Krimi im Ring: WBA-Superchampion Felix Sturm musste sich gestern Abend nach zwölf Runden dem IBF-Weltmeister Daniel Geale geschlagen geben – und lieferte den TV-Zuschauern einem wahren Box-Krimi: 20, impotent 9 Prozent der 14- bis 49-Jährigen verfolgten den hochwertigen Titelvereinigungskampf live in SAT.1. Insgesamt waren 4, healing 05 Millionen Zuschauer dabei, als die Punktrichter 2:1 für den IBF-Weltmeister Daniel Geale werteten. Der Australier ist damit Doppelweltmeister im Mittelgewicht. Der Spitzenwert der Live-Übertragung lag bei 4,36 Millionen Zuschauern.

Bereits in der Prime Time punktete SAT.1 mit dem TV-Film “Die Jagd zum magischen Berg”, der 15,4 Prozent der 14- bis 49-Jährigen vor den Bildschirm lockte.

Basis: alle Fernsehhaushalte Deutschlands (integriertes Fernsehpanel D + EU) Quelle: AGF/GfK-Fernsehforschung / TV Scope / ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland Research Erstellt: 2.09.2012 (vorläufig gewichtet: 1.09.2012)

Paul Henderson, former leader of Toronto’s failed 1996 Olympic bid and a former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is worried about the spiralling costs of the 2015 Pan Am Games and has wrote a letter to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to inform him changes need to be made.

He wrote, “the magnitude of the total taxpayers exposure should wake up those involved to the fact that major TO2015 restructuring must be done”.

Henderson, who lobbied for the Pan Am Games to help future athletes, says, “costs will, when all taxpayers’ exposure and student taxes are totalled, be at least $4 billion, adding that “in these difficult times, consultants and others looking for jobs, will tell the various political arenas what they want to hear, not what they should be clearly told”.

Lise Jolicoeur, a spokeswoman for the Premier said, “Ontario, along with the federal and municipal governments, have given TO2015 a mandate to deliver on time and on budget. TO2015 have submitted a business plan which is currently under careful review”.

Henderson reportedly has suggestions that could save $750 million and possibly $1 billion. He said $300 million could be saved by running the Pan Am and Pan Para Games simultaneously from July 31 to August 16, and using more existing facilities not requiring major installations.

He also suggested a review of “over-the-top facilities” including the “two major white elephants” in the swimming pools and velodrome.

He said “temporary swimming pools required should be built outdoors…with temporary seating as was done in Athens, Barcelona, Los Angeles” and “moved after the Games to modest buildings in Scarborough, Markham, Hamilton”.

Another suggestion is to “double up venues using facilities already designated”.

He added, “”it is over two years since Toronto was awarded 2015 Pan and Pan Para Games” and “no firm contracts have been signed with either the various construction consortia or with the stakeholders who represent the many levels of taxpayers’ dollars that will fund and operate the multitude of venues”.

The UK’s sports minister Hugh Robertson says that the government will not consider any future bid to host the World Cup until FIFA is successfully reformed.

England failed miserably in their last bid to host the 2018 event, picking up just 2 votes and being knocked out in the first round of a process eventually by Russia.

The FA remains bitter about the ordeal having been judged to have the most technically sound bid and has an uneasy relationship with FIFA which recently re-elected Sepp Blatter as president despite the FAs abstention from the vote.

Robertson stated: “It is very clear from our experience of the last bid and what has happened subsequently, that FIFA needs radical structural reform.

“Until that process is complete, I doubt we would consider a future bid.”

Robertson made his remarks in the Commons as Tory MP Damian Collins said any England bid to host the World Cup was “likely to fail” unless FIFA was reformed, claiming it had “a world of double-dealing and self-interest under Sepp Blatter”.

Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said FIFA’s reputation was now at an “all-time low” following Mr Blatter’s re-appointment as president in an uncontested election.

Robertson told the Commons: “Any future bid for a World Cup is some time away, probably not a bad thing, and probably not until 2013. Clearly any decision would be considered on its merits.

“However, I would expect there to be a far greater degree of transparency and accountability at Fifa before we consider any future bid.”

A Working Group established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on March 1 at the first meeting on irregular and illegal sports betting agreed to set up three sub-groups to flesh out objectives in the fight against irregular and illegal betting in sport yesterday, health June 15.

It was also agreed that more needed to be done to strengthen the cooperation between sports, governments and betting operators to fight irregular and illegal betting, leading groups of experts to be formed to determine the following three objectives for the new body:

· Education: to evaluate existing programmes and determine joint programmes to be implemented, and study a basis for a code of conduct;

· Monitoring, intelligence and analysis: to evaluate ways to improve consistency in monitoring, intelligence exchange, and analysis;

· Legislation and regulations: to study the possibilities of creating common principles and strengthening judicial and police cooperation;

The meeting in Lausanne, Swtizerland, was chaired by IOC President Jacques Rogge, and was attended by government ministers from several countries as well as representatives from Interpol, the United Nations, National Olympic Committees, International Federations and athletes.

Rogge stated: “We foresee increased cooperation in the monitoring and coordination of the fight against illegal and irregular betting in sport. Today saw our first proactive steps toward that goal and an increased level of commitment in our joint fight against this threat to sport.”

The deadline for establishing the sub-groups has been set for the end of July. The sub-groups are scheduled to hold their first meetings between September and November, with their reports to the Working Group being presented before the end of 2011.

Spain’s La Liga soccer club Athletic Bilbao, have announced the renewal of major sponsorship deals with oil company Petronor and BBK for a further three-years, until 2014.

Petronor became the first official kit sponsor in the Spanish sides history in 2008 and their company logo will maintain pride of place on Bilbao’s first team shirt in a deal valued by Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo at US$2.89m per year plus incentives – a five per cent increase on the original agreement. Therefore, the overall value of the deal for the duration of the contract is thought to be around $8.67m.

The source also speculates that the club’s other principal sponsor BBK, a Bilbao-based savings bank, will pay around $2.76m a year to extend its sponsorship. BBK, who have branding on the outside of the club’s stadium, first became a partner of the club in 1992 and returned in 2006 after a one-year hiatus.

 

Sport1, a leading German sports broadcaster, has acquired a package of rights from major media rights agency MP & Silva to cover Italy’s Serie A domestic football competition.

The agreement will commence from this weekend and under the terms of the deal, Sport1 will air one game per week via Livestream on the Sport1.de online platform, while individual matches will also be available on the new pay-TV channel SPORT1+.

Sport1 already holds the rights to Italy’s Coppa Italia, the Coupe de France and the English FA Cup thanks to its existing partnership with MP & Silva. The sports media agency has a contract with Serie A to serve as the league’s international media rights distributor for the current and 2011-12 seasons.

Alexander Rosner, editor-in-chief at Sport1, stated: “With Serie A, we are further expanding our extensive range of international football on SPORT1.de.”

He added: “Besides our Tuesday evening highlights magazine, which has already been airing on free-TV channel Sport1 since September, fans of Serie A can now also enjoy live top football from Italy’s elite league.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has changed the rules regarding dealing with the time frame for bidding cities to host the Olympic Games.

Olympic guidelines set the time frame between July 15 and August 31 due to the extensive appointments in the international sports calendar. Hence in 2008, price Qatar bid was excluded because they proposed to stage the Games in October due to the extreme heat conditions in the summer months.

Following an IOC executive board meeting, health it was concluded that the decision to change the dates will be submitted to the Executive Board in the initial phase of bidding. This will eliminate allowing cities to go to the second phase of bidding unnecessarily if their proposed dates do not meet the requirements of the IOC.

Another key modification in the bidding process was that bid proposals from the cities located in the southern hemisphere to stage the winter Games will also have to go through an early vetting process.

The IOC also is looking at simplifying the paperwork in the submission process and also eliminating duplicate paperwork.

Lancashire County Cricket Club is looking to sell the naming rights to its Old Trafford ground, it has been reported.

Other cricket clubs have taken similar decisions this season, including Durham which saw the Riverside become the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground, while Surrey’s home has been sponsored by Fosters and AMP in the past and is now the Brit Oval.

Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said: “We will explore all options – it is in our minds to sell the naming rights.

“But it would have to be right for the ground because Old Trafford is such an iconic name and such a strong brand.

“Half the world knows it as a football ground and the other half know it as a cricket ground.

“If it fits with the name of Old Trafford then it is something we are looking at.”

Lancashire is hoping to host an Ashes test in 2013.

The Asian Golf Tour has postponed next month’s Macau Open, it has been announced.

Reports have claimed the postponement is down to the event promoter, the Macau Sports Development Board, failing to attract a private sponsor to back the event, which was getting more and more expensive every year.

The Tour said in a statement: “The Macau Open, which was slated from October 21-24, 2010, has been postponed by the event promoter, the Macau Sports Development Board.”

An Asian Tour spokesman added that he didn’t know whether the tournament would be rescheduled later this year, saying: “Only the Macau Sports Development Board can tell that.”

The Macau Open has been running since 1998, and Colin Montgomerie, eight-times European champion, is one of its past winners.