World Match Racing Tour CEO, pills  Jim O’Toole has left his post after not agreeing a new deal and will leave with immediate effect.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Alpari World Match Racing Tour said: “The Alpari World Match Racing Tour today announces that Chief Executive Officer Jim O’Toole will not be renewing his fixed term contract with the Tour and after discussions with the Board of Directors it has been agreed that he will part company with the Tour with immediate effect.”

Jim O’Toole said: “With the recent announcement of Alpari as the Tour title sponsor and the conclusion of an agreement with the new venue in Chicago, the Alpari World Match Racing Tour is in an enviable commercial position in the world of sailing and I would like to wish the series and all its stakeholders every success moving forward.”

O’Toole will explore other senior management roles within the sports marketing industry.

by Ismail Uddin

A national football academy will be built in Vadodara, India with the aim of providing a much-needed boost to sport in India

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial and marketing partner IMG-Reliance  this week presented ambitious plans for football development in India with the objective of its national team participating in the 2026 World Cup.

Vadodara already has several football grounds, and IMG-Reliance chose the location because it believes it would be easy to build an academy.

The AIFF and IMG-Reliance are also working toward refurbishing the existing stadiums.

The academy’s goal is to produce 80 percent of national team players within the next 10 years.

IMG-Reliance will also provide scholarships to 16 football players that will include full-time training and academic education at IMG Academy in Florida.{jcomments on}

The Rugby Football League (RFL) has further strengthened its commercial and marketing operations with the appointment of experienced sports administrator James Mercer as Commercial Director.

Mercer, pharmacy 43, joins Rugby League’s governing body with a strong pedigree in sports sponsorship and commerce having worked in both professional tennis and motorsport since 1995.

RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood, said: “I would like to welcome James to the RFL and look forward to working with him at what is a very exciting time for Rugby League.

“James has a proven track record of commercial delivery and his rich experience has an important role to play as we look to achieve our objectives of growing the sport at every level.

“James will be able to offer a total package to sponsors and commercial partners, from grassroots through to Super League, England and the Rugby League World Cup.”

A former pupil of Bristol Grammar School, Mercer graduated from Illinois State University before completing his Masters in Sport Business at the University of Richmond in Virginia, USA.

His career includes a six-year tenure as Commercial Manager for the International Tennis Federation (2000-2006) and a Director (commercial, media, television and sponsorship) at North One Sport, the Championship Promoter for the FIA World Rally Championship (2006-2012).

James Mercer said: “I have watched Rugby League make terrific progress over the last few years and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to help take the sport to the next level.

“My experience with the ITF and North One Sport has equipped me to deliver a whole-sport solution to the market and maximise sponsorship and revenue streams in a sport I have admired for some considerable time.

“I have first hand experience of building successful platforms by weaving together the elements of television, new media, licensing and sponsorship to achieve commercial objectives.

“With so much positive news, this is a great time to join the RFL and I am very much looking forward to working with all our brands to understand how to maximise all the opportunities that exist for growth.”

His recruitment comes just a few days after the RFL confirmed the appointment of Matt Lowery, the former Manchester City Head of Marketing, as Director of Marketing on a consultancy basis.

Nigel Wood added: “These appointments make the sport better equipped than ever before to realise its rich commercial potential and raise visibility and profile to new heights.

“Matt and James enhance an experienced and committed team at the RFL which is well placed to build on the sustained growth we have overseen in the last few years.”

James Mercer will be based in London and will begin his tenure today (Monday March 12).

by Ismail Uddin

With four weeks to go until the single biggest rugby focused conference and exhibition comes to Twickenham, store Rugby Ventures, the management team behind the event, is delighted to announce the final conference programme content for day one of Rugby Expo.

Building on the new conference format for 2011, day one of Rugby Expo will be focused on the professional game. With a top list of high profile international speakers from rugby as well as the wider world of sport, the programme will include four plenary sessions and 11 workshops, open to attend by all delegates.

Amongst the list of expert industry speakers confirmed, the main stage will play host to Paul Vaughan, CEO of RWC 2015, John O’Neill, CEO of Australian Rugby Union, Mike Miller, CEO of the IRB and fresh from the RWC in New Zealand alongside Steve Fanelli from the Oakland Athletics, Elaine Clarke of Chelsea FC and Alistair Kirkwood, UK managing director for the NFL.

Other speakers taking part on day one include:

– Nick Chesworth, head of rugby at IMG

– Dan Lyle, tournament director for USA Sevens

– Derek Palmer, managing director EMEA for Tickets.com

– Paul Kimberley, commercial director for RFL

– David Hutchinson, commercial director for Warrington Wolves

– Steven Jones, awarding winner journalist from The Sunday Times

– Vicky Howarth, head of retail for Tottenham Hotspur

– Steve Griffiths, head of technical services for the IRB

Alongside the four main plenary sessions, day one will host 11 interactive workshops, designed to provide delegates with a much broader range of content covering issues that affect professional rugby. These workshops will focus on three specialist areas from within a typical professional rugby club including; management and finance, marketing and commercial, and technical and performance. All designed to ensure a full programme and a significant amount of content on offer for all attendees.

For full details of the conference programme, please click here.

Chinese sportswear retailer Li Ning has warned it may post a full-year loss because of inventory overhang and slowing domestic economic growth.

The company’s shares fell 3.8 percent in Hong Kong on Thursday, compounding a 4.5 percent fall on Wednesday.

Investors appear to be losing patience faith in the company’s assurances it can revive its fortunes after a difficult two years.

Li Ning reported an 85 percent drop in first-half net profit to RMB 44.3M (US$7M)

One reason for the projected full-year loss is that spending on London 2012 will be booked primarily in the second half.

Shanghai-based China Market Research Founder, Shaun Rein, said: “Li Ning’s poor performance has more to do with its own strategic missteps rather than an overall slowdown of the Chinese market.” {jcomments on}

The San Francisco 49ers continued their foray in acquiring Facebook personnel by appointing Kunal Malik, a tech veteran who started Facebook Inc.’s  IT department, their new chief technology officer, a newly created position.

Malik will oversee tech efforts for the club and the planned stadium in Santa Clara. He is expected to start on May 1.

Gideon Yu, the 49ers’ newly appointed president and a former chief financial officer at Facebook — said the team set “very high goals for what we want the Santa Clara stadium to be in terms of innovation, technology and user experience.”

“In my opinion, there is nobody better qualified for this role, and I am excited to partner with Kunal again,” Yu said in a prepared statement.

Malik founded Facebook’s information technology department in 2007 and spent the past five years building that group. According to the 49ers, he has more than 15 years of tech experience in “senior leadership roles.”

He has worked for the Buffalo, N.Y., police department, using technology to improve officers’ response times. He has also worked for Exodus Communications Inc. , a Santa Clara Web-hosting firm that collapsed a decade ago during the dot-com meltdown and was sold through bankruptcy court, and Wind River Systems Inc. , a software company acquired in 2009 by Santa Clara semiconductor giant Intel Corp.

The 49ers’ new stadium in Santa Clara is expected to cost $1.02 billion and open in time for the 2014 National Football League season. The 68,500-seat facility would be built on Tasman Drive, near California’s Great America theme park and the 49ers’ training facility.

by Ismail Uddin

Acht Deutsche Meistertitel, health sechs DFB-Pokale, Sieger der Champions League, 864 Pflichtspiele, 554 Bundesligaspiele, 86 Nationalmannschaftsspiele und 141 Begegnungen im Europapokal in der Champions League: Oliver Kahn ist unzweifelhaft einer der erfolgreichsten deutschen Fußballprofi aller Zeiten und der erfolgreichste deutsche Torhüter schlechthin!

Bereits mit 18 schaffte er den Sprung in den Profikader des KSC und 1994 wechselte er zum FC Bayern München im bis dahin teuersten Torwarttransfer der Bundesligageschichte. Trotz frühzeitigem Erfolg bestehen die Eltern auf eine solide Ausbildung neben dem Sport und Kahn studiert nach dem Abitur Wirtschaftswissenschaften.

Heute ist Oliver Kahn gefragter Fußballexperte für das ZDF und Inititator und Jurymitglied der TV-Casting Show ‚I never give up – the Kahn principle‘ in China. Motivation und Leadership sind zentrale Themen, mit denen er sich auseinandersetzt. Im Rahmen der ‚Ich schaff’s Tour‘ motivierte er Jugendliche an Bayrischen Schulen und veröffentlichte bereits drei Bücher. Er unterstützt das FANORAKEL, ein Fußballportal und hat eine eigene Stiftung gegründet.

Bei den Sponsoringtagen stellt er sich in der Reihe ‚Sportler im Gespräch‘ Fragen zu Testimonialwerbung, seine Rolle als TV-Experte und die Karriere nach der Karriere.

Die 17. Deutsche Sponsoringtage sind der jährliche Sportbusiness-Kongress von HORIZONT – Zeitung für Marketing Werbung und Medien und The Conference Group. Alle Infos zum Kongress am 10. November und zur Verleihung des HORIZONT SPORTBUSINESS Awards am 9. November finden Sie unter http://www.conferencegroup.de/sponsoringtage11. 

Premier League football could be shown on terrestrial television channel ITV according to reports in the The Daily Telegraph.

Reports suggested that the telecoms company, adiposity who bid £738 million on rights to 38 matches per season, is in talks with ITV to allow some of the matches to be shown to a national audience.

BT’s deal is for three-years and starts at the beginning of the 2013/14 season and any deal with ITV would allow the company to showcase their pay-television service, BT Vision, to a wider audience.

The Daily Telegraph reported that BT is willing to do the deal with ITV to, “showcase a sample of the content it offers…and also to recoup a portion of its outlay on the high profile matches.”

BT’s successful deal to broadcast England’s top flight caused BSkyB to pay £2.28 billion to broadcast 116 Premier League games per season in a staggering deal that led to £500 million going from its share price because investors felt the company had overpaid.

The Telegraph report believed ITV and BT are capable of damaging BSkyB’s hold on football coverage. The report said: “ITV wrangles with BSkyB for viewers and advertisers, while BT regularly loses broadband and telephone customers to the pay-TV company because they sign up for its bundled deals.

“Neither company has the wherewithal to tackle BSkyB single-handed but together the could make a serious dent.”

Brazilian Football Confederation boss and head of the organizing committee for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Ricardo Teixeira, has left his roles following a string of corruption scandals.

He tendered his resignation in a letter that was read out to reporters at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

“I leave the presidency of the CBF definitively with the feeling of having done my duty,” Teixeira said in the letter.

Teixeira, 64, said he was standing down for health reasons, just days after he requested a temporary medical leave of absence to treat diverticulitis, a painful bowel condition.

He is succeeded by Jose Maria Marin, 79, a former politician who is little known outside the closed world of the CBF. Teixeira has run the CBF since 1989 and turned it into a vastly profitable commercial enterprise. Brazil had not won the World Cup for 19 years when he took over but have since lifted it twice, in 1994 and 2002.

However, despite the successes on and off the field, Teixeira’s tenure has frequently been overshadowed by allegations of corruption and shady business dealings.

In 2001, a Congressional investigation accused him of 13 crimes ranging from tax evasion to money laundering to misleading lawmakers, although no charges were ever brought.

Last year, the former head of the English Football Association David Triesman said Teixeira offered to back England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup in return for favours.

In February, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said a company linked to Teixeira overcharged the organisers of a November 2008 friendly match between Brazil and Portugal.

Teixeira has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Teixeira’s resignation means that Marin and two former footballers, Ronaldo and Bebeto, are now charged with organizing one of sport’s biggest events.

Ronaldo and Bebeto, both World Cup winners, were appointed to the committee in recent months despite having little experience in the field.

The tournament has been beset by delays and questions ever since Brazil won the right to host it in October 2007. Although most of the 12 stadiums are on schedule, several are over budget and being built with taxpayer money.

More worrying is the state of transportation infrastructure, especially airports.

Brazil’s antiquated airports are not capable of handling the expected influx of 600,000 fans and authorities have been slow to build new airports and expand the existing ones.

by Ismail Uddin

malady helvetica, sans-serif;”>Wer bekommt die Bundesliga-Rechte und wie wirkt sich das EuGH-Urteil im Fall Karen Murphy auf die Ausschreibung aus? Darüber sprechen Experten bei den 17. Deutschen Sponsoringtagen am 9. und 10. November 2011 in Wiesbaden.

Wenige Wochen vor der angekündigten Neu-Ausschreibung der Bundesliga-Rechte diskutiert Christian Seifert, Geschäftsführer der Deutschen Fußball Liga (DFL), die Zukunft der Bundesliga in den Medien. Mit dabei: Sky-Sportvorstand Carsten Schmidt, ARD-Sportkoordinator Axel Balkausky, Telekom-Manager Henning Stiegenroth, Sport-Bild-Chefredakteur, Matthias Brügelmann und Heiko Genzlinger, Stellvertretender Geschäftsführer von Yahoo Deutschland.

Höhepunkt des Kongresses ist die Verleihung der HORIZONT SPORTBUSINESS Awards – die Auszeichnung namhafter Persönlichkeiten für besondere Leistungen in der Sportbusiness-Branche am Abend des 9. Novembers in den Kurhaus-Kolonnaden, Wiesbaden. Ausgezeichnet werden unter anderem Hans-Joachim Watzke, Vorsitzender der Geschäftsführung von Borussia Dortmund und Steffi Jones, Präsidentin des Organisationskomitees der FIFA Frauenfußball-WM 2011.

Stargast der Konferenz ist Oliver Kahn. In einem exklusiven Talk spricht der einstige Weltklasse-Torhüter über Testimonialwerbung, seine Rolle als TV-Experte und die Karriere nach der Karriere.

Die 18. Deutsche Sponsoringtage sind der jährliche Sportbusiness-Kongress von HORIZONT – Zeitung für Marketing, Werbung und Medien und The Conference Group. Alle Infos zum Kongress und zur Preisverleihung finden sich unter www.conferencegroup.de/sponsoringtage11