The Women’s Squash Association has elected Australia’s world No11 Kasey Brown as their new President of their Borad of Directors.  

“As the newly-appointed President of WSA, I would just like to say what an honour it is to represent the players and I am committed to do everything I can to promote the tour and women’s squash,” said the US-based 28-year-old from New South Wales.

The board will also have a number of new members including Ashley Bernhard (USA), Kasey Brown (President, Australia),Nathan Dugan (USA), Jenny Duncalf (England), Marjolein Houtsma (Netherlands), Latasha Khan (Chairman, USA) and Laura Massaro (England).

“These directors offer a variety of skills and qualifications and I look forward to working with them to make decisions on behalf of the players and for the good of the Association,” continued Brown.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Board for all the time and effort they have put in, which has set a solid foundation to grow the tour,” added the winner of three medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

“We will continue the WSA vision to Inspire; Empower; and Entertain: Inspire future female generations to embrace squash as a professional sport; Empower girls and women on and off the court; and Entertain the world.”

According to new research 51% of the British Public believe ‘London 2012 has made Britain a better place’.

The study, adiposity by sponsorship experts Havas Sports & Entertainment (HS&E), generic conducted in September of this year, has also revealed that 53% agree that London 2012 ‘was the greatest Games ever’, twice as many people as when the same question was asked in July 2012.

Sponsors benefitted significantly from this boost in attitudes, as public awareness between April and September, on average, doubled across 27 sponsors measured in the study. The two most recognized sponsors were McDonalds (55%) and the Coca-Cola Company (52%), who were at the top all the way through the study from March 2011.

The study was commissioned by HS&E to identify the effects of Olympic Games’ sponsorship on sponsor brands, and to track interest in and attitudes towards the Games over a period of two and a half years, starting in March 2011. Consistently, the research is demonstrating that for most sponsors, awareness of their association with the Games has had a positive impact on their brand’s image and consumers’ attitudes towards purchasing their products. The next waves of post-Games research are scheduled for February and August 2013.

Lucien Boyer, President & Global CEO, HS&E commented: “The dramatic increase in positive public sentiment between July and September 2012, shown by our study, demonstrates that London 2012 went way beyond people’s expectations. Sponsors have benefitted, from this, across the board but the brands who up-weighted their activations during the Games, such as Coca-Cola, P&G and McDonalds, and engaged with their target audiences received the biggest boost in awareness.” 

“From our 20 years of working in Olympic sponsorship and experience with 10 Olympic sponsors during London 2012, we’ve seen that to stand above the rest, brands have to tell a powerful, relevant story and create long-term relationships through content and experiences that are meaningful and add value to the fan experience.”

Alastair Macdonald, Sponsorship Insights Director, HS&E, added: “Once this study is complete we will have the most comprehensive set of evidence ever produced as to how the sponsorship of the Olympic Games affects consumers’ perceptions and attitudes as well as the impact on the products they choose to purchase.”

“It will be interesting to see how public attitudes towards the Olympics and sponsors evolve in future waves as we get further away from the Games.  We certainly believe there will be lessons for future major events sponsors and organizers to learn from tracking these attitudes over a number of years pre and post Olympics.”

Transfluent today announced a partnership with top Spanish football clubs, bringing all the clubs’ social media and web presence to fans worldwide.

Spanish football is popular everywhere in the world, but until today the clubs have communicated on Facebook and the web in Spanish only. This has excluded a lot of fans who have not been able to follow what their idols are doing and saying. 

The three clubs who have initially adopted this are Sevilla FC, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna. 

Ethor Gorrono, Marketing Manager of Athletic Bilbao, commented, “Transfluent will give us the opportunity to explore new potential sponsors in more countries.”

With the help of Transfluent’s social media localization service, the clubs will now be posting in Spanish, but all outgoing messages will be visible to fans in their native languages. Fans can write comments and ask questions, and the club can read and reply, again using Spanish—though the fans will see any replies in their own language.

“Our fans are important to us. We know we have loyal fans all over Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Talking to them wherever they are in the world is an incredible opportunity,” says Fran Romera, Marketing Manager of Sevilla FC.

“Being able to communicate with fans globally is sure to increase the brand value of the clubs and raise their following on social media,” commented Jani Penttinen, CEO and founder of Transfluent.

Rugby’s British & Irish Lions have appointed Logan Sports Marketing as their new sponsorship management and event support team.

The agency will work closely with the British & Irish Lions to ensure the forthcoming Tour to Australia in 2013 is a commercial success.

John Feehan, CEO of The British & Irish Lions, said: “We are delighted to appoint Logan Sports Marketing, One of our key considerations was to recruit a team that had the experience to be able to understand our sponsors’ requirements and a team that are focussed and committed on delivering the best possible service for our partners.”

Paul Sefton, CEO of Logan Sports Marketing, added: ‘As an agency that specialises in rugby this is obviously a huge opportunity and an absolute honour. The business is fully committed to working with The Lions and the whole team is genuinely excited to be part of the 2013 Australia Tour journey.’

Logan Sports Marketing is an independent sports marketing agency specialising in the delivery of sponsorship and event management. 

Other clients include EMC, Tag Heuer, Microsoft, Gaucho International Polo and 188BET.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced their domestic venues to host the Ashes until 2016 with Headingley and Rose Bowl missing out.

Nottinghamshire’s Trent Bridge will host two Ashes Tests with Trent Bridge, Lord’s and The Oval staging games in 2013 and 2015, but Headingley and the Rose Bowl miss out.

The other 2013 Tests will take place at Old Trafford – which last staged one in 2005 – and Durham’s Riverside, a new addition to the Ashes roster.

Cardiff and Edgbaston will host the remaining two Tests in 2015.

The ECB delivered the independent major match group’s decision, not just on which venues will stage the next two Ashes series, but also many other international fixtures between 2013 and 2016.

Headingley and the Rose Bowl will host one-day internationals against Australia and Tests against other tourists while Bristol will host New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka in ODIs.

For Nottinghamshire in particular, the revenue they can generate from the Ashes Tests at Trent Bridge will come as a vindication of their decision to spend millions of pounds upgrading facilities.

“It is absolutely enormous,” said Nottinghamshire chief executive Derek Brewer of the decision to award his county Ashes Tests in consecutive series.

“One of our objectives was to get Trent Bridge at the forefront of international cricket. We have certainly achieved that. It’s been a massive team effort, a very long and exacting process.”

Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said the announcement heightened the feelgood factor at Old Trafford.

“This has been our goal since 2006,” he said.

“We are delighted to see the Ashes return to Old Trafford. It has certainly been a fantastic couple of weeks for the club – winning the county championship after such a long wait and the final seal of approval to proceed with our redevelopment.

“This is just the icing on the cake.”

Colin Povey, chief executive at Warwickshire, said “While we are disappointed not to have been awarded an Ashes Test Match in 2013, we should remember the Aussies will play one-day internationals at Edgbaston in 2012 and 2013,” he said.

“In addition, we can now look forward to an Ashes Test in 2015.”

The major match group is chaired by Lord Bill Morris, who explained the decision-making process.

“Lord’s is the home of cricket and demonstrated to the major match group its unique iconic status and the exceptional benefits which staging major matches at Lord’s can bring to the game,” he said.

“The MMG also noted the MCC’s commitment to further develop the facilities at Lord’s as well as the significant support which MCC provides to university and community cricket in England and Wales and the game around the world.

“As a result of these exceptional characteristics, Lord’s has been awarded the ‘platinum package’.”

ECB chairman Giles Clarke added: “The quality of the submissions made by the venues was outstanding and reflects the importance to regions as well as venues in staging major matches.

“The awards for the next five-year period will enable counties to review and where necessary revise their business plans with the certainty of their match programme over a substantial period of time.

European soccer’s governing body UEFA rejected an appeal by Switzerland based FC Sion, clearing the way for Celtic to play in the Europa League this season beginning with a game against Atletico Madrid on Thursday.

UEFA’s appeal body upheld an earlier ruling that Sion used ineligible players in qualifying matches against the Scottish club, according to a statement on the governing body’s website. The decision will allow Celtic to play in the group stage, beginning Sept. 15 against Atletico Madrid, although Sion had the option of appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 10 days.

Uefa’s statement read: “The Uefa Appeals Body today dealt with the appeal lodged by FC Sion against the decision of the Uefa Control and Disciplinary Body of 02 September to forfeit their two Uefa Europa League play-off ties played against Celtic FC on 18 and 25 August.

“As a consequence, Celtic FC remain qualified for the Uefa Europa League group stage and will play against Club Atletico de Madrid on Thursday 15 September.

“An appeal against this decision can be lodged to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within ten days of receipt of the written grounds for the decisions.”

Glasgow 2014 organisers have launched their search for 15, abortion 000 volunteers required to stage the Commonwelath Games.

Hopes are high that Scotland can emulate the highly successful army of volunteers who served at the London Olympics earlier this year.

Games organisers are this week highlighting a survey that shows 7% of adults who responded said they were “very interested” in volunteering for Glasgow 2014, price equating to a potential 180, medicine 000 volunteers.

Research conducted by London games organisers revealed a conversion rate around 25% from those who expressed initial interest who later applied to become volunteers. In Commonwealth Games terms that would reduce the potential number to 45,000.

It is estimated that 15,000 volunteers will be required for the Glasgow games, so demand would likely outstrip supply by more than three to one.

Valerie Mitchell, who is head of the 2014 games workforce, said: “We are very encouraged by this survey as it shows there is an appetite among people in Scotland to go out and volunteer, but, while this is positive news, there is no complacency on our part that we will get the numbers we require.

“We would urge people to visit the website and register their interest now and hope that they begin to think about how they could be involved as a volunteer at Glasgow 2014 and to help make a success of the biggest sporting and cultural event ever to come to Scotland.”

Volunteers will have to give up some of their own time for training and will need to cover travel and accommodation costs, although there will be free public transport around Glasgow venues at Games Time.

The Glasgow 2014 Volunteer Centre was formally opened on Monday as a base for the management of online applications from prospective volunteers. It is expected that the application process itself will begin in mid-January 2013.

 

Monumental Sports & Entertainment announced today the introduction of a digital ticket system available to Washington Capitals, sale Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics and Georgetown Hoyas season-ticket holders.

The Season Ticket Digital Card program replaces traditional paper tickets with a preloaded card containing corresponding seat locations. The card serves as admission to all games within a customer’s full-season or partial-plan ticket package for Capitals games and full-season ticket package for Wizards, Mystics and Georgetown men’s basketball games.

Season-ticket holders will receive one card per account that includes several account management benefits. With the introduction of the card, all Capitals, Wizards and Mystics account management functions previously associated with fees are now free. Season-ticket holders will now be able to print tickets at home and forward tickets without paying a single fee. Capitals and Wizards ticket holders also may use the system to list tickets for sale through Ticketmaster TicketExchange. If a customer opts to have a paper ticket for a particular game, the system allows the customer to print tickets from any computer.

“We are always looking to bring the most up-to-date technological advances to our season-ticket holders as well as improve and enhance the game-day experience,” said Jim Van Stone, Monumental Sports & Entertainment senior vice president of ticket sales and services.

“This quick, secure and easy-to-use digital ticket system will give our guests the ultimate convenience and flexibility in using their seats,” added Dave Touhey, Verizon Center senior vice president and general manager.

The card is valid for all seat locations on an account and is swiped using a hand-held computer by an attendant upon entrance to Verizon Center. Patrons then receive a seat locator tab for each valid ticket stored on the card, which is used as the ticket for the game once inside of the arena.

“Georgetown athletics is pleased to work with Monumental Sports and Ticketmaster to provide digital ticketing solutions and enhanced technology to fans in an efficient, secure and easy manner,” said Dan O’Neil, Georgetown University associate athletics director for external affairs. “We place a high priority on customer service and are excited to offer digital-ticketing solutions to our loyal Hoya fan base.”

IMG owner, chairman and CEO Ted Forstmann, considered one of the most influential and respected men in the global sport industry, has lost his courageous battle with cancer and passed away on Sunday at the age of 71.

Forstmann, who acquired IMG for $750 million in 2004 and had since overseen a major remodelling of the global sport, entertainment and media giant and a period of unprecedented growth in its business, had achieved success in the financial world over several decades before moving into sport. Forstmann Little & Co., the investment firm he founded in 1978, returned more than $15 billion to its investors under Forstmann’s leadership.

He was also a passionate philanthropist, donating huge amounts of his money and time to a wide range of causes. In 2010 he signed on to The Giving Pledge, a movement whose members commit to donating the majority of their wealth during their lifetime to philanthropic causes. As well as his work with causes across the USA, his international work included his position as the only non-African trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

His love of sport was longstanding, and in his youth he was a highly regarded tennis prospect as well as playing hockey for Yale University.

Forstmann passed away at his home in New York. He leaves behind two sons, Siya and Everest, brothers Anthony and John, and sisters Marina Forstmann Day and Elissa Forstmann Moran.