Schindler Elevator Corporation has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract with Santa Clara Stadium Authority to provide mobility systems for the new San Francisco 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, sale California.

The contract includes 25 elevators, pharm including 18 Schindler 400AE mid-rise machine room-less units, as well as 38 Schindler 9300AE escalators.

HNTB, an internationally renowned architecture firm, and Turner Devcon Joint Venture (TDJV), will design and build the new 1.85 million square foot, 68,500 seat Santa Clara Stadium, which will feature open pedestrian plazas, commercial community space, a 49ers team store, and a 49ers Hall of Fame. The stadium is functionally designed to create a building that can be used for a wide range of events, including: professional and college football, soccer, motocross, concerts and civic events.

Contributing to the stadium’s long list of sustainable design concepts, the Schindler 400AE elevator system uses high-efficiency AC gearless machines to reduce energy usage and Power Factor 1 drives that regenerate energy back into the building’s electric system where it can be used to power the lighting, air conditioning or other equipment. The elevator cabs are equipped with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting.

The Schindler 9300AE escalator’s optimized drive system is perfectly matched to the demands of the rise, allowing motor power to drop by as much as 27% compared with earlier escalator models.

“We’re thrilled and honored to have been chosen to provide the mobility solutions for the new Santa Clara stadium,” said Jakob Zueger, CEO, Schindler Americas. “This sustainable and innovative multi-purpose facility will be right at home in the Silicon Valley where it is among the most technologically-advanced companies in the world.”

London Wasps have announced that they have almost completed the sale of the Rugby club to a consortium led by former player Ken Moss.

Both parties have exchanged contracts for the sale of the club.

Moss turned emerged as the front-runner to takeover the club when talks with a different party failed to materialise back in April. The club now expect the takeover to be completed by mid-July in a move that will bring Steve Hayes’ four-year ownership of the side to an end. 

The news of the takeover was announced through a statement on the club’s website which also said: “The club’s priority is now on ensuring the deal is complete within this timeframe as well as finalising arrangements for the club’s future structure and operations.”

The club has been up for sale since last July in a move that was sparked by Wycombe district council’s decision to not back plans for a new stadium. 

The club was threatened by administration at one stage, but things have swiftly changed for the Wasps.

Lucas Oil, erectile the title sponsors of the 2012 Super Bowl venue will reap the rewards for the game being hosted in the stadium after Front Row Marketing Services projected the company will get $33.8 million in branded media value.

In 2008, medstore native Hoosier and company founder Forrest Lucas paid $121.5 million for a 20-year naming rights deal for the Indianapolis Colts’ new home stadium. Some sports marketers scoffed at the price and Lucas’ strategy of attaching itself to a football venue. Until then, therapy the company mostly had been involved in motorsports.

Today, the deal looks like a bargain.

Based on the exposure that Lucas Oil Co. will get from Sunday’s NBC telecast alone, Philadelphia-based Front Row Marketing Services projects the company will get $33.8 million in branded media value.

The average annual payment of Lucas’ naming rights deal is less than $6.1 million.

“The more than $33 million value that Lucas Oil Stadium is projected to receive from the NBC broadcast is proving that corporate naming rights partners are right,” said Eric Smallwood, a senior vice president at Front Row, a division of Comcast-Spectator.

Front Row based its numbers on the estimated $3.5 million that NBC was asking marketers for a 30-second commercial during the game. Lucas Oil is expected to get visuals from signage outside and inside the stadium, including scoreboards; verbal mentions during the broadcast and some on-screen graphics.

“Lucas Oil is not an official partner of the NFL, but as part of their corporate naming rights deal, the signage they have in place stays in place,” said Smallwood.

During the Olympics and some other high-profile events, companies that are not partners of the official sanctioning body generally have their signs removed, Smallwood added.

Milt Thompson, president of Grand Slam Cos., an Indianapolis-based sports marketing consultancy, said: “Lucas’ deal, with the Colts games, Final Fours and all the other events was a slam dunk even before the Super Bowl. Clearly the fact that the stadium will host the Super Bowl makes this deal a runaway success for Lucas Oil.”

Lucas Oil should expect to see an immediate bump in sales, traffic to its website and inquiries to the company, Thompson said. More than 110 million Americans are expected to watch the game on TV.

“It’s all about impressions, and market research proves if consumers have a choice in products, they’ll most often go with the one they’ve heard of more times,” he said.

The exposure from pre-game and post-game coverage by other TV networks and by myriad radio, print and web publications easily could send the Super Bowl-related brand value for Lucas Oil beyond $50 million, sports marketers said.

Consider that the company will get more than $10,000 value in brand exposure just from having its name on the 68,000 Super Bowl tickets, according to Front Row Marketing.

And Lucas Oil isn’t the only winner this week.

Front Row Marketing projected that JW Marriott hotel will get more than $250,000 from brand exposure during Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast and Papa John’s pizza will get about $10,000 in brand exposure from its presence in the Super Bowl Village.

“It’s not surprising that so much value is being driven out of this one event,” Thompson said. “The Super Bowl is by far the most popular sporting event in America and any commercial property that attaches its name to it is coming up a winner.”

iSportconnect are delighted to announce that they are welcoming Pedro Galvan as their new Head of Spain. Pedro will look after Spanish sports business strategy, including the initiation of iSportconnect networking events in the region. Pedro will be in charge of achieving institutional and corporate partnerships, advertising, media relations, driving membership and business from the Spanish market.

Mr Galvan joins at an exciting time for iSportconnect, as it looks to expand its offices into Europe, America & Asia as part of its plans to have a greater regional presence in countries where sport plays a big part in the economy, with regional versions of the site with language translation in the pipeline, as well as a mobile version of iSportconnect.com

Mr Galvan is a highly-respected figure within European sports business. He has worked as the Marketing and Communications Director at Volvo Ocean Race, having previously worked at Euroleague Basketball as its Chief Marketing Officer for five years until 2010. Pedro also retains his role of being a member of the Board of Directors at European Sponsorship Association, a position he has held since 2006.

Pedro also holds an extensive and impressive educational background, including an MBA in ESADE, and executive degrees in IESE and Stanford. Moreover he is marketing professor at different business schools in Spain like ESIC, European University and RFEF Business School.

Pedro Galvan said: “It is a great opportunity to collaborate with iSportconnect here in Spain. Every day there are more executives who get involved with sports management in Spain, which is why we need a strong sports business network. Our plans are pretty ambitious: to become the biggest sports business network in Spain in one year.”

Sree Varma, iSportconnect’s CEO and founder, added: “Spain is a strategically important market for iSportconnect, and we are delighted with this opportunity to leverage Pedro Galvan’s many years of experience and expertise in the Spanish market. iSportconnect is a true global sports business community portal and we are looking forward to developing iSc’s services and networking events in Spain.”

Pedro is a welcome addition to the iSportconnect team.

Chevrolet’s return to challenge Honda will be announced at a 10 a.m. Friday news conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum.

Chevrolet, along with Toyota, last participated in the sport in 2005. Honda has been the exclusive engine supplier since.

The return of Chevrolet is part of IndyCar’s switch to a new chassis and engine configuration for the 2012 season. It’s possible a European manufacturer also will announce its intention to build a turbocharged engine of up to six cylinders with a maximum displacement of 2.4 liters.

With Chevrolet comes additional marketing strength. A racing series achieves the maximum promotional benefit when manufacturers compete with one another. Honda officials have been supportive of another manufacturer joining IndyCar.

Hulman & Company, which owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has announced Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., president of Purdue University and the former Governor of Indiana, has joined their Board of Directors.

“We’re honored that Mitch has agreed to serve with us during this period of renewed focus on economic development and infrastructure improvement. We are positioned for growth in our business units like no time in our history, and Mitch’s business acumen and understanding of the heritage of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are tremendous assets,” said board member Andre Lacy.

Daniels, who waved the green flag to start the 2012 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, was the state’s 49th governor, serving two terms after first being elected in 2004. At the conclusion of his term in January 2013, Daniels joined Purdue as its 12th president. He has set a bold agenda to enhance Purdue’s strengths in research, technology and innovation and developed new standards for higher education affordability and accessibility.

Purdue has a long history of motorsports involvement in Indiana, including racing safety and engineering study. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis offers a bachelor’s degree program in motorsports engineering, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway partners with Purdue to reach more students through a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education program. IMS and Purdue also have teamed to study and improve gate entry plans during major race day events.

“I spent many a Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway growing up in Indianapolis, and there’s no more iconic racing facility in the world. Anything a Hoosier can do to help this priceless state asset, he should do,” said Daniels. “The connection between Purdue and Hulman & Company is already strong and this new relationship will take us even further.”

FIFA has today launched a new Facebook page dedicated to women’s football and available in six languages, cough while also activating the official Twitter account for the FIFA Women’s World Cup ahead of a busy calendar of events in 2014 and 2015.

The Facebook page and Twitter account will provide the latest information on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™, asthma FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2014 and other events, as well as the development of the women’s game both on and off the field.

Coverage will also include FIFA’s work around the globe to promote women’s football, from the Live Your Goals campaign and Girls’ Festivals, to Football for Health and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Featuring behind-the-scenes images and videos, one of the key aims is to engage with the community and provide fans with further opportunities to interact with each other, and FIFA, wherever they are in the world.

The anti-doping laboratory in 2016 Olympic host city Rio de Janeiro has had its accreditation suspended, the World Anti-Doping Agency said Friday.

The suspension prohibits the lab from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities and took effect on Thursday.

It’s the second action against the lab in two years. The facility was barred from conducting isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) testing — used to measure testosterone levels — from January to October of last year.

WADA did not specify what standards the lab has failed to meet to warrant the latest suspension, but said a “further decision regarding possible revocation of the laboratory’s accreditation” would be made by the global anti-doping body’s executive committee.

The lab, one of 35 worldwide with WADA accreditation, can appeal the suspension via the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Executive Board of FILA, the international wrestling federation, has selected Las Vegas, USA to serve as host for the 2015 World Wrestling Championships.

The city which will host the event is Las Vegas, Nev., considered one of the most popular destinations in the world. It has been scheduled to be hosted in September of 2015 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

This is a tremendously important event in international wrestling, as it serves as the first qualifying event for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as well as the event in which the largest number of athletes earn a spot at the Olympics.

Competition in all three Olympic styles of international wrestling will be held: men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman.

A number of other nations bid on the opportunity to host the 2015 World Championships, with the strongest of these bids coming from the Olympic city of Sochi, Russia. Other bid cities included Panama City, Panama; New Delhi, India and Tehran, Iran.

“The new FILA will embrace the strengths of our sport, both our long history and our desire to continue to improve ourselves. USA Wrestling has proven itself as one of the top national federations in the world. We trust them with one of our most sacred and important properties, the 2015 World Championships, which is the qualifying event for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Hosting the World Championships in Las Vegas is certainly a positive step forward in our quest to show the world the relevance of wrestling and help entrench our sport on the Olympic program,” said Acting FILA President Nenad Lalovic.

“USA Wrestling is excited to receive the bid to host the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. We believe it will be a historic event for international wrestling. We have assembled a strong team that will ensure that the World Championships in Las Vegas will be an amazing success and will display the excitement and popularity of international wrestling worldwide,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender.

“Las Vegas has a long and storied history with amateur wrestling date back to the 1970’s,” said Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events. “The 2015 World Wrestling Championships are a culmination of decades of support for wrestling, which includes the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, 2007 World Team Trials, Cliff Keen Invitational and the U.S. National Championships. We look forward to hosting the top international wrestlers and playing host to fans from around the world.”

“Las Vegas will provide a great backdrop to showcase the sport of wrestling to a worldwide audience,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “We’re excited to team with USA Wrestling and FILA in bringing this important event to the United States and we look forward to hosting wrestlers from all over the globe as they look to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”

The United States has hosted five previous Senior World Wrestling Championships. The most recent World Championships were held in world famous Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2003, and featured men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling. This was also the first qualifying event for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games for wrestling. Record crowds attended the World Championships in New York City, and it was regarded internationally as one of the most successful World Wrestling Championships ever held.

UEFA have renewed their partnership with TEAM, physician a company of Highlight Communications AG a new Agency Agreement.

UEFA has appointed its long-term partner TEAM for the marketing of an expanded set of commercial rights including the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup initially for three additional seasons 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 and, subject to performance, for an additional three-year term thereafter. 

As part of the new agreement TEAM has appointed Michael van Praag, a UEFA
Executive Committee member and David Taylor, the CEO of UEFA Events SA, to
its Board. Bernhard Burgener will continue to serve as Chairman of the
Board, Martin Wagner as Delegate of the Board, with Taylor and Wagner being
part of the new Management Committee of the Board to assist in the
supervision of the business.