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.”

English League Two team Accrington Stanley have revealed they will revamp the club’s commercial operation, sale with a two person team  taking charge of all commercial aspects at the Store First Stadium from this week.

Faye Smithson and Mike Ferguson Jnr will now be responsible for all sponsorship, advertising and hospitality at the club.

“In the weeks to come we will be throwing considerable resources in to steeply driving income from non-footballing sources,” said Stanley Chairman Peter Marsden.

“Faye has been at the club part-time for a while and has earned her chance to shoulder more responsibility. Faye’s mantle will include hospitality, overseeing the East Lancashire By Official Appointment Scheme and masterminding a major overhaul of the Gold Bond scheme.

“Mike, who is the son of Stanley and Blackburn legend Mike Ferguson Snr, will have a brief to not only generate income from conventional routes (for instance perimeter boards / advertising / sponsorship / share sales) but to also harness the power of the internet, social media and modern technology in general to reach out to Stanley’s fans whether they be in Lancashire, the rest of the UK or indeed abroad. I regard our diverse fan base as being our unique secret weapon and I think up to now we have only scratched the surface in how to best exploit it.

“Crack the commercial and we will go a long way to making the club self-financing and prosperous.

“I would say to our fans and indeed the people and businesses of East Lancashire please give Faye and Mike your full support and let’s make this new Stanley commercial initiative a spectacular success.”

Alexander Zhukov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee has revealed that Russia may bid for a Summer Olympic Games after the 2020 Games are over.

He told students during an “Olympics class” in Moscow, “along with the Winter Olympics in 2014, there are many other competitions (in Russia), like the World Cup. After them, in 2020’s we would bid for a Summer Olympics.

Russia was fourth in the London Summer Games winning 82 medals, including 24 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze.

Russia will host the World University Games and the World Championship in Athletics in 2013, the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi, the ice hockey World Cup in 2016, and the soccer World Cup in 2018.

Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul are shortlisted candidates for the 2020 Summer Games, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will elect a winner next September.

A set of Olympic Rings has been installed at the Olympic Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastics Venue, Wembley Arena in London. The Rings show how Wembley Arena is preparing for its Games-time role.

The Rings, which are approximately 7.5 meters by 3.2 meters, are set to be an exciting feature in the venue throughout the Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastics competition inspiring the athletes and spectators alike. The installation marks the start of Wembley Arena’s transformation to an Olympic Games venue.

LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe said: “The Olympic Rings are an iconic symbol, inspiring athletes and uniting people around the world. To athletes they represent the culmination of thousands of hours of training and reaching the highest level in sport. These Rings will inspire athletes as well as exciting London 2012 fans coming to the Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastic competitions.”

Wembley Arena General Manager, John Drury added: “We’re delighted to be chosen as one of the venues for London 2012. It’s an honour for us to be part of such a global event and seeing the Olympic Rings going up brings it home, how close we now are to welcoming the world to Wembley.”

The Olympic Rings are one of the world’s most recognisable logos. The five rings – coloured blue, yellow, black, green and red – represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s sole challenger for the presidential re-elections this year, Mohamed Bin Hammam has claimed he plans to write to his rival and current incumbent to call for the upcoming election campaign to display the “integrity” of world soccer’s governing body.

It was made official by FIFA on Monday, April 4, that Asian Football Confederation president Bin Hammam would be the only opponent Blatter in the June 1 vote in Zurich, Switzerland. Former Chile international defender Elias Figueroa and American journalist Grant Wahl had previously announced plans to enter the running but failed to secure the nomination required to do so.

Issa Hayatou was the last candidate to run against Blatter when he was defeated in the 2002 ballot, which came after a campaign of accusations of financial mismanagement at FIFA.

However, Bin Hammam, writing in his online blog, stated that he is hoping both candidates can improve the public image of FIFA, which has taken a battering since the build-up to the December 2010 vote for the host countries of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.

The statement read: “I will write to the current FIFA president to congratulate him for putting his name forward for a fourth term. I will let him know that I see this election as an opportunity for us to prove that FIFA is not corrupt and that the organisation is open and democratic.

“I will tell him that throughout this campaign we should respect FIFA’s statutes and protect FIFA’s integrity by ensuring that there will be no outside interference in the attempt to win votes; the influence of third parties should not be tolerated or accepted.”