Golf Channel and the NCAA announced Monday that the NCAA Men’s Division I Golf Championship will be broadcast on the network, physician beginning in 2014 at Prairie Dunes in Kansas.

In a multi-year partnership with the NCAA, stuff Golf Channel will air tournament coverage from both the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Championships beginning in 2015. The 2015 championships will mark the first time since 1997 that the women’s championship will air live on television.

“We are committed to covering all facets of the game of golf and this new partnership with the NCAA will be the centerpiece of our broader commitment to covering the collegiate game,” said Golf Channel president Mike McCarley in a statement. “We look forward to introducing our viewers to the future stars of the game and tapping into the tremendous passion collegiate fans have for their schools.”

Golf Channel will surround the live tournament action at the championships with comprehensive news coverage on-air and online throughout the year, keeping viewers up-to-date on all of the story lines leading up to and during the championships.

The men’s championship begins with 30 teams and six individuals competing over a 54-hole stroke-play competition, after which the individual champion will be crowned. The top eight teams advance to the final three rounds of match-play competition for the team championship.

“This is the culmination of a collaborative effort between a lot of individuals over a long period of time, including the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Committees,” said Mark Lewis, NCAA Executive Vice President of Championships and Alliances, in a statement. “We are excited for our men’s and women’s golf student-athletes to gain additional exposure and for the fans of the sport to be able to see up close what makes these championships so special. Partnering with the Golf Channel made perfect sense for us and we appreciate their commitment in helping to grow the audience for the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships.”

MP & Silva, treatment a leading international media rights company, order has secured a worldwide rights distribution deal from 2014 to 2018 with the Kremlin Cup ATP World Tour 250 Series event.

The deal includes all territories outside Russia.

Held in the Olympic Stadium in Moscow once a year, recipe the Kremlin Cup is Russia’s first professional international tennis tournament, played in indoors hard courts.

The package offers a minimum of 17 matches every year. The partnership between MP & Silva and Kremlin Cup covers 5 tournaments, from 2014 to 2018. 

MP & Silva has been distributing tennis media rights since 2009, with a growing portfolio of year-round events around the globe. The company currently distributes Roland Garros (France), international tournaments like the Clash of Continent (Singapore), Qatar Open (Qatar), Copa Claro (Argentina), Delray Beach ITC (USA), Zagreb Indoors (Croatia), Croatia Open (Croatia), Vina Del Mar Open (Uruguay) and Kitzbühel (Austria).

The Kremlin Cup is a welcome addition to the portfolio, being the first time that MP & Silva adds its footprint in Russia. 

“We’re glad to become worldwide partners with Moscow’s Kremlin Cup” said Riccardo Silva, President, MP & Silva. “This is a great addition to our tennis rights portfolio which includes Roland Garros Grand Slam (French Open), Qatar Open and another seven ATP Series competitions. MP & Silva has a strong track record of distributing tennis to over 148 countries with the potential reach of 182 million homes, and this long-term partnership with Russia’s top tennis event is a significant commitment of MP & Silva to further develop tennis TV and online audiences all over the world”, he added.

MP & Silva will be the exclusive distributor of Kremlin Cup across cable, satellite, terrestrial, Web TV, IPTV and mobile platforms.

The committee formed to conduct the search to replace Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Greg Avioli, who stepped down earlier this month, has engaged Spencer Stuart, the world’s leading executive search firm, to manage the process, the Breeders’ Cup have announced.

Jed Hughes, a senior partner in Spencer Stuart’s sports business practice who led the search six years ago that led to Avioli’s appointment, will direct the search, said committee chairman and Breeders’ Cup director Tom Ludt.

Ludt stated: “The position has attracted so much initial interest from inside and outside our industry and the selection is of such vital importance to our organization that the committee wanted to utilize the best professional resources available to assist with this process.”

Ludt indicated that any inquiries regarding the search should be directed to Hughes at Spencer Stuart and not to the committee members. The committee did not set a firm timeline for the search but expects it should be completed by July. It also clarified that the position will be based at the Breeders’ Cup Lexington, KY headquarters.

In addition to Ludt, Breeders’ Cup directors Helen Alexander, Antony Beck, Jerry Crawford and Richard Santulli are on the search committee.

During the search process, Breeders’ Cup COO/CFO Matthew Lutz and Breeders’ Cup Senior Vice President of Sales Carter Carnegie are overseeing the company’s day-to-day business operations.

The America’s Cup has announced Clear Channel Media and Entertainment San Francisco as the official radio partner for the 2013 America’s Cup. 

Clear Channel San Francisco AM News/Talk radio stations, seek KKSF and KNEW, will become the flagship stations for America’s Cup coverage with information and updates throughout the year. In addition, Clear Channel San Francisco’s five FM stations will promote the many lifestyle events that are part of the America’s Cup experience.

The exclusive sponsorship allows America’s Cup to capitalize on Clear Channel’s on-air and digital platforms including iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s industry leading digital radio service, to promote and educate consumers about the 2013 America’s Cup.

Locally, more than half of San Francisco Bay area residents listen to at least one Clear Channel San Francisco radio station every week and nearly 10 percent of residents listen via iHeartRadio or station websites.

“Teaming up with Clear Channel will increase our ability to reach our fans, especially in the Bay Area, as we move into 2013, the Year of the America’s Cup,” said Stephen Barclay, the CEO of the America’s Cup.

“We are extremely excited about our alliance with the America’s Cup,” said J.D. Freeman, San Francisco Market President, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. “Our goal is to bring attention to this world class event in this world class city.”

By joining forces, the America’s Cup and Clear Channel will be able to educate, entertain and involve the audience by speaking directly about one of the most iconic events in sport.

2013 is the ‘Year of the America’s Cup’ in San Francisco, with up to 55 days of racing from July to September. The Louis Vuitton Cup (America’s Cup Challenger Series) starts in July with the challengers vying for a spot in September’s America’s Cup Finals (September 7-21) against the defending ORACLE TEAM USA. A new initiative to provide a pathway for young sailors into the America’s Cup sees the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup with 10 international teams battling on San Francisco Bay from September 1-4.

The North American Soccer League (NASL) announced yesterday, capsule March 28, ambulance its appointment of former Executive Director of the USA World Cup Bid Committee, order  David Downs as its first Commissioner, effective April 4.

Prior to his role with the failed bid team, Downs worked in the broadcast industry as an executive with both ABC Sports and Univision.

Downs will work from NASL’s Miami offices as he leads the eight-team league into its inaugural season as North America’s Division II soccer league having been one of five candidates who interviewed for the position.

MTG’s Nordic pay TV broadcaster Viasat has signed a deal with the NBA to bring matches to Russia, cough the CIS and Georgia.

The Viasat Sport East channel will broadcast up to five regular season games each week along with major NBA events including the NBA All-Star, anesthetist the complete Eastern and Western Conference Play-off series and the NBA Finals in June. The deal initially covers the 2012-2013 season

“In a region with such knowledgeable and passionate fans, our partnership with Viasat will provide broad coverage throughout the regular-season, culminating in The Finals,” said Dan Markham, NBA vice-president, media distribution and emerging markets.

Irina Gofman, MTG executive vice-president of Russian & CIS Broadcasting, said, “The new agreement between Viasat Sport and NBA follows our successful cooperation with the NBA during the 2012 Play-offs. We are delighted that Viasat Sport East subscribers will now be able to watch coverage of the NBA 2012-13 season as the NBA is the world’s premier basketball league with a large and loyal fan base across the region.”

Skip Gilbert, who unexpectedly departed from USA Triathlon last summer, has been appointed by New Zealand-based Times-7 Sport, the sport technical solutions provider, as its new President and chief executive.

Gilbert takes charge of the company’s expansion into Canada, Mexico, South America, the Caribbean and the United States, based from Colorado Springs.

Gilbert steered USA Triathlon from his role as CEO through a period of rapid growth as its membership increased almost threefold and its budget almost doubled during his time at the helm.

He was recognised for his achievements through election as chairman of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) National Governing Body Council, as well as the chairman of the Association of the Chief Executives of Sport.

Gilbert stated: “I’m excited to join Times-7 Sport, a company which is expanding its high-quality product portfolio and is directed by a strong leadership team.

“This is clearly an organisation on the rise, both in the Americas and around the world.

“I look forward to helping them expand into one of the most sport participation-rich regions in the world.”

Times-7 Sport Chairman D’Arcy Quinn added: “We’re thrilled to have Skip Gilbert lead our Times-7 Sport team.

“Skip’s 25-year sales, marketing and managerial background and his successful track record with major sport organizations will jump-start our efforts to expand throughout the Americas.”

BBC have agreed a deal to broadcast England Women’s 2013 European Championship games.

The new deal will see the BBC broadcast live coverage of all England’s matches in Sweden on BBC3, with both the semi-finals and final played across BBC3 and BBC2.

After a tremendous response to Women’s football during London 2012, the BBC has snapped up the rights to broadcast all of England’s matches at the UEFA European Women’s Championship next year in Sweden. 

The deal will see the BBC broadcast live coverage of all England’s matches on BBC3, with both the semi-finals and final played across BBC3 and BBC2.

Though the men’s UEFA European Football Championship is always given extensive coverage on the BBC, the women’s championship – which has been held every four years since 1984 – is yet to receive the same treatment.

The BBC Director of Sport Barbara Slater has said the decision to broadcast all of England’s games on their main channels came down to “the response to women’s football at London 2012” which proved Britain has a “strong appetite” for women’s sport on TV.

The move will please plenty of sport fans as well as Culture Secretary Maria Miller who recently called for broadcasters to show more women’s sport on TV as a “legacy from the Games.”

Excitingly, the England women’s football team have a good chance of reaching the final stages of the championship. The team made it to the final of the Euro 2009, before being beaten by Germany, and have qualified unbeaten for next summer’s championship following a 3-0 win against Croatia in September.

The BBC’s news completes a great year for sportswomen which has seen five women nominated for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year, the results of which will be revealed this weekend.

Euro 2013 takes place between 10 and 28 July 2013. England’s first match will be against Spain on 10 July.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) have appointed the former performance director of Badminton England,Ian Moss as the nation’s new director of National Sports Federations (NSF).

Having resigned from his post with Badminton England last July after just two years in the post, Moss has now returned to Canada to take up this newly-created role.

COC chief executive Jean Dupré stated: “The creation of this position demonstrates the COC’s commitment to effectively servicing the needs of its National Sport Federation membership.

“We are excited to have Ian working with our sport partners in our ongoing effort to Olympic Games success.”

Moss has more than 20 years experience in high performance sport and was the executive director at Rowing Canada from 2005-2009 in which time, Canadian rowers won four medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the most of any sport.

Moss added: “I am thrilled to join the COC in this new capacity, one which I believe builds upon my skill set developed over the years in both association management and high performance programming with numerous sports. 

“It is my responsibility to find new and innovative ways to provide greater value added operational support to the membership that can complement existing COC programming on the Olympic Games and performance preparation platforms and continue to build upon the strong relationship that has been build between the COC and its member NSFs.”

Moss was also previously the executive director of Badminton Canada from 1997-2005 and has worked with Diving Canada, the Coaching Association of Canada and the Canadian Cricket Association.

Caroline Assalian, the COC’s executive managing director of Sport and NSF relations, said: “Ian is an ideal candidate as he brings extensive targeted and non-targeted leadership experience both nationally and internationally. I am confident that, through this new role, Ian will deliver added-value services to help NSFs in their quest to be world class sport organisations.”