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.

Brand development agency, remedy Capitalize has been appointed the brief for the British Basketball Association to promote the development of a new premier professional basketball competition in the UK.

Through the deal, ed the agency will look to promote the British Basketball Association’s plans for its nationwide league to sport and entertainment fans as well as businesses and the UK sport industry as a whole.

David Paton, stuff chief operating and commercial officer, BBA, said: “We’ve chosen Capitalize to promote us in the UK because of their expertise working with Olympic sports, their knowledge and outstanding relationships with the sport and lifestyle media in the UK, combined with their vast experience delivering events. We are focused on bringing the best possible on and off-court experience to families and sports fans throughout the UK, and it’s extremely important to us that this new approach to UK basketball is conveyed through our PR.”

Capitalize will look to target national and regional titles as well as sport and lifestyle consumer media.

Richard Moore, CEO at Capitalize, added: “Interest in basketball has significantly increased in the UK with the introduction of NBA games in London, and the London 2012 Olympics has changed the way sport is experienced here. All in all it’s a great time to launch a new team sports series. Capitalize is delighted to have been selected by the BBA to help convert fans for a new era of basketball in the UK.”

Gianni Infantino, UEFA General Secretary has reinforced that Europe’s governing body will continue to be ont he offensive when it comes to fighting match-fixing and corruption in football.

In an address at a conference in Rome on Integrity in Sport, organised by Interpol and world football’s governing body FIFA, Mr Infantino reiterated UEFA’s call for widespread cooperation between sports and state bodies to eradicate from football what he described as a “cancer” posing a real threat to the game’s integrity.

“We cannot and will not allow our game to be contaminated by criminals who have nothing but financial gain in mind,” Mr Infantino told UEFA.com ahead of the conference. “Football, as you know, is a game based on fair competition between participants played to an agreed set of rules. The integrity of our sport, as well as the physical and emotional well-being of both players and match officials, are being severely undermined by these individuals who have direct links to organised criminal groups in both Asia and Europe.

“We are committed to maintaining our sport’s integrity,” he added. “With our continued programme of education for players, match officials and coaches, our sophisticated monitoring systems and our close links with law enforcement agencies and state authorities, under no circumstances will we surrender to match-fixers.

“We cannot win this battle alone, and we recognise the need for close collaboration with all the members of the football family and other sporting bodies, whose goal it is to see the true values of football prevail. We very much count on their support.”

The London 2012 Organising Committee and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) marked the start of the handover of the Olympic Park, ambulance the centrepiece of the Games.

The programme of work to transform the Olympic Park site after the Games is well underway with LOCOG removing the temporary facilities that were necessary to make the Games happen. In just six weeks since the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony a significant proportion of the temporary overlay has already been removed from the Olympic Park.

The start of handover means that the LLDC have taken operational control of the Olympic Park (perimeter security, access control and logistics operations) and associated areas. The Legacy Corporation will then begin works to transform the Park into a new part of London, to be known as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, through a £292m construction project.

LOCOG has phased handover dates for specific venues and spaces to the LLDC. The Aquatics Centre, the Velodrome and the Basketball Arena have now been handed over to LLDC, the Copper Box will be handed over in November and the Olympic Stadium and Press and Broadcast Centres will be handed over in December.

Meanwhile, LOCOG is also preparing to hand over the Olympic Village to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) so that a large-scale retrofitting programme can begin, transforming the 2,818 apartments and houses into East Village – a new community for London from 2013 onwards.

Seb Coe, LOCOG Chair, said: “The UK hosted a spectacular Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.  We have now begun the first chapter of the lasting legacy we promised when we bid for the Games. We began our work straight after the Games to transform the venues, parklands and facilities in the Olympic Park to ensure generations to come will benefit from a golden summer.  I congratulate my team for taking out all the temporary structures so quickly so that the job of transformation continues quickly.”

Dennis Hone, Chief Executive of ODA and interim Chief Executive of LLDC, said: “The work has already begun on preparing the Olympic Park and Olympic Village for legacy. Once the overlay and Games-time elements are removed, we will start to deconstruct the temporary venues, adapt permanent venues for future use, reshape the landscape and retrofit the Village into a new community for London. This will take some time, but the wait will be worth it. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be a fantastic new place to live, work and visit and enjoy. This really is an opportunity to create a legacy of the type we have never seen before.”

The Legacy Corporation’s huge construction programme is called ‘Clear, Connect, Complete’. It will clear Games-time overlay including temporary venues, walkways and stands, connect the Park to the surrounding area with new roads and pathways and complete the Park’s venues to their legacy designs.

To help people to get onto the Park as quickly as possible, the Legacy Corporation has planned its works to enable the Park to begin to re-open in phases, from 27^th July, 2013, as each piece of work reaches completion. The whole Park will be open by spring 2014.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced that Canada will host the IRB Americas Rugby Championship 2012.

The showcase tournament features teams from the top Unions in North and South America and the 2012 edition will see international A teams from Canada, and USA and Argentina and the Uruguay national team competing for the prestigious prize.

The Championship will be contested in a round-robin format over three match days featuring double-headers with matches at Bear Mountain Stadium in Langford, viagra sale British Columbia, price on October 12, 16 and 20.

The IRB Americas Rugby Championship fits the strategic aims of the participating Unions and underlines the IRB’s commitment to delivering an integrated schedule that combines IRB strategic investment tournaments within a framework that also provides regular full international matches in the June and November Test windows for IRB targeted High Performance and Performance Unions.

IRB Head of Development and Performance Mark Egan said: “Canada, USA, and Argentina are all priority Unions for our High Performance investment programme and Uruguay also receives significant IRB financial and technical support as the second highest ranked South American Union and previous RWC participant.”

“Working in partnership with our Regional Associations we are investing £2.7 million per year in our strategic investment competitions programme which is a central element of the IRB’s strategic aim of increasing global competitiveness and in particular the performance of Tier Two teams at Rugby World Cup.”

“The Americas Rugby Championship creates an important strategic link between the top ranked Unions in North and South America that will generate exciting and competitive matches, while allowing the participating Unions’ coaching staff to take a closer look at the development of their elite domestic-based players as they now move in to the qualification and preparation cycle for RWC 2015,” added Egan.

Rugby Canada CEO Graham Brown said: “Hosting international Rugby in Canada is always an exciting opportunity and to be able to bring it to Rugby Canada’s home of High Performance on the island makes it that much more special. We know this tournament is going to be a great success for Canadian Rugby and for the local community.”

The tournament will kick off on October 12 when USA Select take on Argentina Jaguars at 17:30 local time before Canada plays Uruguay at 19:30. Day two begins with Uruguay versus Argentina Jaguars at 17:30 followed by Canada against USA Select at 19:30. The final day of the tournament will see Uruguay take on USA Select at 17:30 before Canada close the Championship against Argentina Jaguars at 19:30.