British all-time record holder in the discus, pills Lawrence Okoye has been named as the latest ambassador and member of the Athlete Commission for London’s bid to host the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships. ??

The London-born 20 year-old, impotent 6’6” and 22 stone, impotent is lending his support to his home city’s bid to stage the global athletics event in London’s Olympic Stadium in 2017. 

Okoye shot to prominence in July with a British all-time record throw of 67.63m. 

Okoye will have the unique opportunity to influence London’s bid for a championships after he will be in his prime at 25 when the championships begin in summer 2007.

Okoye joins fellow Brits Denise Lewis (Chairman) and Jason Gardener (Vice-Chairman) on the Athlete Commission, as well as international stars Haile Gebrselassie, Jesse Williams and Fabiana Murer.

Lawrence Okoye said: “As a Londoner I am very excited and passionate about the future of athletics in my home city and I leapt at the opportunity to help shape our bid for the 2017 IAAF World Championships. London has so much to offer in terms of tradition, fan support for the world’s best athletes and a fantastic new Olympic Stadium. It would be a dream come true to be able to host and compete in the world championships in front of an incredible London crowd in 2017.’?”

Ed Warner UKA chairman added: “Lawrence is one of the UK’s most exciting athletics prospects with remarkable talent and a very bright future ahead of him. To have him backing London 2017 is a great boost for us and the insight that he can provide as a young Londoner on the Athlete Commission will be hugely beneficial. We have built our bid around the ultimate athlete experience and the involvement of a potential star of 2017 like Lawrence, alongside the leadership of Denise Lewis, will further ensure that we fulfil that promise.”

The London 2017 bid, which has been put together by UK Athletics, DCMS, the Mayor of London, London & Partners and UK Sport, will be looking to secure the majority votes of the 27 IAAF Council Members before the decision on who will host the Championships is made on 11th November

ESPN’s ratings for the UEFA EURO 2012 games have seen a triple-digit viewership increase compared with the 2008 matches shown on the network.

Last Sunday’s 1-1 draw between Italy and Spain on ESPN was seen by an average of 2 million plus viewers, bigger than any of the 2008 games, except the final that was screened on ABC. That game, Germany vs. Spain, was watched by an average of 3.760 million viewers.

Through six matches, ESPN’s English-language presentation of the event is averaging 1,007,000 households and 1,328,000 viewers, up 198 percent and 214 percent, respectively, versus the first six games of the UEFA EURO 2008 (338,000 households and 423,000 viewers in 2008). The second most-watched game to-date as on Wednesday morning was Saturday’s Portugal-Germany matchup, a 1.1 household coverage rating, or 1,244,000 households and 1,798,000 viewers, second to only one ESPN game in all of 2008.

ESPN Deportes is also delivering strong ratings. Through the first three days (six matches), the matches averaged a 3.2 Hispanic household coverage rating (+66 percent from 2008) with 166,000 Hispanic households (+147 percent from 2008). The Spain vs. Italy match on Sunday, June 10, was the highest-rated and most-watched match so far, delivering a 6.0 Hispanic household coverage rating with 313,600 household impressions.

FIFA’s senior vice-president Julio Grondona has won a record ninth four-year term as Argentine Football Association (AFA) president even after allegations of money laundering and fraud had been revealed.

He won the unanimous support of the 46 members of an a AFA congress on Tuesday to serve as association president until 2015.

On Monday, Argentine businessman Carlos Avila accused the 80-year-old of money laundering and corrupt administration, allegations that were shown on a TV programme aired on Canal America. The broadcaster is owned by Grondona rival Daniel Vila, president of the Independiente de Mendoza.

According to the Buenos Aires Herald, Avila’s lawyer, Mariano Cuneo Libarona, revealed the balances of Swiss bank accounts that he claimed were in the names of Grondona, family members and business partners totalling about $30 million. Libarona claimed the money was gained by corrupt means.

Grondona is also caught on hidden camera allegedly discussing sending “black money” to cable TV companies.

Grondona’s lawyer, Francisco Castex, said Monday’s programme was nothing more than another attempt by Vila to defame the AFA boss, insisting he had no clue where the bank records shown to viewers had come from and arguing that the videos were edited to distort the facts.

Grondona made headlines during the summer, when he labelled the English “liars” and “pirates” at the FIFA Congress in Zurich in a spat over England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid.

Grondona was first elected as AFA chair in 1979, just months after Argentina’s World Cup win.

FOX Sports South and SportSouth have acquired the exclusive local TV broadcasts of 45 Atlanta Braves games.

“We are extremely happy to consolidate these 45 additional games with our current partner, symptoms FOX Sports, doctor ” said Derek Schiller, Atlanta Braves Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  “This agreement makes it easier for fans to follow our team and aligns our interests of continuing to have the highest quality, award winning broadcasts with the championship caliber Braves baseball teams.” 

“Adding these 45 additional Atlanta Braves games to FOX Sports South and SportSouth is big win for Braves fans across the southeast” said Jeff Genthner, Senior Vice President and General Manager of FOX Sports South and SportSouth. “Beginning this season, Braves fans from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean can turn to FOX Sports South or SportSouth for the most expansive coverage of Braves baseball ever.” 

FOX Sports South will broadcast 72 games, while SportSouth will air 80 games during the 2013 season.  FOX Sports South and SportSouth will also televise six Spring Training games from Champion Stadium in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, beginning on March 13.  See attached for the complete Braves telecast schedule.

Arsenal FC has announced an exciting overseas project in China today with its international charity partner, Save the Children as the Club prepares for its pre-season tour of the Far East in July.

The Club will make a donation of £300,000 to its official global charity partner over three years, helping to dramatically improve the quality of education of disadvantaged children aged six to 15, in some of Beijing’s most under-resourced schools.

Together, Arsenal and Save the Children will train 200 teachers and 20 head teachers so that they have the necessary skills to plan and deliver improved and age-appropriate lessons for students in China’s curriculum. This will reduce the chances of children dropping out of school and the risk of being excluded from future opportunities in later life – giving more young people the chance to fulfil their potential.

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation fighting for the rights of children worldwide. It has been implementing projects in China since the late 1980s and plays a crucial role in defending the rights of vulnerable children across the country through programmes in education, health, emergency response and child protection.

To celebrate the announcement, Arsenal Chief Executive Officer, Ivan Gazidis, visited an Early Childhood Care and Development Centre (ECCD) in Beijing today as the Club prepares for its forthcoming tour, meeting some of the teachers, community members and children at the neighbouring primary school that are set to benefit from the project.

Speaking about the initiative, Ivan said: “We are incredibly excited to be launching this new project which carries on our tradition of giving back to our community.

Our partnership with Save the Children will help us reach even more young people globally and give them a chance to realise their potential – a philosophy to which we are committed to both on and off the pitch at Arsenal.

Over the past 12 months players, supporters and staff have shown outstanding dedication and generosity towards our partnership with Save the Children and it’s fantastic that we can channel this commitment to our projects both in the UK and overseas that will have such a positive impact on so many lives.”

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children, added: “Education has the power to transform lives and provide many children with a route out of poverty. This exciting next phase in our partnership with Arsenal will help us reach thousands of children in China, providing them with quality education to build a brighter future and reach their full potential.”

To engage Arsenal supporters in the project, the Club is gathering inspirational stories from players, staff and supporters about their own childhood which will be turned into a book to be delivered by Arsenal players on a trip to a school during the pre-season tour on Thursday 26th July.

Arsenal First Team players including Andre Santos, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Frimpong, Gervinho, and Tomas Rosicky have all shared personal experiences from their childhood which will be included in this special edition book.

USA Track and Field (USATF) has hired a former board member Max Siegel to coordinate its marketing, sponsorship and publicity operations as it attempts to improve visibility and bring more money into the sport.

USATF have struggled to gain commercial success when the sport has not been in the spotlight during Olympic year but Siegel’s appointment will look to remedy this.

USATF will work with a sports marketing company run by Siegel, who recently stepped down from the USATF board. Siegel is a former president of global operations at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and has also worked with Olympic swimming, gymnastics and skiing programs.

Siegel will work with USATF’s recently created integrated marketing communications department in hopes of increasing revenue by adding corporate sponsors, improving relationships with existing sponsors, and producing custom broadcast and new media content.

STAR Sports and ESPN HD will broadcast the first ever prime-time live broadcast in India of the highly-anticipated ‘El Clasico’ between La Liga rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona at 8:30 pm this Saturday, March 2.

Traditionally telecast in the wee-hours of the morning, this weekend’s El Clasico is specifically scheduled during prime-time hours, aimed at targeting La Liga fans in Asia.

With Barcelona and Real Madrid ranked the second and third most popular football clubs in the world, this nail-biting affair is certain to draw a robust global audience of hundreds of millions as arguably one of the biggest football rivalries in history.

Noch nie zuvor haben so viele Menschen ein Fußballspiel im ZDF-Livestream abgerufen wieam Mittwoch, 13. Juni 2012. Beim EM-Spiel Deutschland – Niederlande gab es einer erstenAuswertung zufolge in der Spitze 280 000 zeitgleiche Zugriffe (pro Minute) auf den ZDF-Livestream. Die absolute Zahl der Zugriffe dürfte deutlich höher liegen.

“Besonders freuen wir uns über die hohe Bildqualität und Stabilität auf Smartphones undTablets, die uns viele Nutzer gemeldet haben”, so ZDF-Onlinechef Eckart Gaddum.

Das ZDF erreichten Fanbotschaften aus U-Bahnen, Autos und von Balkonen. Das deutet aufeinen besonders hohen Anteil von Abrufen von mobilen Geräten hin. Der bisherige Peak allerZDF-Livestreams lag bei 192 000 Parallel-Sichtungen pro Minute während des Fußball-WM-Spiels Argentinien – Deutschland im Jahr 2010.

Rio 2016, chief commercial and marketing director, Maggie Sanchez has been fired from her position due to a lack of cohesion between her and the rest of the Organising Committee.

The American, a Harvard Business School graduate, joined Rio 2016 last year to lead the largest sponsorship programme ever launched in Brazil.

Sanchez had held a number of leadership roles prior to Rio 2016 at major companies, including Microsoft and Vodafone, while her key responsibilities at the Organising Committee included generating revenue for the Olympics and Paralympics thorough sponsorship, tickets, licensing, partner services and marketing.

But she has now been forced to leave her position after falling out with the rest of the Rio 2016 over her marketing strategies.

Carlos Villanova, Rio 2016’s communications director, said “Maggie Sanchez is no longer Rio 2016 commercial and marketing director due to an incompatibility of philosophies between her and the rest of the team. It was quite simply a case that her strategies differed from the rest of the team and we were unable to reach a compromise or find a solution.

“We wish Maggie the best of luck. Leonardo Gryner, Rio 2016 chief executive, will serve as the interim commercial and marketing director until a replacement is found.”

Also dismissed from Sanchez’s team were David Alstadter and Rogerio Ludorf.

Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman, who is also attending the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, confirmed that his organisation is now looking for a replacement to Sanchez but that he is confident Gryner will be able to fill the void in the meantime as he previously served a decade as marketing director of the Brazilian NOC.

“Those who start a project are not necessarily the same people who end this same project,” he said.

“We are now looking for a replacement. In the meantime, our chief executive Leonardo Gryner is very capable of filling the role [which he will occupy alongside his position as chief executive] on a temporary basis.”

Gryner had claimed earlier this year that his philosophy was to reduce the number of sponsors for the Olympic and Paralympics in Brazil by securing their sponsorship target of  $1.2billion with the minimum amount of sponsorship deals in order to increase the benefits for them.

Rio 2016 has already generated over $632 million of their sponsorship target, including a huge world-record Olympic deal of over $320 million with Brazilian bank Bradesco which is more than twice what Lloyds TSB paid for the same category at London 2012.

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FC Barcelona have continued their expansion into China by introducing a new Chinese website following their deal with Tencent, cheap the main Internet supplier in China.

“We know how much Chinese fans love us. Their support is fundamental for FC Barcelona”, said president Sandro Rosell.

Last November, the Club and Tencent signed a technological alliance to reach the massive and constantly increasing Chinese support base.

Rosell, added: “We are very pleased to present the Barça website in Chinese … This launch is a step closer towards tightening the bond between our supporters around the world and getting them involved in our way of doing things … Barça has been in China for two seasons, and we know how much Chinese fans love us. Their support is fundamental for FC Barcelona.”

The deputy director of the Tencent website, Wang Yongzhi, added that “the Chinese version of the Barça website signifies the connection between a great club, a large number of fans and an Internet platform like Tencent.”

The Chinese website comes about as the result of a deal struck with Tencent, who agreed to develop the page and commercialise Barça branded applications and games in the territory, always with the approval of the Club, who will validate all of the content that is generated. Tencent is a technology giant in China with more than 800 million users, and although it already works with several clubs, Barça was always a prime target for the Chinese organisation.

“China is a great opportunity because football is growing in the country and there are so many potential supporters. We know that Barça is the most supported club and we want to reassert our interest in the country”, said Dídac Lee, the director responsible for New Technologies. Lee added that the agreement with Tencent “is key because the best way of getting into a country like China is via a local partner like this.”

FC Barcelona’s expansion into China began in early 2012 with the creation of a Barça account on Tencent Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, where more than 50,000 Chinese citizens became followers in less than twelve hours. The club now has more than 1.2 million fans in the country.