| Boston College football in marketing deal Each of the 12 ACC schools is turning over prime inventory to the conference for a marketing initiative designed to strengthen the ties between itself and the Orange Bowl. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Empty seats embarrassment for NFL The New York Giants failed to sell out their new stadium's opening game, leading to a local TV blackoutCaptivating the US press: American Football's early-season attendance crisis. Last week several franchises failed to sell out their stadiums – triggering an NFL ruling meaning some local TV viewers were unable to watch their teams.The NFL's rule, designed to protect attendances, means that any team who do not sell out 72 hours before the start of a game are unable to screen their match on television within 75 miles of the stadium. Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a TV blackout enforced on them for failing to sell 14,000 seats – a 12-year low – while the New York Giants were the most high-profile casualty of falling crowd numbers, unable to sell out the first game in their newly opened $1.5bn New Meadowlands Stadium.Several thousand empty seats were visible and they avoided a TV blackout only due to rules excluding unsold premium "club" seats, the New York Times reported. The 77,245 turnout was a huge embarrassment for a team who sold out every game at the old Giants Stadium between its opening in 1976 and its closure in January – with the running back Brandon Jacobs describing the scores of empty seats as "heartbreaking".The unsold seats were blamed on the prohibitive price of $12,500 for the Premium Seat License, and the $500 cost for a ticket on top of that. However, there have also been some complaints from fans about the facilities surrounding New Meadowlands.NorthJersey.com reported the lack of access to offsite carparks from the $1.5bn stadium, which forced hundreds of fans to scale fences and cross Route 120 to reach their vehicles after the game. Climbing one of the perimeter walls, one fan asked reporters: "What is this – Berlin?"The San Diego Chargers are the latest team to be affected, with 7,000 unsold seats for today's home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. As a result, the NFL's blackout has been imposed and local fans will be unable to tune in and watch – leaving the president Dean Spanos to defend the franchise's efforts in the North County Times."We haven't raised ticket prices in over three years," he said. "We did a lot going into this game: we had ads on local radio and television. We were out there pushing the game."Spanos's attempts were not enough: it will be their first blackout since November 2004. He expects more of the same to follow as the season goes on."At this point I would only say that one game is truly safe, and even that's not officially a sellout."The Chargers have blamed the slump on a lack of A-list teams travelling to San Diego this season – but the wider pattern suggests the NFL clubs' failure to adjust ticket prices to take account of the recession has badly backfired.Colombia: Starving players forced on to the picket lineColombian football is facing a spate of strike action by unpaid players. Officials from the country's top division accused the players' union of "ruining the game" but, in an interview with Semana, the union chairman, Carlos González Puche, angrily rejected the claim. "It cannot be right that there are players who die of hunger. The only demand which the players' association makes is that salaries and social security contributions must be paid."In recent weeks, players from AmĂ©rica de Cali and Once Caldas have led the threats of industrial action. Strikes were only called off at the last minute when a portion of the money was paid. The AmĂ©rica coach Jorge BermĂşdez was fired for supporting his players, while Deportivo Pereira players have warned of strike action, with the former Portsmouth midfielder Jhon Viafara saying: "They always tell us they'll pay us the next week, and it never happens. They've had us like that for some time."Puche said: "Although the clubs are making income from selling players, the money does not seem to be reinvested. You can't really call our football clubs professional sports clubs."The head of the league, Ramon JesusĂşn Franco, is meeting government officials to work out a solution, but Puche does not hold out much hope. "It is clear that the government and the national football association are no longer capable of controlling football."USA: 'Bootylicious' reporter in locker room stormMore outrage in the US over female journalists going into male locker rooms after the TV Azteca reporter and former Miss Universe contender Ines Sainz was subjected to sexual harassment by New York Jets coaches and players. While Sainz waited to interview players by the side of the pitch, coaches decided to aim balls towards her so players could move closer, and afterwards in the locker room "lewd" comments were aimed her way.The Jets owner Woody Johnson was quick to apologise, but could not prevent a media storm. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann nominated Sainz as one of his "Worst People in the World", declaring that she "undermines every female sports reporter who knows the game" by being "dressed unprofessionally to cover a sporting event". Sainz took to Twitter posting a picture to defend her outfit, declaring "jeans and a button down white shirt, and boots is not inappropriate!" Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh chimed in to say he fully supported Sainz using her "ass-set" – and that she was "bootylicious".The NFL sent a memo reminding clubs of their duties to provide equal opportunity access to the press. However, it didn't reach Washington Redskins running-back Clinton Portis, who announced that any woman in his locker room would inevitably be distracted. "What kind of woman wouldn't react, given the chance to go and look at 53 men's packages?" Redskins apologised on his behalf.Ukraine: Peta beg for 2012 straysAnd finally, a big week for Peta. GlobalPost reported that animal rights activists have been stalking the Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, on a trip to Germany to convince him to halt the planned slaughter of stray animals before Euro 2012. And, not content with saving the stray dogs of Kiev, they have been busy pressuring the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) to ban their fishing team. In a letter to the chancellor, Peta's executive vice-president Tracy Reiman wrote: "Sanctioning the maiming and killing of fish for sport sends the message that violence towards others is acceptable." UTC are yet to respond.NFLUS sportToby Mosesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
LeBron blames race for backlash to ESPN's The Decision LeBron James blames race for the backlash to "The Decision," the ESPN special where the free agent announced on national TV that he was leaving ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Pain no obstacle for England's Danielle Brown as she claims Commonwealth gold • Danielle Brown wins Commonwealth archery gold• First Paralympian to win able-bodied medal for England• Get all the latest from the Games with our live blogAny of the athletes in Delhi worrying about their gippy tummies should seek out Danielle Brown in the athletes' village tonight. If they want a lesson in just what it is possible to achieve in sport when you are suffering, the 22-year-old English archer is a good place to start.Brown was a key part of the English team that won gold in the compound archery today, and has a lot more to worry about than a bout of diarrhoea. She suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which means she is in constant pain and unable to stand for any length of time. Brown competes leaning on a stool ("a bike seat on a tripod" she calls it) which was designed and built for her at Loughborough University. Brown stood once during the final – to embrace her team-mates, Nichola Simpson and Nicky Hunt, after they had won the gold.Brown has already won four para-sport world championships, and a Paralympic gold. Now she is the first disabled English athlete to win a medal for the able-bodied team at the Commonwealth Games. "It's an amazing feeling," she said. "I can't put it into words." The team were one point short of the world record as they beat Canada by 232 points to 229 in the final.Her emotions were not the only thing she could not articulate. Brown had stayed up all night trying to learn the words to England's new team anthem, Jerusalem, just in case they won. "I had it down to a tee," laughed Brown, "but when I got on the podium my brain just scrambled and I couldn't remember a thing."You can understand why she was overwhelmed. Brown fell ill in 2001. As a child she had played a lot of sport, but suddenly every time she went running her feet started to hurt. She was 11, when on a walking holiday with her family in Scotland it struck. "I just couldn't do it, I was in too much pain." By the time she was 13 illness had become "a full-blown condition, suddenly all of that activity was taken away from me"."I'd get home, do my homework and then had nothing to do," she said in a recent interview, "[it] drove me nuts. I needed something to do. Someone on my school bus said her dad did archery at Aire Valley near Bingley and, because it didn't involve running, it sounded like something I could do. My parents bought me a beginner's course for my 15th birthday. I was absolutely awful but really enjoyed it and it went from there."At that point her condition had not been diagnosed. It was only when she was 16 that doctors at Great Ormond Street finally realised what was wrong. Until that point she had tried all kinds of treatments, from acupuncture through kinesiology to physiotherapy. None of them worked. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy has no cure."I'd get home from school every day and cry," she said, "because I'd been walking around all day and was in so much pain. I was walking like a drunk person but my friends were brilliant. I'd veer off in one direction and they would grab my arm and off we'd go again. You're going through that really horrible period growing up and I was also trying to cope with a disability I didn't have a name for."As good as she was at it, archery was just a hobby. In 2007 she started a law degree at Leicester University. That same year she won two golds at the world archery championships and decided to put her degree course on hold to compete at the Beijing Paralympics, where she claimed another gold. Brown has since completed her degree this year, earning a first. That was despite having to commute three times a week from Leicester to Lilleshall to train.It seems incredible that anyone should be able to summon the self-control required to excel at archery when suffering from the kind of pain Brown deals with on a daily basis, but she thinks that, in a way, her illness has been a help as well as a hindrance. "With my disability I had to be mentally strong. For me, the worst time of the day is morning when I have to get out of bed and it is just a nightmare being in so much pain. I just have to put all that to one side. So I guess in sports that also helps me. I had to develop strategies to cope with the pain."Her boyfriend, Ali Jawad, is an amazing character himself. He was born without legs, but competes at these Games in the para-sport weightlifting. It was only because of his encouragement that Brown is in Delhi at all. Making the switch to the able-bodied team was never something that motivated her greatly."I've never really thought of it in those terms," she said, "but there's been quite a lot of media interest, which has opened my eyes to it. To be honest, I was not going to turn up for the selection trials. I qualified three days before the closing dates because I was in Arizona at that time. I thought to myself: 'Do I really want to go back and within five days turn up for the trials?' I'm glad I did."Commonwealth Games 2010Andy Bullguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Barry Hearn ready to give snooker its Brazilian debut • SĂŁo Paulo Masters to take place in September• World's top 12 plus four will contest ÂŁ200,000 prize fundThe professional snooker circuit will cross a new frontier with the inaugural Brazilian Masters at the TransamĂ©rica Expo Centre in SĂŁo Paulo next September."Breaking into South America is a huge step towards making snooker a truly global sport," said Barry Hearn, chairman of World Snooker and its majority shareholder. The field of 16, comprising the top 12in the rankings and four wild cards, will compete for a prize fund of US$200,000 (about ÂŁ126,000) and, if successful, the event will become a world-ranking tournament in 2012.Snooker has a long-established presence in Brazil, albeit played with only 10 reds on 10ft x 5ft tables. Its best player, Igor Figueiredo, had not played on a full-size 12ft x 6ft until seven months before last year's World Amateur Championship in India but demonstrated his natural ability by reaching the final to earn a place on this season's 96-man main tour.Hearn's determination to make the circuit more international has been exemplified by introducing minor-ranking events in mainland Europe, one of the game's promising growth areas. Tournaments are now being held across Germany and in Belgium and the Czech Republic. In recent weeks two have been held, at FĂĽrth in southern Germany, and at Bruges; there is another, in western Germany at Russelsheim, this weekend and two more next month, at Hamm in north-west Germany and at Prague, plus a new full-scale ranking tournament at Berlin in February.In an attempt to keep World Snooker's BBC contract at four events a year, Hearn also converted the Grand Prix into a World Open last month but it is understood that the broadcaster will next season cover only the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Championship.However, China, where snooker continues to go from strength to strength, has indicated its interest in staging the World Open, which through sheer financial clout may one day supersede the annual 17 days at the Crucible as the game's premier event. Zhang Xiaoning, the chairman of the China B&SA, was this month co-opted to the board of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the professional game's regulatory body. Thailand's Sindhu Pulsirivong, who is negotiating for a World Cup for two-man teams to be staged in his country, has meanwhile been appointed WPBSA president in recognition of his long service to the game.SnookerClive Evertonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |