Tim Lacy has been named Executive Producer, ailment Digital Production of IMG Media, allergist part of IMG Worldwide, impotent a global sports, fashion and media company.

Lacy will be in charge of the overall production process involving the co-ordination of content, the packaging of production specifically for digital output and final delivery for the client.

Graham Fry, Managing Director of IMG Media’s Sports Production Worldwide, said: “Digital production is becoming an increasingly important part of our business and we aim to establish ourselves as major players in this space.

“This requires a dedicated production focus and Tim, with his experience of running the digital output on Golfing World, is the ideal person to take on this new role. He will also remain Executive Producer for Golfing World.”

IMG’s Media Sales Group, headed up by Ben Nicholas, the Head of UK Sales, are also co-ordinating a number of major production opportunities for digital.

Lacy has over 15 years experience with IMG including producing European Tour Weekly and The Open and Ryder Cup official films before becoming Series Producer of Golfing World in 2010.

He said: “IMG is well-placed to create the content for a wide range of sports and federations. This is a fantastic opportunity to develop the digital department within IMG.”

by Ismail Uddin

viagra buy helvetica, denture sans-serif;”>Community rugby clubs are to receive complimentary tickets to Rugby Expo 2011 as a result of an exciting new partnership between The Rugby Football Union (RFU), ailment Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) and Rugby Ventures, the owners of Rugby Expo.

The agreement will see community rugby clubs receive free tickets to attend the second day of the event when the programme focuses on supporting the requirements of the grass roots game.

The free ticket offer, which will be distributed through official RFU and PRL channels, will allow each club to bring two delegates free of charge, ensuring they benefit from a series of plenary sessions, master class workshops and interactive product demonstrations designed to meet their specific needs.

The second day of Rugby Expo will allow both the RFU and Premiership Rugby take to the main stage alongside a number of key stakeholders from the community game to discuss how the sport will develop over the next four years and the factors driving change.

With closer co-operation between the development teams of the RFU and the professional clubs, the opportunity to showcase their work at the event was welcomed by both organisations.

On confirming the partnership Steve Grainger, Rugby Development Director for the RFU said:  “Having met the team from Rugby Expo we were more than happy to work with them to share our plans for the future of the sport at the event. Rugby Expo provides an excellent platform to meet many rugby clubs from across the country, to promote the collaboration with Premiership Rugby and to share how we are working together to develop the grass roots of the sport.”

Mark McCafferty, CEO of Premiership Rugby Limited said:  “As a sport, we have a unique opportunity leading up to Rugby World Cup 2015 and beyond to realise a major step change in the appeal of the game in England. Clubs at all levels need to be at the heart of this effort. The Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs have developed some very strong community programmes and we look forward to working further with the RFU and all member clubs to realise the potential of the next few years. Rugby Expo 2011 can signal the beginning of that collective journey.”

Speakers already confirmed for day two of the event includes Steve Griffiths, the IRB’s Head of Technical Services, Mark Evans, former CEO of Harlequins, Keith Butten, Chairman of Luton RFC, Nigel Fletcher, Chairman of the European Synthetic Turf Organisation and Simon Winman, the RFU’s Head of Facilities.

IMG Media, apoplectic a division of IMG Worldwide, has acquired a four-year contract for the centralised media rights of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Major Events, the BWF World Superseries and BWF Grand Prix Gold. 

The deal, which comes into effect with the start of the 2014 Superseries cycle next year, will see BWF’s media-rights earnings jump four fold as badminton’s world-governing body capitalises on the sport’s increasing global popularity and profile.

The BWF events are currently televised in more than 160 countries, with more than 5,000 hours of coverage yearly. Additionally, after just 18 months, BWF’s online channel boasts 22 million views with fans already watching 70 million minutes of badminton. The new agreement will look to improve on these solid figures.

“I have said before that my goal has been to strengthen BWF’s financial position and this agreement with IMG further ensures that. BWF is guaranteed higher revenues from this deal than ever before for media rights,” said BWF President Dr. Kang Young Joong.

“This exciting partnership with IMG will allow BWF to explore interesting, new opportunities regarding how we can improve and expand the BWF brand and visibility through various media streams and products.

“Of course, BWF is keen to extend its live and delayed coverage of tournaments into new markets. Additionally, we will be considering how we can continue to exploit broadband technologies and use data to interact with and engage fans more. We are also looking at an enhanced magazine show, profiling badminton stars and events more prominently. There are many options for utilising media platforms and BWF will be seeking to maximise these.”

The consolidation of BWF’s media rights means IMG Media will have exclusive rights to showcase all of the best badminton action worldwide, having secured the rights for the BWF Major Events (World Championships, Thomas & Uber Cups and the Sudirman Cup), the 12-stop BWF World Superseries tour which culminates in the year-end Superseries Finals and the Grand Prix Gold tour which for the first time sees its media rights centralised by the BWF. This is also the very first time the BWF is working exclusively with one global partner across all of its media rights.

“Badminton is growing as a commercial commodity and is among Asia’s leading and most popular spectator sports. IMG is pleased to partner with the BWF to further raise badminton’s profile, not only in the Asian marketplace – which is a booming sports hub – but also into other markets where fans are turning on to the fastest racquet sport,” said Michel Masquelier, President of IMG Media.

“This is an exciting time for badminton and IMG looks forward to this collaboration with BWF and badminton which has proven a best-practices model for sport business in Asia while continuing its global expansion.”

Trevor Birch, Portsmouth administrator is offering to set up a meeting with the Pompey Supporters’ Trust and Balram Chainrai’s company Portpin to try and help save the financially-stricken club’s future.

The news comes after Wednesday morning’s announcement from Portpin that they have withdrawn their bid for the troubled npower League One club.

Chainrai listed a number of reasons behind his decision to pull out, most notably a lack of support and co-operation from administrator PKF and other involved parties, but went on to state “we welcome and will assist anyone, including the Supporters’ Trust, to try and save the club in the coming days”.

The announcement leaves Pompey in real danger of liquidation, but administrator Birch, who has spent the last few weeks trying to slash the club’s wage bill in an attempt to push through the sale, hopes the Supporters’ Trust can still come to their rescue.

“We note Portpin’s statement that it has withdrawn its bid for Portsmouth Football Club,” said Birch.

“In reviewing the options available to the club, we also note Portpin’s offer to support any efforts to save Portsmouth in the forthcoming days.

“We are therefore urgently seeking a meeting with Portpin and the Pompey Supporters’ Trust to determine if the Trust’s bid can be brought to a successful conclusion.

“We are working behind the scenes with (manager) Michael Appleton to enable the club to field as strong a team as possible for its first league match on Saturday.”

Portsmouth’s future now appears to be down to the Supporters’ Trust and whether they can come up with the funds to turn the south-coast outfit into a community-owned club.

The Trust insist fans have already pledged almost £2million and a combination of associate directors and individual investors another £1m.

Portsmouth City Council last Thursday agreed a £1.45m temporary bridging loan to the Trust, in the event of a ‘commercial’ solution not emerging.

And the Trust have welcomed Wednesday morning’s news that Portpin have withdrawn their bid.

“This is the moment we have been waiting for,” spokesperson Colin Farmery told www.pompeytrust.com.

“Fans need to be ready to come up with the money they have pledged. It is a pivotal moment in the club’s history.

“We welcome the fact Portpin have stated they want to want to help save the club. It is in no-one’s interests Pompey are liquidated.

“I am certain Pompey fans, the city of Portsmouth and the wider football family will be able to do what is needed to make Pompey the biggest community club of its type in the UK.”

Phoenix Suns Charities have announced the naming of Tim Benter to its Board of Directors.

Benter currently serves as the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Republic Services, ailment Inc. based in Phoenix, erectile Arizona. Republic is the nation’s second largest environmental services firm providing waste collection and recycling services across the United States. Benter has been with the company for more than 13 years in various capacities, and currently oversees the legal side of the company’s mergers and acquisitions, waste to energy development, national accounts, certain complex environmental matters and Western Region operations.

Phoenix Suns Charities is the cornerstone of the team’s foundation, making grants to non-profit organizations that serve children and youth in the areas of education, health and human services, the arts, sports and recreation, and rehabilitation. In the 23 years since its inception, Phoenix Suns Charities has donated over 11 million dollars to worthy Arizona organizations.

by Ismail Uddin

sick helvetica, sans-serif;”>Soccerex is announced that Hublot CEO, Jean-Claude Biver will be speaking on the ‘Football Brands the World’ panel at this year’s Global Convention taking place in the stunning city of Rio de Janeiro, 26-30 November. Jean-Claude will be joining FIFA’s Director of Marketing Thierry Weil on the panel which explores the use of football by international companies as a platform for brand leverage.

As CEO of Hublot, Jean-Claude is in a perfect position to discuss the topic; since joining the company in 2004, he has moved to increase the public profile of their brand awareness in a number of high profile sponsorship deals. In 2008, they agreed a deal with Manchester United FC.  That same year they became the first luxury brand to enter football at the European level, as timekeeper of the Euro 2008 which resulted in them becoming the official time keeper of t he 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM and the 2014 FIFA World Cup^TM.

Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie explains: ‘To have Jean-Claude speak on the brands panel just adds to the quality of the session.  The work he has done at Hublot has resulted in industry acclaim and it is great to have his knowledge on the subject especially when his strategy for brand growth has been so successful over the years.’

CEO Jean –Claude Biver is looking forward to this opportunity: ‘Soccerex is a perfect platform to share our precursor views as a luxury brand in the world of football. The quality of the attendance will definitively enhance the experience, and the fact that the conference takes place in Rio, host city of the FIFA World Cup 2014^TM makes this rendez-vous very special’.

The panel will focus on why brands consider football as a winning portal into domestic and international markets and break down the fundamental benefits of using football as a platform to connect with consumers.  Speakers on the panel will draw on relevant case studies to endorse their argument.

‘Football ‘Brands’ the World’ is just one session that makes up an impressive conference line up at this year’s Soccerex Global Convention.  Other topics that will be discussed include the 2014 FIFA World Cup^TM, Stadia, Sustainability, Performance, Social Media, Commercial Success, plus exclusive sessions with some of the footballs biggest stars past and present.

As well as this in-depth conference schedule, the Soccerex Global Convention will consist of a packed exhibition and a large range of networking events taking place in the Forte de Copacabana plus a two-day Football Festival taking place on the iconic Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro.

The Southeastern Conference have changed their long-term contract with CBS following the additions of SEC’s new 24-hour channel and Texas A&M and Missouri according to reports.

The terms of the deal are expected to remain intact ($55 million per year until 2023-24), with CBS lifting the exclusive 3:30 p.m. broadcast window so the SEC can air football games on its ESPN-operated channel on Saturdays.

CBS owned exclusive rights to the prime broadcast spot for its “SEC on CBS” game of the week. CBS still picks the top SEC game each week and owns rights to the league championship game in Atlanta.

The SEC Network plans to broadcast three football games per Saturday, so it will be interesting to see which matchups it rolls out during the mid-day swing that CBS enjoys. The SEC will likely aim for high-powered football matchups — not just third-tier leftovers — in the first few years of the network and possibly beyond.

The renegotiation also included the exchange of non-revenue assets that weren’t disclosed by a source.

SEC Network, to launch before the 2014 season, is wholly owned by ESPN, which will operate, produce and sell it. ESPN will likely be compensated well for this setup, but the league isn’t releasing financials.

SEC and ESPN officials will comprise a “content committee” to establish SEC Network programming.

Texas A&M and Missouri officially joined the league in 2012.

Japan’s top soccer league- the J.League- has signed a partnership agreement with Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF).

VPF runs the V-League- the top professional football league in Vietnam. The Japan Football Association’s also have an agreement with the Thai Premier League.

The J.League and VPF will work together toward the development of the sport in both countries, in terms of communication, marketing, managing events, academy and transferring players between the two leagues.

Sports marketing agency LeadOff Sports Marketing General Manager, Takehiko Nakamura said: “This ‘Asia Strategy’ that J.League is rolling out is to enhance its presence and to develop new businesses both in Japan and in other Asian areas. This movement and strategy is going to position J.League closer towards the European powerhouses in the near future.”{jcomments on}

The St. Louis Rams have hired Les Snead as their new general manager, bringing in another front-office veteran as they try to ellevate the status of the falling franchise.

Snead spent the past 13 years with the Atlanta Falcons, the last three as director of player personnel. The Rams announced his hiring on Tuesday and planned an afternoon news conference.

The Rams are in the midst of an overhaul after winning just 15 games the past five seasons. They have the second overall pick in April’s draft after going 2-14 last season.

The Rams have already hired a new coach in Jeff Fisher. He replaces Steve Spagnuolo, who was fired along with general manager Billy Devaney after going 10-38 in three seasons.

Snead oversaw college and pro scouting efforts for the Falcons, and the team said he played a key role in evaluating not just talent but the salary value of all player acquisitions. Before he arrived in Atlanta, he worked in pro scouting for the Jaguars from 1995-97.

Snead is a former tight end for Auburn, and he later was an assistant for the Tigers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education.

Hanging over the Rams are questions about the franchise’s future in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission unveiled a plan Feb. 1 that calls for $124 million in improvements to Edward Jones Dome in hopes of making sure the city doesn’t lose another NFL team.

The Rams’ lease with the commission requires the dome to be “first tier,” or among the top 25 percent of all NFL stadiums in several categories. If it falls short, Kroenke can move the franchise after the 2014 season.

The Rams have until March 1 to accept or reject the commission offer. They can also make a counter proposal. Arbitration would begin June 15 if no agreement is reached, and the arbitration process could last through the end of the year.

Rams also signed a three-year deal to allow one home game per year to be hosted in London.

by Ismail Uddin

Legends Football League have announced a number of broadcasters as part of the global momentum building around the sport. 

The most recent round of international television partners include sports-centric broadcasters TV2 in Denmark, Sport TV in Portugal and Ma Chaine Sport which covers France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Israel and Sub-Suharian Africa. 

“LFL’s progress as a global sports franchise in merely four years is truly unprecedented. We initially set out to become the most recognized women’s sports franchise in the US. Over the next five years we will become one of the most recognized global brands in all of sport. We will surpass the NFL as the leader in American football internationally by 2015”, said, Mitchell S. Mortaza, Founder & Chairman, Legends Football League, LLC. 

This round of international television partnerships were brokered by Total Sports Asia, LFL Global’s media rights distributor, each of these broadcasters will air LFL Global league play, to include LFL USA, LFL Canada and LFL Australia. 

LFL Global’s distribution is fast expanding as the league is now covered on television across all continents and over 120 territories including major markets such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, France, Denmark, Thailand  Indonesia, Brazil etc.