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BIG VIEWING FIGURES FOR
FIBA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2010 FIBA World Basketball
Championships has had impressive
viewing figures with nearly one billion
people expected to have watched the
tournament in over 180 countries.
The tournament was won by the USA
after beating hosts Turkey in the final
and the organizers are delighted with
the popularity of the event. The figures
were boosted by countries such as China
– with 65m people tuning in to watch the
national team play Greece.
FIBA commercial director Matthew
Osmon said: ‘These ratings show that
more fans are following the FIBA World
Championship than ever before and
international basketball is providing
increasingly valuable programming for
our broadcast partners.’
CLUBS APPEAL TO FIFA
FOR PLAYER INSURANCE
European football clubs have appealed
to world and European governing bodies
FIFA and UEFA to start paying insurance
premiums to cover players injured whilst
on international duty.
Europe’s largest representative body of
clubs said it could no longer run the risk of
players picking up injuries on international
duty.
‘FIFA and UEFA have to care about our
players,’ said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge,
chairman of the 197-strongEuropeanClub
Association. ‘It is no longer acceptable
that we have to give up our players ... and
then they come back injured.’
Although FIFA compensated clubs for
the use of their players during the World
Cup, this was mainly to cover salaries on
a daily basis rather than take account of
injuries.
HAWK-EYE MISSES
OUT ON ASHES SERIES
Australian Channel 9 has overlooked
English company Hawk-eye in favour of
rivals Virtual Eye for the Ashes series.
TV rights holders have the decision to
choose the system that provides the
umpires with referrals during the game
and the Australian channel has chosen
the company from New Zealand.
British based company Hawk-eye, that
is used in tennis and cricket played in
England, is currently up for sale and,
despite its high profile brand name, has
generated a relatively small profit of
£1.1m this year.
ENGLAND HOCKEY
WORLD CUP BID
Boxing promoter Frank Warren has
teamed up with the England Hockey
Board to table a bid to host the 2014
men’s and women’s Hockey World Cups.
If the bid is successful, it will be the first
international event to be held at a legacy
facility at the Olympic Park following the
2012 London Games.
Warren said of the bid: ‘I am delighted to
add my weight to this impressive bid. I
have promoted many great championship
events here in London and this is going to
be one of the most exciting.’
The financial backing for the bid comes
from UK Sport and Events for London
who will input £980,000 and £500,000
should the bid be successful.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has also
supported the bid: ‘Staging the Hockey
World Cups at the new state-of-the-art
Lee Valley Hockey Centre in 2014 would
be a major boost to the great sporting
legacy we are striving to achieve following
the 2012 Games.’
PLAYERS TO SIGN
DECLARATION IN ICC
ANTI-CORRUPTION BID
The International Cricket Council has
insisted that all players sign an anti-
corruption declaration as the body looks
to clean the game of corruption.
Chief executive Haroon Lorgat says the
ICC has sent an advisory to all members
‘about the need to root out corruption,’
and requests players sign a one-off
declaration before their next international
match.
Three Pakistan players, Salman Butt,
Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir,
were all suspended by the ICC after
claims that they bowled deliberate no-
balls in a Test match against England.
Following a recommendation from the
ICC the Pakistan Cricket Board recently
announced a new code of conduct for its
players before the team left for its Test
series against South Africa.
FA PROPOSES
SPEND LIMIT FOR
WORLD CUP BIDS
Following the widespread criticism of
the process surrounding the recently
announced 2018 and 2022 hosts for
the World Cup, Alex Horne, the general
secretary of the Football Association, has
proposed that a spending limit for bids and
earlier elimination rounds will improve the
process.
Commented Horne: ‘I think the process
could have sensible reform. For example,
for nine bidders to go all the way to Zurich
may not be strictly necessary.’
Horne admitted that he would have to
examine why England’s bid, which had
received a joint-strongest rating in FIFA’s
technical report, had received such little
backing. A system that removed the
least-favoured bidders at an early stage
may have shortened an England 2018
campaign that lasted three years at a cost
of £15m.