the USA Sevens in Las Vegas this weekend (February 12-13), the fourth round of the record-breaking HSBC Sevens World Series.

UEFA Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine have seemingly avoided the threat of suspension from FIFA and in turn the possibility of losing their right to stage the event, pharm after UEFA and FIFA stated on Wednesday that they are “convinced” they will not need to impose a suspension on the country’s football federation (FFU).

Ukraine were warned last week that it faced suspension by FIFA and the loss of the right to co-host the 2012 tournament, therapy with Poland, clinic unless it convinced soccer’s two most powerful bodies that political interference in the running of the FFU had been curtailed.

However, senior FFU official Serhiy Storozhenko, who had led the rebellion, insisted last week that demands to unseat national federation president Hrigory Surkis had been dropped, and UEFA and FIFA released a joint statement on Wednesday, February 9, to confirm their acceptance of the steps that had been taken.

The statement read: “Following the information provided by the FFU last Friday…FIFA and UEFA responded on February 8 to the FFU mentioning that the latest developments are seen positively and that this is an important step forward to unify and strengthen football in Ukraine.

“Under these circumstances, FIFA and UEFA are convinced that there will be no need to suspend the FFU, but they will continue to monitor the situation over the next few weeks to have the confirmation that the situation in Ukrainian football is definitely stabilised,” the statement added.

The BBC have sold the distribution rights for next year’s 2011 Cricket World Cup to Sunset+Vine. The company will provide a highlights coverage package for the sports main event in 2011 to be hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The tournament begins on 19 February and runs for six weeks until the final on the 2 April.

Jeff Foulser, Chairman Sunset+Vine, said: “Sunset+Vine is delighted to be awarded the contract to produce the Cricket World Cup for the BBC. We are looking forward to the challenge of delivering high quality daily programming from such a vibrant and cricket loving part of the world.”

After deals were also agreed between Century TV and Input Media to broadcast the MotoGP and World Bowls respectively, Barbara Slater, Director, BBC Sport, said: “We are delighted that, following a fully open tender process, we have appointed Century, Input and Sunset & Vine to work with us on these three important events. It was a highly competitive process which demonstrated the strength of the Independent Production sector in sport in the UK.”

Ahead of a visit to the Olympic Park next week, Prime Minister David Cameron is set to make a key decision on the plans to cut US$260m funding to UK school sports.

It is believed that Cameron is set to make a U-turn on the plans put forward by Michael Gove which have been strongly contested by many of Britain’s top athletes. Although the decision may well be withdrawn it is thought to be unlikely as to whether the funding will reach the previous $260m total.

Talks on the subject with the British Olympic Association are understood to be still ongoing. The plans have caused criticism in sporting circles since their announcement in October following the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Baroness Sue Campbell, chair of the Youth Sport Trust, a children’s sports charity, has described the proposals as “devastating news for the future health and well-being of our young people”.

UK-based racing series, medicine | the British GT Championship has renewed its title sponsorship with Avon Tyres to continue to be known as the Avon Tyres British GT Championship until 2014. The tyre company has confirmed that it will, once more supply the official control tyres to the British GT Championship.

Avon Tyres is owned by Cooper Tire Europe whose managing director, Julian Baldwin, said of the partnership: “We have enjoyed working with the British GT Championship and are delighted to have formalised an agreement with the championship organisers for a further three years. The constantly changing mix of cars, each with different characteristics, really tests our expertise but the Avon crew enjoys meeting the challenge head-on.”

Stephane Ratel, chairman of series promoters, SRO, added, “Avon Tyres shown great dedication to our championship, both on track and behind the scenes. The nature of GT racing brings special challenges for a tyre supplier and Avon has always delivered a superior product that delivers equal performance across a wide range of machinery and generates fantastic race action

“I am certain that Avon Tyres will continue to support British GT with marketing and promotion, bringing the excitement and aspirational glamour of top-flight GT racing to the race fans of the UK.”

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has renewed its exclusive advisory contract with RCS Sport to handle the sponsorship rights of all Italian national football teams for the next four years

FIGC sponsorship projects, including “Casa Azzurri” 2008 and 2010, turned over more than 60 million Euros over the previous four year agreement – the most significant sum from sponsorship in the history of the Italian Football Federation.

“Having at our side for another four years a prestigious and experienced company such as RCS Sport is a guarantee that reassures us and will give further impetus and new enthusiasm to Club Italia, to our teams on the field, and to the FIGC ethical and social commitment,” said FIGC General Manager Antonello Valentini

Giacomo Catano, chief executive of RCS Sport, said, “The trust that FIGC decided to give us for another four years represents for us a source of pride and sense of responsibility. Thanks to consolidated synergies and the strong bond over the years with FIGC partner companies, we are counting on our commitment in order to deliver an important contribution to the world of football and the success of the Italian national teams in the next four years.”

RCS Sport is a company under the RCS MediaGroup umbrella and is best–known as the organiser of the most important cycling events in Italy, including the Giro d’Italia and some of the most prestigious ‘Classics’. Since 2008, it has also been a partner of the Italy national rugby league team.

Brazil’s overcrowded and outdated airports could be an embarrassment for the country when it stages the 2014 World Cup, the country’s sports minister said on the opening day of the Soccerex Global Convention in Rio de Janeiro.

Orlando Silva warned that not enough progress was being made in improving airports in the vast country which depends almost exclusively on air transport for long-distance travel.

“Today, I have a very strong concern about our airports,” Silva told reporters during the Soccerex conference.

“When we think about an event of this size and that Brazil is almost a continent, and that you can only travel around by plane, then we realise that this is the biggest risk for the 2014 World Cup.”

Brazil has almost no long-distance passenger trains while many main highways are in a dilapidated state.

Twelve cities will host matches, many of them thousands of kilometres apart.

The longest distance between venues, Porto Alegre in the south and Manaus in the Amazon region, is roughly 4,500 kilometres.

A recent report by the consulting firm McKinsey and Co said that, at the end of 2009, seven of Brazil’s 20 principal airports were struggling with overcrowding in both passenger areas and plane berths, frequently leading to delays or cancelled flights.

The report said Brazil’s airports had capacity for 126 million passengers per year, with existing demand of 111 million that is expected to rise to 146 million by 2014.

During the Cup alone, McKinsey said as many as 6 million additional travellers would pass through Brazilian airports.

The government expects to invest 6.5 billion reais in airports by 2014, including about 5.5 billion reais for those in the 12 host cities.

However, Silva said progress has not been quick enough and criticised the government’s airport authority Infraero.

“I think Infraero will have to change its conduct, behaviour and attitude, otherwise Brazil could suffer embarrassing situations in 2014,” he said.

Brazil’s airport safety conditions have improved since a 2007 crash that killed almost 200 people when a plane skidded off a runway in Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport.

But critics say investments have still not kept up with demand.

Passenger traffic jumped 28 percent in the first half of 2010 from a year earlier, according to Brazilian civil aviation authorities.

Brazil was chosen in 2007 to host the tournament which was earmarked for South America by FIFA under a short-lived rotation system which also brought this year’s World Cup to Africa.

Airports are not the only worry with rampant crime and social problems also a concern especially in the biggest cities.

One big name visitor to Soccerex is confident that crime will not be an issue adversely affecting Brazil’s sporting attraction to overseas visitors.

Former Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit, in Soccerex as president of the Holland-Belgium 2018 World Cup bid, says he sees similarities with Brazil’s position and that of South Africa this summer.

“There were similar warnings about crime and violence and people making judgements, but there was no violence,” he says.

“But the tournament gave South Africa a boost, and that can happen in Brazil, with things like infrastructure developments.

“And if Brazil can attract tourists from around the world, it can help build the country.”