The NFL said it sold the first 40,000 tickets for the SD Chargers-New Orleans Saints game on 10/26/08, its second regular-season match in London, in less than 90 minutes. This was about the same pace at which tickets were sold for the Miami Dolphins-New York Giants game last year. The NFL has an agreement to play at least one game in the UK for the next three seasons, beginning with this year’s game. It has also declared a desire to have games in Germany and France, and is considering resurrecting plans to have a game in China after its 2007 planned pre-season event in China was cancelled. (SportBusiness.com, 5/30/08)
The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee issued a stern, nine-page document entitled "A Guide to Chinese Law for Foreigners Coming To, Leaving or Staying in China During the Olympics." Written only in Chinese and posted on the organizers' official website, the guide covers everything from a ban on sleeping outdoors to the need for government permission to stage a protest. In addition, the document said that having Olympic tickets is no guarantee of getting a visa to enter China, and warns against the display of insulting slogans or banners at any sporting venue. The guidelines seem to clash with a pledge made two month ago by IOC President Jacques Rogge, who said athletes could exercise freedom of speech in China. He asked only that athletes refrain from making political statements at certain official Olympics venues. (Yahoo!Sports, 6/2/08)
The IOC selected Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo as candidate cities for the 2016 Olympic Games. Doha (Qatar) missed out on selection due to its plan to host the Games in October due to the summer heat, while Madrid and Tokyo appear the cities to beat in the early running. The IOC will announce the host of the 2016 Olympics on 10/2/09. (SportBusiness.com, 6/5/08)
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