National Basketball Association (NBA) senior vice-president for Europe, medicine the Middle East and Africa, clinic  Sophie Goldschmidt has been named as the new chief commercial officer of the Rugby Football Union, clinic the governing body of rugby union in England.

Goldschmidt is expected to take up her new role by the middle of July after the role of chief commercial officer was created following the RFU’s restructure in January. Goldschmidt will be responsible for all commercial activities including sponsorship, business development, media rights and all joint venture operations.

RFU chief executive officer John Steele stated: “We said in January that we would like to assemble a talented and experienced new executive team to help the RFU drive the next phase of growth. Sophie will bring a new dynamic and innovation to our already successful commercial program with her global and extensive experience and we look forward to welcoming her to the team.”

Goldschmidt worked for the Women’s Tennis Association, where she developed commercial programs such as the landmark Sony Ericsson title sponsorship before joining the NBA. Goldschmidt will play a crucial role in the years leading up to the Rugby World Cup in England in 2015.

She added: “I am thrilled to be joining the RFU. Under John Steele’s leadership it is clear the RFU is committed to ensuring it is in the best possible place for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and beyond.”

Australia’s Seven Network has inked a new broadcast deal with V8 Supercars just ahead of the 2013 season start in Sydney.

Financial details of the new deal, which extends the relationship for another two years, were not released but V8 Supercars was expected to struggle to get any bidding tension, with Nine Entertainment and the Ten Network focusing instead on  cricket broadcast rights, which are also up for grabs.

The agreement covers V8 Supercars championship season and the Bathurst 1000.

“This is an excellent outcome for the sport and fans,” V8 Supercars chief executive David Malone said.

“The extension gives great continuity heading into a very exciting 2013 season. Seven has been a great partner and we look forward to their ongoing commitment to the highest level of coverage and promotion,” he said.

V8 Supercars is majority owned by Archer Capital which paid $180 million for 60 per cent of the business in 2011. Its other shareholders include the V8 teams with 35 per cent and Tony Cochrane who owns 5 per cent.

V8 Supercars will continue to produce its own broadcast coverage for the Seven Network and their other broadcast partners.

Denmark players going to Euro 2012 will be unable to use social media during the campaign the Danish Football Federation (DBU) has decreed.

“There is so much communication during the championships that we want to limit it to meetings with the media,” the DBU’s communications chief Lars Berendt told the TV2 television programme Sporten.

He added the coach Morten Olsen wanted players to focus on the tournament and for “the 24-7 open microphone” to be shut down.

Instead the the squad will send numerous updates to fans via the team’s own social media sites beside the regular press conferences.

Stoke’s Thomas Sorensen and Ajax’s Christian Eriksen are promminent using Twitter and labelled the decision a “a shame” that players cannot tell fans what they do “without revealing tactics.”

“There was a time when we lived without Twitter and we’ll be able to do it during the Euros,” tweeted Sorensen who has more than 20,000 followers on the social media tool.

by Ismail Uddin

What do you think of DBU’s decision? Tell us your opinion here >>

British Fencing have confirmed that Alex Newton has been appointed as its Performance Manager, apoplectic making her the first person to take on the role full time.

In the past, Newton has headed up the World Class Programme for Sport England in the build up to the Sydney Olympics before assisting in establishing the English Institute of Sport network.

She later took on the role of ensuring that the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games provided a legacy to the North West through its Regional Institute.

Newton worked alongside both cycling and disability swimming during the latter part of the Athens Olympic/Paralympic cycle to ensure world class science and medicine support before moving to UK Sport as Performance Manager.

Newton was selected following an extensive process by a panel which included Chief Executive, Piers Martin, who stated: “I am very pleased that Alex is joining British Fencing, where her experience and knowledge will undoubtedly help our World Class Programme to achieve our full potential and win a medal in 2012”

Newton took up the post on May 3, describing her appointment as “an opportunity to lead and turn around a sport that has a group of talented athletes but who are not consistently performing on a world stage”.

Newton’s immediate focus will be ensuring that everything that needs to be in place to deliver medals in 2012 is there, adding, “I will be reviewing the whole programme including science and medicine, competitions and training programmes to ensure the focus is on the right things and importantly the right athletes.

“My long term goals are to move the sport to a position where it can consistently win medals on the world stage.  This will be done by putting in place a comprehensive performance structure to support both the current cohort and future generations of world class fencers.”

The IAAF have announced the conclusion of a broadcasting deal in Germany for the 2013 IAAF World Championships, health Moscow, Russia.

The agreement was concluded between Sport A, the sports buying rights agency of German public service broadcasters ARD/ZDF, and IEC in Sports, the IAAF’s exclusive media agency for European and African rights for the IAAF World Athletics Series of which the biennial IAAF World Championships are its jewel.

Under the terms ARD/ZDF will televise the nine day IAAF World Championships in Moscow which take place from Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 August 2013, guaranteeing to transmit live coverage from all evening sessions.

ARD/ZDF have a long standing relationship with Athletics having televised the last edition of the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea, and were also the IAAF’s partner through the previous EBU broadcasting deal.

“The conclusion of this agreement with Germany’s public service broadcaster is excellent news for the sport of Athletics as it guarantees that the performances of German athletes in Moscow will be seen by the widest possible audience at home”, commented IAAF President Diack. “Germany, whose athletes have taken a staggering haul of 70 Olympic track and field titles and 53 gold medals in the IAAF World Championships, loves Athletics, and this agreement will help feed that national passion.”

As part of the agreement ARD/ZDF also have obtained non-exclusive rights to televise this year’s two other IAAF World Athletics Series events, the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Bydgoszcz, Poland (24 March 2013) and the IAAF World Youth Championships, Donetsk, Ukraine (10 – 14 July 2013).

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) have banned Rangers owner Craig Whyte for life from any involvement in Scottish football following a hearing into their financial affairs.

The club has also been hit with a 12-month embargo on signings.

The series of punishments follows a Scottish Football Association hearing into the crisis-hit club’s financial affairs.

Rangers, who went into administration earlier this year, have been fined £160,000 and Whyte – already deemed unfit to hold an official position in the game – was fined a total £200,000.

The SFA said their judicial panel would issue reasons for their findings in “early course” while both parties have three days to appeal following receipt of those reasons.

Whyte, who failed to notify the SFA that he had been disqualified as a director for seven years in 2000, said he “couldn’t care less” when he was asked for his reaction.

“Tell me how it is going to affect me? I couldn’t care less,” he said. “It makes no difference to my life whatsoever – and good luck collecting the money.

“It’s a joke. It is very harsh on Rangers. I am surprised at how harsh the SFA have been on a club which is going through tough times at the moment.

“Stewart Regan (chief executive) and Campbell Ogilvie (president) should resign and get out of Scottish football.

“The SFA want to kick Rangers when they are down and I hope people remember that. They are playing to the media.”

In a statement, joint administrators of Rangers FC, Duff and Phelps, joint administrators of Rangers Football Club, condemned the ruling as “draconian”.

Paul Clark, joint administrator, said: “All of us working on behalf of the club are utterly shocked and dismayed by the draconian sanctions imposed on Rangers in respect of these charges.

“It appears that on one hand the disciplinary panel accepted our central argument that responsibility for bringing the Club into disrepute lay with the actions of one individual – Craig Whyte – as is evident from the unprecedented punishment meted out to him.

“It is difficult to comprehend that the disciplinary panel has seen fit to effectively punish the Club even more heavily than Mr Whyte. As everyone knows, it has already been decided he is not a fit and proper person to run a football club and any further punishment on him will have little or no impact.

“However, for Rangers, a ban on signing players will seriously undermine the Club’s efforts to rebuild after being rendered insolvent.”

“Furthermore, we do not know how bidders for the Club will react to these sanctions and what affect they will have on their proposals.”

Whyte was fined £50,000 for bringing the game into disrepute but a charge of not acting in an improper manner and against the interests of football was not proven and was handed three more identical fines on separate counts of failing to follow directions from an SFA tribunal.

Whyte, who has been told to pay his fines within 30 days, was also expelled for life from “any participation in Association Football in Scotland.”

by Ismail Uddin

Dutch Public Broadcaster NPO’s Ruurd Bierman has been re-elected as chairman of the EBU Television Committee in a vote that wrapped up the first day of the 17^th EBU  Television Assembly, in Lucerne, Switzerland yesterday, May 3.

The EBU TV Assembly delivers a unique opportunity for TV Directors and decision-makers to discuss key ideas and strategies in television production and programming.

As sole candidate, Bierman was re-elected, after a simple show of hands, for his second term that will run for two years.  He was voted by more than two thirds of the majority.  The other 12 Committee places, including  three vice chairmanships, were also filled.

Accepting the appointment, Ruurd Bierman said: “Public Service Broadcasters have an important role to play in an increasingly fragmented society. If we are willing to adapt to the challenges of the digital world, I am sure we will fulfil our role with commitment and success.”

Canadian sports channel, ed Sportsnet have announced it has reached a four-year multiplatform agreement with CONCACAF for the broadcast rights to seven CONCACAF properties, drugs including the 2013 and 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cups.

The new agreement, denture which begins immediately and runs through the 2016 season, features a comprehensive suite of multimedia rights for television, online and mobile, and includes the following events: CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, the Men’s and Women’s Qualifiers for the 2016 Olympic Games, the Men’s and Women’s Under-20 and Under-17 Championships, the CONCACAF Futsal Championship in 2016, and the 2014 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers for the 2015 FIFA World Cup.

Sportsnet previously aired CONCACAF events in 2011 and 2012.

“Sportsnet is committed to providing fans with access to premium soccer content, and providing viewers with exceptional broadcast coverage,” said Navaid Mansuri, Vice-President of Finance & Sports Programming, Rogers Media. “The addition of these CONCACAF events to our already robust soccer portfolio ensures more than ever that Canadians will be able to see all of the action of the beautiful game, from everywhere around the world.”

American investor Ben Miller has insisted he is “moving forward” with his bid for Glasgow Rangers despite late opposition by Blue Knights consortium, headed by former Gers director Paul Murray. 

Duff and Phelps stated on Friday that they would look to proceed with the £11.2 million bid lodged by Miller if no other offers were forthcoming, but the new proposition by Murray has stalled talks.

Miller declared in a statement to Sky Sports: “After speaking with the administrators today I understand no other bidders have stepped up to offer to save Rangers.

“I did not ask for more time to move forward but at the request of the administrators I will wait to enter into exclusivity in order to give the Blue Knights and Ticketus more time to put an alternative offer together for the administrators to evaluate.

“As I stated on Friday if there were no other bids by close of business Monday I would begin the process of acquiring Rangers according to the plan that I outlined on Friday.”

Miller’s bid is dependent on written assurances from the Scottish Football Association(SFA) and the Scottish Professional Footballer’s Association (SPFA) that Rangers’ punishment would not continue into next term with the Scottish Premier League clubs due to vote on the April 30 regarding proposals that would see ‘newco’ clubs handed such for several seasons.

Murray added: “I will leave the administrators to determine when they want to identify their preferred bidder.

“Until then I am moving forward with my process and continuing discussions with all the relevant parties.

“I can confirm now I have had discussions today with the SFA [Scottish Football Association] and the SPFA [Scottish Professional Footballers Association] and I’ll be having discussions with Ally McCoist later today to discuss his recommendation regarding the players.”

Jerry Mayes, a former beverage industry executive, has been appointed by USA Boxing as its senior director of business development.

Having spent more than three decades with Coca Cola, Mayes’ duties will now comprise increasing sponsorship and strategic development.

USA Boxing’s executive director Anthony Bartkowski said: “Jerry brings a wealth of experience to USA Boxing where he will be focused on expanding marketing and sponsorship initiatives, as well as researching grassroots programs and developing a plan to expand local boxing committee involvement.

“Jerry will be a true asset to USA Boxing in helping us steer in a strategic manner through [Rio] 2016 and beyond.”

Mayes will help bring in new sponsorship into 57 local boxing committees and will be leading restructuring development programmes in order to help them achieve self-sufficiency and financial stability.

Mayes will also be in charge of USA Boxing’s strategic plan for the 2016 Olympics and said: “As the sales centre manager for Coca-Cola here in Colorado Springs, I have worked closely with the USOC (United States Olympic Committee), at all levels, for the past 33 years.

“Throughout my career, I have worked with several of the USOC CEOs, management staff, and National Governing Bodies to coordinate the alignment of Coca Cola’s quality products and global marketing initiatives to enhance the visibility of the Olympic Movement and its athletes.

“I am now very proud and excited to be a part of the Olympic family in my new role with USA Boxing.”

Mayes managed four different territories during his time with Coca Cola and was responsible for sales, media buying and operations, as well as being named the winner of its Presidents club in 2000.