Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh has joined the Roc Nation Sports roster.
He joins fellow NFL players Geno Smith and Hakeem Nicks who are represented by rapper Jay Z’s company.
Suh joins Roc Nation after he announced his departure from Relativity Sports in January, acknowledging that he was in search of new representation.
In a statement on their website Roc Nation Sports said: “Roc Nation Sports welcomes NFL defensive tackle and 3x All-Pro Ndamukong Suh to the roster.”
Donington Park has been elected by the Circuit of Wales and Dorna Sports as the alternative venue for the British Motorcycle Grand Prix for the 2015 event.
Whilst the Circuit of Wales is scheduled to host the British Motorcycle Grand Prix until 2024 after agreeing a five-year contract with the option for further five year extension with the Championship’s commercial rights holders, it has been decided that the series would return to the Leicestershire venue next year, before moving to the new Circuit of Wales in 2016.
“After announcing the long-term MotoGP agreement between Dorna and the Circuit of Wales three weeks ago our priority has been to agree the venue for 2015,” explained Chris Herring of the Circuit of Wales. Herring added: “It is in the interests of everyone, especially the fans, to make a decision as soon as possible and in Donington Park we have a venue that shares our vision for growing MotoGP in the UK.”
Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta commented: “The Circuit of Wales has worked very quickly to secure the best deal for the British race fans and we believe Donington Park will deliver a fantastic race in 2015. “Ezpeleta continued, “Donington Park has a long history and has been the scene of some of the most exciting MotoGP races in recent years and we are sure that the extensive works undertaken since it reopened four years ago will guarantee a successful event.”
The date for the 2015 British FIM MotoGP World Championship round is expected to be announced later this month.
Donington Park had previously been the home of MotoGP for 23 years, hosting it from 1987 to 2009.
The Dallas Cowboys have remained the most valuable National Football League (NFL) team for the eighth consecutive season.
Despite the team not making the playoffs since 2009, the team’s value has risen by 36 percent over last year to lead the Forbes NFL Team Values list, which was released Wednesday, at $3.2 billion.
The Cowboys are atop the magazine’s rankings by a healthy margin for an eighth consecutive season, having risen in value by $900 million to become the only NFL team worth more than $3 billion.
Despite last having won a championship in 1996, the Cowboys are second in value only to Real Madrid ($3.4 billion) among all global sports franchises.
The Cowboys also have the NFL’s highest revenue ($560 million) and operating income ($246 million), and this season become the first NFL team to have partnerships with a worldwide luxury watch and cruise line.
The New England Patriots ($2.6 billion), the Washington Redskins ($2.4 billion), the New York Giants ($2.1 billion) and the Houston Texans($1.85 billion) round out the top five.
Forbes says the average NFL franchise is now worth an all-time high of $1.43 billion, which is 23 percent more than a year ago and is the biggest year-over-year increase since 1999.
It is more than the mean valuation of the world’s top 20 soccer teams ($1.05 billion), MLB teams ($811 million) and NBA teams ($634 million).
Other teams in the top 10 include the New York Jets (No. 6, $1.8 billion), Chicago Bears (No. 8, $1.7 billion), San Francisco 49ers (No. 9, $1.6 billion) and the Baltimore Ravens (No. 10, $1.5 billion).
The Brazilian city of Florianópolis has been confirmed as the host of the 2013 Extreme Sailing Series finale between the 14th-17th November.
The final Act, presented by Series Main Partner Land Rover, will be the culmination of nine months of global touring for the Extreme 40 teams after starting their annual Stadium Racing tour in Muscat, Oman back in March.
Florianópolis is the capital, and second largest city, of the Santa Catarina state in the Southern region of Brazil and dubbed by Brazilian weekly Veja as ‘the best place to live in Brazil!’
The event will be supported by the state Government of Santa Catarina and the Prefeitura Municipal de Florianópolis with a view to a long term, multi-year deal.
Maria Cláudia Evangelista, Secretary of Tourism of Florianópolis spoke about the partnership: It is an honour for Florianópolis to welcome this global sailing competition. Our city, surrounded by water, is going to look even more beautiful with the fleet of Extreme 40 boats.’ Continuing to talk about the city’s ability to deliver events on a global scale, Maria continued, ‘With its excellent infrastructure, natural beauty and wonderful climate which is ideal for the practice of sports, Santa Catarina island is a tourist hub and has full capacity to host an event such as the Extreme Sailing Series, a fact verified by the International Congress and Conventions Association who named Florianópolis as the sixth top city in the world for hosting international events. We hope that both competitors and visitors are able to enjoy what the city has to offer. The wind is blowing and we are looking forward to welcoming the Extreme Sailing Series Act eight Florianópolis presented by Land Rover.”
OC Sport Executive Chairman, Mark Tuner, is certain Florianópolis can deliver a Series finale to rival any.
“Florianópolis ticks all the host venue requirement boxes and there is no doubt that it will be a spectacular venue to finish our seventh year of competition. Looking ahead to 2014, a double Brazilian Act in both Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis could deliver an extraordinary Series climax. Watch this space.”
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) will be shortened next season by a full two weeks to accomodate the start of the Sochi 2014 Olympics hockey tournament, anesthetist league vice-president Vladimir Shalaev has revealed.
The 52-game season, medstore which opens on September 4 in Moscow, ed | will break on January 30, 2014, and resume on February 26. The first Olympic hockey game is scheduled for February 12.
The break is completely different to what NHL and NHL Players’ Association are proposing for its schedule as part of ongoing negotiations with international hockey officials and Olympic organizers over releasing its players for the Games.
NHL officials have said the league would pause on February 9, giving Olympians only three days to fly to Europe.
On Monday, Shalaev attacked the 2013-14 schedule, saying he was “embarrassed” it offers only 52 games due to international hockey commitments. The KHL regularly breaks three weekends each year for the four-team Euro Hockey Tour.
“A league like the KHL has no right giving fans only 52 games in the regular season,” he said. “It’s a mockery; it’s like making Pavarotti sing once a year.”
A normal NHL Season comprises of 82 games.
Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who during his time saw his NBA win 10 titles and showcased some of the biggest names in professional basketball, died Monday, aged 79.
Spokesman Bob Steiner says Buss died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He’d been hospitalized for cancer, but the immediate cause of death was kidney failure.
Under Buss’ ownership, the Lakers won NBA titles in 1980, ’82, ’85, ’87, ’88, 2000, ’01, ’02, ’09 and ’10. Among the all-time greats who played for the Lakers during Buss’ tenure were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Shaquille O’Neal andKobe Bryant.
Buss was credited with introducing “Showtime” to Los Angeles, bringing entertaining basketball to the Entertainment Capital of the World. He once said his goal was to make the Lakers synonymous with Los Angeles, which had been a Dodgers town up until the time he bought the team. Most would say he succeeded.
Buss bought the Lakers — along with the Los Angeles Kings, the Forum and real estate in central California, from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979 for $67.5 million. Forbes magazine now estimates the Lakers are worth $1 billion, second to the New York Knicks among NBA franchises.
Recently, Buss had passed the day-to-day operation of the teams on to his children, Jim (who oversees basketball operations) and Jeanie (who oversees the business side of the franchise).
Buss reportedly had been hospitalized several times in the past two years. The Lakers confirmed he was in the hospital in December 2011 for blood clots in his leg, which they said was caused by excessive travel.
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Nike has filed a civil suit against the Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce after its trademark application for the name Chinese Olympic god medalist Liu Xiang was rejected.
At a hearing in Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on November 27, attorneys for the appeal board said Nike’s application was denied because a similar trademark using the Chinese characters for “Liu Xiang Pai”, the name of the athlete’s father, was registered by a Shanghai clothing company 26 years ago.
That trademark, with three Chinese characters and an eagle image in its logo, is valid for five more years, they said.
If Nike’s application was approved it would cause confusion and mislead customers because both trademarks would be used on clothes, attorneys for the appeal board told the court.
Lawyers Nike disagreed, contending consumers would not be misled because of the huge global reputation of the company and Liu, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 110-meter hurdles.
Nike argued that Liu’s name has great commercial value because it is a household name in China – and his right to merchandise his name should be protected by law.
Nike’s lawyer claimed that even before Liu became famous, the company signed a contract with him that authorised commercial use of his name and image.
The company already has a series of approved trademarks such as “liuxiang” and “LX”, but does not have the rights to the Chinese characters for his name.
The appeal board responded that prior rights cannot be violated no matter how famous is.
Liu Jianzhong of the Shanghai company said it was a coincidence that his father registered the Liu Xiang Pai trademark, because the hurdler Liu was only 3-years-old boy at the time.
He said the trademark was derived from his family name Liu combined with Xiang based on the company’s location in Yixiang village.
He said transfer of the trademark is possible, but would depend on the price.{jcomments on}
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Milwaukee Brewers have extended their player development contract with Nashville Sounds for a further two years.
The Sounds have served as the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate since 2005.
The announcement was made jointly by Sounds co-owner Frank Ward and Brewers president of baseball operations and general manager Doug Melvin.
“We are pleased to continue our relationship with the Brewers,” said Ward. “They are an organization that produces quality major leaguers through their minor league system, and we are looking forward to watching Milwaukee’s next tier of stars continue to develop in Music City.”
In eight seasons as a Brewers affiliate, Nashville has produced five winning records, made the playoffs three times, and captured the 2005 Pacific Coast League title. The Sounds carry a 589-559 record over that stretch.
“We are pleased to extend our working agreement with the Sounds. While the current facility and conditions are not totally satisfactory, we remain loyal and are very supportive of the ownership and Frank Ward in his continued efforts to get a much-needed new park,” said Melvin.
“As General Manager of a Major League franchise, I totally believe in this ownership, and if we can get the same support from the city, Nashville will be one of the most desirable franchises in minor league baseball.”
Not including rehab players, 16 different Sounds players also spent time with Milwaukee this season. Twenty-four of the current 31 players on the Brewers’ active roster have appeared for Nashville during their playing careers.
Pepsi has cancelled its sponsorship of the annual Tennessee Walking Horse championship, ed the Celebration after reports that there was extreme animal cruelty at the event.
The discontinuation of the relationship was “effective immediately, impotent ” according to Pepsi spokesman Dave DeCecco. The company said its logo was removed Wednesday from the Celebration website, prior to the broadcast of the ABC News report on “Nightline.”
The report featured undercover video made by the Humane Society of the United States that showed one of the top trainers in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry, Jackie McConnell, beating and torturing horses in his stables outside Memphis.
An ABC News investigation found that large numbers of the famed horses have been tortured and beaten in order to make them produce the high-stepping gait that wins championships.
“All too often, you have to cheat to win in this sport,” said Keith Dane of the Humane Society.
The undercover video led to a federal grand jury indictment of McConnell. The tape shows McConnell and his stable hands beating horses with wooden sticks and using electric cattle prods on them as part of a training protocol to make them lift their feet in the pronounced gait judges like to see.
In another scene, McConnell oversees his hands as they apply caustic chemicals to the ankles of the horses and them wrap them with plastic wrap so the chemicals eat into the skin.
“That creates intense pain and then the ankles are wrapped with large metal chains so the horses flinch, or raise their feet even higher,” said Dane of the Humane Society.
McConnell is expected to enter a guilty to plea to one count, according to his lawyers.
Der umstrittene Boxkampf von Dereck Chisora gegen seinen Landsmann David Haye wird nicht vonder ARD übertragen. Das teilte der öffentlich-rechtliche Sender mit. Die Übertragung passe nicht zumImage und zum Selbstverständnis der ARD, heißt es in der Mitteilung.
Dazu habe sich der Sender mit seinem Vertragspartner Sauerland Event GmbH geeinigt. Chisora wurde vom britischen Verband suspendiert. Ihm wurde nach einer Prügelei gegen Haye nach einer Pressekonferenz in München vor drei Monaten sowie Ohrfeigen und Spuckattacken gegen die Klitschko-Brüder auf unbestimmte Zeit die Lizenz entzogen worden. Er und Haye treten am 14. Juli in London jedoch mit Lizenzen des luxemburgischen Boxverbandes an. Allein in den ersten zwei Tagen nach Bekanntgabe waren bereits 17 000 Tickets für das am 14. Juli im Fußballstadion von West Ham United in London geplante Schwergewichts-Duell verkauft worden.