Bangladesh Cricket Board to Nominate Mustafa Kamal for ICC President

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has given the go ahead for president Mustafa Kamal to be nominated for ICC presidency.

The issue now moves to the ICC, which is expected to formally accept the nomination that will see Kamal assume office as vice-president at the end of the ICC annual conference in 2012 and ascend to the presidency in 2014.

The BCB announced the nomination following an emergency board meeting after the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf had said that the Pakistan board had backed Kamal for the ICC presidency. Under the ICC’s rotation policy, it was the turn of the PCB and the BCB turn to nominate a joint candidate.

At the time of Ashraf’s comments, however, Kamal’s nomination was not certain. He had not yet been approved by a majority of BCB directors.

NBA Set to Cancel Two More Weeks of Regular Season

The National Basketball Association is about to cancel two more weeks of its regular season, anesthetist according to the New York Daily News.

A source told the Daily News that an official announcement will be made on Tuesday; the cancellations are expected be through Nov. 28 and total at least 102 more games. The first cancellations were made on Oct. 10 and ran from Nov. 1 to Nov. 14, pills totaling 100 games.

Last week, buy NBA Commissioner David Stern said that he thought the league’s Christmas Day games would be cancelled if a deal had not been reached by last Tuesday.

No more negotiations between the owners and players are scheduled, but there is a feeling that the league can get a deal before the Christmas Day games are canceled. The two sides are far apart on major issues.

Owners and players have not talked since their last round of negotiations. During the last session, the owners rejected the players’ offer to take less of the split of $4 billion and lower their demands for 52.5% of the revenue if more favorable features could be added to the system.

“What we told the players is that we could not trade one for the other,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said.

NFL File Opposition to Players’ Bid to Unseal TV Records

The National Football League (NFL) have filed court papers opposing a bid by players to unseal arbitration records in a dispute over some US$4bn in television money.

U.S. District Judge David Doty ordered the release of redacted portions of the record, asthma earlier this month. The League argues that the files contain commercially sensitive information after the players’ union and two news organizations asked for the release of more files.

NFL Chief Operating Officer Brian Rolapp said in a filing today, cheap cialis March 17: “This material reflects the league’s internal negotiating strategy and assessment of media rights, as well as the terms of contracts the NFL has with various business partners. If unredacted versions of these documents were disclosed, it would cause commercial harm to the NFL.”

The union believe that the documents will show that the television deals in question would provide owners with money from the networks, despite the possibility of games being canceled during the current lockout. The league maintains that the television deals, which earned hundreds of millions of dollars in new broadcast money by redistributing some digital rights, were negotiated in good faith.

Plymouth Secure Short-Term Survival in Winding-up Petition

English League One soccer outfit Plymouth Argyle have secured their survival, for the short-term at least, after a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs was dismissed in the High Court.

Cash flow is still a major issue at the club, who still owe their playing staff wages for the month of January, with their next tax bill due on 22 February.

Peter Ridsdale was appointed as a consultant to Plymouth’s board last month and told BBC Spotlight: “It was good news in the sense that we’ve paid the petition debt and are up to date with the revenue, but that’s just the first hurdle we’ve got over.

“Today isn’t a day of celebration, today is just a sober reminder of the fact that we’ve still got a lot of people to pay money to.”

The sale of four players during the January transfer window, including top scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips, enabled the tax debt relating to the winding-up petition to be paid off.

Peter Ridsdale, who has been working as an advisor to Plymouth’s board since December last year, claimed that a further £2m (US$3.2m) is needed to ensure the club survives until the end of the season.

Ridsdale, the former Leeds and Cardiff City chairman added: “This is an attractive football club and if we can get it right by paying off the creditors and putting enough cash in to see it through to the end of the season, there’s a massive upside opportunity.”

West Brom Appoint Martin Swain in Director Role

Premier League team West Bromwich Albion have announced the appointment of award-winning Midlands journalist Martin Swain as the club’s new Director of Communications.

Swain will take up his duties on September 1.

The appointment of the Express & Star’s chief sports writer, treat who was recently named Midlands Sports Journalist of the Year, continues the club’s extensive review of its internal structures this summer.

Chairman Jeremy Peace said: “We took a long, hard look at all aspects of the club’s operations at the end of last season and decided this was another appointment which we needed to make with some urgency.

“I fully recognise that the season ended with everyone relieved to have maintained Premier League status and our supporters registered their discontent on a range of other issues.

“I believe that as Director of Communications, Martin can begin and lead the task of healing some of those tensions and build a new way forward to ensure this perceived gap between club and supporters is closed.

“I know the fans want that, as do I and the rest of the board. We have to go forward together.

“Beyond that lies the wider task of the club’s media operation. Martin is an experienced and well-regarded figure within the football media industry with an advanced knowledge of this club’s community and heritage. I am delighted he accepted the post.”

Martin, 59, will leave his post at the Express & Star at the end of this week after 25 years during which he has covered major sporting events across the globe as well as much closer to home.

He said: “This is an exciting challenge and opportunity, one I could not resist.

“I think the very fact that the board at Albion have identified the need for such an appointment underlines their determination to resolve some well-documented difficulties which last season caused the club and the fans much anguish.

“Neither wants to be in conflict with the other and one of my priorities will be to try to ease those problems. A most important element in this is the genuine motivation from the chairman Jeremy Peace and all the board to get a much healthier ‘connect’ to supporters. With that, I’m sure much can be achieved.

“I’m also sure I am about to discover it is a lot easier looking in and commenting from the outside than being on the inside trying to solve problems and go forward!

“But I’m on record as saying that, pound for pound, few if any clubs across the country have performed better than the Baggies since the turn of the Millennium – it is a club with so much going for it and that should be celebrated and promoted.

“For the last 25 years, it’s been an amazing privilege to report on our region’s sport on behalf of the Express & Star. It will clearly be a big wrench to leave the newspaper but this job gives me a chance to make a positive contribution to one of our great institutions and that is what I shall endeavour to do.”

Lausanne & Brasov Submit Bid Documents to Host 2020 Youth Olympic Games

Lausanne in Switzerland and Brasov in Romania have submitted official bid documents to host the 2020 Youth Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at their headquarters in Lausanne.

The YOG 2020 Evaluation Commission, cough chaired by IOC member Ms Yang Yang, allergy will now analyse the Candidature Files and prepare a report that will be submitted to the IOC Executive Board. On the basis of this report, the IOC Executive Board will decide which of the Cities will be put forward for further evaluation at its meeting in December this year.

Patrick Baumann, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Secretary General, has been appointed President of the Lausanne bid.

He said, “I put all my skills, my experience and knowledge of the international sporting world in the service of Lausanne in 2020 and a team in place, competent and motivated. I am particularly encouraged by the support that the application receives from all local and national sports and public authorities and the support of all my other fellow members in Switzerland.”

Denis Pittet, General Secretary of the nominating committee added: “This application, we built in a true spirit of collaboration, bringing together a large number of partners, skills and desires. The unanimous enthusiasm encountered everywhere in our work has been a huge motivator for us all.

“I congratulate all the team members for their efforts and hard work that has been provided in the past month. This is the end of an era and the beginning of a new one”.

The bid will be presented next week to the IOC and a decision will be made at the IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 2015.

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San Francisco Marathon Inks Gameface Media Partnership

The San Francisco Marathon has agreed a partnership with Gameface Media, cheap the largest provider of free sporting event photos in the United States, pills to provide race participants with free photos of themselves running in the road race.

Gameface Media will deploy a skilled team of professional photographers to shoot memorable images that runners can easily download and share through all major social media platforms within days of crossing the finish line. The San Francisco Marathon is the first major city marathon to offer free photos to all of its participants.

“San Francisco is the tech epicenter of the world so it is only fitting that our race reflect the same values of our community,” said Peter Nantell, executive producer, San Francisco Marathon. “We sought innovative partners that could offer cutting-edge technologies that truly enhance every runner’s experience during Marathon weekend so working with Gameface Media seemed like a no-brainer. The company’s innovative offering will help runners relive the stunning views and historic landmarks of their race with beautiful photos. We think this is something that San Francisco marathon runners will love and want to share with all of their friends and family.”

“We are proud to create a groundbreaking partnership with the San Francisco Marathon,” said Gameface Media CEO David Lavallee. “The event organizers understand the power of social media in creating buzz and brand loyalty for their race. As marathoners ourselves, we know that finishing this race is an emotional milestone that most runners will want to share with friends and family. The San Francisco Marathon will create significant goodwill by creating hundreds of thousands of professionally-shot photos that their participants will gladly share online.”

Budapest to Host Inaugural 2014 Women’s EHF FINAL4

Budapest has been announced as the host of the inaugural Women’s EHF FINAL4 in May 2014, the European Handball Federation (EHF) has announced.

The winning joint bid from Hungarofest, a leading event management company, and the Hungarian Handball Federation (MKSZ), will organise the final event of the Europe’s four best female club teams in close co-operation with EHF Marketing GmbH, the marketing arm of the EHF.

The two-day event will be played in the Papp Laszlo Budapest Sportarena in the capital – an arena with a capacity of 12,500 seats.

The arena played host to the final weekend of the Women’s EHF European Championship in 2004 and will once again host the event in December 2014.

The official launch for the event will take place at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday, 4 December 2013, where the commencement of ticket sales will be announced.

Semi-finals will be played on Saturday, 3 May 2014, the third place match and the final will follow on Sunday, 4 May 2014. Playing times will be confirmed later.

EHF President, Jean Brihault, said: “The Budapest bid was very impressive and we are convinced that this event will be a great success in its first year.

“Handball has a huge following in Hungary and we know that this first event will attract fans from across Europe. We’re looking forward to a fantastic atmosphere in Budapest in May.”

The awarding decision of the 2014 event to Budapest was made by the EHF Finance Delegation on behalf of the EHF Executive Committee.

Slovenia’s Ljubljana with its Stozice Arena was the other possible venue in the race for the premiere of the Women’s EHF FINAL4.

RFU Revenue Reaches Over £150 Million for First Time

The Rugby Football Union, the governing body for Rugby Union in England, has reported group revenue over £150m for the first time in its history.

A full match programme helped revenues rise from £110.6m to £153.5m during the 12-month period for 2012-13, numbers boosted by increased sponsorship as well.

The body’s annual reports and accounts also show investment in the sport as a whole rising by 15% to just under £64m.

Ian Ritchie, CEO of RFU commented on the report: “This was an outstanding year in which continued growth allowed us to make record investment directly with clubs and in operating the English game at all levels.

“We have made significant strides across the board allowing us to invest an additional £3.5m in grassroots rugby, largely thanks to a busy calendar of Twickenham events.”

MediaCom Sport Launch New Asian Headquarters in Singapore

MediaCom Sport has announced the launch of their first Asian office expanding their global reach.

The Singapore hub will act as the Asian headquarters for the WPP-owned sports consultancy. 

MediaCom Sport Singapore will be headed up by Jin Wei Toh, adiposity previously Singapore managing director at sports marketing, advice media and event management company Parallel Media Group Asia. Prior to PMG Asia, he held a series of executive level positions at IMG Group and has also worked at IQPC Worldwide. 

In his final role at IMG, Jin Wei Toh led the development of golf’s Asian Tour as Vice-President, Director of Sales at IMG and Asian Tour Media, helping create four new events in Indonesia, Macau, Thailand and Korea. 

The new Asian hub is the latest stage in the rapid expansion of MediaCom Sport which was set up in 2011 to give MediaCom clients both better understanding of the opportunities around the world’s biggest sporting events and ensure advertisers could maximize the benefits of these unique opportunities. 

MediaCom Sport will work closely with GroupM’s ESP division across the region to ensure best practice and full integration across the GroupM network. 

It has offices in the UK, Russia and Germany with plans to open in Brazil and the US later this year. 

“Asia is a fantastic, growing region with a young, digitally enabled consumer audience. Building strong relationships with the sports they care about will enable brands to connect and engage much more powerfully than traditional advertising. Jin Wei’s success at establishing new events and new opportunities for sponsorship will ensure MediaCom Sport continues to grow rapidly,” said Marcus John, Global Head of Sport at MediaCom Worldwide. 

“I’m thrilled to be joining MediaCom Sport and leading its development in Asia. During my time in sports marketing I’ve seen many brands fail to take maximum advantage of sponsorship rights, aligning these rights within the media agency ensures that they become part of every message to create a truly integrated communication,” said Jin Wei Toh, Managing Director, Asia ,MediaCom Sport.

MediaCom Sport currently represent global sports legend Pelé and currently works with clients such as Dell, Allianz, Shell and Proctor & Gamble. It is also the exclusive commercial partner for the world’s first electric powered racing series Formula E.