Leading consumer product company Procter & Gamble (P&G) have signed up women’s triple amateur boxing world champion and 2012 Gold medal prospect Katie Taylor as their ambassador for Ireland. 

P&G have made well many well-known household brands including Ariel, Crest and Gillette, as well as being sponsors of the Olympics.

As a P&G ambassador, Taylor will work on the company’s Irish marketing activities alongside her mum Bridget as they both become part of the P&G Proud Sponsor of Mums campaign, which puts the focus on mums by recognising, celebrating and thanking them for the important roles they play in their families’ lives.

Taylor, the reigning International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Female Boxer of the Year, is looking forward to working as part of the Proud Sponsor of Mums campaign as it is something that means a lot to her.

“I was delighted to be asked by P&G to be part of their campaign,” said the 25-year-old from County Wicklow who boxes in the lightweight category. I am very close to my family and P&G’s campaign keeps families at its core and that’s important to me. I’m really looking forward to working on all aspects of the campaign.”

As well as her three amateur world titles, Taylor has five amateur European gold medals and is a strong favourite to win gold in the 60kg weight category at London 2012 when women’s boxing makes its debut at the Olympics.

Roisin Donnelly, the marketing director for P&G UK and Ireland, said: “For more than 80 years in Ireland, Mum has been our boss. Mums have driven our product innovation and our marketing communication and it’s for this reason we’re putting Katie and her mum at the heart of this campaign.”

The Proud Sponsor of Mums campaign will feature throughout P&G’s sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

P&G’s Olympic Games partnership is far and way the most ambitious in Olympic history, beginning with London 2012 and incorporating Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games.

The Rugby World Cup in New Zealand has hit 87% of their final revenue target making $191 million of the revenue target of $268.5 million organisers confirmed.

In the region of 1.08 million tickets have been sold for the Sept. 9- Oct. 23 event, Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd. said today. As many as 95,000 international visitors are expected to arrive in New Zealand during the tournament, RNZ 2011 added, an increase of 10,000 on previous estimates.

Martin Snedden, RNZ 2011 Chief Executive Officer, said in an e-mailed statement.”This is tremendous news and a real sign of just how big Rugby World Cup 2011 will be for our country,” Snedden said.

“The upsurge in support from overseas fans is a strong sign of confidence in our ability to host the biggest sporting event New Zealand has ever held,” he added.

Prime Minister John Key has predicted spending by overseas visitors in September and October will give New Zealand’s economy a 0.3 percent boost in the second half. Hosting rugby’s four-yearly world championship can boost the local economy by as much as 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion), according to a Deloitte LLP study.

Nationalities from 100 countries will descend on New Zealand during the six-week tournament, local organizers added. Visitors on average will stay 23 days, travel extensively around New Zealand and 44 percent will be first-time visitors to the country.

The 20-nation World Cup starts in 21 days, when New Zealand’s top-ranked All Blacks face Tonga in the first of 48 matches. The final is scheduled Oct. 23 at Auckland’s Eden Park.

More than $0.82 million worth of tickets have been sold since the All Blacks beat Australia 30-14 at Eden Park in a Tri- Nations match three days ago, RNZ 2011 said.

“Our challenge over the remaining ten weeks is to generate another NZ$34 million ($28 million) of revenues, the equivalent of about another 230,000 ticket sales,” Snedden said. “This is clearly achievable.”

Chief technical officer for the Lotus Racing Formula One team, Mike Gascoyne, has signed a new contract to stay with the team until 2015.

The team re-entered F1 this season and have yet to score a championship point. Despite this, Gascoyne has signalled his intention to end his career in the team.

Gascoyne said: “Having started the team from scratch with Tony it was always my intention to finish my career here, so it’s great to have formally agreed a five-year deal.

“I’m extremely grateful to everyone involved in Lotus Racing for having the confidence to take this into a long-term contract. We’ve had a great start to our partnership together, and I’m looking forward to continuing that for the next five years, and even beyond that.”

Team principle Tony Fernandes added: “Mike’s five-year deal is a major announcement for the whole Lotus Racing team.

“It shows just how serious we are, not only about how far ahead we are setting our aspirations, but also as a reward to Mike for the incredibly hard work he and the team have already put in to get us from literally four people back in September ’09 to our current position as a serious F1 player with a very bright future ahead of us.”

Gascoyne has previously worked with McLaren, Tyrrell, Jordan, Benetton, Toyota and Spyker,

PrimeSport, discount the leader in providing direct access to the biggest sporting events on the planet, drugs announced today a new partnership with Feld Motor Sports to build and manage the official ticket exchange and VIP travel packages for the Monster Energy Cup, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, Finals, and the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals.

Las Vegas is home to the Monster Energy Cup, Monster Energy Supercross Finals and Monster Jam World Finals. The October event showcases the top supercross riders competing on a unique track in an open class, three main event format for a chance to win $1 million. At the finals in May, the Monster Energy Supercross season comes to a climactic end as one rider is crowned champion. The Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals offers the greatest weekend in motorsports for the entire family. Sam Boyd Stadium will be alive as the top 24 Monster Jam® trucks in the world compete for the coveted titles of Racing World Champion and Freestyle World Champion.

“PrimeSport has extensive experience and a first-rate track record when it comes to offering tickets and travel packages for large events.” said Tom Williams of Feld Entertainment. “By partnering with PrimeSport, our fans have safe, dependable and fully authorized methods for securing tickets and packages for each of these great events. PrimeSport has the resources and expertise needed to provide our fans with an unforgettable and quality experience.”

As the Official Ticket Exchange for the Monster Energy Cup, Monster Energy Supercross Finals, and Monster Jam World Finals, PrimeSport creates a secure and approved marketplace for fans to buy tickets. Furthermore, if a ticket holder is unable to attend, they have the ability to post the tickets for sale on an official exchange site. Fans can feel safe while purchasing tickets, as PrimeSport has a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee on all transactions. PrimeSport also currently manages the Official Ticket Exchanges for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, NCAA Men’s Final Four, NCAA Women’s Final Four, NCAA Men’s Frozen Four, 2013 Discover BCS National Championship, Orange Bowl, The Rose Bowl Game, the University of Arizona, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, ACC Football Championship, ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, National Finals Rodeo and Tulane University.

In addition to the official ticket exchange, PrimeSport is also offering Monster Energy Cup travel packages, Monster Energy Supercross Finals travel packages, and Monster Jam World Finals travel packages. Official packages can include hotel accommodations, event tickets, VIP pre-event hospitality, roundtrip shuttle transfers, and official commemorative souvenirs.

“Our number one priority is to provide value and the VIP experience to our customers, and our partnership with Feld Motor Sports is one more way we can offer an unforgettable and hassle-free experience to fans,” said Greg Nortman, COO of PrimeSport. “We look forward to an exciting partnership with Feld Motor Sports and the opportunity to offer the PrimeSport Experience to supercross and monster truck fans.”

The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) Council has decided that the Junior World Orienteering Championships 2015 will be held in Norway, health and the World Masters Orienteering Championships in the same year will be in Sweden.

IOF President Åke Jacobson, bronchi | in announcing the decisions, drugs praised the quality of the rival bids and said that in both cases it had been a very difficult decision. “Both Romania, rival bidder for the junior championships, and Latvia, short-listed rival bidder for the Masters event, put in excellent submissions and made it a very close decision in each case”, he said.

The Junior World Championships is scheduled for 4-11 July 2015 in the Porsgrunn area of Norway. It will be combined with the multi-day event Sörlandsgaloppen, which will be holding its 50^th anniversary that year and where the first race is to be planned on the same area as was used 50 years ago.

Gothenburg is the venue for the World Masters Championships, and it is planned to hold it in the week after O-Ringen, i.e. 26 July – 2 August. O-Ringen will be staged in nearby Borås and will be a good warm-up in similar terrain. This will be the first time the Masters event has been held in Sweden since 1988.

The city of Sacramento, and its only major professional sports team, the NBA’s Kings, have reached a tentative deal for a new arena, said owner Gavin Maloof, who called it “the second-greatest moment of my life.”

The Kings will contribute about $73 million upfront and another $73 million over the team’s 30-year lease, he said in a telephone interview from Orlando, Fla., where his family, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern were meeting during all-star weekend to work out the deal that would keep the club from moving.

The City Council will vote on the plan March 6.

“I think when we left Sacramento and came to Orlando, you guys asked me how close were we. I thought it was a free throw — and you need to make two free throws,” Johnson told reporters at a news conference at the Waldorf Astoria at Walt Disney World. “I think the city made the first free throw, and the Maloof family made the second free throw.

“It’s game over.”

Under the proposed terms of the deal, the city will contribute $200-$250 million to the estimated $387 million arena, mostly by leasing out parking garages around the facility, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said. 

The Maloofs have agreed to contribute $75 million in upfront cash, which includes the sale of land around the team’s current suburban arena, along with paying off a current $67 million loan to the city and contributing more over the course of the deal. Arena operator AEG also agreed to pay almost $60 million.

“I think it’s great for our community,” a tearful Gavin Maloof said. “I’m glad it’s finally coming to an end after 13 years. It’s been a long road.”

The Kings almost moved to Anaheim, Calif., a year ago before Johnson and city leaders convinced the league to give Sacramento one last chance to help finance an arena. At one point, Johnson — a former NBA All-Star with the Phoenix Suns — even called the process a “slow death” and likened the city’s efforts to a “Hail Mary.”

Johnson made a desperate pitch to the NBA Board of Governors last April to give the city a final chance to come up with an arena plan. He also bought time by presenting more than $10 million in commitments for new advertising, ticket purchases and other financial support from regional businesses for this season.

The NBA’s relocation committee, headed by Oklahoma City owner Clay Bennett, who moved the team now known as the Thunder from Seattle in 2008, recommended that the league give the city a shot to follow through — and handed down a March 1 deadline to come up with a plan to help finance an arena.

In the end, the deal was strong enough to convince the Maloofs to stay — pending the City Council’s approval.

“This is a great day for Sacramento, a great day for the Maloof family, a great day for the NBA” Joe Maloof said. “I’d like to thank the mayor for all of his hard work and efforts throughout the years and, of course, the commissioner for all of his support and everything he’s done for the NBA. Our family is just so excited that we have the framework for a deal. We’ve always said we wanted to stay in Sacramento and now here’s our opportunity.”

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, whose city nearly landed the Kings last year and remains the most likely option to lure the team if the deal crumbles, congratulated Sacramento while also reminding the league that Anaheim is a viable option in the future.

“Anaheim remains NBA-ready and I look forward to the day we will have our own NBA team, but today I offer my best wishes to Sacramento. Well done,” Tait said.

Despite attempts by Anaheim and Seattle to swoop in and lure the Kings, the fate of the franchise is in the hands of the Sacramento City Council — which has approved every arena measure to date under the current project. The arena, which would open for the 2015-16 season in the downtown Sacramento rail yards, is a vote away from breaking ground.

“I’ve had the great pleasure … of opening up two arenas and I’m looking forward to opening up a third in Sacramento,” Stern said. “I want the Maloof family to get back to Sacramento fast because I’ve asked them to get those renewals out for next season.”

by Ismail Uddin

Hot on the heels of the ICC Board Announcements this Wednesday, the Woolf report has stipulated further reform necessary for the ICC (International Cricket Council) and the game itself.

Having announced the introduction of a new chairman role and an increase in test prize money as well discussed its security policy, government relations and the development of the so-called lesser nations, the ICC’s governance of cricket has now been dissected via the comprehensive 60-page Woolf Report the governing body commissioned for the amelioration of the sport.

Lord Woolf, a former chief justice of England, was assisted by Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and by consultancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers in the construction of the report which involved consultation of various stakeholders across the game from heads of the national cricket bodies and ex ICC chiefs to players associations and journalists.

The thrust of the report is to revamp the role of ICC within the game. “Currently the ICC reacts as though it is primarily a Members club; its interest in enhancing the global development of the game is secondary”.

The independent report begins as follows, “Cricket is a great game. It deserves to have governance, including management and ethics, worthy of the sport. This is not the position at the present time”.

The no holds barred report also warns that its recommendations may not be welcomed by all before outlining its suggestions.

“[The changes] will require leadership and forward thinking on the part of Members who will be adversely affected to ensure the growth of the game. In some cases, individual expectations may be damaged … It is essential that those adversely affected accept that the changes are being made in the interests of the future of cricket as a whole”.

The report focuses on three key areas.

1. Full Membership

“Membership classes should be simplified and divided into two categories. A Full Member class should be retained. The Associate and Affiliate Member categories should be combined into one class of Associate Member”.

“Mandatory Test playing status should not be a requirement of Full Member status. The Full Member class should include Test playing Members together with other high-performing (but not Test playing) Member”.

The report suggest two new members should be added as “a priority”, which would seem to open the door to Ireland and one other Associate Member. It also recommends a set of stipulations be introduced to maintain standards of all Full Members.

It is also asserted that non-Test playing nations should have an increased say in the running of the game which is echoed in the proposed voting reforms below.

2. Voting

The report suggests a “one Member, one vote” policy, and advises a streamlined board as below.

“A streamlined new Board should comprise an independent Chairman, four Directors representing the Full Members, two Directors representing the Associate Members, three Independent Directors, two Independent Directors representing the wider game, together with the President and Chief Executive in attendance”.

3. Ethics

Woolf lists the following problems as stumbling-blocks at the head of the game and proposes methods of eradication such as mandatory declaration of gifts and disallowing ICC directors from holding any leadership or executive post with their home boards.

“Off-field activities include conflicts of interest, government intervention, gifts and hospitality, inappropriate behaviours, abuse of power, fraud, bribery and other unethical conduct”.

It also advocates that each country nominate an individual for ICC Director for a three-year term (with a maximum of two terms), to prevent the current situation where a Director’s term could be over 10 years.

Woolf also advocated wholesale fiscal changes, namely the abolition of its “subscription” model of funding and its revenue distribution method.

“The ICC is currently funded through a subscription model that requires the Full Members to fund the annual budget of the ICC. This implicitly encourages the Full Members to think and act as ‘shareholders’ of the ICC. This means that the ICC is financially dependent on the Full Members, which inhibits its ability to be seen and to act independently of the Full Members.

“The position is reinforced by distributing 75% of the net profits back to the Full Members evenly. Full Members could see this as a right to share in the commercial success of the ICC.”

The report claims that the placement of the ICC on a commercial footing would be a positive one.

The Woolf report will be discussed in full at the next ICC board meeting in May.

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Have your say on the ICC Reforms and the Woolf Report here

The Adidas Group is looking to expand the adidas brand by using the UEFA Euro 2012 as a platform to achieve market leadership in Poland by 2015. 

They also want market leadership in the Ukraine, and where adidas is already the clear market leader, ed the brand wants to extend its leadership position. 

Herbert Hainer, order chief executive officer of the adidas Group, said: “As the Official Partner of UEFA Euro 2012, we will use the event to reach market leadership in Poland by 2015 and take over category leadership in football in 2012.

“This is the first time a major tournament like the UEFA Euro will be hosted by Poland and the Ukraine. We are very excited about the upcoming event and plan to leverage UEFA Euro 2012 internationally to showcase our brand and our innovative and exciting products.” 

Adidas is the Official Sponsor, Supplier and Licensee of UEFA Euro 2012, which also provides the Official Match Ball and supplies the equipment for all officials, referees, volunteers and various youth programs such as ball kids and player escorts. 

The flurry of products for UEFA Euro 2012 will be available for consumers at the end of 2011.

Rugby League’s Super League competition has announced the teams that have secured a licence for next season’s competition. League bosses have said that Crusaders will drop out of the competition in 2012 after withdrawing their application for a licence renewal.

Widnes had already had their promotion from the Championship confirmed for next season and with no league expansion planned, one of the current Super League clubs was certain to be demoted.

In an announcement made this morning, the Rugby Football League confirmed that Crusaders will make way for the Vikings in what will be the only change to the competition’s make up.

Wakefield were thought to be the club most at risk of losing their place, but the Wildcats have had their licence renewed and are given an unexpected reprieve.

Halifax were in the running to join Widnes as a new Super League club but their bid for a licence ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Harlequins and Castleford were also thought to be under threat of demotion but as expected have been given new three-year licences.