The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and the international sports marketing group, Infront Sports & Media, have announced a partnership that will create a structure to organize sponsorship sales including Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events. 

Infront will partner with WTC on sponsorship sales for Ironman (140.6 miles, 226 kilometres) and 70.3 (70.3 miles, 113 kilometres) races focusing on Europe and South Africa and will also serve as a media advisor. The key feature of this partnership is a central approach that brings sponsorship sales and media assets for both event brands under one roof, thereby enhancing the appeal for commercial partners.

Taking a strong sports brand to the next level The Ironman and 70.3 brands continue to gain popularity among athletes and athletic enthusiasts. Ironman participants convey a
unique and attractive combination of strengths and no other sport combines endurance, discipline, willpower and dedication in such a way.

In total, each year, approximately 200,000 international participants and professional triathletes compete in Ironman and 70.3 events. An estimated two million spectators a year in six continents watch the events live. Competitions in Europe and South Africa represent a community of nearly 40,000 participants and an estimated 800,000 spectators. The races take place in the world’s leading economies, including USA, China, Brazil, Germany, France and the UK, adding to the appeal of the two series for sponsors who want to focus on affluent industrial and consumer markets.

WTC will offer sponsors both the potential for exposure across more than 17 Ironman and 70.3 events annually in Europe and South Africa as well as more than 75 events worldwide. The races will be marketed from one central source, giving commercial partners an opportunity to get involved in a consistent way throughout the year. Infront will pursue sponsorship packages at various levels, including title/presenting/event partners, suppliers and licensees with a main focus on the European and South African events.

One important task for Infront is the provision of a dynamic, high-quality television product, in order to increase the quantity and quality of coverage of the Ironman and 70.3 events.

In 2012, production of the European and South African Ironman and 70.3 races will be overseen by Host Broadcast Services (HBS), the leading specialist host broadcaster in the world and Infront’s wholly-owned subsidiary. Race material are planned to be packaged into formats that are attractive to broadcasters, including a series of 14,
26-minute shows covering events from the Ironman and 70.3 race calendars. Magazine-style content will include race footage, results and standings, athlete profiles and background information and features on training and equipment and the Ironman lifestyle.

Infront will also advise WTC on the distribution of its worldwide media rights. The objective is to establish continuous, wide-reaching coverage of Ironman and 70.3 events and deliver the excitement of the sport to a wide range of distribution channels.

Andrew Messick, CEO of WTC, said: “We believe there is tremendous scope for extending the impact of the Ironman and 70.3 brands. Our partnership with Infront and the new platform will enable commercial partners to engage with both series even more effectively and encourage more broadcasters and fans to closely follow the
races.”

Mike Pine, CSO of WTC, commented: “Interest in the sport of triathlon continues to grow, but there are untapped European markets where we can increase mainstream exposure and make people say, ‘I want to align with this.’ With Infront in place as a direct extension of our global sales team, we can offer our sponsors and partners a unique opportunity to get involved with both brands.”

Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront, added: “The Ironman and 70.3 series are truly inspirational in terms of what human beings can achieve and how their willpower and performance inspires. It is not only an inclusive sport that involves huge numbers of friends and family, but also a unique lifestyle-creating and immensely attractive
international communication platform for commercial partners. For Infront, the partnership with WTC marks a move into the fast growing field of mass participation events, which create close-knit communities on a global basis and offer excellent activation potential.”

The FIA ratified a record 20-race 2011 calendar on Wednesday, with lingering question marks over the Chinese and Indian grands prix.

Motorsport’s governing body said both were included but subject to homologation, or approval, of the circuits.

That was expected in the case of India, due to make its debut on October 30 with a new track under construction near New Delhi.

China’s impressive Shanghai circuit has hosted seven Formula One races but an FIA spokeswoman said changes needed to be made.

“The homologation licence for the Shanghai International Circuit has expired and before a new licence can be issued by the FIA some work on the track is required, with particular regards to the current drainage system and the quality of the track surface,” she said.

2011 Calendar
13/03 Bahrain
27/03 Australia
10/04 Malaysia
17/04 China*
08/05 Turkey
22/05 Spain
29/05 Monaco
12/06 Canada
26/06 Europe
10/07 Great Britain
24/07 Germany
31/07 Hungary
28/08 Belgium
11/09 Italy
25/09 Singapore
09/10 Japan
16/10 Korea
30/10 India*
13/11 Abu Dhabi
27/11 Brazil

*Subject to the homologation of the circuit.

At their Annual Delegates’ Meeting, Badminton Europe have selected Gregory Verpoorten (Belgium) as their new President.

Verpoorten took over the position from Poul-Erik Høyer(Denmark) who stepped down in May 2013 as he became President of the Badminton World Federation. Since Høyer stepped down, Joao Matos (Portugal) served the Confederation as an Acting President until this week’s ADM.

Other positions that were elected included Murat Özmekik (Turkey) who took over the Vice-President position from Alberto Miglietta (Italy), who served in that position for five years. 

Richard Vaughan (Ireland) was also elected Director for Communication and Jean-Marc Serfaty (France) is the new Director for Development.

United States Tennis Association have extended their ticketing agreement with Ticketmaster, a division of Live Nation Entertainment.

Ticketmaster will continue to provide its industry-leading, comprehensive ticketing solution for all USTA events and will also continue to power the official US Open Ticket Exchange.

“USTA events annually attract legions of tennis fans from around the world and Ticketmaster has the only platform that can help us reach our existing fans while helping us to build relationships with new fans,” said Danny Zausner, Chief Operating Officer, USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “We’ve extended our partnership with Ticketmaster to ensure that each one of these fans has secure and convenient access to the widest selection of USTA event tickets, including US Open tickets.”

Every ticket purchased and sold is valid and authenticated via Ticketmaster’s ticket barcode verification and reissue technology for the US Open. The US Open Ticket Exchange also features Ticketmaster’s free print-at-home or digital delivery, providing fans the added convenience of downloading and printing their tickets in just minutes.

“Our primary focus is to provide the most fan-friendly way to buy and sell event tickets,” said Jared Smith, President, Ticketmaster North America. “That means offering the ultimate in convenience and security. Together with the USTA, we’re able to offer fans a singular destination for authentic USTA event tickets – giving fans absolute confidence in their purchase and complete peace of mind.”

As part of the agreement, the USTA will continue to benefit from Ticketmaster’s LiveAnalytics portfolio of live event and consumer insights products.

The 2013 US Open will be held August 26 thru September 9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY.

FINA, swimming’s governing body, have received formal bids from Federations of Hong Kong (HKG), Windsor/Detroit (CAN/USA) and United Arab Emirates (city to be confirmed) for the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2016 and eventually 2018.

The vote of the FINA Bureau will be made in December 11, 2012 in Istanbul (TUR) after the presentation of the three projects, and if two bids are judged capable of hosting FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), the Bureau will award the organisation of the two editions at the same time.

Before 2016 and 2018, the 11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) will take place in Istanbul (TUR) on December 12-16, 2012 – where over 160 nations (a new record) will take part – and the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) will be organised in Doha (QAT) in December 2014, in conjunction with the 3rd FINA World Aquatics Convention.

JJB Sports have fallen into administration and have had to sell 20 of the chain’s 153 national stores to it’s rival Sports Direct.

Sports Direct, a long-time arch rival of the chain, scooped up 20 of the beleaguered chain’s stores in a deal worth £24 million, saving around 550 jobs, including those of warehouse staff. Sports Direct has also bought up all of the remaining JJB stock and Slazenger Golf brand licences. It has also purchased the freehold of JJB’s Wigan headquarters.

The chain’s remaining 133 stores were unable to be saved and were closed with immediate effect.

The company has been struggling to stay afloat for a number of years, after a number of poor acquisitions made between 2007 and 2009 saddled it with significant debts. 

The administration is being handled by financial services firm, KPMG. David McCorquodale, a corporate finance partner at KPMG who led the sales process, said that more than 100 parties had expressed interest in buying parts of the company, but none had been viable. 

“Unfortunately the level of cash and further operational restructuring required to rescue a more substantial part of the business was too much risk for most interested parties,” he said. “We hope to be able to sell the leasehold interests of some of the remaining stores, which may result in re-employment of some staff.”

Doncaster Rovers have reached an agreement with the town’s council which will see the club take over the running of the Keepmoat stadium.

The council’s decision will see Rovers pay the council £100,000 per year and take over responsibility for the existing loss-making operation from the current-council owned Stadium Management Company.

The Rovers tenure over the stadium and their training ground at Cantley Park will be extended to 99 years and this will provide them with greater security.

“It is well known that the stadium is losing money and the cabinet’s decision seeks to provide a long-term financial solution which will secure the futures of the town’s key sports clubs at the Keepmoat,” the Mayor of Doncaster said in an official statement.

“Doncaster Council should be concentrating on its core business and quite frankly running a stadium is not what the council should be doing or has the skills and expertise to do well.

“It is unfortunate that we need to pick up the pieces of poor decision making in the past, but we have to find an appropriate solution so we can move on.” 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) have agreed in principle a new revenue-sharing deal that will clear the way for America to bid again for future games.

 

Two senior officials told The Associated Press that the International Olympic Committee and U.S. Olympic Committee have come to terms to resolve the long-running dispute over television and marketing revenues that has undermined recent American bids for the games.

 

If both back the deal as expected, it could be formally announced during IOC executive board meetings this week in Quebec City. USOC chairman Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun are both coming to Quebec.

 

Negotiations between the IOC and USOC have been dragging on for more than two years.

At the heart of the dispute is the long-standing contract giving the USOC a 20 percent share of global sponsorship revenue and a 12.75 percent cut of U.S. broadcast rights deals. The IOC believes the U.S. share, set out in an open-ended contract dating back to 1996, is excessive.

Terms of the proposed new agreement have not been disclosed, but any new revenue percentage for the USOC would go into effect after 2020. The IOC has also been pushing to secure millions of dollars in U.S. contributions toward the administrative costs of staging the Olympics, something which would happen right away as part of a new deal.

 

Lingering international resentment over the U.S. share of revenues was a significant factor in New York’s defeat in the bidding for the 2012 Olympics and Chicago’s humiliating first-round elimination in the vote for the 2016 Games. The presence of President Barack Obama in Copenhagen to endorse his hometown’s bid wasn’t enough to avoid the stinging rejection.

 

The USOC has said repeatedly it will not bid again until the revenue issue is resolved. The U.S. is sitting out the bidding for the 2020 Summer Games.

 

The U.S. last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta and last staged the Winter Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

 

With the agreement, the USOC could now study a possible bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Among the U.S. cities that have expressed early interest in bidding for 2022 are Salt Lake City; Denver; Reno-Lake Tahoe, Nevada; and Bozeman, Montana.

 

The USOC could also decide to focus instead on bidding for the 2024 Summer Games.

 

“It’s good if we have an agreement because this has created difficulties in the relations with USOC,” Swiss IOC executive board member Denis Oswald said earlier Tuesday. “If we could put that aside, it would help the relations. It’s a very important national Olympic committee with the best athletes. It would be very good if this question be resolved.”

Infront Sports & Media have introduced a exciting visual identity by focusing on re-branding the FIM Superbike World Championship in 2012.

The championship is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the leading road racing series using production-based motorcycles.

The new brand will be launched as a symbol for the on-going development and innovation of the series, addressing the needs and expectation of its partners and millions of enthusiastic motorbike fans worldwide.

The revised identity represents one distinct brand clearly reflecting the sport, its image, ambience, values and style of international motor racing at its highest level. A versatile branding system will enable the series’ global appearance and overall marketing appeal to
be strengthened.

Starting from the first round in 2012, taking place in Phillip Island (AUS), the new event mark and its look & feel will ultimately be reflected in every aspect of the FIM Superbike World Championship events, including television, new media, print, signage and as well as any of the commercial affiliates.

Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront Sports & Media said: “The rebranding of the championship is one of our key priorities within the overall long-term innovation strategy for the series. A distinct and cohesive brand, clearly reflecting the sport, its image, ambience, values and style of international motor racing at its highest level, is an important element of the overall marketing approach targeting new followers and providing all commercial partners with a strong communication platform. With our investment in the new identity the championship is set to being recognised as one of the top global motor sport properties.”

Stephan Herth, Infront’s Executive Director Summer Sports, added: “We believe that the time has come to enhance the presentation and branding of the FIM Superbike World Championship and its support race series. The essence and value of the series will now be captured and conveyed in a new, dynamic and well-structured premium brand. We trust that this can be achieved with the new strong and consistent stand-alone family of brands to increase awareness and to make the event commercially even more appealing for sponsors, TV, media as well as the public.”