Paciolan, an industry-leading provider of ticketing, marketing, fundraising and sales automation solutions in college athletics, announced today that Michigan State University (Michigan State), University of Michigan (Michigan) and University of Texas-Austin (Texas) will begin implementing the company’s Ticketing Intelligence data warehouse solution.

Ticketing Intelligence integrates multiple databases including ticketing, marketing, University and Athletics fundraising, merchandise and concessions systems into a single database to provide a comprehensive view of all revenue streams. Paciolan has partnered with SSB Consulting Group and Kore Technologies to deliver the industry-leading data warehouse solution.

“We are proud to expand our partnership with all three of these thought-leading universities and provide them with a rich reporting solution to help each institution make critical, data-driven business decisions,” said Dave Butler, chief executive officer of Paciolan. “Using this system, each university will be enabled to more easily assess their business, improve operational efficiencies and use real-time data to enhance the experience of each fan and donor.”

Paciolan Ticketing Intelligence will allow each university to efficiently integrate data from third-party systems, such as data-append and lead-scoring services, as well as university fundraising systems to provide sophisticated data analysis across a complex organization to aid revenue growth.

“We’re ecstatic to be afforded with a smart analytics solution that offers intelligent reporting and data analysis to help monitor and tailor innovative programs for Spartan fans,” said Mark Hollis, director of athletics for Michigan State University. “With Paciolan Ticketing Intelligence, we now gain full visibility of every fan interaction, including engagement from both athletics and the university, to help elevate customer service initiatives.”

With the implementation of the intelligent reporting system, each university will be able to view live reports using mobile devices, including iPads and smart phones for instant access to sophisticated data. The smart analytics solution will allow the institutions to better analyze sales, customer data, compare ticket sales and fund development across seasons, and adapt programs to maximize revenues.

“Paciolan’s Ticketing Intelligence system provides our staff with a time-saving reporting tool that assists us in better understanding customer trends and helps inform marketing decisions,” said Hunter Lochmann, chief marketing officer for the University of Michigan. “Additionally, we plan to use this tool to bring together data from multiple disparate databases to have a holistic view of every interaction we’ve had with Wolverine fans and customers.”

Leveraging Paciolan’s Ticketing Intelligence solution, each university will be provided with live reporting and direct data warehouse access that can enable athletics programs to create unique reports, specific to their business objectives. The intelligent reporting system provides universities with the ability to better analyze sales data by price type and price level, including season tickets, mini plans, and single or group tickets.

“Unit managers whose duties involve customer service are now proactively managing and monitoring customer needs using Paciolan’s system,” said DeLoss Dodds, men’s athletics director for the University of Texas. “By analyzing data, we are making decisions to improve venue and communication experiences for our loyal fans and alumni.”

Limelight Sports and the Royal Parks Foundation, sale the team behind the award-winning Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon, have renewed their partnership agreement to deliver the iconic race for a further 5 years.

The partners will also work closely to secure sponsor rights for the race.

This unique half-marathon is a major annual charity fundraising event, which since its creation in 2008 has helped to raise an estimated £11million for 365 UK based charities, large and small. The race runs through 4 Royal Parks and past many other iconic London landmarks including Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye.

This year’s event in October will once again attract more than 12,500 runners with its picturesque setting and impressive sustainability credentials, including recycling around 150,000 plastic water bottles, redistributing unused food, recycling unclaimed clothing, and providing fairtrade bananas, high performance bamboo and recycled polyester race shirts, and FSC-certified wooden medals.

The event has won many awards including best Outdoor Event at the 2011 Event Awards and won the ‘Best Sponsorship of an Event’ category at the 2009 Hollis Sponsorship Awards.  It has also been shortlisted for the last two years at the prestigious Sport Industry Awards for ‘Best Participation Event’.

Commenting on the new agreement, Sara Lom, Chief Executive of The Royal Parks Foundation said, “We are delighted to be extending our agreement with Limelight Sports. They have been crucial to the success of the event and their enthusiasm and dedication has been a big factor in enabling the event to grow and develop into one of the most popular races in the running calendar”.

Craig Dews, CEO of Limelight Sports said, “The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon has been a flagship event for us. The Royal Parks Foundation’s progressive approach and aspirational targets have challenged us to create an event that delivers a very high quality, premium experience for the runners and our partners. Over the next five years we will be looking at even more innovative ways of building the reputation and status of the event’”

This announcement comes at a time when Limelight is enjoying unprecedented levels of success. Last year the agency won the award for Sport Agency of the Year at the Sport Industry Awards.  In March the agency picked up three more awards at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards including Sponsorship Agency of the Year.

Eastleigh Borough Council has come to an agreement with Hampshire CCC to buy their Rose Bowl stadium and build a hotel on site.

The decision, which was made last night, December 15th, will see Eastleigh Borough Council buy the venue for £6.5m ($10m) to rent back to Hampshire County Cricket Club.

The council will invest almost £40m ($62M) in the Rose Bowl, which made a loss of nearly £900,000 (approx. $1,400,000) last year. £32m ($50) will be spent on the construction of a four-star hotel at the stadium which will comprise 175 bedrooms, conference centre and golf course.

The move is a controversial one by the Liberal Democrat-run council. The idea behind the investment is that the new development will benefit the local economy and create hundreds of jobs, as well as make the Rose Bowl a more profit making and viable international and test match arena, but local hoteliers have expressed their disquiet at the creation of such a high profile competitor.

Keith House, the Eastleigh Borough Council leader, has sought to reassure local businessmen of the legality and practicality of the decision.

“The council owns vast amounts of property across the borough, from hotels to shopping centres and office blocks. It’s just part of our ordinary business. We invest in property, we take the income from secure tenants and we use that to keep council tax down and ensure that our services are protected from cuts. We’ll own the site but we’re not going to be selling cricket tickets – that’s for the private sector to do”.

Godfrey Olsen, leader of the minority Conservative group, has criticised the move.

“It’s [The Rose Bowl] a superb venue and I would like to see it survive, but I still believe that this is outside the remit of the local authority to borrow money to fund the building and the ownership of a hotel at the Rose Bowl. Added to that now, they’ve decided to buy the Rose Bowl itself, which has been in a loss making situation for the past two or three years”.

Work on the hotel is expected to get under way in the New Year and is anticipated to take eighteen months.

World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) ruling to allow convicted drug cheats back to the Olympics has been challenged by the British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Lord Moynihan.

The BOA are one of the few countries not adopting this rule and instead will carry on not to allow serious doing offenders back into the Olympics. The BOA board have discussed testing their by-law in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

But Lord Moynihan, the BOA chairman, would prefer to stick to his hardline stance by awaiting a legal challenge, rather than inviting one, it is believed some of his 18 fellow board members are likely to choose the more pragmatic course of seeking clarification, albeit reluctantly.

If that view prevails and last night it looked the more probable outcome  the CAS would decide whether to support the WADA, who say that the by-law goes beyond the sanctions they have laid down, or the BOA.

Speaking to iSportconnect, Sir Craig Reedie a former chairman of BOA and now an International Olympic Council member said: “The BOA by-law has been in force for 20 years and has stood the test of time. The present situation with a CAS ruling against the IOC Rule 45 weakens the fight against doping-in-sport. The BOA by-law is now scrutinised in light of the CAS decision. A full debate may result in a consensus view emerging and possible future amendment to the WADA Code.”

Should WADA win the case, Dwain Chambers, Britain’s leading 100m  sprinter who was banned for using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) in 2003, would be eligible for next summer’s Olympics.

Cyclist David Millar, who confessed to taking erythropoetin (EPO), would also be free to help Mark Cavendish ride for the road race gold medal.

However, Lord Moynihan is unwilling to concede defeat to WADA, a position he laid out yesterday in a fierce attack on the agency’s role in a new ‘dark age’ of cheating.

‘We now have a situation where drugs cheats will be able to compete in London 2012,’ he said. ‘We must decide: is the outcome we want a watered-down, increasingly toothless gesture towards zero tolerance?’

Sarah Ellson, Partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP (specialise in sports regulations) has delved into this topic on a iSportconnect discussion much deeper. “In professional regulation we regulate to “protect the public”, to “maintain and uphold standards” and to ensure “trust and confidence,” she said.

“Regulatory sanctions are aimed at this, and any punitive effect is acknowledged to be a by-product. It seems the language of the BOA is about punishment for cheats but when you focus on punishing there is a risk of disproportionate and inflexible sanctions. The sports’ bodies need to be clear about their intentions.

“It seems to me there is scope for bans which potentially last a lifetime but with the option of restoration (not overturning the ban but reviewing it after a minimum period of time). Such a model can maintain integrity and reputation in sport and keep out, for an appropriate period, those deemed unsuitable to compete.”

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English rugby Super League side, the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats’ have suffered a big blow in their attempts to move into a new stadium in 2012. The team are one of three, along with Salford City Reds and Castleford Tigers, whose attempt to obtain a renewal on their Super League license depends on an ability to acquire a new stadium by 2012.

A planning application for the construction of a community stadium at Newmarket, where the rugby league team was due to be major a tenant, has been referred by the Government to the UK Secretary of State and could well cause a long delay in the process

“With Super League licensing looking closely at facilities, this delay is a huge blow, rugby league has been synonymous with the City of Wakefield for 137 years and this delay could put that in jeopardy.” admitted Wakefield CEO James Elston.

He added: “We now need to conduct further meetings with the developer, the Community Trust and with other stakeholders to review the contingency plans that were put in place in the event of such a delay in planning.”