Big fight bid will blow Beeb budget Sky high

Inside Lines

The ink has barely dried on the contracts for what they are calling the biggest fight seen in America's South since the Civil War. However, there's a lot of water to flow under the bridges of the Mississippi between now and 8 June, when Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson are due to wage their own somewhat uncivil war in Memphis. So don't place your bets just yet. It still might not happen, according to some leading fight-game figures, who cynically foresee a Lewis training injury or another Tyson out-of-the-ring aberration. But if it goes ahead, who will win the TV rights here? The BBC's chief, Greg Dyke, is prepared to bid £3 million for a live early-hours screening, despite the reservations of his board of governors and some of his own sports deparment. Coming as it does on the weekend of England's World Cup clash with Argentina, and the Derby, covering the fight could stretch BBC resources as well as blow the budget. BSkyB, with no World Cup commitments, are determined to top any BBC offer, and it looks certain the scrap will end up on their pay-per view channel. Meanwhile, as the bartering begins, the rock 'n' rolling citizens of Memphis are wondering what is about to hit them. The mayor warns of an underworld invasion, bringing, he says, drugs and prostitution, although presumably he is happy that the huge influx of dollars will compensate for the nasty bits. Seats at the 20,500 capacity Pyramid Arena will range between $200 and $1,800, and judging from the hits on the stadium's website, which have increased a hundredfold, there will be no problem selling them. So all concerned must be hoping that Lewis and Tyson really will be landing hits on each other, in the ring this time.

Barry's girl gets Olympic platform

Britain may not have much of a voice in international sport but our spin doctors are are rapidly becoming the voice of international sport. The appointment of Giselle Davies as Director of Communications for the International Olympic Committee completes a trio who put the message across with an English accent in sport's corridors of power. She joins ex-FA man Keith Cooper, who is Fifa's spokesman, and Mike Lee, formerly the Premiership's PR, who now does the same job for Uefa. Davies, 32, is the personal choice of new IOC president Jacques Rogge, and as such will be the first woman to hold such an significant post since the formidable Monique Berlioux back in the Avery Brundage era. She also happens to be the daughter of TV commentator Barry Davies, sharing a family interest in the Varsity Boat Race, which she helped make one of the most publicised showpieces on the sporting calendar. More recently Ms Davies, a multi-linguist, has been head of communications for Jordan. Apart from football and the Boat Race her old man also covers the Olympics, which should make IOC question time interesting. "Yes, dad?"

Hoey warns of football's early bubble bath

As football hurtles towards the biggest cash crisis in its history, Kate Hoey could be excused a wry smile. When she was sports minister she warned that the bubble would burst if the game didn't get its financial house in order. No one listened, and in the end the resentful game did for her. Ten months after her brutal sacking, she admits she's still a little hurt, but insists she's not bitter. As for that bubble, "it may now burst more quickly than some of us thought." She says she still loves watching football and has "a huge amount of respect" for Sven Goran Eriksson "But in terms of people running the game it is probably my least favourite sport."

Just when it seemed that the final whistle was about to be blown in the Battle of Foster's Field, we have welcome news that extra time is to be played. A public inquiry is to be held into the future of the disused playing field in Sherborne that has been the subject a nine-year crusade led by 83-year-old local resident Doug Hosking.

We reported in these pages how Dorset County Council had been accused of "bully boy tactics" by Hosking when they apparently put pressure on several members of the local planning committee, who wanted to stop the selling off of the field for a housing development, not to vote on the issue. As late as last week letters had gone out to these "rebels" saying they should allow "substitutes" to replace them but in a surprise move yesterday the Council announced a public enquiry. This was said to be at the request of the prospective builders, frustrated by the delay, but the fact that Hosking had obtained legal advice which suggested that the Council's tactics were illegal may well have had something to do with it.

The Manchester organisers of this summer's Commonwealth Games must be mightily relieved that their boss had not persuaded ITV Digital to underwrite any of their costs. He might well have done so, of course, as he happens to be Charles Allen, who is also the chairman of Granada.

Allen's unwillingness to put his hand into Granada's pocket to bail out the digital defaulters could be bad news for Wembley, too. With the banks reluctant to stump up the necessary, the Football Association may well have to hang on to their own cash reserves to help out the Nationwide needy rather than contribute to Wembley's rebuilding. "The ramifications will be far reaching," admitsWembley chairman Sir Rodney Walker.

insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

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