NBC have announced that the 2012 Games were the most-watched U.S. TV event in history, with a total of 219.4 million viewing at least part of the coverage, according to data from Nielsen.

That is up 2% from the No. 2-ranked Beijing Games four years ago and dwarfs the records for single broadcasts of major events. The Super Bowl, for example, has in recent years set ratings records with about 100 million total viewers.

The Olympics unfolded over 17 days and across multiple networks in the NBC family, a record-breaking 5,535 hours in all, so the company had plenty of time and channel space to rack up that Everest-sized total.

All of the top 10 “most-watched events” on Nielsen’s list consist of Olympics, and all were telecast on NBC except for the Lillehammer Games in 1994, which ran on CBS. For the purposes of the statistics books, Nielsen counts someone as a “viewer” if that person watched as little as six minutes of a telecast.

Even so, the numbers were impressive. Sunday’s closing ceremony with the Spice Girls, George Michael, Queen and other British pop acts gathered 31 million total viewers, the highest tally for a non-U.S. Olympics since the Montreal Games back in 1976.

That closely tracked with overall viewing of the Games on nights when athletics were the focus. The NBC broadcast prime-time packages – assailed by many fans for airing hours after the events took place – averaged 31.1 million viewers, far higher than the 27.7 million who turned up for Beijing.

The London Games were also a huge hit online – and in ways that reveal how the digital market is rapidly changing. A total of 57.1 million unique users viewed content online, up 10% compared with Beijing. But there were 10.1 million unique users on mobile devices, skyrocketing 55% compared with four years ago.

“For 17 days, NBCUniversal has surrounded the American viewer with the London Olympics, which have now become the most-watched event in U.S. television history,” NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus wrote in a statement. “There are thousands of dedicated and talented people in London and New York who take great pride in being part of these historic games and this television milestone.”

XOS Digital, sale Inc., clinic a global provider of sports video technology, today announced the finished installation of an XOS Thunder Remote Camera System for the Baylor University football program.

The team opted to use the system as the latest means to capture more footage angles for detailed coaching evaluation. The announcement was made today by Chris McCleary, CEO, XOS Digital.

“The success we had with our 2009 upgrade to the XOS indoor remote camera system was a key factor when determining options for our outdoor facility,” said Michael Bolding, director of video services, Baylor University. “We knew firsthand that XOS Digital’s expertise and experience with seamless integration of new HD technology would enhance our coaching efforts and operational workflow.”

Mounted on the exterior of the Jay and Jenny Allison Football Practice Facility, the XOS Thunder Remote Camera System consists of weatherproof cameras in climate-controlled casing. The system enables coaching staff to capture high-definition video for practice analysis using a variety of angles. The system incorporates Panasonic’s pan, tilt, zoom cameras, designed to provide fluid movement in all directions.

In addition to the outdoor football practice field cameras, an indoor viewing and transmission station was installed inside the Jay and Jenny Allison Football Practice Facility enabling the football video staff to control the cameras for optimal capture footage. This system incorporates a fiber infrastructure that sends live footage directly to the team video editing room, where video is used within the XOS Thunder HD video editing system for game prep and analysis.

“As the leading partner for remote camera systems in the athletic industry, XOS Digital combines its experience and insight on current trends, such as HD, to guarantee technology that will set any sports facility above the rest,” McCleary said. “We’re pleased to provide Baylor with the latest outdoor remote camera system to enhance its practice and game preparation operations.”

The Baylor University football program originally partnered with XOS Digital in 2005, when it added the XOS Sports Pro video editing system (the legacy product that preceded XOS Thunder).

Sao Paulo’s chances of staging the opening ceremony of soccer’s 2014 World Cup improved after FIFA accepted a guarantee that SC Corinthians Paulista’s new stadium will be completed in time for the tournament.

The stadium, symptoms being built by Odebrecht SA, medstore will cost US$522 million, according to Corinthians President Andres Sanchez. BNDES, the national development bank, pledged US$400 million and the city of Sao Paulo will provide a property fund worth US$400 million.

On a statement on the Corinthians website, Ricardo Teixeira, president of the World Cup local organising committee and the Brazilian Football Confederation, said: “This approval — in record time, less than a year — is the result of efforts by the government of Sao Paulo, particularly the Governor Geraldo Alckmin and Mayor Gilberto Kassab.”

FIFA’s approval of the project to build a new home for Brazil’s biggest soccer club by revenue — which originally had a cost estimate of US$1.2 billion — was required for Sao Paulo to host World Cup games.

In June, sports minister Orlando Silva said in an interview that the federal government would tell tournament organizer FIFA that Sao Paulo, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia are eligible to stage the opening ceremony.

FIFA will announce the venue in October.

Sanchez said: “I said before that if Corinthians could fulfill all the requirements of FIFA, the opening of the World Cup would be in Sao Paulo. Corinthians gave the guarantees required by FIFA, so the opening will be in Sao Paulo.”

Most of the funding for investment in airports, stadiums, ports and urban transportation before the World Cup will come from the government.

Career management consultancy, Roar Global has branched out into the field of sporting clients after agreeing the acquisition of SJ Dent and Co. sports management.

Roar Global currently represents entertainment industry celebrities such as Myleene Klass, Russel Watson and Kelly Brook but with the takeover of SJ Dent will add the likes of Irish rugby star Brian O’Driscoll and former sporting icons such as Martin ‘Chariots’ Offiah, John Barnes and Neil Ruddock to their client roster.

The ex-sports management company was founded by lawyer Simon Dent and also specialise in the management of young 2012 hopefuls.

Jonathan Shalit of Roar Global stated: “Sport today is an integral part of entertainment across the world and, as such, holds huge a huge attraction for global brands to who want to be associated with sporting heroes.”

Die USA sind wirtschaftlich und nun auch wieder sportlich das Maß aller Dinge in der Welt. Die Sportler aus den USA, prostate der größten Volkswirtschaft der Welt, buy konnten in London die meisten goldenen (46) und auch die meisten Medaillen insgesamt (104) gewinnen. China musste sich nach eindrucksvollen Leistungen 2008 dieses Mal mit dem zweiten Platz zufriedengeben. Damit sind die USA und China sowohl sportlich als auch wirtschaftlich tonangebend, doctor das ergab eine Analyse des Wirtschaftsinformationsdienstes D&B Deutschland zum Vergleich der sportlichen Leistungen in London 2012 mit den wirtschaftlichen Leistungen der Teilnehmerländer in Hinblick auf das D&B Länderrating.

Jedoch beim Blick auf die Länderratings ergibt sich ein anderes Bild. Die USA liegen mit DB2b zwar noch im oberen Drittel, aber China liegt mit DB4a in der unteren Hälfte. Australien ist mit DB1d das einzige Land der Top-20-Sportnationen von London mit einem Einser-Rating. Leider klappte es dafür sportlich gesehen nicht so wie erwartet. Australien verlor im Medaillenspiegel mit Rang 10 vier Plätze gegenüber den Spielen in Peking 2008. Auch die Ratings der restlichen Top 20 sind sehr gemischt. Deutschland liegt mit DB2a auf Platz 2, gefolgt von Großbritannien, Frankreich und den Niederlanden mit DB2b.

Die einzigen Länder unten den Top-20-Nationen, die sich sportlich verbesserten und ihr Länderrating behalten, sind Kasachstan, Neuseeland und Südkorea. Kasachstan erreichte bei diesen Spielen Platz 12 und damit eine Verbesserung um 17 Plätze im Medaillenspiegel, verglichen mit der Platzierung 2008 bei den Spielen in Peking. Neuseeland liegt um zehn Plätze verbessert auf Rang 15 und Südkorea schaffte es zwei Plätze nach oben auf Rang 5. Jedoch gibt es kein Land unter den Top 20, das D&B in den vergangenen vier Jahren heraufgestuft hat.

Ansonsten ist der Trend beim Länderrating unter den Top-20-Nationen der Spiele von London negativ im Vergleich zu den Ergebnissen von vor vier Jahren. Bei 15 Ländern hat D&B das Rating in dieser Zeit gesenkt. Hier sieht man sehr eindrücklich die Nachwirkungen der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise 2008/09. Noch sind Folgen in den meisten Ländern spürbar. Oder wie in Europa – dort sind neue Krisenherde wie Spanien und Italien hinzugekommen. Am härtesten traf es bei den Herabstufungen Ungarn (von DB2d auf DB4d), Italien (von DB2d auf DB3d) und den Iran (von DB5c auf DB6c). Wenn es wirtschaftlich und auch politisch schon nicht passt, so konnten doch wenigstens der Iran und Ungarn sportlich gesehen auftrumpfen. Der Iran verbesserte sich gleich um 34 Plätze im Medaillenspiegel, Ungarn um elf und selbst Italien auch um einen Platz.

Wirtschaftlich gesehen ist Brasilien, das Gastgeberland der nächsten Olympischen Spiele 2016, mittlerweile in der Weltspitze angelangt und auch etabliert. Die brasilianische Wirtschaft belegt derzeit den 6. Platz auf der Liste der größten Volkswirtschaften weltweit – noch vor Großbritannien und Italien. Sportlich liegen die Brasilianer noch außerhalb der Top-20-Sportnationen. Bei den Spielen in London erreichten sie Platz 22 im Medaillenspiegel nach Platz 23 in Peking 2008. Wenn der sportliche Erfolg der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung folgt (erwartetes Wachstum 2012 2,8 Prozent und 2013 4,5 Prozent), dann wird es Brasilien 2016 auch unter die Top 20 schaffen.

The PGA TOUR and Mitsubishi Electric announced that Mitsubishi Electric is building 12 new Diamond Vision boards for the Champions Tour.

With this announcement, Mitsubishi Electric further increases its involvement with the PGA TOUR while improving the fan experience. Mitsubishi Electric will showcase a full array of Diamond Vision boards on the Champions Tour on June 28 at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. The tournament takes place outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. near Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision Systems headquarters.

Mitsubishi Electric first debuted its Diamond Vision displays on the PGA TOUR in May 2007. The full rollout of the new boards on the Champions Tour will be completed by the 2013 Champions Tour season.

Mitsubishi Electric, Official Large Outdoor Video Display Provider of the PGA TOUR, will continue to provide the highly popular Diamond Vision LED scoreboards at virtually every PGA TOUR tournament. The 33 state-of-the-art scoreboards are divided into three traveling sets of 11 that rotate among tournaments. Since first being introduced, the Diamond Vision boards have significantly upgraded the onsite fan experience through a variety of videos, as well as an array of player and course information and graphics generated by the PGA TOUR’s ShotLink real-time scoring system.

“Feedback on the Diamond Vision scoreboards on the PGA TOUR has been tremendously positive,” says Mike Stevens, president of the Champions Tour. “We’re very pleased to bring Diamond Vision technology to our Tour, both for our fans and our players.”

The first Diamond Vision screen at Dodger Stadium (installed in 1980) established Mitsubishi Electric as a true pioneer in the development of large-scale video displays. Diamond Vision LED screen installations include Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Fenway Park, AT&T Park, the Consol Energy Center, the Air Canada Centre, the Washington Nationals Stadium, Times Square and Caesars Palace.

Mitsubishi Electric is an Official Sponsor of the PGA TOUR.

Managing director Ian Ayre Liverpool will not be pressured into making a premature call on whether to redevelop Anfield or move to a new stadium.

Ayre revealed on Sunday it was “increasingly unlikely” that the club would be able to redevelop the 45,000-capicity Anfield ground and instead suggested a move to a new stadium at nearby Stanley Park could be a more realistic option. However, speaking to the Barclays Premier League club’s official website during Liverpool’s pre-season tour of China, Ayre insisted that nothing had been ruled out.

He said: “No amount of pressure will force Liverpool Football Club to make a decision quickly for the wrong reasons. With regards the refurbishment, the type of work that’s been going on (in the last nine months) has been developing plans and drawings that look at what is possible with Anfield, and that has incorporated a study into the extension of the main stand and a study into the extension of the Anfield Road End. Both of these, if successful, could deliver a 60,000-plus seater, which would be great, but it comes with whole other challenges and whole other areas we have to investigate.”

The Liverpool managing director also said that naming rights would be crucial in “finding the right economic model” for a new 60,000-seat stadium.

He said: “What people don’t think of a lot of the time is that we don’t get 60,000 new seats when we build a stadium – we only get the difference between Anfield currently and whatever we build. The economics of that difference don’t really stack up in the medium term for a return for Liverpool. It would be a huge investment with very little financial gain.”

Ayre added: “On its own that doesn’t look like a viable proposition, so what we have to explore an opportunity for naming rights. Naming rights is something that’s been in the media recently for a number of reasons and it’s something we’re very actively looking at but it just takes time. Our deal with Standard Chartered, which was a groundbreaking deal, took over a year to put together, and other similar types of deals we’ve been involved in have taken time. The pressure is there with people wanting an answer, but it’s not an answer we can give right now.”