The Australian Baseball League (ABL) will receive regular coverage on Fox Sports during the 2012-13 season with a one-hour ‘Game of the Week’ programme.

The programme will include a condensed ABL game as well as news, apoplectic highlights and features.

Peter Wermuth, malady CEO of the ABL, said: “We are excited to be able to showcase the amazing talent of our players on a national stage.”

“Having our sport on national television week-in and week-out is essential to increasing baseball’s visibility and accessibility in Australia, not only to die-hard baseball fans but also those new to the game.”

The weekly programme will first be broadcast November 1.{jcomments on}

 

The redevelopment Newbury Racecourse has been secured following the joint venture between Development Agreement with David Wilson Homes (DWH).

The Agreement will see DWH purchase three areas of land at the racecourse known as the Western, therapy Central and Eastern sites on which c.1500 homes are to be constructed over the course of the anticipated 10 year development programme.

As part of the Agreement,DWH is committed to pay a minimum of £42.6 million over the course of the ten year programme with the majority of payments being received in the latter stages of the project

The Racecourse is expected to receive £33 million net of tax and all related costs over the course of the ten year programme and the Racecourse will receive an initial cash payment of £5.1 million The Racecourse also has the potential to receive additional payments in excess of the £33 million through further profit participation depending on the success of the residential development over the duration of the 10 year programme.

AIBA has announced that the Kosovo Boxing Federation (FboxK) has been accepted today by the AIBA Executive Committee as a Provisional Member of the AIBA Family.

Kosovo sent a delegation to Bangkok (Thailand), discount where the AIBA Executive Committee is meeting at the moment, hospital to support its application for membership. FboxK was represented by Mr Besim Hasani, sale President of the Board for International Relations and President of Kosova Olympic Committee and Mr Ramadan Selimi, President of Kosova Boxing Federation.

“We are just over the moon. I want to thank all AIBA EC Members who have accepted our provisional membership”, declared Mr Besim Hasani, President of the Board for International Relations and President of Kosova Olympic Committee. “Not only we want to learn from AIBA, but we also want to contribute to the future of boxing. We have a young generation of boxers and we are convinced that they can be the stars of tomorrow. This membership is crucial not only for the sport of boxing but for all sports in Kosovo. This day is an important step in the sporting development of our country. We are proud to have been accepted into the Family.”

Although this membership is provisional, subject to the approval of the AIBA Congress, the International Boxing Association comprises now 195 National Member Federations.

London 2017 bid for the 2017 World Athletics Championship has already found a international legacy program, ‘LEAP 2017,’ to be launched should the city win the bid.

‘LEAP 2017’ is a global athletics development programme aimed at engaging two million children in athletics across 17 developing countries over four years.

This is coming after the success of London 2012’s International Inspiration project, which is on target to engage over 12 million children and young people in sport in 20 countries, LEAP 2017 is focused on strengthening the foundations of athletics worldwide and contributing to an even more diverse sport in the future.

Working in partnership with Save the Children – the charity partner of London 2017 – LEAP will give children the opportunity to get involved in events around the globe.

Lord Sebastian Coe, President of the London 2017 bid,  said: “In addition to creating a spectacular record-breaking event, the London 2017 Bid Team is determined that the 2017 IAAF World Championships will act as a catalyst for the continued development of our sport.”

“At a time when fewer young people are participating in sport, LEAP 2017 will connect more young people around the world with the opportunity to experience, play and practice sport in their communities which in turn will help grow our sport.”

“If we’re given the honour of hosting the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London we will work in partnership with the IAAF to deliver LEAP 2017 in support of their World Plan.”

LEAP 2017 will be funded by UK Sport and UK Athletics and supplemented by fundraising activity.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, added: “We are delighted to be the charity partner of London 2017 and believe LEAP can have a huge global impact. Save the Children is committed to help young people around the world fulfil their potential and to bring the world’s attention to the plight of children who face a daily struggle to survive. Community athletics activities as part of LEAP 2017 could provide a wonderful platform to achieve just that.”

An agreement has been reached between France and Russia to spend US$2.8bn to prepare ski venues in the Caucus region, diagnosis where Sochi is located, ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. 

The deal was announced yesterday, May 26, at the G8 summit in Deauville, France with a joint statement from Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev, the French and Russian presidents

It was revealed that French state-run bank Caisse des Depots Consignations will finance the project working with North Caucus Resort Co. 

However, Akhmed Bialov Russian Olympic Committee vice president was quoted by Bloomberg saying: “It will be a quasi-state company,” adding “they are ready to invest money in these projects if there are guarantees of security and force majeure.”

FIFA security chief Chris Eaton has claimed that match-fixing in soccer is worth US$90bn every year.

In an interview with Reuters Eaton revealed that the predicted value of the illegal industry matches that of legal sports betting following a move by FIFA president Sepp Blatter to pledge US$28.5m towards a dedicated anti-corruption unit based in Singapore to fight match-fixing through Interpol last week.

Eaton added: “Criminality involved in fixing football matches is global, enormous and organised. Football is too respected globally to not be protected. These are criminals taking advantage. They are not to be respected – they are not Robin Hoods – they are not good people. They hurt players and they destroy careers.”

Blatter’s presidential rival, Mohamed Bin Hammam, has claimed that the incumbent chief failed to consult the FIFA executive committee before unveiling the new venture with Interpol.

One-time Interpol officer, Eaton said: “We protect young players, we protect young referees by teaching them to resist the temptations that these people are trying to take advantage of.

“FIFA is a football management organisation. It is not an investigation organisation. We don’t conduct a lot of security operations with a little bit of football. We conduct a lot of football with a little bit of security. Prosecution is not my priority, in fact, not a priority at all.”

A multi-year sponsorship renewal has been agreed, ensuring Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. continues as an official partner of Nascar.

The official partnership between Safety-Kleen and Nascar has lasted since 2004, providing on-site trackside support with its Nascar performance cleaning products, as well as oil recycling and re-refining services to more than 200 Nascar-sanctioned races each year.

However, the company’s involvement in the sport goes back until 1987, appearing at racetracks collecting used oil. In the last year Safety-Kleen collected and re-refined approximately 185,000 gallons of Nascar oil at tracks and team shops. Overall, Safety-Kleen services more than 145 professional race teams and 65 tracks across North America.

Eric Zimmer, executive vice president of sales and service for Safety-Kleen, stated: “We’re proud to be an official partner of Nascar and excited to help them continue their leadership role in protecting the environment and making auto racing green.”

Jim O’Connell, chief sales officer and vice president of corporate marketing for Nascar, praised Safety-Kleen for its commitment as a “Nascar partner that is doing good by helping the environment” and noted that “everyone in the Nascar community owes Safety-Kleen a debt of gratitude for helping to keep our sport green.”

According to USA Today, TNT and ESPN are on track to turn in cable TV’s most-watched NBA seasons ever.

TNT’ 27th season of NBA coverage is on track to be its highest-rated ever, beating the 1995-96 season as the top-drawing season. Marv Albert, TNT announcer, claimed that the ratings increase is due to the fact that the league “has a new villain” in the Heat.

Albert continued: “Miami is the major factor that TV ratings are sky high. And as bad as (ESPN’s) ‘The Decision’ show was … you need a team you don’t like”

TNT’s 34 game telecasts to date are up 25% and 33%, respectively, from a 1.2 U.S. rating and 1.769 million viewers at the same point last year. Ad sales for the NBA on TNT are also pacing up 30% from the same point last year.

NBA TV also continues to see ratings success, as the 14 games that have been part of the net’s Tuesday “Fan Night” are averaging 384,000 viewers. The net for 55 games season-to-date is averaging 242,000 viewers, with the net’s ad sales up 223%.

Meanwhile, NBA games on ESPN are also seeing big gains heading towards the All-Star break. Through 44 games, ESPN is averaging a 1.3 U.S. rating and 2.026 million viewers, up 18.2% and 22.3%, respectively, from a 1.1 rating and 1.657 million viewers at the same point last year.

The International Olympic Committee is looking to set up the equivalent of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) dedicated to eradicating illegal betting on sports.

The IOC already has a system in place that monitors sports betting and so far the Beijing and Vancouver Games have come through unscathed without any incidents.

IOC President Jacques Rogge says that it will take time to establish a viable agency and it took seven years to create WADA so he doesn’t expect a short term solution. Working with all the governments to coordinate harmonization is challenging and will take research and study.

Rogge affirmed that the IOC is going ahead with the plans and has already drafted regulations penalizing athletes, anesthetist coaches and officials involved in illegal betting.

The IOC plans to meet with government leaders in the beginning of next year to hammer out a universal policy against illegal betting along the same lines as the same model used to set up WADA.