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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TWENTY20 SCRAPPED DUE TO
DWINDLING FAN INTEREST
The Governing Council of the Champions League Twenty20
(CLT20) on Wednesday confirmed that the ill-fated
competition will be discontinued with immediate effect.
Launched in 2009 as a top-tier multi-national T20 cricket
tournament, CLT20 was a joint initiative among the Board
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA),
Cricket South Africa (CSA). This year, CLT20 was scheduled
for September and October for a seventh season.
In a media release, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said,
“This has been a difficult decision as the Champions League
T20 provided added context to a number of domestic
Twenty 20 competitions around the world such as the IPL in
India, Big Bash League in Australia and South Africa’s Ram
Slam T20. “
Dwindling fan interest has been cited as the reason for the
cancellation of the competition.
NFL ENTER AGREEMENT TO PLAY AMERICAN
FOOTBALL IN SPURS’ NEW STADIUM
Tottenham Hotspur have announced an agreement with
the National Football League that will see American
football matches played in north London. The ten-year
agreement will see Tottenham hosting at least two NFL
American football matches in its new stadium when it
opens in the summer of 2018. The announcement was
made by Spurs via Twitter and on its official website and
was confirmed by the NFL.
The NFL has been playing gridiron football matches in
London for years, but have been looking to expand their
presence there, as the market for American football has
grown dramatically. The agreement with Tottenham
Hotspur is to host football matches between already
existing NFL franchises, but the league has been talking
about eventually expanding the league to include a
London-based franchise. The agreement with Tottenham
to play NFL games in North London is not exclusive; games
could still be played at Wembley Stadium or other locations
in England, but the agreement guarantees “at least two”
NFL games per season.
It has been reported that NRL games in London are
lucrative with gridiron matches at Wembley bringing in
around £1,000,000 per match.
The new, state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur stadium
itself will feature a retractable grass field with an artificial
pitch surface below it that will be used for NFL matches.
It is anticipated that the grass field will be used for soccer
purposes only, since gridiron games produce much greater
wear on grass surfaces than your average football match.
GOGGLES THAT CAN DETECT CONCUSSION BEING
TESTED
The University of Miami Hecht Athletic Center has been
testing concussion-detection goggles which are being
developed by UM doctors and a Pittsburgh-based software
company called Neuro Kinetics.
The goggles feature imbedded eye tracking and stimulus
display and can detect brain injury by measuring eye
movement and speed and symmetry of pupil dilation.
This data helps determine at the site of injury whether an
athlete is clear to return to the game or whether further
medical attention is needed.
UM researchers will spend the next 18 months developing
the goggles, then make a production model and hope
for FDA approval. Their aim is three types of devices — a
simple red light-green light version under US$200 that
could be used in youth sports, a more sophisticated model
for college and pro sports and the most complex device to
be used by physicians to aid with concussion treatment and
clearance.
SPORTS
SHORTS
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ISSUE 21 | AUGUST 2015