Major League Soccer (MLS) and KickTV today announced a new content partnership, try collaboration and distribution agreement with The Whistle Sports Network around its recently launched Xbox application.

“This partnership with The Whistle will allow MLS and KICKTV to reach an audience of 80 million engaged XBOX users who align very well with our target of young tech-savvy soccer fans,” said Chris Schlosser, VP, MLS Digital. “Their Xbox app looks amazing and we are excited to be involved with the launch. The Whistle understands our audience, knows how to keep fans engaged and will be a great partner for content collaboration and distribution.”

“Major League Soccer and KickTV are a perfect fit for our active audience, which include some of the game’s most passionate fans. It’s an exciting and rapidly growing league and they’re a set of channels that really captures the spirit and joy of soccer,” said The Whistle’s co-founder and President Jeff Urban. “We look forward to creating great content together and connecting with new fans around the world.”

The Whistle’s other professional league content partners include the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the PGA Tour, AVP and Major League Lacrosse. Their community of 140 digital content creators includes trick shot experts DudePerfect and Brodie Smith and freestyle soccer stars STRSkill School and Indi Cowie.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Tim Leiweke announced a corporate restructuring today designed to streamline the company and ultimately strengthen its position with both its fans and its customers. 

“I have always seen Toronto as one of the top sports and entertainment markets in the world, ed and my goal coming to Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment was to help take this organization from ‘good’ to ‘great’ by making the necessary changes both on our playing surfaces and off, erectile ” said Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. “Today is about changes off the ice, court and pitch designed to enable us to better serve our fans and customers.”

The company’s new organizational structure will see a number of areas of the business reallocated to improve efficiency with a revamped senior leadership team reporting directly to Leiweke. 

The senior leadership team will consist of Tom Anselmi as Chief Operating Officer, Ian Clarke as Chief Financial Officer, David Hopkinson as Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Miller as Chief Legal and Development Officer and Bob Hunter as Chief Facilities and Live Entertainment Officer. 

As part of the organization’s new structure, expanded portfolios will be given to a group of the company’s next generation of leaders within Hopkinson’s team as the company focuses on streamlined communication and interaction with its fans. Shannon Hosford will serve as Vice President, Marketing and Communications; Jeff Deline as Vice President, Global Partnerships and Tom Pistore as Vice President, Ticket Sales and Service. 

“This leadership team is as strong as I have worked with in all of my years in the sports and entertainment industry,” said Leiweke. “We have tremendous resources here at MLSE and this new company structure is driven by the need to make the best use of those resources while ensuring our fans and customers are always our highest priority. Today’s restructuring will result in the departure of a number of MLSE executives, and on behalf of the company, I’d like to thank them for their many contributions to MLSE’s successes over the years. I am extremely excited about the future for this company and I’m equally as proud of the team of people here at MLSE that will play a key role in our bid to bring championships to Toronto.”

The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has today published proposals for traffic management and parking plans around all Olympic and Paralympic venues in London.

The plans are designed to ensure local residents and business access and parking is protected, ampoule while access to venues is as efficient as possible.

LOCOG is working with all the local authorities around its competition venues to engage with local residents and businesses, find before these plans are confirmed by the end of April ahead of the Games this summer.

Proposed plans would see a number of traffic alterations and parking restrictions in the vicinity of venues. This would see a range of measures which would include some road closures or restricted access and controlled parking zones when events are on.

The measures will ensure spectators, look athletes and officials gain safe and swift access to venues, whilst providing residents and businesses near to venues peace of mind that they can continue their day to day lives with the minimum of disruption. Free parking permits will be issued to residents where restrictions are needed, with extra passes available for visitors and carers. Local businesses will be issued with clear guidelines to outline arrangements with regards to deliveries and visitors.

The provision of this information, alongside the information published by Transport for London (TfL), will enable businesses to finalise their detailed planning to ensure they can make the most of the Games.

Transport for London (TfL) today also confirmed that it had entered the final stages of implementing the Olympic Route Network (ORN). For the last 12 twelve months, Londoners have been consulted on the measures required on the ORN and TfL has published a wealth of information including detailed maps.

TfL is now ready to make the Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) on the 109 mile network, which covers just one percent of London’s roads. The TROs enable TfL to implement the on street measures required to operate the ORN and all TROs are due to be made by spring.

TfL, and LOCOG, are committed to keeping London moving throughout the Games. To help achieve this TfL has also confirmed that the Games lanes, which will be in place on just a third (30 miles) of the ORN, will operate flexibly at Games time and opened up to all traffic at times when demand from Games family vehicles is low and capacity available. A network of 150 Variable Message Signs (VMS) along the route will advise motorists when the Games lanes are open to regular traffic throughout the day.

LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton commented: “We are finalizing our plans around venues and we are working closely with TfL and the local authorities around each venue to do this. We have to ensure that spectators can get from transport links to venues safely, whilst providing a reliable and secure transport service to get athletes, officials and media into venues.

“We want to do this in way that also takes into account the people who live and work near those places and minimize disruption to them. We don’t want spectators driving to venues and parking on residential streets, we want them to take public transport. Equally we want local businesses to thrive this summer and we are determined that London will be open for business during the Games.”

Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport, TfL, added: “At TfL we have two objectives, to support a great London 2012 Games and to keep London moving. We’re working closely with LOCOG and other key partners to finalize traffic and parking plans and communicate these to all Londoners in the areas affected. The full picture of how the road network will operate in Games time is coming together; the plans published by LOCOG today complement all of the detail we have been sharing over the last twelve months giving Londoners all the information they need to plan their road journeys.

“It will, of course, be very busy during the Games and our advice to road users is to avoid the traffic hotspots if possible or if journeys are essential, plan ahead and allow more time. However, our plans to operate the Games lanes flexibly will mean we will open them up to all traffic when demand from Games vehicles is low. 150 Variable Message Signs will be used to inform road users when the Games Lanes are open to all traffic, meaning we can manage the whole road network as efficiently as possible.”

LOCOG is working with each individual local authority around venues on these plans and they are due to be confirmed by the end of April. The measures will come into place just before the Games begin and will run around the competition schedule. Enforcement will be the responsibility of the relevant local authority.

Istanbul has submiited its bid application for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Suat Kilic, Minister of Youth and Sport for Turkey has announced.

Kilic said the Application File’s offer to the Olympic Movement comes with the full, unequivocal support of the people of Turkey and every level of government.

He said, “Istanbul 2020 is uniting the nation behind the bid. The Application File makes it clear to the whole world that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are a national priority. Already 87 per cent of people in Istanbul have said they want to host Turkey’s first ever Games in 2020. Their passion is echoed by a government dedicated to making the nation’s Olympic dream a reality – from the President and Prime Minister, across opposition parties, right through to the municipal authorities.”

According to the Master Plan there are four venue zones, each aligned with the city’s strategic development plan. Of the 36 venues, 11 are in place and another 10 are already planned to meet community and elite training requirements. There will be five temporary venues, with 10 additional state-of-the-art permanent venues.

Hasan Arat, a member of the bid and Vice President of the Turkish NOC said: “For the last seven years there has been an average spend of $1.2 billion on transport infrastructure upgrades in Istanbul. With economic growth of 8.3 per cent in 2011, this trend of rapid development is set to continue.”

Arat added, “Our bid team is integrated with the existing Istanbul Olympic Games Preparation Committee overseen by an empowered Olympic Council. That means budget is already assigned, top-level leadership is in place and the experienced human capital is ready to be activated. This alignment ensures that should we win the honour of hosting the Games, the IOC would be working with the people they have grown to know and trust during the application process.”

by Ismail Uddin

Mohamed Bin Hammam will run unopposed to retain the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation on January 6.

The Qatari power-broker is set for his third and final four-year term at the helm of the AFC, having confirmed earlier this year that he won’t challenge current FIFA president Sepp Blatter for his position in 2011.

Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and Chung Mong-Joon of South Korea will contest the position of FIFA Vice President.

The latter is a potential challenger for Blatter’s leadership though, having been critical of the 74 year-old and his organization in the past.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein is the president of the Jordan Football Association, as well as the West Asian Football Federation – which he founded – which consists of 13 member associations, including the likes of Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Bin Hammam’s FIFA executive seat is secure through 2013, after he won a bitterly fought election against Bahrain’s Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa in May last year.

Asia provides four members of FIFA’s 24-member ruling panel, whose most important task is choosing World Cup hosts.

The current FIFA executive committee will vote for the 2018 and 2022 host nations in a secret ballot on Dec. 2 in Zurich.

The AFC has four contenders in the 2022 poll, with Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea taking on the United States.

London 2012 Olympic Organisers are set to meet their target of raising £2 billion to help stage the Games this summer, according to LOCOG.

Revenue from sponsorship and ticket sales should top initial forecasts, putting the London Organising Committee on course to keep its side of the Olympic bargain, LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

LOCOG will not publish final accounts until after the Games end, prompting criticism from London politicians and British media about a lack of transparency.

“I broadly expect us to break even, said Deighton, who worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs for two decades before joining LOCOG in 2006.

“One way I describe our project is trying to land about £2 billion of revenues, with about £2 billion of costs. We have got committed just over 92 percent of the revenues we need,” he said, adding the remainder should come from ticket sales and merchandising.

LOCOG is largely privately funded, raising money from local sponsors, ticket sales and merchandising. It also gets a slice of funds raised centrally by the International Olympic Committee through global sponsorship and broadcast deals.

Britain has also put up £9.3 billion public funding to prepare for the Games, most of it to build the Olympic Park, which has transformed a rundown area in London’s east end.

Latest accounts showed more than £500 million of public money remained available, with sports minister Hugh Robertson saying the Games should come in under budget.

However, total public spending is more than double the forecast when Britain was awarded the Games in 2005.

Sponsorship deals for the London Games have raised £700 million, a performance Deighton said was “gravity-defying” when the economy had been struggling for growth.

Ticket revenues were expected to top £600 million — above an initial forecast for something above £400 million.

Demand for tickets for the July 27-August 12 Games outstripped supply in many events, leaving many Britons frustrated at not being able to get a seat.

Deighton said sceptical Britons needed “warming up” ahead of the Games which are taking place at a time of heavy state spending cuts and rising unemployment.

He said while 75 pence in each pound of public spending had gone on facilities that would leave a lasting legacy after the Games, Britons needed convincing the Olympics were worth it.

“People accept it is going to be a great party in the summer. But they also want to make sure, particularly in this environment, that it is decent value for money,” he said.

“I think there is still work to be done to get that effectively across.”

The British Olympic Association (BOA) announced on Wednesday Glasgow in Scotland will bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

The BOA will now formally submit its intention to bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by 1 March 2012.

As Host City of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow will have much of the necessary sporting, accommodation and transport infrastructure already in place, as well as the recent experience of delivering a high profile international multi-sport Games.

That’s one of the reasons why the BOA Board made its decision to support the submission from Glasgow as a potential Candidate City.

The BOA also believes that hosting the 2018 Youth Olympics is a great opportunity to further extend the youth, sporting and educational legacy of the London 2012 Games.

Over the forthcoming months the BOA will work together with officials from the city of Glasgow and the Scottish Government to further develop and progress the submission before the candidature file is delivered to the IOC in October 2012.

Ultimately, the IOC will produce a short list of Candidate Cities in January 2013, before announcing the winning Host City in the summer of 2013.

“The Youth Olympic Games have quickly established themselves as an important and inspirational event in the international sporting calendar. We know the bidding process will be highly competitive, but we are confident that in Glasgow we have an outstanding Candidate City,” said BOA Chairman Colin Moynihan.

The 2018 YOG will involve approximately 3,600 young athletes, aged 15 -18, participating across all of the 28 summer Olympic sports in 12 days of competition.

The inaugural Youth Olympic Games took place in Singapore in 2010, and the first winter YOG was held in Innsbruck earlier this month. The second editions are due to take place in Nanjing, China in 2014, with the winter version being held in Lillehammer, Norway in 2016.

The athletes will not only compete at the highest level of international youth sport, but will also take part in a Culture and Education Programme, which is a core element of the Youth Olympics.

by Ismail Uddin