H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco is to become a patron of the World Olympians Association (WOA), patient a unique worldwide organization uniting all 100,000 athletes to have competed in an Olympic event.

Following his election last month as President of WOA, Joël Bouzou asked Prince Albert to join in which immediately accepted. His role was unanimously approved by the WOA Board Members and by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Dr. Jacques Rogge.

The Sovereign succeeds Juan Antonio Samaranch who founded the WOA in 1994 and was Patron until his death in 2010.

Himself a fine athlete, H.S.H. Prince Albert II is the only Head of State to have participated in five Olympic Games in bobsleigh (Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998 and Salt Lake City 2002), He has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985.

A passionate champion of the cause of peace and social progress through sport for many years, H.S.H. Prince Albert II will full-heartedly support and promote the WOA’s new ambition and mission: serving Olympians during and after their careers, and serving society.

WOA President Joël Bouzou said: “It is a tremendous honour for the World Olympians Association to have H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco as the new Patron of our organization. He is an Olympian and a true humanist who has always believed that the values of sport can change lives and can change society for the better. His involvement and advocacy will greatly increase our influence and will make a huge difference to convince new stakeholders that Olympians across the globe can and should contribute to improve the world in which we live. I can’t thank him enough for his support.”

On Joël Bouzou’s recommendation, Swedish Alpine ski Champion and former IOC Member Pernilla Wiberg was also appointed Member of the WOA Executive Board

Pernilla Wiberg is one of the few skiers to have won medals in all five Alpine Ski disciplines (combined, slalom, giant slalom, downhill and Super G). Her achievements are exceptional: two gold medals in the Albertville and Lillehammer Games, four World Championship titles between 1991 and 1999, a victory in the 1997 World Cup, 24 racing medals (14 slalom, 3 Super G, 3 combined, 2 downhill, 2 giant slalom) and no less than 61 appearances on the winners’ podium.

Pernilla was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2002 to 2010 and she participated in many of its commissions: the Athletes’ commission, Sport and Environment, Ethics, and Coordination of the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Youth Olympic Games… She also serves as President of the Athletes’ commission for the International Ski Federation.

Ten Sports has acquired the broadcast rights for Tour de France till 2016 in the Indian subcontinent.

The channel has acquired the rights for all forms of free to air and pay television, ed DTH and IPTV transmission, pay per view and VOD from Amaury Sport Organisation.

Ten Sports will be the exclusive rights holder for the Indian subcontinent with the exception of rights being shared with the pan regional broadcaster Eurosport in Sri Lanka.

Ten Sports CEO Atul Pande said: “We are proud to be associated with anevent as esteemed as Tour de France, especially at a time when it ishaving its 100th edition in 2013. This long term relationship withTour de France will bring in much delight to our viewers who crave high adrenaline bicycle racing.”

The 2013 Tour de France will be the 100th edition. It is scheduled to start on 29 June in Corsica, in the city of Porto-Vecchio.

Everton FC have confirmed they have pulled out of the Java Cup in Indonesia later this week.

The Blues were due to play a Malaysia XI and then a Galatasaray side, ed but when the Turkish side pulled out only to be replaced by the Indonesia Under 21?s, no rx many people suspected something was afoot.

Some sources indicated that a lack of funds from the organisers might be to blame, cialis but a club spokesman explained, ”Club officials here in the UK and our forward planning/security team deployed to Jakarta at the weekend have repeatedly asked for clarity and assurances from the organisers on the issues but unfortunately have not received the answers we required in the timeframe necessary to ensure our participation.

“We are grateful for the support today of the Indonesian government in this matter, however the unresolved issues mean that the risk of travelling was too great.

“This decision was not taken lightly and we apologise for the obvious inconvenience caused to our supporters who have made, or were planning to make the trip and to our Indonesian fans who were looking forward to seeing Everton in action.

“The first team squad will now stay in the UK and continue their pre-season preparations.”

The Indianapolis Colts have hired Ryan Grigson, former Philadelphia Eagles director of player personnel, to be their next general manager.

Grigson, who has been with the Eagles in a number of capacities for almost eight years after being hired by the team as a scout in 2004, will replace former Colts general manager Bill Polian, who was fired on January 2.

Grigson is an Indiana native and played college football for Purdue in the early 1990s; he missed a full season after his stomach was hit by a defender’s helmet, causing a kidney ailment, but would return to serve as one of Purdue’s captains. After being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1995 and bouncing to the Detroit Lions and then the Canadian Football League, Grigson retired after suffering a career-ending back injury in 1997. His first post-playing job in the NFL was a scouting position with the St. Louis Ramsin 1999.

Grigson has agreed a four-year deal and includes a team option for a fifth year.

CBS Sports Network and AMA Pro Racing, in conjunction with Chet Burks Productions, announced today a television agreement to showcase GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing as part of the Network’s CBS Sports Spectacular series.

CBS Sports Network will broadcast the premier National Guard SuperBike and GoPro Daytona SportBike classes through the 2014 season. Programming begins Saturday, June 1 with a 30-minute preview show before live coverage of the Subway SuperBike Doubleheader at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing telecasts are produced by Chet Burks Productions, long-time partner of AMA Pro Racing programs. The initial telecasts will be presented in afternoon weekend time slots, with several events airing live. In addition, encore broadcasts and an all-new 30-minute weekend preview show will air on CBS Sports Network. 

“We’re excited to add AMA Pro to our CBS Sports Spectacular lineup,” said Dan Weinberg, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports Network. “GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing is a high octane, action-packed sport featuring some of the world’s best motorcycle racers and is a great addition to our live programming this summer.” 

“We are incredibly proud of this television package and excited to begin our new relationship with CBS Sports Network,” said David Atlas, Managing Board Member of AMA Pro Racing. “Through the live action and in-depth features, we will present fans with the most intense immersion into our unique and exciting racing that the sport has ever seen.” 

“This agreement is the result of a tremendous amount of time and commitment from AMA Pro and is a significant step for motorcycle racing in America,” said Chet Burks, President of Chet Burks Productions. “We look forward to producing an exciting television experience for CBS Sports Network viewers.” 

FIFA’s mid-year review of the international market has revealed worldwide transfer spending fell by more than one-third in the first six months of the year.

The downturn, caused by the global financial crisis and – to a far smaller degree – the impact of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations, has seen a fall in total payments between clubs in transfer and loan fees of $294 million (£190 million) to $576 million, a decrease of 34% on the same period last year.

“This could suggest that the effects of the global recession – for instance, distressed corporate sponsors, restrictive bank lending policies and reduced overdraft facilities for clubs – are being felt in the international football transfer market,” the document says.

“A further factor may be the high concentration of wealth in a relatively small number of associations; any reduction in spending in those few associations could have a disproportionately high impact on aggregate transfer fees worldwide.

“Finally, given the share of the European transfer market, the efforts of those clubs to bring themselves in line with the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations before the onset of sanctions for indebted clubs may contribute to a fall-off in transfer compensation rates.”

The data showed that the biggest-spending country in the first six months was Russia, where $64.39 million was lavished on transfers. English clubs invested $55.43 million but brought in $58.83 million through sales.

A total of 4,973 transfers were completed during the time being analysed. There were 708 involving Brazilian clubs  the highest total  with English clubs involved in the second-highest number (326).

Tim Finchem the PGA Tour commissioner will remain in that post through June 2016 after agreeing a four-year contract extension with the PGA Tour Policy Board in a deal that was made public Wednesday.

“My energy is good, erectile | and my enthusiasm has never changed,” Finchem, 65, said in explaining his decision to remain on the job. “We’ve done a lot of good things with this management team and working with a great group of players, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

The financial package was not revealed.

But as the chief executive of a 501 nonprofit organization, Finchem’s salary is public record. His annual income has fluctuated between just under $5 million and as high as $5.3 million in the past five years, according to the Tour’s filing with the IRS.

According to annual surveys, Finchem is the fifth-highest-paid pro sports commissioner.

Victor Ganzi, chairman of the Policy Board, called Finchem’s decision to stay in his post past his 69th birthday “fortunate.”

“Under Tim’s leadership and that of his executive team, the PGA Tour has achieved many very significant accomplishments,” Ganzi said in a statement. “Tim has positioned the Tour for continued growth in areas such as player prize money, charity, sponsor value and growing the game around the world.”

Finchem said he never really considered retiring when his contract was due to expire in June.

“I didn’t come close to going the other way [with his decision],” he said. “I just didn’t give it much thought until recently because I was too focused on the new TV contract [last year].”

Finchem became the third PGA Tour commissioner in 1994, succeeding Deane Beman. If Finchem remains in the job through the extension period, he will have been the commissioner for 22 years — two years longer than Beman.

Finchem took over two years before Tiger Woods turned professional. Combining Woods’ ascension to top player in the world with Finchem’s understated leadership style, Tour revenues doubled from just under $500 million when Finchem took over to more than $1 billion in 2007.

Purses exploded, lucrative TV contracts were forged with CBS, NBC and The Golf Channel (which will run through 2021) and charitable donations over the history of the PGA Tour passed the $1 million mark and are now projected to be $1.7 billion this year.

Although The Players Championship, the TPC Sawgrass, the World Golf Hall of Fame and the Presidents Cup were created under Beman, Finchem has made his own mark with the World Golf Championships, the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour Playoffs and The First Tee, the junior golf initiative launched in 1997. With PGA Tour executive vice president Ty Votaw heading efforts of the International Golf Federation, golf will return to the Olympics at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.

Finchem also presided over the move of The Players to May, the renovation of the course and the building of a new clubhouse. The Players has remained the Tour’s signature event, and this year is the 30th anniversary of the first tournament at the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course.

Finchem said his goals for the next four years include enhancing the PGA Tour as a digital product and the fundraising campaign for The First Tee, with a goal of raising $100 million to attract 10 million children and youth to golf worldwide.

Roger Draper, CEO of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), has taken part in an exclusive Featured Profile interview with iSportconnect.

Draper spoke of how his experiences as an athlete prior to his career in sports business had helped him due to the transferable skills in both, adding: “In both, you need to focus unrelentingly on a simple vision. You need to excel in planning, and seize the opportunity. Both also require world class execution.”

During his time at the LTA, Roger admitted that the “pace of improvement” in terms of British men’s tennis had been slow”, aside from world number 4 Andy Murray, and added that he “shared people’s frustration about that.” Draper said that turning around the fortunes of the sport in Britain was “something that we have struggled with for generations” but claimed that they were hoping to achieve this goal by “transforming the structures and support for our best players from the very bottom of the pyramid.”

Draper added that he was confident that the introduction of “a nationwide talent ID system” and “investing in a national performance network of clubs and coaches”, meant that the LTA “have the system and structures in place to deliver success at the top level of the sport”, insisting however, that “this will not happen overnight.”

Mr Draper refuted the suggestion that British tennis had been without a leading women’s professional for a number of years, stating: “I think we do have world class female players. Both Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha have reached the top 50 in the world, and their progress has encouraged and inspired younger players like Heather Watson and Laura Robson to try to catch them.” He confirmed that the success of the latter, younger stars at junior level was something that the LTA are hoping will “encourage more women and girls to play tennis” adding that the association’s main priority is “to grow participation and to help more people play tennis, and encouraging women and girls to play the sport is at the heart of this strategy.”

Roger admitted that success on the international circuit is important in order to ensure a growth in participation levels, but remained confident that “by investing in the places where tennis is played, in the people that take part in tennis at those places, whether it’s coaches, club managers or volunteers, and the programmes available there, like mini tennis, touch tennis and cardio tennis, we can encourage more people to play by making their experience of tennis even more enjoyable.”

Since becoming CEO of the LTA in 2006, Draper claimed that his proudest achievement at the association was laying the “foundations for growth in British tennis.” Roger believes that the LTA have achieved this through investing in “courts and facilities, in coach education and player programmes.” Draper claimed: “We’ve expanded our commercial programme to increase the amount we can invest in British tennis, and grown our major events, including the AEGON Championships at Queen’s, the AEGON International at Eastbourne, right through to playing our part in bringing the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2.”

Mr Draper was keen to establish the LTA’s value on encouraging participation in the sport at youth level, revealing that through initiatives such as the AGEON Schools Programme, “there are now more than 45,000 children who play at least 6 competitive matches a year”, up from around 8,000 when the LTA underwent a major overhaul in its structure in 2006.

Roger turned down that the fact that a lack of success on the court makes his job more difficult off it, saying: “It’s very easy to judge success on one or two results around a fortnight in Summer, but our job is 52 weeks a year, and our focus is on long term trends – establishing whether we are taking the sport in the right direction long term.”

Draper stated that the nation’s love for sports and need for success was not a bad thing, adding: “I would far rather have an expectant public than people who didn’t care about what we achieve in the sport.” However, he did confirm that “Britain’s under-achievements in performance tennis go back generations, and I would encourage people to understand that to transform the sport takes time.”

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