When the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) convenes its congress in Tokyo they are set to validate a historic milestone.

The Congress will see the constitutional birth of a new combined baseball and softball federation in a bid for Olympic reinstatement, shop and has the makings to be the most significant marker in international baseball and softball sporting history.

With IBAF President and new World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Co-President Riccardo Fraccari presiding over the Congress—and ISF President and WBSC Co-President Don Porter leading a delegation of softball representatives—the Congress will act to ratify the new Constitution governing the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

This will finalize a long and detailed process to meet the stringent criteria of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) whereby the two independent and recognized international federations currently governing baseball and softball shall merge into a single international federation.

“This is about far more than simply ratifying a legal document, drugs ” said Fraccari. “This is a major achievement in a two-year campaign that embodies the dreams of millions of men and women, and boys and girls around the world—from the professional leagues to the grassroots level—who want to play for their country in the Olympic Games, the pinnacle of sporting excellence.” 

The Tokyo Congress follows the recent successful World Baseball Classic (WBC) final in San Francisco, which broke all attendance, broadcast, viewing and commercial records for the event.  The WBC was a showcase for the increasing popularity of the sport and boosted efforts by baseball and softball officials and professional leagues to grow and globalize the game, especially for young people in parts of the world where there are limited options to play Olympic team sports.

At the conclusion of the Congress, the World Baseball Softball Confederation is also planning to launch the next phase of its bid leading up to a presentation before the IOC Executive Board at the end of May. 

The WBSC will unveil a new campaign logo and theme—and web site—and launch an all-encompassing  social media push to drive the many millions of players and supporters of all ages and backgrounds who love their sport and the Olympic Games to join the line up to get baseball and softball back in the Olympic Games. 

“Baseball and softball rank by far as the most followed sport in the world that is not on the Olympic programme today,” said Porter.  “And it offers boys and girls everywhere an easy path into a great team sport unlike anything else in the Olympic Games.  Even though we have 65 million players today, there’s plenty of room for growth.  That’s why this campaign is so important to us.”

“We’ve really benefited from the invaluable advice and counsel that the Olympic Family offered us,” Fraccari said, “there have been major advancements into giving our sports exceptional appeal in the Olympic format.  That’s why we’ve streamlined our tournament and created back-to-back tournaments, which offers full gender equity in the most compelling and exciting TV package we’ve ever put forward.”

“The explosive potential of baseball-softball captured within the Olympics could lead to tremendous and unparalleled growth,” said Porter.  “In fact, we believe baseball and softball can become the next great global game and serve to instill the ideals of Olympism in the lives of many more millions of young, advanced people—and future generations—around the world.”

London 2012 Olympic organising officials have revealed that a Rio 2016 employee removed documents from them without their consent during this summer’s Olympic Games.

The staff member is understood to have downloaded the documents without authorisation during official knowledge transfer sessions while working alongside London 2012 staff. 

They are believed to have taken information which included strategic planning details while working in London’s technology department. 

A spokesperson for LOCOG said: “We can confirm that some London 2012 material was accessed and removed without consent from LOCOG by a Rio 2016 secondee during the Olympic Games. 

“This was reported immediately to the Rio senior management who took swift action to recover the material and return it to LOCOG. 

“No security documents were copied and no personal data was compromised.” 

Reports in the Brazilian media said nine employees have been fired as a result of the theft but Rio 2016 were not available for comment to confirm the sackings related to the file removal incident. 

Wichita State University have renewed their partnership with Paciolan who specialise in providing ticketing, marketing, and fundraising solutions in college athletics.

Wichita State will continue leveraging Paciolan’s full suite of solutions, including its fully integrated and enhanced online priority points system for donors and season ticket holders. Wichita State has been working with Paciolan since 1993.

“Our partnership with Paciolan has opened up so many opportunities to build lifetime customer relationships with Shocker fans,” said Dr. Eric L. Sexton, director of athletics, Wichita State University. “The Paciolan system is completely integrated, which allows us to leverage and streamline communications between the ticket and development offices, more efficiently manage our priority points system, and enhance our relationships with our fans and donors.”

By leveraging Paciolan’s Fundraiser’s Advantage and DonorNet solutions integrated into the ticketing system, Wichita State has been able to create and manage its own customized Priority Points system for basketball, which allowed it to maximize donation revenue through premium seating and post season ticket sales. The Priority Points system awards points based on donor and season ticket holder criteria, while seamlessly enabling season ticket holders and donors to purchase tickets based on their priority level. Paciolan’s online tools also give donors the ability to see their current priority point totals and allows for complete donor account management to easily increase gifts and make payments to accumulate points.

“The Priority Points system has helped us support our strong basketball ticketing program — success we hope to parlay into all of our other athletics initiatives,” said Russell Wilkins, assistant athletic director, ticket operations, Wichita State University. “It has also given us the ability to reward our season ticket holders and donors who support our scholarship funds and endowments.”

Dave Butler, chief executive officer of Paciolan, said: “We are excited to be extending our relationship with Wichita State, an innovative university we have worked with for almost 20 years. We look forward to continuing our partnership with them to extend the success of their priority points program, as well as helping them achieve continued success with their many exciting athletics initiatives.”

asthma Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;”>Building on Brazil’s Maracana stadium is back on schedule after construction workers ended their strike.

Work had been suspended on the proposed stadium for the FIFA 2014 World Cup after a worker was badly burnt and suffered leg injuries last Wednesday when an oil barrel with chemical residue exploded.

However, the union announced Tuesday that the consortium in charge of the site had agreed to some of their demands, including an increase in pay as well as on-site security. 

Romildo Viera, Union Leader, said: “We’re satisfied, that’s why we’ve returned to work today.

“Negotiations ended like this: the health plan will be only for the workers [at first] but we’re going to look into the possibility of extending it to their families.”

The stadium, which first opened in 1950, is due to host matches in the 2013 Confederations Cup before staging high-profile matches at the World Cup the following year.

 

Lamine Diack, possible re-elected President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has claimed that he has been cleared of any wrongdoing after he was accused of taking bribes in a Panorama programme broadcast by the BBC last November.

Diack, 77, was one of several senior sports administrators that Panorama implicated for taking bribes from former sports marketing agency International Sport and Leisure (ISL) before its collapse in 2001.

The programme, quoting from previously unseen documents, alleged that Diack received 52.680 Swiss francs in instalments from ISL to help secure television and marketing contracts.

Several other high-ranking officials were also implicated in the programme, broadcast on the eve of the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups last November, includinng former FIFA President João Havelange and Issa Hayatou, the President of Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Like Havelange and Hayatou, Diack is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and their Ethics Commission launched an investigation into the allegations, including requesting all the information that the BBC had obtained.

Diack, who has been President of the IAAF since the death of Italian Primo Nebiolo in 1999, admits that the Ethics Commission wrote to him in April about the allegations.

“I answered to the Ethics Commission and I had no more reaction from them,” he told insidethegames.

“That put an end to that.”

Diack is standing unopposed at the IAAF Congress here tomorrow after vice-presidents Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka both pulled back from challenging him and looked for other positions in the organisation 

It would have been embarrassing for the world governing body if Diack had been re-elected and then been given a sanction by the IOC.

“Nothing will happen [to me] I don’t think,” he said.

“But I’m happy to answer any more questions that they might have.”

Diack was expected to step down after his last election in Osaka in 2007 but has decided to carry on following, what he claims, is pressure from around the world to stay in his post until 2015.

His election will mean he will be in charge of the IAAF coming into London 2012.

PR Company Fast Track has been appointed by sprinter Oscar Pistorius, buy nicknamed the Blade Runner, after a week that saw him become the first amputee sprinter in the history of the Olympics to qualify for the Games.

Chime Communications-owned Fast Track will handle all international media activity and will be Pistorius’ official spokesperson.

24-year-old South African Pistorius said: “Fast Track has a detailed understanding of elite disability sport and the agency is very well connected in Olympic and Paralympic sport. I am delighted to announce I will be working with them.”

Pistorius runs with carbon fibre prosthetic blades after both his lower legs were amputated at 11 months old.

Pistorius has had a long battle with the IAAF, world athletics’ governing body, over the use of his blades, but a Court of Arbitration ruling in 2008 cleared him to compete in competitions for able-bodied athletes.

Fast Track head of communications Steve Chisholm commented: “Oscar Pistorius is an inspirational athlete and will be one of the faces of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Fast Track has a great history with Oscar and we are thrilled to be working with him to publicise his outstanding achievements.”

Japan’s state broadcaster, NHK, has said it will not be showing the next sumo tournament live following a recent betting scandal which has engulfed the sport.

It will be the first time NHK has not shown a tournament live in more than 50 years, but after viewer complaints over the scandal, the broadcaster will now only air a daily review of the tournament.

NHK conducted a survey with viewers which found 68 per cent of 11,100 of those asked did not want the tournament to be broadcast.

NHK chairman, Shiego Fukuchi, said: “The comments from our viewers have been more sever than ever. The sumo association must take the situation as a once-in-a-century crisis, and we hope it will take measures to improve its governance.”

The decision comes just days after the Japanese Sumo Association dismissed top wrestler Kotomitsuki and his coach after they admitted being involved in illegal betting on baseball –  an alleged source of funding for Japan’s ‘yakuza’ gangsters.

Five sponsors have already pulled out of the Nagoya tournament, which is one of six main annual tournaments in Japan.

 

The annual Sports Podge lunch took place at the Institute of Directors last week and as always with the lunch the sports theme played a big part in proceedings. Having had boxing, anabolics horseracing, football, world records and rugby in previous year’s this year was themed around the Commonwealth Games.

The 250 invite-only guests were on 25 tables, each representing a country with its own flag and dialects etc, the move half way through the lunch when 125 guests changed tables took the form of a diplomatic exchange between countries. All very tongue in cheek but beautifully designed and as with all podge lunches having its own website www.sportspodge.co.uk.

50% of the guests are rotated every year to keep the lunch fresh and this year’s guest list is live on www.sportspodge.co.uk/2014/athletes/and as always it was a mix of people from athletics, football, rugby, cricket, clubs, charities, bodies, sponsors etc etc.

Bill Sweeney, the CEO of British Olympic Association and attended this years event, said: “I always enjoy Sportspodge days, one of the benefits of returning to London is to be able to attend on a more regular basis. It’s a highly knowledgeable attendee group and the atmosphere is relaxed, convivial, being highly informative and productive.”

Founder and organiser Phil Jones was really pleased with the way this year’s lunch went and is now planning the theme for the 10^th anniversary lunch in 2015 and briefing in designers and digital teams to bring it all to life.

Phil is also working on music podge which will make its debut at the Café Royal in September this year.

More Pictures Below:

Edwin Moses enjoying Sports Podge 2014

Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre with ex Liverpool centre half Mark Wright at Sports Podge 2014

Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson chatting with Matt Jones of Benchmark Sport

John Lewis have accounted their improved profit margin to their sponsorship of the London 2012 Games.

John Lewis Partnership, which includes the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarket chain, today (13 September) reported pre-tax profits of £144.5m, up 60% on the year, in the six months to 28 July. 

Revenues were up 8.6% to £3.9bn.

John Lewis claimed its role as the official department store of the London Olympics had “a positive impact in the run-up to the Games”, as did customers hitting its stores during the Diamond Jubilee.

The company statement said: “Product innovation, brand partnership with suppliers such as Apple, and our continued commitment to being ‘Never knowingly undersold’, contributed to our market share gains.”

John Lewis returns to TV this weekend with its latest emotional epic TV campaign, created by Adam & Eve/DDB.

The partnership also flagged up its digital arm, johnlewis.com, which boasted a strong half year, with sales up by 40%. Online sales now account for 24% of total John Lewis sales.

Its Click & Collect service, the company said, had grown by 114%.

Operating profits at Waitrose were up 28.9% to £142m in the period, while revenues were up 6.6% to £2.6bn.

The retailer maintained that a “tight focus on efficiency and managing costs” at Waitrose meant it was able to extend its Brand Price Match pledge.

Waitrose also revealed that 2012 marked its highest rate of product innovations to date, with 2,700 new and improved products launched in the first half of the year and 2,200 planned in the second.