England footballer David Beckham is due to take part in a 90 minute online interview as the next part of Yahoo!’s football-based campaign.

Beckham, who is a brand ambassador for Yahoo!, will answer questions from fans simultaneously by video from 20 countries on 14 July.

Yahoo! users are being encouraged to submit questions for Beckham on ‘Yahoo! Answers’, Yahoo! Mail, Beckham’s Facebook page, the Yahoo! World Football Facebook page and Twitter.

Fans from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and Dubai will be involved in the interview.

Earlier this month, Beckham signed a deal to be Yahoo!’s global sports ambassador for the World Cup and the 2010-11 football season.

The European Olympic Committees (EOC) has announced today it has updated its digital platforms. 

This movement hopes to help the EOC communicate more efficiently with its 49 National Olympic Committee members, herbal (NOC) and also promote integration for all parties within the Olympic Movement. 

Furthermore in hoping to achieve its goals a new website has been set up including an intranet facility where member NOCS can download documents and carry out online accreditation for EOC. 

Along with the new website a new twitter handle has been added and created to communicate EOC news published from the website and promote wider stories from the Olympic movement.

EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi said:“Our new website and Twitter account are now fully operational and we are very happy with these upgrades to our online presence. These platforms are often the first contact point for our NOCs and the media. These stakeholders want to engage with us in a simple and appealing way. Now they can do that more easily than ever.” 

EOC President Patrick Hickey, who is also an IOC Executive Board Member, Said: “The EOC’s updated digital platforms are part of our wider vision to constantly improve how we support our NOCs. The new website and social media account will significantly enhance our communications around some of our vision’s key components, such as the European Games.”

Poland have put forward the city of Krakow as a possible host for the 2022 Winter Olympics as they confirmed their bid for the prestigious competition jointly with Slovakia.

A letter has been sent by Poland’s Olympic committee to the International Olympic Committee.

Under the bid plans, Krakow and the Tatra mountain resort of Zakopane would host the ice events. The Alpine events would be held across the border, in Jasna, Slovakia.

Jasna is about 95 miles from Krakow.

“The rules allow two countries to team up in case the host country cannot accommodate certain sport disciplines,” Slovak Olympic Committee chair Frantisek Chmelar told AFP.

The Poland-Slovakia joint bid is the fifth declared candidacy for the 2022 Games.

The Norwegian capital of Oslo announced its bid earlier Thursday. The field also includes the Ukrainian city of Lviv; Beijing and the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou; and Almaty, Kazakhstan. A referendum will be held Sunday in Germany on a proposed bid from Munich.

The IOC will select the 2022 host city in 2015.

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