League Notes: BBL Wants To Increase Cooperation With Professional Football Clubs

The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) "wants to increase its cooperation with professional football clubs based on the example of FC Bayern Munich Basketball." BBL CEO Jan Pommer said, "Football is the market leader. The ones that cooperate with football can only profit from it. There is no alternative for growth" (SID, 5/13). ... The Chennai Police "have issued a show-cause to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association seeking its explanation on the measures taken to manage the crowd in the event of the three stands in the M.A. Chidambaram stadium being closed to public on Tuesday" (THE HINDU, 5/14). ... The Bengal "chit-fund scam, which hit Kolkata's I-League clubs hard finacially, has now robbed the Indian football team of a chance of improving its FIFA rankings by playing friendlies against Pakistan and Bangladesh in London." But sources in the All India Football Federation said that "the cash crunch owing to the chit-fund scam in West Bengal forced the organisers to put off the tournament" (IANS, 5/14).