UK outdoor advertising company CBS Outdoor has become the 33rd domestic sponsor of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, stuff it has been announced.

The company, rx which has become a Tier Three provider for the games, will provide the event with outdoor media space to support its major marketing campaigns between now and the games.

The advertising space will include the London Underground, national rail, bus and tram networks and major retail areas in London.

London 2012 chief executive, Paul Deighton, said: “With just over two years to go, we are reaching out to people all over the country and building our fan base for 2012 including the recruitment of thousands of volunteers and educating people about tickets going on sale in 2011.

“The quality and reach of the CBS Outdoor network will help us to communicate to the whole country about what London 2012 is doing and how people can get involved. This is a significant deal for us because it marks a shift in gear in our marketing plans which will help us reach millions of people over the next couple of years.”

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), site the governing body of tennis in Great Britain, has revealed today that Eurosport and IMG Media have signed a new joint five-year media rights partnership with the tennis body. 

Eurosport and IMG Media will distribute the rights, outside of the UK, across all media platforms for the LTA-run ATP tournaments. These currently include the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club in West London and the Aegon International Championships at Devonshire Park, Eastbourne.

The deal also includes the new WTA international event to be held in Nottingham from 2015, during the new three-week gap between Roland Garros and Wimbledon. 

Eurosport will continue to broadcast the LTA tournaments across its pan-European network, while IMG will for the first time manage media rights distribution outside of Europe. 

Simon Long, Chief Commercial Officer at the LTA said:  “This is very welcome news as it builds on our successful, long-standing partnership with Eurosport and, in collaboration with IMG, offers fans from across the world the opportunity to enjoy coverage of world class grass court tennis in the UK.” 

Geraldine Filiol, Deputy Managing Director, Rights Acquisitions at Eurosport said: “We are very pleased to retain the rights to these popular events for the next five years. The tournaments enhance Eurosport’s tennis offer and perform well in our programming calendar at the start of the grass court season.” 

Ed Mallaburn, Vice President, Head of Tennis at IMG Media added: “We are delighted to be working with the LTA and Eurosport to help establish the global significance of the extended grass court season.” 

Following their impressive start to the Major League Soccer (MLS) season, medical FC Dallas have revealed they are moving closer to finding a new sponsor for the naming rights of FC Dallas Stadium, erectile according to Dan Hunt, vice president of Hunt Sports Group.

“We’re working on three [potential sponsors] right now … for this season,” Hunt told MLSsoccer.com this past weekend. “It would be a partial deal for this season and a full deal next season. If I do my job, I hopefully will get one of them to put their name on the stadium and complex and get the others to support the team through another sponsorship.”

The 20,500-seat soccer-specific stadium and adjoining 17 practice fields was originally called Pizza Hut Park when it opened in 2005. But in what was termed a “shift in sports marketing philosophy,” the well-known pizza chain ended its sponsorship agreement in January of last year, leaving the stadium in its current eponymous state.

Hunt says interest in corporate sponsorship is very high right now due to increased attendance and local media exposure (the club is also on track to reach its goal of 7,000 season-ticket holders, Hunt added). He declined to mention any of the potential suitors by name, but did say that the city of Frisco has been integral in helping the club identify potential partners.

“One’s an international company who has a very big presence in the Texas market, one has subsidiaries headquartered here and offices on the East Coast and one is headquartered here,” said Hunt.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – On 14-16 November 2012, cities gathered with International Sport Federations and sport events stakeholders in Lausanne, the Olympic Capital. 

Over 235 participants and 20 journalists from 42 different nationalities gathered to discuss about ways to implement winning bids to host international sporting events. Under the theme “Preparing to bid and bidding to win”, the international conference City Events was a success in sharing experiences and ideas, through debates and networking opportunities, thanks to top level speakers and a high quality audience!

Bidding: a project with many challenges

From the first evening, the tone was set. Martin KALLEN (UEFA Operations Director) and Michael R. PAYNE (Former IOC Marketing Director and Special Adviser to F1’s Chairman/CEO) shared their experience and vision: “The bidding exercise to host a sport event has evolved, but does not boil down to a simple technical beauty contest”, said Michael R. PAYNE. Martin KALLEN shared the same ideas: “A mega event must be seen as an investment […] You must consider aspect both from inside and outside the event!” Michael R. PAYNE also dwelled on the case of London 2012 in his keynote speech: “You can never win against Paris if it is a technical review. You must present a vision” and London had the idea to highlight youth. A bid is first and foremost a story with its legacy and benefits to all stakeholders and local populations.

“A bid must always include an element of surprise!” Michael R. PAYNE

The second day, cities and sport events organisers shared and discussed their experiences. The City of London – which just hosted the 2012 Olympics, was represented by Iain Edmondson, (Director of Major Events, London & Partners). He unveiled an impressive strategy – “London, home of sports” – that led to the English capital to win the right to host the Olympic Games but also other major sporting events in the years to come. Alpaslan Baki Ertekin, General Manager of Spor AS, representing the City of Istanbul, explained the very active policy of Istanbul in terms of bidding for and hosting sport events, which aims to positioning the country in the heart of the geo-political exchanges. Finally, MEC Catharina Cronje, Minister of Finance of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, shared her experience of the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Bidding: preparation, but not only

The City of Manchester, host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the City of Kazan, host of the 2015 FINA World Championships, the City of Amsterdam, host of the 2016 European Athletics Championships, and the City of Gwangju, 2019 FINA World Championships candidate, offered great insights of their bidding experiences. Additionally, the presentation of the City of Stockholm, unsuccessful candidate to host the 2004 Olympics, completed the vision on bidding explaining how the City managed to benefit from its unsuccessful bid through a great legacy. Annika MALHOTRA, Project Manager at Stockholm Events, explained how Stockholm managed to win even if it had lost the bid: “Even if we had not convinced the IOC, we had convinced ourselves. […] We unfortunately had overlooked two things: the public support and the negative media coverage.”

“Bidding is not about spending a lot of money, but just answer questions and expectations of the Federation precisely!” Sarah Lewis, FIS General Secretary

On the first day, Martin KALLEN reminded us that bid requirements are very demanding; procedures and deadlines need to be followed strictly, but also that a good bid dossier and presentation are key to success. In other words, he explained the importance of building a strong and experienced team to engage in such projects. Markiyan LUBKIVSKIJ, Head of UEFA EURO 2012 in Ukraine detailed both the reasons for the success of his country in bidding to host the EURO 2012 and in the event itself: “Manage your time and expenses, create a scalable and transferable project that can be understood and accepted by both foreign guests and local people.”

Bidding: the view of ‘alternative’ event organisers and International Federations

On the third day, the floor was given to organisers of ‘alternative’ events such as Iron Man Series, the X-Games, and Festival International Sports Extreme (FISE), which showed a different approach for cities to host sports events.

For the ‘Grand Finale’, Sarah LEWIS (FIS General Secretary), Jens Holm (WMGA), Tom DIELEN (World Archery General Secretary), Predrag BOGOSAVLJEV (FIBA Director of Events) and Marc VANDENPLAS (FISU Director for the Summer Universiade) came on stage for a round table dedicated to the view of International Federations. It was the opportunity to clarify that they do not want to see “aggressive competitions, with the risk of impairing relations with cities that would have failed.” All have also agreed on Michael R. PAYNE’s earlier statement: “The first question to ask before embarking on a bid to host the Olympics is: Why do you want the Games?”

City Events: Toolbox and Networking

All these testimonies were supplemented by rich advices and insights from specialised agencies and academic institutions. The presentation of two new Indexes – “Sports Cities Index” from Around The Rings and TSE Consulting and the “Sportcal GSI” (Global Sports Impact), were completed by the AISTS study: “Future Event Requirements of International Sports Federations.”

One of the highlights of this international conference was undoubtedly the success of the “One-to-one meetings session” which promoted over 140 meetings between International Federations, cities, organisers and sponsors. This unique networking opportunity was later completed by the FISU reception at the Rolex Learning Center.

For its 3^rd edition, City Events 2012 was a great success and we hope that cities, International Federations and key stakeholders had set the basis for future projects and events.

FISU and GL Events are looking forward to welcoming you to the 4^th edition of City Events, to take place next year, on 13-15 November 2013 in Lausanne (Switzerland).

Relive the highlights of 2012 CITYevents through pictures: Click-here. 

Find all speakers list and more information on: www.cityevents-sport.com

The US Olympic Committee (USOC) has said that it is committed to its partnership with BP, so long as as it can find a quick solution to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP has come under heavy criticism after an oil rig exploded on 20 April, killing eleven workers and doing huge damage to the surrounding wildlife and environment, and the USOC board discussed its partnership with the energy company at it quarterly meeting yesterday.

USOC Chief Executive, Scott Blackmun, said: “BP, like a lot of other sponsors, has to deal with complex issues and they’re dealing with a major issue now. Very hopefully, they can get this issue resolved sooner rather than later, and we’re pulling for as quick a solution as possible.”

BP signed the US$15 million deal with USOC back in February, which provides USOC with about 6 to 7 per cent of its sponsorship revenue.

In addition, BP also sponsors the London 2012 Olympic Games, who recently said they would also be continuing their partnership with them.