2015 MSA Formula Championship, Race calendar and results
The calendar for the 2015 TOCA package was announced on 14 September 2014. The Oulton Park round reverted to the Island layout, after using the International circuit in 2014. All races were held in the United Kingdom.


2015 MSA Formula Championship, Championship standings, Drivers' championship
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† — Did not finish, but classified


2015 MSBL season
The 2015 MSBL season was the 27th season of the Men's State Basketball League (SBL). The regular season began on Friday 13 March, with Perry Lakes and Kalamunda hosting East Perth and Mandurah respectively. The 2015 MSBL All-Star Game was played on 1 June at Bendat Basketball Centre – the home of basketball in Western Australia. The regular season ended on Saturday 25 July. The finals began on Friday 31 July and ended on Saturday 29 August, when the Joondalup Wolves defeated the South West Slammers in the MSBL Grand Final.


2015 MSBL season, Regular season
The regular season began on Friday 13 March and ended on Saturday 25 July after 20 rounds of competition.


2015 MSBL season, Finals
The finals began on Friday 31 July and ended on Saturday 29 August with the MSBL Grand Final.


2015 MSBL season, All-Star Game
The 2015 MSBL All-Star Game took place at Bendat Basketball Centre on Monday 1 June, with all proceeds going to Youth Focus to help prevent youth suicide. The contest was moved to mid-season in 2015, after being played a week after the grand final in 2014.


2015 MTN 8
The 2015 MTN 8 was the 41st edition of South Africa's annual soccer cup competition, the MTN 8. It featured the top eight teams of the Premier Soccer League at the end of the 2014-15 season.


2015 MTN 8, Teams
The eight teams that competed in the MTN 8 knockout competition are (listed according to their finishing position in the 2014/2015 Premier Soccer League Season):


2015 MTN–Qhubeka season
The 2015 season for the MTN–Qhubeka cycling team began in January at the Trofeo Santanyi-Ses Salines-Campos. The team participated in UCI Continental Circuits and UCI World Tour events when given a wildcard invitation.


2015 MTV Europe Music Awards
The 2015 MTV EMAs (also known as the MTV Europe Music Awards) were held at the Mediolanum Forum in Assago, near Milan, Italy, on 25 October 2015. This was the third time the awards have taken place in Italy, second time Milan has been the host city, and the first (and so far, the only) time that the awards have been held in October. The awards was held in the same venue as the 1998 MTV EMAs. On 30 September 2015, it was announced that singer Ed Sheeran would host the awards, along with actress Ruby Rose.


2015 MTV Europe Music Awards
Justin Bieber won six awards, including Best Male and Best Worldwide Act.


2015 MTV Europe Music Awards
Throughout mid-2015, Milan also hosted Expo 2015, a partner of this year's awards.


2015 MTV Europe Music Awards
In association with the EMAs, MTV Italia organised an event called MTV Music Week, which ran from 19 October to 25 October. In addition, on the nights of 24 and 25 October, two concerts were held in Piazza del Duomo, Milan, one of which was related to MTV World Stage. International and Italian acts performed on both nights, including Ellie Goulding, Marco Mengoni, Duran Duran, Martin Garrix and Afrojack.


2015 MTV Europe Music Awards, Nominations
Skrillex and Diplo (featuring Justin Bieber) — "Where Are Ü Now"


2015 MTV Movie Awards
The 2015 MTV Movie Awards were held on April 12, 2015 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. This was the 24th installment of the award show and the second time the Nokia Theatre would serve as its venue. The award show was hosted by comedian, writer, and actress Amy Schumer. The announcement was made on Wednesday, December 10, 2014.


2015 MTV Movie Awards
On February 25, 2015, the announcement for the new MTV Movie Awards logo created by the Australian husband and wife artists duo . The artists also announced they were working on the set design for the award show. Kelly Osbourne, Josh Horowitz, Christina Garibaldi and British singer Jessie J hosted the pre-show.


2015 MTV Movie Awards, Awards
The nominees were announced on the morning of March 4, 2015.


2015 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015. The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, followed by Ed Sheeran, who had six, bringing his total number of mentions to 13. Swift's "Wildest Dreams" music video premiered during the pre-show. Cyrus also announced and released her studio album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, right after her performance at the end of the show. During his acceptance speech, Kanye West announced that he would be running in the 2020 United States presidential election. Taylor Swift won the most awards with four, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video. The VMA trophies were redesigned by Jeremy Scott.


2015 MTV Video Music Awards
This edition of the MTV VMA were followed by 9.8 million people in the United States through the various channels MTV for broadcast use. Due to a simulcast across ten Viacom networks, the 2015 ceremony's airing on the flagship MTV network alone had one of the lowest audience in the ceremony's 31-year history, with the following year's ceremony being the lowest of all time. According to Nielsen, it logged 5.03 million viewers only on MTV, 39% less than the previous year, while cumulative viewers drew 9.8 million with the nine other simulcasting networks.


2015 MTV Video Music Awards
The lowest viewed edition since Nielson began tracking in 1994 was in 1996, with 5.07 million viewers. This broadcast, however, broke the "US Twitter record", being the most tweeted about non-sports program, with 21.4 million tweets delivered by 2.2 million people. It was also streamed live through the MTV app for authenticated users on mobile devices and television sets via iOS, Android and Chromecast. Through its website, viewers could also get to see un-aired audience shots and backstage coverage. mtvU aired a behind-the-scenes feed and MTV Hits went dark.


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees
The nominations were announced on July 21, 2015 via Apple Music's Beats 1. Nominees for the social media-driven category, Song of Summer, were announced on August 18, 2015. Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar were tied with most nominations, 10. Ed Sheeran had 6, Nicki Minaj had 4.


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Direction
Kendrick Lamar – "Alright" (Directors: Colin Tilley and the Little Homies)


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Choreography
OK Go – "I Won't Let You Down" (Choreographer: OK Go, air:man and Mori Harano)


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Visual Effects
Skrillex and Diplo (featuring Justin Bieber) – "Where Are Ü Now" (Visual Effects: Brewer, GloriaFX, Tomash Kuzmytskyi and Max Chyzhevskyy)


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Art Direction
Snoop Dogg – "So Many Pros" (Art Director: Jason Fijal)


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Editing
Beyoncé – "7/11" (Editors: Beyoncé, Ed Burke and Jonathan Wing)


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Cinematography
Flying Lotus (featuring Kendrick Lamar) – "Never Catch Me" (Director of Photography: Larkin Seiple)


2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Winners and nominees, Best Video with a Social Message
Big Sean (featuring Kanye West and John Legend) – "One Man Can Change the World"


2015 MTV Video Music Awards Japan
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Japan was held in Tokyo on November 26, 2015 and was hosted by Verbal from m-flo.


2015 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Nominees and Winners, Best Group Video, Japan
J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE - Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"


2015 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Nominees and Winners, Best Collaboration
Momoiro Clover Z with Kiss - Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina


2015 MVP Cup
The 2015 Manny V. Pangilinan Cup, also known as the Master Game Face MVP Cup 2015 due to sponsorship reasons, was an invitational basketball tournament which was contested by four teams from September 11–13, 2015 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. While a similarly named tournament was held in 2010, the 2010 MVP Invitational Champions' Cup, the 2015 MVP Cup is considered the inaugural edition of the MVP Cup and is planned to be held annually.


2015 MVP Cup
The tournament was a single-round robin format and the champions were awarded $25,000.


2015 MVP Cup, Participants
China, South Korea and Senegal were invited to join the tournament but neither three had confirmed their participation. Lebanon confirmed their participation but later withdrew from the tournament due to undisclosed reasons. Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters was a last minute replacement team following the withdrawal of Lebanon.


2015 Macau Grand Prix
The 2015 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 62nd Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix) was a motor race for Formula Three cars that was held on the streets of Macau on 22 November 2015. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2015 Macau Grand Prix was not a part of any Formula Three championship, but was open to entries from all Formula Three championships. The race itself was made up of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that decided the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The 2015 race was the 62nd running of the Macau Grand Prix and the 33rd for Formula Three cars.


2015 Macau Grand Prix
The Grand Prix was won by Theodore Racing by Prema driver Felix Rosenqvist from pole position, having won the Qualification Race the previous afternoon after the on the road victor Antonio Giovinazzi was penalised 20 seconds for a first lap crash. Rosenqvist led the majority of the main race to clinch his second consecutive Macau Grand Prix victory, the first time this had happened since Edoardo Mortara won the 2009 and 2010 races. Second place went to the highest placed rookie driver, Charles Leclerc for Van Amersfoort Racing, while the podium was completed by Double R Racing driver Alexander Sims.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Entry list and background
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and is the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2015 Macau Grand Prix was the 62nd running of the event and the 33rd time that the race was held to Formula Three regulations. It took place on the 6.2 km (3.9 mi) 22-turn Guia Circuit on 22 November 2015 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Entry list and background
In order to compete in Macau, drivers had to compete in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship meeting during the calendar year, in either the FIA Formula Three European Championship or one of the domestic championships, with drivers placed high up in the rankings of these respective championships given priority in receiving an invitation to the meeting. Within the 28-car grid of the event, two of the three major Formula Three series were represented by their respective champion. Defending race winner Felix Rosenqvist, the Formula Three European champion, was joined in Macau by Japanese series winner Nick Cassidy. As was the case in 2014, Euroformula Open racer Yu Kanamaru was a late addition to the entry list at Carlin after George Russell was withdrawn from the race.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Entry list and background
Three drivers who mainly competed in other series outside of Formula Three in 2015 became eligible for the Macau race: British GT driver Alexander Sims competed in the Formula Three European Championship in the Algarve International Circuit round in order to become eligible. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters racer Daniel Juncadella had to wait until his main series campaign had concluded before sealing his eligibility; he took part in the Euroformula Open Championship, a second-tier Formula Three series in Europe, in its season-ending round at the Hockenheimring. Super GT participant Yuhi Sekiguchi sealed his eligibility for the Macau Grand Prix by competing in the All-Japan Formula Three round at Twin Ring Motegi.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Entry list and background
At the start of 2015, the Macau Grand Prix coordinator Barry Bland discussed the implementation of the virtual safety car (VSC) system with race director Charlie Whiting during the drawing up of the race's sporting regulations. Provision for the system was implemented into the regulations and would help save a large amount of time as well as aiding drivers in blind corners. Thus the Grand Prix was designated a "test race" for the VSC in order for the system to be written into the 2016 Formula Three European Championship regulations.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Two 45-minute practice sessions were held before the race on Sunday: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Antonio Giovinazzi set the fastest time for Carlin in the opening practice session with a lap of 2 minutes, 13.829 seconds, nearly eight-tenths of a second faster than anyone else. His closest challenger was Felix Rosenqvist who fought Giovinazzi for the top spot. Markus Pommer was third-fastest, ahead of the Japanese trio of Kenta Yamashita, Sekiguchi and Kanamaru. Cassidy, Lance Stroll, Mitsunori Takaboshi and Alexander Albon rounded out the session's top ten drivers.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
The session was red flagged twice: Jake Dennis crashed into the right-hand wall at the Solitude Esses after sustaining a puncture 20 minutes in, and Callum Ilott struck the barrier at the left-hand turn before Faraway corner with nine minutes left. Two other drivers, Sims and Zhi Cong Li, crashed at Lisboa turn but no stoppages were necessitated because both cars were retrieved from the track without difficulty.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Qualifying was divided into two sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon and ran for 40 minutes with the second held on Friday afternoon and lasting for 30 minutes. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards his final starting position for the qualification race. The first qualifying session had Rosenqvist come out on top with a time of 2 minutes, 11.842 seconds on the session's final lap with new tyres. He was eight-tenths of a second quicker than Ilott in second with teammate Giovinazzi another thousandth of a second slower in third.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Ilott and Giovinazzi led at various points in the session before Rosenqvist's last lap effort. Sam MacLeod improved on his last lap to finish fourth after four new tyres were installed at his pit stop. On his last timed lap, Juncadella recovered from an earlier free practice gearbox problem to place provisionally fifth. Having been in contention, Pommer finished sixth, with Sekiguci and Mikkel Jensen in close proximity on the time sheets. Gustavo Menezes and Sims rounded out the top ten.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Following them were Charles Leclerc, Kanamaru, Stroll and Arjun Maini, Alessio Lorandi, Dennis–whose air restrictor fell off his car and then had gearbox issues–Dorian Boccolacci, Yamashita, Santino Ferrucci, Cassidy, Albon, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Martin Cao, Ryan Tveter, Takaboshi, Matt Solomon, Zhi Cong Li and Wing Chung Chang. The session passed relatively smoothly, with only Sette Câmara crashing and then stopping at San Francisco Hill to prevent further damage en route to the pit lane.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
In the second 45-minute practice session, Pommer fought with Rosenqvist and Leclerc for the top spot until the former set a benchmark past the midpoint of the session and the time he set of 2 minutes, 11.102 (which was the fastest of the race meeting at that point) remained fastest until the conclusion of the second practice session. Rosenqvist followed three-tenths of a second adrift in second and Leclerc continued his progression up the time sheets to third. Giovinazzi was the last driver to be within one second of the pace set by Pommer's in fourth.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Stroll, Juncadella, Dennis, Jensen and the British pairing of MacLeod and Ilott composed positions six to ten. Three crashes occurred during the session as Stroll went straight into a barrier at the Melco hairpin and Boccalacci triggered the sole stoppage with an error that heavily damaged his car against the wall at the exit of San Francisco Bend. Cao lost control of his vehicle at Paiol corner and damaged its right-hand side suspension in an impact with the barrier but entered the pit lane for repairs.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
The second qualifying session was delayed due to multiple crashes during qualifying for the FIA GT World Cup support race. When the session did begin and before any competitor could record a timed lap, the first of two red flags was waved for Ilott who hit a barrier exiting the San Francisco Bend. Later Melco hairpin was blocked when Menezes attempted to return to pit lane after a driver error at Moorish turn. He could not get enough steering lock and understeered into a wall. Lorandi could not react quickly enough and ploughed into Menezes's rear.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Lorandi's rear in turn was hit by a Signature car. Rosenqvist continued his strong form from Thursday's qualifying and set the pace again before Leclerc usurped his time halfway through. Rosenqvist had new tyres installed and returned to the top. He later improved with a lap of 2 minutes, 10.474 seconds in response to Juncadella getting close to his pace. The session was abandoned with four minutes remaining when Giovinazzi crashed at the left-hand corner before Maternity Bend. Thus, Rosenqvist took pole position by 0.213 seconds from Juncadella.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Leclerc moved from eleventh to start third and was the best placed rookie driver. Giovinazzi fell from third to fourth. Pommer was in the top three for most of the session before finishing fifth. However he incurred a two-place grid penalty for impeding another car during qualifying. MacLeod and Sette Câmara inherited fifth and sixth as a result of Pommer's penalty. Pommer was ahead of a close trio of cars driven by Macau rookies. Maini, Lorandi and Stroll were in positions eight through ten. The sixth row was adorned by the Mücke Motorsport cars of Ferrucci and Jensen. The rest of the grid lined up as the British duo of Sims and Dennis, Albon, Sekiguchi, Tveter, Ilott, the Japanese pair of Kanamaru and Takaboshi, Chang, Cao, Yamashita, Cassidy, Menezes, Boccolacci, Solomon and Zhi.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying, Qualifying classification
Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
The qualifying race to set the grid order for the main race started at 13:45 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on 21 November. The weather at the start was dry and cloudy with the air temperature 26 °C (79 °F) and the track temperature 27 °C (81 °F). On the grid, Rosenqvist made a clean start to lead the field into Lisboa corner with Juncadella slotting behind in second position. Giovinazzi made a similarly good start and passed Leclerc for third and attempted to pass Juncadella.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
By the time the two reached the turn's braking area, Giovinazzi muscled himself to the inside of Juncadella and his front-right tyre made contact with the latter's left-rear wheel. Juncadella was sent spinning across the track and into the inside barrier. Tveter battled Dennis for position but had no room to negotiate and slammed into the stationary Juncadella. Tveter was hit in turn by Ilott which bruised and cut Ilott's hand. Behind the duo, Jensen struck the rear of Albon's car and the resulting pile up partially blocked the circuit and necessitated the safety car's deployment.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
Under the safety car, Jensen, Kanamaru, Sekiguichi and Chang chose to make pit stops for car repairs. The safety car was withdrawn after one lap and racing resumed on lap three. Giovinazzi slipstreaming onto the back of Rosenqvist soon after and overtook him around the outside before the braking point for Lisboa corner to move into the lead. Giovinazzi slid going into Lisboa corner but regained control of his car. Zhi become another retiree when he crashed at Police turn after the restart. Sims passed Sette Câmara and then MacLeod before Lisboa turn to claim fourth on the fourth lap.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
He began to focus on lowering the time deficit to the leading trio of cars with consecutive fastest laps. At the front, Giovinazzi extended his lead to 1½ seconds and drew clear from Rosenqvist. Ferrucci passed Maini and Lorandi to settle for seventh by its conclusion. Giovinazzi struggled for grip, and Rosenqvist reduced his lead to eight-tenths of a second by the start of the final lap. Rosenqvist then slipstreamed up behind Giovinazzi into Lisboa corner.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
Rosenqvist moved out of the slipstream but made an error at the Melco hairpin after over-adjusting his brake bias to compensate for brake locking. Leclerc closer to within half a second of Rosenqvist although he could not draw close enough to challenge him. Giovinazzi opened up a 1.9-second lead and maintained it to finish first on the road. Soon after Giovinazzi incurred a drive-through penalty for his role in the Juncadella clash on the first lap. This subsequently increased to a 20-second time penalty and Giovnazzi was demoted to tenth.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
After the race, his team discussed the penalty with the stewards who decided no change was needed. Thus, Rosenqvist took the qualifying race victory and pole position for the Grand Prix itself. He was joined on the grid's front row by Leclerc, while Sims completed the podium. Behind him, MacLeod finished fourth, ahead of a close up consisting of Pommer, Sette Câmara, Ferrucci, Lorandi and Maini. Outside the top ten, Dennis took 11th ahead of Boccolacci. Stroll, Cao, Yamashita, Sekiguchi, Cassidy, Chang, Menezes, Kanamaru, Solomon and Jensen rounded out the top 22 classified finishers.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Main race
The race started at 15:30 local time on 22 November. The weather at the beginning was dry and sunny with an air temperature of 28 °C (82 °F) and a track temperature at 32 °C (90 °F). Juncadella failed to start the event after his crash during the qualification race damaged the tub of his car. When the race began from its standing start, Rosenqvist led the field into Lisboa corner and Leclerc challenged him. Leclerc steered onto the outside and overtook Rosenqvist braking at Lisboa corner for the lead.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Main race
A slow exit from Leclerc leaving the final turn as he was completing the first lap allowed Rosenqvist to run in his slipstream and turned onto the inside to reclaim first place. Leclerc then moved into Rosenqvist's slipstream and executed an identical move from the first lap to overtake him around the outside for the lead. Soon after a large crash involving Menezes and Tveter and Takaboshi at Fisherman's Bend stopped the race since debris was littered across the track. All three were unhurt.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Main race
All cars were ordered to park in the pit lane while marshals cleared the track of debris. 20 minutes later, the race was restarted behind the safety car. Racing resumed on lap four, with Leclerc leading the field back up to speed. He could not hold off Rosenqvist who retook the lead through the Mandarin Bend while MacLeod used this to pass Leclerc braking for Lisboa turn for third. On the following lap, Sims attempted to line up a pass on Leclerc but could not successfully take third place from him.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Main race
As Rosenqvist opened up a two-second lead, Leclerc overtook MacLeod on the outside for second at Lisboa corner on lap seven. MacLeod fell out of the top three as he slid his car at Moorish corner and made contact with the wall. MacLeod was forced to limp back to the pit lane to replace a punctured right-rear tyre. At that point in the race, Rosenqvist led Leclerc, Sims, Giovinazzi, Pommer, Ferrucci, Stroll and Lorandi. Soon after, Ilott became the race's final retiree after crashing at Police corner and stopped on the escape road.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Main race
The record for the fastest ever lap around the Guia Circuit was surpassed several times with Sette Câmara lowering it to a time of 2 minutes, 10.186 seconds on the final lap. Leclerc reduced Rosenqvist's lead over the rest of the field from about two to 1.1 seconds but he could not get close enough to mount a serious challenge for the win. Thus, Rosenqvist held the lead to claim his second Macau Grand Prix victory, becoming the first driver to win it consecutively since Edoardo Mortara won the 2009 and 2010 races.


2015 Macau Grand Prix, Main race
Lelcerc finished second once again, 1.168 seconds behind, while Sims completed the podium in a repeat of Saturday's top three placings. Off the podium, Giovinazzi gained six places from tenth to finish fourth but could not overtake Sims. Pommer secured fifth with Ferrucci a further five seconds adrift in sixth and Lorandi took seventh. The top ten was rounded out by Prema teammates Stroll and Dennis along with Maini. Outside the top ten, Boccolacci finished 11th and Cassidy closely followed him. Albon, Chang, Yamashita, Sekiguchi, Cao, Solomon, Jensen, MacLeod, Zhi and Sette Câmara were the final classified finishers.


2015 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold
The 2015 Macau Open Grand Prix Open was the nineteenth grand prix gold and grand prix tournament of the 2015 BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix. The tournament was held in Tap Seac Multi-sports Pavilion, Macau November 24–29, 2015 and had a total budget of $120,000.


2015 Macedonian Football Supercup
The 2015 Macedonian Supercup was the 3rd Macedonian Football Supercup, an annual Macedonian football match played between the winners of the previous season's First League and Macedonian Cup. The game will be played between Rabotnički, who beat Teteks to win the 2015 Macedonian Cup Final, and Vardar, champions of the 2014–15 First League. It was played at Philip II Arena, Skopje and was won by Vardar by 4–3 on penalties after the match was ended 1–1 after the regular and extra time.


2015 Macedonian protests
In May 2015, protests occurred in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, against the incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his government. Protests began following charges being brought up against Zoran Zaev, the Social Democratic opposition leader, who responded by alleging that Gruevski had 20,000 Macedonian officials and other figures wiretapped, and covered up the murder of a young man by a police officer in 2011. A protest with up to 2,000 attendees occurred on May 5, seeing clashes between activists and police.


2015 Macedonian protests
Several ministers, including the interior minister, resigned during the protests. Gruevski himself refused to step down, saying on May 16 that "if I back down it would be a cowardly move. I’ll face down the attacks.”


2015 Macedonian protests
Protests continued through the month, and a large gathering of anti-government protestors was held in Skopje on May 17. The number of protesters that turned up on Sunday, May 17 is estimated in the tens of thousands (40,000+). Zaev claimed that the number of attendees at the rally on Sunday was more than 100,000 (between 100,000 and 120,000). On May 18, a large pro-government rally occurred of Gruevski's supporters, said to be in the tens of thousands. Estimates put pro-government supporters at around 30,000.


2015 Macedonian protests
On May 19, Gruevski and Zaev met for talks, with several members of the European Parliament also present, in Strasbourg. The negotiations lasted for twelve hours but resulted in no agreements. On his return flight to Macedonia, Gruevski's plane made an emergency landing in Zurich after decompression in the air occurred.


2015 Macedonian protests, Background
Events escalated after the April 2014 general election, in which Nikola Gruevski and his ruling party defeated Zoran Zaev and his Social Democratic Union of Macedonia. Zaev stated that SDSM would not recognize the elections as legitimate and claimed that the government abused the system. Later, the government accused Zaev of planning a coup on January 31, 2015, and conspiring with a foreign intelligence service. They claimed that they obtained documents in which he conspired with the British ambassador.


2015 Macedonian protests, Background
He responded by releasing information which alleged that Gruevski had 20,000 Macedonian citizens wiretapped and covered up the murder of a young man after the election in 2011, amongst other claims. The beginning of the protest further set back Macedonia on its path of joining the European Union, which it has been attempting to do since 2005.


2015 Macedonian protests, Student and high school protests
On 10 October 2014, thousands of students took to the streets against a government plan to replace university-run examinations with state 'testing', accusing the government of infringing the autonomy of the country's universities Similar protests also happened on 17 November and 10 and 25 December 2014. Academics supported the students' claims and Students Plenum, an ad hoc organizing committee, denied government claims that Zaev's opposition Social Democrats were behind the protests. High school pupils have also protested against the changes on 19 March, 1 April, 6 May and 7 June 2015, and boycotted the classes in April and May 2015.


2015 Macedonian protests, The event, Initial protests
Between 5,000—6,000 people showed up in a protest in Skopje on Tuesday, 5 May 2015. Protestors demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Gruevski and his cabinet. Police responded by clearing out the protest with tear gas. A number of police officers were injured, with conflicting reports putting the figure between 10—38. At least 19 protestors were injured. Protests continued across the country, and a skirmish occurred on May 9 in the town of Kumanovo, northwestern Macedonia, between Albanian militants and Macedonian police. The skirmish resulted in several deaths. On May 16, the government prepared for more actions as protests continued. Gruevski stated to the pro-government Sitel TV on Saturday that "if I back down it would be a cowardly move. I’ll face down the attacks.”


2015 Macedonian protests, The event, May 17
Large crowds gathered to protest on May 17, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gruevski, who refused and said a rally of supporters will occur on May 18. The number of protesters was estimated to be in the tens of thousands, more than 30,000. Zaev claimed that the protesters numbered 50,000, and said that some of them would remain there for days until Gruevski resigns. European Union diplomats offered to mediate a solution to the crisis.


2015 Macedonian protests, The event, Counter-protest
Later, tens of thousands appeared on the streets on Monday, May 18, at a pro-government rally. The total count of pro-government supporters was estimated to be between 30,000 and 70,000. The rally appeared to be peaceful and no clashes occurred between the two.


2015 Macedonian protests, The event, Negotiations
Gruevski and Zaev met in Strasbourg for talks on May 19, held for about twelve hours, along with several members of the European Parliament. They made no progress, and a new meeting was scheduled for a later date. Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE), Zaev (SDSM), Ahmeti (DUI) and Thaci (DPA) met on 2 June in Skopje mediated by the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn. Early general elections in April 2016 were announced.


2015 Macedonian protests, Aftermath, Reactions, Domestic
Three government officials, two ministers and the intelligence chief, resigned during the protests. Those three included Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, Transport Minister Mile Janakieski and intelligence chief Saso Mijalkov, who is also the Prime Minister's cousin. In his resignation letter, Mijalkov said that he hoped it would "help in overcoming the political crisis imposed by the opposition". Gruevski refused to step down, and said on May 16, "if I back down it would be a cowardly move. I’ll face down the attacks.” Gruevski appeared at the head of a large pro-government rally on May 18 in Skopje, with tens of thousands showing up in support of the government.


2015 Macedonian protests, Aftermath, Reactions, Domestic
The political crisis which began with the wiretapping incident continued into 2016, with Gruevski ultimately resigning and being replaced by Emil Dimitriev as the Prime Minister of Macedonia as a result of the EU-brokered Pržino Agreement. The investigation into Gruevski and other politicians from VMRO-DPMNE was stopped in April 2016 by President Gjorge Ivanov, which resulted in several protests.


2015 Mackay Cutters season
The 2015 Mackay Cutters season was the eighth in the club's history. Coached by Kim Williams and captained by Chris Gesch and Liam Taylor, they competed in the QRL's Intrust Super Cup. The club missed the finals for the second consecutive season, finishing 8th.


2015 Mackay Cutters season, Season summary
Looking to return to the finals after missing out in 2014, the Cutters recruited former NRL and Super League forward Steve Rapira, who had previously played for the  club in 2009 while contracted to the North Queensland Cowboys, Samoan international Michael Sio and former Brisbane Broncos NRL squad member Cameron Cullen.


2015 Mackay Cutters season, Season summary
The season started strongly for the club, as they went on a five-game winning streak, winning five of their first seven games. The period between their two byes was poor for the side, winning just four of their nine games. On 10 June, it was announced that Kim Williams would be leaving the club at the end of the season to coach the Central Queensland Capras. Seven days later, key off-season recruit Michel Sio left the club, signing with Super League side, Wakefield Trinity. The Cutters ended the year winning one and drawing one of their last seven to finish the season in 8th.


2015 Mackay Cutters season, Season summary
On 9 September, Cowboys-contracted player Josh Chudleigh was named at hooker in the Queensland Cup Team of the Year.


2015 Madeiran regional election
A regional election was held in Madeira on 29 March 2015, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The election was the first in which the former President of the Region, Alberto João Jardim, was not on the ballot as he earlier stated that he would step down as President and leader of the PSD-Madeira in January 2015. On 29 December 2014, the PSD-Madeira elected  Miguel Albuquerque as the new president of the party's regional section. After winning the presidency, Albuquerque stated that he would not assume the Presidency of the Government without an election, so Alberto João Jardim asked President Aníbal Cavaco Silva to dissolve the Parliament and call an election, which was scheduled for 29 March.


2015 Madeiran regional election
The campaign for the regional legislative election in Madeira ran from 15 to 27 March 2015.


2015 Madeiran regional election
The results showed that the Social Democrats were reelected for the 11th time in a row and, again, with an absolute majority of 24 seats, against the 25 seats won in 2011. The People's Party was again the second most voted party and the coalition between the Socialists and other smaller parties called Change suffered a huge defeat by winning fewer votes and seats compared to the combined total of the parties in 2011. Together for the People was the surprise of the election winning 10.3% of the vote and winning 5 seats. The Unitary Democratic Coalition increase their result by one MP and the Left Bloc returned to the regional parliament with 2 seats.


2015 Madeiran regional election
The turnout in these elections was the lowest ever, with 49.6% of voters casting a ballot.


2015 Madeiran regional election, Electoral system
The 47 members of the Madeiran regional parliament are elected in a single constituency by proportional representation under the D'Hondt method, coinciding with the territory of the Region.


2015 Madeiran regional election, Parties
The parties that will contest the election and their leaders, are:


2015 Madeiran regional election, Opinion polling
Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded but both are displayed in bold. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication.


2015 Madeiran regional election, Opinion polling, Seats
Opinion polls showing seat projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 24 seats are required for an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.


2015 Madrid City Council election
The 2015 Madrid City Council election, also the 2015 Madrid municipal election, was held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect the 10th City Council of the municipality of Madrid. All 57 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.


2015 Madrid City Council election
Leading the People's Party (PP) local list was Esperanza Aguirre, former president of the Community of Madrid (2003–2012), president of the Senate of Spain (1999–2002) and minister of Education and Culture (1996–1999), as well as the leader of the regional PP branch since 2004. Mayor Ana Botella, who succeeded Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón early into his term in December 2011, had declined re-election in September 2014. The election was an unexpectedly close race between Aguirre's PP and former judge Manuela Carmena's Podemos-supported Ahora Madrid (English: Madrid Now) platform. The collapse in the PP vote and the loss of its absolute majority allowed Carmena to gain power through an alliance with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), resulting in the first left-wing government in the city since 1989.


2015 Madrid City Council election
The PSOE suffered heavily from tactical voting to Ahora Madrid after it became apparent throughout the campaign that the left-of-centre vote was coalescing around Carmena's coalition. The newcomer liberal Citizens (Spanish: Ciudadanos) party also entered the City Council for the first time, collecting votes disenchanted with the PP and replacing Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) as the main centrist local force. United Left (IU) fell below the 5% threshold and failed to gain any representation for the first time in history.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
The City Council of Madrid (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Madrid) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Madrid, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly. Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered and residing in the municipality of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty. Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:


2015 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
The mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the appointee would be determined by lot.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. For the case of Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Mayoral candidates
According to the Spanish legislation on local authorities, the government of cities is assigned to the City Council and the mayor. The Spanish political system is parliamentary democracy in all its levels of government, with the city council responsible for the election of the mayor.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Campaign
Electoral debates were held in Telemadrid between the candidates of the PP, PSOE, IU, UPyD, Vox, Citizens and Ahora Madrid in the last week of campaign, between 18 and 20 May. The most expected and tense moment came with the debate between PP candidate Esperanza Aguirre and AM Manuela Carmena, as the most-likely candidates to become the next Mayor of the city.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Campaign
Aguirre immediately accused Carmena of saying in the past that "ETA members had suffered a lot", trying to link the former judge with the terrorist group, as well as trying to discredit Carmena's career in the judiciary, which was seen as a furious attack of Aguirre on Carmena. The latter, visibly surprised, counterattacked responding that Aguirre was acting arrogantly and contemptuous to others and accusing her of allowing corruption to spread during her tenure as President of Madrid. "Please go, you've caused a lot of harm" said Carmena to Aguirre.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Campaign
In the last days of the campaign, especially following her debate with Aguirre, several celebrities such as actors Pilar Bardem, Carlos Bardem, Loles León, Goya Toledo, Paco León, playwright Cristina Rota, lawyer and former politician Cristina Almeida and journalist Ernesto Ekaizer expressed their support for Carmena's candidacy, with actress Eva Hache going on to say through the Twitter social network that "I don't know if we are Manuela but surely we are not the other [in reference to Aguirre]. VOTE."


2015 Madrid City Council election, Campaign
Carmena had also received the support of dozens of artists who created drawings in support of Carmena's and Ahora Madrid candidacy, with the drawings themselves becoming viral in the social networks. Following the Telemadrid debate, after which Aguirre was highly criticised for her aggressive behaviour towards Carmena, supporters cast the drawings next to Aguirre's home in Malasaña. On 21 May, a Carmena's act in the center of Madrid exceeded its capacity, originally scheduled for 800 people, resulting in the closing of a street and in Carmena herself apologizing to the around 1,500 people outside that were not able to enter.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Opinion polls
The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 29 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid.


2015 Madrid City Council election, Opinion polls
Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls  Exit poll


2015 Madrilenian regional election
The 2015 Madrilenian regional election was held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect the 10th Assembly of the Community of Madrid. All 129 seats in the Assembly were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.


2015 Madrilenian regional election
The ruling People's Party (PP) emerged once again as the largest political force in the region, but it saw a substantial drop in its vote support and the loss of the absolute majority it had held almost uninterruptedly since 1995—with a brief interlude in 2003—. However, as both the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and newcomer Podemos fell one seat short of an absolute majority, it meant that the PP could remain in government through an agreement with liberal Citizens (C's).


2015 Madrilenian regional election
As a result, Cristina Cifuentes became the new President of the Community of Madrid, forming a minority government with C's providing confidence and supply. Cifuentes would be the third regional President in three years, after Esperanza Aguirre's resignation in 2012 and incumbent president Ignacio González not running for the office as a result of several scandals.


2015 Madrilenian regional election
The strong performance of both Podemos and C's was at the expense of left-wing United Left (IU)—which lost its parliamentary representation for the first time in history as a result of not reaching the required 5% threshold—and Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD), whose parliamentary presence was ephemeral having only entered the regional parliament in 2011.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The Assembly of Madrid was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Madrid, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Madrilenian Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Overview, Electoral system
Voting for the Assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Community of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Madrilenians abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (Spanish: Voto rogado). All members of the Assembly of Madrid were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied regionally. The Assembly was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 25,000.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Overview, Election date
The term of the Assembly of Madrid expired four years after the date of its previous election. Elections to the Assembly were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 22 May 2011, setting the election date for the Assembly on Sunday, 24 May 2015.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Overview, Election date
The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Assembly of Madrid and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the legislature's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Overview, Election date
In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Background
After the 2011 regional election, the People's Party (PP) was re-elected to a fourth consecutive term in office with an absolute majority of seats, with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under Tomás Gómez obtaining the worst result of its history in the region up until that point. On 17 September 2012, President Esperanza Aguirre, who had renewed the office for a third term, resigned allegedly a result of health issues but also for "personal reasons", being succeeded in the presidency by her deputy, Ignacio González.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Background
Opinion polls from 2012 predicted a drop in vote support for the PP, to the point that it could lose the absolute majority it had enjoyed almost uninterruptedly since 1995. The same polls had shown that the PSOE remained unable to capitalize on the PP government's electoral wear. On the 2014 European Parliament election, both parties obtained historic lows in the region: with 29.9%, the PP result was its lowest since 1989, while the PSOE's result at 18.9% was the party's lowest score ever.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Background
A newly created party, Podemos, was able to poll at 11.3%, placing itself as the third political force of the community and within striking distance of the PSOE. Podemos's growth in opinion polls since mid-to-late 2014 at the expense of the PSOE's vote inspired fears within the party that it could be displaced to third place both regionally and nationally.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parliamentary composition
The Assembly of Madrid was officially dissolved on 31 March 2015, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid. The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Assembly at the time of dissolution.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parties and candidates
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least 0.5 percent of the electorate in the Community of Madrid, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parties and candidates
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parties and candidates
On 11 February 2015, PSOE secretary-general Pedro Sánchez removed Tomás Gómez, PSOE candidate for the 2015 regional election, from the party's regional leadership. The decision came, allegedly, after suspicions of Gómez being involved in a tram project corruption scandal during his time as Mayor of Parla, though electoral motives may have helped hasten the move, as Gómez was deemed a bad candidate as Rafael Simancas later recognized. Ángel Gabilondo, former Education minister in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's cabinet from 2009 to 2011, was selected as PSOE's leading candidate in the region replacing Gómez on 21 February 2015.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parties and candidates
In United Left (IU), Tania Sánchez, elected as party's presidential candidate in a primary election held on 1 December 2014, had left the party on 4 February 2015 alongside a number of supporters, over an internal conflict with the party's regional leadership, involved in the Caja Madrid "black" credit cards scandal. Luis García Montero, a Spanish poet and literary critic, was selected to replace Sánchez' as IU candidate to the Community of Madrid.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parties and candidates
The PP had not yet proclaimed a candidate as of February 2015, despite incumbent President Ignacio González being widely presumed to stand for a second term in office. On 2 March 2015, Spanish newspaper El Mundo's headlines pointed out that González' had asked National Police officers to withhold information over an ongoing investigation on him about a possible tax fraud in the purchase of a luxury penthouse. González announced that he was the victim of policial 'blackmail' and reiterated his wish to be his party's candidate for the 2015 election.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Parties and candidates
However, rumours arose in the media that the party's leadership had withdrawn their support from González and expected him to eventually give up on his intention to run. Finally, on 6 March 2015, incumbent Government delegate in Madrid Cristina Cifuentes was chosen as PP candidate for the autonomous community, while former regional president Esperanza Aguirre was nominated as candidate to the City Council of Madrid.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Opinion polls
The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Opinion polls, Voting intention estimates
The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. When available, seat projections are also displayed below (or in place of) the voting estimates in a smaller font; 65 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Assembly of Madrid.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Opinion polls, Voting intention estimates
Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls  Exit poll


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Results, Elected legislators
The following table lists the elected legislators sorted by order of election.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
Investiture processes to elect the President of the Community of Madrid required for an absolute majority—more than half the votes cast—to be obtained in the first ballot. If unsuccessful, a new ballot would be held 48 hours later requiring of a simple majority—more affirmative than negative votes—to succeed. If none of such majorities were achieved, successive candidate proposals could be processed under the same procedure. In the event of the investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly would be automatically dissolved and a snap election called.


2015 Madrilenian regional election, Aftermath, 2018 investiture
The PSOE announced that it would table a motion of no confidence on Cifuentes' government, after it was revealed that Cifuentes could have obtained a master's degree through fraudulent means and that documents were falsified in order to cover up the scandal. After Cifuentes' resignation as a result of the ensuing scandals, the motion of censure was cancelled and Ángel Garrido was elected as new president.


2015 Magyar Kupa (men's water polo)
The 2015 Magyar Kupa, known as (Hungarian: BENU Férfi Magyar Kupa) for sponsorship reasons, is the 89th edition of the tournament.


2015 Magyar Kupa (men's water polo), Schedule
The rounds of the 2015–16 competition are scheduled as follows:


2015 Magyar Kupa (men's water polo), Matches
A total of 63 matches will take place, starting with Preliminary round on 31 October 2015 and culminating with the final on 13 December 2015 at the Bitskey Aladár Uszoda in Eger.


2015 Magyar Kupa (men's water polo), Matches, Preliminary round
The first round ties are scheduled for 31 October – 1 November 2015.


2015 Magyar Kupa (men's water polo), Matches, Quarter-finals
Quarter-final matches were played on 21 and 22 November 2015.


2015 Magyar Kupa (men's water polo), Final four
The final four will be held on 12 and 13 December 2015 at the Bitskey Aladár Uszoda in Eger.


2015 Magyar Kupa Final
The Magyar Kupa Final was the final match of the 2014–15 Magyar Kupa, played between Videoton and Ferencváros.


2015 Maidstone Borough Council election
The 2015 Maidstone Borough Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of the Maidstone Borough Council in England. It was held on the same day as other local elections.


2015 Maine Black Bears football team
The 2015 Maine Black Bears football team represented the University of Maine in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 23rd-year head coach Jack Cosgrove and played their home games at Alfond Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 3–8, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in a four-way tie for seventh place.


2015 Maine Black Bears football team
On November 24, head coach Jack Cosgrove resigned to become the Senior Associate Director of Athletics at Maine. He finished his coaching career at Maine with a record of 129–135 in 23 seasons.


2015 Maine Question 1
Maine Question 1, "An Act To Strengthen the Maine Clean Election Act, Improve Disclosure and Make Other Changes to the Campaign Finance Laws", was a citizen-initiated referendum measure in Maine, which appeared on the November 3, 2015 statewide ballot. As the Maine Legislature did not exercise its ability to pass the bill on its own, it was placed on the ballot and approved by Maine voters.


2015 Maine Question 1, Background
The Maine Clean Elections Act was passed as a citizen-initiated referendum titled Question 3 in 1996, making Maine the first state to adopt a public campaign financing law. It established a voluntary public campaign financing program for Maine gubernatorial and legislative elections, allowing candidates who demonstrated a certain level of community support through a limited number of 'seed money' contributions to qualify for public financing of their campaign. Candidates who accepted such financing could not subsequently accept any private contributions to their campaign.


2015 Maine Question 1, Background
Initially, the Act also provided for publicly financed candidates to receive additional matching funds should privately financed candidates in their race outspend them. In 2011, the United States Supreme Court struck down a similar provision in Arizona as unconstitutional, which led to a US District Court judge doing the same with Maine's provision later that year. Due to those court rulings, the Maine Legislature removed the matching funds provision from the Act.


2015 Maine Question 1, Background
The group Mainers for Accountable Elections turned in approximately 86,000 signatures to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap on January 21, 2015. Dunlap verified about 80,000 of them by February 18, 2015. That was about 16,000 more than required, which sent the question to the Legislature for consideration, though they did not do so and the question was sent to the ballot.


2015 Maine Question 1, Background
Republican State Senator Eric Brakey introduced a competing measure in the Legislature to ask voters to repeal the Act and redirect the intended funds to education costs. His proposal was rejected in committee on May 6, 2015 by a 9-1 vote.


2015 Maine Question 1, Background
The proposed changes to the Act include increasing the amount of money distributed to candidates, more disclosure requirements such as listing the top three donors that pay for political advertisements in the ad itself, and increased fines for violators.


2015 Maine Question 1, Campaign
Mainers for Accountable Elections launched its campaign on July 28, 2015, at a rally where Republican State Sen. Roger Katz spoke in support of the referendum.


2015 Maine Question 1, Campaign
Until September 2015, there was no organized opposition to the referendum. On September 23, it was reported a Facebook page was created called "No on Question 1". It was created in part by State Rep. Joel Stetkis (R-Canaan) who appeared on WVOM radio to call the proposal "nothing but a scam" and "an assault on the Maine people who want a citizen legislator to represent them."


2015 Maine Question 1, Campaign
Opponents of the Act as a whole include Governor of Maine Paul LePage who has attempted to remove funding for the Act from the state budget, calling it "welfare for politicians", without success as well as the aforementioned Sen. Brakey's effort to seek repeal of the law. The conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center supported court rulings against the Act. LePage has called Question 1 specifically a "scam" and that public campaign financing was like "giving your wife your checkbook".


2015 Maine Question 1, Campaign
On October 21, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce announced its opposition to the Question, due to disagreeing with its funding mechanism of eliminating corporate tax breaks. Chamber President Dana Connors stated that Maine's business incentive programs are modest and it would be difficult and harm the state's business climate to eliminate any of them. The opposition was notable it that it was not based on ideological opposition to public financing of campaigns as with other opponents.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 86th edition of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The game was played at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday, July 14. It was televised nationally on Fox. The American League All-Stars defeated the National League All-Stars by a score of 6–3.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
On January 21, 2013, then-Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig, announced the 2015 All-Star Game would be hosted by the Cincinnati Reds. This was the first time the city of Cincinnati has hosted the All-Star Game since the 1988 All-Star Game was played at Riverfront Stadium.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
On July 15, 2014, Selig also announced that Pete Rose would not be prohibited from participating in the 2015 All-Star Game ceremonies. Rose was an All-Star for 13 of the 19 seasons he played on the Reds and was a member of the Big Red Machine. In 1991, Rose was permanently banned from MLB for baseball betting. Rose, wearing a red sport coat, appeared on the field in front of the pitcher's mound before the game and received a standing ovation alongside former teammates Johnny Bench, Barry Larkin, and Joe Morgan.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
On May 12, 2015, the Reds announced that Todd Frazier would serve as the 2015 All-Star Game spokesperson.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Mike Trout, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels, was named the 2015 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player for the second straight year.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Fan balloting, Starters
Balloting for the 2015 All-Star Game starters began online April 23 and ended on July 2. The top vote-getters at each position (including the designated hitter for the American League) and the top three among outfielders, were named the starters for their respective leagues. The results were announced on July 5. A record 620 million votes were cast, surpassing the record of 391 million votes in 2012. Josh Donaldson was the leading vote-getter with 14,090,188 votes, breaking the record that Josh Hamilton set in 2012 with 11,073,744 votes. Bryce Harper set a new NL record for votes this year with 13,864,950 votes.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Fan balloting, Starters
However, MLB canceled at least 65 million ballots on grounds of fraud and ballot stuffing. At one point during the balloting, the top vote-getters for eight of the starting nine positions for the American League were Kansas City Royals players.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Fan balloting, Final roster spot
After the rosters were finalized, a second ballot of five players per league was created for the All-Star Final Vote to determine the 34th and final player of each roster. The online balloting were conducted from July 6 through July 10. Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees was removed from the ballot on July 9 after he replaced Alex Gordon on the roster due to injury. The winners of the All-Star Final Vote were Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals (AL) and Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals (NL).


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game summary
Mike Trout of the Angels led off the game with a home run off Zack Greinke. The NL tied the score in the bottom of the second when Jhonny Peralta drove in Paul Goldschmidt with an RBI single off AL starter Dallas Keuchel. In the top of the fifth, Prince Fielder, who was pinch hitting for Nelson Cruz, hit a go-ahead RBI single off Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw that scored Trout to give the AL a 2–1 lead. The next batter, Lorenzo Cain, hit an RBI double to score Albert Pujols to make it a 3–1 ballgame.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game summary
In the bottom of the sixth, Andrew McCutchen homered off Chris Archer to make it a one-run game. In the top of the seventh, Trout walked and was lifted for pinch runner Brock Holt who scored on an RBI double by Manny Machado to give the AL a 4–2 lead. Machado then scored on a sac fly by Fielder to make it a 5–2 game. In the top of the eighth inning, the Twins' Brian Dozier hit a home run to make it a 6–2 ballgame.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game summary
In the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Braun led off with a triple to right field off of Twins closer Glen Perkins, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Crawford to make it a 6–3 score. The next batter, Cubs rookie Kris Bryant, flied to right for the second out, and finally, Joe Panik lined out to left field to seal the AL's third straight victory and earn home-field advantage in the World Series.


2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game summary, Line score
Umpires: Home Plate – Tim Welke; First Base – Jerry Meals; Second Base – Paul Schrieber; Third Base – Ron Kulpa; Left Field – James Hoye; Right Field – Alan Porter; Replay Official – Brian GormanWeather: Temperature: 78 °F (26 °C), partly cloudy; Wind: 5 mph from left to rightTime of Game: 3:02 Attendance: 43,656


2015 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby
The 2015 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby (known through sponsorship as the Gillette Home Run Derby presented by Head & Shoulders) was a home run hitting contest between eight batters from Major League Baseball (MLB). The derby was held on July 13, 2015, at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, the site of the 2015 MLB All-Star Game.


2015 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby
The contest saw several rule changes from MLB in an attempt to enliven the event and draw more interest to it. Batters faced off in a single-elimination, bracket-style competition, and each round was timed, rather than limited by number of outs. Todd Frazier was the winner, defeating Joc Pederson in the final round, 15–14, winning the derby in front of his hometown crowd.


2015 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, Rule changes
As announced by Major League Baseball, there were changes to the format of the Home Run Derby in 2015. Eight players participated in the derby in a bracket-style, single-elimination timed event. Each player had five minutes to hit as many home runs as possible. Hitters were also awarded bonus time for hitting long home runs. Hitters were awarded an additional minute if they hit two home runs over 420 feet and an additional 30 seconds if they hit a home run over 475 feet. Hitters were also allowed one 45 second "timeout" to stop the clock. Flex balls came into play during the final minute (bonus time included); any homer meant a $10,000 donation by Gillette & MLB.


2015 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, Rule changes
The eight competing players were seeded 1-8 based on their home run totals as of July 7. The higher seed hit second in any round, and the round ended if the higher seed surpassed the total of the first hitter. In the event of a tie, the two hitters competed in a 90-second swing-off (with no timeouts nor bonus time awarded). If there remained a tie, the hitters engaged in three swing-off rounds; thereafter, sudden-death swing-off rounds until a winner was determined.


2015 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, Rule changes, Further rule changes
Due to the threat of rain, changes were announced to the Home Run Derby rules.


2015 Major League Baseball draft
The 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks finished the 2014 season with the worst record, they had the first overall selection. In addition, the Houston Astros had the 2nd pick of the 2015 draft, as compensation for failing to sign Brady Aiken, the first overall selection of the 2014 MLB Draft.


2015 Major League Baseball draft
Twelve free agents received and rejected qualifying offers of $15.3 million for the 2015 season, entitling their teams to compensatory draft choices if they are signed by another team. The team signing the player will lose their first round choice, though the first ten picks are protected. The New York Mets surrendered their first round pick (15th overall) to sign Michael Cuddyer, while the Colorado Rockies gained a supplementary pick. The Toronto Blue Jays lost their pick for signing Russell Martin, giving a compensatory pick to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Boston Red Sox surrendered their second- and third-round picks (Boston's first pick is protected) to sign Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramírez. The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers received supplementary picks.


2015 Major League Baseball draft
Dean Kremer became the first ever Israeli drafted in an MLB draft, when selected in the 38th round, by the Padres.


2015 Major League Baseball season
The 2015 Major League Baseball season began on April 5 with a Sunday night game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and ended on November 1 with the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series. This was Rob Manfred's first season serving as Commissioner of Baseball.


2015 Major League Baseball season
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game's 86th edition was held on Tuesday, July 14 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, home of the Cincinnati Reds. The American League won the game 6–3, to give the American League home-field advantage in the World Series.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Schedule
As was the case in 2014, teams were scheduled to play 19 games against each division opponent for a total of 76 games, and six or seven games against each team from the other two divisions in its league for a total of 66 games.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Schedule
All teams were scheduled to play 20 interleague games throughout the season. For 2015, the interleague matchups were AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central, and AL West vs. NL West. Since "natural rivalry" matchups will be part of the three-year divisional rotation (for the first time), the schedule format for interleague games was different from previous years.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Schedule
The 20 interleague games each team played consisted of two three-game series (one home, one away) against its natural rival (total of six games), two two-game series (one home, one away) against each team for two other opponents (total of eight games; one of the matchups took place back-to-back within the same week), and a single three-game series against each team for the last two (one home, one away; total of six games).


2015 Major League Baseball season, Schedule
During the final day of the regular season, all games were scheduled to start simultaneously at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, reminiscent of the English Premier League's last-day "Survival Sunday" scheduling. MLB hoped that this would add excitement and drama during the final day, and also limit teams' ability to rest starters at the last minute based on early game results.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Managerial changes, Field managers, Offseason
At the end of the 2014 season, the following teams made replacements to their managers.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Wholesale changes
The New York Mets changed their home jersey from a cream shade to white and took away the home white alternate jersey.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Wholesale changes
The Minnesota Twins took away the pinstripes from their home jersey and added a gold trim to the "Twins" wordmark. A hat was also added highlighting the "Twin Cities" logo in gold.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Wholesale changes
The Pittsburgh Pirates introduced a new camouflage alternate jersey in honor of the U.S. Military which will be worn during all Thursday home games. A new camo-style hat also accompanies this uniform with a black bill and black "Pittsburgh" logo.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Wholesale changes
The Seattle Mariners have added an alternate cream color jersey with blue and yellow, the original colors of the team from 1977–1992. An alternate light blue hat with a gold "Seattle" logo will accompany the uniform as well.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Wholesale changes
The San Francisco Giants have added an alternate black jersey, featuring a new alternate logo depicting the Golden Gate Bridge.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Wholesale changes
The Cleveland Indians darkened the shade of navy blue in their caps and jerseys.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Astros and Angels wore 1965 uniforms on April 18 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Astrodome and the 50th anniversary of the renaming of the team to Astros.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Reds and Cubs wore 1990 uniforms on April 24 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Reds' winning the 1990 World Series.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Tigers and Indians wore Negro league throwbacks on April 25. The Tigers wore the uniforms of the Detroit Stars, while the Indians wore the uniforms of the Cleveland Buckeyes.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Red Sox wore their 1975 home uniforms on May 5 to mark the 40th anniversary of the club's 1975 AL Championship and trip to the 1975 World Series. The uniforms had the Massachusetts bicentennial patch.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Mariners and Red Sox wore Negro league throwbacks on May 16. The Red Sox wore the uniforms of the Boston Royal Giants, and the Mariners wore the uniforms of the Seattle Steelheads.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Cubs and Royals wore 1915 Federal League throwbacks on May 31 (originally, they were supposed to have worn them on May 30, but the game was postponed due to rain). The Cubs wore the uniforms of the Chicago Whales, while the Royals wore the uniforms of the Kansas City Packers.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Cardinals and Phillies wore 1960s throwbacks on June 19. The Cardinals wore 1961 uniforms, which did have the players' numbers on the fronts of the shirts. The Phillies wore 1969 throwbacks.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Mets and Braves wore Negro league throwbacks on June 20. The Mets wore the uniforms of the Brooklyn Royal Giants, while the Braves wore the uniforms of the 1938 Atlanta Black Crackers.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Red Sox wore their 1975 road uniforms on June 27 against the Rays. The Rays, meanwhile, wore their "fauxback" jerseys, which have a retro feel yet never actually were worn regularly because the franchise did not exist back then.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Athletics wore 1965 Kansas City Athletics uniforms June 27. Ironically, the Kansas City Royals were their opponents.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Pirates and Brewers wore Negro league throwbacks on July 18. The Pirates wore the uniforms of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, while the Brewers wore the uniforms of the Milwaukee Bears.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Rangers and Astros wore 1980s throwbacks on July 18 as part of a 1980s night promotion at Minute Maid Park.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Cardinals and Royals wore 1985 uniforms on July 23 to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1985 World Series. They were supposed to be worn on June 14, but that game was postponed due to rain.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Cubs and White Sox wore 1959 uniforms on August 14 in honor of Minnie Miñoso at US Cellular Field. Each of the White Sox players wore Minoso's number 9.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Throwbacks
The Cubs and Tigers wore 1945 uniforms on August 19 to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1945 World Series.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
Players, coaches, and umpires at all games wore #42 on April 15, the 68th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut in the majors.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Giants wore uniforms with gold "Giants" script lettering and numbering on April 18 to celebrate their 2014 World Series title.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
On April 20 (Patriots' Day), the Boston Red Sox wore home white jerseys with "BOSTON" written on the front to mark the two year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. The uniform also sported the 2013 navy-blue circular patch with a white border on the left shoulder saying "B Strong" (with the red B in the classic font featured on the Red Sox's caps).


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Milwaukee Brewers wore their batting practice jerseys as an alternate on April 21. The front has the Brewers' "M" logo on front, and has gold trim on the side.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Giants wore Spanish-language "Gigantes" uniforms on May 5, Cinco de Mayo.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Orioles wore a special uniform May 11, the first game at Camden Yards with spectators since April 26 due to the riots that took place in the city in April. The uniforms were in their home whites, but had their road "Baltimore" script on the front instead of the usual "Orioles".


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Reds wore camouflage uniforms and caps on May 16 and June 6. The uniforms had the "Reds" script on the front, instead of the player's number and the Reds' logo.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
All teams wore camouflage uniforms on May 25, Memorial Day in the United States. Although Memorial Day is not a legal holiday in Ontario, the Blue Jays wore camouflage.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Reds wore green caps and uniforms on June 19 as part of a "Shamrock the Ballpark" promotion. Like the camouflage uniforms, the uniforms had the "Reds" script on the front, instead of the player's number and the Reds' logo; the uniforms have a shamrock on the right sleeve, instead of the Mr. Redlegs mascot.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Blue Jays wore a special uniform on Canada Day. July 1. The uniform had the Blue Jays wordmark in red, instead of blue. They had the Canadian flag on their right sleeve. The Red Sox, their opponent, wore a Canadian flag on their uniform as well. The uniform was worn again on August 30.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
All teams wore American flag-themed caps and uniforms on July 4, Independence Day in the United States. The uniforms had an American flag on a sleeve. The logos and players' numbers had stars on them; the caps had a star instead of a baseball on the MLB logo. The Blue Jays wore a jersey with both the U.S. and Canadian flags.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Royals and the Astros wore Spanish-language "Los Reales" and "Los Astros" uniforms on July 25.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Tigers wore Spanish-language "Tigres" uniforms August 8. The uniforms were based on the Tigers' 1960 uniforms.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Reds and the Diamondbacks wore Spanish-language "Los Rojos" and "Los D-backs" uniforms August 21.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Uniforms, Other uniforms
The Astros wore Spanish-language "Los Astros" uniforms on September 27.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, National, United States
2015 marks the second year of MLB's eight-year deal with Fox Sports, ESPN, & TBS. Fox will televise Saturday night games for eight consecutive weeks, leading up to the All Star Game, which will also air on Fox. Fox will then televise Saturday afternoon games for the last four weeks of the regular season. Fox Sports 1 will televise games on Tuesday nights and Saturdays, both during the afternoon and at night. ESPN will televise games on its flagship telecast, Sunday Night Baseball, as well as Monday and Wednesday nights. TBS will televise Sunday afternoon games for the last thirteen weeks of the regular season. Fox and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecasts will be exclusive; all other national telecasts will be subject to local blackout.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, National, United States
TBS will televise the National League Wild Card Game, Division Series, and Championship Series. ESPN will televise the American League Wild Card Game, Fox Sports 1 and MLB Network will televise American League Division Series, and Fox and Fox Sports 1 will televise the American League Championship Series. The World Series will air exclusively on Fox for the sixteenth consecutive year. All postseason games will air on ESPN Radio.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, National, Canada
2015 was the second year of MLB's eight-year contracts for national broadcasts in Canada. Rogers Communications-owned Sportsnet holds English-language rights to the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, almost all postseason games, and various regular season games, all of which are in addition to the channel's Canada-wide "regional" deal for all regular season games of the co-owned Toronto Blue Jays.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, National, Canada
With the Blue Jays reaching the postseason in 2015 for the first time since 1993, Sportsnet president Scott Moore announced the channel was unable to produce separate Canadian telecasts of the Blue Jays' postseason games, and picked up the U.S. network telecasts of these games as it typically did for its postseason coverage. As in 2014, when the two Division Series games carried by MLB Network in the U.S. was also exclusive to that channel in Canada despite very limited carriage, Game 3 of the Royals-Astros ALDS was exclusive to MLBN in both countries. However Sportsnet aired all games of the Blue Jays-Rangers ALDS in Canada (MLBN carried Game 2 in the United States).


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, National, Canada
TSN holds English-language rights to most regular season games in ESPN's U.S. package. French-language rights are split between RDS and TVA Sports.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, Local
The Chicago Cubs opted to re-negotiate their terrestrial television contracts for the 2015 season through 2019, when all the Cubs' television rights contracts will expire, including their cable deal with Comcast SportsNet Chicago. WGN-TV will still hold rights to 45 Cubs games per season, and its overflow broadcasts will move to WPWR-TV in place of WCIU-TV. WGN will be joined by ABC-owned station WLS-TV, which will now broadcast 25 games per season.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, Local
Broadcast Cubs games among the three stations in the market, along with White Sox games (which will also have games move from WCIU to WPWR) will be carried in the Indianapolis market among Media General's duopoly of WISH-TV and WNDY-TV, in addition to a regional network in Iowa and downstate Illinois.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, Local
The cable network WGN America will no longer carry Chicago White Sox or Chicago Cubs games, as the network has phased out Chicago sports programming as part of its transition towards becoming a nationally focused entertainment network. This brings an end to the "superstation" era of cable broadcast, started in 1976 when WTCG (later to become WTBS) broadcast Atlanta Braves games, followed by WGN and other stations such as WOR-TV (New York Mets), WSBK-TV (Boston Red Sox) and KTLA (California Angels) airing simulcasts via satellite or cable.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Television, Local
After an absence of over a decade, New York Yankees telecasts will return to WPIX, sharing time with the Mets after WWOR-TV gave up its contract due to the rejection of a contract extension. Both teams' games on WPIX will still be produced by the YES Network and SportsNet New York respectively.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Radio
ESPN Radio aired its 18th season of national coverage, including Sunday Night Games, Saturday games, Opening Day and holiday games, the All-Star Game, and Home Run Derby, and the entire postseason.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Radio, Local
WBBM became the radio home of the Chicago Cubs starting in April 2015 after long time home WGN gave up the broadcasting rights after 90 years.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Radio, Local
WJZ-FM, for the second time, became the flagship radio station for the Baltimore Orioles. WJZ-FM held the rights for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.


2015 Major League Baseball season, Rule changes
New rules were made to increase the pace of the game.


2015 Major League Lacrosse season
The 2015 Major League Lacrosse season was the 16th season of FIL-sanctioned lacrosse in the United States and Canada, the 16th with a national first-division league, and the 15th season of Major League Lacrosse. The season featured  8 total clubs (all in the United States). The regular season was held from April 12 through July 25, with the semifinals on August 1 and the championship game on August 8 in Kennesaw, Georgia. The defending Steinfeld Cup champions are the Denver Outlaws, while the Rochester Rattlers finished as the runner-up.


2015 Major League Lacrosse season, All Star Game
The All Star Game, was held on June 13, 2015 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas. It was the first time an MLL event has been hosted in the Houston area.


2015 Major League Lacrosse season, Playoffs
The Semi Final games were held at Delaware, Ohio and  Hempstead, New York. The championship game was played at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia starting at 7 pm EDT.


2015 Major League Quidditch season
The 2015 Major League Quidditch season was the league's first, and was contested by eight teams over the course of the 2015 summer. The eight teams were split into two divisions, with the North Division composed of the Cleveland Riff, Detroit Innovators, Indianapolis Intensity and Rochester Whiteout and the East Division composed of the Boston Night Riders, New York Titans, Ottawa Black Bears and Washington Admirals.


2015 Major League Quidditch season
During the regular season, each team played a set of three matches against every other team in their division, comprising a total of nine matches. Based on the results of those nine matches, the teams were seeded for the MLQ Championship, which all eight qualified for. The championship was decided with two rounds of single-elimination matches before a best two-out-of-three championship series.


2015 Major League Quidditch season
The Boston Night Riders won the 2015 MLQ Championship, played at the Monsignor Schmidt CYO Athletic Complex in Toledo, Ohio, ending the season with a perfect 13–0 record. They defeated the New York Titans 2–0 in the finals, but the matches were the only two that Boston played in snitch range for the entire season. By winning the title, Boston was awarded the Benepe Cup, named in honor of Alex Benepe, the co-founder of the sport.


2015 Major League Quidditch season, Regular season, Standings
(Cleveland finished ahead of Rochester by virtue of head-to-head tiebreaker)


2015 Major League Soccer season
The 2015 Major League Soccer season featured 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season was held from March 6 through to October 25, whereas the MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 28 and ended with MLS Cup 2015 on December 6. The defending MLS Cup champions were the LA Galaxy, while Seattle Sounders FC were the defending Supporters' Shield winners.


2015 Major League Soccer season
It was the first season for expansion teams Orlando City SC and New York City FC, who both joined the Eastern Conference, while both the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. Chivas USA folded at the end of the 2014 season.


2015 Major League Soccer season
At the end of the regular season, the New York Red Bulls of the Eastern Conference won the Supporters' Shield, while the team on top of the Western Conference was FC Dallas. The Portland Timbers won their first MLS Cup, winning 2–1 at Columbus Crew SC.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview
The 2015 season began on Friday, March 6. The opening weekend saw an average attendance of 25,838 — buoyed by strong attendances in Orlando (62,510), and Seattle (39,782) — with seven of the weekend's ten matches selling out. Additionally, MLS saw strong TV ratings on ESPN2 (539,000 viewers), Unimas (341,000 viewers), and Fox Sports 1 (289,000 and 278,500 viewers).


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Franchise changes
The 2015 MLS season featured the addition of two expansion teams, New York City FC and Orlando City SC. New York City FC became the second MLS team in the New York metropolitan area (joining the New Jersey-based New York Red Bulls), as well as the first based within New York City itself, as the team played its inaugural season at Yankee Stadium). Orlando was a new market for MLS, which returned to Florida for the first time since folding their Miami and Tampa Bay franchises before the 2002 season. The Lions' ownership previously owned Orlando's team that played in the league then known as USL Pro from 2010–2014; that team that relocated to Louisville for the 2015 season of the rebranded United Soccer League.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Franchise changes
While MLS added two teams, one team closed down. Chivas USA, which had called the Los Angeles area home since 2005 and shared the StubHub Center with the LA Galaxy. Chivas had been owned by Mexican club, C.D. Guadalajara, who sold the club back to MLS in 2014. The league folded Chivas in October 2014, after the conclusion of the regular season, though it announced plans to add a second LA-area club, Los Angeles FC, in 2018.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Realignment and playoffs
With the addition and subtraction of the above-mentioned teams, the 2015 season saw a realignment of MLS's Eastern and Western conferences:  NYCFC and Orlando City joined the East, while Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City moved from the East to the West.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Realignment and playoffs
Each team played 34 regular season matches: two or three against conference rivals and once against teams from the opposite conference. The regular season concluded with all teams playing at the same scheduled time, a league first.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Realignment and playoffs
12 teams advanced to the MLS Cup Playoffs, up from 10 the previous 3 seasons. The top six teams per conference qualified. The first round per conference had the third-seed hosting the sixth-seed, and the fourth hosting the fifth. In the Conference Semifinals, the top seed played the lowest remaining seed and the second played the next-lowest.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Television
The 2015 season saw the launch of a new United States television and media rights deal with English-language ESPN and Fox Sports and Spanish-language Univision Deportes. The deal continues MLS's relationship with ESPN and Univision, while it reestablishes one with Fox Sports, whose Fox Soccer channel carried MLS games until 2011 (NBC Sports carried MLS broadcasts from 2012–2014). The deal, formally announced in May 2014, sees regular weekly game broadcasts on ESPN2 (Sunday afternoons) and Fox Sports 1 (Sunday evenings), as well as a regular Friday night match on UniMás and/or Univision Deportes Network.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Television
The networks will share coverage of the MLS Cup Playoffs, while ESPN and Fox will alternate English language carriage of the MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup championship match each year. The 2015 MLS all star game will be on Fox Sports, and MLS Cup 2015 will air on ESPN. As part of the deal, the networks also share coverage of the U.S. Soccer men's and women's national teams.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Overview, Television
The league reached a four-year agreement with Sky Sports to televise league matches live in the United Kingdom and Ireland. At least two regular season matches each week, the MLS All-Star Game, and every MLS Cup Playoff match was aired on the Sky family of networks. MLS also reached a four-year agreement with Eurosport to air live matches in many other European countries.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Player transfers, Allocation ranking
The allocation ranking was the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Player transfers, Allocation ranking
MLS streamlined the allocation mechanism in the middle of 2015 season. Effective on May 1, 2015, the allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a player who is in MLS allocation list. MLS allocation list contains select U.S. National Team players and players transferred outside of MLS garnering a transfer fee of at least $500,000. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2014 season, taking playoff performance into account.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Player transfers, Allocation ranking
Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking. At all times each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS season.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Player transfers, Allocation ranking
On January 15, 2015, LA Galaxy acquired the then-number 3 allocation ranking (original ranking number 5) and allocation money from Colorado Rapids in exchange for the then-number 18 allocation ranking (original ranking number 20), Marcelo Sarvas, and an international roster slot.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Player transfers, Allocation ranking
On January 27, 2015, New York Red Bulls acquired the then-number 1 allocation ranking (original ranking number 3) and Felipe from Montreal Impact in exchange for the then-number 14 allocation ranking (original ranking number 17), Ambroise Oyongo, Eric Alexander, allocation money, and an international roster slot for the 2015 season.


2015 Major League Soccer season, Player transfers, Allocation ranking
♯ On December 19, 2014, Orlando used its original ranking to acquire Shea. Orlando used their allocation a second time when 16 teams passed and they picked Avila with the then-number 17 allocation ranking.


2015 Malabar Premier League season
The 2015 Malabar Premier League season was the first ever season of the Malabar Premier League, the football league for the Malabar region of the Indian state of Kerala. The league kicked off on 7 April 2015.


2015 Malay Dignity rally
The Malay Dignity rally (Malay: Himpunan Maruah Melayu) was a rally that took place on 16 September 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The rally was organised by National Silat Federation (Malay: Persatuan Silat Kebangsaan, PESAKA), a silat Melayu federation of Malaysia. The rally aimed to counter the Bersih 4 rally and to show support for the incumbent Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak and his government. 16 September is the day of Malaysia's establishment.


2015 Malay Dignity rally
The rally organiser, also an UMNO Supreme Council member, Annuar Musa admitted that the rally was racist in nature and participants were paid to take part in the rally. Medias reported that some of the participants who were ferried into Kuala Lumpur by buses from various parts of the country revealed they were clueless about the purpose of the rally, saying they were given the red T-shirts, while an independent polling centre found that only 24% of Malays supported the rally, and 53% opposed it.