Oslo have officially confirmed their bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics as they look bring the event to Norway for the first time since Lillehammer in 1994.

Ingunn Olsen, here a spokeswoman for the Oslo bid committee, generic says the Norwegian capital will submit its candidature “within the deadline of the IOC,” adding a formal letter had not yet been sent.

November 14 is the deadline for submission of bids to the International Olympic Committee.

Oslo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1952. The 1994 Lillehammer Games are considered among the most successful Winter Olympics ever.

So far, bids for 2022 have also been announced by the Ukrainian city of Lviv; Beijing and the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou; and Almaty, Kazakhstan. A referendum will be held on Sunday in Germany on a proposed bid from Munich. Poland and Slovakia are expected to lodge a joint bid.

The IOC will select the 2022 host city in 2015.

World Snooker have revealed the Doncaster Dome will host World Snooker tournaments in August.

The Yorkshire venue will stage the qualifying rounds of the Shanghai Masters world ranking event from August 7 to 10 as well as a European Tour event from August 15 to 17. 

The European Tour events, which carry ranking points and a top prize of £20,000, are open to all professional and amateur players so top stars like Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson will be eligible to enter. 

Snooker legends like Steve Davis and Ken Doherty plus rising stars such as Michael White and Jack Lisowksi could be competing in the Shanghai Masters qualifiers. 

A spokesman for World Snooker said: “We’re excited to bring our events to Doncaster. The Dome is a fantastic venue and the snooker arena hosts a substantial capacity for spectators. It’s a great chance for fans to come and see the sport played at the highest level and watch their heroes in action. 

“Yorkshire could already be considered the home of snooker with the World Championship in Sheffield and the UK Championship in York, and now Doncaster has its own events. We want to see supporters turning out in force and taking advantage of the incredible value for money that snooker tickets offer.” 

The Doncaster Dome could also host the qualifiers of a new world ranking event on August 11 and 12, with negotiations on that tournament in progress.

USA Cricket’s committee has selected TSE Consulting to conduct a comprehensive review of the organisation.

The product of the process, due to be completed in spring 2013, will be a public report that will be available to the internal and external stakeholders of USACA.

TSE will be charged with a fundamental review designed to re-focus national resources and incentives and infrastructure towards the development of the game at the grass roots level for American boys and girls as well as installing global best practices for developing internationally strong women’s and senior men’s cricket. The process is due to be completed in spring 2013.

International Cricket Council Head of Strategic Management and Support Services and a member of the Governance Review Committee, Jon Long, said: “The USACA Board identified a review of its governance structures as a priority objective, so it is good to see the process unfolding in a structured and transparent manner.”

Dale Neuburger, Director TSE Consulting North America said: “We envision the USACA will adopt best practices of leading cricket federations worldwide and high-performing sports governing bodies in the United States, enabling significant domestic development and new standards of international competitive success.”

TSE Consulting has extensive experience advising international and national sports bodies; including and among others, International Athletics, Basketball, Swimming and Archery and in the US in particular; the United States Olympic Committee, US Bowling, US Rowing and USA Taekwondo, and others.

Get to know more about the organisation by reading Lars Pedersen, Managing Director of TSE Consulting featured profile interview here>>

 

Arena Pernambucu owners in Recife, capsule Brazil, has “opted to alter the project” to speed up construction and get it ready for the 2013 Confederations Cup in June.

This is significant as the Confederations Cup is set to take place in June. The roof and the façade of the stadium will both see changes “in the material used and the construction process.”

The façade, which was supposed to be constructed from aluminum panels and glass, will now be made “with a plastic membrane similar to the one used at the Allianz Arena in Munich.” The stadium itself will have “a rounder format” than the original project suggested. The changes “should increase the cost” of the stadium, which already stands at R$532M ($261.6M), but the arena will now be ready for April instead of Dec. 2013.

With three years left until the Rugby World kicks off in Twickenham, the England Rugby 2015 (ER2015) organising body and tournament owners Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) are confident of creating a lasting legacy for England and the development of the sport worldwide.

Besides organising a successful tournament, both ER2015 and RWCL face the difficult challenge of providing international class facilities for visiting teams and supporters.

Brett Gosper, RWCL Managing Director, said: “Rugby World Cup Limited is confident that, as we reach this key landmark, the planning and preparation is on track and in line with previous Rugby World Cups.

“Three years to go traditionally and naturally sees a step up in planning triggered by the Pool Allocation Draw and through a strong partnership with ER 2015 we are perfectly positioned to kick on into a significant year for the delivery of what promises to be the biggest Rugby World Cup to date.

“Sport is very much at the forefront of people’s minds in Britain thanks to a phenomenal Olympic and Paralympic Games and we will learn from that experience and continue to focus on the delivery of a tournament that will be great for sports fans in Britain and great for the global Rugby family.”

ER 2015 Chairman Andy Cosslett believes the three year landmark offers the perfect opportunity to pen in the next steps for the tournamed.

“The number one priority for ER 2015 is to ensure the organisation of a first class event that meets the needs of players, coaches, spectators and the global development of the Game,” said Cosslett.

“We’ve been working very closely with tournament owners Rugby World Cup Limited and the RFU, and are confident that the groundwork is in place for an outstanding Tournament.

“We have a big year in front of us and Rugby fans around the world can look forward to the selection of the venues that will be at the very heart of this nationwide festival of Rugby and culture, the match schedule that will bring together the world’s top teams, the high-level ticketing strategy and the continuation of the global qualification process.”

Nike’s Twitter promotion to publicise its ‘Make It Count’ campaign has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The watchdog upheld a complaint that tweets from Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere, both sponsored by Nike, where not obviously identifiable as marketing communications.

Rooney, who has nearly 4.4 million followers, recently tweeted: “My resolution – to start the year as a champion, and finish it as a champion…#makeitcount gonike.me/makeitcount.”

While, Wilshere, who has recently quit Twitter, posted: “In 2012, I will come back for my club — and be ready for my country. #makeitcount.gonike.me/Makeitcount.”

While the ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] acknowledge that certain players are paid to promote brands, they state that any tweets must clearly indicate that they are an advertisement and not the player’s own thoughts.

The ASA concluded that the Nike reference was not prominent, consumers would not have already been aware of the #makeitcount campaign and that not all Twitter users would be aware of the footballers’ and their teams’ sponsorship deals with Nike.

In a statement, the ASA said: “We considered there was nothing obvious in the tweets to indicate they were Nike marketing communications.

“In the absence of such an indication, for example #ad, we considered the tweets were not obviously identifiable as Nike marketing communications and therefore concluded they breached the Committee of Advertising Practice code.”

Chinese-based BMW Masters has become part of the European Tour this year.

The event in which Rory McIlroy won the biggest first prize in golf in October, £1.24million, will again be hosted in Lake Malaren in Shanghai for the BMW Masters on October 25-28, with 78 players competing for £4.3million prize money.

“I am already looking forward to teeing off,” said McIlroy, who beat American Anthony Kim in a play-off last season.

“Thanks to the involvement of BMW (it was previously known as the Shanghai Masters) the tournament will now be one of the very best events in the world.

“That obviously makes it all the more exciting to defend my title there.”

Open champion Darren Clarke helped to launch the event during the Beijing Auto Show in the Chinese capital today, teeing off from the BMW exhibition stand using an exploding golden ball.

Clarke, en route to South Korea for this week’s Ballantine’s Championship, was the last man to win the BMW Asian Open in 2008.

The tournament will come the week before the WGC-HSBC Champions, which this year switched from Sheshan near Shanghai to Mission Hills in Shenzhen.

European Tour chief executive George O’Grady said: “We are proud of many partnerships we enjoy across the world of golf, but one of the most enduring is with BMW.

“This tournament represents the third title sponsorship on the tour in 2012 and the 45th in total over the past 23 years.

by Ismail Uddin

Rupert Murdoch owned media giant News Corp and Italian investment company Exor, who have strong ties with leading Formula One marquee Ferrari, confirmed yesterday, May 3, that they are collaborating on a possible bid to take over the sport.

CVC Partners, the championship’s parent company has insisted that it is not looking to sell, and FIA chief Bernie Ecclestone has also played down the likelihood of an agreement.

John Elkann is CEO of Exor and also chairman of Fiat, the owner of Ferrari. Exor is controlled by the Agnelli family, who also own Serie A soccer club Juventus.

In a joint statement, News Corp and Exor stated that they “are in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long-term plan for the development of Formula 1 in the interests of the participants and the fans”.

The statement added: “Exor and News Corp will approach minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport. There can be no certainty that this will lead to an approach to F1’s current owners.”

Last month, Ecclestone, who runs F1 on behalf of CVC, said reports that News Corporation was in talks to buy F1 were “rubbish”. However, since then, CVC has confirmed that it had received a “friendly” approach from the Exor-News Corp consortium.

A statement from CVC read: “(News Corp chairman and CEO) James Murdoch has informed us that the approach is friendly, and that they acknowledge that Formula One is privately owned by CVC and not currently for sale. Any investment in Formula One will require CVC’s agreement and will need to demonstrate that it is in the interest of the sport and its stakeholders, taken as a whole.”

The signing of an historic 10-year-contract bringing MotoGP to the new Circuit of the Americas facility in Austin, drugs Texas, from 2013 has been agreed by Dorna Sports, S.L., 3FourTexasMGP, LLC and Full Throttle Productions.

This agreement includes the three categories of the World Championship; the MotoGP class -the pinnacle of motorcycling-, Moto2 and Moto3.

The circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas is currently under construction to host the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix and this deal is coupled with that 10-year-agreement.

Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, S.L. said: “We are delighted to be adding the Circuit of the Americas™ to the MotoGP calendar. It’s an honour to expand our Championship to Texas, which has a rich history of producing World Championship riders. We have had a wonderful and special relationship with Kevin (Schwantz) for twenty years and often talked about a mutual dream of increasing the popularity of MotoGP in the U.S. and raising our already successful worldwide profile. Now, with what Tavo Hellmund (Managing Partner of Full Throttle Productions) is doing in Austin, we have realised that situation and are looking forward to this new venture together. The 10 year agreement is a sign of our confidence and commitment to the future success of MotoGP racing in Austin.”

Kevin Schwantz, Manager of 3FourTexas MGP, and LLC and the 1993 FIM MotoGP World Champion, added: “For me this is a dream come true, that the FIM MotoGP World Championship will be in my home state of Texas. I am such a believer in the sport and know how popular motorcycling is in Texas. I am sure that this will be a resounding long term success.”

Hellmund stated: “We are extremely pleased to add the best motorcycle World Championship to our annual schedule. This is a fantastic opportunity for the State of Texas and this region and I believe it is the first time in American Motorsports history that both the cars and the motorbikes world championships are held at the same facility annually. We are very proud of becoming the United States international facility for motorsports”.

“Kevin and I have been close friends for a long time and I enjoy a great relationship with Carmelo. I respect so much what they (Dorna) and the FIM have done for MotoGP globally. It’s going to be great for the State, the product is fantastic and you never know, we may even have a reigning Texan in Ben Spies as World Champion for our first event…that would be icing on the cake.”