UpTo, the nation’s leading social calendar platform, has partnered with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers to give Cavs fans a powerful new way to see what’s coming up with the team and the entire franchise.

UpTo allows users to discover and curate upcoming public events, friends’ plans and the user’s own schedule in one place with clarity and accuracy.  The application integrates with the user’s calendar to make it simple to share what they are “up to” with specific groups such as family, friends or coworkers.

Although UpTo provides users the option to follow the game schedule of any major professional sports team, the Cleveland Cavaliers is the first team to allow unprecedented access to all events, promotions and announcements related to the team. Cavs’ player appearances, charity events, detailed broadcast information and more can all be accessed seamlessly through the UpTo app.

In addition, UpTo will feature calendar streams for other events happening in and around downtown Cleveland.

“We’re very excited to partner with UpTo to provide our fans a unique and highly effective way for them to connect with the Cavaliers and with each other,” said Brandon Jirousek, Cavaliers senior manager of digital content and operations.

While social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare let users connect and share past or present status updates, UpTo allows users to connect with friends regarding their upcoming plans and any future public events.

“UpTo gives teams the opportunity to engage with fans and grow excitement and loyalty for their team through an unparalleled level of transparency and precision about all future happenings surrounding the franchise,” said Greg Schwartz, founder and CEO of UpTo.

German sporting goods maker Puma have revealed a boost of fourth quarter sales, sickness putting it on track to reach its 2015 top-line target of 4 billion euros ($5.25 billion), the company said on Wednesday.

They have accounted the growing demand in Latin America as one of the more prominent reasons for the increase.

Sales were up 15.6 percent on a euro basis at 720.5 million euros ($941m) in the three months through December.

Puma, which competes with Nike and Adidas , said it believes it can increase sales by a high single-digit percentage this year and next year and improve net profit by a mid-single-digit percentage.

Sales in the Americas region, its biggest in terms of revenue, jumped by 25.4 percent as customers in Latin America snapped up Motorsport goods and lifestyle products helped improve quarterly sales in the United States.

Puma admitted in October that it needed to work harder in the U.S., where sales fell in the third quarter, contrasting with Adidas.

Quarterly net profit more than doubled to 33.1 million euros ($43.2m) from 14.0 million ($18.3m) , beating consensus of 27.4 million ($35.8m).

The company also announced an annual dividend of 2.00 euros per share, up from 1.80 euro a year earlier. Analysts had on average expected a payout of 2.28 euros.

Puma is controlled by French luxury goods group PPR.

by Ismail Uddin

 

FIFA has confirmed a new 65,000-seat stadium in Sao Paulo will host the opening ceremony and first match of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Maracana stadium will be the venue for the competition’s final.

FIFA also stated that the World Cup will start on June 12 at the new Sao Paulo venue, which is currently under construction having faced a number of delays. All of the tournament’s 12 host cities will host at least four of the 64 matches. The final is scheduled for July 13.

The earliest matches will start at 13:00 local time while the latest games will kick off at 22:00. All matches in the knockout rounds will start no later than 17:00 local time.

 

FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer is set to leave his post as Secretary General of the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF).

The 66-year-old American has held the position for 21 years and will leave December 31. Blazer’s resignation comes just months after his bribery accusations against former CONCACAF President Jack Warner and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed bin Hammam.

Blazer said in May that Warner and Bin Hammam attempted to bribe Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials with US $40, sale 000 each to vote for Bin Hammam in the FIFA presidential election. Bin Hammam received a lifetime bad from FIFA. Jack Warner resigned from the CFU.

Warner’s acting successor Lisle Austin then tried to dismiss Blazer, price sale leading to further disciplinary proceedings, before FIFA suspended him.

Blazer said: “I’ve been running a governing body long enough. We’ve been through a little bit of a stagnation period. I want to do something entrepreneurial. It was the right time. I wanted to give them notice to let them start to look for somebody.”

Blazer’s most significant work for CONCACAF has included launching the Gold Cup and CONCACAF Champions League and relocating the organisation’s headquarters from Guatemala City to New York.

When talking about his future, Blazer said he would “explore new challenges within this wonderful sport.”

US Soccer President Sunil Gulati said: “All of us in CONCACAF owe him a great debt of gratitude for his sustained efforts in helping to take the sport to where it is today. There is no doubt that he will continue to make an impact in whatever role he chooses.”

Blazer will remain on FIFA’s Executive Committee with whom his current term ends in mid 2013.

The World Bowls championship broadcast rights have been handed to Input Media by the BBC. The tournament, which takes place in January, will be covered by Input Media for 2011 and 2012 under the agreement of a new two-year contract.

David Johnson, Managing Director, Input Media, said: “Input Media is delighted to be appointed as producer for the BBC’s coverage of the World Bowls Championships. This is a prestigious event with a great history and complemented by our team’s expertise in sport production we’re sure this will be the best Championships ever for the BBC audience.”

 

The future of European professional basketball will take center stage when Euroleague Basketball hosts the first European Basketball Clubs Convention on Wednesday in Barcelona, medicine Spain.

The convention, capsule an open event to which all European clubs and leagues have been invited, ambulance will be attended by more than 90 of their representatives from across the continent. The gathering offers a new and exciting opportunity for the principal stakeholders in the sport to come together, define objectives and continue to shape its future in Europe.

With the help of three speakers and two special guests, the convention will seek to define what clubs want from professional basketball in the short, middle and long terms, with particular emphasis on how to attract new fans to join the many millions already hooked on the sport.

The convention attendees will hear from experts inside and outside of basketball, namely Jordi Bertomeu, President and CEO of Euroleague Basketball; Shimon Mizrahi, President of current Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv; Jan Pommer, Managing Director of the Beko Basketball Bundesliga of Germany; Ioris Francini, President of IMG Media & Events, and Andrea Agnelli, President of Juventus FC.

Among the topics that the speakers will be addressing are the role of clubs within professional basketball, what the club of the future might look like and possible frameworks for European professional basketball going forward.

“We conceived the idea of the European Basketball Clubs Convention so that the true drivers of our sport, the clubs, can define what they want for the future of European basketball,” Mr. Bertomeu said. “Now is the perfect time to have that conversation because we are convinced that there are many challenges to meet and opportunities to prepare for in the very near future.”

The European Basketball Clubs Convention is a new addition to the Euroleague Basketball Institute Annual Workshops, which take place each summer and bring together experts from a full spectrum of professions – players, coaches, referees, marketing, media and ticketing directors, general managers and more – to analyze the trends and prescribe steps toward growth in the sport.

The European Basketball Clubs Convention is one of the final events in the run-up to the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Draws that will mark the start of a new season on Thursday in Barcelona.

The convention will also open the floor to media and fans through social media, mainly Twitter and Facebook, where they may submit questions to the speakers about the future of professional European basketball by using the hashtag #BasketballFuture.

The Atlanta Falcons have announced today President & CEO Rich McKay has been retained in a new long-term contract.

Also Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff and Head Coach Mike Smith have signed extensions of their contracts.  

McKay, sale signed to a four-year extension through May 2019, is entering his eleventh season with the Falcons.  He will continue to serve as the president and chief executive officer of the club, with responsibility for all business operations of the Falcons, as well as the development and operation of the new stadium. 

As part of the new stadium operations, McKay will have responsibility for the creation and management of a new AMB Sports & Entertainment Group, serving as its president.  The new entity will include the Falcons and the new stadium, which the Falcons will operate.  McKay chairs the NFL Competition Committee, on which he has served for 21 years.

Dimitroff and Smith each signed one-year extensions to their contracts. Both men are entering their seventh season with the Falcons, with a six-year cumulative regular season win-loss record of 60-36 – tied for the sixth highest winning percentage in the league over the same period of time.

“We are fortunate to have talented key leaders at the Falcons who are dedicated to a common goal of being a league leader on and off the field,” Falcons Owner & Chairman Arthur Blank said.  “I have great respect for the skills and commitment of Rich, Thomas and Smitty, and I look forward to continuing to support and work with them in the years to come.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) took the first step towards resolving issues with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by inviting the Union government and two IOA officials to Lausanne for talks.

The sports ministry welcomed the move. “We were sure things would start moving in January. We are glad that the IOC is playing a proactive role in sorting out the problem. We look forward to a dialogue with them,” secretary of sports, P.K. Deb, said.

This is the first time since the IOA was suspended on December 4 last year that the IOC has officially involved the government.

IOC representatives sent a letter to acting leading officials of the suspended IOA that said: “The suspended IOA must be in a position to hold free, fair, transparent and credible elections without any external interference and exclusively on the basis of the Olympic Charter and the IOA’s constitution.”

The IOC wants “relevant government authorities to definitively amend or repeal regulations or laws which interfere with the autonomous functioning and internal operations (including the election rules) of the suspended IOA.”

The IOC also stated that it wanted the IOA to review its constitution and internal regulations and “make necessary amendments, in close collaboration with the IOC and subject to IOC’s approval…to include proper and concrete mechanisms to ensure good governance at all levels and implement all basic ethical principles.”{jcomments on}

Germany’s top-flight Bundesliga have revealed they will not introduce goal-line technology

This is the result of a German Football Federation (DFB) board meeting, in which head referee Herbert Fandel “expressed his concern about the technology.” FIFA allows national federations to decide if they want to use a goal judge or goal-line technology, which all have a margin of error between two and three centimeters.

The Bundesliga wrote on their website: “In view of the contrasting positions of FIFA and UEFA, as well as the unanswered questions regarding measurement precision, the executive board of the League Association has decided not to introduce goal-line technology in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 for the time being.

“A final decision will not be made until the results of FIFA’s planned tests at the FIFA Club World Cup in December in Japan and at the Confederations Cup in the summer in Brazil have been evaluated. The introduction of goal-line technology for the start of the 2013/14 season is, therefore, not an issue at present.

“After consultation and analysis of a club survey, the management board concluded that opinions were split on the matter.”

F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen has inked an exclusive deal with IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, to manage and represent his commercial interests.

Kovalainen, 30, from Finland, is entering his third season racing for Caterham F1 Team, formerly Team Lotus, having previously raced for McLaren and Renault.

IMG will provide full client management services, including contractual negotiation, partnerships, legal services, PR and marketing expertise. He will be looked after and accompanied at F1 races by Martin Anayi, who also manages the interests of former three time F1 champion Sir Jackie Stewart.

The move strengthens IMG’s top level driver management stable where Kovalainen also joins Danica Patrick, the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series, and who now competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in the US.

Martin Anayi, a senior executive in IMG Motorsport, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed to represent Heikki. He is a very talented and marketable driver who has competed at the top level since 2007. We are looking forward to assisting and supporting him to achieve further success both on and off the track.”

Kovalainen said: “I’m excited about working with IMG, they have impressed me with their commitment and understanding of the industry and will look after all of my commercial partnerships moving forward. With the team we have assembled, it will allow me to concentrate on my driving and put even more time into working with the engineers and dedicate myself completely to leading the team to win its first point in F1.”

Kovalainen was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his racing career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan Championship and finished runner-up in the GP2 series. Renault signed him on as a full-time F1 test driver for 2006 and then promoted him to race for them the following year.

He gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix in 2007. He then moved to McLaren for two seasons during which he claimed his first victory at the Hungaroring. In 2010 he moved to Lotus Racing, the team who competed under the Team Lotus name in 2011 and are now Caterham F1 Team for 2012 and beyond, where he has worked his way to become a respected leader for the team and regarded as one of the best drivers of the less established teams on the grid.

Robert Armstrong, Senior Vice President Global Head of Motorsports for IMG, said: “We are proud of our long history in talent management and our legacy in elite motorsport. We believe that signing Heikki shows our commitment to strengthening our IMG Motorsport management business. We welcome Heikki to the IMG family and look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

by Ismail Uddin