Construction work has started on the new 120-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and restaurant at the New Road ground of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

The comprehensive redevelopment also includes new conference and executive suites for the club.

The construction programme has been timed to minimise disruption to the 2013 cricket season. The new club suites are expected to be complete by early June and the new Premier Inn hotel and restaurant is scheduled to open in late October 2013.

Whitbread, Premier Inn’s parent company, is investing £7.5m in the new hotel and restaurant and Worcestershire Country Cricket Club is investing in excess of £3m in the new facilities. The two developments will create more than 45 new jobs when they open next year.

John Bates, Head of Acquisitions for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, said: “Premier Inn customers expect high-quality, low cost bedrooms in the best locations across the country. Our new Worcester Premier Inn offers just that and it’s a great example of how flexible we can be to secure the right site.

“Premier Inn is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK today. Before Christmas we will open new Premier Inn hotels and restaurants at Leamington Spa, Solihull and Walsall Town Centre – quality developments that will boost our presence across the Midlands even further. Our Worcester Premier Inn will follow close behind, adding another excellent location for our customers, creating jobs and helping to support the local Worcester economy. I can’t wait to get the hotel built and start promoting Worcester as a great place to visit and do business.”

There are currently more than 49,000 Premier Inn bedrooms across the country today and Whitbread is on track to deliver its target of 65,000 Premier Inn bedrooms by 2016.

David Leatherdale, Chief Executive of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, said: “Like all sports clubs we have to look carefully at our resources to safeguard the future of our club. The new Premier Inn hotel and executive suites will continue to develop our ground into a 365-day venue, attracting additional visitors to the ground and diversifying the club’s finances. This can only help to improve our performance on the pitch and we aim to be up and running in time for the start of our T20 campaign in late June and to welcome Australia in the lead up to their 2013 Ashes campaign.

“We will be working with contractor Gilbert Ash who have been appointed to build both the Premier Inn hotel and restaurant and executive suites to minimise disruption during the early part of the 2013 season.”

Northampton Saints plc, the parent company of Aviva Premiership Rugby Club Northampton Saints, have announced their decision to sell shares presently owned by the Trustees’ of the Members Club to the general public during its Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The sale of shares has been approved by supporters who provided their unanimous approval for the sale of half a million ordinary 50 p shares in Northampton Saints plc.

The shares had been held in the supporters’ trust since the club became a plc in 2000 and the proceeds raised from the sale of the shares would be utilised towards initial construction costs of the new North Stand at Franklin’s Gardens.

The shares will be available at a price of £1 per share with supporters being given the option of acquiring multiples of 50 shares up and above a minimum transaction of 250.

Northampton Saints chief executive Allan Robson says that the investment which will come from the share sale will be vital as the club continues to grow and maintain its place at the top of English rugby.

“We are progressing well with our plans to develop Franklin’s Gardens, and this share sale will help ensure that the stadium remains the best of its kind in the country,” he said.

“The sale will ensure supporters continue to have a tangible stake in the club as a whole, and the new North Stand in particular.

“Success breeds success, and by helping the club develop the stadium without incurring debt the supporters who take part in the share sale will have enabled us to continue the high levels of investment that have been made into making Northampton Saints one of the top sides in England.”

Heineken UK has introduced a new marketing campaign for the London 2012 Olympics.

Heineken, viagra a first time sponsor of the event, discount campaign will involve  pubs and clubs, case as well on-pack promotions and experiential activity.

A focal point for the marketing drive will be a ticket giveaway in partnership with JD Wetherspoon. The brewer is running a “text to win” promotion with the pub chain across more than 850 outlets until the end of August.

It is hoped the focus on boosting the brand’s presence in the on-trade will provide a sales boon during a period of heightened competition from rival beer and cider brewers this summer.

Lawson Mountstevens, UK managing director of on-trade at Heineken, said: “The London 2012 Games are already generating huge interest and excitement and this will be magnified several times over as we get nearer to the Official Opening Ceremony.”

The promotions mark the first London 2012 themed activity from the brand, which is thought to have paid around £10m for the sole pouring rights at all Olympic venues

Royal and Ancient (R&A) organization has invested $16 million in toughening and tightening all courses used to host the Open Championship, including lengthening the courses for the 2012 and 2013 editions according to chief executive Peter Dawson says the St. Andrews-based .

Dawson said a fund was created to bring the nine courses used for the Open “into the modern era.”

He said an average of about $800,000 had been spent on each course, “but I would say it’s money well spent.”

And while Dawson earlier detailed changes to this year’s host venue at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, he said Tuesday that changes have already been put in place for the 2013 Open venue at Muirfield.

“Everything has been done at Muirfield and it has been done for a few years now,” he said. “There are quite a few changes, but they are very subtle.”

Dawson said one of the biggest changes at Muirfield was a new back tee at the ninth hole, where 60 to 70 yards had been added to the hole. The 10th fairway has been moved about one-third of its width to provide more room at the practice ground.

“Almost all the changes at Muirfield, apart from the ninth tee, you would not notice them,” Dawson said, adding that the course will play some 200 yards longer than when the British Open was last held at Muirfield in 2002.

Dawson also said that while he was impressed with the new Donald Trump course at Aberdeen, he said it would need to be commercially viable to the R&A to take golf’s oldest major to the Martin Hawtree-designed course at Balmedie.

“It is a spectacular golf course and it was me who recommended Martin Hawtree to Donald,” Dawson. “As for an Open Championship being played there we will have to wait and see. There is every indication the golf course is very strong, but let’s see how it matures and I would say it has a long way to go yet.”

by Ismail Uddin

Formula One parent company CVC have been urged to invest in the sport by Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali, in order to guarantee his team’s future interest in the championship.

Rupert Murdoch owned News Corp. have agreed to create a consortium with Italian investment firm Exor, whose CEO is John Elkann, chairman of Fiat, the owner of Ferrari, to investigate a takeover bid for the sport.

Speculation of a takeover has emerged as discussions are set to begin over a new Concorde Agreement, the commercial arrangement that binds together the teams, CVC and the FIA, motorsport’s governing body. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has previously indicated his displeasure with the current deal, which sees CVC take half of F1’s annual profits of around £600m (US$983m).

In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Domenicali stated: “At the moment everything is calm, but soon something will happen. From the commercial point of view we need to clarify the following points: who will be involved in the talks? I mean which teams and constructors want to stay and which want to enter F1? And who is responsible for the show? A marketing partner is needed. It can be CVC once more, but it must invest in F1 and develop, and we must make sure our sport becomes interesting for young people.

“F1 must speak their language, use their technologies, internet, tablets, social forums, and remain comprehensible for the audience. F1 is interesting for Ferrari only if these points are taken into consideration, and we must avoid changing the rules too often. We need stability, on top of having grands prix in important countries for our sales, first of all in the USA.”

 

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Related Group discussion: Formula One Pay-TV Move Would Harm Audiences and Revenues by Martin Laurence

 

It has been confirmed that British sportscar maker Caterham Cars has been purchased by Team Lotus Enterprises, enabling the lightweight sportscar manufacturer to “expand its brand profile and product family,” according to Team Lotus.

Team Lotus owner Tony Fernandes stated: “Caterham has a unique place at the heart of the motoring world. As well as being proudly and staunchly British, it has an enviable and uniquely unblemished reputation within the industry for performance, handling and engineering excellence.

“Caterham Cars has remained wholly faithful to Colin Chapman’s philosophy of ‘less is more’, and the DNA of the original Seven can still be traced to the newest additions to Caterham’s product offering.

“It is already a successful business with sales across Europe, Japan, Australia and the Middle East, and under the guidance of the existing management team, we now have all the ingredients and the launch pad to further evolve that spirit and take Caterham to new exciting horizons with innovative products and greater global brand exposure.”

Although there was no mention of a rumoured name change in the statement, the announcement comes before a decision from the British courts about the ongoing Lotus naming dispute.

The team said that the purchase will signal the continued development of its famous Seven brand, using F1 technology, while Caterham Cars’ managing director Ansar Ali added: “This is yet another exciting chapter in the Caterham story. Until now, the resources Caterham has had at its disposal have, naturally, limited the exposure of the Caterham driving experience and the legendary Seven has had to rely almost entirely on its remarkable reputation and legacy.

“We will remain entirely true to the philosophy that we, as custodians of one man’s motoring concept, have protected for nearly 40 years.

“However, the acquisition of the company by Team Lotus Enterprises will allow our existing management team to take Caterham’s core spirit of pure driving enjoyment to a hitherto un-served audience.

“While the Seven will now have the global springboard it deserves and will continue to be evolved yet further, we also have the opportunity to expand the Caterham family beyond the Seven and SP/300.R and breathe new life into our uniquely respected brand and mature it into a truly global business.”

National Football League (NFL) franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars has signed a fiver-year deal with local financial services company Everbank for the naming rights to the team’s stadium.

Everbank Field will replace the moniker of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which had been in place since 2007.

Team owner Wayne Weaver said: “I clearly think it’s a game-changer. Today’s [Tuesday] announcement demonstrates [Everbank’s] confidence that Jacksonville is a viable football market.”

Everbank chairman and CEO Robert Clements said the agreement was “arguably one of the most exciting milestones in the evolution of Everbank”.

Jaguars senior vice president for sales and marketing, Macky Weaver, added: “It certainly will be a pat on Jacksonville’s back to go from the negative publicity that we received last year, based on the decline in season tickets, to come back this quickly because of a community-based effort, local business effort, a company that’s based out of Jacksonville stepping up to put their name on this building.”

Aviva Premiership team Newcastle Falcons have announced today that Mick Hogan has been appointed Managing Director at the club with immediate effect.

He will be reporting directly to Chairman Semore Kurdi.

Hogan has been assisting the club for the past six months as a commercial consultant. He has previously worked at the Falcons as Commercial Director and Head of Marketing as well as being CEO at Wigan Warriors RL and Sale Sharks RFC.

Speaking about the appointment Newcastle Falcons Chairman Semore Kurdi said:
“I’m delighted that Mick has taken up this new role at Newcastle Falcons. He has considerable experience in both codes of rugby.

I’m looking forward to Mick, working with the rest of the Senior Management Team, growing the Club. Given that the Rugby World Cup is just over a year away these are very exciting times for Newcastle Falcons and the sport of rugby in the north east.

“With Mick’s leadership I’m confident that the club will be able to fully realise this tremendous opportunity and become a far stronger organisation.”

Infostrada Sports have renewed their partnership with the International Cycling Union (UCI) for the next three and a half years for the continued delivery of the tailor-made video archiving solution.

Infostrada Sports will continue to develop, design and maintain the UCI Download Centre. This Active Archive System is a web based video asset management system which allows for the ingesting, digitalisation, storing and further distribution and publication of video material.

The UCI Download Centre is capable of importing, exporting and transcoding of video footage. This footage can be enriched with custom sports metadata, drawn from Infostrada Sports’ database, and additional supporting files. Video then can be searched, browsed in low resolution and clipped into specific parts. Selected video files can be distributed to any ftp, in different formats for any use. The system also generates unique embeddable video players and automatic publication on YouTube.

The UCI Download Centre was initially deployed by Infostrada Sports in May 2013, helping to fulfill one of UCI’s missions to develop and promote all aspects of cycling.

“We are delighted that we have signed an agreement with such an important International Federation,” said Danny Menken, CEO Infostrada Sports.

“Over the last 15 years we have developed a significant results and common data platform for more than 300 sports, including all cycling disciplines. For Infostrada Sports it’s an important next step to deliver, in addition to data, also tailor-made video archiving solutions to, among others, National Federations and National Olympic Committees. By providing our innovative archive solution, combined with the provision of cycling data from our world leading sports database, I am convinced that we can help further strengthen UCI’s ambitions. “

Tobias Friedrich, TV Production & Broadcast Services Coordinator UCI added:
“The new UCI Download Centre delivers a reliable, sophisticated, user friendly solution to distribute the current UCI race footage as well the archive material which is already digitized.

“It is easy to use for our takers and as well for our team working with the system on a daily base. Since the Download Centre went online the UCI TV Department received positive feedback from all our partners world-wide and the multifunctional system has become an important tool to serve our clients.”