The International Management Group (IMG) has lost a major client in Tennis star Roger Federer after the 16-times grand-slam champion’s agent Tony Godsick left the company, IMG said on Friday.

“We confirm that Tony Godsick has left the company. Tony is a great guy and we thank him for his 19 years of service. We wish him continued success in the future,” said an IMG spokesman.

“Our contract with Roger Federer has expired and we no longer represent him. Roger is an icon in the world of sports.

“He is a great guy, a gentleman and an incredible champion. We are honoured to have represented him and proud of the work we did for him for many years. We hope to do business with him again in the future.”

Federer, the world number three, has made his way to the semi-finals of the French Open.

Federer and Godsick’s departure from IMG follows last year’s decision by former golf number one Tiger Woods and his agent Mark Steinberg to sever ties with the sports management company.

Sale Sharks will know by the middle of February if a move to the new City of Salford Stadium at Barton will be viable, according to co-owner Ian Blackhurst.

The new £26m ($40.5m) state-of-the-art ground has been discussed by Sale officials and the owners of the Peel Holdings and Salford City Council for six months over a proposed ground-share agreement with Salford Reds.

They will resume next week with Sale keen to strike a deal and make the switch from their current Edgeley Park base, providing the price is right.

“We are quite far on with negotiations over the new stadium and hopefully we should have news on that within the next four to six weeks,” Blackhurst revealed.

“Whether it happens or not is down to the negotiations with the parties involved.

“There’s a lot of speculation but if we are to move there it has to be right for this organisation from a commercial point of view.

“But we don’t want Edgeley Park to be a boundary to halt our progression. Obviously, Edgeley Park is our home and we own it but we will not be restricted by physical boundaries in terms of what we want to achieve.

“Edgeley Park is a good stadium but there’s no doubt it needs investment in it.  So the decision that we as a club have to make is what the best option for the next leg of this journey we are on.”

Should a deal be reached, it would be the third home for the Sharks in nine years, with the club having outgrown their original base at Heywood Road and eventually settling on a move in 2003 to Edgeley Park, which they share with Stockport County.

Steve Diamond, Sale’s new CEO has championed the move as he looks for the club to be strongest club in the north.

Diamond who was promoted yesterday but will not assume his role until February 1 said: “The decision over the next six weeks or so will dictate where we go – we either redevelop Edgeley Park or go down the road.

“But if we do go to the new stadium it’s got a retro fit which could take the capacity from 12,000 up to 20,000 and that would help to consolidate our position as a major force in British rugby going into Europe.”

Mick Hogan, Sale’s Current CEO, told iSportconnect that he believes Sale will succeed in their plans.

“Foundations are in place: Academy, Community, Commercial Programmes, Communications and Training Facilities all now firmly embedded. Success will come for Sale. How quickly depends on how well the team play over the next 18 months,”

Hogan will leave his role in January to help co-ordinate the 2015 World Cup.

To discuss Sale’s future with Mick Hogan join our discussion here

The British Olympic Association (BOA) have filed a formal appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in their dispute with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over controversial lifetime Olympic bans for drugs cheats.

The BOA bans any British athlete guilty of a doping offence from future Olympics. WADA ruled last month that the hardline stance broke the world body’s own rules, which specify a maximum two-year ban for a first offence.

CAS had ruled in October that an International Olympic Committee rule similar to the BOA’s, excluding athletes banned for six months or more from the next Olympics, amounted to a second sanction and contravened WADA’s anti-doping code.

The IOC accepted the CAS ruling and nullified its law.

BOA chairman Colin Moynihan said in a statement: “The BOA selection policy is a direct expression of the commitment British athletes have made to uphold the values of fair play, integrity and clean competition – values that are at the heart of Olympic sport.”

“It is a policy that reflects the culture and character of Team GB. The BOA and British Olympic athletes do not consider that those who have deliberately cheated should represent Britain at the Olympic Games.”

The BOA said it had appealed to CAS to “obtain clarity on the status of its selection policy well in advance of the London 2012 Olympic Games.”

A new partnership is set to be announced between Zweite Bundesliga soccer team Karlsruher SC and international sports marketing agency Sportfive as of next season.

Sportfive will reportedly take on full responsibility of Karlsruher’s commercial activities, click guaranteeing the club around US$6.1m per year.

Sportfive already has an agreement in place with the club for the marketing, ampoule | advertising and commercialisation of rights to the team’s Karlsruher Wildparkstadion and the club’s playing shirt, therapy after signing a deal in 2010.

Although the new contract is yet to be officially signed, Sportfive chief executive Philip Hasenbein confirmed the company was in talks on a global marketing agreement.

Intermec, viagra Inc. today announced that The PGA of America, an organization of 27,000 men and women golf professional members, has selected the Intermec CN50 and CK71 rugged handheld mobile computers for data collection at its signature tournaments.

Previously renting equipment for each tournament, the PGA estimates it will save upwards of $3 million by 2016 by using in its own new technology solution, and also expects reduced pre-tournament configuration and volunteer training time as a result.

Teaming with Florida-based barcode and RFID technology specialists Scan Read Technologies, the PGA worked with Intermec and Scan Read to deploy the new system in time for the 2012 PGA Championship. The PGA has a network of nearly 4,000 volunteers, including walking scorers, who use the CN50s to enter shot data in real-time, as it happens on the course. The data is then transmitted directly to the PGA’s group of on-site quality control experts. The CK71s are used for scanning tickets at entry gates.

“For the PGA, one of the most well-known brands in golf, it’s absolutely crucial that all of our data is as accurate as possible because it is being fed in real-time to the media, including television, radio and Internet,” said Lou Manz, PGA Director of Information Technology. “With the rugged design, extended battery life and high-performing scanning capabilities, the Intermec solution offered us the most intuitive choice for our team of volunteers to use seamlessly with very little training.”

“Intermec’s unique portfolio of mobile solutions continue to be a best-in-class option to support customer needs for exceptional performance with no room for downtime,” said Earl Thompson, Intermec Senior Vice President of Mobile Solutions Business. “The PGA’s choice of the CN50 and CK71 will help to further advance their goal of offering the best spectator experience possible.”

Nike expansion plans may include doing a sponsorship deal with the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, according to the president of the multi-billion dollar brand.

Charlie Denson, president of the Nike brand, traveled to the SportAccord convention in Quebec City to deliver a keynote address Wednesday that underlined the sportswear giant’s desire to broaden its ties with the Olympic movement.

“We’ve always focused on the athlete,” Denson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The misperception might be that we don’t spend time with the federations or the organizing committees or things like that. This is an opportunity at this event to engage with them more directly on a broader scale.”

Nike has dozens of agreements with national and international governing bodies, including federations in China, Brazil, Russia and Qatar. The U.S. Olympic basketball and track and field teams that will compete at the London Games also are backed by Nike.

“We look at the Summer Games as one of the biggest opportunities we have to introduce new products and technologies,” Benson said.

While Adidas is an official sponsor of the London Olympics, Denson confirmed Nike is interested in becoming the sponsor for Rio in 2016, the first Olympics in South America. Brazil also will host the 2014 World Cup.

“We don’t have anything in place yet and we never comment on ongoing conversations,” Denson said. “We have great relationships in Brazil. We’re always interested in whatever types of relationships we can engage in. At the end of the day, (a deal can be done) if it works for everybody, and we come to a mutual set of agreement and expectations.”

This summer, the London Olympics will provide a high-profile battleground for the rivalry between Nike, Adidas, Puma and other shoe manufacturers. While Adidas is the official sponsor, Nike will be highly visible through its own sponsored athletes and teams. Nike also has a big retail store in the giant Westfield shopping center on the edge of the Olympic Park where thousands of spectators will pass through every day during the Games.

Ambush marketing is a major concern during the Olympics but Denson said Nike stays within the rules.

“We take advantage of our opportunities where we have them, and in some cases we may create new ones,” he said. “We feel very comfortable and confident that we can stand on the merits of what we do within the rules and the guidelines that have been set out by the IOC or the local organizing committees.

“Sometimes there’s quite a bit of gray area in some of the rules and we try to interpret them the best we can.”