The vice-president of the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee), Ahmed Bilalov, has responded to the comments made in Parliament this week by former Europe Minister Denis MacShane.

MacShane advised the British Prime Minister David Cameron to inform the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, that he would not be welcomed at the London 2012 Games this summer unless Russia improved its human rights record.

Bilalov has retorted at the official launch of the Team Russia Park in the capital, ROC’s London Olympic residence.

“I’m expecting Mr Putin to be in London. That’s if British MPs don’t mind it.

“I heard the comments made in Parliament by Denis MacShane. I think that at least it’s not very friendly.

“Sport and politics should not mix. That’s why the Moscow Olympics and the Los Angeles Olympics, which had the boycotts, were so disappointing to athletes and sports people.

“I think this is not a serious proposal. I hope the people in Parliament are supporting us”.

The Russian Embassy has also responded to MacShane’s “rude attacks”.

“The provocative behaviour of this parliamentarian and his public statements can only be attributed to poorly disguised lobbying of known interests and personal motives, which apparently have to do with his direct role, as member of the former Labour Governments, in deterioration of Russian-British relationship”.

Nimbus Sport who is The Indian Hockey Federation’s marketing partner will be investing close to Rs 1.25 billion for the inaugural World Series Hockey which includes player’s salaries, marketing and staging of the tournament among others.

On-ground sponsorships and telecast rights as well as through sale of franchises will recover the investment that will be put forward..

“We believe by the time tournament starts our investment will be in the region of $US 28 million will be put together but we will recoup a major portion of that from sponsors, broadcasters and franchises and over a period of time hopefully make some money,” Nimbus Communications chairman Harish Thawani Thursday told reporters.

He also informed that four franchises on an invitation-basis have already joined hands with two of them signing formal franchisee contracts while, the remaining four franchises will be selected through tendering process.

The names of the franchises, Thawani said, would be announced only after a broadcast partner has been finalised.

“The invited franchises hands have been shaken and in fact two have already signed contracts, let me not steal their thunder they will make separate announcements each week down the road.

“The process we are following is that in August we want to sign-up broadcasters there are four interested broadcasters, we will run a competitive deal for who gives the best deal for the World Series Hockey.

“Once we conclude that then we will announce the franchises as we have mentioned the first four franchises will be by invitation and the next four by competitive process,” Thawani added.

“The investment made by the organisers and franchises in developing affinity programmes for the respective teams plays a big role in any league and as you can see six months before the tournament we have launched the website today, the Facebook presence and the series of initiative that will be unfolded, these will help us develop affinity,” Thawani averred.

“Six months ahead of the tournament the captains have been announced because obviously superstar personalities that help in people following their games so there will be a 360 degree marketing campaign both for World Series Hockey as well as the franchises and the superstar players.

It has been announced that Twickenham will stage the 2012 Heineken Cup final, domestic European rugby union’s showpiece event, five years after last hosting the match-up in 2007, when Wasps overcame Leicester.

The match will be the fourth Heineken Cup final to have been staged at the London ground and will take place on the weekend of 19th-20th May 2012.

Next season’s competition will begin three weeks later than usual, on the weekend of 11th-13th November, to allow for the end of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, with the international tournament reaching its climax at Eden Park in Auckland on 23rd October.

The Amlin Challenge Cup will begin on the same weekend as the Heineken Cup, with a second set of fixtures taking place the following weekend.

There will then be a set of back-to-back matches in both competitions in December (8th-11th and 15th-18th) and January (12th-15th and 19th-22nd).

Quarter-final ties will be played over the weekend of 5th-8th April 2012 and the semi-finals will take place between 27th-29th May.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame have hired Mike Laheta as manager, anabolics corporate partnerships.

Laheta will be responsible for developing corporate partnerships, adiposity sponsorship sales and activation opportunities for the NASCAR Hall of Fame with current and prospective partners.

Laheta most recently served as director, marketing and business affairs for Front Row Motorsports (FRM), which fields the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams for drivers David Ragan and David Gilliand. 

Laut einer repräsentativen Umfrage der Brandmeyer Markenberatung ist Adidas die Lieblingsmarke der Deutschen. 7, generic 4 Prozent der Bundesbürger haben in einer repräsentativen forsa-Umfrage angegeben, dass sie am liebsten Kleidung des Unternehmens aus Herzogenaurach tragen. Auf Platz zwei der beliebtesten Marken folgt Audi mit 4,5 Prozent vor Esprit und BMW. Auf den Plätzen fünf und sechs liegen VW und Mercedes Benz. Insgesamt gaben 38 Prozent der Befragten an, dass sie die größte Bindung zu Marken aus dem Bereich Bekleidung und Sport haben. Hier liegt der Hersteller mit den drei Streifen vor Esprit und dem Erzkonkurrenten Nike.

Das Bekenntnis zu Adidas fällt dabei in den unterschiedlichen Altersgruppen sehr uneinheitlich aus. Während es für rund zwölf Prozent der 14- bis 29-Jährigen wichtig ist, Kleidungsstücke dieser Marke zu tragen, sind es bei den über 60-Jährigen nur noch gut anderthalb Prozent. “Adidas ist es gelungen, gerade innerhalb der jungen Zielgruppe eine intensive Markenbindung aufzubauen”, sagt Peter Pirck, Gesellschafter der Brandmeyer Markenberatung. “Diese Markenbindung wird meist dann erreicht, wenn beim Käufer drei Ebenen gleichzeitig angesprochen werden: Das Produkt muss erstens von seiner Leistung her überzeugen, zweitens ästhetisch gefallen und es muss drittens im Vorfeld eine Vertrautheit aufbauen.”

Laut der Brandmeyer-Studie gelingt es Adidas besonders gut bei den Männern, auf diesen drei Feldern zu punkten. Fast neun Prozent der markenbewussten Männer geben an, eine besondere Bindung zu Adidas zu haben, bei den Frauen sind es immerhin noch knapp sechs Prozent. Umgekehrte Verhältnisse in noch deutlicherer Ausprägung hat die Umfrage bei der Modemarke Esprit ergeben, die von rund viereinhalb Prozent der Markenbekenner favorisiert wird. Dem 1968 in Kalifornien gegründeten und heute in Hongkong beheimateten Unternehmen fühlen sich mehr als acht Prozent der markenaffinen Frauen und vergleichsweise bescheidene ein Prozent der Männer verbunden.

Neben den Aussagen zu den einzelnen Marken, lässt die aktuelle forsa-Befragung auch allgemeine Aussagen zum Markenbewusstsein der Deutschen zu. So zeichnet sich vor allem die Altersgruppe der 14- bis 17-Jährigen durch eine starke Markenverbundenheit aus. 68 Prozent der Jugendlichen, die eine Lieblingsmarke haben, fühlen sich vor allem mit Marken im Bereich Sport und Bekleidung verbunden. Auch hier kann Adidas mit 21 Prozent den Rivalen Nike (13 Prozent) auf Distanz halten. Für den Marken-Experten Peter Pirck kommt dieser Erfolg nicht von ungefähr. “Da ist zum einen die Produktqualität, die seit Jahrzehnten höchsten Ansprüchen genügt und durch die bei den Kunden eine entsprechende Markentreue kreiert wird. Zum anderen gilt Adidas als Vorreiter bei der Entwicklung von Trends – zum Beispiel bei der Entwicklung von Retro-Designs – durch die sich das Image eines innovativen Labels manifestiert hat. Adidas ist es gelungen, Leistungssport und Mode erfolgreich miteinander zu vereinen. Und nicht zuletzt ist Adidas – trotz Produktion in Fernost – für die Menschen noch immer eine deutsche Marke”, so das Fazit des Marken-Experten Peter Pirck.

Die Top-10-Lieblingsmarken der Deutschen

1.  Adidas

2.  Audi

3.  Esprit

4.  BMW

5.  VW

6.  Mercedes Benz

7.  Nike

8.  Apple

9.  Nivea

10. Samsung

Über die Studie

Um ein repräsentatives Bild über Gesamtdeutschland zu erhalten, wurden für die Studie zunächst 1.000 Deutsche bundesweit befragt. Im nächsten Schritt erfolgte eine Aufstockung der Bundesländer auf mindestens 200 Teilnehmer, in Bremen und im Saarland auf 100 Teilnehmer. Insgesamt nahmen 3.019 Bundesbürger an der Befragung teil. Befragt wurden dabei Personen ab 14 Jahren. Es wurde ungestützt nach der absoluten Lieblingsmarke gefragt. Durchgeführt wurde die Umfrage von forsa. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter www.lieblings-marken.de.

The X Games, created by ESPN, has announced that the annual extreme sports event will expand to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil; Munich, Germany and Barcelona, Spain beginning in 2013.

Those cities will join Aspen, Colo.; Los Angeles and Tignes, France to host the X Games in an effort to expand globally. With relevance to contemporary youth around the world, this expansion is a transformation from an action sports competition brand into an action sports lifestyle brand that will highlight new locations and enhanced cultural and digital elements around the world.

ESPN conducted a formal bid process starting last May which resulted in significant interest from locations around the world that bid to host one of three new events (which join Los Angeles, Aspen and Tignes). Beginning today, local organizing committees for Foz do Iguaçu (pronounced Fawz Day Ig wah soo), Munich and Barcelona will collaborate with ESPN for the next three years to bring the premier action sports event to their cities, launching an annual, six-event X Games calendar  four of which will be summer events and two winter.

“ESPN has been committed to the X Games franchise for nearly two decades and is incredibly excited for the future and this new endeavor,” said John Skipper, president, ESPN and Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks. “We are bringing significant focus to this expansion because we believe in the universal appeal of these sports and competitors and want to share the X Games experience with fans around the world.”

Motorsports icon Travis Pastrana, who has 17 X Games medals to his name, supports ESPN’s decision to expand the X Games globally. “ESPN is giving athletes the opportunity to really chase their dreams, and the X Games are the most important and biggest events ever created for our sports,” said Pastrana. “The concept of bringing them to different places around the world is awesome, and I’m excited to see what it will do for action sports.”

The X Games events will spotlight the world’s best action sports athletes in BMX, Skateboard, Moto X, and Rally Car Racing at the X Games; and Skiing, Snowboard and Snowmobile at the winter version of the X Games against the backdrop of the host city and country. Each X Games event will take on its own distinguishing character that will set it apart from the others, including the introduction of new sports and cultural elements that are drawn from the host cities themselves. In the past the X Games has successfully organized smaller action sports events, qualifiers and demonstrations in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Philippines and UAE.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has shortlisted the three bids for long-term tenancy of the media and broadcast centers at the Olympic Park where it could turn into a fashion hub, buy a leisure village or an innovation and research center after the Games.

The aim of the centre is to create a lively commercial district and generate thousands of job opportunities in London’s run-down East End.

“It means we can now look forward to the Summer Games with confidence that our park is on course to become that thriving, cialis vibrant and prosperous new district we have all been striving for, ampoule ” said London Mayor Boris Johnson.

The press and broadcast centers, which are housed in separate buildings, offer a total of around 1 million square feet (0.09 million square meters) of commercial space.

Like other facilities built for the Olympics this summer, organizers want them turned into sites that ensure long-term job creation and growth for the area, which is built on a former industrial wasteland. Officials are particularly keen to secure future operators as soon as possible, while interest in the area’s real estate is still strong. Long-term operators have already been secured for six of the eight permanent Olympic venues, they say.

The bid from UK Fashion Hub envisions a center that includes a fashion college, a base for online retailing, and offices that will attract international buyers, wholesalers and the creative industries. A second bid from iCITY includes a cloud computing center, research labs, facilities for graphic designers and digital education, and a separate innovation center with links to higher education that would feature British technology.

The third plan, from Oxylane Group, proposes mixed leisure and events space as well as retail space, including a large sports store.

The Legacy Company said it would now begin talks on the bids’ details with the three groups. It aims to pick the tenant this summer, with the buildings expected to open from next spring.

The three shortlisted bids were picked from 45 proposals, from sectors including media, retail and education.

The USOC (United States Olympic Committee) will resume talks with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) today at the first Winter YOG (Youth Olympic Games) in Innsbruck, Austria.

The negotiations will seek to resolve the disagreements on revenue sharing between both parties which have blocked any possible American Olympic bid.

After failing to come to an understanding last year, the USOC chose not to bid on the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The discussions centre around the American share of Olympic television and marketing revenues which the IOC believes is too great and should be redistributed.

USOC chairman Larry Probst has said, “We’re making progress, slowly but surely. I think both sides want to make sure that this gets done correctly. That’s obviously taking some time”.

We’re hoping we can get to a resolution that both sides are comfortable with sometime in the not too distant future – sooner rather than later. There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of different constituencies need to be considered. It’s time consuming”.

USCOC CEO Scott Blackmun added, “We would love to host the Games. It’s important for us to keep Americans connected to the Games. But as we saw with New York’s bid and Chicago’s bid, while we have this dispute out there, it’s difficult for us to put together a bid that’s really going to resonate with the IOC.

We want to put ourselves in the best possible position to win a bid if we do in fact bid for another winter or summer Games”.

American cities have already expressed interesting in bidding for the 2022 Winter Games in anticipation of the resolution of the dispute. Denver has formed an exploratory committee whilst Reno-Lake Tahoe and Salt Lake City are also keen on bidding.