New York Knicks power forward Amar’e Stoudemire has agreed a new five-year endorsement deal with Nike.

The improved contract will see the NBA Allstar continue to wear Nike shoes as well as feature in Nike campaigns. It is thought that the Knicks star will be used to promote products in the Far East, unhealthy a territory which the sportswear giants are keen to make further inroads in.

Stoudemire, viagra who averaged 25.2 points a game last season, adiposity announced the deal by posting a video on Twitter. In the video he says: “Ladies and gentlemen it is official. I have now signed an extension with my shoe contract with the great shoe company of Nike.”

Stoudemire has been endorsing Nike products since 2005.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key has suggested that if earthquake-hit Christchurch is unable to stage games at this year’s Rugby World Cup, Auckland and Dunedin could host more matches.

Last week New Zealand Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully revealed that AMI Stadium in Christchurch had suffered significant damage in the February 22 disaster, while the city’s infrastructure has been devastated by the last month’s disaster.

The decision on Christchurch’s involvement in this year’s competition will be taken by the International Rugby Board (IRB).

Key told The Press that no decisions have been made, despite reports emerging over the weekend that the IRB was likely to move matches from Christchurch to Auckland, although he predicted a decision on the matter would be made “within the next 10 days if not sooner”.

Key stated: “Certainly, if we have to go to plan B there are alternatives in New Zealand. I don’t think there is any need for us to consider games outside New Zealand.”

He added: “We’ve had offers from Australia to host games, but I can’t see why that would be necessary. Quarter-finals are only being played at this point in Christchurch and Wellington so there are alternatives in both Auckland and Dunedin. Dunedin has some logistical issues in terms of accommodation issues down there but it’s still a possibility.”

Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium is set to host the 2013 IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final on June 29th.

Taking place three weeks before the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, the Birmingham IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final will be the seventh and final event of the IPC Athletics Grand Prix. The series was launched this year to give athletes greater opportunities to compete against the world’s best whilst also developing a framework of excellence in competition management. 

Being staged just one day before the British Athletics Birmingham Grand Prix, the event is expected to welcome more than 144 athletes competing in 18 events. 

Ed Warner, Chairman of the IPC Athletics Sport Technical Committee, said: “We are delighted that Birmingham will stage the final event of our IPC Athletics Grand Prix this year. 

“We created this Grand Prix to give athletes a chance to compete on the highest level and we are confident that many of our best athletes will come to Birmingham to test their form ahead of the World Championships in Lyon in July.”  

British Athletics’ Commercial Director Sophia Warner said: “I know from experience that the world’s top stars love the opportunity to compete in front of a British crowd so this is superb news not only for British Athletics but for disability athletics. 

“With our top athletes competing in the British Athletics Glasgow International Match, the IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final confirmed for Birmingham, and the third day of athletics at the London Anniversary Games I am proud that we are working so well with our IPC colleagues to create a competition legacy for our disabled athletes.”

The IPC Athletics Grand Prix started this weekend with a three day meet in Dubai, UAE which featured 460 athletes from 32 countries. In April there will be meetings in Beijing, China and Sao Paulo, Brazil whilst in May athletes will compete in Grosseto, Italy and Arizona, USA. The final meeting prior to Birmingham takes place in mid-June in Berlin, Germany.

Adidas drove the most social media discussion of sponsorship during the group stages of UEFA Euro 2012, drugs according to research conducted by Precise.

During the football matches, Adidas took a 29 per cent share of daily English-language conversations on social media about the sponsors.

In second place was McDonald’s with 17 per cent just ahead of Orange with 15 per cent. But Orange beat Carlsberg with 12 per cent and, impressively, Coca Cola with10 per cent.

Use of its UEFA Euro 2012 app generated many of these mentions, indicating the app was popular. However, the app did not drive as much in the way of user-generated opinions, Precise says.Interestingly, despite the growth of social media since 2010, sponsors of UEFA EURO 2012 drove a lower volume of conversations than the sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Precise says that although Euro 2012 sponsors allegedly ramped up their social media activity around the tournament, digital activations and apps generally failed to score big in producing active discussion about their brands.

According to the research, traditional offline sponsorship is still driving the lion’s share of conversations.

James Withey, head of Brand Insight with Precise, observed, “Social media use has exploded over the last two years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean people will discuss sponsor activities in ever-greater volumes.

”So the question is – how do sponsors get people talking about what they are doing? The success of those brands with a strong focus on using offline activities to get people talking about them online, suggests that sponsors would benefit from better coordinating their offline and online marketing activities.”

 

Organisers of Austin’s new Formula 1 track have announced that the course is scheduled to be completed in the middle of August, with construction efforts now fully back on course at the United States venue.

Although there was uncertainty about the future of the race last year amid a dispute over the contract – with work at the circuit being halted for several weeks – a big push by Austin’s organisers ensured it remained on the final 2012 calendar issued by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in early December.

With its deal secure, construction resumed at the track shortly afterwards and track chiefs have confirmed that the recent delays will not have any negative effect on its November 18 event taking place.

Senior representatives from the Circuit of the Americas, including president Steve Sexton, executive vice president Bruce Knox and chief marketing and sales officer Geoff Moore are in London this week for meetings with Bernie Ecclestone to update him on progress.

Moore told Autosport: “The race is on. Construction is happening six days a week. The paddock buildings are being topped off, work on the main grandstand has started and we are looking at mid-August for completion.”

Pressure on the construction efforts has been eased by the fact that the race’s date has been shifted from an original June date to its November slot – where it will form a back-to-back with season finale Brazil.

Although a reported $25 million payment from local government, as part of a Major Event Trust Fund, will not be given to Austin officials in advance – track chiefs say the venue already has advanced funding in place to ensure completion of the track.

The money will be applied for after the race, once it is clear just how much tax revenue the Austin Grand Prix has generated for the local economy.

The total cost for the Circuit of the Americas is estimated at $350 million, with track chiefs hoping to attract 120,000 spectators for the inaugural event.

Formula One’s governing body FIA has been welcomed into the Olympic family after securing a partnership with the IOC.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said it had been recognised provisionally for a two-year period by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and had agreed to respect the Olympic charter.

It added that the IOC had asked the FIA to introduce as soon as possible an athlete’s Commission in order to make the recognition permanent.

“I am delighted the FIA is now part of the Olympic family as this is a confirmation of the strength of our sporting credentials as well as a recognition of the values of respect, excellence and friendship which we actively share with the Olympic movement,” said FIA president Jean Todt in a statement.

Formula One and the Olympics will come together, of sorts, in 2014 when the inaugural Russian Grand Prix is scheduled to take place in Sochi after the Winter Games there.

That Grand Prix has been put forward by local Olympic organisers as one of the additional legacies of the Games in the Black Sea resort, using some of the same facilities and providing a use for the Park.

Beverage giant Coca Cola has planned a major marketing campaign poised on Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar’s expected 100th century in international cricket.

Coca Cola are launching a series of 10 cans, with 10 different designs, each chronicling one of Sachin’s best centuries, nine of which were handpicked by the batsman himself.

Coca-Cola will release some 6.5 million special Coke cans with pictures of the batting maestro, with each can having the image from that innings of Tendulkar along with the statistics of the century.

The company plans to release 800,000 units of the 10th can, which will be released once Tendulkar scores the much awaited 100th international century.

It is hoped that Tendulkar will achieve that landmark during the first England vs India Test beginning at Lord’s, England on July 21.

A core team of designers and creative guys from Coke’s creative agency are working on the design and look for the 10th can.

This is the first marketing campaign for which Coca-Cola is using its “Happiness” ambassador Sachin, since the two signed a contract, estimated in the range of US$2.7-3.3 million, earlier this year.

This is also the first time that Tendulkar has listed some of his most important innings that he has ever played. Some of the innings are 200 in an ODI against South Africa, 114 versus Australia in Perth in 1992, 143 versus Australia in Sharjah in 1998 to win the Sharjah Cup.

Anupama Ahluwalia, VP, Marketing, Coca-Cola India, said: “As and when Sachin reaches that historic milestone of 100 hundreds, it will be an ultimate high-point in the history of sports. As a tribute to this legend, who is also Coca-Cola’s ‘Happiness’ ambassador, it is only appropriate that we release nine special edition cans, each depicting an important achievement of his career, and start celebrating in anticipation of his 100th hundred.

“This will be the first time in the history of our operations in India that we will put a celebrity or our brand ambassador on our cans and we are making this exception for one of India’s great sons. The occasion is specially significant for the Coca-Cola family since Sachin is a part of us and this is yet another occasion when Sachin and Coca-Cola are teaming up to spread joy and happiness.”

A revised match schedule was announced yesterday, health | March 30, pharm developed by Rugby New Zealand 2011 (RNZ) in consultation with Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) for this year’s tournament following the decision to reallocate all matches from Christchurch following the devastating February 22 earthquake.

The new schedule will see three of the five rescheduled pool matches remain in the South Island. Nelson, vialis 40mg Dunedin and Invercargill will each host an additional match while the remaining two matches have been reallocated to Wellington and North Harbour.

As announced earlier this month, the two quarter-finals due to be played in Christchurch on October 8 and 9 will be played at Eden Park in Auckland.

The new fully enclosed Otago Stadium, a 30,000-capacity venue, has been added to the schedule as a World Cup host and will stage England’s Pool B games with Argentina and Georgia on September 10 and 18.

Australia’s clashes with Italy and Russia have been moved to Auckland and Nelson respectively, while Argentina’s game with Scotland will switch to Wellington. Operational reasons have also necessitated the transfer of one non-Christchurch match, Scotland versus Georgia, from Dunedin to Invercargill.

RNZ 2011 CEO Martin Snedden stated: “Our desire was always to transfer as many of the Christchurch pool matches as was reasonably possible to other existing South Island venues. At the same time we are very conscious that time is pressing, with just 163 days to go before the world’s third largest sporting event kicks off, so we have also sought to minimise disruptions to ensure as few teams and their supporters were affected as possible. This has meant minimising any changes to matches that weren’t originally scheduled for Christchurch.”

He continued: “While we know that our rescheduling decisions won’t please everyone, on balance, we have achieved the best possible result taking into account all relevant factors. We firmly believe that RWC 2011 will be a tournament which all New Zealanders can experience and be proud of and will continue the outstanding success of recent tournaments.”

Rugby World Cup Limited chairman Bernard Lapasset added: “We appreciate the patience shown by the teams and fans during this difficult period and are enormously grateful for the support and cooperation of all our partners during what has been a complex process.”