Turkmenistan’s international sports development took a significant step forward today with the start of the inaugural Turkmenistan International Sports Media Forum 2013 in the country’s capital, ed Ashgabat.

Forty of the world’s sports media from 23 different countries are attending the Forum to hear a range of high profile speakers and view the city’s impressive new iconic sports facilities. Speakers include Gianni Merlo, President of AIPS, and Michael Cole, Former London 2012 Marketing and Communications Director for BT Global Services. International media are also joined by 80 foreign correspondents and local media for the Forum’s discussions, which will focus on best practice in media operations ahead of Turkmenistan hosting their first ever major international sporting event, the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017.

Day 1 of the Forum began with a welcome address by the Chairman of the State Committee of Turkmenistan for Sport, Batyr Orazov. Welcoming everyone to the Forum, Mr Orazov said:

“It is a great honour for Turkmenistan to be hosting so many media from the sports world. We look forward to sharing best practice with them and receiving the benefit of their experience ahead of hosting our first major international sporting event, the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, in 2017.”

Day 2 of the Forum will see the delegates touring Turkmenistan’s rapidly developing state-of-the-art Olympic Complex, which includes two brand new stadiums, a velodrome, countless training centres, and a luxury media hotel. Highlights of Day 2 will also include a speech from Osman Karakus of Polimeks, the Turkish construction company developing the Complex.

Gianni Merlo, the President of AIPS – which is partnering the Forum – also delivered a keynote address to the delegation:

“AIPS is delighted to be involved in the inaugural Turkmenistan International Sports Media Forum 2013. AIPS is well placed to help emerging nations use sport as a way of communicating internationally. We are looking forward to our members sharing their views and best practice with the Turkmen authorities. These are exciting times for sport in Turkmenistan.”

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) have chosen International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz and USA Hockey executive Dave Ogrean to join a five-person panel to decide whether it should bid for a future Olympics.

The group is expected to report to the full USOC board at its quarterly meeting in December. It will consider bidding for the Summer Olympics in 2024 or the Winter Games in 2026.

Angela Ruggiero, Mike Plant and Susanne Lyons are the other board members on the exploratory panel.

The United States hasn’t hosted an Olympics since the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. The last U.S. Summer Olympics were in 1996 in Atlanta. The last two candidates, New York for 2012 and Chicago for 2016, both finished fourth in the voting.

The London Olympics are on track to become the most expensive Games in Olympic history since 1996’s summer Olympics in Atlanta, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

According to a new study by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, the budget for London’s upcoming Olympics has ballooned to $13 billion from its’ originally proposed target of $6.5 billion, putting it 107 percent over-budget, Business Insider reported.

The increased cost is significantly more than the average spill-over for Games during the past 10 years, the study found.

The record for budget-blowing goes to Atlanta, which overran its costs by 147 percent when it hosted the athletic competiton.

“The Olympics overrun with a 100 percent consistency,” Bent Flyvbjerg, who co-authored the research, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “You reach a point of no return seven years before the games where you commit to delivering and writing this blank check. You can’t trade off time with money in the Olympics.”

The researchers looked at data from both summer and winter Olympic games over the past 50 years, and calculated the costs of security, transportation, technology, ceremonies, and construction costs for sports venues, athlete’s villages, press and media centers, Forbes reported.

The Olympics’ actual budgets have been an average of 179 percent greater than the original bid budgets, according to Forbes.

“Any country that bids for the games probably goes into it, though they wouldn’t admit it, knowing that there’s very little likelihood of it ultimately proving to be cost effective or value for money,” Alan Seymour, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Northampton, told Bloomberg.

However, some expect London’s budget to soar even higher than these figures. According to the Daily Mail, a new report has estimated that the 2012 Summer Games will end up costing as much as $37 million.

The two parties have been unable to agree on whether net costs involved in the staging of the Paralympic Games should be separated from any operating profit generated by the Olympics.

The BOA is due to receive 20 per cent of any surplus, but its belief that the costs should be separate is not supported by LOCOG.

The BOA has been criticised by some who say that they have embarked on an unnecessary spending spree, with accounts showing that the body’s overall salary bill has more than doubled from $3.2m to $8m million in the last six years.

A statement from the BOA read: “As the National Olympic Committee, our principal responsibility is to safeguard future opportunities for Olympic athletes and sport throughout the United Kingdom.

“We are engaged in a formal process to ensure that any surplus resulting from the London 2012 Olympic Games is used for precisely those purposes. Quite simply, our objective is this: to guarantee that the London 2012 Olympic Games deliver a meaningful post-Games legacy that is beneficial to Olympic sport and athletes, present and future, throughout the UK.”

LOCOG responded with a statement that read: “The vision for London 2012, created by the BOA, Government and the Mayor of London and set out in the bid book is for one festival of sport, with an integrated Olympic and Paralympic Games, underpinned by a single budget. It is sad that this vision is now disputed by the new leadership of the BOA. We are grateful that the IOC is helping to resolve the issue.”

Major League Soccer (MLS) side DC United are trying to be convinced by the local Development Corp. in the city of Baltimore, viagra sale Maryland, cialis to relocate by highlighting the economic benefits gained from a new Westport based, soccer-specific stadium.

The possibility of a move has been in talks by representatives of the club and the city respectively but formal discussions are on hold until a commitment is made with regards to a facility. The possibilities of both a 25,000-seater stadium in Westport or the far smaller option of a 10,000,seat venue.

According to a feasibility study produced on the proposals, 940 new jobs could be generated through a new soccer-specific stadium with US$2.8m in city tax revenue. It was also stated that the stadium could host 49 to 54 events every year, including 17 DC United games. Spectator spending has been estimated at between $65.7 and $78 million each year.

Sportswear manufacturer Nike has launched an application called Nike+ GPS to rival the launch of the Adidas Mi-Coach app, which was released last month.

Nike’s new product is labelled as the first “Runners App” and is engineered to operate between GPS and an accelerometoer for an accurate, motivating and entertaining runner’s tool.

The new app allow runners to visually map every run while tracking pace, distance, time and calories burned. It also includes instant feedback during and after each run, from athletes including Paula Radcliffe and Lance Armstrong

Nike+ GPS is available now in the Aple iTunes App store for US$2 and requires an iPhone or iPod touch.