BBC have announced viewing figures for London 2012 are hitting record highs with Mo Farah’s triumphant win seeing the biggest figures.

The number of BBC viewers tuning in to watch London 2012 has surpassed those recorded for Beijing 2008 with Mo Farah’s 10,000 metre triumph drawing the largest audience of the Olympics so far.

The Briton’s race to glory pulled in a peak audience of 17.1 million at 9.45pm on Saturday night across BBC One and BBC Olympics broadcasts.

The second most watched event was the climax of the heptathlon won by the unofficial face of London 2012 Jessica Ennis, drawing in 16.3 million viewers three quarters of an hour earlier at 9pm.

Watched by 15.6 million viewers, Britain’s Greg Rutherford’s gold medal winning long jump was the third most highly watched achievement of the Games via the BBC One and BBC Olympics platforms.

Danny Boyle’s London 2012 Opening Ceremony also proved to be a winner, attracting an unprecedented average audience of 22.4 million with a five-minute peak of 26.9 million and 15 minute peak of 26.7 million.

Four years’ earlier, the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony attracted far fewer numbers when the BBC audience averaged just 5.1 million with a five-minute peak of 5.9 million and 15 minute peak of 5.4 million.

United Data Technologies (UDT) announced their completion of the installation of the enterprise data network for the new $515 million ballpark for Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins franchise.

The future home of the Marlins will be a first-class baseball stadium, constructed on approximately 17 acres of the historic Orange Bowl site. The ballpark has a retractable roof, a natural grass playing field and 37,000 seats.

“We were honored to be entrusted to oversee technology needs for the Miami Marlins’ new facility and team headquarters,” said Gerard Amaro, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We saw this as a platform to showcase our expertise and client-focused solution set. Client opportunities of this scale and magnitude are uncommon, so it was important we selected solutions befitting this world-class project.”

UDT was selected over numerous vendors and manufacturers competing to provide the 37,000-seat ballpark’s new core enterprise data network infrastructure and uninterrupted power supply solutions. The core infrastructure supports all aspects of the ballpark, from the elevator to point-of-sale to the scoreboards.

“We are proud to have partnered with United Data Technologies,” said Claude Delorme, Marlins EVP of Operations and Events. “Marlins Park is a state-of-the-art ballpark like no other and we recruit only the best. UDT will manage our technology needs and we are confident they will excel at the task.”

UDT delivered a highly available core enterprise network on time and on budget. “We made sure we were flexible in our implementation approach to ensure we met all timelines and deadlines,” said Jesus Peña, UDT’s Vice President of Sales for Florida and the Caribbean. “Our team understood the complexity and how critical it was to have the core network available on time.”

Commonwealth Games England (CGE) has placed adverts in the national press this weekend, seeking applicants for the posts of chief executive, sports director and commercial director.

CGE chairman Sir Andrew Foster stated: “We will be generating a step change on the back of these appointments. We are looking at a different sort of approach.”

Foster maintains that the changes are part of a general movement to make the CGE more attractive to sponsors.

He added: “We already have a wealth of expertise on our board with people such as our President, Dame Kelly Holmes, Lawrence Dallaglio, David Robinson, who is CEO of Speedo, and Arsenal’s marketing director  Angus Kinnear.

“It is all a case of making it look to sponsors like a very supportable proposition.”

The chairman also confirmed that tt is also part of the CGE plan to move their head office from Crystal Palace to a more central location, adding: “Crystal Palace is a bit out of the way and we want to be much more in view. We want to be alongside other major sporting organisations at the centre of things.”

The CGE has put in place a wide-ranging strategy document looking at key areas for change and improvement in the years of rich opportunity leading to the Glasgow 2014 Games.

After they were relegated from the English Premier League this weekend, London-based soccer club West Ham United have insisted that they still plan to move into the Olympic Stadium after London 2012, despite their recent disappointment.

A spokesman for West Ham said they were “totally committed” to making the US$836m venue their new home after the Games next year, though their demotion from the top flight of English football is bound to provide rivals Tottenham Hotspur with fresh ammunition in their fight to have the decision overturned.

Both Tottenham and League One side Leyton Orient have applied for separate judicial reviews into West Ham’s bid for different reasons but the Hammers claim their original bid made provisions for both Premier League and Championship soccer.

The spokesman added: “As far as our plans for the Olympic Stadium are concerned, we are continuing at a pace.”

It is thought that unless they are promoted straight away, West Ham’s move to the Olympic Stadium must be serious doubt, in terms both of likely attendances and global image.

TPG Capital, the private equity firm, has bought a 35 per cent stake in sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA Sports).

CAA Sports represents more than 650 of the world’s biggest athletes, coaches, broadcasters, teams, leagues, venues and marketers.

Major League Baseball (MLB) star Derek Jeter and Real Madrid footballer Cristiano Ronaldo are among the company’s clients.

Under the terms of the deal, CAA and TPG have agreed to create a US$500 million pledge fund which will provide access to significant capital for future investments.

TPG founding partner David Bonderman said: “CAA is the clear leader within its industry and the talent agency most trusted by successful actors, directors, writers, producers, musicians and athletes.

“Over its history, the company has demonstrated a consistent ability to identify nascent opportunities and expand into new markets.

“CAA’s outstanding management team has built the gold-standard franchise in their industry based on a culture of exceptional client service, and we look forward to supporting CAA at this exciting inflection point in their evolution as they look to expand their operations and services around the globe.”

 

The Football Association (FA) has revealed in their annual report a large reduction in income from broadcast rights last season.

The report showed broadcast income was down £34million from the previous season, an after effect from the collapsed Setanta deal back in 2009.

The FA was forced to agree a short-term two-year deal with ITV for England matches and the FA Cup ending in July this year, which contributed to the shortfall.

Overall income fell from £327m in 2011/12 to £299m in the 2012/13 period, but the FA still managed to report an operating profit of £28m while increasing the amount it puts back into football by £11m to £108m.

England not being involved in a major tournament last year also led to a £10m drop in revenue.

But this was offset by extra income from the new national football centre at St George’s Park (£15m) and an added £7m from Wembley Stadium events including the 2013 Champions League final and the London 2012 Olympics.

The FA’s annual report insisted that broadcasting income will increase in future seasons.

It read: “This reduction is partly offset by the additional international broadcasting revenues generated by the rights granted to nine broadcasters over the six-year period to July 2018.

“The domestic broadcasting rights for the four seasons from August 2014 to July 2018 were acquired by ITV for England friendly matches and by BBC and BT Sport for the FA Cup coverage.

“All of the Group’s broadcasting rights are sold to July 2018 and domestic broadcasting revenues will increase from the 2014/15 season.”

FIFA executive committee member Lydia Nsekera has been removed as president of the Burundi Football Association (BFA).

The BFA said Nsekera was defeated 31-25 by Reverien Ndikuriyo, a parliamentary senator, in a poll held on Sunday.

FIFA released a statement saying: “A new president was elected in a fair and transparent process.”

Observers from football’s world governing body and the Confederation of African Football attended the election meeting in Bujumbura.

Nsekera had led the BFA since 2004 as one of the few women presidents in the history of world football.

In May she was elected to serve a four-year term with Fifa’s executive committee and is the the first woman to join the governing body’s ruling board.

Sochi 2014 organizers have announced that Sochi.Park is to become free to visitors for the remainder of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The park is located in London’s Kensington Gardens.

Organizers call the park a “winter wonderland in the middle of London summer”. Visitors to the park will be provided with high-tech interactive digital experiences that takes guests through Russia to Sochi, which includes a 4D chairlift ride up the Krasnodar mountains.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, Sochi 2014 President and CEO said: “We have always wanted as many people as possible to get a flavour of the Games in 2014. We are delighted that, thanks to our partners at Rosneft we are now able to share the amazing transformation that Sochi is undergoing and allow people to experience for themselves all that the Winter Games there in 2014 has to offer – all absolutely free to the public. I hope that even more Londoners and those visiting these great Games will be able to come and see it for themselves.”

Sochi.Park has an ice arena on which the largest ice spectacular ever to be staged outside Russia is being presented – “Sochi-Small Stories of a Big City”. It stars six Olympic and 18 World Champion ice skaters including Ilya Averbukh and Tatiana Navka.