Stockton Thunder, apoplectic a minor league professional ice hockey team competing in the East Coast Hockey League, decease has announced Brian Sandy has been appointed President and Alternate Governor of the team. 

Sandy most recently served IMG College as Associate General Manager for the athletic department of the University of Arizona and also spent a combined 12 years with the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, serving in departments including corporate sponsorship, premium seat and luxury suite sales. Under his guidance, the Blazers totaled over $22 million in annual revenue from premium seats and suites. The team ranked second in NBA attendance in 2011-12, averaging over 20,000 fans per game at the Rose Garden.

“I am honored to take on this role,” said Sandy. “The strength of the Thunder brand, both on and off the ice, is tremendous. I’m eager to continue the growth of the franchise, which is such an incredible source of pride for the community.”

Effective immediately, Sandy will lead the Thunder business operations, overseeing the club’s corporate sponsorship and ticket sales efforts.

The former resident of El Dorado Hills, Calif. also brings six seasons (2005-11) of success in hockey to Stockton, having served as the Chief Marketing officer and Senior Vice President, Business Operations for the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League. Sandy led the club’s day-to-day business operations and served as the WHL’s (United States Division) Marketing Committee Chair, negotiating a regional television agreement with Fox Sports Northwest and structuring associated divisional sponsorships.

Under his leadership, the Americans never missed the playoffs, reached the WHL Championship final in 2009-10, doubled their revenue total and led the WHL in ticket sales.

With the Olympics and Paralympics in London right around the corner, many would assume that participation levels in England would be on the rise, yet Sport England have revealed ‘very disappointing’ results, which in fact show a decline in the number of teenagers and women playing sport.

The most alarming drop can be seen amongst the 16-19 age groups, where participation major sports including football have witnessed a drop in numbers playing.

Furthermore, the general number of females playing sport has decreased, despite sports such as running, table tennis and boxing being popular.

“This is a disappointing set of results,” said Sport England chief executive Jennie Price.

“If we are to maintain the current level of public investment in grassroots sport, we need more governing bodies to demonstrate they can increase participation in their sports.

“We are working in a tough climate, with a third of those playing less sport putting it down to economic factors, but the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year give us a great opportunity to reverse this trend.

“The results also clearly show that we need to work much harder with young people, given the fall in participation among 16- to 19-year-olds.

“We also need to tackle head on the widening gender gap by doing much more to make sport relevant and appealing to women.”

However, the figures were not all doom and gloom as there were some positives, including a rise in the amount of times people take part in sport a week. 6.927 million people are now taking part three times a week, which is 111,800 more than in 2007/08 and 632,000 more than in 2005/6. Results show that 14.759 million adults now break a sweat at least once a week, while the amount of men participating has increased since 2007/8.

The number of disabled people playing sport has witnessed a rise also, yet Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, could not hide his disappointment at the overall result.

“Although not unexpected, these figures are very disappointing,” said Robertson.

“It is for this reason that we have spent the second half of this year working with Sport England and governing bodies on a new strategy with particular emphasis on youth sport that we will announce in the New Year.

“This strategy will be based on concrete results in return for Government investment and will ensure we create a real and lasting sports legacy after London’s Games.”

The World Squash Federation (WSF) has awarded the 2014 WSF Women’s World Team Squash Championship to Canada.

The event will take place at White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa (The Club at White Oaks), ed in Niagara-on-the-Lake from Dec. 1-6, 2014.

Canada has previously hosted the Women’s World Team Squash Championships in 1981, 1992 and 2006.

2014 Women’s World Team Squash Championship tournament director Mark Sachvie, who has been the Club at White Oaks Racquets Director for the past 25 years, said: “hosting the WSF Women’s World Team Squash Championship is a wonderful opportunity to profile Canada’s top female athletes and at the same time, act as a showcase for women’s squash.”

The women’s game has seen considerable growth over the past few years with over 70 professional tournaments on five continents on the women’s professional tour.

The Club at White Oaks, part of White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa is a 5 star / 4 diamond facility located in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Niagara region has become an international travel destination, and is recognized as one of the world’s finest centres of viticulture. Situated in the heart of this region, White Oaks has garnered a reputation as being one of Canada’s premier sporting facilities and has hosted several high profile squash events including the Canadian Junior Open, Canadian Squash Championships as well as PSA & WISPA events.

Dow Chemical have agreed to remove all its branding from the London Olympic stadium following protests over its links to 1984 Union Carbide Bhopal gas tragedy.

The Rugby Football League has announced today that the 2013 Rugby League World Cup will be staged in four countries with matches played  in England, site Wales, doctor Ireland and France.

The group stages and quarter-finals of the 14-team tournament will see the world’s best international teams hosted in venues from Wrexham to Perpignan in southern France and Bristol to Limerick in Ireland’s south west.

Today’s announcement outlines 18 different venues which will stage matches and reveals six other venues which will host teams during the tournament. Details of the venues for the opening ceremony, unhealthy the semi-finals and the final will be confirmed early in the New Year.

2013 Rugby League World Cup Tournament Director Nigel Wood said: “I would like to congratulate all the hosts who have been successful in their bids to host matches or teams in what I am confident will be a World Cup that enhances the UK’s golden decade of sport.

“We experienced massive interest in hosting matches from all across Europe and the bidding process proved to be hugely competitive.

“In putting together their bids over the last 12 months, the successful candidates have demonstrated a level of commitment which suggests the 2013 Rugby League World Cup can exceed everyone’s expectations.

“It has been a fantastic and inspiring bidding process and we have been extremely impressed with the quality, detail and diverse nature of the host bids received.

“We have had to make some tough decisions, but we are absolutely delighted to award each of the 22 successful candidates a Host Mark for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.

“We are excited that the tournament will visit established world class Rugby League venues, but will also visit some new locations, including Bristol and Whitehaven, where we see unique opportunities to grow the game and for the 2013 tournament to deliver a lasting legacy for our sport.

“Following some excellent bids, we have also taken the decision to include tournament hosts from France and Ireland, for selected group games. We believe the inclusion of Limerick, Avignon and Perpignan will continue the international development of the game and ensure the 2013 Rugby League World Cup is the most successful in the competition’s history.”

The RFL plans to make further announcements in the New Year (2012), including the fixtures for the tournament, opening ceremony, semi-finals and final venue locations in England and Wales.

A total of 34 bids, comprising 30 stadia, 47 team training sites and 87 team base camps, were submitted to the RFL. Each of the bidding hosts underwent a detailed inspection from a 2013 team to examine the various sites venue specifications, as well as evaluating the enthusiasm and commitment of each bidding host.

Over half a million people are expected to watch the 28 matches live over a six-week period in the autumn of 2013 with a further 20 million viewers from 120 countries tuning in around the world.

German pay-TV sports channel sportdigital has agreed a deal to air the Scottish Premiership from the 2014/15 season.

The Scottish football league will replace the Polish Ekstraklasa for which the TV rights aren’t available in Germany in the forthcoming season, tadalafil according to the broadcaster.

The Hamburg-based channel recently also acquired the rights for the Belgian Jupiler League.

Despite the huge furore surrounding the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer’s £7m funding of a wrap for the Olympic Stadium, allergist Dow Chemical has refused to even consider withdrawing its sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics.

“We are committed to our partners and a successful London 2012 Games, unhealthy ” said a Dow spokeswoman. “We will continue to provide our sustainable solutions, pharmacy viagra including the Olympic stadium wrap.

“Dow never owned nor operated the Bhopal plant and the settlement of the incident occurred in 1989, long before Dow acquired Union Carbide…

“While it is understandable that human emotions evoked by the tragedy remain, allowing a misrepresentation of facts and to rewrite history – as some are trying to do – is not only wrong but sends an unfortunate and inaccurate message that obscures rather than clarifies the Bhopal tragedy.”

Campaigners claim that the 1984 chemical leak and its aftermath had the resulting affect of killing an estimated 25,000 people. For those affected, Dow’s £288m final settlement has been described as fair by the company, yet the controversy seems unlikely to settle down. Rights groups, athletes, Indian and British politicians have come together in a bid to stop the sponsorship.