MILAN (Reuters) – Dubai government-owned Emirates airline is to sponsor AC Milan from next season in a four-year shirt deal worth around 50 million euros ($68.31 million), a source close to the Italian club said on Monday.

The Arab world’s largest airline, which also sponsors Arsenal’s stadium among other European soccer endorsements, will replace Austrian online betting group bwin as Milan’s shirt sponsor from July 2010 until June 2014.

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MILAN (Reuters) – Inter Milan have put plans to build a new stadium on hold and will instead work with AC Milan and the city council to renovate the San Siro.

The famous Milan stadium is in the running to host the 2015 Champions League final while it is due to be included in Italy’s bid for the 2016 European championship once the government passes a new law increasing budgets for new stadiums.

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ROME (Reuters) – Italian construction businessman Massimo Mezzaroma has bought the controlling stake in Siena football club from outgoing president Giovanni Lombardi Stronati, Serie A’s bottom side said on Friday.

“The agreement for the transfer of the controlling stake from Giovanni Lombardi Stronati to Massimo Mezzaroma was completed in the night,” read a statement on the club website (www.acsiena.it).

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ROME (Reuters) – The Italian Soccer League, Lega Calcio, has been fined 102,000 euros ($146,900) by the country’s anti-trust authority over its handling of Serie B (second division) broadcasting rights for the 2007-08 season.

“Lega Calcio obstructed the acquisition of rights for matches, limiting significantly the live transmission of games on TV to the detriment of broadcasters and consumers,” the authority said on its website (www.agcm.it) on Monday.

It added that the league had restricted competition by acting to prevent clubs selling broadcasting rights to media companies independently, even though it had problems offloading them collectively.

“We will consider whether to appeal to the Lazio regional administrative court over the size of the fine,” Lega director general Marco Brunelli was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.

The sale of TV rights in Italy is in a transitional period after a 2008 law established that they must be sold collectively from next season onwards.

Lega Calcio is comprised of Serie A and Serie B, but the top flight will split from the second tier next term.

ROME (Reuters) – Ferrari will not stand in Michael Schumacher’s way if the seven-times Formula One world champion decides to come out of retirement and race for Mercedes, president Luca di Montezemolo told Reuters on Monday.

The 40-year-old German has worked as a consultant for the Italian team since retiring at the end of 2006 but reports say he is close to signing with Mercedes, who have taken over world champions Brawn.

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ROME (Reuters) – Serie A’s worldwide broadcasting rights for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons have been sold to the MP & Silva international sports media company for 181.5 million euros ($270 million), the Italian Soccer League said on Friday.

Acceptance of the bid is pending approval by Italy’s competition watchdog, the league said in a statement on its website (www.lega-calcio.it).

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis said the decision was taken despite opposition from his club and Turin giants Juventus.

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MILAN, Nov 4 (Reuters) – An Italian appeals court blocked the awarding of broadcasting rights to soccer matches for two seasons to satellite operator Sky Italia, a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Italy’s soccer association, Lega Calcio, had awarded six exclusive packages of rights for the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons in July.

The association awarded the satellite package for covering all Serie A’s matches — called “A Platinum Live” — to Sky Italia. Smaller satellite operator Conto TV went to court to oppose Lega Calcio’s decision.

Lega Calcio said in a statement on Wednesday that it was surprised by the Corte d’Appello di Milano ruling and planned to appeal.

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MILAN (Reuters) – Seconds after Rio de Janeiro was announced as host of the 2016 Olympics, Venice mayor Massimo Cacciari seized the chance to put his famous but unlikely city in the frame for 2020.

A Madrid Games straight after London 2012 would almost certainly have ended any hope of a third straight European victor, but Rio’s win over the Spanish capital opened the door.

“Venice is an iconic city, unique in the world, which enjoys universal recognition,” Cacciari told Reuters while Rio’s bid team were still jumping up and down in delight at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Congress in Copenhagen earlier this month.

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Rome, Italy – In a new and significant rights agreement between Infront Motor Sports and Eurosport Group, the leading sports entertainment media group in Europe has acquired the TV and digital rights to the FIM Superbike World Championship (SBK) for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons, including support classes FIM Supersport World Championship and FIM Superstock 1000 Cup.

This pan-European agreement includes all 59 territories covered by Eurosport.

The new agreement with Eurosport Group, a longstanding broadcast partner of the world’s leading production motorcycle racing series for more than 10 years, will strengthen World SBK coverage significantly by offering an increased number of Live broadcasts and broader pan-European coverage. 24 out of 26 races will be shown live or delayed on either Eurosport or Eurosport 2. Read the full story

MILAN (Reuters) – Albanian oil magnate Rezart Taci would have “no problem” in shelling out 700 million euros to buy AC Milan if owner Silvio Berlusconi decided to sell, he told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Speculation that Berlusconi will sell has increased since a Milan administrative court ruled the Italian premier’s holding company, Fininvest, must pay 750 million euros ($1.11 billion) to rival CIR for bribing a judge in a 1990s battle to buy Italy’s biggest publisher Mondadori.

Fininvest has repeatedly denied Berlusconi has any intention to sell. Arab investors have also been linked to the club.

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