UK Athletics Chairman Ed Warner has today been named as the Chairman of the London 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships Organising Committee.

Warner, who led the successful bid to host the event in London has been appointed by the DCMS and Mayor of London’s office.

As Chair of London 2017, Warner will now submit a proposed corporate structure and governance framework to the IAAF for approval and will work with both the Sports Minister Hugh Robertson and Mayor Boris Johnson to appoint the remainder of the board.

Warner said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have been appointed as Chairman of the London 2017 LOC and have the opportunity to fulfil the promises we made in the bid. From the very start London 2017 has been a partnership between UKA, DCMS, the Mayor’s Office and UK Sport and I look forward to continuing that collaboration as we move into event delivery mode.”

“Our next step is to appoint a vice-chairman and the remainder of the board. In the short term UKA will be undertaking the work of the LOC until we need to increase the size of the operation to deliver the Championships.”

Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said: ““The appointment of Ed Warner to chair the Organising Committee builds on the great work done by him and UK Athletics to win the bid. The challenge now will be to build on the momentum that London 2012 gives us to deliver a fantastic World Athletics Championships in 2017.”

Mayor of London Boris Johnson added: “Ed is a Londoner and I know he will lead the committee to ensure an outstanding World Athletics Championships is staged here in the capital and continue London’s great tradition of hosting the world’s biggest events.”

Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of UK Sport, the agency responsible for the significant investment of National Lottery funds into the event commented: “Ed will do a fantastic job of leading the LOC that will stage the London 2017 World Athletics Championships. He has already shown the vision and leadership necessary to stage this event, which will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase our talented athletes, and the team here at UK Sport is looking forward to working with him to continue the momentum we have now built for hosting world class events in this country.”

Recently, Ed Warner was confirmed as a panellist for the iSportconnect Directors’ Club event on 21 February, joining Sir Craig Reedie, Sally Hancock, Paul Vaughan and Nic Coward for a special ‘question time’ session. 

by Ismail Uddin

Read Warner’s exclusive feature profile on iSportconnect here

anabolics helvetica, cheap ed sans-serif;”>Twitter joins Manchester City, order ESPN, BBC, Perform, EA and Turner whilst Nivea join Nokia, GE, Orange, NFL, Carlsberg and UniCredit at Digital and Sponsorship gathering.

The 5th and 6th October will see the biggest ever gathering of Director-level digital and sponsorship experts in sport at the Leaders Sports Summit at Chelsea FC which will be sold out within the next few days.

On 5th October at Leaders in Sponsorship, Andy Rawle, Marketing Head at Nivea becomes the latest speaker to be announced joining Daniele Penna, Head of Group Sport Sponsoring, UniCredit; Chris Katsuleres, Director, Olympic Marketing, GE; Chris Parsons, VP of International, NFL; Billy Wright, Global Sponsorship Director, Nokia; Paddy Power, Communications Director, Paddy Power; Mario Rauter, Head of Euro 2012 Project, Global Brand Team, Orange and Keld Strudahl, Marketing Director; Carlsberg amongst others.

On 6th October at Leaders in Digital Sport, Jessica Verrilli from world renowned social media giant, Twitter, has just been confirmed alongside other leaders including Ralph Rivera, Director of Future Media, BBC; Phil Sharpe, Senior VP New Media & Strategy, Turner Broadcasting; Tom Gleeson, VP of International Digital Media, ESPN; Stephen Norris, Director of Strategy, BT; Richard Ayres, Director of Digital Media, Manchester City FC; Simon Denyer, Joint CEO, Perform Group; Roy Meredith, VP Strategy, Square Enix and Andrew Wilson, Senior VP of Worldwide Development, EA Sports.

Leaders in Digital Sport and Leaders in Sponsorship take place within the Leaders Sports Summit, a coming together of 5 leading conferences including Football, Performance and the business of Horse Racing, over 5th and 6th October at Chelsea FC.  For more information visit www.leadersinevents.com, contactenquiry@leadersinevents.com or call +44 (0) 207 042 8666.

IMG Media, find a division of IMG Worldwide, stuff the global sports, fashion and media company, has signed a long-term partnership with the Alpari World Match Racing Tour to increase global viewing of the leading professional sailing series.

The engagement will see IMG Media distribute a series of highlights programs from each event, as well as a daily video news release (VNR) to all forms of media, including digital, throughout the series which begins with the first event in Langenargen, Germany, from May 15-20.

Sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with ‘Special Event’ status, the series awards more than U.S. $1.5 million in prize money with points awarded at each event culminating in the crowning of the “ISAF Match Racing World Champion.”  The prize fund includes a U.S. $500,000 overall Tour Bonus for the top teams in the Championship.

James Pleasance, Executive Director of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, commented: “This is a very exciting partnership for us. IMG is a global player in television programming and has a solid track record in distributing some of the best known sporting events all over the world. The Tour is a growing series and to have the expertise and resource of IMG behind us will be a great asset for us.”

Melissa Payne, Director of Event Coordination IMG Media, said, “Match racing is fast, competitive and highly strategic with in-shore racing engaging and exciting sailing fans of all ages. The Alpari World Match Racing Tour is ideally suited to all forms of media and we are confident with our expertise and worldwide network that we will be able to increase exposure and drive awareness of the Tour and its events globally.”

Manchester United have reduced the value of its stock market flotation, valuing the club at only $2.3bn and shaving as much as $100m from the anticipated proceeds for the team and its owners.

The club said its shares priced at $14 apiece, below the $16-$20 per share range it had in mind.

At the high end of the range, the team would have been valued at $3.3bn.

Manchester United priced 16.7 million shares, as planned, and raised $233.2m – which will be split equally between the club and its owners, the Florida-based Glazer family.

The loss of as much as $100m in proceeds for the club will be a blow as it copes with a heavy debt burden and seeks to buy expensive new players.

While the deal still makes it the largest sports team flotation on record, the valuation is a setback for the 134-year-old club, which had to abort plans for an offering in Singapore and then saw Morgan Stanley leave the underwriting syndicate, partly due to disagreements over valuation.

The Glazers, whose interests include shopping centres and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team, will also take in less money from the share sale, but the deal still represents a return of some 2.5 times their equity investment in the club.

The club is planning to use the money to pay down its pile of debt that dates back to the Glazers’ £790m buyout in 2005.

Manchester United’s debt stood at over £437m as of 30 June.

Some fans have protested, criticizing the Glazers for only using half of the deal’s proceeds to pay down debt. They argue that the large debt has led to reduced financial flexibility which came at the expense of investment in players and the team’s performance.

The club’s shares will begin trading on Friday under the stock market ticker Manu.

The Asian Tour has appointed former media executive Mike Kerr as its new chief executive officer with a remit to build its global profile, a statement said Thursday. 

Kerr, who joins Asia’s main golf tour from broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports, will work alongside executive chairman Kyi Hla Han at the Asian Tour’s Singaporeheadquarters from next month. 

“I am looking forward to joining the Asian Tour, which has grown immensely over the past few years,” said Kerr. 

“The Asian Tour is a global brand and these are exciting times for the game at the highest level in Asia. I’m delighted to be a part of it.” 

Han, a former top player who has overseen rapid growth in Asian golf, said the experienced Kerr would also focus on providing more playing opportunities for regional professionals. 

“He has vast senior management experience in Asia and we believe he will add value to what is already a strong management team on the Asian Tour,” said Han. 

Kerr has spent the last 12 years with ESPN STAR Sports, most recently as vice president of affiliate and multimedia sales. 

The Asian Tour expects to hold around 27 tournaments this year, including a number co-sanctioned by the powerful European or American tours.

by Ismail Uddin

South African cricketer, Hashim Amla and Australian legendary all rounder, Alan Davidson are the latest speakers to join the line up in London next week for the World Cricket Business Forum.  The World Cricket Business Forum will be held on 13-14 September at the Royal Garden Hotel.

Hashim Amla will join Kevin Roberts from SportBusiness on the stage for an interview “Catching up with Cricket’s Front Men”. Hashim is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler and is currently ranked as the No1 ODI batsman by ICC. In November 2004, Amla became the first South African team player of Indian descent.  Hashim is a devout Muslim, which has led to campaigns to remove all alcohol-promoting logos from merchandise and playing gear.

He objected to the advert for Castle Lager beer on the South African team kit and has been allowed to wear a shirt without the logo of a brand of South African Breweries, one of South African cricket’s biggest sponsors. Amla captained South Africa at the 2002 under-19s Cricket World Cup. As a Test batsman he found the initial going difficult, and his technique was criticised after he made just 36 runs in the 2004 series against England. But he proved his critics wrong in 2006 as he scored a comeback 149 against New Zealand at Cape Town, helping guide South Africa to a draw. On 27 March 2008, he scored a record 159 not out against India.

Australian Legendary all rounder, Alan Davidson will close the conference with a Q and A session. Alan was a great cricketer and in his 44 test matches, he took 186 wickets, scored 1,328 runs and took 42 catches.  He was the first person to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a single match.

Following his retirement from the game, Alan served for many years in Administration for NSW cricket, and is still the President of the NSW Cricket Association. He was named as one of NSW Cricketer’s of the Century, and continues to live in Sydney.

The World Cricket Business Forum will take place next week at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, following the LG ICC Awards on 12 September.  Spaces for the conference are still available. To register, please visit www.cricketbusinessforum.com

According to reports Ten Network will come to an agreement with the International Olympic Committee over the rights to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Ten is in line to beam the first ever Olympic Winter Games hosted in Russia- just Russia’s second Games since hosting the 1980 Moscow Games (while as the Soviet Union).

It is believed Ten has paid about $20 million for the right to show the Games according to The Australian Financial Review.

Ten declined to comment on but its new boss – who took over from James Warburton in late February – has made it clear he is interested in acquiring sport at the right price.

“Cricket’s a valuable property,” Mr McLennan said in early March. “It comes down to securing those rights at an appropriate price.”

Running from February 7-23, 2014, in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea, these are set to be the most expensive Games in history- Summer or Winter.

The International Olympic Committee had initially intended to sell the Sochi Games as a package with the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

Instead, the rights to Rio 2016 will be sold separately- perhaps as a package with the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea and the 2020 Games according to the Australian Financial Review.

Agent fees for Football League clubs during the 2011/12 campaign have reached £21.7million ($33.8m) with West Ham accounting for almost a fifth of the total.

Championship clubs made up £18.7m ($29.1m) of that figure, with League One and Two clubs spending £1.8m and £0.9m respectively.

Agents received payment in 702 of the 3,144 player transactions that took place, just 22 per cent of deals.

Five clubs – Hartlepool, Accrington, AFC Wimbledon, Barnet and Crewe – did not spend any money on agents’ fees, while a further 22 teams spent last than £25,000.

West Ham, though, splashed out £4.31m in completing 69 transactions.

Only three other clubs broke through the £1m barrier – Leicester (£1.81m), Reading (£1.66m) and Crystal Palace (£1.17m).

In announcing the figures, Football League chairman Greg Clarke said: “While £21m is a lot of money leaving the game, it should also be noted that a considerable amount of this total has been spent by a small number of clubs. In fact, almost a fifth of the overall figure was spent by one club alone.

“Where such spending forms part of a sustainable business plan it shouldn’t be of great concern and supporters should be encouraged to see our clubs committing themselves to the new Financial Fair Play regulations that will take effect across all three divisions in the new season.

“In time, these rules will require clubs to be more circumspect with regard to their spending and may help reduce the costs incurred in this area.”

Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) chair, cheap Baroness Margaret Ford, has announced she will step down from the post after the 2012 Olympic Games.

Ford said it has been an “absolute privilege” to work for the organisation but the time will be right to bow out once the Games are over.

“The next phase of the legacy work, including major transformation plans to the park, are critical and will require a great deal of attention,” she said. “I have decided therefore that I cannot continue to give the substantial time required for the role so after the Games would seem a natural point to make the change.”

The OPLC is currently being reformed following London Mayor Boris Johnson’s decision to create a Mayoral Development Corporation to take charge of the Olympic Park’s post-Games development.

The new body will be called the London Legacy Development Corporation, and will open for business on 1 April.

Ford will take up the role as the corporation’s interim chair until the Games are over.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “I am grateful for Margaret’s huge contribution over the last three years planning and delivering a solid 2012 legacy and delighted she will oversee this important work until after the Games as well as setting the new Legacy Corporation on a firm footing.”

Soccerex have announced that FIFA’s Director of Marketing Thierry Weil has confirmed to speak at the Soccerex Global Convention, viagra order 26-30 November 2011, allergy in Rio de Janeiro.

Thierry will be speaking on the panel “Football ‘Brands’ the World” which will discuss international companies using football as a platform for brand leverage.

Thierry’s expertise in this field is unparalleled; as FIFA’s Marketing Director he is responsible for the strategic partnership between football’s governing body and some of world’s leading brands both in a B2B and B2C capacity. Before joining FIFA four years ago, Thierry spent nearly 26 years with adidas in France and in Germany where his posts included that of director (2003-2006) and vice president (2006-2007) of Global Football Sports Marketing.

Duncan Revie, CEO Soccerex, said: “To have someone of Thierry’s calibre join us on the ‘Brands’ panel is a great asset; his knowledge and experience of brand relationships is of the highest level and to have his input during the session will be a  privilege for anyone who attends.”

The panel will focus on why brands consider football as a winning portal into domestic and international markets and breakdown the fundamental benefits of the 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 a impressive conference line up at this year’s Soccerex Global Convention.  Other topics which will be discussed include all the latest news regarding the 2014FIFA World Cup™, Stadia, 1-2-1 discussions with some of the worlds football legends, Sustainability, Social Media, Performance and much more.

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