British Eurosport, view the UK-arm of the pan-European sports broadcaster, is working with fanatix, the leading social TV platform for sports, on four of this summer’s major tennis, motorsport and cycling events: the French Open from Roland Garros, the MotoGP Championship from Assen and Superbike World Championship from Aragon and the Tour de France.

Via the fanatix social TV platform, viewers will be able to discover other fans following the events around the world as well as participating in the global debate through aggregated and curated event-specific Twitter feeds.

Additional aspects of the service will see fans able to share their opinions on this summer’s sporting action with friends via the integrated group messenger, access in-depth match information and statistics, or engage in debate with the British Eurosport TV pundits.

Founded in 2011, fanatix is a technology platform designed to engage the burgeoning second screen sports entertainment community. The platform makes it easy to discover which friends are watching the same game and start a private group chat with them from anywhere in the world, for free.

The deal is the fourth major coup for the company in recent weeks after the fanatix platform was used by Manchester City to engage fans during the crucial Premier League title run-in games, ESPN used the platform during their coverage of the FA Cup Final and Paddy Power teamed up with fanatix to engage with the in-match audience during the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday night.

Will Muirhead, fanatix CEO and Founder, says, “We’re delighted that British Eurosport has chosen to work with fanatix throughout this incredible summer of sport.”

“The recent UEFA Champions League final generated an unprecedented number of tweets per second, making it the most ‘social’ television event ever. In addition, US data shows that, despite only occupying 1.5% of the broadcast schedule, sports generates over 45% of all the social activity around television.

“The social TV opportunity for sports broadcaster, clubs and rights holders is significant.”

British Ski & Snowboard (snowsports) athletes have finally received the news they’ve been waiting to hear for over two years after It was announced on Friday that British Ski and Snowboard will be awarded £348, ailment 450 by UK Sport, unhealthy the nation’s high performance sports agency, treatment for athlete preparations in the run up to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Snowsport GB collapsed prior to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games , leaving athletes with insufficient funding. This also meant UK Sport was unable to invest in snow sports until the new British Ski and Snowboard governing body was fully established.

UK Sport is now confident that a performance programme to support the most talented snow sports athletes has been put in place and is now able to start investing, in order to seize the opportunities within the sport to win medals in Sochi in 2014.

The award is primarily focused at the new Olympic slopestyle disciplines where Britain currently has a number of athletes who have been on the Podium at world premier events.

This initial award will run to September this year to support the athletes for the remainder of the current competition season. After this the situation will be reviewed and a decision on whether to make a further award to cover the rest of the run up to Sochi will be made.

Liz Nicholl, Chief Executive of UK Sport, said: “UK Sport is pleased to welcome British Ski and Snowboard to the winter sports World Class Performance Programme. It is testament to the recent progress they have made as a sport after a difficult period.

“We have, as ever, applied our investment principles rigorously and the sport has made a credible business case for a performance programme that could deliver medallists at the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014. They have made significant strides on a performance potential basis and this initial investment is recognition of the work that has been done so far.”

David Edwards, Chief Executive of British Ski and Snowboard, added: “We are delighted that UK Sport shares our view of the potential for our athletes to win medals in Sochi and future Olympic events and we are very grateful for the support announced today.

“When SnowsportGB went in to administration in January 2010 Lord Moynihan took on the Chairmanship of British ski and snowboard, the replacement Governing body for snowsports. Since then we have raised substantial funding for our athletes, put a new robust governance structure in place and worked closely with UK Sport on plans for the future.

“With the help of the BOA we have achieved a tremendous amount for Snowsport in Great Britain in the last two years.  With this game changing award from UK Sport the bar is now set higher. We look forward to the next two years with huge enthusiasm!”

The award aims to support three podium and five development athletes and British Ski and Snowboard will now finalise the selection criteria and begin to award funding to individual athletes so watch this space to find out who is selected on to the programme.

by Ismail Uddin

The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) are contemplating selling the naming rights for Murrayfield Stadium.

SRU chief executive Mark Dodson revealed that he will looking into what the union owns with the Murrayfield board and staff in the coming weeks and establishing what sponsorship value some things at the ground might have, buy in a bid to bring new money into the sport.

“We have inventory here that we’ve never used or put out there,” he said, “and one of the things we’re looking at in the first quarter of next year is to look at our inventory across the piece, both at [pro] club level and international level, attaching values to that and seeing what it is we want to sell. We might not sell the naming rights to Murrayfield, but we may. Everything is possible.”

It is an idea which has been looked into in the past. Phil Anderton, the former Coca-Cola executive who became SRU chief executive in 2004, offered the stadium to sponsors while marketing director in 2001 but found no takers at any worthwhile price. Gordon McKie, Dodson’s predecessor, had no luck either. But Dodson believes there could be new interest as the game improves, and does not fear a backlash from supporters who cherish the historic Murrayfield name.

“It would still be ‘something Murrayfield’. It is not a new stadium like the Emirates [Arsenal FC’s stadium], that started off as the Emirates. This will always be Murrayfield, but I believe there will be people who would want to attach their name to this and that would create a value.

“I’m not saying we’re doing it, but we will look at it and the whole of the inventory that we have around this estate.

“We have to put inventory out there with values and try and sell it, and that’s why we’re going to spend a good amount of time in the New Year studying that.”

Join the iSportConnect debate on the pros and cons of renaming Murrayfield here

Formula One teams Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have decided to withdraw from the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) on the back of the ongoing row over the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA). 

Amid ongoing debate about the future of FOTA, with teams failing to agree a way forward for the RRA after a crunch meeting at the Brazilian Grand Prix, high level sources have revealed that both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have lodged notification that they intend to leave the organisation.

It is understood that both teams wrote to FOTA last week to inform them of their decision.

A spokesman for FOTA confirmed only that the body had received notice from two teams that they no longer intended to be a part of it, but would not elaborate on which teams they were.

“FOTA confirms it has received the resignation of two teams,” said a spokesman. “Whilst considering its next steps, FOTA will continue to work on behalf of its members to achieve the aims of the organisation.”

FOTA’s latest statutes mean that teams must give a two-month notice period to leave the organisation, which means Red Bull Racing and Ferrari will officially depart the body by the start of February next year – providing they do not change their mind.

Ferrari has viewed a deal over the RRA as key to FOTA’s future with Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali warning earlier this year that if a deal could not be reached to sort out cost controls within FOTA then the future of the body should be called into question.

Speaking at the Korean Grand Prix, Domenicali said: “If this [mistrust] will come out of FOTA activity then what is FOTA all about? We know the reason why FOTA started, and now we need to understand if FOTA is still needed. What are the objectives of the future of FOTA, if there is a future for FOTA?

“We need to do that in a very constructive way, a very open way. That is the discussion that I believe in the next weeks is important to take over.”

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said at the same race: “I think that FOTA has reached the crossroads where it needs to deal with some of the key issues moving forward or we’ll stop. It’s as simple as that.

“The principal issues are obviously the Concorde Agreement, the direction that goes in, and fundamentally the RRA (Resource Restriction Agreement). If we can’t find agreement within FOTA on that, then what is the purpose of FOTA?”

Having agreed a deal with Sportfive to market its players, English Premier League champions Chelsea have sealed a similar agreement with ECN Management to exploit the commercial potential in the Chinese market.

The club control the image rights of nineteen of their highest profile players, including January signings Fernando Torres and David Luiz, and will entrust ECN Management with finding new branding opportunities in China and other countries in the region.

The club are currently looking for new revenue streams as they look to align themselves with UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play rules in order to reduce their dependence on Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea are thought to be in a dangerous position in accordance to the regulations which, from the 2013/14 season, will see UEFA have the right to take action against loss-making clubs participating in continental competition. Chelsea posted a loss of just under US$117m in 2009/10.

Ron Gourlay, the Chelsea chief executive, stressed the importance of ECN’s “local knowledge in China”, adding: “We hope to work closely to build on our players’ image and reputation in China.”

ECN Management managing director Frederick Blackford added: “Football in emerging markets, particularly in China is the most exciting growth business in sports. Chelsea players are some of the most prominent ambassadors of the world game.”

Rugby Super League’s Castleford Tigers have been given a huge Christmas present by the Wakefield Council who announced that they would contribute US$3.1m in funding to the clubs new stadium plans. A detailed planning application is now being drawn up to be submitted before Christmas.

Castleford Tigers chief executive officer, Richard Wright, said, “The club welcomes the news as the US$3.1 million contribution from Wakefield MDC is a key part of our funding packages. We are extremely grateful.

“Despite the difficulties they face with the cutbacks to public spending, by this announcement Wakefield MDC has shown their continued support of the club. We can now commit the substantial investment needed to submit our detailed planning application with increased confidence now the council has reiterated its support for the project.”

Major League Soccer (MLS) have unveiled their new logo marking the 20th anniversary for the league in 2015.

The new logo features an updated crest that ditches the old design in favour of a customizable logo that has personalized colour schemes for each team in the league, prostate as well as a standard scheme for the league.

“The new brand’s design is intended to say “soccer” without the literal ball and cleat,” reads a press release on the MLS website, part of their “Next” rollout. “In the end, we decided that the inclusion of a ball and cleat is unnecessary as it dates us very quickly (due to the fast pace of innovation in our game) while many other ways exist to signal we are a soccer league. Our new brand will build meaning over time so that our new crest signifies soccer in North America and has a unique place in global sports.”

The new crest, in the form of a shield, similar to the NFL and NHL logos, bears the MLS name in the top left corner as well as a slash extending from the top right through the bottom left of the crest, which separates the dominant colors. The top half of the crest also contains three stars, which represents “for club, for country, and for community.” 

According to the MLS website, the slash, “refers to soccer’s speed and energy. The slash begins outside the perimeter and drives upward at a 45-degree angle to illustrate both the nonstop nature of our game and the rising trajectory of our league. It bisects the crest to create a “first half” and “second half.”

“We have etched a new milestone in our future today – a culmination of the many monumental changes that have positioned us for rapid growth,” said Howard Handler, CMO, MLS. “In the last 18 months, we have introduced new teams, new soccer-specific stadiums, an eight year, multi-million dollar media rights partnership, and our owners have made significant investments to sign world-class athletes. Together, these elements have led to the realization that our current brand is no longer a proper representation of the league we are and want to become.”