A major event in the US sporting calendar, the NFL Draft is the selection process where the league’s teams secure the cream of the nation’s talent from the college American football system.

From April 30 until May 2, the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University will host Chicago’s first draft since 1964, the year before it began a long-time residency in New York.

Radio City Music Hall has provided an iconic setting for the NFL Draft since 2006 but a scheduling conflict encouraged the league to seek pastures new.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: “We look forward to returning the event to the city of Chicago and working with the city, Choose Chicago, and the Chicago Sports Commission to create a week-long celebration of football for our fans. Mayor (Rahm) Emanuel and the city of Chicago presented us with numerous ways to enhance the Draft experience for our fans and incoming players.”

Chicago also hosted the draft in 1938, from 1942 to 1944, 1951 and 1962 to 1964. The 2015 NFL Draft will be the 80th edition.

Emanuel added: “Next year, NFL fans from across the country will travel here or tune in as the future of their team is decided in Chicago. We look forward to working with the Chicago Bears, the NFL, and our neighbourhood partners to make this an event that highlights our world class city and reinvests in our communities.”

A record-breaking audience of 45.7 million people tuned in across the NFL Network, ESPN and ESPN2 to watched Houston Texans make Jadeveon Clowney the first overall pick in 2014, surpassing the previous best audience figure of 45.4 million for 2010.

Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and Los Angeles have also hosted the NFL Draft in the past.

Lucerne’s proposal for the 2021 Universiade is set to move forward after receiving backing from the government of the canton of Lucerne.

The local organising committee could base a dossier around its planned bid for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, which was dropped by the Swiss Olympic Association before it was submitted. 

The Swiss Olympic Association instead decided to choose Lausanne for its tilt at the Youth Olympics. Lausanne is facing competition from Romanian city Brasov, with the host due to be decided at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July 2015.

Under the Universiade proposal, the host city of the event would be Lucerne with the various competitions run in central Switzerland’s winter sports resorts.

“This event is very interesting in terms of both sports and value creation,” Health and Social Services Minister Guido Graf said. “The cantons of central Switzerland, Lucerne as a university town and tourism destination can only profit from the winter Universiade.”

The Swiss University Sport Federation (SHSV) has also pledged its support for the bid with director Leonz Eder adding: “Central Switzerland submitted an excellent application document for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. It is a perfect basis for the organisation of the 2021 Winter Universiade.”

The 2015 winter Universiade will be co-hosted by Granada, Spain and the Slovak cities of Štrbské Pleso and Osrblie. The event will then travel to Almaty, Kazakhstan and Krasnoyarsk, Russia in 2017 and 2019.

Lega Serie A, the governing body of the top division of Italian football, has announced that Doha will host the game between Serie A champion Juventus and Coppa Italia holder Napoli on December 22.

Serie A president Maurizio Beretta said that the agreement is for this year’s game only at present. He added at the press conference to announce the deal in Paris, France: “We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to export our Supercoppa to an interesting and prestigious country like Qatar.”

The announcement comes with Fifa continuing to debate when Qatar will stage its World Cup. Last month, football’s global governing body put forward January/February 2022 and November/December 2022 as alternative dates, as opposed to the tournament’s traditional June/July slot.

Fifa has previously said that the World Cup should be moved to the winter to enable players and spectators to cope with the stifling summer temperatures in the Middle East. The local organising committee has repeatedly insisted that it is prepared to stage the tournament in its normal summer window by using air conditioned stadia. Fifa’s taskforce on the matter is scheduled to meet again in November.

The Supercoppa Italiana has traditionally marked the opening of the Italian football season, but the league has taken it to a variety of markets in recent years. The Supercoppa Italiana was held in Beijing in 2009, 2011 and 2012; New York in 2003; the Libyan capital of Tripoli in 2002 and Washington D.C. in 1993.

Juventus won the 2013 Supercoppa, defeating Coppa Italia holder Lazio 4-0 in Rome.

Speaking at Securing Sport 2014 in London on Tuesday, Franz Beckenbauer told a select group of the press including HOST CITY that FIFA should make the findings of its investigations into alleged corruption public.

Beckenbauer was on the FIFA Executive Committee during the controversial bidding procedure for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Asked to reveal who he voted for, he said he had to respect the rules of the secret ballot. He also categorically stated that he did not accept, or receive any offers of, lavish gifts in attempts to influence votes. 

But he did say “I was surprised that Qatar won. It was a good bid like all the others, but it’s not possible to play football there in the summer. You have to put a lot of effort into cooling the stadiums. My suggestion would be to host in the winter.” 

In June 2014 Beckenbauer was suspended by FIFA from all football related activities for failing to help with the investigations of FIFA’s ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia. 

Beckenbauer then agreed to take part in the investigation and the ban was lifted. 

He told Securing Sport that he did not initially complete Garcia’s questionnaire because it was in complex legal English and he would have preferred to have answered such questions in German. 

FIFA has indicated that the ethics report, which should now be in its final stages, will not be made public. But Beckenbauer said the report should be made public as soon as it is finished. 

“Rumours are going round and that is very negative,” he said. “If the recent report has been finalised, it should be published. It’s up to FIFA – there is an Executive Committee to make these decisions, but personally, there is nothing to hide.”

Winning bid was my best achievement

Beckenbauer told delegates at Securing Sport that winning the bid to host the 2006 World Cup exceeded all of his many sporting and professional achievements.

Franz Beckenbauer led his national team to world cup victory as captain in 1974 and as manager in 1990. Yet asked by moderator David Walsh of the Sunday Times to name his greatest achievement, Beckenbauer said “Winning the bid for 2006 was the greatest moment of my sporting career.”

The greatest effect of winning the bid was the effect it had on sport in the country, he said. “German football has never been better than now; that is down to the World Cup. We have great infrastructure and full capacities. 

“The way football has developed is fantastic. I feel sorry for other sports: you switch on the television and all you see is football.”

Beckenbauer told delegates in London that hosting the World Cup could have a similar positive effect in England. “It is surprising that England hasn’t won the World Cup since 1966. There is so much talent, such great stadiums and fans, financially there is no problem.

“If England won a bid to host a World Cup, perhaps that might be an incentive for improving the standard of football.”

To find out more about bidding procedures for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win on 28th October

Under the deal, the capital of the United Arab Emirates will make its debut on the series' calendar by hosting the first event of the 2015 campaign on March 6-7. The deal will run until 2019.

“This is a partnership which represents a meeting of like minds in terms of ambitions,” ITU president Marisol Casado said. “Abu Dhabi is a world-class city and offers a fantastic combination of beautiful water and superb road infrastructure that is entirely suitable for a WTS event.

“In our talks leading up to the partnership it became apparent that Abu Dhabi wants to take its triathlon to the next level and expand the sport's reach in much the same way as ITU is determined to progress the sport internationally.”

While a first-time ITU race, Abu Dhabi has organised triathlons for age groups and professional triathletes in recent years. British athletes Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, who collected gold and bronze at the 2012 Olympics respectively, are familiar with the race, with Alistair having won in 2013, and the brothers having crossed over together last year.

The event, slated as a sprint for the elites with both standard and sprint races on offer for age groupers, will be headquartered at the Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club where a 2,000-seat grandstand, a bike park, a 'Friends and Family' area, refreshment kiosks and kids zone will be built. It will also feature a 'swim start' off the Volvo Ocean Race yacht pontoons on Abu Dhabi Corniche - a first for the series. 

His Excellency Aref Al Awani, general secretary of ADSC, said: “We envisage a host of benefits emerging from this partnership. These include further positioning of Abu Dhabi as a destination for world-class sporting events, additional destination exposure among an influential client base, encouragement of our own youth to join in one of the world's fastest-growing Olympic sports and the promotion among our own community of the benefits of healthy lifestyles.”

Abu Dhabi is the only new stop on the 2015 calendar. Gold Coast in Australia (April 11-12) will return for the first time since 2009, while the ITU also confirmed that the World Triathlon London event will take place on May 30-31.

Other previously-announced stops on the schedule include Auckland, New Zealand (March 28-29); Cape Town, South Africa (April 25-26); Yokohama, Japan (May 16-17); Hamburg, Germany (July 18-19); Stockholm, Sweden (August 22-23); Edmonton, Canada (September 5-6); and Chicago, USA (September 15-20).

The WTA Elite Trophy, a singles and doubles event offering $2.15m (€1.7m) in prize money, will be staged in the southern China city for the next five years, from 2015 to 2019.

The 12-player singles field in Zhuhai will consist of players ranked No.9 through No.20 in the world, along with one wildcard, in a four-group round robin format. The winners of each respective group will advance to the single elimination semi-final stage of the event.

Six doubles teams will compete in a two-group round robin format, with the winner of each group advancing to the final. 

The Elite Trophy will take place at the custom-designed, state-of-the-art tennis centre in Zhuhai, and will be played the week after the WTA Finals, which see the sport’s top-ranking stars compete in Singapore.

“This brand new event combining great players, a fantastic new stadium and the magnificent location of Zhuhai is a formula that will make the WTA Elite Trophy a success,” WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster said. “Thanks to the commitment and vision of the Zhuhai government, Huafa Group and Ace Pro Group - APG, the fan experience will be exciting and inspirational, and we will showcase women's tennis and this beautiful city to a global audience through broadcast, digital and social media.” 

Zhuhai’s Vice-Mayor Lydia Long added: “We are deeply grateful for WTA's trust and support in making Zhuhai's dream of joining the WTA family a reality. The people of Zhuhai will warmly welcome the best women tennis players and tourists from around the world to this beautiful, romantic and dynamic city.”

The addition of the Elite Trophy in Zhuhai aligns with the WTA’s strategic growth and development within the Asia-Pacific region. In 2014, 17 WTA tournaments took place in the region. 

The existing Tournament of Champions has been staged in the Bulgarian capital Sofia since 2012, but this year’s edition is set to be its last.

The COA is currently pressing ahead with preparations for Buenos Aires’ staging of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, with the event being seen as a potential springboard for a tilt at the Olympic Games itself.

In a statement, the COA said that it would be “an honour” to bid for either edition of the Games and pinpointed Patagonia, utilising the Andes Mountains, as a potential option for a winter Olympics.

An Argentine winter Olympics would break new ground for the International Olympic Committee, with the event having never previously set foot outside the Northern Hemisphere. 

Argentina’s last bid for the summer Games saw Buenos Aires eliminated in the first round of voting as Athens went on to clinch the 2004 event. The Games will take to South America for the first time in 2016 when Rio de Janeiro hosts the event in Argentina’s regional rival, Brazil. 

The COA’s statement comes after the IOC last week praised Buenos Aires’ hosting plans for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, which will focus on engaging with the city’s sizeable inner-city population. The IOC stated that the city had already made “impressive headway” in its preparations for the event, which concluded its second edition in Nanjing, China on August 28.

Buenos Aires was awarded the 2018 Youth Olympics in July 2013. The city beat Colombian city Medellin by 49 to 39 votes in the second round of voting by IOC members. In the first round, Scottish city Glasgow was eliminated after getting only 13 votes, compared to 40 for Buenos Aires and 32 for Medellin.

Lord Sebastian Coe said on Tuesday that the bidding procedures for major events such as the Olympic Games must retain the “human element”. 

As well as being vice president of the IAAF and a key figure behind London’s successful bid, Lord Coe is a member of the Olympic Agenda 2020 working group that is currently reviewing the bidding procedure for the Olympic Games.

“It’s quite dangerous to think that you can choreograph every moment of a bid,” Lord Coe told delegates at Securing Sport 2014 in London. “For a bid to win and gain acceptance you need personal relationships. They have got to work alongside an organising committee for many years – you need to know that the team that is bidding will also make a good organising team."

Lord Coe also contributed to the IOC’s last major review, the Olympic Commission 2000 which, he says, “made it very tough for bidding cities” while bringing about positive changes such as managing interaction between IOC members and bidding cities. 

“There’s a balance. We have to be careful not to take the human element out. And it’s hard to be told that you can’t just sit down with an IOC member and explain what the transportation or security strategy is.”

Asked about the issue of gifts, Lord Coe affirmed that he had never been offered or accepted any gifts in relation to bidding procedures. 

“We all probably understand the difference between a commemorative plate and a calendar and something more substantive. The law of common sense should prevail.”

The review of bidding procedure will be under discussion at HOST CITY Bid to Win on 28th October in London. Register at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

Prime Minister Manuel Valls has offered public support for bringing the World Expo to France’s capital, prompting reports earlier this week that such a move would end the city’s chances of staging the Olympics exactly 100 years on from its previous hosting in 1924.

However, Nathalie Iannetta, the sports advisor to French President Francois Hollande, told the Associated Press news agency that it could be financially viable for both events to be pursued. “The investments that will be made will benefit both projects,” she said.

A feasibility study is due to be completed by the French Olympic Committtee early next year in collaboration with influential figures from sport, politics and business, with Iannetta stating that the findings will be central to deciding Paris’ next course of action. 

“If it shows that a Paris bid is pertinent and that we have good chances to win, then the World Expo bid won't be an obstacle,” Iannetta added.

The United States, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Qatar, South Africa and Turkey have joined France in expressing an interest in hosting the 2024 Olympics.

Bids for the Games must be submitted by next year and the International Olympic Committee will select the winner in 2017. Bids for the hosting rights to the 2025 World Expo straddle this process, with submissions due in 2016 and a decision set to be made two years later.

Bernard Lapasset, the head of the French Committee for International Sport, called upon experience from his other role as the president of the International Rugby Board to state that hosting the Olympic Games and the World Expo in consecutive years would be possible.

“We'll obviously need to be careful with the finances, but look what happened with Japan,” Lapasset said. “They won the rights to host the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the 2020 Olympics.”

In other news, Germany will delay its decision over whether to put forward either Berlin or Hamburg as a candidate city for the 2024 Olympics until next year.

The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) was expected to make its choice at a December 6 strategy meeting, but president Alfons Hörman is keen for his organisation to see the results of the IOC’s ‘Agenda 2020’ initiative and further assess the levels of support for Olympic hosting in both cities.

Hörmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: “The worst option would be that we decide firmly on a city only for its citizens to then say the project will not be supported.”

The latest polls suggest Hamburg has significant public weight behind a bid, while Berlin - host of the 1936 Olympics - is more lukewarm overall.

Munich failed in a bid to stage the 2018 winter Olympic Games and Hörmann added: “A second Munich must not happen to us.”

The season-ending tournament of the men’s tour has resided in London since 2009, with the world’s top eight singles players, and leading doubles teams, battling it out at the O2 Arena.

The North Greenwich venue, formerly the Millennium Dome, currently holds the hosting rights through the 2015 edition after extending its deal with the ATP by a further two years in November 2012.

However, Kermode has said interest is high in the contract from 2016, adding a decision will be made on the successful candidate next spring.

“We've got interest from four other regions and we'll make a decision by March or April,” Kermode told UK broadcaster BBC Radio Five Live.

The 2014 World Tour Finals run from November 9-16 with reigning champion Novak Djokovic having already secured his place amongst the top eight singles players, along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cilic.

Since it commenced 44 years ago, the World Tour Finals have been staged in 14 different cities including Tokyo, New York, Lisbon, Sydney and most recently Shanghai, before moving to London.

Friday saw the start of a five-year residency for the season-ending showpiece of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in Singapore.

The WTA has introduced a number of changes to coincide with the tournament’s move from Istanbul, with the event set to run through to October 26 at the new Singapore Sports Hub's 7,500-seat indoor stadium. 

This year’s event is the first of a five-year deal between the WTA and Singapore, which also sees the tournament rebranded from the WTA Championships to the WTA Finals and expanded by four days into a 10-day event of competition, exhibitions and activities for fans.