Australian football codes are preparing for the impact of changes to the ‘living away from home’ tax allowance that come into effect next month.

The narrowing of the allowance will make transfers to interstate and overseas clubs financially less attractive both to players and coaches.

The change is expected to have the biggest impact on West Coast rugby clubs and young players who move interstate to join the squads of National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League teams(AFL).

The living away from home allowance (LAFHA) is a government benefit offered to Australian citizens who have to move interstate or overseas for work, as well as to overseas employees who come to Australia for their jobs and hold a temporary work visa. In effect, the allowance reduces the taxable incomes of those eligible to receive it.

But the federal government from July 1 will limit the tax exemption to only those who can demonstrate that they are maintaining a residence for their personal use in Australia and that they are living away for work purposes.

Anyone claiming the allowance will also be required to substantiate their expenditure on accommodation and food.

The NRL wrote to the Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury and the Minister for Youth Peter Garrett in May asking that players under the age of 25 be exempted in the hope that the exemption would pervent young players being discouraged from leaving their family homes.

The AFL is likely to be affected most by the changes although it is yet to take any action.
“We’re still assessing the potential impact on AFL players and AFL staff required to move interstate,” an AFL spokesman said.

In the case of the Super League rugby club Western Force, the new tax laws could make the task of attracting players from the east coast to Perth even harder.

“We have 19 players out of our squad of 35 players, as well as a number of the coaching staff who are currently in the LAFHA system,” Force chief executive Vern Reid said yesterday.

“I know in one case the overall benefit is approximately $(AU) 30,000 a year, while for an extended playing squad player making $(AU) 40,000 a year, $(AU) 4,200 of that comes from the allowance.”

At present, players and coaches are allowed to claim the allowance for two years, after which they are considered by the Australian Taxation Office to have effectively moved home.

“Clearly we believe we already are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting and this is going to add to our difficulties. Agents will factor in what a player would have received under the allowance and then suggest that someone is going to need to make up that shortfall,” Reid said.

Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) boss Greg Harris said the allowance changes will cause further difficulties for Western rugby clubs.

“RUPA is looking into the problem but unfortunately that’s a cost of business consideration for the WA club and the Australian Rugby Union needs to take that into account in making its grant allocations to the franchises,” Harris said.

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IT services company Atos, a London 2012 olympic partner has acquired a 50 per cent stake in MSL Group following a 20-year working relationship between the two businesses.

Atos, which provides products and services for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and is the lead IT provider for the London 2012 Games, which is headquartered in France and has three UK offices in London.

The two companies originally paired up for the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. MSL Group’s services include real-time results and information systems for sports events.

As a combination, the companies will provide IT and data services for timing and scoring, information for the media, TV graphics, games management and system integration.

Patrick Adiba, chief executive officer for Iberia, Olympics and major events at Atos, said: “Today’s announcement marks a major milestone in our strategy to be the global IT leader for major events.

“By joining forces with MSL Group, we have a strengthened portfolio that will ensure our business technologists can continue to write history for sporting and major events around the world and that as a business we increase our market share as well as value from each deal.”

Under the terms of the deal, Atos retains the right to acquire the full amount of MSL Group. Financial details were not disclosed.

Jose Alberto Jaen, founder of MSL Group, added: “Our experience and expertise is extremely complementary, we will have the opportunity to support some of the biggest sporting events in the world.”

The National Hockey League will partner with former HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg to form its own broadcast production company.

NHL Original Productions follow similar model to the NFL’s  NFL Films company.

It will produce a range of content, including features and documentaries, for NBC Sports (the NHL’s broadcast partner), regional rights holders and NHL Network.

Further to April’s announcement that NBC had agreed a 10-year media rights agreement with the NHL, Greenburg is producing sports documentaries for NBC’s networks.

Greenburg said: “Hockey players compete in a sport that requires an unmatched combination of world-class skill and relentless toughness, all the while remaining the most approachable and genuine of professional athletes. I am thrilled to be able to tell their stories in exciting and innovative ways and delighted that I’ll be working so closely with the NHL for years to come.”

NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins stated: “We’ve wanted to do these kinds of programmes. We feel like in many respects we’ll get more traction, be able to do more and hopefully be able to do it better if we do a lot of this stuff in-house.”

Planned 2011-12 projects for NHL Original Productions include 2011-12 ‘Day in the Life’ player documentaries, as well as documentaries and features to coincide with the lead up to the NHL’s 2017 centenary celebrations.

 

MLB teams contract expenditure combined to spend $227,939,050 on draft bonuses in 2011, and a total of $235,989,050 include additional guarantees which is a record, beating the two previous marks in 2010.

Guarantees in major league contracts for Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, Anthony Rendon and Matt Purke put the total to a unprecedented mark surpassing last years figures of $195,782,830 and $201,832,830.

On the day of the Aug. 15 signing deadline, the clubs spent $132,068,500 in bonuses and a total of $139,068,500 in guarantees. Those are two more new marks, up from $91,155,600 and $97,205,600 in 2010.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, who gave a record $8 million bonus to No. 1 overall pick Gerrit Cole and set another mark for non-first-rounders by paying $5 million to second-rounder Josh Bell, spent a total of $17,005,700. That obliterated the old bonus standard of $11,927,200 set by the 2010 Washington Nationals.

The Nationals didn’t relinquish that record without a fight, spending $15,002,100 in bonuses. Additional guarantees to Rendon and Purke bring  Washington‘s overall total to $17,602,100. The record for the most guaranteed money spent in a single draft remains $19,118,604 by the 2009 Nationals, the bulk of which was a $15,107,104 big league contract for No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg.

The Royals ($14,066,000), Chicago Cubs ($11,954,550) and Arizona Diamondbacks ($11,930,000) also surpassed  Washington‘s old bonus record. The Tampa Bay Rays ($11,482,900), Seattle Mariners ($11,330,500), San Diego Padres ($11,020,600), Toronto Blue Jays ($10,996,500) and Boston Red Sox ($10,978,700) brought the total of teams spending $10 million or more to 10. Only seven teams previously had topped $10 million in bonus spending, all in the previous three drafts.

At the other end of the spectrum, the White Sox ranked last at $2,756,300. The Detroit Tigers were the only other team below $3 million at $2,878,700–less than the $3.45 million they paid supplemental first-round pick Nick Castellanos in 2010.

FIFA said it has “immediately requested to receive all potential evidence,” from Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper regarding its reporting of comments from Michel Zen-Ruffinen, who was general secretary of soccer’s world governing body for four years until 2002.

Zen-Ruffinen was secretly filmed saying Spain-Portugal and Qatar have struck a deal giving each seven votes from the 24-man FIFA executive committee which is choosing World Cup hosts in December. Spain and Portugal want to co-host in 2018 and Qatar is a 2022 candidate. Both need 13 votes to guarantee victory under existing rules.

FIFA said it will refer the evidence to its ethics committee which last week officially launched an investigation into alleged illegal collusion between bidders, which it did not name. Officials from the Spain-Portugal and Qatar bids have not confirmed they are being investigated.

“FIFA has immediately requested to receive all the documents and potential evidence that the newspaper has in relation to this matter, and will in any case analyze the material available,” it said in a statement.

“FIFA and the ethics committee are committed to have zero tolerance for any breach of the Code of Ethics and the Bid Registration. FIFA and the ethics committee are determined to protect the integrity of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process.”

The ethics panel also is investigating two current and four former members of FIFA’s ruling executive following Sunday Times allegations that the bidding process was shrouded by corruption.

Zen-Ruffinen, who left FIFA after alleging financial mismanagement under Blatter’s leadership, also was recorded suggesting FIFA voters could be bribed with offers of money or women.

The Swiss lawyer later told the newspaper he exaggerated his claims to help gain a consultancy fee and had only offered to assist reporters contacting FIFA officials.

Zen-Ruffinen’s claims will heap more work onto the FIFA ethics committee, which is scheduled to deliver verdicts on its separate investigations into officials and bidders at a meeting in mid-November, less than three weeks before polling day. He could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

The four former executive committee members also provisionally suspended are Tunisian lawyer Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite of Mali, Botswana’s Ismail Bhamjee and Ahongalu Fusimalohi from Tonga.

Edgar Grospiron, chief executive of Annecy’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, has said the bid team has learned lessons from recent unsuccessful French bids for the Summer Games.

Paris was the favourite to win the bid for the 2012 Games, but eventually lost out to London. It also lost the bid to stage the 2008 Games, losing out to Beijing.

But Grospiron has said lessons have been taken on board, and the Annecy bid will be backed by prominent French sporting personalities.

He said: “The lessons from Paris have been learned and our strategy is different. We need a lot of people supporting us. It means we have to work closely with Jean-Claude Killy and Guy Drut but also with all the influential people at the international level.”

 

Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for economic development, Felicity Purchase, has said the city is not ready to make a bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

South Africa’s Olympic governing body last week said it would formally oversee a bid for the 2020 Games after the country’s successful hosting of this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

However, Purchase does not believe Cape Town would be ready to host an Olympics. She said: “I do not want to be negative, but I don’t think in the short term we are ready yet to make an Olympic bid.

“We will be looking at that, and have a committee that will [consider the issue] shortly. But to be quite honest with you, I think it is premature.

“The Olympic Games would be fantastic. The reality of it is that we are not there yet.

“People that have hosted these big events say that the return on the investment is far greater for small events [held] in a regular sustainable way than for a mega-event. Yes, you achieve a lot, and there’s a lot of legacy that comes with it.

“And that is the benefit of the [FIFA] World Cup for us. But realistically, can we afford it, having to deliver all those things that are required for an Olympics, now? I can honestly say, I don’t think so.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday awarded the next two World Twenty20 tournaments in 2012 and 2014 to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, stuff while England was awarded the 2013 Champions Trophy.

As well as this, hospital the 2015 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the first time the tournament will be held in the antipodes since 1992.

England last hosted the Champions Trophy in 2004, when they were beaten by the West Indies in the final.

Chief executive of the ICC, Haroon Lorgat, also said that the formats of the World Cup and World Twenty20 would be looked at. He said: “There is clearly an appetite from all corners to examine the make-up of the ICC Cricket World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 and seek the best balance between excellence and development.

“In terms of the number of participating teams, it is possible that the World Cup could be reduced and the World Twenty20 expanded.”

The decisions were announced after a meeting of the ICC board in Singapore this week.

The Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) and its global media and marketing partner Infront Sports & Media have launched a new brand identity for the Turkish Basketball League (TBL), ambulance which tips off on 11 October 2014.

The new visual identity for the TBL brings the major properties, order including the TBF Men’s League as well as the TBF All-Star game, under one coherent identity that features the dynamics of the sport and better positions the league as a premium European sports product. As part of the re-positioning, Infront has also introduced a new centralised marketing concept for the league which is an unprecedented first in the Turkish sports landscape.

The key properties, including the TBF Men’s League and the TBF All-Star Game, have been pulled together visually under one coherent identity with distinctive features for each. The TBF acronym is used on each logo to endorse the TBL property as a mark of quality and a promise for premium basketball.

As a first in Turkey, Infront has applied a centralised marketing concept for the commercialisation of the league, which combines all individual games as one unified series of events. This allows sponsors to associate themselves closely and consistently with the entire Turkish Basketball League season and its annual Men’s All-Star event.

Turgay Demirel, President of the Turkish Basketball Federation, commented: “Thanks to the support and valuable experience of Infront, the Turkish Basketball League will take quantum leaps in respect to its image and appeal for commercial partners. The professional marketing structures alongside the exciting new brand identity are key in further elevating the TBL into becoming Europe’s Number 1 basketball league. We thank all shareholding clubs for their support in the development process and look forward to seeing the fans embrace the enhanced features of the Turkish Basketball League once the season starts.”

Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront Sports & Media, said: “This successful rebranding project is both a future investment as well as a clear commitment by Infront to turn the TBL into a more powerful brand and communications platform. For Infront, partnership means looking at the full picture and taking a long-term approach to enhance our client’s properties on all ends. Together with a strong collective marketing concept – representing a real first in Turkish sports – the League is now well positioned to build in popularity and strength across both national and European sports markets.”

The International Rugby Board has today confirmed Hilton London Metropole as the venue for the World Rugby ConfEx 2014.

The event will take place on November 17-18 and will provide a unique environment for the global Rugby community to share knowledge, bronchi network and develop relationships. It will feature speeches, physician workshops and exhibitions on a host of key themes, including Rugby development and increasing fan engagement.

The conference will also provide invaluable networking opportunities with leading figures and decision-makers from across Rugby and other major sports.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “We are delighted to announce a great venue for the 2014 edition of the IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition and we are excited about the launch of the new website. Our aim is to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event at what is an important time in Rugby’s development. Participation is growing around the world, Rugby Sevens is set to make its debut at the Olympic Games and there will be less than a year to go before Rugby World Cup 2015 kicks off.

“I look forward to welcoming the Rugby family and wider sporting community for what will be a crucial international gathering and a fantastic opportunity to share knowledge, network and build relationships.”

The inaugural IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition took place in Dublin last year and, due to demand, has been switched to London for the 2014 edition. Built around the IRB General Assembly and IRB Medical Commission Conference last year it was attended by more than 600 delegates and 30 exhibitors, representing 120 countries.

2013 speakers included Patrick Hickey (President of the European Olympic Committees), George Gregan (former Australia captain), Agustin Pichot (IRB Council Member for Argentina), Mike Chu (Rugby Canada),Tomos Grace from YouTube and British Olympic Association Chairman and former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe.