With a money row between the British Olympic Association (BOA) and London 2012 stealing the headlines, a new issue is threatening to engulf the BOA after complaints from Nelson McCausland, Northern Ireland’s (NI) Sports Minister, that “Team GB” is discriminatory and should be changed to “Team UK”.
The BOA have, in recent Games, established “Team GB” as a powerful marketing brand, even though its official title is “Team GB and Northern Ireland” which McCausland claims is unfair to athletes from NI as their contribution is being overlooked.
McCausland stated: “The current naming and branding of the team has the potential to create the perception that Northern Ireland is not part of the British Olympic team.
“However as we are all aware, Northern Ireland athletes have contributed significantly to the Olympic team’s success, particularly in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and this should be recognised in the name and branding.
“Indeed, a change in branding, such as to ‘Team UK’, would be entirely consistent with the current title for our UK-wide sports body, UK Sport.”
McCausland has has promised that the Government will write to the BOA to ask them to consider changing the name, lobbying Britain’s Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson on the affair.
The topic of Northern Ireland’s role in the Olympic Movement has always been clouded in confusion and controversy since athletes have been able to opt to compete for either Britain or the Republic of Ireland.
beIN SPORTS Seals National Basketball League of Canada Broadcast Deal
The National Basketball League of Canada have secured a three-year national broadcast television deal with beIN SPORTS Canada.
The partnership will bring weekly live NBL Canada games in HD to Canadian households via Bell TV, Bell Fibre, Eastlink, MTS TV, Rogers, and Videotron throughout the 2014-15 season.
Games will be aired each Thursday and Saturday night during prime time with special coverage for playoffs and special events such as the All Star Weekend.
“This is a historic day for our league to announce this incredible opportunity with a media partner such as beIN SPORTS Canada,” exclaimed NBL Canada Commissioner Paul Riley.
“Over our three year history we have proven that the caliber of our basketball and entertainment is worthy of being brought to the masses, and now that day is upon us.”
“As the largest distributor of TV content in Canada, Ethnic Channels Group, as the exclusive distribution partner of beIN SPORTS, brings a combination of cutting edge technology and distribution expertise for beIN SPORTS Canada. Together with the NBL Canada, we share a vision to showcase premium Canadian sporting content to the Canadian audience. We are excited to feature Canada’s only national professional basketball league to Canadian basketball fans,” said Slava Levin, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ethnic Channels Group.
James Warburton Becomes CEO of V8 Supercars
V8 Supercars has announced today the appointment of James Warburton as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), starting from June 1, 2013.
Beginning his career in the advertising industry at a young age, Mr Warburton has worked with most of Australia’s blue chip clients.
As Managing Director of media buying company Universal McCann, the company flourished, more than doubling its billings by winning the Federal Government and Coles Myer accounts – at the time the largest accounts in Australia.
Handpicked by David Leckie in 2003, Mr Warburton was one of team that revived the fortunes of the Seven Network and he was ultimately promoted to Chief Sales Officer in 2008, responsible for $1.5 billion of revenue. In his role at the Seven Network, Mr Warburton also had responsibility for the commercialisation of the Network’s AFL and V8 Supercars rights.
In early 2012 Mr Warburton took the challenge to run Network Ten and held that position until February this year.
In announcing the appointment V8 Supercars Director Andrew Gray said: “James is an ideal fit for this role given his extensive track record in the television, sales and commercial fields; as well as his strong knowledge of the sport. He is incredibly well credentialed and enjoys support from a wide cross section of business leaders as the right person for the role.”
V8 Supercars Director Roland Dane added: “James is considered by the Board as an extremely shrewd and highly capable CEO. We look forward to James bringing his wealth of knowledge, sales acumen and clear love of the sport to the V8 Supercars business.”
Mr Warburton commented on his appointment: “It is a great honour to be leading this sport into its next phase of growth. As a life-long fan of the Championship I’ve never seen better on track action than the start to the 2013 season and the teams and the sport should be congratulated for the seamless and professional roll out of the car of the future. I can’t wait to rip in.”
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Rogge & Schwank Claim 2018 Bid Still a Three Horse Race
Ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) final decision upon who will host the 2018 Winter Olympics on Wednesday, July 6, Munich bid CEO Bernard Schwank believes all three candidates in the race to host the Games still have a chance of landing the event.
Munich is hoping to become the first city to host the Summer and Winter Games, while PyeongChang in South Korea is bidding for the third successive Winter Olympics having failed in their previous two attempts. Although French city Annecy was thought to be the outsider after difficulties in the early months of the campaign, which included the departure of former bid CEO Edgar Grospiron, Schwank has refused to rule the underdog out of the running.
Schwank told a press conference: “There are three bidders in this race. Do not forget anybody in a race. Until the last (IOC) session everyone has a chance. We would not like to compare our bid with the others. It is up to the media and the IOC at the end to decide.”
IOC vice-president and Germany’s top Olympic official Thomas Bach told the Associated Press: “We feel that we can win, but we are sportsmen enough to realise that on the given day someone else might be better. We haven’t hosted Winter Games in 80 years.”
Annecy bid president Charles Beigbeder told AFP: “We have a vision that serves the entire world, not one country and one continent. Our vision is in line with what the Olympic movement would like to have now. We are here to put on an authentic Games. We are not there to get a trophy for a company or a country.”
PyeongChang has been considered as the favourite by some observers, but IOC president Jacques Rogge referred to the 1994 bid race, which saw the Norwegian town of Lillehammer edge out favourite Ostersund in Sweden, as an example of how the form guide can be misleading.
Rogge claimed: “You have to fight until the end. I always take the battle for the 1994 Winter Olympics as an example. Everybody viewed Ostersund as the unstoppable force, and they were candidates for the fifth or sixth time. But it was Lillehammer who won and delivered a fabulous Olympics. At a certain moment they created the right chemistry in their bid, and that can even come on the final day.”
All three candidate city’s are currently lobbying for the final time and making their final presentations at the IOC Session in Durban, South Africa, with the decision set to be made in the next two days.
London ’12 Organisers Reveal Measures Against Ambush Marketing
London 2012 organisers have announced that Olympic venues will be protected from marketing stunts during the Games through measures against unauthorised trading around the venues.
Sponsorship money for the Games contribute more than half of the £2bn (US$3.25bn) needed to stage the event, health so organisers intend to avoid any unauthorised association to the brand, health that would detract from the rights of the official sponsors.
The consultation document, ed released this week, reveals that all unauthorised billboard adverts, posters, flyers, give-aways and projected, moving and aerial advertising, within a few hundred metres of the Olympic and Paralympic venues, will be banned.
The proposed measures will only be implemented on a small area around the venues, and only around the time the events are taking place.
Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson, stated: ‘Sponsorship is part of modern international sport providing a vital source of funding. They aim to strike the right balance between preventing unauthorised advertising and trading that damage the rights of the sponsors and enabling businesses to operate as usual’.
MP & Silva Acquires Media Rights to World Superbikes in Latin America & Caribbean
International media rights agency MP & Silva have secured a deal with Dorna Sports, viagra buy the commercial rights holders of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, stomach to acquire the five-year media rights for WSBK in all territories of Latin America and the Caribbean, excluding Brazil.
As part of the agreement with Dorna Sports, MP & Silva add a new sporting category to its extensive portfolio of sports media rights.
The media rights package covers all classes of the championship (Superbike, Supersport and Superstock) from 2014 to 2018 editions and will be available on all platforms and devices.
Carlo Pozzali, Founding Partner, MP & Silva said: “We are very excited to add World Superbike in our media rights offer. MP & Silva has achieved market leadership by distributing international TV rights of soccer and tennis, but we have now outgrown this share of the market. We’ve been investing in different sports in the last couple of years and we have expanded our portfolio to include Formula 1, the Asian Games, FIBA Basketball World Cup, baseball, volleyball, handball, badminton and many others.”
Manel Arroyo, Managing Director, Dorna Sports said: “We are delighted to start working with MP & Silva in Latin America. We are certain that with their experience, their outstanding media network and their distribution power in the region, awareness and popularity of World Superbike will be boosted. We’re confident that the thrilling races in the schedule will attract Latin America’s motorsports fans to this exciting series.”
Dr. Gaetan Tardif Appointed Canadian Paralympic Committee President
Canadian Paralympic Committee has elected Dr. Gaetan Tardif as its new president.
The organisation issued a release Saturday saying Tardif will take over from David Legg, who held the position for three years.
Tardif, who will serve a four-year term, has participated in seven consecutive Paralympic Games, most recently as Team Canada’s Chef de Mission at London 2012.
The Toronto resident is an academic physician and health care executive. He is medical program director of Rehabilitation and Post-Acute Care at the University Health Network, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Medicine and a director at the university’s Division of Physiatry.
“The hard work starts right away,” Tardif said in a statement. “I’m really looking forward to working with the sport community to help Canada become the world’s leading Paralympic nation. I truly believe I have the best volunteer job in the world.”
Debbie Low of Richmond Hill, Ont., was elected as the CPC’s new vice-president along with seven members to the board.
50 Sponsorship Deals of the Week: 19/04/13
Germany Hopes Record Viewing Figures for Women’s Soccer World Cup Will Boost 2018 Winter Olympic Bid
A record television audience for women’s soccer was set on Sunday during the opening game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Sunday. The tournament, hosted by Germany, will see all 32 matches broadcast live on German television, and 14.1 million people watched Germany’s opening 2-1 win against Canada, played in front of a sell-out crowd of 74,000 in Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
The record viewing and attendance figures boost Munich’s hopes of hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics games.
Katarina Witt, the chair of the Munich 2018 Bid Committee, said: “Women’s football has a strong base here in Germany, so the organisers can guarantee passionate crowds, an incredible TV spectacle and, fingers crossed, a great performance from the home team – just what athletes, fans and sponsors want.
“And because we have that strong base, the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany will be an excellent platform for raising the profile of women’s football all over the world and inspiring a generation of young athletes to play and stay in sport.
“Munich 2018’s Festival of Friendship will have exactly the same energising effect on every sport on the Winter Games programme.
“An Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Germany would revitalise the worldwide winter sports movement, with an unforgettable sporting spectacle, unprecedented commercial revenues and greater global exposure than ever before.”
Germany is the current holder of the Women’s World Cup, and the country is a leading power in the sport, reflected by the fact that more than one million female players are registered with the German football league.
Steffi Jones, the President of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 Organising Committee, added: “It would be great to have the Olympic and Paralympic Games back in Germany after such a long time.
“Knowing Germany’s passion for sports and its enthusiastic fans, one can imagine what a fantastic event Germany could offer to the athletes and the Olympic Movement.”
Bernhard Schwank, chief executive of Munich 2018, chose to emphasise Germany’s record hosting major international sporting events, most recently having also held the men’s World Cup in 2006, a tournament considered to be the most successful in history.
Schwank said: “The athlete has been at the heart of every single planning decision we have made.
“We’ve been able to put together a uniquely athlete-friendly concept because we have been in constant consultation with our 125 sports ambassadors, and because Germany has such enormous experience in hosting sports mega-events – we really know all the little things that make a big difference to an athlete’s experience.
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is the latest in a long, illustrious list of international competitions in Germany, and we’ve worked hard to incorporate the lessons we’ve learned from every single one of them.”
The final decision on the host for 2018 will be made in Durban on July 6, with Munich up against competition from Annecy and Pyeongchang.
New Survey Reveals Public’s Ploys to Secure Olympic Tickets
According to a new 3,000 participant survey by vouchercodes.co.uk, 1 in 10 men are willing to sacrifice their wedding budgets, while 1 in 5 women will ditch their summer holidays to secure tickets for London 2012.
Unsurprisingly the survey revealed that that tickets for the men’s 100-metre sprint races will be the most sought-after, despite the actual race being likely to last under 10 seconds. The race should feature a mouth-watering showdown between Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt and his great American rival Tyson Gay, will be £725 (US$1,180) when they go on sale next week.
This is relatively low when compared to the £20.12 to £2,102 ($32.74 to $3,274) for the opening ceremony and £1,500 ($2,440) for the closing.
The second most popular event was Women’s swimming, which is almost certain to see Britain’s double Beijing 2008 Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington in action, just ahead of diving where Britain’s 16-year-old sensation Tom Daley is tipped to be a strong gold medal prospect in the men’s 10m platform event.
Reporting that 42 per cent of people claim they would sell their belongings to bag an Olympics ticket, vouchercodes.co.uk co-founder Duncan Jennings stated: “Now the Olympic timetable and ticket prices have been released, the excitement around London 2012 is building to fever pitch.
“With higher prices for the most popular events, people are already thinking about what they will have to give up in order to make their dreams a reality.”
Despite the huge ticket prices involved, some Londoners are hoping to make a profit when the city hosts the Games, with 1 in 10 London homeowners planning to sub-let their homes during the Olympics to take advantage of the close proximity of their properties to the Games.
Jennings added: “While the Olympics are a dream ticket, it’s important to shop smart when securing tickets and be aware of the potential pitfalls of subscribing for more tickets than you can afford.”
London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton has already fired a warning regarding illegal tickets found at the Games, saying his organisation are working closely with the Metropolitan Police to make life “very difficult and very painful” for any touts trying to sell counterfeit tickets.