Philadelphia 76ers have hired sports experienced sports business executive Chris Heck as the NBA team’s Chief Revenue Officer.

“It was the easiest conversation about a hire I’ve ever had with someone,” said 76ers President Scott O’Neil.

“Chris knows how to run the business side of a team and during his time at the NBA showed an ability to handle a range of issues.”

Heck was last MLS Red Bulls President of Business Operations. Prior to that, he worked at the NBA with O’Neil, serving as Senior VP/Marketing Partnerships and Senior VP/Team Business Operations from 2004-2011.

The torch relay route of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games has been unveiled on Monday.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: “Today we bring the Olympic Torch Relay to life as organizers hope the 8,000-mile relay involving 8,000 torchbearers will be the point when enthusiasm for the Games ignites across the country.”

Details on the two-day finale to the 70-day torch relay when the Olympic Flame arrives for the lighting of the cauldron for the start of the Games won’t be revealed until closer to the start of the relay at Lands End on May 19.

About 7,000 people, many members of the public who have shown community spirit, courage, and sporting determination, have been named as torchbearers. The youngest is 12. Each torchbearer will wear a white and gold uniform designed by Adidas.

An average of 115 torchbearers a day will carry the flame from May 19 to July 27 to the Opening Ceremony in Stratford, east London.

One torchbearer will carry the flame on a chairlift at the Needles on the Isle of Wight, another will skate with it at the Nottingham Ice Centre, and it will be rowed at Henley-on-Thames and on the River Bann in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

Lord Coe said: “The flame symbolizes the Olympic spirit and its journey around the UK will bring the excitement of the Games to our streets. Now the people know the route the Olympic Flame will be carried along and the torchbearers for their community, they can start planning how they might celebrate.”

The torch is due to arrive at the Olympic Stadium in London for the Opening Ceremony on July 27 when the last relay runner will transfer the flame to the Olympic cauldron. It will then continue to burn until it is extinguished on the final day of the Games.

by Ismail Uddin

Poland will host 2014 Men’s Volleyball World Championship following a signed agreement between the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) and the Poland Volleyball Federation.

Poland was announced as hosts of the FIVB’s premier event for men in 2008 but the Organising Committee Agreement signed between FIVB President Jizhong Wei and Poland Volleyball Federation president Miroslaw Przedpelski underpins the strutural competencies and responsibilities of the respective parties.

It will be the first time Poland has hosted an FIVB World Championship, which will feature 24 teams of which only the hosts are automatically qualified.The Preliminary Rounds for the 2014 World Championships will begin later this year with the registration process now open.

Volleyball in Poland has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity over the last few years with Gdansk hosting the spectacular 2011 World League Finals where the Polish men’s team finishing third while they collected silver at the 2006 FIVB World Championships in Japan and a year later Katowice hosted one of the best-ever FIVB World League Final Rounds, with spectators filling out Spodek Hall night after night.

The 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship will be hosted in Italy.

The Brazilian men’s team and Russian women’s team have claimed the gold medals at the last two editions (2010 and 2006) of the  FIVB World Championships.

Roger Burden, acting Football Association (FA) chairman, has withdrawn his intent to apply for the permanent position following England’s 2018 World Cup bid failings. After being appointed in May, Burden had applied for the full post but has rescinded this, stating that he could no longer trust FIFA members following the recent host decision.

Burden sent out a scathing attack on FIFA, commenting: “I recognise that an important part of the role is liaison with Fifa, our global governing body. I’m not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust and I’ve withdrawn my candidacy.”

England received just two votes after it was revealed by many of England’s 2018 officials that they had been promised 6 to 8 votes from the 22 members of the FIFA executive committee.

“We were equal top of Fifa’s own technical assessment of the four bids,” continued Burden. “We were top of an independent assessment of the best commercial bids and our presentation on Thursday [December 2] was widely acclaimed as the best of the 2018 and 2022 bids. 

“Against this background, I am struggling to understand how we only achieved two votes. It is difficult to believe that the voting was an objective process.

“On top of that, Prince William, the Prime Minister and other members of our delegation were promised votes that did not materialise.” 

After stating that he was no longer willing to work with FIFA, Burden did confirm that he would remain as a member of the board at the FA. “I’m absolutely determined that I don’t want to do business with these people personally,” he added. 

“There may be people who have got different experiences to my own who feel they can make a difference and they can speak to Fifa and they are willing to do that, but it’s not within my experience. 

“I usually deal with people who I can trust and who are honourable people – it’s just something I’m not going to do.” 

Despite his own personal feelings on working alongside FIFA, Burden urged the FA not to sever its ties with the governing body.

“They are our governing body and it’s up to us now to find ways of dealing with them and getting some sense into the organisation and I’ll certainly be looking to do that. Walking away from Fifa I don’t think is the answer – they are our governing body and we must look for ways of working with them.” 

Burden, who had previously changed his mind on applying for the permanent position, has now reverted to his original stance in not putting himself forward. Burden became acting chairman following the departure of Lord Triesman earlier in the year and will remain as acting chairman until a successor can be found, with the FA due to name a permanent chairman early next year.

Walsall have announced a trading profit for the year ending May 31 2013 with the chairman expecting a bright future for the English League One club.

The Saddlers have revealed a profit of £23,000, an increase of £13,000 on the previous year, at an economically challenging time when many clubs throughout Britain are struggling to make ends meet.

It comes after a season in which the midlands outfit finished in ninth place in the third tier, just six points adrift of the play-offs, and chairman Jeff Bonser has painted a bright picture for the future.

In a statement on the club’s official website, Bonser said: “I am delighted once again to be able to announce a trading profit for the year, this time of B£23,000.

“I believe this represents a significant achievement when you consider the findings of the latest Annual Review of Football Finance Report, published by Deloitte in June 2013, which established that the average net loss for a League One club in 2011/12 was B£2.4million.

“It is also worthy of note that this profit was achieved despite a fall in Central Television Revenues of 26% as a direct result of a reduction in The Football League’s new TV deal with Sky. Consequently the club had to adjust and reduce its ‘player budget’ by a similar amount to compensate and this was done in a controlled and constructive manner.

“It was a significant year for the club on the field as the first team recorded their highest league finish since season 2003/04 and achieved their highest points total in League One since the League was rebranded back in 2004.

“Both were accomplished on the back of one of the smallest playing budgets in the division and the smallest the club has operated with in many years.”

Britain’s Treasury chief, denture George Osbourne, allergy says he is planning to loosen restrictions on Sunday shopping during this summer’s London Olympics.

By law, cheap large stores in England and Wales can only open for six hours on Sundays, but Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne says restrictions will be lifted during the Olympic and Paralympic games.

He said Sunday that with hundreds of thousands of people visiting Britain for the sports extravaganza, “it would be a great shame … if the country had a ‘closed for business’ sign on it.”

Opposition Labour Party treasury spokesman Ed Balls says he wouldn’t want to see the change become permanent.

The 2012 London Olympics run July 27-Aug. 12 and the Paralympics Aug. 29-Sept. 9.

Renewed corruption allegations involving FIFA executive members surfaced on Monday just days before they are due to appoint the hosts of football’s 2018 and 2022 World Cups under the eyes of world leaders.

The Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported that Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, African football chief Issa Hayatou and his South American counterpart Nicolas Leoz were tied to a secret list of payments from bankrupt FIFA marketing partner ISMM/ISL a decade ago.

The firm collapsed in 2001 in a storm of controversy over alleged kickbacks for TV rights contracts, prompting a FIFA criminal complaint that was later dropped.

A court in the Swiss canton of Zug eventually handed down fines on three ISMM/ISL executives in 2008 for embezzlement or accounting offences.

Leoz was already listed as a recipient of suspect payments from the marketing firm, alongside several companies based in offshore havens, in evidence presented by the Zug prosecutor in 2005.

All three long-standing executive committee members are among the 22 remaining top officials due to vote on Thursday on the World Cup hosts.

FIFA’s ethics committee sidelined two others, Oceania football chief Reynald Temarii and Nigeria’s Amos Adamu, on November 18 when it suspended them for misconduct or bribery following an undercover British newspaper report.

There were also signs that the secret ballot on Thursday could be thrown into disarray, as Oceania’s Football Confederation sought the right to vote by replacing Temarii.

Temarii’s lawyer, Geraldine Lesieur, told AFP that FIFA had conditioned his substitution on its executive committee on a decision not to appeal against his one-year suspension for misconduct, after being cleared of bribery.

However, he has still not received the full ruling, a key legal step that would allow him to decide, she explained.

“Mr Temarii will decide after he has been informed of the motivated ruling,” she said. “We are in an impasse.”

Temarii has told AFP that his vote for the two hosts would have been dictated by the choice of Oceania’s football chiefs.

FIFA could not be reached immediately for a reaction.

England, Russia and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are in the running to host the 2018 World Cup while Australia, the United States, Japan, Qatar and South Korea are bidding for 2022.

British Prime minister David Cameron, Prince William, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Qatari crown princes were amongst the dignitaries expected to join final pitches by their bids in front of FIFA’s executive committee on Wednesday and Thursday.

Source: AFP

Indian state competition Karnataka Premier League (KPL), denture a Twenty20 series, drugs has been significantly boosted after agreeing a broadcast deal with national television network Sony Six.

For the first time the Indian broadcaster has decided to telecast 24 matches of the league’s third season beginning from 28 August to 12 September 2014.

While different states have experimented with such cricket leagues and failed due to it being telecast on regional channels, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) showed keenness to revive it by getting onboard a national sports broadcaster.

Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “We are working closely with the state cricket board. There is a robust growth of different sports in India and the market is changing.

“The league has better sponsorship support, a national level sports broadcaster, a celebrity team captained by popular Kannada actor Sudip and participation from international cricketers like Manish Pandey and Robin Utthappa.”

The broadcast of KPL will clash with the ongoing World Kabaddi League, of which Sony Six is the official broadcast partner but Krishnan expects the sports not to clash.

“The WKL matches take place on weekends and therefore there will not be any clash,” he said.