The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World League Council confirmed the structure of the 2013 edition of the FIVB’s premier annual men’s event at its meeting at the FIVB head office in Lausanne on Saturday with the competition increasing from 16 to 18 teams split into three pools of six. 

Pools A and B are determined using the serpentine system based on the world rankings as of August 13, pharmacy 2012. Pool C will feature teams ranked as the next best four in the world rankings after the 12 teams in Pool A and B plus two additional teams, which will be confirmed by the FIVB Executive Committee during its end of year meeting on December 15. 

The premier annual FIVB women’s volleyball event – the World Grand Prix – will expand to 20 teams for the first time in 2013 following a decision by the World Grand Prix Council at its annual meeting at the FIVB head office in Lausanne, Switzerland on Sunday to add four new teams.

SCC EVENTS, look organiser of the BMW Berlin Marathon, have agreed a partnership with Infront Sports & Media.

As an industry leader in sports business, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with 130 rights holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies worldwide. In Germany, the company markets amongst others the DFB Cup, the matches of the German national football team, a number of Bundesliga clubs including FC Schalke 04 and SV Werder Bremen, the prestigious Vierschanzentournee and various other high-profile World Cup events in winter sport.

The new, long-term partnership between SCC EVENTS and Infront covers the marketing of sponsorship packages and the distribution of the worldwide media rights for the BMW Berlin Marathon. It is also planned that the Infront subsidiary Host Broadcast Services (HBS) will carry out the media production from 2013 onwards, in order to offer broadcast partners around the world a first-class TV signal and attractive formats. Successful projects undertaken by the company include the production of top sports events such as the FIFA World Cup™, the Asian Games, the French Football League and the triathlon-series Ironman.

Christian Jost, CEO of SCC EVENTS handling marketing, says: “The partnership with Infront is an additional step towards the future for us as organiser of the Berlin Marathon. In 2010, we took the production of the live television images into our own hands to ensure live broadcast coverage of the event. From the cooperation with Infront, we expect highly professional support of our marketing efforts, in order to further develop the BMW BERLIN MARATHON.”

Günter Netzer, Executive Director at Infront, adds: “The BMW Berlin Marathon belongs to the most prestigious international city marathons and we are pleased to contribute our know-how in all areas of marketing and media exploitation. The aim of the cooperation with SCC EVENTS is to further increase the appeal of this extremely popular event for fans and commercial partners. This partnership is a strategic step for Infront to extend our portfolio in the growth segment of mass-participation events for media and sponsors.”

And Klaus Wowereit, Governing Major of Berlin, comments the new partnership as follows: “The Marathon being one of the most prestigious sports events in the German capital is now cooperating with an international sports marketing company. This is going to make the Berlin Marathon even more a flagship of the city of Berlin.”

London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) chief Sebastian Coe will return to his athletics roots after the Games and seek the presidency of the ruling athletics body IAAF, The Times reported on Wednesday.

“I’d be happy to run my sport and that is the first time I’ve given that answer,” Coe told The Times.

“I’m ready. I know how to do this. But we have a great president in the post, so it would be when he stands down.”

Coe, a two-times Olympic 1,500 metres champion and long-time 800m world record holder, has long been mentioned as a top candidate to succeed Lamine Diack, who has presided over the IAAF since 1999 and whose current term runs until 2015.

But there are suggestions that the 79-year-old Senegalese may step down after the IAAF’s centenary celebrations set for next year as he has also been linked with the presidency of his home country of Senegal.

Coe, 55, could have another prominent ex-athlete in Ukrainian pole vault world record holder Sergey Bubka running against him for the IAAF top job.

HP Enterprise Services and NASCAR today announced the development of the NASCAR Fan and Media Engagement Center (FMEC), a resource that will enable the sport to better serve the industry, media and fans through a platform that facilitates near-real-time response to traditional, digital and social media.

The center will leverage HP’s information management and analytics and social media business offerings to enable NASCAR to listen to, monitor and engage with leading media channels in near real time.

NASCAR will have access to a complete analysis of all key forms of media, including print, television, radio, video, images and social media, which will provide the sports leader and its industry partners with actionable insights on trending news and conversations. By facilitating more collaboration around this information, NASCAR and its partners will be better informed to take advantage of local and national coverage opportunities.

“The Fan and Media Engagement Center will leverage industry-leading technology and services from HP in order to better engage with the massive community that is the NASCAR fan base,” said Steve Phelps, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, NASCAR. “This is a clear example of our commitment to using cutting-edge technology to better inform our sport. Ultimately, this tool will help our industry connect with media and fans more effectively and efficiently.”

HP will design, develop and implement the center, the first of its kind for a sports league. FMEC will be operated by NASCAR’s Integrated Marketing Communications department, which will collaborate closely with NASCAR Digital Media. The facility will serve as a technical showpiece of NASCAR’s strategic technology vision.

“Social media has forever changed the sporting world and how fans interact,” said Rob Vatter, vice president, Communications, Media and Entertainment Industry, HP Enterprise Services. “HP’s broad social business and analytics portfolios and industry consulting services will enable NASCAR to continue to deliver innovative fan-engagement opportunities for its sponsors — while also delivering the fan experience it has become known for.”

The 500-square-foot, glass-enclosed FMEC will be outfitted with state-of-the-art touch screens, television monitors and multiple seated viewing areas. Located at NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, N.C., the facility is slated for initial testing in October, with a full rollout expected by the start of the 2013 NASCAR season in February.

Expansion plans for a proposed Rugby League World Club Challenge are starting to be formed and former Gateshead and Hull chief executive Shane Richardson will sit on a group who will take this forward.

The group was established following a meeting in London between Rugby Football League chief executive Nigel Wood and his counterpart from the Australian Rugby League Commission, David Gallop, and will comprise of representatives of the Stobart Super League and the NRL.

Richardson, who was a founder of the Gateshead Super League club in 1999, is now chief executive of South Sydney.

Gallop, who was in Manchester on Thursday for talks on the 2013 World Cup, said: “I am a huge supporter of the World Club Challenge concept and am looking to explore ways in which we can build on its success and popularity.

“I will be joined by Shane Richardson and Peter Doust (St George Illawarra Dragons) on the working party and we look forward to working with Nigel and the Super League representatives to discuss all the options.”

The Challenge has been played as a one-off match between the champions of Super League and the NRL grand-final winners since 2000, with England hosting all 13 matches so far.

This year’s Challenge was won by Leeds, whose chief executive Gary Hetherington has led calls for it to be expanded and possibly taken to either a neutral venue or Australia.

Wood said: “There are a few logistical issues to be taken into consideration but it is clear that there is an appetite for more cross-competition fixtures involving Super League and NRL clubs.

“It’s important to stress that any expansion of the World Club Challenge would be in addition to, and not at the expense of, international competition which will continue to have primacy.”

Advance Publications owners of New Orleans daily newspaper, Times-Picayune, is paying five New Orleans Saints players including quarterback Drew Brees to promote the newspaper’s website through the social media website Twitter.

Receiver Lance Moore, cornerback Tracy Porter, running back Pierre Thomas and linebacker Jonathan Vilma also are being paid undisclosed sums by Advance Digital. The five players combined have close to 900,000 Twitter followers, with Brees having the most at nearly 700,000.

The players’ tweets provide links to the recently redesigned Saints community page on NOLA.com, which is affiliated with the Times-Picayune and features the newspaper’s content.

John Hassell, Advance Digital vice president of content, says the players are sending out eight messages combined during the second half of October.

Advance Digital is affiliated with Advance Publications Inc. the owners of Times-Picayune.

Tiger Woods has been weighing up sponsorship offers from Chinese companies, it has bee disclosed.

He is hoping, it was reported, that Chinese sponsorship can help make up for the series of US losses he incurred following the sensational exposure later last year that he had been living a secret life that included a string of extra-martial affairs

US based companies including AT&T, Accenture and Gatorade ended their involvement with Woods because of the scandal which also led to the break-up of his marriage and the loss of his World No 1 ranking to Lee Westwood. .

“We’re certainly considering Chinese companies as they are certainly considering [me],” Woods told Reuters in Shangai where he finished joint fifth in the HSBC Champions on Sunday.

“It’s just a matter of finding the right fit and believing in the company and making sure that I can help them and we see eye-to-eye in that regard,” he added.