IndyCar announced today that Marc Koretzky has resigned as Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately.

“We wish Marc the best of luck as he moves on to the next chapter in his career,” said Randy Bernard, CEO, INDYCAR.

Koretzky joined IndyCar in May 2011 as Director of Business Development. He led the management of commercial activities and non-racing events around the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championships, including the parade of 34 cars down the Las Vegas strip in primetime. In December 2011, Koretzky was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the day-to-day organizational operations of IndyCar, as well as fostering communication and synergies across the company’s commercial and operations units.

The responsibilities of Chief Operating Officer will be split among current IndyCar staff members for the interim as the organization evaluates long-term staffing plans.

1	Mazda Partner with Discovery Velocity Channel to Broadcast Playboy MX-5 Cup	Friday, 24 February 2012
2	ARD & ZDF Get German Rights to Euro 2016	Thursday, 23 February 2012
3	HBO PPV Get Rights to Pacquiao-Bradley Fight in June	Thursday, 23 February 2012
4	Motors TV to Broadcast Nascar Nationwide Series in UK	Thursday, 23 February 2012
5	Fußball-Europameisterschaft 2016 bei ARD und ZDF	Thursday, 23 February 2012
6	Channel Nine to Broadcast Rugby League’s Intrust Super Cup	Thursday, 23 February 2012
7	Golf Channel Becomes Media Partner with Non-Profit Organization First Tee	Wednesday, 22 February 2012
8	TV Tokyo Get Rights to Air Tape-Delayed UFC 144	Wednesday, 22 February 2012
9	South Australian National Football League to Sign Deal with ABCTV	Wednesday, 22 February 2012
10	Viasat Renew Scandinavian Rights to NFL	Tuesday, 21 February 2012
11	Al Jazeera & M6 Get French Europa League Rights, Global Media Acquire Georgian Rights	Tuesday, 21 February 2012
12	SNTV Gains Variety of Sports Digital Rights	Tuesday, 21 February 2012
13	Grammy Sports Gets Thai Rights to Carling Cup	Tuesday, 21 February 2012
14	MSG & Time Warner Reach Tentative Agreement to Capitalise on Lin’s Popularity	Monday, 20 February 2012
15	HBO Get Pay Per View Rights to Mayweather-Cotto Fight	Monday, 20 February 2012

Europeean soccer’s governing body UEFA have concluded a media rights agreement with RTL Television GMBH in Germany with regard to the newly centralised European Qualifiers.

Each of the German national team’s qualifying matches for UEFA EURO 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup will be shown on leading commercial free-to-air channel RTL. RTL will also broadcast a comprehensive highlights programme on the same night as the German national team matches, featuring the best action from the European Qualifiers.

In announcing the deal, UEFA said: “We are very pleased to have RTL as a broadcast partner for the European Qualifiers. RTL represents an excellent platform for the German national team matches and will provide valuable free-to-air exposure and promotion for the competition. We are looking forward to working together with RTL to make the European Qualifiers a great viewing experience for football fans in Germany.”

Certain media rights packages, including pay rights to the live broadcast of all European Qualifiers matches, as well as daily highlights, remain for sale in the German market.

The players of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua FC staged an open protest in full view of the Chinese media this week, apparently because of unpaid wages.

Shenhua press officer Ma Yue was quoted as saying that the players “were expressing their dissatisfaction at having not received wages.”

Ma said the club’s board had witnessed the protest and understood why the action was taken.

Shenhua Chairman, Zhu Jun, said that he may withdraw his investments in Shenhua because of an ownership dispute, which has led to questions over whether the club will be able to afford key players like Drogba and Anelka.

Chinese Super League acting President, Zhu Qilin, said: “I don’t think they will withdraw from paying the wages, because they have a business agreement. Wherever you are, if you violate an agreement you will be punished.”{jcomments on}

 

The European Hockey Federation (EHF) has announced today that Angus Kirkland has been appointed as Director General and will take up this position in October 2012. 

Angus joins the EHF from the Irish Hockey Association, pilule where he was CEO for the past four years. During his time in Irish Hockey he has been responsible for securing and managing sponsorship partnerships. He has acted as lead in many FIH and EHF level Tournaments. He has also been responsible for leading hockey in developing a brand new training center at the Irish National Sports Campus, remedy Abbotstown and developing a strategic plan (with Coaching Ireland) for coaching hockey in Ireland. 

Angus has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to sport, price sale both professionally, as a player and as  volunteer. He began his career as a professional squash player, securing a career high World Ranking of 19 in November 1995. He went on to develop his management skills as Head Squash Professional & Athletic Director at The Harvard Club of Boston. In 2002 he moved to Ireland and worked as General Manager of a Gaelic Club, before going on to be COO of Irish Squash Association. In 2008 he was appointed as CEO of the Irish Hockey Association. 

Commenting on Angus’ appointment, Marijke Fleuren said: “It is my pleasure to warmly welcome Angus to the EHF. As CEO of Irish Hockey, Angus is already an intrinsic part of the hockey family. With his strong work experience at senior level in a variety of organisations, he is ideally placed to guide the EHF through this new phase in our history and all in the EHF look forward to working with him.” 

Angus said: “I am delighted to have been appointed Director General of the European Hockey Federation. The role presents both a great opportunity and a challenge and I am very much looking forward to working with all stakeholders in European Hockey over the coming years to help grow and strengthen the game in the region.” 

Angus Kirkland will start in his new role based in Brussels on 15th October 2012.

 

Stadium Innovation Trophy to be presented at the Forum on 8 March

 

Global Sports Forum Barcelona (GSFB), the world’s leading exchange platform for sport, has today announced a partnership with the Consortium Stade de France. The deal will see the Forum create a Stadium Innovation Trophy, which will be presented by Philippe Auroy, Managing Director of the Consortium Stade de France, during the GSFB’s Official Trophy Ceremony, Thursday 8 March.

 

The GSFB will take place at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona from 7-9 March 2012. With its unique format that places delegates at the heart of the industry debate, the GSFB will feature keynote presentations from the likes of LOCOG Chairman, Sebastian Coe, former Manchester United legend, Eric Cantona, and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games hopeful, Oscar Pistorius, as well as panel discussions and workshops with brands including Coca-Cola, You Tube, FIFA and b.win.

 

The Stade de France, owned and operated by the Consortium Stade de France, has a seating capacity of 80,000, making it the eighth largest stadium in Europe. It’s used by both the France national football and rugby teams, and regularly holds concerts and other major international events. In 2002, the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABC) awarded a prize recognizing the unique structure of the Stade de France.

 

Lucien Boyer, President and CEO, Havas Sport & Entertainment and General Commissioner of the Global Sports Forum Barcelona, commented:

“We are extremely proud to have the Consortium Stade de France as Official Partners of this year’s Global Sports Forum Barcelona. Since its completion in 1995, the Stade de France has hosted the country’s most prestigious national and international sports moments, as well as unique entertainment events, placing the spectator at the heart of the occasion. Their global ambition and key challenges are perfectly in-line with our positioning “Sport, What’s Next?” embodying trends of the future.”

 

“They will contribute a great deal to our event by sharing their experience and challenges through the voice of the Managing Director, Philippe Auroy, as well as showcasing technologies within our networking area. The Consortium Stade de France also chose to create a special Stadium Innovation Trophy which will be handed out during the Official Trophy Ceremony on the evening of Thursday 8th March.”

 

Stade de France will also be accompanied at the GSFB by one of its most important and influential partners, Orange Business Services, which will be showcasing its latest innovations in the networking area at the event.

 

For further information, or to see the latest line-up speakers signed-up for the Global Sports Forum, go to: www.globalsportsforum.org, or check out the Twitter feed at: http://twitter.com/GlobalSportsFor.

 

To register, go to: http://globalsportsforum.mediactive.fr and follow the on-screen registration instructions.

 

Members of the press are invited to attend free of charge

Universal Sports Network and Time Warner Cable (TWC) announced today a multi-year agreement to deliver the network’s exclusive year-round coverage of Olympic and endurance sports programming to TWC’s Sports Pass subscribers.

The deal gives TWC, one of the nation’s largest providers of video, high-speed data and voice services, comprehensive TV Everywhere rights, VOD content and Universal Sports Max, a secondary events broadband channel.

Universal Sports Network will be available to TWC Sports Pass subscribers in the majority of TWC markets later this summer.

“We are thrilled that Time Warner Cable sees value in Universal Sports Network,” said Universal Sports President Scott Brown. “We look forward to serving Time Warner Cable’s customers with exciting, global sports coverage on multiple platforms.”

“Time Warner Cable customers will soon be able to enjoy the year-round coverage of championship sports programming found only on Universal Sports,” said Alexis Johnson, Vice President of Content Acquisition for Time Warner Cable. “We are delighted to be able to provide our Sports Pass subscribers with access to coverage of the Olympic sports they love on multiple platforms.”

The restart of the Egyptian football league, has been postponed indefinitely because the government has not provided security clearance.

Games cannot be played without guarantees of safety and, after Ultras supporters of Al-Ahly threatened more disruption if the league resumed before the completion of the trial resulting from the Port Said Stadium deaths, the ministry of the interior declined to give the FA the necessary authorisation.

In total, 74 people were killed during a match between Al-Ahly and Al-Masry on February 1 when clashes and a pitch invasion broke out. Witnesses claimed police did little to stop the violence.

The league was suspended after the incident, and the scheduled September 17 resumption was put back a month after Al-Ahly fans stormed the Egyptian FA’s headquarters to protest against the decision.

An FA official told Egypt’s Ahram Online that the FA’s newly-elected board “had decided to take the side of martyrs and injured families and to support the Ultras in their demand to freeze the league competition until the Port Said case ends”.

 

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced that Cheryl Soon, ed Australia’s Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 winning captain and one of the most prominent exponents of the Women’s Game in recent years, has joined the governing body’s Rugby Committee.

Soon, who led the Wallaroos to the inaugural women’s title in Dubai after a dramatic sudden-death extra-time victory over New Zealand and captained her nation to third at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010, also featured significantly in the IRB’s successful Olympic bid in 2009.

The scrum half follows Sir Graham Henry in accepting an invitation by the IRB Council and replaces another figurehead of the Women’s Game Carol Isherwood on the Rugby Committee, which is chaired by former New Zealand captain Graham Mourie. Isherwood moves on after three years steering key women’s policies on the Committee.

The IRB Rugby Committee is at the very heart of developing policies relating to the playing of the Game and comprising leading representatives from the playing, coaching and refereeing fraternities covering men’s and women’s Fifteens and Sevens. It recommends policy on critical areas of playing the Game such as player welfare, the Laws, playing trends and coaching techniques.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “Women’s Rugby is going from strength to strength with over one million women and children playing the Game across every continent and the appointment of Soon, a highly experienced Sevens and Fifteens player, to the influential policy-recommending body underscores the IRB’s ongoing commitment to the growth of Women’s Rugby.”

“The IRB Council believed that the addition of an experienced recent former international player to the Rugby Committee was necessary to ensure that the best interests of the Women’s Game continue to be served on and off the field.”

“There are few more experienced and passionate about the development of Women’s Rugby than Cheryl Soon, who brought her passion to our successful bid to deliver Rugby Sevens’ inclusion in the Olympic Games. She is a winner and we are delighted that she has accepted the invitation and look forward to her invaluable contribution to the IRB Rugby Committee and the Game worldwide.”

“I would like to thank Carol Isherwood for her exceptional service and contribution to the Committee. It should not be underestimated that her tenure came at a time when participation has boomed, competitiveness significantly increased, a Women’s Plan implemented and an IRB Women’s Sevens Series introduced. She will be a hard act to follow.”

Soon, who presented to the International Olympic Committee as Rugby Sevens was emphatically voted into the Olympic Games programme, said that she was looking forward to channelling her experience and passion for the Game into assisting the ongoing development of Rugby worldwide.

Soon said: “I am honoured and excited to be joining this influential Committee and would like to thank the IRB Council for the invitation and the ARU for their endorsement and support of my appointment.”

“The IRB has done an exceptional job of growing the profile, reach and competitiveness of Women’s Rugby. With two Olympic Games, Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 and the inaugural IRB Women’s Sevens Series on the horizon these are exceptionally exciting times for the Women’s Game.”

“I am looking forward to contributing fully to the IRB Rugby Committee to ensure that Women’s Rugby remains a central consideration when discussing all aspects of playing and growing the Game.”

Mourie added: “The appointment of Cheryl Soon alongside the likes of Fabien Pelous and Graham Henry reaffirms the IRB’s commitment to ensuring that the playing and coaching fraternity contribute to the development of policies that relate to key areas such as playing, officiating, coaching, the Laws and player welfare.”

The IRB Rugby Committee comprises IRB Council Members Graham Mourie (New Zealand, Chairman), Bill Beaumont (England), Giancarlo Dondi (Italy), Michael Hawker (Australia), John Jeffrey (Scotland), David Pickering (Wales), Agustin Pichot (Argentina), Koji Tokumasu (Japan), Pat Whelan (Ireland), Chris Le Fevre (Canada) and Raul Martins (FIRA-AER), former players Fabien Pelous (France) and Cheryl Soon (Australia) along with RWC 2011 winning coach Sir Graham Henry (New Zealand).