Leading sports equipment manufacturer and supplier Mark Harrod Ltd have dived back in as a partner for the 2012 brmb Grass Roots Football Show.

Mark Harrod Ltd , who manufacture a number of their products from their Stafford base in the UK, have been named as a partner to the biggest event of its kind in Europe and will once again supply the goals used throughout the show.

Suppliers of high quality sports equipment direct to schools, colleges, local authorities and sports clubs, Mark Harrod Ltd, had a stand out event as a partner in 2011 and have been quick to re sign for next year’s event at the NEC.

Joanna Burns, Director of the brmb Grass Roots Football Show, said; “We are delighted to have signed a partnership with Mark Harrod for the 2012 show. Safety of our visitors and quality of equipment for our coaches and players are two of the major priorities when putting together this kind of show.

“With over 30 year experience in the sports equipment industry they are the industry leaders and a perfect fit for the ever expanding brmb Grass Roots Football Show.”

Mark Harrod, Managing Director of Mark Harrod Ltd, said; “Last year’s show was by far our best and we are very excited about the 2012 brmb Grass Roots Football Show. We have seen a definite shift change since the introduction of the new organisers in 2011.  They delivered a superb event for all of the grass roots football family and that is reflected in our decision to partner the show again in 2012.

“We have no doubt that the Grass Roots Football Show will continue to grow and grow and we are very excited about having the opportunity to play a part in that.”

Following a highly successful staging in 2011, Britain’s premier football show will be held at the NEC from Friday May 25 – Sunday May 27 2012.

The Show will be the prelude to a busy summer of football in 2012 with the European Championships due to kick off in June.

Indian broadcaster, buy Ten Sports have secured a ground-breaking deal with Olympic Council of Asia to show the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, ampoule South Korea and four other Asian Olympic Competitions.

The deal was brokered by MP & Silva, health the international sports media company and media advisor of OCA.  The rights package includes:  2013 Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games, Incheon S. KOREA; 2013 Asian Youth Games, Nanjing CHINA; 2013 Asian Games Centennial Festival, Boracay PHILIPPINES; 2014 Asian Beach Games, Phuket THAILAND and 2014 Asian Games, Incheon S. Korea.

Ten Sports is a premier sports channel reaching over 55 million homes across the Indian subcontinent. The deal with TEN Sports will include access to all programmed transmission hours to all the OCA events listed above.

This is the second time that TEN Sports will broadcast the Asian Games, the world’s second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games, after the successful broadcast of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.  

Andrea Radrizzani, Group CEO, MP &Silva, said: “In our capacity as media advisors of OCA we are working to guarantee not only the highest level of production guidelines for the sporting events but also guarantee the success of the Olympic Asian sports movement and improve its reach to other regions of the world. We believe this deal with TEN Sports improve the penetration of the Asian Games and the other competitions in the South Asian region.”

Husain Al-Musallam, OCA General Director, said: “We are extremely happy with the results of this broadcasting deal. Through this partnership with MP & Silva and TEN Sports, we will be able to give more visibility not only to the Asian Games but all the Asian Olympic competitions in the Indian sub-continent.”

Mr. Atul Pande , CEO Ten Sports added: “We  are extremely delighted to partner with the Olympic Council of Asia for telecast of Asian Games 2014. This agreement is a testament to our commitment of reaching out to a wide audience base across South Asia with the most interesting and compelling programming not limited to cricket.  We are committed to promote the spirit of the Asian Games and are delighted that our viewers can now be part of the excitement as they watch, share and celebrate the 2014 Asian Games and additional OCA tournaments on our platforms.”

The Premier League has announced a clamp down on websites hosting illegal streams of matches.

Top-flight officials recently confirmed that 30,000 offending sites were put to an end during the last season, stamping out around 75 streams per match played.

Barclays Premier League officials enlisted the help of a company called NetResult, which scans the web for illegitimate streaming activity and blocks sites at the source, BBC News reports.

“If you want top quality football, it costs money,” said a Premier League spokesperson. “It’s not just about star performers getting paid well, it’s about investment in facilities and youth development.”

NetResult’s Tim Cooper says that the firm aims to shut down around 80% of illegal streams, as eliminating them entirely has proved problematic.

“It is a case of ‘whack-a-mole’. One disappears and another one comes back online,” he said. “I’m sure people who’ve tried to view Premier League content have found that it’s not the best experience.

“Streams can lag, they can be shut down, you have to find another one.”

Critics of the Premier League’s crackdown have pointed out that the governing body fails to provide a cost-effective means of watching all of their team’s matches without subscribing to a service such as Sky.

The Premier League agreed a £760 million a year deal with Sky, and another with BT for the 2013-2014 season earlier this year.

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.