English Premier League soccer club Liverpool have admitted that has admitted it is looking increasingly unrealistic that the Reds will be able to redevelop Anfield, chief executive Ian Ayre said.

The club had hoped to increase capacity at the ground to 60,000 from 45,000.

But Ayre said in a statement: “Land/property acquisition, environmental and statutory issues are creating barriers to our ambition.

“It looks increasingly unlikely there is any way we can move forward on a refurbishment of Anfield.”

On Thursday, Reds owner John W Henry said on Twitter that there were “so many obstacles” preventing the refurbishment of Liverpool’s home of the past 119 years.

Previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett had hoped to build a new stadium in Stanley Park but Henry, whose Fenway Sports Group successfully redeveloped Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park stadium, favours an upgrade of Anfield.

Ayre continued: “In the nine months since the new ownership, an enormous amount of work has been undertaken to explore the building of a new stadium as well as exploring a refurbishment solution.

“In terms of a Stanley Park stadium versus redevelopment, there is absolutely no question that a refurbishment of Anfield would come at a significantly lower cost than a new build.

“It’s disappointing that based on where we are at the moment, we seem to be unable to press on with the more viable economic option of a refurbishment, but we remain committed to finding the best possible long-term solution.”

Liverpool City Council leader Joe Anderson added: “We fully appreciate that the new owners have made real progress over the past nine months since they took over, and we will continue to support what they are trying to deliver.

“However, it is unfortunately the reality that the debate and discussions over a new stadium have gone on for many years, causing a great deal of frustration and uncertainty within the local community.

“Although we are fully supportive of the club, we can’t ignore the fact that the clock is and has been ticking, and people need certainty about the development.

“We will be pressing for a decision as soon as is practically possible that will benefit Liverpool FC and deliver the much needed regeneration that the area so badly needs.”

Atlanta based Helios Partners, in a joint statement with its sister company Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), announced the formation of Helios Partners Europe, a new business unit that will capitalize on the opportunities and rapid growth of the sports marketing industry throughout Europe.

Helios Partners Europe will focus on global business development in close collaboration with A.S.O. The unit will be led by Chris Renner, a 20-year industry veteran who most recently oversaw the company’s Beijing-based division as President of Helios China. While assuming responsibility for developing the European market, he will continue to oversee Helios’ operations in China. With Renner’s relocation to Paris, Helios establishes a centralized European operation that will provide an ideal foundation for aggressive growth through stronger alignment and resource efficiencies with A.S.O.

“We are looking forward to sharing our skills with Helios Partners Europe, who will bring to the business its strong bid city and brand consulting expertise in relation to big events such as the Olympic Games. The blending of our complementary strengths will create additional value for our clients and events alike,” said Yann Le Moenner, CEO of A.S.O.

Renner began his sports marketing career in Switzerland with ISL Worldwide. During the late 1990s, Renner developed ISL’s Asia Pacific business. Along with opening offices in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo, Renner also oversaw development and sales of a record-breaking sponsorship program for the Asian Games. Moving to Beijing in 2005, Renner developed Helios Partners into one of China’s leading sports marketing consultancies, representing international blue-chip clients and some of the country’s most prestigious brands including FedEx and Lenovo, as well as a roster of sports properties such as Major League Baseball International and FIFA.

“I am energized by the prospect of working with our partners at A.S.O., who have a proven expertise and record of success in all areas related to the creation, production and promotion of sporting events,” said Renner. “In addition, with the next two Olympic Games taking place in London and Sochi, we have an excellent opportunity to leverage Helios’ collective sponsorship and consulting experience to grow our business in the UK and Russian markets.”

Serving a wide range of global clients, with offices in Atlanta, London, Paris and Beijing, Helios Partners specializes in sponsorship consulting, sports property representation and bid city and organizing committee consulting.

A.S.O. is a global leader in sport event management, owning and operating 25 events across four continents, with world-renowned properties such as the Tour de France, Dakar Rally and the Paris International Marathon among those in the company’s portfolio.

A-League team Western Sydney Wanderers have been sold to a consortium of prominent businessmen, Football Federation Australia have confirmed.

The group, headed by Primo Smallgoods boss Paul Lederer, will assume ownership of the licence on June 30.

Pirtek founder Glenn Duncan, Filipino-Chinese businessman Jefferson Cheng and David Slade, a partner in British fashion outlet Topshop-Topman, are among the other investors.

The deal is believed to be worth around AUS$10 million (US$9,287,471 m).

The FFA, with the help of $4 million in federal government funding, set up the Wanderers in April 2012 and has held the licence for the past two years.

The club has enjoyed immense success since then under coach Tony Popovic, who has led the fledgling outfit to two consecutive A-League grand finals and this year’s Asian Champions League quarter-finals.

FFA boss David Gallop said the sale was an important step in the club’s evolution.

“The Wanderers were built for the people, by the people of Western Sydney,” Gallop said in a statement on Thursday.

“That was the promise from day one and FFA has held true to that mission.

“Like FFA before it, the new consortium understands its role as the guardians of the Wanderers.

“They are entrusted by the members of the club to protect and build on what has been achieved.”

Lederer ensured fans the spirit and culture at the Wanderers would not be affected by the sale.

“I have been a director of the club for the past two years and I’ve had the privilege to play a part and see first-hand what makes this club so special,” he said.

“The consortium has responsibility to ensure the Wanderers have a sound financial base and a strong administration so the club can continue to grow and be successful on and off the field.”

Leading global sports rights marketing agency Kentaro has announced Greg Davies as Head of Club Business and Digital Media. 

Davies has worked for 25 years in the global sports marketplace creating and marketing properties and rights across multiple sports.

After nine years at Parallel Media Group, he co-­‐founded Sports Technology pioneer, En Linea Inc., creators of FIFA.com, ManUtd.com and fcbarcelona.com amongst many others. He went on to be a founding member of IMG’s interactive division TWI Interactive.

He has extensive experience of event creation and promotion and has worked closely with some of the world’s biggest football clubs in organising tours, friendlies, training camps and tournaments around the world.

Kentaro CEO Philipp Grothe commented, “We are delighted that we have hired such an experienced operator as Greg and he will do much to drive forward our already strong club business across the footballing world. His work in the digital space will be invaluable as we extend and deepen our media offering and his knowledge of Latin markets, and in particular Brazil, will further strengthen our offering in these key, developing regions.”

London’s Olympic closing ceremony last night attracted a peak audience of 26 million viewers on BBC.

The ceremony, with performances from the Spice Girls, Take That and The Who, banked 22.9 million average viewers and a massive 80.7% audience share for BBC One between 9pm on Sunday and the early hours of Monday morning. 18.5 million viewers were still tuned in to the ceremony at midnight.

Another 202,000 tuned in to the BBC’s dedicated Olympics channels, BBC Olympics 1, and 83,000 watched in 3D on BBC HD.

Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony, which kick-started the Games on 27 July, secured an average audience of 23 million viewers.

On Saturday night, a peak audience of 12.3 million viewers tuned in to BBC One to watch live coverage of Mo Farah’s second gold medal win and the Jamaican team smash the world record in the 4 x 100m relay.

In the past 16 days, there have been 150 million tweets about the Olympics, with the biggest conversations and mentions (measured by tweets per minute) around Usain Bolt’s 200m and 100m victories, Andy Murray’s gold medal at Wimbledon and Jamaica’s new world record in the men’s relay.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said today goal-line technology was “a necessity” after Ukraine became the latest victims of its absence from the game.

The European Championship co-hosts were denied an equaliser in last night’s decisive 1-0 Group D defeat to England when officials failed to spot Marco Devic’s shot had crossed the line.

Blatter, who hopes to convince the game’s rule-makers – the International Football Association Board – to give technology the green light, posted on Twitter: “After last night’s match £GLT is no longer an alternative but a necessity.”

Blatter became a convert to goal-line technology after Frank Lampard was denied a legitimate goal in England’s 2010 World Cup defeat to Germany.

That failed to convince UEFA president Michel Platini, the favourite to succeed Blatter, who remained wedded to his belief additional assistant referees behind each goal was the best way forward.

FIFA has been trialling two different systems to help officials know whether a ball has crossed the line.

England’s friendly against Belgium last month was one of the test matches for Hawk-Eye, the system used in tennis and cricket, although it was not at the disposal of match officials.

A similar system called GoalRef has also been trialled in two Danish league matches.

The Iowa Speedway track has new owners after the Clement family has become the new principal owners in a multi-million dollar purchase of the track.

U.S. Motorsports Corporation, cialis the holding company that owns the track, cialis was purchased by Conrad Clement, hospital along with his brother Stan and sons Tracy and Eric. The financial terms of the deal are yet to be disclosed, but the track was valued at US$44m in 2009. The family has already announced that they will be retaining the services of all staff members.

Conrad Clement said: “My family has a 20-year history in the motorsports industry through our involvement with Featherlite. We’ve been intimately involved with Iowa Speedway since it was founded in 2006, and we’re looking forward to building on the momentum created over the last five years.”

Iowa Speedway president Jerry Jauron added: “We’ve added new races, fan amenities, sponsors and vendors every season — and we’ll continue to do so under the guiding vision of the Clement family. We’re looking forward to the remaining races on the 2011 schedule — and then we’ll gear up for 2012. We’ve got a very bright future ahead.”

In a statement regarding the deal, Nascar racing legend, and Iowa Speedway co-owner, Rusty Wallace said: “The Clement family has expressed their willingness to invest in the track, its infrastructure and its future. Together, we can establish Iowa Speedway as one of the Midwest’s premier entertainment venues, and achieve our ultimate goal – hosting a Nascar Sprint Cup race.”

Former owner Brad Manatt also expressed his view: “It was our privilege to help build the track five years ago, and like a proud parent, we’ve enjoyed watching it thrive and grow -and we’ll continue to do so from the stands,” he said. “We wish great success to Iowa Speedway and the Clement family.”

The 1.4km track hosts a series of prestigious racing events and has permanent seating for 25,000 spectators. It cost US$70m to build in 2005.

The Board of Sport England has reduced funding to the Rugby Football League (RFL) and the England Golf Partnership (EGP) after both bodies recorded disappointing participation figures shown in the Active People Survey.

The RFL has agreed to accept a reduction of around US$1.5m alongside a renegotiated participation goal, medstore having recognised that it will not achieve the growth in regular and sustained participation commissioned through Sport England’s 2009–2013 investment. 

The EGP has agreed to a reduction of around US$171,000 and have also accepted a renegotiated participation goal.

Jennie Price, Sport England’s chief executive, said: “We welcome the approach of the leadership team at the RFL to the review of funding levels. The governing body has recognised the need to change the approach to grassroots delivery if genuine growth in regular, sustained participation is to be achieved.

“Our discussions with the RFL have given us confidence that the very significant investment we are still making in rugby league will deliver value for money.”

The EGP has responded to the decline in golf participation by developing a clear plan to grow the game that puts the grassroots players – and potential participants – first. 

It has recognised the need to invest more in creating the right kind of opportunities to play golf around the country, and, using market segmentation, will pilot a social golf product initially aimed at younger males over the summer, with the project expanded to other target groups at a later date.

Price added: ‘We welcome the increased priority now being given by the England Golf Partnership to increasing participation among those aged 16 and over. The governing body has done good work in bringing children into the game, and has now committed to bringing the same focus to its work with the adult game’.