games news

Nobody won the top prizes Saturday in Washington’s Lotto or Hit 5 games, so Monday’s jackpots will rise from $8.1 million to $8.2 million in Lotto, and from $360,000 to $400,000 in Hit 5.

One winning tickets was sold for a $10,000 top prize in the Match 4 game.

In Lotto, 23 tickets were sold with five of the six winning numbers and are worth $1,000 each. Another 1,381 tickets had four winning numbers and are worth $30 apiece.

Sales were $693,958. The winning numbers were: 1-8-9-13-14-39.

In Hit 5, 69 tickets were sold with four of the five winning numbers and are worth $100 each, and 2,215 had three winning numbers for $10 payouts. Sales were $238,825.

Broadcasters are already seeing a drop in advertising revenue for NFL games because of the global economic crisis, league commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday.

At a conference on the globalization of sports held ahead of Sunday’s NFL game in London, Goodell also reiterated that the league will face challenges in the current economic climate, but that the NFL is “incredibly strong” and should weather the downturn relatively unscathed.

However, he said network partners are already reporting that advertisers are pulling back, both on a local and national level.

“The sales market is different than it was even several weeks ago,” Goodell said during a panel discussion with Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the English Premier League. “We see it primarily on a local level, which I think is through a large extent a reflection of what is happening in the automobile industry. But it has now in the recent weeks gone to the national level. It’s had an impact. The fortunate thing is that it hasn’t had an impact on our viewership.”

Goodell did not give any specific figures for the advertising drop, and was not available for media interviews after the discussion, which was moderated by CBS announcer Jim Nantz.

Goodell said he was confident that ad sales for the games would stabilize even in the short term, adding that holding onto sponsors would be a bigger long-term problem for the league.

“That’s something we are evaluating, whether there will be a long-term change in the way companies invest in sponsorships, and how they do that,” he said. “And that could impact us well beyond 2009.”

But even with all professional sports already feeling the squeeze of the credit crunch, Goodell was confident that the NFL’s products should stay in high demand.

“It’s hard to see that people are going to give up quality in a time like this,” he said. “I think we are the ones who have the potential to come through it the strongest if we’re intelligent about it.”

The NFL is staging its second game at Wembley on Sunday, when the New Orleans Saints face the San Diego Chargers. The game is a way for the NFL to continue its growth abroad. The NBA and NHL have also staged games in Europe over the last two years.

But with the Premier League already established as one of the most popular in the world, Scudamore said he didn’t feel threatened that American sports would take away revenue from football.

“I don’t see really that we’re competing,” Scudamore said. “I think it’s an awfully big pond out there that we all fish in.”

The Southeast Louisiana Roadrunners are making their way to the Motor City, looking to churn out individual titles during the 2008 AAU Junior Olympic Games.

A group of 20 athletes from the area will compete against other young athletes from around the country in Ypsilanti, Mich., at Eastern Michigan University’s Olds-Marshall Track at Rynearson Stadium. Competition begins Saturday and runs through Aug. 2.

Roadrunners coach Miguel Becerra said officials are expecting nearly 9,600 athletes for the Junior Olympics, nearly four times as many athletes that competed in the AAU Club Championships in July in Orlando, Fla.

“Up there, it’s not just going to be the East Coast and the South. You’re going to have everybody there,” Becerra said. “They’re coming out of the woodwork for this one. The championships in Orlando, that’s a club championship and it’s team-scored. This is more of an individual meet.”

Becerra said the Roadrunner contingent could be even larger, but the majority of his female competitors — including top female runner Malia Cali — are attending soccer camp this week. Of the remaining group, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Trey DiCristina looks to have the best shot of either winning or having a top-three finish.

The 2010 Winter Games is in the red and the budgets for venues are rising, but organizers maintain the Vancouver Olympics are in a strong financial position.

According to the latest financial statement released Thursday, the budgets for individual venues being constructed or upgraded by organizers are up about $12 million total since last year, though the overall budget for venue construction hasn’t increased.

Mounting expenses elsewhere pushed the Games organizing committee into a deficit of $48.1 million in the year ending July 31.

At that time last year they had a surplus of $60.9 million.

Fluctuating between deficits and surpluses is normal for organizing committees as money doesn’t always come in at the same time it needs to go out, organizers said.

“Through a steady, disciplined focus on cost management and new revenue generation across the organization we’ve managed to maintain a positive financial position and met our ambitious budget targets for the year,” John Furlong, the chief executive officer of the organizing committee, said in a statement.

“As we quickly transition out of venue construction into a year focused largely on operations, we continue to exercise a strong internal cost control focus with a view to delivering great Games and leaving both positive financial and enduring sport legacies.”

The rising budgets for the venues appears to have been covered off by a dwindling contingency fund, which now sits at around $13 million.

Although their budgets are up, the venues are considered complete and operational with what organizers call “minor construction activity” remaining.

The Games are being planned on the basis of a $1.6-billion budget, but that’s just what the organizers themselves are spending.

Venue construction costs are being shared by the provincial and federal governments to the tune of $580 million and the financial statements released Thursday suggest that number remains firm.

But that doesn’t take into account rising costs for venues and related buildings being financed by the cities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler, B.C.

The athlete’s village in Vancouver is already $65 million over its $1 billion price tag, though the city only ever budgeted around $315 million for its construction.

In Surrey, B.C., a $10.5-million Games preparation centre hasn’t even started construction.

The Games budget also doesn’t include the overall security cost for the Games, which has still not been finalized, or the money the cities around the venues are spending on related activities.

Organizers say the coming year will see a boom in spending by the committee as they start buying everything from food to fuel.

They expect to pour about $1 billion into the economy.

“Looking ahead, we anticipate an increase in procurement as the organizing committee ramps up operations in preparation for hosting the Games,” John McLaughlin, the chief financial officer for the organizing committee, said in a statement.

“With a significant level of activity in the next fiscal year, we remain confident in our financial position in spite of a turbulent global economy.”

However, time is running out for Premier Mike Rann’s Government to change its position. The Government says it is not interested in hosting the event, which Treasurer Kevin Foley has labelled “B-grade”.

“The position remains the same, particularly in the current economic climate,” Government spokesman Lachlan Parker said yesterday.

The ACGF will meet on November 29 to decide whether Australia will bid for the 2018 Games and it has asked for expressions of interest to be lodged before then.

Federation chief executive Perry Crosswhite has urged the State Government to support a bid and said Adelaide would be a strong contender as the only mainland capital city not to have hosted a Commonwealth Games.

“Adelaide has a legitimate argument to say it is the only mainland capital city that has never hosted the Games and therefore should be given due consideration,” Mr Crosswhite said.

“It’s an important factor because there is a view that these Games don’t belong to a city, they belong to the nation.

“Interestingly there may be some sympathy to Adelaide because of the 1998 situation.”

Many in the international Commonwealth Games community are believed to be well disposed to an Adelaide bid because the city missed out on hosting the 1998 Games, which went to Kuala Lumpur.

Adelaide’s bid for the 1998 Games, led by former Premier John Bannon, was widely regarded as the frontrunner for much of the race but was pipped by a late change in sentiment that favoured awarding the Games to a developing nation.

Adelaide was also awarded the right to host the 1962 Games but withdrew and Perth staged the event instead.

To date, Nigeria is the only country to express an interest in hosting the 2018 event but Federation president Sam Coffa yesterday said there may be some resistance to again staging a Games in a developing nation.

The next Games are being held in Delhi, India, but preparation is well behind schedule and some overseas reports suggest the 2010 Games could be handed to 2006 host Melbourne if the situation does not improve. The 2014 Games are being held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Mr Coffa said the situation in Delhi could work to Australia’s and Adelaide’s advantage. “If Africa does not proceed with a bid then who will be next?,” he said.

Mr Coffa said Australia’s track record of delivering a commercially-viable games staged in quality facilities was also widely admired across the Commonwealth.

The ACGF has already written to all state and territory premiers and chief ministers asking for expressions of interest in hosting the Games.

The West Australian and Queensland governments have already expressed an interest and it is believed the New South Wales Government is also considering nominating Sydney.

The ACGF has already said it would make a decision on which Australian city it will submit, if any, to the international judging process by around August next year. The London-based Commonwealth Games Federation is expected to make a decision on the host city in 2011.

Liberal Opposition leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has already said he supports a bid to bring the Games to Adelaide and has promised to build a new multi-purpose stadium in the city for the main venue, if elected.

If Mr Hamilton-Smith’s proposal was adopted it could cost South Australia about $2 billion to host the Games, although there is no suggestion the taxpayer should foot the entire bill to build a new venue.

Victoria spent $1.1 billion in operating and capital costs to stage the 2006 Games, with the Commonwealth Government contributing $121.9 million in grants, $24.2 million in in-kind support and covering security costs of $79.1 million.

ADULTS should be able to buy R18+ video games in Australia to be in line with the rest of the Western world, a new survey shows.

Research by Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia has found the average age of people who play video games is 30 and that 91 per cent of those asked say they should have access to R18+ games.

Such games usually contain graphic violence and sex scenes and are banned from sale in Australia.

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has led a national charge to block moves to introduce an R18+ rating, saying there would be inadequate safeguards to guarantee children would be prevented from playing or viewing the games.

Since 2001, 22 computer games have been refused classification by the Classification Board for reasons including excessive violence, drug use and sexual references.

Some of the games include Silent Hill: Homecoming, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, Spin the Bottle: Adults only interactive DVD game and Singles Flirt Up Your Life.

Over the same period, 5398 computer games have been approved for sale. Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia chief executive Ron Curry said Australia was the only Western country not to allow R18+ games.

“With the average age of gamers being 30, it makes no sense to censor games to a point where they are only appropriate for a 15-year-old,” he said. “Such censorship would not be acceptable on television, at the cinema or in print.”

The study also found:

ALMOST 100 per cent of children aged six to 10 play computer games.

SEVEN out of 10 parents play computer and video games and 80 per cent of those play them with their children.

 THE average adult has been playing for 11 years.

ALMOST: half of the game population is female.

Author of the report, Jeffrey Brand from Bond University, said the average age of Australian gamers had risen steadily over the past five years.

 A spokeswoman for Mr Atkinson said he maintained his opposition to the introduction of an R18+ video game rating.

IT specialist Jeremy Lawson, 31, who is part of computer club StreetGeek, has been playing computer games since the Commodore 64 was released in 1984. He supports moves to introduce an R18+ rating in Australia.

Times and dates were finalized today for all three of this week’s Class 5A state playoff football games involving city teams.

Rocky Mountain (9-0), seeded second in the 32-team playoffs, will take on No. 31 Hinkley (3-6) at 7 p.m. Thursday at French Field.

Fort Collins (4-5), the No. 26 seed, will play at 7 p.m. Friday at perennial power and seventh-seeded Mullen (7-2).

Poudre (7-2), seeded 11th, will face No. 22 Gateway (5-4) at 11 a.m. Saturday at French Field.

Ticket prices, set by the Colorado High School Activities Association, to all first-round games are $7 for adults and $5 for youths.

Bayern Munich’s poor start to the season overshadowed Werder’s own problems this term but now Juergen Klinsmann’s side are finally getting their act together last season’s runners-up are in danger of getting left behind.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hanover 96 left Werder in 10th place with just 13 points from nine games, and without a Bundesliga victory in a month.

After taking on Leverkusen on Tuesday they host sixth-placed Hertha Berlin on Saturday followed by a Champions League game against Panathinaikos.

Win all three and they will be back in the title race and with a good chance of qualifying for the knockout phase of the Champions League.

“We couldn’t beat Hanover but it was a step forward all the same,” coach Thomas Schaaf told reporters. “The performance was fine. We were certainly a lot more secure than we have been of late.”

Defence has been Werder’s problem this term, with the team having conceded 20 goals already.

That statistic should have Bayer Leverkusen licking their lips. Leverkusen, who briefly led the standings after winning on Friday against Cologne, have scored 22 goals this season, eight of them by in-form Germany striker Patrick Helmes.

Hoffenheim are the new leaders after winning 3-0 at home to Hamburg and they should have little trouble staying at the top when they visit Bochum on Wednesday.

Bayern Munich, up to fifth after beating VfL Wolfsburg 4-2 on Saturday, bid for a third successive league win away to improving Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.

top-ranked football teams in the area.

It was not unanimous when the best time was to play the playoff games this weekend.

Five host sites went with Friday games, while four local games are Saturday as district playoffs begin for 12 area teams.

Each host school determined when the games would be played.

Read more in the Times Herald tomorrow

It’s a jungle on the road out there, and like so many people, Steve Kramer, a 57-year-old financial adviser from Langhorne, Pa., worries how he’ll keep up behind the wheel as he gets older.

Kramer and his wife, Donna, agreed to take part in an experiment: playing a computer game. The software, made by Posit Science, is called an “exercise for the brain.”

“At first I thought, ‘ha-ha, just another game. But it became challenging to where you wanted to do it,” Donna Kramer said.

Allstate Insurance is now offering the game as a free trial to 100,000 Pennsylvania customers whose accident rates will be compared with a group of drivers not playing the games to see if it helps their reflexes and peripheral vision.

“There are a group of people, [ages] 50 to 75, that could benefit from some brain exercise, improve their driving skills, improve their attention, improve their visual skills,” said John Kane, regional distribution leader at Allstate Insurance Co.