Andrew Walker, chief marketing officer of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has justified his position on equal pay for the women’s circuit.

Walker, who helped to secure equal prize money for women, said: “From a business and marketing perspective, if you look at television, live audiences at events and sponsorship, the women’s game justifies equal pay.”

Walker has also scuppered rumours that there are too many tournaments during the season.

He said: “On the WTA side, we reformed our circuit structure to lengthen to lengthen the off season, provide more in season breaks and reduce the number of events that players have to play, while directing them to play our top events.

“Our ‘Roadmap’ Plan has resulted in healthier players (18 percent decrease in injuries and withdrawals), fans being able to watch their favourite players more often (top players are playing our top events 24 percent more) and a 36 percent increase in prize money.”

To read more on what Andrew Walker had to say in his iSportconnect featured profile click here

To discuss the equal pay rights topic click here and the calendar congestion click here.

The boardroom debacle at Ajax is set to increase after Johan Cruyff announced he and ten coaches at the club are to take legal action against four members of the supervisory board over the appointment of Louis van Gaal, Danny Blind and Martin Sturkenboom as directors.

Cruyff, the fifth member of a divided supervisory board, claims he was not informed of the changes and intends to take legal action against Edgar Davids, Steven ten Have, Paul Romer and Marjan Olfers.

The former Ajax and Barcelona coach, who has been backed by Wim Jonk, Dennis Bergkamp, Ronald de Boer, Jaap Stam, John Bosman, Bryan Roy, Dean Gorre, Orlando Trustfull, Michel Kreek and Marc Overmars, said in De Telegraaf newspaper: “Unfortunately, it is inevitable.

“It was a clear signal, the football players have in recent days been insulted. Therefore, we collectively decided to take legal action against the four commissioners of Ajax. So, for clarity, not against the club.”

Cruyff insists the move is not about personal issues – he and 60-year-old Van Gaal are known to not see eye to eye – but rather his desire to see a younger set of coaches have more power at the Arena.

He added: “People who say it’s about power know nothing.

“My generation should step into the background and make room for a new and ambitious group of people that will take Ajax back to the summit. It should not be that people like myself or Van Gaal take the reins.”

Rugby World Cup organisers have announced that ticket sales for the tournament have reached 75% of the revenue target for the competition.

The revenue total has topped US$167m, viagra ed with organisers of the New Zealand event forecasting sales of US$224m on expected sales of 1.35 million tickets from 48 matches. There has been a recent flurry of activity, according to organisers, with US$25m of sales having occurred over the last six weeks.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 CEO Martin Snedden announced the news ahead of the start of final phase of ticket sales today. He said: “This is a significant milestone. Prior to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the highest revenue-generating event in New Zealand’s history was the 2005 British & Irish Lions Tour, which grossed US$20m. As of today, we have achieved eight times the ticket revenue for that event.”

Snedden added: “We have now sold just over 900,000 tickets which underlines how popular this event is going to be.” Recent ticket sales have been driven by the resale of tickets to the eight matches reallocated as a result of the Christchurch earthquake. In the final phase of sales, tickets will be available for most matches other than the final.

“We’re urging fans to quickly take advantage of this sales period and secure the seats they want to witness rugby at its best. For most of the matches on sale Monday, there are still lots of tickets available in the lowest priced seating categories. For more than half the pool matches this means that fans can buy tickets for as little as US$25 or US$34 and take their kids for half that price.”

Football’s governing body, FIFA, has cleared Football Federation Australia (FFA) of any wrongdoing in its bid for the 2022 World Cup as the country prepares to welcome a team of inspectors.

Newspaper reports had claimed FFA had used various financial incentives to gain favour with FIFA committee members, but FIFA has written to FFA to say there are no grounds to open a case, and the matter is now closed.

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said: “We stated all along that those damaging allegations were false. Subsequently we have been cleared by the Federal Government, independent auditors and now by FIFA.

“With this behind us we can now concentrate on our bid to bring the biggest sporting event in teh world to Australia in 2022.”

FFA chairman Frank Lowy added: “We are totally focused on bringing the FIFA World Cup to Australia in 2022. The inspection tour of Australia provides an opportunity to showcase our first-class infrastructure and share details of our proposal for a uniquely  Australian 2022 FIFA World Cup with FIFA directly.”

Phoenix Racing has been renamed HScott Motorsports owner Harry Scott Jr. announced today.

The rebranding of the team comes five months after Scott purchased the team from James Finch. As part of this announcement, the company unveiled its new branding, including a new logo, website and social media accounts.

“I am truly looking forward to the 2014 season,” said Scott. “We have two great drivers in place with Justin Allgaier and Bobby Labonte, we’ve partnered with great sponsors and the team is ready and excited for Daytona. Now that we have launched the HScott Motorsports brand, everything is in place. We can’t wait for the season to get started and to get back to racing.” 

Upon purchasing the team last year, Scott pledged to establish a team with a focus on the future and eventually competing for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. During this past offseason, HScott Motorsports signed Justin Allgaier to drive the No. 51 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet SS fulltime and Bobby Labonte to drive the No. 52 Chevrolet SS for a number of races, including the Daytona 500. HScott Motorsports also expanded their relationship with Hendrick Motorsports, which historically has been providing engines to the team. 

Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) has secured operational control of the CEV Repsol (Spanish Road Racing Championship), stuff a MotoGP feeder series with the event being officially upgraded to an international Series.

The FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix has produced riders from MotoGP, for sale Moto2 and Moto3 including Marc Marquez, Scott Redding and Luis Salom – having all graduated from it.

The CEV Repsol had been run by the Spanish Motorcycle Federation – RFME. The move to the FIM is the obvious next step for the Dorna-run series, which will continue to be conducted in close cohesion with MotoGP in terms of rules and procedures, so that riders and teams alike can be fully prepared for the step up to the international stage. The Championship will be run on the current Grand Prix circuits in Spain and also on other circuits in Europe.

FIM President Vito Ippolito, said: “The upgrade of the Spanish Road Racing Championship is a very positive move, which will give it a better exposure at world level. Many good riders take part in this Championship and then join the Grand Prix World Championship classes and show an excellent riding level. The time has come to give an additional force to this championship by making it into a real international series.”

Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, added: “I am very pleased about the new stage that awaits the CEV Repsol. That this championship is open internationally and now comes under the scope of the FIM means that all the work done in previous years has clearly helped to strengthen this championship and will ensure that it continues nurturing great riders that can make it into all three MotoGP World Championship categories.”