International Olympic Committee delegates attending the meeting on combating illegal and irregular sports betting at their headquarters in Zurich were reportedly “shocked” to hear of the full extent of the problem from an Interpol source. 

The meeting heard that last year’s figure for illegal betting was an estimated US$140bn and in confirming this figure, health Jacques Rogge, discount | the IOC President, there described it as “a budget much higher than that of many developing nations.”

The revelations saw the delegation, including representatives from the sports world, governments, international organisations and betting operators agree to create a task force assigned to work on a set of action points they approved at the meeting.

The task force will comprise members of the sports movement, governments, international organisations and betting operators, and will seek to address the following action points:

• * The necessity and possibilities for governments, international organisations and sports betting operators to support the sports world in its efforts to protect the integrity of sports competitions;
• * The various means to strengthen cooperation between themselves to fight more effectively against all forms of cheating in sport, particularly those linked to  irregular and illegal betting;
• * The various existing systems, national laws, self-regulating systems and implementation methods, in order to identify effective methods for cross-border cooperation;
• * The various existing systems of enforcement, punishment and measures in terms of education;
• Appropriate methods of funding to support the efforts of the sports movement to protect the integrity of competitions.

Jacques Rogge added: “Today’s (March 1) meeting was the latest effort in an ongoing process that will grow to involve many more countries, international organisations and Olympic partners,” said President Rogge. “I am pleased with the fruitful discussions we had today and the progress we made in many areas, all of which will be communicated to our partners in the Olympic Movement in due time.”

A £32m (US$50.2m) revamp of the famous English cricket ground Edgbaston, in Birmingham, will see major event hospitality services provider, Keith Prowse install a new range of facilities.

The venue is currently home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club (WCCC) but is also a regular feature in the Test matches played in England. The works are due to be completed ahead of the 2011 season which will see the capacity of the ground increase to 25,000 once Keith Prowse introduce a new Pavilion Stand. The development will be home to the Jaguar Club, The 1882 Club, Superboxes and The Edgbaston Suite.

WCCC Commercial Director, James McLaughlin stated: “The redevelopment will keep Edgbaston on a par with the world’s greatest cricket grounds, and by partnering with Keith Prowse we can ensure the venue continues to be attractive for corporate involvement”.

The company have strong ties to English sporting venues as official hospitality provider to the Kia Oval, Lord’s, the Wimbledon Championships and Twickenham.

Andrew Hodgkins, Keith Prowse’s managing director, added: “We are thrilled at this opportunity to position Edgbaston, which is renowned in cricket for its feel-good factor, as an entertaining hub for the Midlands. Companies can use sport to bring people together to discuss business in an exhilarating but unrushed environment, and cricket in particular offers a great opportunity to enjoy valuable face to face time.”

Lausanne, health Switzerland – Crisp fall weather on the shore of Lake Geneva, denture served as the perfect backdrop for this year City Events Conference, ampoule as cities met with International Sports Federations and sports event stakeholders on November 13th-15th, 2013. 

This year, over 250 participants from 24 countries gathered at the Beaulieu Congress Center, to discuss the future of sporting events. The theme, “Sporting Events in the Near Future,” lead to a diverse and interesting set of discussions; hitting on topics such as creating long-term value from your event, venue legacy, and tools and trends of tomorrow. The conference was marked by high quality debates, thanks to our highly esteemed speakers, excellent moderators, and an enthusiastic and engaged audience.

Four main themes were debated during 1 keynote session, 4 plenary sessions, and 4 breakout sessions:

• – Creating value for and from your event,
• – Legacy and innovative venue concepts: Optimising existing and refurbished venues + Utilising temporary venues and considering events without venues.
• – Sport event budget management: Operational budget management and effective procurement + Latest tools to measure event ROI.
• – New trends of tomorrow: Events of tomorrow + Tools of tomorrow.

The opening included great speeches by Leonz Eder, Vice-President FISU, Olivier Ferraton, CEO, GL events and Patricle Iseli, Head of Sports, City of Lausanne, who gave us an interesting point of view of the Olympic Capital and about sports events in the near future.

Another highlight of the opening session was a surprise appearance by the Winter Universiade flame, currently making its way across to Trentino.

City Events: Many Networking Opportunities

In addition to excellent speeches, and rousing debates, City Events is first and foremost an opportunity to meet and connect with individuals from the international sports business world. One of the highlights of the conference is the one-on-one meeting session, which allows cities to meet individually with sports federations, sports events organizers, and sponsors. This year, 35 cities were represented, from five continents, and 28 international sports federations were present. All in all, 147 one-on-one meetings were organized during the two-hour meeting session. This unique networking opportunity was followed by the FISU reception held at the Rolex Learning Center. 

This year’s City Events conference was the most successful conference to date, and we hope it will result in many great sporting events in the coming years. We are already looking forward to next year’s conference, where we hope to build on this year’s success to hold a bigger and better City Events 2014.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 5th City Events, which will be held on November 12th through the 14th, 2014.

The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has announced that Karen Webb has joined the organisation as Director of Communications.

Karen has been working in global marketing, capsule corporate affairs and communications for 25 years and has had senior roles with the Sydney 2000 Organising Committee, salve the International Olympic Committee and with London’s Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Most recently, viagra through her own business and working on her ninth Olympic Games, Karen has been advising a number of international sports federations, UK Legacy charity, Sported, and companies including BT and Westfield. She also advised UK Sport and the Mayor of London’s Office on major events, international business engagement and legacy planning around the Games.

At the ICSS, Karen will work closely with the ICSS President and senior management team on the overarching communications strategy of the organisation and continue to build upon the ICSS’s ongoing activities, including the Save The Dream initiative and major ICSS events such as Securing Sport 2014. Karen will also advise on the further development of the ICSS’s comprehensive sports governing body and stakeholder engagement strategy.

Mohammed Hanzab, President of ICSS, said: “Karen has a wealth of experience, working with many international players in the business of sport.

“Karen joins at a very exciting time for the ICSS with many important events and initiatives set to be unveiled over the next few months. With security and integrity stories currently dominating the news agenda, I look forward to working with Karen to develop the next chapter of the ICSS story.”

Speaking of her appointment, Karen Webb said: “Working within the world of sport and major events is always exciting, but sport is increasingly facing complex challenges and issues around security and integrity; so the opportunity to learn from and work with experts in this area and with an organisation which has the integrity and safety of sport at its heart, is one I am very passionate about.

“The ICSS is a leading organisation and global hub of expertise in the field of sport security, safety and integrity. As part of my new role, I look forward to working closely with the ICSS President, the senior management team and our advisers to further develop a communications strategy that will showcase the ICSS’s ground-breaking and unique offer in world sport.”

Michael Jones, a committee member of Tulsa Olympics Exploratory Committee is gearing up to host an Olympic Games in 10 years.

He says with the help of surrounding communities Green Country has a good a chance just like any other big city.

He added: “The research proved that we could do it. We’d have to use the regional model that Atlanta utilized as opposed to this centralized model that London is utilizing.”

The committee was formed about three years ago, and will bid when U.S. Olympic officials give them the go.

Jones said: “We can build the infrastructure that we need now in order to make the bid later.”

The committee expects to place its bid in 2015.

Syria’s National Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa has been refused a visa by British authorities denyng him the chance to attend the London 2012 Olympics, according to the BBC.

Mowaffak is regarded as a close friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been strongly criticised by the British government and other Western and Arab nations for a crackdown on an opposition movement seeking his overthrow.

The British Home Office (interior ministry) and Foreign Office declined to comment, saying they do not discuss individual cases.

Pressure has mounted over Joumaa’s attendance since Syrian opposition activists urged Britain to ban him.Syria was expected to send four or five officials to the Olympics, including Joumaa, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) official has said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in March any of the country’s officials covered by a European Union travel ban would not be welcome. He also said there would be no ban against Syrian athletes taking part.

The Football Association (FA) have announced that they will back any credible challengers to Sepp Blatter’s re-election campaign to become FIFA president for a fourth term in June, senior FA figures have revealed.

The FA board is yet to take an official position on the vote as Blatter seeks a fourth term but members are said to feel it is time for a change.

One FA member claimed that they would even consider writing to Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam to urge him to stand against Blatter, stating: “We would consider contacting him to offer our support. We think three terms is enough.”

An FA spokesman added: “The matter has not been discussed but will be considered by the FA board when nominations have closed and the FIFA congress agenda has been published.”

The FA reacted angrily to England’s treatment during their bid to host the 2018 World Cup, claiming promises were broken by a number of ExCo members. They also felt that they were strung along in the bidding process once FIFA revealed that they had intended to promote the game in new territories after awarding the 2018 and 2022 editions to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Bin Hammam is a former ally of the 75-year-old FIFA president, but the 61-year-old has hinted that he might stand against him after revealing some concerns regarding the way the organisation is run amidst corruption allegations.

In his most recent comments about the FIFA presidential elections, Bin Hammam said on his Facebook account that “competition is the best way to make the organisation vibrant and alive”.

Sepp Blatter announced last year that he would be running for a record fourth term and stated on Saturday, March 5: “We are now in an elected process and the race is open. I have received support from different national associations to stand again.

“If I win then OK, if lose I say ‘thank you’ then go away. You will have your new face and then we will see what will happen.”

The FIFA president went on to add that he was not happy with the way his organisation got its message across, saying: “I’m not happy with what we do, because we could communicate a bit better [than] what we are doing and then the perception would be different.

“I’m trying to bring some social and cultural impact. If there are some other candidates then we will face other candidates. That’s a democratic system.

“The world will not stop and football will not stop.”

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Sky Sports have extended their partnership with a new five-year broadcast deal which will also see Sky Sports become a top level RFU partner, with a range of partnership rights for the first time. 

The agreement strengthens one of the longest running broadcast partnerships in sport, taking it until the end of the 2019/20 season, and the relationship between the RFU and Sky Sports into its third decade.

As part of the deal, Sky Sports will show exclusively live coverage of England’s autumn QBE Internationals from Twickenham, QBE Internationals before the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and 2019, plus the annual England spring fixture

RFU Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, Sophie Goldschmidt said, “We have a long term, trusted relationship with Sky Sports and are delighted that it is continuing. They have an acknowledged reputation as a premier worldwide broadcaster, who always look to take sport to new levels both editorially and in terms of innovation.

“We are looking forward to not only showcasing our England teams in the best possible way, but also to exploring opportunities to support the grassroots, so the whole game benefits further. The RFU is fortunate to have a group of modern, forward thinking, progressive partners and Sky clearly reflects these attributes as we look to the future.”

Sky Sports Managing Director, Barney Francis, added: “This new deal builds on our already successful partnership with the RFU. It offers our viewers even more live England rugby from the men’s, women’s and age grade game, and includes additional rights to enable us to support the game from the grassroots up to the elite level.

“At Sky Sports, we share the RFU’s aims to grow the sport before and after next year’s World Cup by investing across the game, and innovating with our coverage to reach new audiences.”