Pescara in Italy has been announced as the host of the 2015 Mediterranean beach games.

This was decided by the meeting of the ICMG, doctor the 24 Olympic Committees of the Mediterranean countries which took place in Mersin, bronchi Turkey. 

Pescara situated in the Abruzzo region in Italy, which in 2009 hosted the Mediterranean Games, beat off competition from Marseille. The Mediterranean Games include beach games and water sports 

The event will take place 21st to 30th August 2015.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) have launched Monumental Network, medstore a hub for Monumental-controlled content platforms for fans and customers in the Washington D.C. region and around the world, announced Ted Leonsis, the organization’s founder, chairman, majority owner and CEO. 

MonumentalNetwork.com will serve as one of the region’s top destinations for sports and entertainment news, providing fans with exclusive, original content and programming.

MonumentalNetwork.com will serve as the flagship site of a network that will eventually include more than 20 websites and blogs that are associated with MSE’s three professional sports teams (Capitals, Wizards and Mystics), Verizon Center, Patriot Center and Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Additionally, the recently created Monumental video productions department will produce original video content that will be deployed on MonumentalNetwork.com and throughout the various sports and entertainment sites.

The launch of MonumentalNetwork.com includes a mobile and tablet version of the website as well as social login capabilities via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Yahoo.

“We are incredibly excited to launch Monumental Network, an all-encompassing platform that will deliver the most extensive and original content directly to our fans,” says Leonsis. “We will produce and broadcast unprecedented coverage of our teams as well as coverage of other sporting and entertainment ventures, making Monumental Network a comprehensive source for sports and entertainment news and features.”

Initially Monumental Network will create a common platform for many of its popular sites, including Ted’s Take, Capitals Voice, Dump ‘n Chase, Capitals Today and Washington Wizards Blog as well as new initiatives such as Daily Wizdom and Wizards and Mystics Today. This common platform will also allow a new, dedicated digital sales force to effectively and efficiently sell partnership opportunities across all platforms as well as the integration of mobile app sales.

Caterham Cars is looking to capitalise on the exposure gained from entry into Formula One by appointing Slingshot Sponsorship to activate all available commercial opportunities.

Slingshot will implement an extensive sponsorship strategy, anesthetist including brand marketing partnerships, unhealthy endorsement deals, arthritis licensing, corporate experience days, and much more.

The aim of the partnership is to create unique properties that can leverage the Company’s profile, and enhance the brand’s global appeal, capitalising on the brand’s entry into Formula One earlier this year.

Ansar Ali, Chief Executive of Caterham Cars, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Slingshot Sponsorship as their unique services complement the ambitious objectives of our brand, particularly now we are part of the Caterham Group.”

“As a British sportscar brand with the iconic Seven at the heart of our business, I have always felt we have much to offer brand partners, particularly through our motorsport and drive experience operations.  Now, as part of the Caterham Group, we have so much more to offer in terms of value and brand awareness, and Slingshot Sponsorship is the right partner to deliver and leverage the commercial partnerships.”

Motorsport is at the heart of Caterham Cars, with the Seven the original ‘race car for the road’; over 700 competitors racing the iconic model today in 11 countries around the world is testimony to this.

The acquisition of Caterham Cars by Tony Fernandes in 2011 and the Caterham F1 Team’s presence in Formula One has propelled the British brand to the forefront of a global audience.

With increased public and media attention from the Caterham brand’s first season in F1 and a recent track record of robust financial results, the company is now looking to further leverage its commercial activities.  Caterham plans to facilitate this through Slingshot Sponsorship’s expertise in building existing assets into commercially-sustainable sponsorship platforms.

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented: “Being able to work with a brand that is on the brink of such change and innovation is what we live for at Slingshot Sponsorship.  We cannot wait to begin delivering the creative concepts and brand partnerships that will help project Caterham Cars to a wider audience of new enthusiasts.  The Caterham brand creates exceptionally strong advocates, both in Britain and internationally and we hope to turn this passion for the brand into a more holistic and accessible commercial property that can deliver real value for brand partnerships.”

by Ismail Uddin

North American-based Subaru Freeskiing World Tour has partnered with European-based Swatch Freeride World Tour (FWT) to establish a new global competitive big mountain freeskiing and snowboarding structure, medstore with stops stretching from Revelstoke, sale British Columbia, cheap to Verbier, Switzerland.

The move comes after years of both tours experiencing incredible growth in both athlete and sponsorship participation.

“This is the natural next step in the evolution of a long-term partnership between both tours,” said Adam Comey, president of Salt Lake City-based Mountain Sports International, the company that owns the Freeskiing World Tour. “This is a global sport with a common culture and passion for big mountain riding and a global strategy will best serve the athletes, events, and tour sponsors.”

Nicholas Hale Woods, founder of the Swatch Freeride World Tour, added: “The 2012 season will be the next step in globalizing freeride. We’re extremely pleased to co-organize an event together with MSI in Revelstoke in 2012, and we’ will continue working ever closer with MSI to further align our events and activities in 2013.”

In 2012, the tours will operate independently as they have in the past, with a joint event in Revelstoke, British Columbia, in January, followed by top Subaru Freeskiing World Tour and The North Face Masters athletes joining the Freeride athletes again at season’s end in Verbier, Switzerland, for the Swatch Verbier Extreme, featuring a $32,000 prize purse.

“Although Revelstoke Mountain Resort is expanding into the family market, our heart and soul is big mountain skiing and riding,” said Revelstoke Mountain Resort Chief Operating Officer, Rod Kessler. “The combination of the Swatch Freeride Tour and the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour marks a historic event amongst the Snow Sports industry. Revelstoke Mountain Resort and the Revelstoke Accommodation Association is excited to host the world’s top big mountain ski and snowboard athletes in January 2012. Our goal is to deliver an unforgettable experience to both athletes and guests alike, while showcasing Revelstoke’s unparalleled terrain, snow conditions, and hospitality.”

In addition to event collaboration, the two tours will also follow a unified global event tier and points system, now giving athletes the chance to enter in small, open events that feed directly to the world’s biggest freeskiing championships. Events will be grouped as 5-Star, 4-Star, or 3-Star categories: 5-star events will include Freeskiing World Tour and Freeride World Tour main events. 4-Star events will include World Tour Qualifiers and long-standing regional events such as Taos and Red Mountain. 3-Star events include competitions with big, open fields, first-time competitors, and lower prize money such as the Ski the East Tour.

The official 2011-12 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour season started this summer in Las Lenas at the Argentinean Freeskiing Championships (Stop #1), then moved to Ski Arpa in Los Andes at the Chilean Freeskiing Championships (Stop #2). The Swatch Freeride & Freeskiing World Tour Revelstoke 2012, Jan 4-12, will be Stop #3 on the Subaru FWT. Twenty-five pre-qualified Freeskiing World Tour athletes will join 25 pre-qualified Freeride World Tour athletes. Fifteen open spots are up for grabs in the qualifier event boasting upwards of 80 freeskiing athletes. Twelve snowboarding athletes from The North Face Masters will join 12 riders from the Freeride World Tour for the snowboarding category of the event.

FWT event director Bryan Barlow, said: “By partnering with the Freeride World Tour we are going to make it more compelling for fans around the world to follow both tours and other independent stops, as their favorite athletes gain points. The event structure and points system will create a clear path and added exposure for all aspiring big mountain skiers and snowboarders. The strategy for both tours has always been to grow the sport and keep it moving in the right direction, and I am looking forward to developing our partnership and events alike.”

The Subaru Freeskiing World Tour will continue on to Crested Butte, Colorado, Kirkwood, California, and Snowbird, Utah. An overall Subaru Freeskiing World Tour Champion will be crowned at the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour Championships at Snowbird.

The San Francisco 49ers are a big step closer to moving from San Francisco to a new stadium after they announced they have secured long-awaited funding for the project.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and U.S. Bank have agreed to an $850 million loan with the city’s stadium authority and the 49ers.

The money will cover the bulk of the estimated $1 billion project to a stadium 45 miles south in Santa Clara.

Funding from the National Football League, a hotel tax and city redevelopment funds is expected to make up the difference.

Officials say the loans were the last major piece of the project. The goal is to open the new stadium in 2015.

In June 2010, Santa Clara voters passed a plan by the 49ers to build the 68,500-seat stadium.

Under the agreement with the team, the city and area hotels would contribute $114 million to the $937 million project next to Great America theme park.

Jed York, president and CEO of the 49ers, has said he is hoping to start construction in January 2013.

The York family is partnering with local real estate firm JMA Ventures to buy the Santa Clara theme park that had opposed the 49ers’ new stadium plans.

FIFA is perplexed by Emirates executive comments that they are looking to end a deal with Soccer’s governing body.

iSportconnect reported a few days ago that Boutros Boutros, divisional senior vice president of corporate communications was unhappy with the way FIFA overlooked their corporate sponsors.

“We are seriously thinking about not renewing our partnership with FIFA beyond 2014,” Boutros said in an interview with B&T Media.

FIFA has been rocked by corruption scandals in the past year that have spooked sponsors, who pay millions to be associated with the World Cup, sport’s most-watched event.

FIFA said it’s trying to clarify the comments with Emirates, though it generally has a “very positive relationship with all of our commercial affiliates and media rights licensees.” The organization cited in a statement today “the confidence” shown by other sponsors which have extended contracts until the 2022 World Cup. FIFA generated about $4 billion from television and marketing contracts for the last World Cup, held in South Africa in 2010. It’s sold out its global sponsorship packages for the next tournament in Brazil in 2014.

Emirates signed an eight-year contract with FIFA in 2006 worth $195 million. Along with other lead partners, including Adidas AG, Sony Corp., Visa Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., it expressed concern about claims of impropriety within the organization in May when FIFA’s presidential election was tainted by allegations of vote-buying. That followed claims of wrongdoing against members of the executive who voted for where the World Cup would be staged in 2018 and 2022.

“As a sponsor you expect they will come and write to you in the middle of the issue or at the end of it,” Boutros was quoted as saying by B&T Media. “To them they act as if it’s nothing for sponsors. For us, in our history of sponsorship, it is the only event that when it happened our clients started writing to us saying ‘why do you support this organization?’”

The airline today said in a statement that it has “not yet commenced discussions with FIFA on the extension of our partnership agreement beyond 2014. Discussions will begin in due course.”

Adidas AG, the world’s second-largest sporting goods company, will unveil its latest and biggest ever global brand campaign as of tomorrow, March 16.

The new initiative will become the first time that the brand has created a campaign leveraging the adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style sub-brands, ensuring that it is the most diverse and all-encompassing glimpse into the brand ever. 

The campaign showcases adidas’ distinctive presence across and into different sports, cultures and lifestyles fusing the worlds of sport, music and fashion, according to a statement released by the company.

The campaign will Feature brand ambassadors from the world of sport and entertainment, including soccer stars Lionel Messi and David Beckham, National Basketball Association player Derrick Rose and pop icon Katy Perry, joining the adidas skateboarding team, among others.

Erich Stamminger, member of the executive board responsible for Global Brands, staed: “In the past ten years we have successfully extended the adidas brand into three powerful sub-brands with adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style. Now we are proud to be able to show the breadth and depth of the adidas brand in one global brand campaign.

“’all adidas’ is the biggest campaign we have ever executed. Its creative concept brings together the diversity of the brand under one strong roof. From the court to the catwalk, the stadium to the street, we are giving an authentic statement with credibility only adidas has.”

The campaign will be run in various versions including 30- and 60-second commercials for TV and Cinema, as well as an extended 2-minute version online.

Viewers and fans can then continue the conversation with adidas online through social platforms such as Facebook, where adidas serves up daily, in-depth exclusive content from the various parts of the brand – from new product releases to competitions for Katy Perry tickets and much more. In addition, the creative will come to life in a complete through-the-line offering, including mobile, retail, activation events and print.

Montreal-based agency Sid Lee created and produced the global campaign and was hired as the global advertising agency for adidas Originals at the start of 2008, developing the global campaigns for Originals in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, Sid Lee was announced as the global lead-agency for the entire adidas brand.

The “all adidas” campaign takes place throughout 2011 in a mix of environments from sport to music, lifestyle to fashion with different elements rolling out over the year. It will be teased before it kicks off with the global launch of the hero advert film on Wednesday, 16 March.