The Stade de France, cough home to the French national rugby & soccer teams, has appointed Infront Sports & Media as the Official Agency.

Swiss-based Infront will be responsble for the commercialisation of hospitality packages for all events held at the Stade de France in 2014 and 2015.

Under the agreement, Infront France will offer VIP hospitality for all events carried out at the Stade de France in the two coming years. These include:

•    the RBS Six Nations Championship – France vs England on Saturday 1 February, France vs Italy on Saturday 9 February and France vs Ireland on Saturday 15 March
•    the matches of Racing Metro 92 and Stade Français Paris – Racing Metro 92 vs Stade Toulousain on Friday 24 or Saturday 25 January and Stade Français Paris vs Stade Toulousain on Saturday 22 March
•    the friendly matches of the French national football team – France vs Netherlands on Wednesday 5 March
•    the Final of the French League Cup – Saturday 19 April
•    the final of the French National Cup – Saturday 3 May
•    the Final of the Top 14 – Saturday 31 May

This mandate further extends the Infront Group’s hospitality portfolio and will be carried out through its subsidiary Infront France.

The Dannon Company has announced its Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt brand is set to reappear in Super Bowl advertising on February 2, viagra sale 2014.

The decision to return to the big game is a reflection of Dannon’s continued commitment to growing the company’s Oikos brand, clinic which has more than doubled since the first time Dannon advertised during the Super Bowl in 2012.

“Dannon Oikos is becoming a household name because people love its great taste and nutritional benefits, especially its protein, and the brand is a real innovator in the yogurt category,” said Sergio Fuster, Chief Marketing Officer for The Dannon Company. “Millions of Americans are embracing Greek yogurt for its nutritional benefits, and Dannon Oikos has all of those benefits along with great taste. Men and women alike are huge fans of Oikos, and advertising during the single largest television viewing event in the USA is a natural fit.”

“It’s a big decision to advertise during Super Bowl and it shows our commitment as the leading yogurt maker to help Americans make better food choices and to encourage Americans to eat yogurt every day,” said Michael Neuwirth, Senior Director of Public Relations for The Dannon Company. “After our strong showing within the top-10 of Ad Meter two years ago, we’re ready to again create a really exciting experience for viewers that promotes a more healthful and nutritious offering than what is traditionally advertised during the big game.”

The International Federation of PGA Tours and the Sunshine Tour announced today that the Tournament of Hope, thumb scheduled for the week of November 18, 2013, has been postponed.

The Tournament of Hope is an event to be contested in South Africa with a primary eligibility category of the top 50 players in the world, supplemented by the individual money lists and Orders of Merit of the various Tours that make up the International Federation of PGA Tours.  The Tournament of Hope is also to be the centerpiece of a proposed worldwide AIDS awareness effort, to be coordinated by the Sunshine Tour.

“We are confident that the initial enthusiasm for the Tournament of Hope remains in South Africa and among other potential international sponsors,” said Selwyn Nathan, executive director of the Sunshine Tour, speaking on behalf of the Sunshine Tour and the International Federation of PGA Tours.  “We are hopeful that, with an improvement in the economic climate, we will be able to conclude all arrangements for a successful staging of the Tournament of Hope at a future date.”

Formula One Grand Prix will continue until 2016 despite its race organiser reportedly becoming concerned about increasing financial losses.

Race Organiser, anesthetist Park Jong-moon, allergist said losses from major sporting events are inevitable.

He mentioned that even the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, which was generally regarded as a success,  lost money.

Financial problem have been mounting, particularly with Korean steel company POSCO not renewing its major sponsorship of the Korean F1.{jcomments on}

FIBA have halted NBA’s plans for an age limit of 23 for the men’s Olympic basketball tournament at least for Rio 2016.

FIBA chief Patrick Baumann, secretary general of the sport’s international governing body, said Saturday: “My feeling is that we will not be proposing a 23 age limit for the 2016 Olympic Games.”

“The NBA has come up with the idea to go with under 23 and at the same time to promote younger athletes,” Baumann said. “And also to make a (distinction) between the (new) World Cup and the Olympic Games (by making only the World Cup open to NBA players of all ages).

“From FIBA’s perspective, we understand the perspective from USA Basketball and the NBA,” Baumann continued. “I’m not sure (we) necessarily have the same idea, but we understand the owners’ concerns.”

Cricket Australia has agreed a number of concessions with players including setting aside more than 25 percent of the revenue generated by the 2015 World Cup for the nation’s first-class players.

Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketer’s Association (ACA), have “signed a new memorandum of understanding,” beating the June 30 deadline

The CA agreeing to provide the ACA with 26% of revenue from the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015 was vital. Other significant provisions included the performance model increasing from 24.5 percent to 27 percent, the state pool retainer growing from $(AU)6M to $(AU)7.8M and the average state cricketer’s contract increasing from $(AU)55,000 to $(AU)65,000.

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Super Bowl XLVI yesterday broke all records on Twitter as fans worldwide sent more than 10,000 tweets per second during the climax of the sport showpiece.

According to official statistics released by Twitter, the highest tweets per second came at the end of the NFL season finale, at a record-breaking 12,233.

During the final minutes of the game, which was won by the New York Giants over the New England Patriots, an average of 10,000 tweets per second were sent by fans, beating the previous record of 9,000 last August when Beyoncé announced her pregnancy at the MTV Video Music Awards. 

Twitter’s previous record for a sporting event was 7,196 tweets per second at the final whistle of Japan’s shock victory against the United States in the women’s World Cup final in July 2011.

The glittering Super Bowl half-time show from Madonna saw an average of 8,000 tweets per second being sent for five minutes, although that peaked at a staggering 10,245.

American Football’s top league, the National Football League (NFL), has seen its four-and-a-half month lockout, the first in the sport since 1987, come to an end on after the players’ union unanimously agreed to a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with team owners.

Player representatives from all 32 NFL teams voted to approve a new contract over how to split US$9 billion in annual revenues.

The team owners last week gave their support to the new CBA, and on Monday the NFL Players’ Association backed the agreement, which does not contain an opt-out clause.

The new CBA has secured team owners 53% of revenues – higher than the 50-50 split with players under the previous deal, as well as better benefits for players and faster free agency for some.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: “It’s been a long time coming. Football is back and that’s the great news for everybody. I want to thank all of the players for their leadership and for securing the long-term future of the game. Having a 10-year agreement is extraordinarily great for our game, but most importantly our fans. I think this agreement is going to make our game better.”

The union’s executive director, DeMaurice Smith added: “I know it has been a very long process since the day we stood here that night in March, but our guys stood together when nobody thought we would and football is back because of it. I believe it’s important that we talk about the future of football as a partnership.”

NFL Players’ Association president Kevin Mawae added: “We want to thank the fans who stuck with us. This has been a long road for everyone involved. This settlement is an essential component to what will be a long-term agreement benefiting players, owners and fans.”

Players are expected to return to training shortly and franchises are expected to begin signing free agents and rookies.

The season will now kick-off as scheduled on September 8 when the New Orleans Saints face the Green Bay Packers.