English Rugby League team Wakefield Trinity Wildcats have named Michael Carter as their new chairman.

Carter, 44, takes over from Andrew Glover who will remain with the club as a director and oversee their move to a new stadium.

Local businessman Glover took control of Wakefield in February 2011 after bringing the club out of administration and he now hands over to Carter, who has been a shareholder since January 2012.

Glover said: “Michael has given a lot both in terms of investment and his input into the running of the club and we felt that the time was right that this was formally recognised with making him chairman of the board.

“We’re entering a crucial period with the re-structuring of the competition from 2015, the move to Newmarket and the launch of our Sport & Education Academy this September.

“It’s important that we retain stability but also that there is someone who can come in with a slightly different perspective to ensure we continue to drive forward.

“My day-to-day involvement with the club won’t alter dramatically but it will allow me to focus on a few key areas that are vital to us becoming a sustainable business, namely Newmarket and the Sport & Education Academy.”

Carter said: “I’m looking forward to playing a more active role in the running of the club and continuing to work towards our primary objective of ensuring we are a Super League club when we become the anchor tenants of the Community Stadium at Newmarket.”

Istanbul and Tokyo are the two leading  2020 Olympic bid campaigns according to results from GamesBids.com’s BidIndex .  

BidIndex is designed to rate Olympic bids on how they will fare  based on IOC voting patterns. The previous two bid winners, Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018,  started and ended their campaigns with the highest BidIndex scores.

The difference between the Istanbul and Tokyo bids is slight but they are significantly ahead of Madrid’s campagin, which is ranked third.

Istanbul has scored 60.20 on the BidIndex scale, an improvement on the final score of 59.46 when the city was eliminated from the 2012 campaign and far higher than the 2008 score of 53.94.

Turkey’s favourable economy compared with other European countries and Istanbul’s persistent bidding, which has helped develop a clear plan are the main factors in its high BidIndex score.

Istanbul’s bid is the most volatile and will be at risk of failure if Turkey’s bid to host the UEFA 2020 European Football Championships is successful.Turkey could be awarded Euro 2020 on Tuesday if there are no other bidders and the tournament is awarded by default.  Istanbul officials would have to convince the IOC  the city is capable of hosting two major events in a year.

Tokyo is just 0.28 points behind Istanbul. Tokyo’s main strengths are its finance, infrastructure for transportation and tourism, major sport event experience and a strategic legacy plan.

Third ranked Madrid has score of 55.10.

The Host City Election will be held in Buenos Aires on September 7, 2013.

Minnesota Wild have announced today that the National Hockey League (NHL) club has named Frank Buonomo as Senior Director, Team Operation and Business Integration for the Minnesota Wild.

In this newly created position, Frank will report directly to Chuck Fletcher and be responsible for organizing all aspects of team travel and serve as the main liaison between the players and organization including the coordination of player appearances for community and corporate partners.

Frank comes to the Wild with an extensive background in hockey having worked in a variety of roles with the New York Rangers, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins. He most recently served as Director of Marketing for Octagon Hockey. Frank begins his new role with the Wild today.

The team also announced today that Aaron Sickman has been promoted to Director of Media Relations. Aaron will continue to report directly to Chuck Fletcher and serve as the primary media contact for the team and oversee all media relations activities for the hockey operations department. Carly Peters will continue in her role as Media Relations Coordinator.

The Wild also promoted Ryan Stanzel to Manager of Digital Content. In his new role, Ryan will oversee and implement the Wild’s social media and digital content efforts, including integration of corporate partners into web, social and mobile app initiatives. In addition, he will continue to coordinate Wild corporate communications. Ryan will report directly to John Maher, Vice President of Brand Content and Communication.

Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have officially declared an interest in joint hosting Euro 2020, along with surprise candidate Georgia.

The countries have told UEFA that they would be interested in bidding to host the European Championships with Scotland, Wales and Republic of Ireland looking for a joint bid while Georgia seeking a solo bid. So far Turkey are the only other nation to inform UEFA that they want to want host the tournament.

A source close to UEFA has confirmed to the Press Association that a written expression of interest from the three ‘Celtic’ countries has been submitted to the European governing body. Georgian Minister of Sports Lado Vardzelashvili and president of the Georgian Football Federation Zviad Sichinava officially confirmed the bid on Tuesday.

Any other declarations of interest must be submitted by midnight on Tuesday.

Bidders would need to put forward up to 10 stadiums to host matches in the European Championships, which is being expanded from 16 teams to 24 from 2016.

Scotland and Wales would struggle to provide that number of stadiums to satisfy UEFA requirements but Ireland’s involvement would cover the shortfall.
The formal declaration of interest does not commit the Celtic countries to proceeding with a bid, however – a decision is not due to be taken by UEFA for 18 months.

The countries have not fared well in the past in bidding for the tournament. Scotland and the Republic of Ireland bid jointly for Euro 2008 but were one of the first to be eliminated, and Scotland and Wales considered bidding jointly for Euro 2016 but decided against it.

Georgia and Azerbaijan were initially looking for a joint bid for Euro 2020 but Azerbaijan pulled out due to their commitment to Baku 2020 Olympic bid.

“Azerbaijan has made a bid to host the [2020] Olympics… So Georgia will continue bidding for Euro 2020 independently,” Lado Vardzelashvili, the Georgian minister of sports, said at a news conference on May 15.

Turkey’s bid is in some disarray already because their FA has been engulfed by allegations of corruption and match-fixing in Turkish football, and it also conflicts with Istanbul’s bid to land the Olympics in the same year.

UEFA president Michel Platini had signalled he would support Turkey’s bid, but only if Istanbul fails in its effort to host the Olympics.

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said the idea of bidding for Euro 2020 had been discussed but would not confirm or deny whether an expression of interest had been made. “I’m not able to comment publicly at this stage because it has not gone to our board but there will be an exchange of correspondence before the deadline,” he told www.insidethegames.biz.

Were these bids unexpected? Give your thoughts here>>

English League Two club Exeter City have appointed Guy Wolfenden as the club’s new chief executive.

Wolfenden will replace vice chairman Julian Tagg, who held the acting CEO role from since 2011 and Tagg’s new role will see him return to focusing on the footballing aspects of the Grecians’ set-up.

40-year-old Wolfenden, who will start work at St James Park on October 1, joins from Warwickshire County Cricket Club having previously held a similar role with Somerset.

“I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to take up the role of Chief Executive at Exeter City,” he told the club’s official website.

“I’m genuinely excited to be able to work with the Supporters’ Trust, board and all the staff to continue to build on the fantastic supporter and commercial support the Grecians currently enjoy and to continue providing exciting football for all to watch.”

Tagg added: “Guy’s introduction will bring vast experience and drive which will allow him singular focus on commercial, sales, marketing, operations, and communications meaning I can return my focus to my first loves at Exeter City – the youth academy , football in the community and football, where there is much to be done.”