Research released today by sponsorship experts Havas Sports & Entertainment (HS&E) shows sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games has already led to substantially stronger brand image and purchase intent across a wide range of official sponsors’ brands. 

Perceptions of brand image are on average 25-50% more positive across a representative selection of Tier One and Tier Two London 2012 sponsors included in the study.  Those aware of a brand’s Olympic sponsorship are on average 50% more likely to find a sponsor brand ‘inspiring’ and ‘trustworthy’ and 25% more likely to view a sponsor as ‘world-class’ or ‘admired.’

This enhanced brand image  then successfully translates into a significantly higher purchase consideration, generic | with those aware of a brand’s sponsorship being on average 50% more likely to consider purchasing a sponsor’s product. 

The study was commissioned by HS&E, pills to identify the effects of Olympic Games’ sponsorship on sponsor brands, and to track interest in and attitudes towards the Games over a period of two and a half years. 

Alastair Macdonald, Sponsorship Insights Director, HS&E, commented: “Our findings demonstrate London 2012 sponsorship is already providing sponsors with tangible image and business benefits.  These patterns apply specifically to the Olympic sponsors – the same effect does not apply to competitor brands, which indicates this is a genuine sponsorship effect. 

English Premier League soccer club Manchester City has linked up with global sports video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) in an innovative move into the virtual content market.

The last International Olympic Committee (IOC) member to be expelled over corruption, see Ivan Slavkov has died, cheap aged 70, shop after a bout with pneumonia.

After he was secretly videotaped by the BBC offering to deliver the votes of his colleagues in exchange for money, Slavkov was suspended from the IOC in 2004, before being expelled from the IOC a year later at the Session in Singapore. 

Slavkov was elected to the IOC in 1987 having served as president of the Bulgarian Football Association and the Bulgarian NOC.

In 2000, Slavkov came under the watch of the newly-formed IOC Ethics Commission for dealings involving the 2004 Olympic bid from Capetown, South Africa. But no sanctions were issued when the case was closed by the commission.

At the 2005 IOC Session, Slavkov delivered a 20-minute plea for mercy, a plea that failed to win much sympathy from members who had seen the BBC program in a private viewing just hours before the vote . 

Slavkov tried to convince his colleagues that he was trying to expose the phony agent, not take a US$25,000 bribe. 

The vote to expel was 82 for, 12 against and 5 abstaining. No IOC members have been expelled since Slavkov.

Chairman of UK Athletics, Ed Warner, has conceded that it will be practically impossible to fill the Olympic Stadium post 2012 for athletics events.

UK Athletics main event is the two-day London Diamond League Grand Prix, currently held in Crystal Palace, but this draws a capacity crowd of just 17,000, under a third of the 60,000 capacity promised by West Ham’s bid which is still pending approval.

Some of the lesser meetings are likely to struggle even more to attract spectators, with the likes of the UK Championships being the next in line in terms of prestigious events, bringing a capacity crowd of around 8,000 to Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium.

The success of West Ham’s bid to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) to occupy the stadium involved a crucial commitment to 20 days of “top-class athletics” per year. Warner however, has stated: “‘Top-class’ is not a technical term in athletics as ‘first-class’ is in cricket. By ‘top-class’ we mean the two days of the Diamond League, down to championships for each major age group. Some will attract a significant paying public, others a smaller paying public. We will also be able to bid for major European and world championships.”

In defence of why having a 60,000-seat venue still makes sense for events watched by crowds in the hundreds, Warner said: “We have never argued that athletics makes the stadium commercially viable. But we want our athletes to aspire to run on the track in a facility of such quality, and the warm-up track underneath is also important. West Ham made the call that they can make the stadium work financially, and we were able to piggy-back on that.”

Additionally he attempted to allay fears that West Ham may be forced to pull the athletics track promise which was so integral to their bid, adding: “We have a commitment to an IAAF category one facility, to be maintained in the stadium, for the duration of the lease.”

The Associated Press (AP) may be forced to suspend text and photo coverage of England’s cricket tour of India because of new restrictions introduced by the Board of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI).

The BCCI said it would prevent photo-only agencies from covering games and limit the number of its own photographs available to media. International photo-only agencies, as well as some similar Indian companies, have been refused accreditation for the England tour.

Other international news organisations are considering suspending coverage.

The first of four Test matches is scheduled to start in Ahmedabad on Thursday, when the new BCCI conditions are being introduced.

Lou Ferrara, AP’s Managing Editor for Sports, said”: “We are surprised at these terms for photo agencies and remain hopeful that they will be lifted. AP wants to provide cricket coverage to the world and it is only in the best interest of the organisers to allow that to happen for all news outlets, especially in this rapidly changing media landscape.”

AP is working with the News Media Coalition to try to find a solution.{jcomments on}

Der Präsident des Deutschen Olympischen Sportbundes (DOSB), cough Dr. Thomas Bach, hat die Entscheidung der ARD, die Wettkämpfe der Olympischen Spiele in London zusätzlich über bis zu sechs parallele Livestreams im Internet zu zeigen, gelobt. “Das ist nur zu begrüßen, weil die Olympischen Spiele nur über eine Vielzahl von Kanälen abgewickelt werden können”, sagte Bach in einem ARD-Interview.

Die ARD geht gemeinsam mit dem ZDF in London neue Wege und lässt die sportinteressierten Zuschauer umfassend an den Olympischen Spielen teilhaben, indem sie vielen Sportarten eine zusätzliche Bühne bietet. Die Livestreams ergänzen das Fernsehprogramm und präsentieren Olympia im Internet, auf mobilen Endgeräten wie Smartphones und Tablet-PCs, sowie im HbbTV. Die Livestreams werden auf sportschau.de/olympia bereitgestellt.

“Das Internet bietet großartige Möglichkeiten, um zielgerichtet dem Fan einer bestimmten Sportart, aber auch um möglichst vielen Zuschauern die Olympische Begeisterung und die Olympischen Wettbewerbe zu vermitteln”, sagte Dr. Bach, der auch Vize-Präsident des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees ist.

Die ARD plant, täglich bis zu 60 Stunden Live-Sport aus London zu streamen. “So garantieren wir größtmögliche sportliche Vielfalt”, sagt Thomas Luerweg, Online-Sportchef des NDR.

Mit insgesamt rund 900 Stunden zusätzlicher Live-Berichterstattung decken ARD und ZDF von Badminton bis Wasserspringen alle Sportarten umfangreich ab. Dabei werden rund zwei Drittel der Sportereignisse von den ARD- und ZDF-Fachreportern kommentiert. Ob Bogenschießen oder BMX – vor allem Rand- und Trendsportarten profitieren von der neuen Strategie der ARD.

Über einen elektronischen Programmführer (EPG) sieht der User auf einen Blick, welche Disziplin oder welche Entscheidung live übertragen wird. Die Online-Zuschauer haben darüber hinaus die Möglichkeit, ihre favorisierten Sportarten auszuwählen und zu sehen, welche Übertragungen geplant sind. “So können die Zuschauer und User ihr Olympia-Programm individuell zusammenstellen und möglichst viele Medaillenentscheidungen live erleben”, sagt Luerweg.

Um nichts zu verpassen, bieten ARD und ZDF Highlight-Videos und ein so genanntes Time-Shifting-Verfahren an. Mit einer Pausenfunktion können die Live-Übertragungen angehalten und zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt angeschaut werden.

Für die kleinen und großen Olympischen Momente sorgen allein die Athleten. Auf sportschau.de/olympia sind die deutschen Sportfans dabei – jederzeit und überall.

Sony is extending its sponsorship of ESPN 3D for another year.

Sony was named the first official sponsor of the network when it was announced in January 2010. The network launched June 11 2010 and became to a 24/7 network on February 14 2011.

Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN Customer Marketing and Sales, said: “We’re doubling the number of college football games on the network this fall, which was made possible by our strategic relationship with Sony.”

ESPN 3D produced more than 115 live sporting events and was launched with the commencement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer championship games.

3DTV is still to become an established part of people’s homes. First-year set sales was just 1.1 million in the United States, whilst this year’s number is expected to hit 1.9 million. That’s still a fraction of ESPN 3D’s footprint, which covers 65 million households.

Recent research from the United Kingdom on 3D reveals conflicts. 3DTV penetration is expected to grow, but 3DTV usage for viewing stereoscopic content is not.