Electronics giant Sony has completed the acquisition of UK based, sports tracking technology company Hawk-Eye.

 

Financial terms of the deal which has seen Hawk-Eye snapped up by Sony have not been released, with the Japanese electronics giant hoping to utilise technology originally developed for military use in its sports broadcasting.

 

Hawk-Eye is used for the popular, newly integrated challenge system in major tennis and cricket tournaments, becoming a household name in the process. The technology and has also been used in soccer and snooker with a debate over its use in the former having existed for a number of years.

 

Naomi Climer, Vice-President Sony Europe, commented, “Hawk-Eye is recognised globally for its innovative solutions for resolving close calls in critical sporting situations, particularly in cricket and tennis where they have developed a worldwide reputation.”

 

“Players, officials and sports fans have all appreciated the accurate and entertaining way in which Hawk-Eye has integrated its technology into these key sports,” added Climer.

 

“Hawk-Eye presents Sony with the opportunity to acquire a small, innovative company with unique knowledge and excellent growth and synergies potential.

 

“It is an ideal complementary offering to Sony Professionals existing portfolio of solutions for stadiums, venues and broadcasters, as well as bringing in specific expertise around managed services and sports software solutions engineering.

 

“We see strong opportunities on the technological, business and marketing levels to further Sony’s leadership and engagement in the sports and broadcasting industry.”

The takeover includes all intellectual property, software solutions and engineering capabilities and Hawk-Eye and all of its staff will now join Sony Professional.

Istanbul’s 2020 bid for the Summer Olympic Games got a boost Wednesday when it was announced that Turkey will host the first-ever Turkish Golf Open November 7 to 10, 2013.

The new tournament will become the penultimate event on the European Tour schedule.

Ahmet Agaoglu, President of the Turkish Golf Federation said: “I am honoured to announce that starting from 7th November next year the first European Tour PGA event will take place in Turkey for three years up to and including 2015. There has never been a Turkish Open, and this will be an exciting start for this new tournament and it is our hope too that the players competing in this week’s Turkish Airlines World Golf Final will compete.”

Andrew Chandler, head of the UK-based International Sports Management (ISM), will run the tournament with Turkey.

He said: “This new Turkish Open will now tick a lot of boxes and with Turkey and Istanbul as a contender for the 2020 Olympic Games, this staging of the Turkish Open will help in that regard.”

Australia’s Nine Network is suffering because of the weak advertising market ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

The advertising market as well as the expensive broadcasting rights and  high production costs.

Nine had targeted about (Aus) $ 140M of  advertising revenues.

TV network bosses predicted Nine would fall (Aus) $ 10M-$15M short of its advertising revenue target, and it has failed to sell all its planned sponsorship packages.

The Olympics shortfall is likely to be keenly observed by Nine’s hedge fund lenders, who hold more than half of the company’s senior debt.{jcomments on}

Andy Anson, former chief of England’s failed 2018 World Cup campaign, has remained tight-lipped over suggestions that he is close to being appointed as a non-executive director of the British Olympic Association (BOA).

Anson has been involved in various consultancy projects since the decision made by FIFA, December 2, that ended England’s hopes of staging the World Cup·for the first time since 1966.

Earlier this year the BOA advertised for two non-executive directors, one understood to be financial, the other commercial and according to The Guardian, Anson, a former Manchester United commercial director, is being hunted for his commercial expertise.

The BOA made a post-tax loss in 2008 of US$2.4m.

Anson, who would neither confirm nor deny his reported imminent BOA role, still believes the 2018 and 2022 World Cup corruption exposé orchestrated by elements of the English media ultimately did for England’s chances.

National Hockey League team Phoenix Coyotes have announced that the team has added three new executives to its front office.

Avik Dey will serve as the Coyotes’ new chief financial officer, Jeff Morander will serve as executive vice president of ticket sales and strategy and Mike Humes will be the team’s executive vice president of corporate and suite sales.

“We are thrilled to announce these important additions to our senior management team,” president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc said in a statement. “All three of these individuals bring a wealth of business and sales experience to our organization, and they will all play a vital role in generating new revenue streams for our organization moving forward.”

Dey joins the Coyotes from Remvest Energy Partners, where he was a co-founder and CEO. Prior to that, Dey was the co-founder and CFO for Remora Energy, an international oil and gas company. He also previously served in various roles with First Reserve Corporation, Deutsche Bank and EnCana Corporation. 

Morander comes to the Coyotes from the NHL, where for the past six years he served in a variety of roles, including vice president of NHL events, vice president of ticket strategy and vice president of club consulting and services. 

In his tenure with the NHL, Morander was involved in numerous NHL events, such as the Winter Classics in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as well as the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa and the NHL Awards in Las Vegas. He also established a “Ticketing Center of Excellence” and assisted NHL teams with ticketing best practices, which resulted in record-setting league-wide revenues.

In his over 25 years of senior management experience in the sports industry, Morander has also worked for the Sacramento Kings (NBA) and Monarchs (WNBA) as a senior vice president of sales and services; the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) and Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) as a senior vice president of ticket sales and service; the Chicago Bears (NFL) as the team’s director of stadium sales and service; the Houston Rockets (NBA) and Comets (WNBA) as vice president of ticket sales and services; and the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) as the team’s vice president of ticket Operations and sales.

Humes joins the Coyotes from the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, where he served as the team’s senior vice president and chief revenue officer. From 2010-13, Humes oversaw the growth of all revenue streams for the Grizzlies as well as all events held at FedExForum. He led business operations including revenue and brand development, ticket sales, consumer retention, fan experience, fan development, sponsorship and business operations.

Prior to working for the Grizzlies, Humes served as the chief operating officer for the Chicago Fire of the MLS, where he led the overall business operations. Prior to his time with the Fire, Humes served as the vice president of global marketing for K2 Sports, where he developed the strategic marketing platform for the distribution of 16 brands in 65 countries.  

During his 20-plus years working in professional sports, Humes has also served as the senior vice president and chief sales officer for the Washington Capitals (NHL) and Washington Mystics (WNBA); the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Seattle Supersonics (NBA) and Seattle Storm (WNBA); and the senior vice president of business operations for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Humes played an instrumental role in the launch and branding of the Blue Jackets franchise in 2000.

Poznan in Poland has dropped its campaign to bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games after the city council voted against providing financial guarantees for the project according to the The Associated Press.

All cities bidding for the 2018 Games have until October 15 to provide the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with full financial committments along with detailed bid plans.

It was reported that the city denied the funding of an equivalent of $25 million with a 27-4 vote.  Instead, viagra generic they favoured spending on other municipal projects.

Poznan was one of two finalists for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games but lost the final vote to Nanjing, abortion | China by a vote of 47-42.  After the close loss bid officials committed to a 2016 bid and the city has been considered a frontrunner in the race.  Buenos Aires, Medellin, Glasgow, Guadalajara and Rotterdam remain in the hunt with a final decision expected in July, 2013.

Worldwide Olympic partner, McDonald’s has received fresh flak after a new report revealed a quarter of consumers beleive the restaurant chain is a poor fit for the games.

Research conducted by Interbrand for Marketing has revealed that McDonald’s prompts the greatest division of opinion, followed by Coca-Cola.

A quarter of consumers either strongly or completely disagreed that McDonald’s is a ‘good fit’ as an Olympic sponsor. Meanwhile, 10% of respondents strongly or completely disagreed that Coca-Cola is suitable.

Meanwhile, 32% of consumers said that the fast-food brand’s involvement conflicts with what the Olympics stands for, and 39% believed that its products and services are not relevant to the Games.

A spokeswoman for McDonald’s defended its sponsorship: “Our long-term commitment to the Olympic Games has provided us with the opportunity to develop exciting programmes for our customers and for our people.

“Sponsorship is essential to the Olympics, and as a London 2012 sponsor, we are using our catering and customer-service expertise to provide high-quality British food, and help train the 70,000 volunteers that will be needed to make the Games a success.”

Adidas was ranked as the most appropriate Olympic partner; 59% of consumers said that its sponsorship is a good fit.

However, in better news for McDonald’s, it was the second-most spontaneously recalled sponsor, with 35% of respondents recognising its tie-up.

The brand came second only to Coca-Cola, which had a 42% unprompted recall rate. Consumer interest in what has been dubbed the ‘first social-media Olympics’ has been growing steadily since the beginning of the year.

According to Interbrand, 4m tweets mentioning the Olympics have been sent in the past year.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) has announced that its President, apoplectic Marisol Casado, viagra has been elected to the Council of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) at the 35th General Assembly in London, April 4.

Casado, also an IOC Member, was elected to one of the three vacancies on the seven-member ASOIF Council. She joined International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Secretary General Patrick Baumann and International Handball Federation (IHF) President Hassan Moustafa.

Moustafa was re-elected to a second term while Casado and Baumann will serve their first four-year term. The President of ASOIF is Denis Oswald who is also an Executive Board member of the IOC.

Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member said: “It is my privilege to be elected a member of the ASOIF Council.  There are 28 member summer international federations and the new role has the responsibility of strengthening the solid link among the summer IFs, the IOC and Organising Committees of Summer Olympic Games (OCOGs).  I am committed to making this responsibility my duty and working even more closely with the members federations.”