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.

The Finnish Ski Association and Infront Sports & Media have extended their partnership to include the worldwide media rights to all FIS Nordic Ski World Cup events that take place in Finland.

The contract starts from the 2013/14 season for five years up to 2017/18 and covers the FIS Ski Jumping, sick Cross-Country and Nordic Combined World Cup events in the country – a total of seven throughout each winter season. Furthermore, Infront is to distribute the media rights for the annual Finnish Nordic Ski Championships as well as the popular “Suomen Cup”. In addition to media rights, as another important element of the new agreement, Infront will now also handle the full media production for all FIS World Cup events in Finland including national level races.

Infront is a key player in international skiing and has helped to continuously increase the reach of the FIS World Cup events. As partner to most national skiing federations that host FIS World Cup events in the Alpine, Nordic, Freestyle and Snowboard disciplines, the sports marketing company handles the media rights to more than 90 per cent of the series on a collective basis. As a result, it is able to offer broadcasters around the world the very best of international skiing from one central source.

The Finnish Ski Association has already collaborated successfully with Infront in the past. The company handles the media and marketing rights to the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup event in Levi as well as the media rights to the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup races and the sponsorship packages to the FIS Nordic Ski World Cup events. This role has now been extended with the newly acquired media rights.

Matti Sundberg, President of the Finnish Ski Association, said: “After intensive negotiations throughout the past months, we have now reached a historic agreement – confiding the media rights for our prestigious Nordic events to the most experienced company in the field of international skiing. Infront is in a position to boost our Nordic events in a sustainable way and on a global scale.”

Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports, commented: “The Nordic events in Finland are among the highlights of the FIS Nordic World Cup season and are highly appealing media content. With the media rights to the Finnish events complementing our portfolio, we are now able to offer almost the entire FIS Alpine and Nordic World Cup series on a collective basis – to the benefit of not only the broadcasters, but also the individual events, each reaching maximum exposure.”

All marketing rights of the Finnish Ski Federation will be handled by the Infront Finland subsidiary, whereas the broadcast rights will be distributed in close collaboration with Infront Italy – the Infront Group’s central hub for all media related operations in skiing.

Jon Tibbs, and Olympic communications expert, has been hired by English Premier League soccer giant Manchester United to assist in the promotion of the club’s international profile.

Tibbs is believed to have been working with Manchester United and the club’s communications director Phil Townsend, at the behest of United’s owners, the Glazer family since January, through his consultancy firm Jon Tibbs Associates (JTA).

Having played an integral role in the IOC’s reaction to the Salt Lake City scandal in 2002, Tibbs is something of a crisis management expert and is also the chairman of the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Global Sports Projects Sector Advisory Group.

Tibbs was also deeply involved in the winning Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic bids and Townsend confirmed: “Jon’s reputation and professionalism make him the ideal person to help modernise our corporate communications.

“What the club is seeking is a greater understanding of the international profile of Manchester United and what the owners are trying to achieve.”

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has renewed it’s rights to air snooker tournaments World Snooker Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters until the end of the 2016-17 season.

The three major events on the calendar will be broadcast on television, online and via the BBC iPlayer.

“This is wonderful news for the many millions of snooker fans in the UK,” World Snooker boss Barry Hearn said.

“The World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters are among the highlights of the sporting calendar, so it’s terrific that they will remain on terrestrial television,” said Hearn.

“The BBC remains one of our most important partners and we look forward to many years working with them.”

This season will see over 260 hours of coverage of snooker on the BBC.

Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, added: “The World Snooker Championship is an important part of our sports rights portfolio and we’re delighted to be continuing our coverage of these three major tournaments.”

The 2013 World Championship will take place between 20 April and 6 May while Masters begin on 13 January at Alexandra Palace in London.

 

Dorna Sports have appointed Hiroshi Yasukawa as an advisor to company CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta.

Yasukawa will bring a wealth of motorsport experience to the MotoGP rights holder and will provide his insight on the further development of the sport, having had a career that has already spanned four decades in motorsport.

Yasukawa has most recently been the Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, a post he held from 1997 to 2011 and one in which he oversaw the worldwide racing activities of the Japanese tyre manufacturer.

Hiroshi Yasukawa stated: “It’s a great honour to continue my career in this fantastic environment thanks to Dorna. Our relationship was always great throughout the time that I was working with Bridgestone, and I think I can help the continued development of the Championship. MotoGP has great potential lying ahead, and in the coming years we’ll have to tackle new challenges and bring into existence the most appropriate changes to make the MotoGP World Championship even more thrilling and spectacular”.

Carmelo Ezpeleta added: “I’m very proud that we can now count on the experience of Hiroshi Yasukawa who has had close ties with the sport for many years. He is an important and respected man who can bring a lot to the FIM MotoGP World Championship as we continue looking for ways to improve it. We’re pleased with the fact that MotoGP will continue to benefit from his knowledge”.

The former French Football Federation (FFF) director general who led France’s preparations to host the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Jacques Lambert has been installed as the head of the steering committee and president of the organising committee for UEFA Euro 2016.

Lambert will act as chairman of the eight-member steering committee, which will comprise four representatives from UEFA. The President of European soccer’s governing body Michel Platini unveiled the board for Euro 2016 in France, the tournament being the first European Championship to be entirely funded by UEFA.

FFF chairman Fernand Duchaussoy, French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno and a representative of the nine host cities – yet to be confirmed – will also make up the board for the first European Championship to have 24 teams.

Platini stated: “This will be the political arm of Euro 2016, where all the decisions are made. There will be no financial risk for the French Federation,” he added, indicating that the FFF would still receive “a bonus” if there is a surplus.

A joint stock company called Euro 2016 S.A.S, which will be 95 per cent owned by UEFA and 5 per cent owned by the FFF, will be created as the operational body responsible for the event.

The 11 cities in the running to host matches at Euro 2016 include Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris (Parc des Princes), Saint-Denis (Stade de France), Saint-Etienne and Toulouse. UEFA has given the FFF until mid-September to whittle the number down to nine cities.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has extended its deal to showcase the British Darts Organisation’s (BDO) World Championships until 2016.

The BBC has broadcast every BDO World Championship since 1978.

“The World Darts Championships are an important part of our sports rights portfolio,” said BBC director of sport Barbara Slater.

“We look forward to bringing our audiences this great tournament through to 2016.”

BDO chairperson Sue Williams said: “This is wonderful news for the BDO, its players and the millions of darts fans who tune in to watch the BBC’s outstanding coverage.”

The 2013 BDO World Championships began on saturday at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green.