Inside Lines: Crisis as sport seeks a word from the sponsor

Racing is not alone in discovering that a major problem with sponsorship is on the cards. Most sports, including football, rugby union, cricket and motor racing, are struggling to renew deals with existing sponsors or sign up with new ones. Mike Reynolds, director of the Institute of Sports Sponsorship, says the situation is now so critical that some less well-off sports could go to the wall. "Crisis is not too strong a word. The Government seem to believe there is a huge amount of money available to sport from the commercial sector but this is no longer the case. Obviously, there is some but it may not go where the Government think it should go. The sad fact is that 90 per cent of sponsorship money goes to the top 10 sports and the rest are left to fight for the crumbs." Apparently it is not only fear of a recession but that pending cuts in Lottery funding are deterring potential sponsors from investing in sport because they fear there will be a drop in achievements, which would not be beneficial for their brand name. Conversely, according to an independent report produced for the Institute, those sports which do attract sponsorship complain that this often leads to reduced funding from theTreasury. "It is a Catch 22 situation," says Reynolds. "The Government are not matching their words with their money." At the top level, the English Cricket Board have been unable to find sponsorship for their one-day league and the new Twenty20 competition has had to be launched without a sponsor. And so far no deal has been struck at the asking price of £10m for rugby's Six Nations tournament, despite England's recent successes and terrestrial exposure on the BBC.

Straw's chum set for best man role again

Sport England's next boss is almost certain to be a man of Straw. Jack Straw, that is, the Foreign Secretary, whose old school chum Patrick Carter is poised to take over the chair vacated by Trevor Brooking next week. So exactly who is Patrick Carter? Few in sport have ever met him and his sporting interests, if any, are as little-known as his face. What we do know is that he is 56, a former banker who made his fortune through selling the private healthcare trust he set up for £325m and is a former non-executive director of the prison service. Perhaps, more significantly, he was at Brentwood School with Straw and was best man at both his weddings. Straw suggested him to sort out the Picketts Lock fiasco, which he did by killing it off after an inquiry which cost almost £400,000. He was then engaged by the Government as a fiscal troubleshooter for Wembley and the Commonwealth Games. As he was invited to apply for the part-time Sport England job, it can be surmised he will be preferred to other candidates, who included Tessa Sanderson and Brigit Simmons. But is Straw's best man the best man for Sport England, or will he be just a Government cypher?

Telegraphing the Olympic punches

The BOA are backing it, so are UK Sport, Sport England, indeed the whole of British sport. Plus Ken Livingstone. But will the Government back a bid for a London Olympics? And will the media? We know the Daily Telegraph will, because they never stop telling us. Yet the BOA are concerned that the paper's relentless campaign is alienating not only their rivals but the decision-makers in Whitehall. The London Evening Standard remains curiously coy about coming out in favour, while a major meeting of Olympic sports last week, which endorsed the bid, merited a page in the Telegraph but only a paragraph in other broadsheets – and nothing in the tabs.

Whether the name Samaranch still carries any clout in Olympic circles may be determined this week when the International Olympic Committee decide whether to kick out the one sport that was custom-built for the Games, the modern pentathlon.

Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch is the honorary president of the sport's international federation and his son Juan Antonio Jnr, an IOC member, is a vice-president. The IOC meet in Mexico City with a recommendation for its expulsion after 90 years to help make way for golf and rugby sevens. Jim Fox, who won gold for Britain in 1976, and Dr Stephanie Cook, winner of the first women's event in Sydney, haveprotested to current IOC president Jacques Rogge, saying it would kill off the sport. "It is the one sport which still represents what the Olympics should be about," says Fox, who was sad to learn of the death last week at 72 of Ron Bright, who coached the British team to gold in Montreal.

Scores of youngsters will be on the streets of Exeter today, a situation that may become uncomfortably familiar to them if the city council do not back down on their decision to close a local school sports centre.

It is the same sad old tale. The council are withdrawing funding from the centre saying they can make "better use" of the resources. But what is better than keeping kids off the street and encouraging them to play sport? Today's protest gathering will reinforce the message but, increasingly, it is one which is not being heeded by local authorities. Yet Exeter's is due to receive a Government grant of £120m to modernise city schools. Pity they can't find the odd few thousand to play the game with the kids.

Insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

I am not gay. Straight talking in triplicate from footballer Sol Campbell, swimmer Ian Thorpe and US baseball All-Star Mike Piazza, all refuting innuendo about their sexuality... He is a wonderful father and now all he wants is to bring his son to Exeter. Club chairman Uri Geller dangles the bizarre prospect of a visit to St James Park from his wacky friend Michael Jackson... When I get screwed I like a kiss too. Dutch footballer Martin Bennink, banned for eight weeks by his FA for kissing a referee full on the mouth after being sent off.