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.

West Ham are now very close to securing their residence in the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, sickness after resolving the last of their major issues with London 2012 legacy chiefs.

Following intense negotiations last night, cialis the way has now been cleared for the Hammers to play their football at the purpose built stadium.

A proposal will now be put to the London Legacy Development Corporation’s board next Tuesday, after the last remaining sticking point was ironed out on Monday night. A demand by Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and the LLDC chairman, for a cut of any profit if West Ham were sold, was the cause of much concern, but it is understood the club have conceded.

An LLDC spokesman said last night: “Things are going well but we’re not quite there yet.”

Monday’s meeting took place two years to the day since the Hammers were initially named preferred bidders to become tenants of the Olympic Stadium on a 99-year lease. However,the bidding process was hit by controversy and legacy chiefs were forced to hold a new bid, which resulted in West Ham being named ‘highest bidder’ in December.

However, the LLDC was not completely satisfied with the clubs offer, including their proposed £15million contribution to the £160million conversion budget required to install retractable seats and a full roof. The majority of conversion costs are being covered by a mix of public funding, including a £40million loan from the local authority, Newham Council. The next issue was Johnson’s assertion he wanted a cut of any profit were the club to be sold after moving into the stadium.

UPS, allergist a global logistics leader, treat today announced it has joined with STATS LLC, denture the world’s largest sports technology, data and content company, in expanding its proprietary UPS Team Performance Index (TPI) efficiency measurement platform to men’s and women’s college basketball.

The UPS Team Performance Index for basketball is a data index that will comprehensively measure offensive and defensive efficiency for all 345 NCAA Division I men’s and 340 NCAA Division I women’s basketball teams. The Index will be updated on an ongoing basis. In creating the UPS Team Performance Index, STATS reviewed 10 years of past men’s and women’s college basketball statistical data, finding a strong correlation to overall performance in all aspects of the game and winning.

UPS is the Official Logistics Partner of the NCAA.

The UPS Team Performance Index for college basketball will include six key statistical components with a proven correlation to a team’s overall success. These statistical components then are combined in a manner that rewards teams for performing efficiently and effectively in all categories to create the Index, ranking them from highest to lowest.

“UPS is thrilled to extend our association with STATS to include the new Team Performance Indexes for men’s and women’s college basketball,” said Ron Rogowski, UPS vice president, global sponsorships and events. “Logistics are not only the foundation of our business, but they’re also the foundation for success on the court or on any playing field, and we’re proud to have developed a system that successfully quantifies which teams are best at the preparation, planning and precision that lead to success.”

“STATS is excited to expand the UPS Team Performance Index into college basketball,” said John Sasman, vice president of commercial products at STATS. “The application of the Index to basketball highlights the efficiency and overall teamwork required to succeed in the sport. The Team Performance Index is designed to identify well-balanced teams that do multiple things well, similar to how UPS excels in logistics. The formula shows new insights and tells a unique story about the teams and the college basketball season.”

For each of the components, an Index value is created using a proprietary algorithm, with 100 being average. For all categories, anything above 100 is better than average and anything below 100 is below average. The maximum component index is capped at 200 in any category. These components and team’s win-loss performance then are combined to reward a team that excels in all facets of the game.

The Team Performance Index for basketball is a brand extension of the original UPS Team Performance Index first launched in August 2012 for NCAA football.

Global sportswear giant Adidas has admitted to “commercial irregularities” at the Indian unit of Reebok, its most popular and the leading sportswear brand in the country.

The admission came a month after managing director Subhinder Singh Prem and chief operating officer (COO) Vishnu Bhagat stepped down after long stints.

Adidas said the situation in India could result in a pre-tax impact of up to euro 125 million, while further restructuring could cost up to euro 70 million  in 2012.

The firm told the BBC it is carrying out an internal investigation. “We will take further steps” when that process has been completed, a spokeswoman said.

Adidas said the irregularities resulted in a change of leadership at its India business in March this year.

At the time the executives left, the Times of India said it had learned that the departures were linked to “swirling allegations of financial discrepancies and losses” at Reebok in India.

While the company did not provide more information about the investigation into its Reebok business in India, it highlighted that there has been a management overhaul.

In the statement accompanying its first-quarter results, Adidas said: “Management assures its stakeholders that it has, and will continue to, vigorously pursue a course of action to protect the group’s interests, which has already resulted in the appointment of a new local leadership team in India at the end of March.”

“Under this new leadership team, management is further planning an accelerated restructuring of its business activities in India, including significant changes to its commercial business practices.”

“This could lead to additional one-time charges in the remaining quarters of 2012 in an estimated amount of up to 70m euros.”

At the same time, the firm said first-quarter net income increased.

The firm’s profit was 289m euros in the quarter, up 38% from the previous year, and it also raised its annual sales target. It now expect sales to rise 10% this year.

The NBC Sports Group, and its action sports arm Alli, have announced a partnership with Red Bull Media House to develop a new entity, the Red Bull Signature Series.

The strategic endeavor will bring 35 hours of one-of-a-kind action sports programming to NBC and the NBC Sports Network starting in January 2012.

The Red Bull Signature Series will include the most progressive and innovative snowboarding, mountain biking, freestyle motocross, ice cross downhill, skiing and BMX events, showcased on custom courses from the inspiration of the athletes themselves. The series features some of Red Bull’s top events including X-Fighters, Supernatural, Crashed Ice, Dream Line, Rampage and Cold Rush and other third party action sports competitions. The Red Bull Signature Serieskicks off on NBC with Crashed Ice on Saturday, January 21.

Werner Brell, Managing Director, Red Bull Media House North America, said: “We look forward to partnering with the NBC Sports Group to expand their footprint in sports and deliver unique competition programming that you don’t see every day.”

In conjunction with Alli Sports, a division of the NBC Sports Group, the Red Bull Signature Series will offer brands fully integrated sponsorship packages, including on-the-ground, on-air enhancements, commercial units and authentic combinations across its network and digital platforms. The new series will provide an event and media platform with more than 20 global events spread throughout the year, monthly programming on NBC and NBC Sports Network, and multiple digital and social extensions.

Alli Sports President Wade Martin, added: “This partnership is an amazing opportunity to create a new global property with a terrific brand in Red Bull, who already produces premium events and world class content. The Red Bull Signature Series has amazing growth potential and provides a tremendous opportunity for other brands to be part of some of the world’s most unique sporting events with the NBC Sports Group and Red Bull Media House.”

Red Bull has created captivating athlete and sports content for nearly 25 years, and the relationship with the NBC Sports Group and Alli provides the ability to further reach mainstream audiences around the world.

Rob Simmelkjaer, Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Ventures, said: “Red Bull Media House is a creator of spectacular and unique content in the action sports genre. We could not be more excited to be bringing this creativity to the NBC Sports Group family of networks.”

The Red Bull Signature Series will feature 20 hours of programming on NBC and 15 hours on NBC Sports Network each year over the course of the partnership.

It has been announced that Newcastle United’s newly named stadium the SportsDirect Arena is to revert back to St James’ Park again, but for only one week during next year’s Olympics.

Newcastle United’s ground, which was recently and controversially renamed by owner Mike Ashley as a means to attract a longtime sponsor must adopt its old name for next summer’s Olympic Games.

Olympics chief Lord Coe said St James’ Park will be one of the venues for the football tournament next year, but under strict rules the new name cannot be used.

He said: “It is St James’ for the Olympics and, if I am being honest, as a football fan, it will always be St James’ Park for as long as I am watching football. That is an understanding we have. We don’t have individual branding in our stadiums and that goes for every Olympic sport.

“They are clean venues and not even our own sponsors are able to brand round the Olympic games, that’s what makes them unique. So for one week in July it is St James’ Park.”