The Scottish Premier League (SPL) is set for a major revamp after all 12 clubs unanimously agreed on plans to restructure the top flight of Scottish football.

Following last month’s talks, the SPL decided to seek the expansion of their membership, with a proposal to split the two leagues into three divisions of eight after 22 games.

After Monday’s three-hour meeting at Hampden, SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster revealed there had been full support for a new “24-18” team model.

This would involve the top flight divided into two divisions of 12 teams. The ’18’ refers to the remaining Scottish Football League clubs not included in the top leagues.

Doncaster told Sky Sports: “I’m delighted to say that we have unanimous agreement in principle from the 12 SPL member clubs to the 24-18 team model.

“We are looking forward to sitting down with the Scottish Football League and the Scottish FA to talk about the details.

“What we aim to have is a consensus model that cares for all of Scottish football and that’s got to be the objective going forward.”

These proposals will now be discussed with the SFA and SFL on Thursday.

The SFL’s 30 clubs have previously voted in favour of three leagues, comprising of 16, 10 and 16. The SPL has spoken informally to SFL clubs and it is felt there is sufficient support for the changes.

Manchester City have begun work on a £100million-plus training complex, unhealthy which will open prior to the start of the 2014-25 Premier League season.

The new 80-acre site facing the Etihad Stadium will be transformed with 16 football pitches, order a 7,000-capacity stadium for youth and reserve-team matches and a first-team training building.

The facilities will contain an indoor pitch, classrooms for 200 youth-team players, accommodation and staff offices.

The reigning English champions have provided 5.5 acres on the corner of the site to the local council, where a sixth form college will be built, as well as £3 million for public leisure facilities.

The club spend several months studying and researching an estimated 30 clubs, in various sports, from around the globe before conjuring up blueprints on the development, which has been named ‘City Football Academy’

Patrick Vieira, Manchester City’s Football Development Executive and Arsenal legend, said:  “What I find really exciting is that before designing the facilities they have been to the football world, the basketball world and the NFL world, so a lot of hard work has been done.

That is why I believe it is the best project around in all sports.”

Having spent vast sums of money on players again during the transfer window, the project plans are part of the club’s attempt to become self-sustaining in the light of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules (FFP).

Uefa, who last week upheld prize money from 23 clubs, have excluded infrastructure, training facilities and youth development costs are excluded from the FFP equation, therefore City’s multi-million will not be factored by the time the rules are enforced from 2014.

 

The consortium seeking to rescue Bradford Bulls have formally submitted their bid, buy administrator Brendan Guilfoyle has confirmed.

Administrator Brendan Guilfoyle confirmed the consortium had submitted a bid to buy the club, ampoule but also says the offer is a conditional one. The lease for Odsal Stadium must be sold back to the club, and the Bulls must have assurances from the RFL over the Super League future of the club. 

The new buyers are a group of Asian businessmen from the Bradford area, and are known only as the ABC consortium.

Guilfoyle said: “The consortium has made an offer that is a basis for negotiations with both the administrators and the Rugby Football League.

“Their offer is conditional on the RFL selling back Odsal and on the Bulls retaining their Super League status. The next few days are going to be critical for the club. I can’t speculate on what the outcome will be.

“The ABC consortium, the RFL, the administrators and professional advisers for all parties will be focused on trying to get a deal over the line.”

The RFL board of directors are expected to announce the points deduction the Bulls will incur after the club fell into administration.

Bradford travel to Headingley on Friday night to face Leeds.

Sports business platform iSportconnect has appointed Michael Cunnah as its Chairman.

iSportconnect is a global online network of sports executives that was launched in June 2010 with the aim of connecting  all members of the international sports business community.

iSportconnect.com allows members to make connections, therapy discuss ideas, and advertise sponsorship opportunities, browse jobs and learn about the industry.

The website is complemented by Directors’ Club meetings— events in major cities at which attendees can network with fellow professionals and participate in discussions about sports business topics with a panel of experts.

Cunnah’s appointment coincides with an exciting period in iSportconnect’s development­— a new version of the online platform, with mobile applications, is set to be launched soon.

iSportconnect will also announce details of its Directors’ Club meetings after the success of recent events held in Munich and London.

Cunnah has a wealth of experience in the sports industry having been Chief Financial Officer of The FA, Chief Executive Officer of Wembley Stadium and Chief Operating Officer of Aston Villa FC.

Cunnah said: “I am pleased to have been appointed Chairman of a company that has achieved a great deal in a relatively short period of time. I look forward to the challenges that this role will bring and aiding the development of what I think is a very strong concept.”

iSportconnect’s Founder and CEO, Sree Varma, said: “Michael has a fantastic business mind and a great understanding of the sports industry. As Chairman, he will be instrumental in helping the growth of the company.”

iSportconnect will make further announcements regarding the appointments of key personnel  in the near future.

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Jeder dritte deutsche Bürger engagiert sich ehrenamtlich, order ein Großteil davon in einem Sportverein. Als Trainer oder Betreuer, story Platzwart oder Stadionordner sorgen sie für Vereinsheime, therapy Plätze sowie Ausrüstung und schaffen durch ihr unentgeltliches Engagement eine lebendige Vereinsstruktur. Um die Leistungen dieser aktiven ehrenamtlichen Mitarbeiter öffentlich zu würdigen und weitere Menschen für ehrenamtliche Tätigkeiten zu begeistern, wurde vom Hamburger Weg, seinem Partner Holsten und dem Hamburger Fußball-Verband in diesem Jahr zum dritten Mal der Vereins-Ehrenamtspreis verliehen.

„Ehrenamtliches Engagement ist zwar unentgeltlich, aber alles andere als wertlos. Im Gegenteil: Einen Alltag ohne die engagierte Mitarbeit der vielen freiwilligen Helfer könnte sich unsere Gesellschaft gar nicht leisten”, so Dr. Holger Liekefett, Geschäftsführer Marketing der Holsten-Brauerei AG. „Ich bin immer wieder beeindruckt von dem Willen und der Tatkraft all der aktiven Bürgerinnen und Bürger, die ihre Umgebung in Gemeinden und Sportvereinen positiv mitgestalten. Mit dem Vereins-Ehrenamtspreis will Holsten sich bei den Helfern für ihr vorbildliches Wirken bedanken und dem Ehrenamt Anerkennung verleihen. Ich beglückwünsche die Preisträger und freue mich auf die gemeinsame Umsetzung der ausgezeichneten Projekte in diesem Jahr.”

In einer Pressekonferenz in den Räumlichkeiten der Holsten Brauerei wurden am 14. März die drei ausgezeichneten Vereine geehrt. Der Vereins-Ehrenamtspreis geht in diesem Jahr an den FTSV Altenwerder, den TuS Germania Schnelsen und den USC Paloma. In allen drei Vereinen zeigt sich ein außerordentlich hohes Maß an ehrenamtlichem Engagement und gemeinnütziger Arbeit. Durch das Preisgeld von je 10.000 Euro soll unter anderem der Umbau des Vereinsheimes (FTSV Altenwerder) umgesetzt, eine Beleuchtungsanlage für einen Minispielfeld (USC Paloma) angeschafft und ein neuer Gemeinschaftsraum (Germania Schnelsen) eingerichtet werden.

Die Preisträger wurden durch eine kompetent besetzte Jury ermittelt. Die Ehrung wurde vorgenommen von Dr. Holger Liekefett (Geschäftsführer Marketing Holsten-Brauerei AG) und Volker Okun (Ehrenamtsbeauftragter des Hamburger Fußball-Verbandes) sowie den beiden Projektpaten Jaroslav Drobny und Lotto King Karl.

„Besonders im Amateurbereich wäre Fußball ohne die vielen ehrenamtlichen Helfer gar nicht möglich. Ich habe großen Respekt vor der Arbeit, die durch die vielen Ehrenamtlichen geleistet wird”, so HSV-Torwart Drobny. Lotto King Karl bringt die Wichtigkeit des Ehrenamtes auf seine gewohnt lockere Art und Weise auf den Punkt: “Ehrenamt ist Ehrung wert!”

Der Ehrenamtsbeauftragte im Hamburger Fußball-Verband, Volker Okun, erklärt: “Die ehrenamtlichen Mitarbeiter in den Vereinen sind die tragenden Säulen des Fußballs in Deutschland. Der HFV bedankt sich im Namen seiner Vereine und der vielen Ehrenamtlichen beim Hamburger Weg und dem Partner Holsten für die Würdigung dieser wichtigen Arbeit für die Gesellschaft.” 

Golf is set to be the next sport to gain a Twenty20 style revamp following the launch of PowerPlay Golf, a new format designed to increase the appeal of the sport, with the first event teeing-off in May.

Hailed as golf’s equivalent to Twenty20 cricket, a format which has taken the sport’s world reach and appeal by storm, PowerPlay Golf is a new short form of the game – played over nine holes, with two flags on every green, golfers use a limited number of ‘PowerPlays’ to score extra points when aiming at the harder Black Flag, creating exciting risk-and-reward decisions on each tee.

Taking place next month, PowerPlay Golf: Ignition is the first of a series of three televised professional golf tournaments, to be broadcast live worldwide in 2011 during a week of golf at Celtic Manor, involving the European Tour’s Wales Open.

Among the field of 12 players competing on Bank Holiday Monday 30th May will be Gary Player, reigning US Open Champions Graeme McDowell and Paula Creamer, Ryder Cup stars Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, and Major Championship winners John Daly, Ian Woosnam and Helen Alfredsson.

PowerPlay Golf spokesman and victorious Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, said: “Stand by for something very special. Golf around the world is about to discover a new dimension.” 

In the UK, PowerPlay Golf: Ignition will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, along with dozens of other global TV networks. Working together with international sports marketing giants IMG, PowerPlay Golf will stage its second and third PowerPlay Golf events in Asia on 7th November and in the United States on 25th November.

BMW have decided to distance themselves further from motor sport after announcing that they would be pulling their squad from the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) ahead of next season. The decision come just a year after the car manufacturing giants cut their ties with the Formula One

Long-serving director of BMW Motorsport, cough Mario Theissen is now departing the company and will be replaced by Jens Marquardt. It appears that after a lack of recent successes in the motorsport industry, link BMW are ready to leave their long lasting tradition in the field behind.

It was announced last year that the Sauber F1 would not be returning this season which is promptly followed by the decision to decrease its efforts in WTCC from three factory based teams to one. The solitary remaining team have now also been withdrawn after a choice was made to compete against Audi and Mercedes-Benz in the national German Touring Car Masters (DTM) series.

The company will continue to its recently revamped 320 TC to independent teams in the WTCC despite their withdrawal. The BMW team have followed suit from SEAT who have also decided to rescind their participation in the series after claiming the title last year. The move has meant that the only works teams in the series next year will be Chevrolet and Volvo representing a significant loss for the WTCC.

Bloomberg Sports, a division of Bloomberg L.P. and now part of a joint venture with IMG, have announced a data analytics partnership with Phizzle, Inc., the fan-centric marketing automation technology company.

The partnership will give Bloomberg Sports access to Phizzle’s proprietary fan centric marketing automation solutions designed to deliver real-time analytics to determine actionable strategies. Phizzle’s business intelligence tools will enable Bloomberg Sports to make better business decisions which require real-time insight into high-volume streaming data sources, current events, and ongoing business processes.

The Phizzle Platform uses a proprietary solution called FanTracker, which tracks interactions across multiple engagement channels, such as SMS, email, loyalty, social media and mobile applications to consolidate consumers into a series of single unified profiles, providing a holistic view of a customer. With the Platform’s innovative ability to develop a 360-degree view of a fan, marketers are now able to monitor, analyze and deliver contextualized experiences to help manage and boost fan retention.

“Phizzle gives us the ability to analyze huge sets of data across all social channels to help us develop the right content for the right fan at the right time — which in turn gives us an edge in the market,” stated Bo Moon, co-founder and EVP of Business and Products at Bloomberg Sports. “Now, we will be able to analyze real-time data and insights in ways we never would have been able to before and act on it, and gauge the impact immediately.”

“We’ve spent the last two years listening to our customers tell us that their success is now inclusive of owning all possible fan engagement channels,” said Ben Davis, CEO of Phizzle. “Our platform provides firms like Bloomberg Sports, the world leader in predicative analytics, with the opportunity to leverage our highly evolved business analysis tools to monitor and manage consumer data from multiple digital touchpoints.”

Munich are set to make a formal bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games after a vote approved the bid, the German Olympic Committee (DOSB) has revealed.

In 2011, Munich lost out to South Korea’s Pyeongchang in the race to host the 2018 Winter Olympics but, at a meeting on Monday, DOSB members voted overwhelmingly in favour of another attempt.

The DOSB would have been boosted by the knowledge that their former President Thomas Bach is now the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Candidate cities must submit their bids to the IOC by November 14.

The Munich move still faces a referendum vote on November 10 by residents in the proposed host venues of Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ruhpolding and Berchtesgaden (Koenigssee).

The State of Bavaria and the city of Munich have signalled their support for another bid.

Other candidate cities for the 2022 Winter Games are Norway’s capital Oslo, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Poland’s Krakow, Ukraine’s Lviv and Sweden’s Oestersund.

The 2022 Winter Games will be awarded at the 127th IOC session in July, 2015 in Malaysia.