Japanese Baseball

Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo was released by the Kansas City Royals. There is speculation that the Yokohama Bay Stars from Japan may try to sign him. (JapanBall.com, 4/30/08)

China Sports

Unprompted awareness of Olympic sponsors by Chinese consumers showed high interest and good results, according to a recent survey by SPORT+MARKT. Chinese brand Lenovo led with 38% awareness, followed by Coca-Cola (36%), China Mobile (30%), Samsung and Yiligroup (both at 18%), Bank of China 17%, and Adidas, Haier, Johnson and Johnson (all at 14%). (SportBusiness.com, 4/29/08)




Mercedes-Benz China and tennis star Roger Federer have entered into a multi-year advertising and strategic marketing partnership in cooperation with China Tennis Association (CTA) and the Junior Tennis Development Program called “Swing for the Stars” that is designed to improve Chinese junior players' skills and the coaches' teaching level. The deal was brokered by IMG. (SportBusiness.com, 4/30/08)

Japanese Baseball

Nippon Professional Baseball will appoint outgoing Japanese ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato as its next commissioner. Kato is scheduled to be appointed after he is confirmed at an upcoming owners meeting of the 12 professional baseball clubs. NPB had been searching for a successor to acting commissioner Yasuchika Negoro since last year. (JapanBall.com, 4/11/08)

India Sports

India is considering bidding for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The Indian Olympic Association is expected to make a formal application by 2013 in order to host the Games. Delhi is thought to be the potential host city, as it will already have the necessary infrastructure after hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games. (SportBusiness.com, 4/10/08)

China Business

A Chinese court has agreed to hear two multi-million dollar copyright infringement claims brought by major record labels agains Baidu, the Chinese search engine company, and Web portal Sohu, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The $9 million claim against Baidu is brought by Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music, who will argue that the search engine aids copyright infringement by providing "deep links" to unauthorized downloads on third-party sites. The IFPI said in a statement: "The claim is the tip of the iceberg in a copyright infringement test-case that could expose the Chinese internet giant to a multi-billion dollar liability," adding that the current claim covers just 127 tracks -- "a small representative sample of the wider infringement." The same three major labels, along with local company Gold Label Entertainment, have also filed for $7.5 million in damages against Sohu. The IFPI claims that "over 99 per cent of all music online in China infringes copyright." (Digital Media Wire, 4/7/08)

Baseball

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) and BroadWebAsia, owner and operator of six of the leading web 2.0 properties in China, and established and chaired by Brad Greenspan (founder of MySpace), announced an agreement to create and host a MLB focused website in simplified Chinese targeting the China market. The site (www.major.tv/china) is being developed by BroadWebAsia's Shanghai-based Hupo TV subsidiary, and officially launched in time for the MLB Opening Series in Japan on March 25th. The deal was brokered by Greenspan, with Peter Schloss, Chief Executive Officer of BroadWebAsia, and Alex Pigeon, Vice President of International, MLBAM. (Yahoo!Finance, 4/1/08)

MLBAM and ChungHwa Telecom (http://mlb.hinet.net) announced a deal for second straight year of live streaming of MLB games into Taiwan, including certain games in Full HD format. (ChungHwa Telecom Press Release, 4/1/08)