ASBU to Show Baku 2015 in 20 Countries

Baku 2015 European Games has signed a broadcast agreement with the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU).

The significant deal will see guaranteed coverage of the inaugural European Games in 20 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

The agreement means ASBU will offer free-to-air live coverage through its member broadcasters, ailment with full Arabic commentary and highlights packages of the 17 days of competition also available.

The deal ensures coverage will be available in Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Chief Operating Officer of Baku 2015 Simon Clegg said: “This is a major moment for the Baku 2015 European Games and we are very proud to have secured the agreement with ASBU to provide coverage across the Middle East and North Africa.”

“This agreement is proof that interest in the inaugural European Games extends beyond the shores of our continent and we are confident that with more agreements in the pipeline that the European Games will attract a truly global audience,” he said.

ASBU will work closely with Baku 2015 host broadcaster International Sports Broadcasting and will manage their production through teams based in Baku during the Games. Live coverage of the Baku 2015 Opening and Closing Ceremonies has also been agreed.

ASBU General Director Salah Eddine Maaoui said: “It is a great honor to have secured this important deal with Baku 2015. The first European Games will be a thrilling celebration of sport that fans all over the Arab world will enjoy. We are looking forward to bringing this historic event and the exciting action to the entire region.”

Wolves Reveal Significant Losses

English League One Wolverhampton Wanderers have announced losses of £33.1million for the year ending May 2013 a major change from their £2.2m profit 12 months ago.

The Black Country outfit have been hit hard by back-to-back relegations from the Premier League to League One, where they are currently plying their trade for the first time since 1989.

Turnover reduced to £32.1m in comparison to the year ended 2012 (£60.6m), representing a £28.5m fall in income largely due to the loss of Premier League status and the vast financial rewards that go with it.

Total operating costs for 2013 were reduced to £42.8m (£51.3m), helped further by a net profit in player sales of £4.9m thanks to the departures of Steven Fletcher, Matt Jarvis and Michael Kightly, which reduced the club’s overall operating loss to £5.7m (£1.8m profit in 2012).

But, with relegation to League One confirmed in May, Wanderers’ board felt it appropriate and prudent to make a provision of £12.5m as well as an additional £15m to cope in one hit with the decrease in value of its squad following successive relegations.

A statement on Wolves’ official website read: “These adjustments, which represent good practice under UK accounting legislation, were considered essential steps to address the significant negative financial impact of consecutive relegations.

“As a result, the overall loss, after these provisions and net interest, was £33.1m (2012 profit: £2.2m).”

David Peterson Appointed New Chair of 2015 Pan American Games

Former Ontario premier David Peterson, who helped bring the 2015 Pan American Games to Toronto, has become the new chair of the Toronto 2015 organizing committee.

He replaces Roger Garland, who has held the job since 2009.

Peterson was the chair of Ontario’s bid to get the Games. He was joined by Garland, chief executive officer Ian Troop and dozens of TO2015 staffers for the announcement at the organization’s downtown office.

Peterson, who was nominated to the position by Premier Kathleen Wynne, thanked Garland for his efforts in creating a strong foundation over the last few years.

“Think of it this way — Roger was the cake and I’m the icing,” Peterson said with a smile. “And I get to do all the good stuff. Roger has done all the donkey work. He has put this organization together on a sound financial basis, great people have been hired across the board, all the wheels are moving together and in a very thoughtful way.”

The Pan Am Games will be held from July 10-26, 2015 in several communities across the province. The Parapan Games are slated for Aug. 7-14.

Garland didn’t offer specifics on reasons for his departure and did not take questions from reporters. A news release said he would be moving on to new opportunities.

“In short, now is the perfect time for transition,” he said in a statement. “I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. To use an appropriate sports analogy, I’m passing the baton for the next racer to carry for the final 100 metres of the relay race, confident that I’ve done my part to ensure the team’s success.”

Garland told staffers in attendance there was a “lot of disappointment” but that there were many good things about the transition.

“I think there are those phases of grief you go through when you’ve lost something and yet there is a positive side to it,” he said, adding he’s looking forward to spending more time with his wife, who will retire at year’s end.

Peterson is a senior partner and chairman of Cassels Brock LLP, where he practises corporate and commercial law. He was the founding chairman of the Toronto Raptors and also served as chancellor of the University of Toronto until June 2012.

France Contemplating 2024 Olympic Bid

French president Francois Hollande is contemplating a French bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games according to the Associated Press.

Hollande, in London Monday meeting with French athletes at the London Games, said he would back a bid “if all the conditions of success are present.”

He added, “We can think about Olympic Games we would be able to host in France, probably in the 2024 horizon. But before making a formal bid, we need to prepare for it well. We can’t afford another failure, after three consecutive setbacks. Paris lost twice and then it was Annecy. It was disappointing, and for the latest Annecy bid, it was a humiliation.”

Annecy lost its bid for the 2018 Winter Games that went to PyeongChang, South Korea, and Paris had a failed bid for the 2008 Summer Games which were awarded to Beijing.

Hollande said France won’t push for a bid, but that he will listen to the French Olympic committee’s recommendations.

“If the sporting community decides to go, if all the conditions of success are present, I will back this bid,” he said.

No specific city was mentioned in the bid but Paris would be favourite to host any potential bid.

Thousands More London 2012 Olympic Tickets Available

London 2012 organisers has put another 50,000 Olympic tickets on sale as it continues to finalise seating and venue plans with 42 days to go to the Games.

The London Organising Commitee (LOCOG) says they’re for Basketball, Diving, Hockey, Waterpolo, Handball and Modern Penthalon. Its also selling more tickets to go up the UK’s largest sculpture The Orbit, but you need to have tickets for the Olympic Park already to get in.

LOCOG Commercial Director Chris Townsend said “This release of tickets gives people a great chance to attend sport in the popular Olympic Park venues.  Tickets for further events will follow in due course and we will inform our ticketing database directly.”  

There are 25,000 Hockey tickets and a limited number for Diving, Handball, Modern Pentathlon, Water Polo, Basketball and the Orbit are on sale.

Its also been revealed the Olympic ticket re-sale website is available again for those that can no longer attend or don’t want the tickets they have.

Organisers say they can be sold back via the website – but they then won’t be available to everyone to buy til later this month released on a sport by sport basis. Tickets have to be validated before being released.  If sold, the customer will be notified by email, then refunded within 5-10 working days of the ticket being sold, subject to LOCOG receiving the original tickets back.  If the ticket remains unsold it will be returned to the customer’s account. 

In January the re-sale website crashed and was offline for more than a week because of the number of people using it.

“For those people who are no longer able to attend, or cannot give their tickets to friends or family, they can now use our resale platform.  This will enable people to resell their tickets in a safe and legal way.” Chris Townsend said.

Ukraine Survive Potential FIFA Sanctions

UEFA Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine have seemingly avoided the threat of suspension from FIFA and in turn the possibility of losing their right to stage the event, discount after UEFA and FIFA stated on Wednesday that they are “convinced” they will not need to impose a suspension on the country’s football federation (FFU).

Ukraine were warned last week that it faced suspension by FIFA and the loss of the right to co-host the 2012 tournament, ed viagra with Poland, unless it convinced soccer’s two most powerful bodies that political interference in the running of the FFU had been curtailed.

However, senior FFU official Serhiy Storozhenko, who had led the rebellion, insisted last week that demands to unseat national federation president Hrigory Surkis had been dropped, and UEFA and FIFA released a joint statement on Wednesday, February 9, to confirm their acceptance of the steps that had been taken.

The statement read: “Following the information provided by the FFU last Friday…FIFA and UEFA responded on February 8 to the FFU mentioning that the latest developments are seen positively and that this is an important step forward to unify and strengthen football in Ukraine.

“Under these circumstances, FIFA and UEFA are convinced that there will be no need to suspend the FFU, but they will continue to monitor the situation over the next few weeks to have the confirmation that the situation in Ukrainian football is definitely stabilised,” the statement added.

STC Launches MUTV Rights in Gulf Region

Manchester United have extended their partnership with STC with the telecommunication giant securing exclusive rights to broadcast the Club’s dedicated MUTV channel in the gulf region.

This is the first time MUTV has been broadcast continuously in the Middle East, denture giving STC Invision subscribers unprecedented access to behind the scenes footage of the famous club, healing documentaries and breaking news, ampoule as well as live commentary of every Manchester United match, including reserve and youth team games. The channel will be broadcast in HD for the first time in the region.

Manchester United Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold commented: “Since forming our partnership in 2008, STC has demonstrated its expertise in developing and delivering outstanding products that meet the needs of our fans.

“By making MUTV available via its HD subscription channel to the almost four million Manchester United followers in the Middle East, STC is helping our fans to get closer to the Club they love.”

iSportconnect Announced as Media Partners for SMMEX 2014

iSportconnect are delighted to announced their continued media partnership for a 3rd year with SMMEX for the SMMEX 2014 event at Wembley Stadium on Monday 10th March.

iSportconnect is the world’s largest private network for sports business professionals.

After 15 years of constant growth and development, SMMEX 2014 – the Sports Merchandise and Marketing Exhibition has become the only place for clubs, licence holders and brands to source and purchase products and services to help their commercial growth to increase their brand exposure and strengthen fan integration.

SMMEX said: “With England in the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Rugby World Cup due to be held in England in 2015, sport continues to be a strong focus and by partnering with iSportconnect, we hope to continue to attract key decision makers from the clubs to find new merchandise ideas, retail opportunities, signage, marketing services, new digital technology or just something new for the stadium tours and club museums.”

Sree Varma, Founder & CEO of iSportconnect, said: “We are delighted to once again partner with SMMEX for the 2014 event.

“SMMEX continues to attract the top brands from across the world and we will undoubtedly continue to benefit from our association.”

With 75% of the audience being commercial managers or those with higher senior roles within the organisations, there is a natural synergy between SMMEX and iSportconnect who have an exclusive network of quality members all strictly verified before signing up.

Marius Vizer Appointed President of SportAccord Convention

Marius Vizer, find who was elected SportAccord President in May, has been appointed the SportAccord Convention President by the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee Meeting of SportAccord Convention took place on Sunday and is comprised of of Francesco Ricci Bitti, representing ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), René Fasel, representing AIOWF (Association of the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations), and Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg and Marius L. Vizer, representing SportAccord.

Vizer, who is also President of the International Judo Federation (IJF), said: “First of all, I would very much like to thank my colleagues for their support and trust. At the same time, I feel a serious responsibility to develop the present assets with a new vision and an enthusiastic and dynamic strategy. I hope that with the management of the present Executive Committee we can bring more value to the Convention, more revenues and an increased number and quality of services provided to our members and stakeholders.

Held in a different city every year, SportAccord Convention is a unique opportunity for international sporting leaders to engage with business, featuring a dynamic exhibition as well as the annual general meetings of governing bodies of world sport.

The next SportAccord Convention will take place in Belek/Antalya, Turkey from April 6-11, 2014.

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China may withdraw athletes from Olympic training base in Leeds

Chinese officials have reportedly threatened to withdraw their Olympic 
athletes out of their training camp in Leeds because the Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit the city.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak at the Yorkshire International Business Convention on Friday.

Leeds City Council has said that it is not responsible for the convention but understands that issues may arise.

Tom Riordan, chief executive of the council, said: “The Yorkshire International Business Convention is a private event not organised by Leeds City Council.

“Whilst we are aware of some sensitivities around this year’s convention, as it is not a council event we do not feel it is appropriate for us to make any further comment.”

Chinese Olympic officials chose Leeds as its athletes’ training base last August.

Around 300  Chinese athletes, coaches and support staff will be based in the West Yorkshire with the initial direct financial benefit to the city of hosting the team is expected to be at least £250,000.

The deal was agreed with the Chinese Olympic Committee by Leeds City Council, and is supported by the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University.

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