League Notes: 2014-15 Austrian Football Bundesliga Season To Start On July 19

The '14-15 Austrian football Bundesliga season "will kick off on July 19 and therefore one day earlier than the current season." The campaign's first half will consist of 19 match weeks and conclude over the weekend of Dec. 13-14. The Bundesliga's second half, which will include 17 match weeks, will start on Feb. 14-15, 2015 (KURIER, 12/9). ... F1 teams "have rejected a plan for two mandatory pit stops at each race from next season onwards." A BBC report said that teams "felt such a move would interfere with race strategies and make races artificial and almost identical in format" (DPA, 12/10). ... Sydney's harness racing corruption trial was a "family affair:" champion driver Greg Bennett, "accused of bribing a steward; his dad, Jim, the trainer with 50 years in the game; and the driver's brother-in-law, a retired school teacher who crunched the statistics to show Bennett drove plenty of winners for other trainers." All three "gave evidence in Sydney District Court on Tuesday" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 12/11).