English Premier League side Aston Villa have become the first club in the top-flight to back a new campaign for trials of standing areas for fans in Premier League and Championship matches.

The Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF), with backing from Birmingham MP Roger Godsiff, hope to show that there is no need for all high-level football to be played at all-seater venues.

Villa have joined Peterborough in giving their support for calls to the Government to allow ‘small-scale trials of safe standing areas’ and have directly offered to host a trial.

Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner said: “We have had a number of good discussions and meetings with the FSF over the past 12 months and fully support their campaign to allow small-scale trials of safe standing areas at grounds.

“Whenever we have discussed the topic with our fans we’ve found almost unanimous support for such a trial, and the concept of giving fans the choice to decide to either sit or stand at a game.

“We believe Villa Park could be a potential venue for such a trial, and would like the opportunity to progress the plans further with the wider support of the football community in this country.”

Godsiff has submitted an early day motion to Parliament as the trials would need a change in the Football Spectators Act 1989, brought in after the Hillsborough disaster.

Peter Daykin, Safe Standing Coordinator at the FSF, said: “Standing was outlawed on grounds of safety, and yet successive governments have agreed that standing is safe – it’s hard not to when it is done perfectly safely every week at rugby grounds, lower league football grounds and in top football leagues all around the world.”

Michael Cunnah, former Aston Villa CEO told iSportconnect that Villa may be endorsing this plan to seek further ways to bring back the vans to Villa Park.

“As AVFC’s attendances have been on a consistent slide in recent years, I can only think that AVFC are trying to create something that they think will appeal to some of their missing fans. I don’t believe that, in these Hillsborough-conscious times, the English football authorities will agree  to a proposal which no longer requires clubs to have all-seater stadia,” he said.

Bradford Bulls are on course to return back to stability after it was announced Bradford restaurant owner Omar Khan had agreed a deal with the administrators to takeover the club.

Brendan Guilfoyle, partner at the Leeds-based P&A Partnership and joint administrator at Bradford since June 26, revealed in a statement that he had completed the sale of Bradford Bulls Holdings Limited to OK Bulls Limited for an undisclosed sum.

The sole director of OK Bulls Limited is Omar Khan, who owns the award-winning Bradford restaurants and catering business under his name. Gerry Sutcliffe, MP for Bradford South and a former Sports Minister, is also involved with the business.

Khan tweeted: “Omar Khan’s and Gerry Sutcliffe Save the Bradford Bulls and are the new owners of the club.”

However, former UK Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe – who is part of the consortium – has warned that it will take up to two years to revive the fortunes of the rugby league club.

Sutcliffe, who now serves as an MP for Bradford South, told Press Association Sport: “We believe that, if we are able to put our business plan in place with Super League membership, it will take two years to turn it around and that’s with goodwill and the support of all the partners we need to have on board.”

The new regime did not kick off with the best start on Saturday. The Bulls were on the wrong end of a record 70-6 defeat to Hull FC.

The Bulls entered administration on 26^th June, with the Rugby Football League having since attempted to secure new owners for the club.

In the lead up to Euro 2012 UEFA sponsors Adidas, no rx Orange and McDonald’s have introduced their marketing campaigns to take advantage of growing hype.

Adidas, bronchi is launching a new portal on the photo blogging site Tumblr that lets fans listen to podcasts as well as view pictures and videos that feature Adidas sponsored teams and players such as Leo Messi, online Xabi Alonso, Iker Casillas and David Beckham.

The sports brand believes the social network will play a key part in its future social media strategy.

Tom Ramsden, global brand marketing director of football at Adidas, says the tie-up is a “significant” step for the brand’s efforts to appeal to 14-19 year olds using platforms “beyond typical football communications channels.”

After the Euros, the brand will continue to use the site house football content from Champions League and the US football league MLS features. The move comes as other sponsors such as Carlsberg and Castrol ramp up their social media activity around the tournament to avoid be overshadowed by their Olympic counterparts.

Meanwhile, Orange is launching two free apps to tap into the expected surge in dual-screen viewing around matches.

The UEFA Euro 2012 app lets users find their friends nearby as well as locate venues where they can watch the games across Europe. The Supporters Cup Shake & Shout app is a competition to see which fans can record the loudest cheer. The telecoms firm is using the tournament to launch its first pan-European sponsorship across markets including Spain, Poland, France, the UK, Slovakia.

McDonald’s is using the start of the tournament to launch its new football-themed Championship Menu, which includes the Cheese & Bacon Striker and the Chicken Maestro burgers.

2008 Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, has announced a decision to join the likes of David Beckham at Simon Fuller’s talent company, XIX Entertainment.

Hamilton adds to a strong British sporting contingent including Scottish tennis star Andy Murray at Fuller’s new company.

Hamilton said: “It was important I took my time to make this decision as it had to be right for my career and my long-term future”.

“I spoke to many interested companies in recent months but I felt Simon Fuller along with his team at XIX Entertainment not only wanted to help me become an even better racing driver, but they also shared my ambitions for the longer term”.

Hamilton won the 2008 Championship at just 23 years old in only his second season on the circuit in a nail-biting final lap in the Brazil Grand Prix. 

Fuller said: “Like any British fan I watched with pride and admiration at his achievements, incredibly winning the World Championship at such a young age”. 

“He’s not only one of the leading sportsmen of his generation, he will I believe become one of the best of all time.  It’s an honour to be partnering with Lewis in what will be a very exciting stage of his career”. 

Hamilton will again partner fellow Brit Jenson Button in the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes this season, which begins in Melbourne, at the Australian Grand Prix on 25th March.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup fall race at Kansas Speedway will be titled the Hollywood Casino 400 for the next 10 years.

In 2012 the US$386m “Hollywood-themed entertainment destination and casino” is set to open at the track with the race named after the new venture.

The speedway and Penn National Gaming will partner to operate the casino with the new title taking effect with this year’s race on October 9.

Price Chopper formerly served as title sponsor, but the casino wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to publicise,

Indian cricket team captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni signs a Rs 260 million (US $5.7million) endorsement deal with world’s second largest spirits firm, impotent the UB Group, arthritis believed to be the single biggest for an Indian sportsperson. As a part of the deal with the UB Group, Dhoni will become the brand ambassador for McDowell’s soda for a period of three years.

Earlier this year, Rhiti Sports Management along with Mindscapes One, signed a Rs 2.1 billion deal with Dhoni to manage his endorsements and brand associations.

“Currently Dhoni is the face of 23 brands and charges over Rs six crore per endorsement,” Pandey added. The pack of brands endorsed by Dhoni includes Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and TVS Motor.

During the first six months of this year, Dhoni topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on television, leaving behind not only Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan and cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar, but also the gorgeous ladies of the silver screen.

According to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research, while Dhoni endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV, Shahrukh and Sachin were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 firms, respectively.

National Rugby League’s Chief Operating Officer Jim Doyle has revealed he will step down from his role to become the new CEO of New Zealand Warriors.

Current Warriors CEO Wayne Scurrah has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season. Doyle will remain COO of the NRL until the end of 2014.

“I have to admit that my wife and I are a little homesick for New Zealand and are missing our time with our daughters who live there,” Doyle said in a statement on Tuesday.

“When the opportunity arose to join the Warriors as their next CEO, I knew it was the right decision for our family. It means we can return home but also stay within the rugby league community, which is a major part of our lives and the sport that both my wife and I are passionate about.”

Doyle, who was CEO of New Zealand Rugby League from 2009 to 2012, will have been working for the NRL for almost two years when he leaves.

“It was always my intention to return to New Zealand after two to three years, which I made clear to both the Commission and Dave Smith when I joined,” he said.

NRL Chief Executive Officer Dave Smith praised Doyle for his achievements.

“I cannot praise Jim enough for his contribution to the growth of rugby league and the important foundations he’s helping put in place to ensure this game becomes even healthier, stronger and more professional in the coming years,” Smith said in a statement.

“Jim has worked side-by-side with me to establish the highly-successfully Integrity Unit and establish proper processes and procedures to manage important whole-of-game issues across a range of areas including ASADA, player behaviour, player welfare and education and salary cap.

“Jim has also been a great mate since I joined the NRL and I am particularly pleased that he’s staying within the Rugby League family at the Warriors, which is a strong club.

“It is important for the NRL that people of Jim’s caliber are part of the game as the NRL drives further changes to club governance and standards in line with being a major sporting administration.”

The Head of Integrity & Compliance Unit, Nick Weeks, will continue to report to Doyle.

Smith said he will conduct an external search prior to Doyle’s departure.

The North American Soccer League (NASL) have announced a new digital partnership with PERFORM to launch their website and each of the league’s club websites.

Partnering with PERFORM will help propel the new look www.NASL.com website, the NASL and its clubs to a wider audience throughout the global soccer community. 

PERFORM commercializes multimedia sports content across internet-enabled digital platforms, driving revenues through a mix of content distribution, advertising and sponsorship, the development and management of subscription platforms and technology and production.  

“We are excited to enhance our digital presence through PERFORM and believe the league and club websites will become an essential destination for soccer fans around the world by becoming part of a larger online entity,” said NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson. “We have an opportunity to become a market leader in content and style while also driving revenues through digital platforms for the NASL and our clubs.”  

As part of the match day experience throughout the NASL season, which kicks off on April 12, fans will be able to follow along at NASL Match Center where they can enjoy comprehensive live stats and interact through social media and buy tickets and merchandise, while watching the NASL live stream. 

“We are investing in enhancing our live streaming of matches and are making them available as part of a monthly league-wide subscription package that we believe offers great value,” added NASL Commissioner Peterson. “Sporting events around the world are increasingly being viewed via online platforms and this partnership with PERFORM will push the NASL to the forefront of how soccer fans access matches in the future. 

“Our matches already create a fantastic live atmosphere when fans visit our stadiums to watch in person, and we feel that is an asset that can be captured online and can help the league and clubs build its global fan base.” 

Juan Delgado, Managing Director of PERFORM said: “In the US, soccer is continuing to gain in popularity. The audience is growing and like most sports fans today, they’re demanding rich digital content and experiences. Our partnership with the NASL will bring the best of their content together with our deep digital expertise to provide fans with greater access to NASL’s live games and digital content.”

USA Triathlon, buy in conjunction with KANGA Productions, price sale has announced Las Vegas Convention Center will host the second installment of the 2013 USA Triathlon Super Sprint Series on Thursday, Sept. 19

The event, officially designated as the 2013 USA Triathlon Elite Sprint National Championships, will be televised nationally by Universal Sports Network. Air dates and other details to be announced.

Contested in a double super-sprint format, professional athletes will complete two continuous, non-stop circuits of the same course, each comprised of a 300-meter pool swim, 5-mile bike and 1.5-mile run. Qualifying heats will be held throughout the day, with finals to begin at 5 p.m. PDT.

Also to be referenced as the Super Sprint Triathlon Grand Prix, the race will take place during Interbike, the largest annual cycling trade show in North America, allowing endurance industry leaders to experience the engaging course design firsthand.

“USA Triathlon is thrilled to partner with KANGA Productions and Universal Sports, while presenting the second race of this year’s inaugural USA Triathlon Super Sprint Series. The event is designed to be extremely television and spectator friendly,” said Rob Urbach, USA Triathlon CEO.