The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) board have agreed to move forward to explore a possible bid for the Olympic Games, according to reports.

The USOC will hold meetings with cities interesting in bidding for a future Olympics, and is promising to streamline the domestic selection process if it decides to bid for the 2024 or 2026 Games.

CEO Scott Blackmun said: “We’re just trying to get smarter and see which cities we might want to have serious discussions with. We’re going to view 2013 as more informational, if you will. We’ll be smarter at the end of the year than we are in the beginning. But we don’t expect to make substantive announcements in 2013.”

The 2024 bidding process doesn’t begin in until 2015.

Blackmun said: “We definitely recognize that we want to have a more cost-effective process this time around that we’ve had in the past. It needs to be a little more informal, a little less expensive.”

USOC chairman Larry Probst added: “I think it’s important to have local, state and national support for a bid. We hope to position this as a national bid for the United States.”

Blackmun said he was willing to sit down with any city that was interested in hosting, and that over the next few months the board will put together a “process paper” that will describe a timetable and other details. But he didn’t guarantee a future bid.

He added: “We don’t know if we’re in a position to submit a bid until we know which city we’d submit.”

Los Angeles, Dallas and Tulsa are expected to express an interest in hosting the 2024 Games. The Associated Press reports New York, Chicago and San Francisco have either bid or expressed interest in bidding in the past, and Salt Lake City, Denver and Reno are among the cities that have talked about hosting a Winter Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 launched its official campaign tagline ‘Discover Tomorrow’, which was chosen to emphasise two key elements of the bid and Tokyo- global inspiration and dynamic innovation.

Japan Sport Council, owners of the iconic National Stadium, announced the launch of an international design competition to update and remodel the venue in preparation for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic and Paralympic bid (Tokyo 2020).

IOC members may be convinced to vote for the Japanese bid after the quake-tsunami disaster left about 19,000 people dead or missing last year. An IOC source said: “It is a powerful argument, IOC members like a story and also are especially keen on the legacy message.” {jcomments on}

Aston Villa has begun a relationship with CWS Brains, seek a leading mobile content provider in Japan, anabolics in an effort to reach out to the English Premier League club’s fan base in the Asian country.

Japanese fans will be able to download club news, ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and videos of their favourite Villa players. CWS Brains will also provide breaking news SMS alerts, match day line-up alerts and daily club news on the WAP site, which will offer classic goal videos, match photos and 30-second highlights of Premier League and cup games.

CWS Brains’ Soccer Membership already has 150,000 customers to the subscription service. The service is available across a wide range of mobile platforms in Japan. Villa has joined other top Premier League clubs including Manchester United, Everton and Arsenal in partnering with CWS Brains.

Villa’s head of marketing, Russell Jones, said that the club remained committed to “building Aston Villa’s fan base internationally as well as locally”.

Jones added: “Thanks to the reach of the Premier League, our supporter club network, new sponsorGenting and our participation in the Barclays Asia Trophy, we have seen a very rapid and recent growth in our Asian fan base. We are delighted to have secured a deal with CWS Brains as the partnership will provide yet another platform to engage with our fans in Asia.”

FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam, sole challenger to current incumbent Sepp Blatter, has admitted that the mix-up which saw him unable to attain a visa to the United States in order to attend the CONCACAF Congress has affected his chances of replacing the Swiss.

Bin Hammam travels on a diplomatic passport yet was still unable to fly to Miami and revealed in a blog on his website that he was unable to attend “due to issues beyond my control”.

It has since been reported that he was in fact refused a visa – and it has now been revealed how that came about after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president claimed he was the victim of an “administrative error” on the US side which prevented him joining Blatter in Miami..

Bin Hammam stated: “Yes, I have a diplomatic passport. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the CONCACAF Congress in Miami, Florida, because of an administrative error. And I have been definitely affected by it.”

An AFC spokesman went further, adding: “There was an administrative faux pas – not on our side! – when he submitted his passport for the stamping of the US visa. Even diplomatic passport holders like the AFC President sometimes need a visa.”

“When the passport came back, the visa had not been stamped and the book had to be sent back. 

“This coincided with the Easter holidays and before the visa could be stamped he had to catch the plane to the UK and, onwards to, Paraguay.”

Although Bin Hammam’s absence technically reduced his chances of unseating Blatter, CONCACAF President Jack Warner claimed that he would wait to hear from the Qatari before deciding who to back in the elections.

Bin Hammam has now been invited to Trinidad next week at a specially convened alternative summit where he will meet Warner and Caribbean members of confederation.

Sport England have announced today seven new additions to the board each for a three-year term. 

The seven which includes – Kate Bosomworth, Ian Drake, David Goldstone, Sally Gunnell, Debbie Jevans, Charles Reed and Mark Spelman – will join Clare Connor, Hanif Malik, Peter Rowley and Sport England Chair Nick Bitel.

Welcoming the new faces to the board, Nick said: “I am delighted with the high calibre of individuals who are joining us. They will bring considerable expertise to an already experienced board and will help steer the organisation over the coming years.  It is a testament to the work of Sport England that we have been able to make such a very impressive set of appointments.”

Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said: “We have seen an increased sporting enthusiasm across the country following London 2012 and Sport England has a vital role to play in keeping up the momentum; boosting grassroots sport and encouraging even more people to participate. The new board members will help Sport England do exactly that. They bring with them a wealth of experience from different backgrounds and will help ensure that the £1 billion of public money Sport England is investing into community sport makes the biggest possible impact.”

More about the new board members:

Kate Bosomworth

Kate Bosomworth is a communications professional specialising in sport, fitness and well-being, working on a range of sports including the 2010 Ryder Cup, tennis, rugby, running and cycling. Having set up her own agency in 2002, in 2012 she sold the business to Speed Communications where she is now Managing Director. She is a trustee for Disability Sports Coach, a charity which provides sporting opportunities to disabled people.

Ian Drake

Ian Drake joined British Cycling in 1991, becoming Chief Executive in 2008. Under his leadership, he has overseen unprecedented growth in cycling at all levels, with the British elite cycling teams dominating internationally and record numbers of people getting on their bikes regularly. He has also developed partnerships with commercial and public sector organisations alike.

David Goldstone

David Goldstone’s career has involved operating as a senior financial leader and successfully delivering major public and private projects and programmes. He was appointed Chief Finance Officer for Transport for London (TfL) in January 2013 having been the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Finance Director for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games for the previous five years.

Sally Gunnell OBE

Former world record holder and Olympic and World gold medallist, Sally Gunnel is one of Britain’s best-known athletes. She has been involved in promoting sport from grassroots to elite for many years. A broadcaster and speaker, she sits on the board of GLL, a social enterprise providing sport and leisure facilities across the country.

Debbie Jevans CBE

Debbie Jevans has spent her entire career in sport. A former professional tennis player who represented England at junior and senior levels and was Wimbledon Junior Champion in 1978, she worked in sports journalism and consultancy before moving to sports administration. She is currently a director at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the All England Tennis Championship and Chief Executive of England Rugby 2015. She was previously Director of Sport at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and General Secretary of the International Tennis Federation.

Charles Reed

Former Director of Group Communications and Customer Service at Nationwide, Charles Reed ended a successful career in financial services in 2008. In 2008 he joined the board of English Federation of Disability Sports (EFDS), becoming Chair in 2011.  He is also a Trustee of the London Marathon Charitable Trust; a Director of Active Gloucestershire, his local County Sport Partnership; and Chair Chair of the Advisory Board for Cirencester College’s Sports Career Academy which helps develop students who are seeking careers in the sports sector.

Mark Spelman

Mark Spelman has been a senior partner at Accenture, a global management consulting practice, for 20 years having joined the business in 1989. He served Vice-Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce Executive Council in Brussels for six years and for a decade as a Director and Sponsor of Accenture Development Partnerships, Accenture’s not-for-profit organisation working on skills to succeed. A keen cricketer, he captained Kent County Cricket at under 19 and still plays for Kent over 50.

Plans for a new international airport in Istanbul and a third bridge across the Bosphorus, have boosted Istanbul’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

The expansion will see the Turkish Airlines fleet grow from 203 aircraft to 375 by 2020, and an extension of their service network to more than 210 international destinations and 2,000 daily departures.

Pegasus Airlines, reportedly Europe’s fastest growing airline in 2011, announced this week that it had made a $12 billion order of up to 100 Airbus passenger jets, the single largest aircraft deal in Turkish aviation history.

Airbus’ Executive Vice President Christopher Buckley said this week: “Turkey is rapidly developing into Europe’s most dynamic commercial aviation market”, and the national government has recently concluded the tender process for a huge third airport in Istanbul to support the growth. The third airport will feature six runways and accommodate an estimated annual capacity of up to 150 million passengers by 2020, making it the largest in the world.

Hasan Arat, head of Istanbul 2020 said: “This huge level of investment from the public and private sectors demonstrates the mood of optimism and ambition in Turkey right now. Istanbul is not just investing in infrastructure – it is investing in mobility. That means improving the experience of travelling to and around the city for its visitors, and making the city more liveable for its residents.

“Istanbul’s bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020 is perfectly aligned with the city’s long-term development plan. The infrastructure innovations that will allow us to offer athletes average travel times from Village to venue of just 20 minutes will leave an invaluable legacy for the city and its people for generations”.

IOC President Jacques Rogge played down fears that wearing the wrong kind of logo on a T-shirt could cause a ticket holder to be denied entry to an Olympic venue.

Rogge said no action would be taken against individuals if they wear clothing, for example, made by a competitor of official London Games sponsors.

He said the IOC and local organising committee would not be heavy-handed after head organiser Sebastian Coe told a British radio station on Friday that a person probably would not be allowed into an Olympic venue wearing a Pepsi T-shirt because soft drink rival Coca-Cola was a main sponsor.

“Common sense would prevail,” Rogge said, but warned that Olympic sponsors’ rights would be protected and a “blatant” attempt at ambush marketing would result in intervention by the IOC and the local organising committee.

“Our position is very clear. We have to protect the sponsors because otherwise there is no sponsorship and without sponsorship there is no games,” Rogge said.

“However, you have to be balanced and reasonable and I am sure that is going to be the case.”

Rogge added that individual cases would not be pursued by the police.

“LOCOG will have a very, I will say, subtle approach,” he said.

“But if there is a blatant attempt at ambush marketing by another company or by a group of people with commercial views, then of course we will intervene.”

Olympics organisers are similarly vigilant about protecting the rights of sponsors like McDonald’s, Adidas, Cadbury and Coca-Cola, which pay as much as $100 million each to be official sponsors during each Olympic cycle.

The logos of competitors are banned from venues, and under a special Olympic law passed by the British Parliament, businesses can be barred from using words and phrases – including “London 2012” or even gold, silver and bronze – that suggest an Olympic association.

“Common sense will prevail and LOCOG will work with common sense,” Rogge said.

remedy helvetica, cure sans-serif;”>The Football League have introduced their Official Clubs’ Android App for the 2011/12 season, allowing fans to keep in touch with their team wherever they are and whatever they are doing.

The Official Football League Clubs’ Android App offers an individual design for each of the clubs in The Football League and provides fans with all the latest information on their club direct to their smartphone including: Official news, Scores, Fixtures, Latest league positions, Access to the official npower Football League Podcast, Stats and player profiles

In addition to the free content, fans also have the option to purchase a premium service which includes access to extended video match highlights, video newscasts featuring interviews and exclusives with their manager and players, Google mapping to enable fans to find their way to any match stadium in the country, a score predictor game to play with other fans from the same club or opposition

The subscription also provides fans with an enhanced user experience, allowing supporters to view information for more than one club. The premium service will be available for just £1.49 a month, £7.49 for 6 months or £12.99 for a 12 month membership.

The App has been created due to the huge demand from fans following the incredible success of the iPhone App, which has been downloaded over 350,000 times since its release. The App enables fans to update their Facebook and Twitter profiles automatically, making it even easier to share thoughts, views and comments with their friends.

Ian Ritchie, chairman of FL Interactive said: “Fans want to know every detail when it comes to their club. We have designed the Official Football League Clubs’ Android App for this very purpose, using the latest technology to help deliver quick access to rich and interactive content, tailored for their club. Now fans will never have to be separated from their team.”

The new Official Football League Clubs’ Android App is available to download now through the Android Market Website.