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.

United States Hockey League have appointed former Reebok-CCM Hockey marketer and businessman Bob Fallen as their new president and commissioner. 

Fallen, who is the third USHL commissioner in the past 20 years, officially assumed his role Sunday.

“I am thrilled with the opportunity to lead the finest junior hockey league in the world,” Fallen said in a statement. “The foundation built by my predecessors, league owners and the stakeholders throughout the hockey industry have made the USHL an important step along the developmental path for players, coaches and officials. I look forward to working with our staff, aligned partners and the international hockey community at large to build upon our success.”

Fallen replaces Skip Prince, who has decided to focus on other pursuits after six seasons with the only Tier I junior hockey league in the United States. He will continue to serve in an advisory role with the league.

“Skip Prince did a tremendous job elevating the USHL to where it is today, and Bob is inheriting a strong league that is on an upswing,” said Brad Kwong, the interim chairman of the USHL board of directors. “The USHL still has much untapped potential, and we are extremely excited that we’ve been able to attract Bob to be the leader that will help us achieve even bigger and better things during our next phase of growth.”

Under Prince, the number of players competing in the USHL having NCAA commitments increased each season and the number of players selected in the NHL Draft continued to reach new highs. A record 32 players from the league were chosen at the 2013 NHL Draft and more than 300 players on USHL team rosters last season committed to NCAA Division I schools.

Fallen most recently managed the U.S. trade marketing efforts for Reebok-CCM Hockey, the world’s largest hockey equipment manufacturing company and equipment supplier to many leagues, including the NHL, American Hockey League and USHL. In his position, Fallen was responsible for executing retail product launches, strategic account planning, media promotion and maintaining various league alliances.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has selected Octoshape, an industry leader in cloud-based streaming technology, to provide the streaming services for their online TV channel ParalympicSport.TV, for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Around 700 athletes from 45 countries are set to compete in Sochi starting on 7 March 2014 in five sports including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.

“We are delighted to partner with Octoshape again for the Sochi Paralympics to showcase the Paralympic Winter Games to as many people as possible around the world,” said Craig Spence, IPC Media & Communications Director. “By using Octoshape’s streaming technology we ensure that Paralympic sport fans can enjoy the Games in the highest possible quality.”

More than 780 hours of live sport were broadcast on paralympic.org throughout London 2012 across five channels. For 2014, Octoshape will provide enhancements like geo-targeting, picture-in-picture capabilities and video time-shifting which will catapult the sport to even greater levels of popularity.

“We are honored and excited that the IPC invited us back for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games,” said Michael Koehn Milland, CEO of Octoshape. “It is a clear validation of our ability to provide an exceptional consumer video experience to any user on any device anywhere in the world.”

Chicago have been announced today as the host city for the 27th edition of the 2015 World Triathlon Grand Final by the The International Triathlon Union (ITU).

In preparation for the Grand Final, Chicago will also host a World Triathlon Series event in 2014.

“We are thrilled to bring the championship final of our World Triathlon Series to Chicago, which has a strong history of hosting world class sporting events,” ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado said. “USA Triathlon has also been active in organising several World Triathlon Series races in the last several years. We are confident their combined experience will produce an excellent World Championship event.” 

The 2015 event will mark the first time the United States has hosted the Grand Final elite races in nearly 20 years, with Cleveland having organised the race in 1996. The US also hosted the second-ever World Championships in Orlando in 1990, as well as the Age Group Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii in 2005. 

Last year marked the debut of San Diego’s appearance on the ITU World Triathlon Series calendar, becoming the second U.S. city to host a round of the series after Washington, D.C. in 2009. The Chicago Sports Commission has played an integral role in bringing the international series to the city, which will be organized in conjunction with USA Triathlon and Lagardere Unlimited. 

“I am honored to announce Chicago will be joining the ranks of other global cities as a host of the ITU World Triathlon Series, beginning in 2014,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “With our gorgeous Lake Michigan setting, fervor for sports, and international demographics, Chicago is an ideal venue for this illustrious event. We look forward to welcoming these world-class athletes and their fans to Chicago and are certain that they will all have a wonderful time.”

The 2013 PruHealth World Triathlon Grand Final will be held in London 11-15 September where age-group athletes will get the opportunity to participate on much the same course as the 2012 London Olympics in Hyde Park. The 2014 World Champions will be named in Edmonton, Canada.