AFL club Carlton has been fined $(AU) 7500 because three of its players players used social media to criticise AFL umpires.

Marc Murphy, Jarrad Waite and Jeremy Laidler used their Twitter accounts to vent their feelings over the officiating.

AFL football operations manager, Adrian Anderson, warned that players will face the same disciplinary measures for criticising officials via social media as they would for comments made in interviews or press conferences.

“A player’s use of social media to make comments around umpiring will be subject to the AFL’s rules in exactly the same way as comments made in a formal interview or any other media environment,” Anderson said.

“The AFL competition must continue to set a positive example on conduct towards umpires.”

Carlton coach Brett Ratten has received a formal warning for comments about officials he made during his press conference last Thursday.

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Sportswear giant Nike Inc has announced plans to develop a headquarters in Shanghai, discount China.

The investment is a key part of Nike’s business growth strategy in the region.

Nike celebrated the landmark of 30 years of business in China in 2011, and, last June, accrued more than $2 billion in revenue for the first time in the area. In addition, in its second quarter FY12 earnings, Nike reported a 35% increase in its revenue in the region.

VP & GM of Nike’s Greater China geography Craig Cheek has stated, “This announcement is very exciting and a strategic investment in our continued growth in China.

“This new campus headquarters will allow us to elevate and expand on our facilities and capabilities while bringing all of our Shanghai based employees together from our portfolio of Nike Inc. brands into one central campus.”

The centralized campus will span nearly 600,000 square foot and will be located at Tishman Speyer’s newest development, The Springs in Shanghai’s Yangpu District.

Tishman Speyer co-CEOs Jerry Speyer and Rob Speyer expressed their delight at Nike’s committment.

“When we broke ground on The Springs in June, we were confident that world-class companies would recognize the value and importance of establishing a presence in Shanghai.

“The creation of the Nike Greater China Headquarters at The Springs underscores the strength of this market and importance of this development to the Shanghai business as well as residential communities. We’re thrilled that Nike, one of the world’s great global brands and companies, will be an anchor in this development and look forward to a long-term relationship”.

Nike expects to occupy the new space from the first quarter of 2014.

The Dallas Stars ice hockey team, sale cialis the last professional sports club owned by former billionaire Thomas Hicks have filed for bankruptcy.

The Stars are the fifth professional sports team to file bankruptcy in the last two years. The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team filed in June, drug the Texas Rangers baseball team filed last year, Phoenix Coyotes hockey team filed in 2009 and the Chicago Cubs baseball team filed in 2009, one year after former owner Tribune Co. went bankrupt.

The team listed assets and debt of $100 million to $500 million in Chapter 11 documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. The Dallas Stars said it has filed a “prepackaged” reorganization plan, the company said in a release. Stars officials are seeking to sell the team at an auction. The lead bidder at that auction will be Dallas Sports & Entertainment LP, according to court papers.

Stars officials said in a statement on its website today that they plan to sell the National Hockey League (NHL) team to Vancouver-based businessman Tom Gaglardi and his family. Gaglardi is chairman and chief executive officer of Sandman Hotels, Inns & Suites.

The company and its units’ 30 largest creditors without collateral backing their claims are owed about $58.5 million, according to court documents. CFV I LLC, is the biggest with a claim of $51.7 million. Other creditors include the New York Rangers Hockey Club, with a claim of $2 million, and Marc Crawford, with a claim of $1.1 million for contract termination obligations, court papers show.

Alex Rodriguez’s past catches up with him as he will meet with Major League Baseball officials this week in Baltimore to discuss allegations the New York Yankees’ All-Star third baseman took part in illegal poker games.

“I’ll be talking to you guys on Friday afternoon,” Rodriguez told reporters yesterday. “I can’t wait.”

Rodriguez missed last night’s 6-5 loss to the Oakland Athletics with a sprained left thumb. He hurt himself fielding a ground ball at Minnesota on Aug. 21, his first game since returning from July 11 knee surgery.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig acknowledged the investigation of the allegations against Rodriguez this month. “We take this matter very seriously,” Selig’s office said in an e-mail.

Rodriguez, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, in 2005 said he frequently used illegal gambling venues. He said at the time that it was a mistake and that he “would never be back.”

Rodriguez, 36, played in at least two high-stakes games, according to a report on celebrity website RadarOnline.com citing poker professional Dan Bilzerian and another unidentified eyewitness. Rodriguez also helped organize and participated in a 2009 poker game in Miami.

MP & Silva have required the broadcasting rights from leading Brazilian media company Globo, to show top-flight Brazilian soccer across six Asia-Pacific territories. Amongst the nations which the top sports marketing and media company will cater for will be Indonesia and Australia.

Two live matches from the top Brazilian league, Campeonato Brasileiro de Serie A, will be shown in each round as part of the rights package. The company will also distribute Globo’s ‘Brazilian Football Magic’ programme along with highlights packages.

Carlo Pozzali, chief executive of MP & Silva Americas stated: “We strongly believe that Brazilian club football possess huge potential in the global marketplace, particularly in Asia. With Brazil hosting the 2014 Fifa World Cup and the domestic economy continuing its robust growth, there is major investment being channelled into Brazil’s domestic football and its supporting infrastructure.

“Brazilian clubs will be in a strong position to retain their best players and we believe that our partnership with Globo will further develop the Brasileirao by opening up new international markets and unlocking new revenue streams through stronger media distribution to Asian channels and broadcasters.”

 

PyeongChang’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games has signed a sponsorship deal with GS Group, the seventh largest privately owned company in South Korea.

GS Sport, a subsidiary of GS Group, already owns the FC Seoul football team as well as the GS Caltex Seoul women’s volleyball team.

President and chief executive of GS Sport, Chong Soo Chung, said: “We are excited to be involved with the Pyeongchang bid as the race to host the Games gathers momentum.

“We look forward to working with the business community in Korea and fellow sponsors of Pyeongchang 2018 to provide full support for the bid in the coming months.”

Chairman and chief executive of the bid committee, Yang Ho Cho, added: “The GS Group are a global business leader and they will provide excellent support to the bid over the course of the campaign.

“This is another sign that the business community in Korea is fully committed to the 2018 bid and I am excited to work with the new sponsors to promote the campaign in the lead up to the International Olympic Committee decision in July next year.”

PyeongChang is bidding against Annecy, France, and Munich, Germany, to host the event in 2018.

The Mayor of Madrid has said the city will put a bid for the Olympic Games on hold in order to help Spain win the bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Madrid has failed in its last two attempts to host the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, generic pills losing out to London and Rio de Janeiro respectively.

And now Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon has said the city will do everything it can to see teh joint Spain-Portugal bid succeed.

He said: “The Spanish Football Federation behaved incredibly well towards us in our Olympic candidacy. They directed their needs for matches to be played around the dates that favoured the Madrid candidacy.

“It is not a return of favour – it is for conviction that now all of us have to work together so that Spain is able to organise this World Cup and after that we can start to think about other sporting events.”

 

The Great Britain women’s volleyball team has undertaken a 272-mile bike ride to raise the £250,000 (US$387,000) necessary to allow them to compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Funding cuts have meant the team may have to cancel training programmes, harming their chances of being competitive at the 2012 Games.

The team is due to finish the ride in London on Tuesday, two years exactly until the opening ceremony for the Games.

Coach Audrey Cooper said: “It’s no surprise to me the girls are doing this, knowing their determination and energy. They are not prepared to turn up at London 2012 under-prepared. They want to be as good as they can be at our home Olympics to make the country proud.

“We started from nothing in 2007 and we’ve improved out of sight since then. We are simply not prepared to give up now.”

Volleyball was one of eight Olympic sports to have had London 2012 funding slashed in January because of a £50 million (US$77.5 million) budget shortfall.