The European Triathlon Union and the German Triathlon Federation have announced today that the ETU European Aquathlon Championships will return to the 2014 race calendar.

The ETU Aquathlon Championships will be held in Köln for the second time on May 31st 2014, store integrated into the Rheinauhafen Triathlon, anesthetist part of the Willpower Race Series.

The last European Aquathlon Championships were also held in Köln back in 2011 and Matthias Zöll, Secretary General, is pleased to see the competition return.

“The European Aquathlon Championship will be held in a great location at the Köln Rheinauhafen,” he said. “It is a good sign that the Jeschke & Friends organisational team have successfully applied and received this European Championships after problems over the last few years. These have fortunately been resolved.

“This is proof that everyone in the triathlon scene is working hard to promote triathlon and all multi-sports in Germany.”

ETU President, Renato Bertrandi, said “I am very pleased that our European Aquathlon Championships will take place in Köln.

“The end of May is a perfect date for all athletes that are willing to compete in the waters of the Rhine. It is great that Germany, a country with a great history in Triathlon is organising this ETU event in such an iconic city.”

A total of €6,000 prize money will be awarded to Elite starters. 

Livestream, a live streaming video platform, has announced its biggest partnership deal Wednesday with IMG Media Worldwide, a sports and fashion talent and marketing agency. 

Livestream’s Chief Executive and co-founder Max Haot told CNET about its partnership with IMG. “This partnership will see IMG and Livestream stream tens of thousands of high-quality live sports events every year, from the US, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.”

Hoat has a long history with IMG, having cut his teeth working on interactive media at the company in London for nearly a decade.

David Salmon, IMG’s head of technology and strategic partnerships, said Livestream was attractive for providing a good set of tools to connect to mobile devices, televisions, and desktop computers.

“In general, live streaming as a medium is still kind of convoluted,” he said. “Live streaming is still far harder than it should be, and you are dealing with lots and lots of immature technologies. Livestream really helps bridge that gap.”

IMG, traditionally an agency for athletes, in recent years has expanded into marketing, sports training, and media for fashion, music, and collegiate sports enterprises. IMG tested the waters with Livestream before signing the long-term partnership by working with the service to stream Wimbledon, The Open Championship, the National Rugby League, and major European football league games.

Golf apparel company Byron Nelson USA has been acquired by 37-year industry veteran Bob Friedman, and will be headquartered in the north Atlanta suburb of Norcross.

Friedman commented on the deal: “There was no finer gentleman on or off the course than Mr. Nelson. We are honored to share his lifestyle line of American heritage apparel with no compromises, just a passion to bring you the best apparel we can produce.”

Byron Nelson apparel will be sold in full collections that include golf shirts, cashmere and merino wool sweaters and vests, outerwear, casual wear, shorts and even waterproof rainsuits.

Byron Nelson USA will be run as an independent company from Friedman’s existing interests in Divots Sportswear, which he founded in 1976, and Sope Creek Apparel Company, which Divots acquired in 2010. Byron Nelson USA will, however, take a portion of the Divots booth at the PGA Show (6563) to exhibit the 2013 line.

The Jerez City Council and Dorna Sports have reached an agreement to keep the Jerez Grand Prix on the MotoGP calendar until at least 2015.

Following doubts about the future of MotoGP at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, which regularly attracts crowds of over 200,000 people, the Andalucian Government decided to act and secure the future of the race.

Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta commented: “It’s with great pleasure that I can announce the extension of the Jerez Grand Prix for a further three years.

“It is one of the key stops on the MotoGP calendar with an atmosphere bar none that attracts huge crowds from near and afar.

“It is also a popular venue with the riders, as the track’s nature makes it a great spectacle for some of the best racing in the world.”

There is also a change to the 2013 calendar which sees the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring moved back a week from its original date from July 7 back to July 14.

Formula One’s governing body announced last week that they were bringing forward the date of their German Grand Prix by a week to create a space for an as yet unnamed European race on July 21.

Germany’s MotoGP round is one of the best attended on the calendar and the date for next year’s race had been moved from July 14 to July 7 last October.

Organisers of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, one of the most popular motorsport gatherings in Britain that regularly features F1 cars and drivers, have also said they will change the date of their event from July 7 to avoid a clash.

Shanghai Film Group, the first non-US film company to partner with the NBA, will release a joint production with the basketball federation this summer.

The feature film, titled ‘Amazing’, will include appearances from well-known Chinese actors Huang Xiaoming, Huang Yi, Charles Chen and Amber Kuo, American actor Eric Mabius, NBA players Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Yi Jianlian, and former NBA player Scottie Pippen.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf has blamed the Punjab province government for the cancellation of the Bangladesh’s April tour of Pakistan.

Ashraf said a statement from the Punjab government ended any possibility of Bangladesh touring Pakistan.

“The statement made by the Punjab government was that it was not aware of the Bangladesh team’s tour to Lahore and so how could it provide security damaged the tour,” Ashraf said.

“The statement sent out a wrong message to the outside world and to the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Believe me everything was in place for the series to take place and we had even started printing of tickets for the two matches and other arrangements were also being put into place.”

Ashraf is a member of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party executive council.

Analysts have said his role with the PCB led to the fallout between the board and the Punjab government that is run by the opposition Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group.

Bangladesh cancelled short tour to Pakistan when uncertainties arose over statements by the central and Punjab government officials regarding security arrangements.

No test-playing nation has visited Pakistan since a terrorist attackon the Sri Lankan team in March 2009 in Lahore in which 6 police officers and a van driver were killed.

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The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) says the Rams’ plans to play one home game in London for the next three years violates the team’s stadium lease.

The CVC said that the lease requires the team to play all its home games at the Edward Jones Dome, and was awaiting a response from the team.

The London announcement last week came not far from a Feb. 1 deadline for the CVC to submit its proposal for stadium improvements required in the lease. The team can opt out of the lease after the 2014 season if the stadium is not judged among the top quarter in the NFL.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke is the majority shareholder of the Arsenal soccer team in London.

Discuss the story with former New England Patriots CMO Lou Imbriano: The Wembley Rams

American Football’s National Football League (NFL) secured a victory in its ongoing dispute with the players’ union on Friday as a US appeals court rejected an earlier order from a lower court to lift the lockout.

The ruling was issued shortly after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players’ Association chief DeMaurice Smith opened a second straight day of talks over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The lockout has been in place since March, but there are reports that the biggest remaining obstacles to a new deal are the free agency rules and a disagreement over the rookie wage scale.

The appeals court ruling allows the players’ antitrust lawsuit to move forward, but the court did take issue with the union’s decision to decertify on March 11, a move that cleared the way for players to file their still-pending antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

In the wake of the court ruling on Friday, both sides on the debate suggested that progress was being made in talks over a new CBA.

A joint statement from the NFL and players’ union said: “While we respect the court’s decision, today’s ruling does not change our mutual recognition that this matter must be resolved through negotiation.”

Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) has completed the acquisition of the parent company of the popular ‘Leaders in Football’ conference, find Executive Sport Ltd (ESL).

London-based CSI was founded by Russian investors Vladimir Antonov and Roman Dubov alongside Chris Akers, a former CEO of Leeds United. The company also recently completed the takeover of North One Sport, the global promoter of the World Rally Championship, Isle of Man TT race series, Velux 5 Oceans Race and Clipper Round the World sailing events.

ESL has attracted more than 1,000 director-level delegates from over 45 countries through its flagship Leaders in Football operation in the past three years. ESL has also branched out into Leaders in Performance and Leaders in Sponsorship, while the annual Leaders in Sport gathering in Spain has also proved popular with industry executives.

James Worrall, the founder and CEO of ESL, stated: “The last three years have been incredibly exciting and rewarding as we have built a number of high level events from scratch under the ‘Leaders in’ brand. I would like to thank my staff for their outstanding work and I am delighted to say that my team will continue our roles under the Convers banner.”

Antonov added: “Convers Sports Initiatives are delighted to acquire a controlling interest in such a young, dynamic company as ESL. We will bring our experience and network to the table to assist ESL to become a truly global brand.” The annual Leaders in Football event will take place at Chelsea FC in London on October 5-6.

American surfer Kelly Slater won’t pick up a long rumoured $US10 million sponsorship bonus for winning a record 10th world surfing title, instead opted to take a stake in the company.

Quiksilver chief executive Bob McKnight revealed his company’s longterm superstar client was given the option of a hefty bonus to reward his ground-breaking achievement, but the 38-year-old American instead opted to take a 3 per cent of the giant surf company – that’s about $US22 million of a  $US740 million business – so is projected to become far richer from that choice than he would have by collecting a lump sum speculated about for so many years.

McKnight said the $US10 million figure was just speculation, although Slater would still receive a seven figure sum from the company for sealing his 10th world title in Puerto Rico last week.

“The answer is no. I think Kelly probably started that rumour by the way! It was meant years ago as a joke and then it just came to life on its own,” said McKnight, who admitted that Quiksilver has grown 10-fold since Slater came on board to endorse its products 20 years ago.

“We talked to Kelly about it. He obviously gets a big bonus … it’s into seven figures.

“We sat down and talked to Kelly about all that ($US10 million). We said ‘do you want us to put the money to something like that or would you rather us to back it with ownership in the company which will make you 10-fold that in years to come?’

“And he said, ‘definitely stock.’

“Everybody asks that question about the $US10 million bonus and I just go, `isn’t it great when you write a big cheque like that and they take half out to taxes immediately?’

“Ownership of the company is a forced savings thing for him and we’re a public company so he can set up for the rest of his life and take care of his family and we think that’s a lot more important than a one time bent-for-hell bonus like that.”

Movie and book deals are also in the works for Slater, and soon he will unveil his Kelly Slater Artificial Wave company project, which has the potential to change the face of surfing.

Slater and McKnight, in conjunction with the University of Southern California, have developed technology which produces a perfect circular artificial wave.