NBCUniversal has renewed their partnership with AT&T for the American telecommunications corporation to provide networking services to support the delivery of its Olympics coverage across multiple devices during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia, February 6-23, 2014.

NBCUniversal will use an array of AT&T networking solutions to deliver high-definition coverage of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. These services will support high-definition video feeds and allow viewers in the United States to enjoy a reliable, high-quality viewing experience of the Sochi Winter Games.

“When people watch the Olympic Games, they increasingly do so from multiple screens – a smartphone, tablet, computer and the traditional television screen,” said Robert Kiraly, Director of Broadcast and Telecommunications Operations, NBC Olympics, Inc. “AT&T supports the networking services we need to ensure our viewers will have the best experience possible, no matter their screen preference.”

“We’ve had a strong relationship with NBCUniversal for decades,” said Dan Walsh, senior vice president, Global Customer Solutions and Integration, AT&T Business Solutions. “Whether people are at home watching television or traveling with a laptop, tablet or smartphone, we will support the NBC Olympic experience. The work we’re doing this year in Sochi continues to expand on that.”

The World Figure Skating Championships are set to return to the United States for the first time in seven years after it was revealed Boston will host the 2016 event.

The International Skating Union announced Monday that the global competition, ampoule which will involve approximately 160 athletes from 40 countries, will be held March 28-April 3 at TD Garden. 

“This will be a thrilling opportunity for all of us to welcome the world to Boston,” said Joe Blount, president of the Skating Club of Boston, which will co-host with the US Figure Skating Association.

The Sports Partnership has announced that it has signed England and Liverpool defender Glen Johnson. 

Glen’s career began at West Ham and in 2003, herbal after just 15 appearances and a loan spell at Millwall, order he became Roman Abramovich’s first signing for Chelsea, pharmacy the same year he made his England debut against Denmark. 

He won the Premier League and League Cup in 2005 with Chelsea but was loaned by Jose Mourinho to Portsmouth in 2006. The move became permanent and he helped the club to win the FA Cup in 2008. 

Glen signed with Liverpool in 2009 and has been a regular ever since, winning the League Cup in 2012 and helping the team to the FA Cup Final that year, as well as remaining an integral part of the England set-up. 

Glen commented:  “I’m pleased to be working with The Sports Partnership and having seen what they’ve done with other athletes I have no doubt this will be a good relationship.”

James Williamson at The Sports Partnership added: “We’re delighted to announce Glen as an addition to our roster. We will be offering support on a number of levels to help develop projects that Glen has away from the pitch such as his Foundation.”

Badminton England have revealed plans to move to a new £20million headquarters and training base in Milton Keynes.

The governing body propose to move from their existing National Badminton Centre in the Bedfordshire town to a new purpose-built complex of at least twice the size at the National Bowl.

The new centre, which is intended to open in spring 2015, would contain a 16-court badminton hall, a 3,000-seater arena, a fitness club, administrative space and athlete accommodation.

BE chief executive Adrian Christy said: “As minimum, the National Badminton Centre will double in size.

“The arena will also allow Milton Keynes to attract major national, European and international sporting events – not just badminton competitions, but several other sporting events that might include volleyball, table tennis, netball and basketball.

“The support from partners for this venture has been overwhelming including MK Council, the landowners and Sport England, who have mentioned this project alongside other world-class facilities such as the new St George’s Park football centre in Burton-upon-Trent and Manchester’s redeveloped National Cycling Centre.”

A more detailed planning application will be submitted to Milton Keynes Council in January next year.

BE have been at their present Loughton base, which will be sold to fund the new project, since 2000.

English Rugby club, Northampton Saints has posted a net profit for the 12th year running despite its turnover dipping slightly.

The Aviva Premiership club declared a net profit of £689,418 ($1.1m)  for the year to 31 May 2012 on sales of £12.8m ($20.3m), down from £13.2m ($20.9m) in the previous 12 months.

The club also recorded a pre-tax profit in the 2011 year of £801k ($1.27m).

Saints chief executive Allan Robson called the profit run “unprecedented” and “a unique record of which the directors are rightly proud”.

Robson identified a 97 per cent home attendance to capacity ratio and income generated by the team’s continued successes on the field as important features of the club’s financial performance.

He also reported a 30 per cent increase in turnover related to non-match day conference and events activities.

Chairman Leon Barwell added: “It is absolutely essential that we continue to sustain a strong and profitable business model so that the club can compete at the highest levels and be independently viable.”

The rights for Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko fights will be controlled by sports rights marketing agency Sportfive. 

The CMM-promotion of the two Ukrainians, impotent will be exclusively commissioned with the international marketing of media rights to be held until the end of 2013 fighting, the agency announced on Wednesday.

The new collaboration will begin with the next title defense of WBO, WBA and IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko on 7 July in Berne against Tony Thompson.

The Chitimacha Louisiana Open and the PGA TOUR jointly announced a four-year contract extension that will continue to bring professional golf and the Nationwide Tour to the area through the Open’s silver-anniversary 2016 season.

The Open, which is in the middle of its pre-tournament activities for this year and kicks off championship play on Thursday over the Le Triomphe Golf & Country Club layout, has become a fixture in the Acadiana area in its 21 years. Monday’s announcement ensures that the event — one that has raised nearly $4 million for local and area charities — will remain a fixture on both the Nationwide Tour schedule and the local sports scene.

“Now our community, our sponsors and our fans and supporters know we’re in it for the long haul,” said Open executive director Danny Jones, who joined tournament and Tour officials at Le Triomphe Monday for the announcement. “We know how important it is for this area to have this tournament, and we wanted to make sure that the people who love this Tour and the charities that count on us know that we’ll be here for them.”

Bill Calfee, president of the Nationwide Tour, said: “This tournament has been an outstanding event on the Nationwide Tour for the past 21 years. Its impact in Lafayette and in south Louisiana from an economic and charitable perspective has been very impressive. We look forward to growing this partnership in the years ahead and to positively influencing the lives of the many deserving people the event touches.”

The Chitimacha Louisiana Open became part of a recognized professional tour in 1992 when it partnered with the then two-year-old Ben Hogan Tour for a $125,000 event. The purse has since quadrupled, and several Open champions have gone on to find the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR — including Paul Stankowski, who won the PGA TOUR’s BellSouth Classic in Atlanta only one week after taking the Louisiana Open title. More importantly, the Open has raised $1.65 million for charity over the past eight years as part of that nearly $4 million total — the great majority of that going to youth-related charities that provide essential services.

“We know that what we do ensures that some kids will have a hot meal and a place to sleep tonight,” said long-time Open chairman Harry Patin. “We take that very seriously, and that’s why knowing that the tournament and the Nationwide Tour are partnered for four more years is important.”

The four-year partnership announced Monday runs through the 2016 tournament, which will be the 25th anniversary of the local event. The Open had been operating under a two-year agreement with the Tour that expired with this year’s tournament.

“Any time a contract is expiring, people start to question what’s next, what’s going to happen in the future,” Jones said. “We wanted to do a four-year agreement both for the future of the tournament and to be the best partner with the Tour we can be, and we also wanted to get this done before this year’s tournament.

“Lafayette and Acadiana have always been incredible supporters of this tournament, and our board felt it was important to show that we will continue to bring this great event here. We’ve always said that our task is to put on a golf tournament, but our mission is to help the charities and groups that make a difference in everyone’s lives.”

by Ismail Uddin

The Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka circuit has agreed an extension to continue as a fixture of the Formula One calendar until at least 2012.

With venues and hopeful hosting cities emerging at a rapid rate, the circuit’s long–term Formula One future looks more uncertain, having held it’s first Grand Prix in 1987.

This season was set to be the longest ever F1 schedule until the Bahrain Grand Prix was called off because of civil unrest, however it is unknown as to whether the race will be reinstated in the 2011 calendar at a later date. This season’s 53 lap Suzuka race will be held on 9th October.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has said 20 races, which the 2011 was scheduled for, is the maximum the F1 calender should be with the United States scheduled to return to F1 with a new track in Austin, Texas in 2012 and Russia joining the calendar for the first time in 2014.

This leaves circuits who pay lower fees and have shorter contracts, such as Suzuka, vulnerable to dropping off the list entirely.  Suzuka, like Britain’s Silverstone circuit, is not supported by national or local government, meaning the US$48.4m-$80.6m a year to host the race has to be privately funded. 

According to media reports, Suzuka look particularly vulnerable following a decline in Japanese involvement in the sport after the Honda team pulled out of F1 in 2008, with Toyota following a year later.

K&N Filters have been confirmed as an official sponsor of the 2011 Nascar season.

K&N, pills an automotive filter manufacturer, will see their oil and air products become Nascar’s filter of choice under the terms of the agreement, as well as providing K&N a marketing platform for its products. K&N will also have the rights to use the Nascar brand name in their advertising and packaging.

Jerry Mall, K&N founder, said: “K&N is clearly a force to be reckoned with.”

President of K&N Steve Rogers added: “Some things were just meant to be. I always believed it was just a matter of time before Nascar and K&N reunited, I feel like we have so much in common as family run businesses driven by our passion for motorsports.”

K&N will continue as an official developmental series partner of Nascar, title-sponsoring the K&N Pro Series, and be a contingency sponsor in the Nascar Sprint Cup series, Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, Modified Tour and Whelen All-American Series.