In London, Paul Kelso reports Asian Football Confederation President and FIFA presidential candidate MOHAMED BIN HAMMAM "is considering striking a deal with" UEFA President MICHEL PLATINI. The deal would see Bin Hammam "step aside in favour of the UEFA president after just one four-year term if he is successful in his campaign to unseat" current FIFA President SEPP BLATTER (London TELEGRAPH, 3/22). Meanwhile, Blatter today at the UEFA Congress in Paris said that if he wins re-election "he will definitely stand down in 2015" (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 3/22). The GUARDIAN's Owen Gibson reports Bin Hammam has challenged Blatter "to a TV debate" (GUARDIAN, 3/22).
FROM THE COURTS: U.S. District Judge LARRY HICKS yesterday in a court order ruled that MANNY PACQUIAO's "defamation lawsuit against longtime boxing rival FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. and others rests on firm allegations and can continue." Hicks "denied a motion to dismiss the case," saying that Pacquiao "has sufficient evidence to continue his lawsuit that alleges Mayweather and others acted with malice by accusing the Filipino boxer in a series of interviews of using" PEDs (AP, 3/21)....South Korean Olympic Gold Medal-winning figure skater KIM YU-NA's lawyer, LEE SANG-HUN, said that Kim is "suing her former agent for failing to pay the athlete part of her endorsement earnings." Lee said that IB Sports, "the agency Kim left in April last year, failed to pay her" about US$790,000 "earned from advertisement deals for Hyundai Motor and other companies." Kim "later set up her own agency, AT Sports." Forbes last year ranked Kim as "one of the world's highest-paid female athletes with annual earnings of" $9.7M (AFP, 3/21).
LOBBYING EFFORT OVER: In California, Rick Orlov reported Majestic Realty Chair & CEO ED ROSKI has "dropped his teams of lobbyists and public relations consultants" hired to help with his proposed NFL stadium in City of Industry, Calif. Majestic Senior VP JOHN SEMCKEN said that "contracts with JOHN EK and MAUREEN KINDEL in Los Angeles and DONNA LUKAS in Sacramento have ended," and that "work on their project has moved to a new stage and they no longer need the help they required." Semcken added that Roski "still retains a number of lobbyists in Sacramento, working on other projects being developed by" Majestic (CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 3/20).
NAMES: CBS announcer JIM NANTZ will join former Presidents JIMMY CARTER, BILL CLINTON and GEORGE W. BUSH as part of a celebration of former President GEORGE H.W. BUSH on March 21 at the Kennedy Center in DC (CBS Sports)....Bears QB JAY CUTLER and his girlfriend, reality TV star KRISTIN CAVALLARI, earlier this month went on a "trip to Kenya with the non-profit One Kid One World, which focuses on rebuilding schools and providing supplies to students and teachers in Kenya and El Salvador" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/22)....N.Y. Road Runners raised more than $4M for charity at Sunday's NYC Half, more than double the amount raised last year (NYRR)....The entire Grizzlies team attended Staxtacular '11 Friday night at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 3/22)....Retired golfer ANNIKA SORENSTAM yesterday gave birth "to a boy a little earlier than expected." Sorenstam on Twitter said she and her husband, former Int'l Golf Properties agent MIKE MCGEE, welcomed WILLIAM NICHOLAS MCGEE, who is "hanging in there fine for being 27 weeks." It is their second child together (AP, 3/21).
