Major UK sports retailer JJB Sports has admitted defeat as it announced plans to appoint administrators.

Just five years ago, buy cialis JJB’s shares were worth £10 a piece but yesterday the stock was suspended and remaining investors – including Microsoft magnate Bill Gates – will see their holdings wiped out.

The group will appoint KPMG as administrators in the next few days in a move that is likely to promote further debate over how it has been managed in recent years.

As many as half of its 180 stores are expected to close in a so-called pre-pack sale process once administrators are appointed, viagra order threatening a large number of the 4, cheap 000 jobs at the firm.

JJB’s story of dramatic rise and fall began when former Blackburn Rovers footballer and Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan bought a single store in Wigan in 1971 before an aggressive expansion drive saw it climb to more than 400 stores by 2007.

In 2007 Mr Whelan sold his family’s holding for £190m to a joint venture formed by Icelandic financial group Exista and Chris Ronnie, who previously worked at Umbro and Sports World owner Sports Direct.

The group was hit hard by the squeeze on consumer spending triggered by the financial crisis and by the stellar performance of rivals Sports Direct and JD Sports. By late 2008 it was in a battle for survival.

The group has been through six chairmen in the last four years, covering a period in which it also incorrectly applied VAT to children’s clothing, resulting in a £5m tax liability. And despite numerous fundraisings and closing half of its stores, it has been unable to revive fortunes.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct business is seen as favourite to pick up a large chunk of the business, although the number of stores will depend on the stance of the competition watchdog.

In a statement, JJB said: “The board has determined that any sale of the trade, assets and brands will be effected through an administration process.”

Liverpool FC’s managing director, Ian Ayre, has insisted progress has been made on a new stadium being developed.

Ayre has also given renewed hope to fans wanting the club to redevelop Anfield as opposed to building a new stadium in Stanley Park.

Ayre points to the issue of ‘right to light’, which impacts nearby housing through the necessity to build upwards, as being one of the major obstacles in the way of a redeveloped Anfield. Ayre insists however that ‘great dialogue’ has finally taken place with local residents in relation to overcoming the issue.

“People assume that because we haven’t made a major announcement, or can show any spade in the ground, that nothing has gone on and no progress has been made. There is progress. The most important thing for us, especially under this owner, has been about certainty on the stadium. We are not going to make comments that we’re doing something until we’ve got certainty. And that certainty quite often is in other people’s hands,” explained the 49-year-old in a welcome change from endlessly discussing the club’s search for a new manager.

“In the case of staying at Anfield that certainty is with residents in and around that area that we would need to convince. We’re having some great dialogue with them. When we have that certainty we will make the announcement and move on it. It’s all right for people to say Liverpool is a big football club – 60,000 seats, why don’t you just go and get on with it? But look at the economics of that, of a £300m build for 15,000 new seats. It’s pretty hard to make that stack up. The work is going on and a decision will be announced when we’ve got certainty.”

If Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group choose to go ahead with the new development on Stanley Park then the key has always been to sell the naming rights to help fund the build. On this matter Ayre added: “We are fairly well down the line with a couple of major brands who have shown significant rights in naming rights for a new stadium.”

The comments will come as a timely boost to fans worried by a lack of physical progress and the recent disclosure that costs relating to the stadium amounted to £35m in the last financial year.

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is feeling the pressure from it’s decision to drop the sport from the Olympic program from 2016 after British windsurfer Nick Dempsey critisized the organisation for doing so.

ISAF announced on Saturday that the discipline would be replaced by kiteboarding after this summer’s Games in London.

The announcement has shocked those within the British windsurfing setup, with 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Dempsey believing those who made the decision are “out of touch”.

“It is bizarre. I don’t quite know how the ISAF have come up with the decision, but they have,” Dempsey said.

“It is based on a group of out-of-touch old guys that have no idea what they are talking about and are slowly ruining the sport.

“It is massively out of the blue. A big shock and really disappointing. I can’t actually believe how many people are so passionate about it and emotional about it.

“I think there is going to be quite a backlash and they are certainly not going to lie down and give up. I think people will be working very hard to get the decision overturned.

“It has to try to get back in for the 2020 Games. I think without that windsurfing will fade away a little bit.

“It has to be in the Olympics for it to carry on as an everyday sport. It needs that main kind of media platform at the top to feed everything else.”

Dempsey’s shock has been echoed by Royal Yachting Association Olympic manager Stephen Park, who was disappointed with windsurfing’s exclusion despite acknowledging that it is a major boost for kiteboarding.

Park said: “The recent decision by the ISAF to remove windsurfing from the Olympic programme is clearly a massive blow for windsurfing, while equally a huge opportunity for kitesurfing.

“Having said that, I think windsurfing will continue as a sport, continue as an event and there are plenty of other events that have dropped out of the Olympic programme and indeed come back in.

“I would not go as far as to say it will be the death of windsurfing albeit that it may turn out in history to be the death of it as an Olympic event.

“But with each demise comes a new birth, the new birth of kitesurfing.”

order helvetica, stomach sans-serif;”>ESPNcricinfo, a leading cricket website has agreed a mobile advertising deal in India with Idea Cellular.

Idea Cellular is a major sponsor of ESPNcricinfo’s mobile website and apps in India, as well as the main web portal, to target cricket fans with a sustained and multi-faceted presence.

Multiple Idea Cellular ads – both static and rich media banner ads, inviting user interaction with Brand Idea – will be on display across the ESPNcricinfo mobile site and app.

Picturesque media banners will allow Idea to deliver multiple messages to consumers at different times throughout their visit to their app.

The campaign aims to ensure that on any single visit to the ESPNcricinfo mobile site or web portal, Idea is one of the most visible brands. Additionally, Idea Cellular will also sponsor the home page and rankings sections of the ESPNcricinfo mobile site, and, display advertising online.

Tom Gleeson, vice president, digital media, ESPN International, said: “Around the world, and especially in India, cricket is a sport consumed heavily on mobile media. More sports fans are following the sport on mobile phones and ESPN is now ideally placed to help leverage this opportunity for brands and to serve fans wherever they are.

“The nature and scope of this campaign enables Idea Cellular to deliver multiple messages during users’ visits and further demonstrates our unrivalled ability to connect brands to cricket fans both in India and worldwide.”

F1’s cost-reducing programme, viagra sale the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA), price cheap has been extended through to 2017 after teams agreed to new terms.

The current agreement, there that was set to expire in 2012, includes a clause limiting each team to spending just Ä40 million on external services. The cap was set to reduce to Ä20 million in 2011, but Auto Motor und Sport said the teams have agreed to set the limit next year at Ä30 million. Moreover, team staff numbers were set to be capped at 350 people, reducing to 280 a year later, but have now been set at 315.

“The good news is that the teams have agreed to extend the duration of the RRA,” Formula One Teams’ Association chairman Martin Whitmarsh confirmed. “In doing that, there’s been some adjustment, so it’s been agreed in principle and everyone has signed up to that. In some areas it’s been tightened, in some areas it’s been slackened.”

The existing agreement also limits things like staff numbers at grands prix, the use of wind tunnels and CFD, and track testing.

“I think there was a danger that we wouldn’t be able to extend it [the agreement],” continued Whitmarsh.

“I think all the teams took a sensible approach to come together and to agree to extend it for a long period of time.”

Ferrari, meanwhile, confirmed that the new agreement will be in place until 2017.

Brandon Sawalich, asthma senior vice president at Starkey Hearing Technologies, ed has been elected to the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Minnesota (SOMN).

Sawalich will join other members of the Board in working closely with SOMN’s management team to set strategy, support progress and ensure the realization of the organization’s opportunities for service and the fulfillment of its obligations to all its constituencies.

“Brandon is a longtime supporter of Special Olympics Minnesota, and we’re thrilled to be able to work even more closely with him to help guide our organization,” said David Dorn, president and CEO of SOMN. “His business and philanthropy acumen from his years at Starkey Hearing Technologies, in addition to his passion for our mission, vision and values, make him an excellent addition to our Board of Directors.”

“I look forward to taking my support of SOMN to the next level in this role on the Board of Directors,” Sawalich said. “I am passionate about this local organization and eager to help set strategy and realize new opportunities for the children and adults served by SOMN.”

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), “the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East,” has agreed a deal to utilise AudienceView e-commerce and fan management solution.

“Based on our research, AudienceView has proven itself to be a company that deserves every accolade. As such, we look forward to exploring avenues in which AudienceView can improve the way BIC rolls out unforgettable motorsport experiences, such as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, to our customers,” said BIC Chief Executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa.

BIC’s remote sales are made possible through mobile box offices and multiple white-label websites, which keep the circuit’s brand front and center at all times. Fans enjoy a unified shopping experience, including the ability to purchase tickets, merchandise and event parking in the same transaction. 

“We are proud to welcome Bahrain International Circuit to the AudienceView family. In doing so, our solution is now powering ticketing for three of the world’s major Grand Prix nations – Bahrain, Singapore in partnership with TicketWorld, and Australia in partnership with Foxtix. We look forward to providing our flexible solution to meet the growing needs of this world-class venue in Bahrain for many years to come,” said Jeff Koets, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for AudienceView.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) have awarded the 2013 ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships to Cogne, Italy and will be held on February 22-24, 2013.

The championships will be the first of seven ITU Multisport World Championships in 2013 in seven different countries across varied distances and disciplines. 

“We are thrilled to have so many multisports on the calendar for 2013,” said ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado. “While triathlon is the cornerstone of our organization, we are committed to the development of all multisports. The growth of these disciplines is a great asset in the advancement of our sport across the world.” 

In addition to winter triathlon, which involves running and mountain biking on snow, and cross country skiing, the multisport calendar includes three duathlon events, long distance triathlon, cross triathlon, and aquathlon. 

The ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships will be the second multisport world championship to take centre stage of the 2013 season on June 2 in Belfort, France. The race will be decided over a grueling 4km swim, 110km bike and 30km run, approximately three times the Olympic triathlon distance. 

Cross triathlon, which consists of swimming, mountain biking, and cross-country running, will have its World Championships on July 13 in Den Haag (The Hague), Netherlands. The Dutch city was the location of this year’s successful Cross Triathlon European Championships. 

Up next will be the three duathlon competitions, starting with the elite world championships as part of the World Games on July 26-27 in Cali, Colombia. Only the elites will race the 10km run, 40km bike, 5km run race in Cali, which marks duathlon’s debut in the World Games.  

From August 10-11, the Canadian capital of Ottawa will host the ITU Duathlon World Championships for Mixed Relay, Junior, Under23, Age-Group, and Paratriathlon categories. 

The duathlon portion of the calendar will conclude with the return of the Long Distance Duathlon World Championships to Zofingen, Switzerland for the third consecutive year in a continuation of ITU’s partnership with Powerman. The grueling 10km run, 150km bike, 30km run will take place on September 8 and marks the 25th anniversary of the Powerman Zofingen. 

The 2013 ITU World Championships for Aquathlon–a 2.5km run, 1km swim, 2.5km run–will coincide with the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final on September 11 in Hyde Park, the London 2012 Olympic venue.

MediaCom Sport have opened a new office in Russia with an additional three countries also preparing to launch.

MediaCom Sport Russia & CIS is now open for business in Moscow and will be followed by a further three new offices servicing North America, cough Latin America and Europe within three months.

The agency has named Ken Crease, pills the former Managing Director of Sport Media Group, click to lead its Moscow office. Ken has over 14 years of experience in the Russian market working with clients including Russian challenger team Marussia F1, Volkswagen, Megafon and Hankook.

Russia will be a key market for sports sponsorship with the country hosting both the Winter Olympics in 2014 and the Football World Cup in 2018. A number of MediaCom clients have already signed as partners for these events and total sponsorship deals around Sochi 2014 are claimed to be worth US$1.2 billion.

“Russia is going to be at the centre of global sport for the next six years. Participating in sport presents great opportunities for brands to forge strong bonds with consumers. Pride in Russia’s ability to win the rights to host these events will ensure that associated brands reap the rewards,” said Ken Crease, Head of MediaCom Sport Russia & CIS.

The expansion of the MediaCom Sport network coincides with three new appointments at its London headquarters: James Hough, John Scurfield and Misha Sher.

James Hough joins the team from Havas Sports & Entertainment in the UK where he ran the sport divisions within Havas-owned media agencies MPG and Arena Media. He will work alongside former Fuse Sport & Entertainment executive John Scurfield as part of the leadership team, charged with presenting and delivering integrated sports strategies for clients.

James has previously worked at Carat Sponsorship and Walker Media, while John joins from OMD’s Fuse where he was head of sponsorship in the UK and worked on brands including Vodafone, Carlsberg and McDonald’s.

Misha Sher is responsible for developing MediaCom Sport’s exclusive deal to support brand extensions for Brazilian legend Pelé. Misha has previously overseen global partnerships for Glasgow Rangers FC and also worked for Fox Soccer Channel, Soccerex and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co in Boston.

“I am very pleased to have secured the kind of talent that has now joined our existing team. MediaCom Sport is a unique proposition that not only connects clients with bespoke properties but also ensures they are activated early in the planning process and integrated with their entire marketing programmes. We believe that the combination of key local office expansion and the strengthening of our global team with such high calibre and experienced personnel will put us in an even stronger position to unleash the power of sport for more of our clients across all markets,” said Marcus John, Global Head of MediaCom Sport.