MLB’s Cleveland Indians have selected ThinkVine, a marketing mix optimization software company, to achieve a greater return on promotional and media spend.

The specialized version of ThinkVine’s software for baseball is a new approach to optimizing marketing effectiveness in the sports industry and other event-driven businesses.

“Sports marketers need a high level of flexibility to adjust their plans during the season based on league standings or other factors that are specific to their business,” said Mark Battaglia , CEO of ThinkVine. “With ThinkVine, it’s now possible for sports marketers to forecast how varying marketing plans, along with variable factors such as team performance, influence targeted sports fans to purchase game tickets. This enables the Cleveland Indians to respond quickly and more accurately to maximize their budgets and keep revenue up.”

According to Battaglia, ThinkVine will provide the Cleveland Indians with the ability to easily run “what if” scenarios throughout the season to determine and forecast the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for the consumers they target.

“There is a lot of complexity when it comes to analyzing your marketing mix in the sports industry,” said Alex King , vice president of Marketing and Brand Management for Cleveland Indians. “We have to account for a multitude of factors like macroeconomics, weather, and, most importantly, team performance. We selected ThinkVine for its consumer-centric approach to developing marketing strategies; the ability to assess marketing mix performance across different team performance scenarios; and the flexibility to quickly forecast results of potential shifts in marketing mix reallocations to maximize revenue.”

King stated that the Cleveland Indians are forecasting meaningful improvements in ROI across both in game promotional and media spend as a direct result of ThinkVine’s marketing mix optimization software.

Seattle may be bidding for a new NBA team after the Seattle City Council agreed to a deal with investor Christopher Hansen to build a $490 million arena that could host NBA and NHL teams as well as concerts and other events.

City officials confirmed the deal on Tuesday saying it could be the start of bringing an NBA team back to the city.

The former Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City after a deal to have a new arena built in Seattle failed to materialize in 2008.

The team was re-named the Thunder in a deal with the NBA and Seattle officials with the hope that one day an expansion team or another relocated NBA franchise could move to Seattle and pick up the Supersonics’ name and history.

“This agreement marks an exciting day in Seattle as we take a big step towards bringing back the Sonics,” said councilman Mike O’Brien, who said the deal included provisions for improved transportation infrastructure and other benefits for the city at large.

The agreement also includes financial protections for the city and King County. Hansen’s investor group, ArenaCo, must double the security reserve if its revenue fails to meet expectations. At the end of the 30-year arena use agreement, the city and county can require ArenaCo to purchase the land and facility for $200 million.

Workington in West Cumbria is set to host a Rugby League World Cup games in 2013.

Workington Town’s ground Derwent Park will now be the venue for the Tonga v Scotland game and the Scotland v Italy game.

The World Cup organisers have said they were keen to keep the games in west Cumbria.

The decision to move the games to Workington depended on Allerdale Borough Council along with Britain’s Energy coast, investing £450,000 to upgrade Derwent Park to RLWC 2013 standards.

Whitehaven will still play a part in the tournament, Scotland’s training base will be at the town’s Cumbria Sports Academy.

In a statement released by Rugby League World Cup 2013, the tournament, Nigel Wood Director said: “We are delighted to announce that these two matches will be played at Derwent Park and they will therefore be staying in west Cumbria. One of the stated values for RLWC2013 is passion for the games and we believe it is reflected by rugby league fans across west Cumbria. So this is great news for those fans above all.

“We know that there will be a challenge for the Workington consortium to prepare Derwent Park for the tournament. But we have been rigorous in our examination of the proposal from Allerdale Borough Council, Britain’s Energy Coast and Workington Town and we strongly believe that their level of commitment and the £450,000 investment will make west Cumbria a great part of RLWC2013”

David Bowden chairman of Workington Rugby League said: “It has taken a lot of work to get it to this stage but it is fantastic that we can keep theseworld cup games in west Cumbria.”

Councillor Alan Smith, Leader of Allerdale Borough Council, commented: “This is brilliant news! RLWC2013 is a highly prestigious event, which will bring profile and trade to the area, and strongly aligns to the Council’s commitment to support festivals and events.

“When I heard that West Cumbria might not get any RLWC2013 matches, I was determined that this Council would do everything it could to try and secure the events. I am delighted that our efforts have paid off and I thank all those involved, especially Workington Town RLFC and Britain’s EnergyCoast, for pulling together with us to bring the RLWC2013 to West Cumbria.”

iSportconnect, the global networking platform for sports business, has become Informa Sports Group’s official global provider for all their events including the much anticipated Sportech Conference, 7-9^th May 2012.

The Networking Tool will give Sportech delegates exclusive access, connecting them with key industry professionals before, during and after the event. Sportech delegates will also be able to access iSportconnect’s network of business professionals to further expand their business reach.

iSportconnect.com is the industry’s leading community portal combining social networking with the latest sports business news as well as events and job listings. The site will act as a virtual meeting room, enabling participants of the invitation-only May 8^th conference to interact before and after the event in a secured way, thanks to the site’s Strict Door Policy.

iSportconnect Marketing and Partnership Manager Xavier Cureau said: “We are delighted to have Informa Sports Group, one of the world’s leading sports conference organisers, on board. These days sports executives need that extra platform to come together and network and we will be providing Informa with a safe and secure online environment for all their key delegates to do this.”

Informa Sports Group Divisional Manager Sally Nasty’s added: “Our partnership with iSportconnect for Sportech is very exciting, we are looking forward to developing the partnership across our sports event portfolio.”

The Sportech Conference, is the only conference internationally to focus on technologies for major sports events. The conference focuses on planning and delivery of technologies for major sports events and will take place in Doha in Qatar.

The invitation only event is a unique, high level conference and the programme will cover cutting edge panel discussions, lessons learnt from recent major events, technology showcases and scheduled networking time to ensure members will develop strong business relationships.

 

Restaurant chain Quiznos have signed a partnership with QSR Russia Ltd (QRL) ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Franchisee QRL will launch the Quiznos restaurants, with St Petersburg to become their first location of several stores opening in the country.

More than 20 locations for the restaurants should be open by 2014, when the Winter Olympics are held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

It is set to be a major decade of sport in Russia, with the World Cup also arriving in 2018.

Lee Vala, Quiznos’ international chief development officer, said: “With extensive food service experience and a strong appreciation for both Russian culture and Quiznos operations and training, QRL has a keen understanding of their Russian customer.

“Quiznos is pleased to announce a master franchisee that will best serve Russia’s growing middle class.”

The Denver-based company is the second-largest submarine sandwich shop chain in North America, after Subway.

Quiznos is hoping to open more than 400 international restaurants by 2020, and QRL chairman Darrin Stock believes their move into Russia is perfect in its timing.

“We anticipate the Russian people will embrace Quiznos’ taste and quality and we look forward to the opportunity to showcase the tremendous business potential that vibrant and growing cities like St Petersburg and Moscow hold as we recruit potential franchisees,” he said.

“With the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 World Cup, I believe there’s no better time for Quiznos to enter the Russian marketplace.”

by Ismail Uddin

Fortune Brands golf business, which included the Titleist equipment brand, has been sold to Korean investors led by Fila Korea, for US$1.2bn as part of Fortune’s strategy to focus purely on its drinks business, led by its Jim Beam whisky brand.

The Acushnet golf unit made $80m operating income last year, though the sale price is still higher than had been expected with Fila Korea, which bought the Italian sportswear brand in 2007, plans rapid growth for the golf line in Asia.

Gene Yoon, the firm’s chief executive, stated: “With our extensive knowledge and reach in Asia, we believe that the Acushnet brands have incredible new opportunity for growth in the emerging markets in Asia.”

Korea’s largest private equity fund, Mirae Asset Private Equity, were also involved in the acquisition which saw the Koreans beat a rival bid said to have been mounted by private equity firm Blackstone and Callaway Golf.

In response to pressure from key shareholder William Ackmann, Fortune Brands announced last year that it would spin off its gold and home security businesses to focus purely on drinks. Acushnet made revenues of $1.2bn in 2010 – more than half of it in the US – compared with the $2.7bn made by Fortune’s alcoholic beverages line.

Fortune boss Bruce Carbonari added: “This transaction is a very important milestone as we execute our proposed plan to separate our three strong businesses for the purpose of maximising long-term value for out shareholders.”

UK-based racing series, diagnosis the British GT Championship has renewed its title sponsorship with Avon Tyres to continue to be known as the Avon Tyres British GT Championship until 2014. The tyre company has confirmed that it will, once more supply the official control tyres to the British GT Championship.

Avon Tyres is owned by Cooper Tire Europe whose managing director, Julian Baldwin, said of the partnership: “We have enjoyed working with the British GT Championship and are delighted to have formalised an agreement with the championship organisers for a further three years. The constantly changing mix of cars, each with different characteristics, really tests our expertise but the Avon crew enjoys meeting the challenge head-on.”

Stephane Ratel, chairman of series promoters, SRO, added, “Avon Tyres shown great dedication to our championship, both on track and behind the scenes. The nature of GT racing brings special challenges for a tyre supplier and Avon has always delivered a superior product that delivers equal performance across a wide range of machinery and generates fantastic race action

“I am certain that Avon Tyres will continue to support British GT with marketing and promotion, bringing the excitement and aspirational glamour of top-flight GT racing to the race fans of the UK.”

The International Cricket Council has approved (ICC) has provisionally approved the introduction of a Test League, it has been announced.

The ICC chief executives’ committee (CEC) has recommended setting up a Test league that would include a play-off with the four top teams to crown a champion.

An ICC statement read: “These recommendations seek to give exciting content and context for international cricket within the Future Tours Programme (FTP) after 2012.”

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat added: “We have agreed in principle to exciting and far-reaching proposals to tackle this most important issue.

“Achieving balance and unanimous agreement is not easy but we have responded well to a strategic priority to restructure international cricket.

“The proposals, especially introducing more meaningful context, means we now have the potential to follow international cricket that is even more exciting.”

The ICC wants to introduce the Test league in 2013 and also agreed to a one-day league first running from 2011-14 and separate from the Cricket World Cup.