Feature: US SportsBiz - January 2008  

S&T's US correspondent Mark J Jeffers, takes a final look at the wild and wacky world of the movers and shakers in sports across the other side of the pond...

Cable Sports Network ESPN has pulled a TV commercial starring Roger Clemens; now that's a shocker...and just so everyone knows...I wrote this entire column - steroid free.

Nike will launch the Air Jordan XX3, the 23rd edition of the famous shoe at a cost of $185. It does kind of make you wonder what Nike can do to improve a sneaker 23 times...

ESPN and Major League Gaming (MLG) have formed a content partnership deal. I finally gave in this year and bought my kids a video game, now we all suffer from ‘Wii elbow’.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is holding a Super Bowl touchdown chicken dance contest, and will donate $260,000 to Colonel's Scholars, its own college scholarship fund, in the name of the player who struts like a barnyard bird after scoring in the Big Game. I'm not sure I am ready to see Eli Manning flapping around in chicken feathers, I may go blind!

Monster Energy has become the title sponsor and official energy drink of AMA Supercross. The drink's name alone scares me enough to get going...

The Par 3 Contest at the Masters will be televised for the first time this April on ESPN. Maybe next year, we'll see my Treasure Island putting contest on the cable network.

It looks like the NFL has ‘fumbled the Whopper’, as Burger King will not renew its NFL sponsorship for next season.

Turner Broadcasting System is taking another lap or two with NASCAR as it has extended its contract for Turner Sports to continue operating NASCAR.com through 2014.

National Car rental has signed a partnership deal extension with the PGA Tour through 2011. Wouldn't it be cool to rent golf carts from the company as well...?

In other PGA Tour news...’picture this’...Eastman Kodak just signed a multi-dollar deal for six years with the tour.

And finally, I want to take this opportunity to wish my friend Jerry Webb good luck on helping to launch a very cool partnership here in North America between Screen Subtitling Systems Ltd and SysMedia Ltd. This team will revolutionise subtitling and caption services here in the good old USA.

That wraps it up for US Sports Biz, folks. It's been a blast over the last four years!

Contact Mark Jeffers at marsar@optonline.net

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