The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has announced the conclusion of important broadcasting deals for Latin America and the Indian Sub-Continent negotiated by Dentsu, clinic its exclusive commercial partner for all media rights worldwide excluding Europe and Africa.

In the Indian Sub-Continent, Dentsu has finalised an agreement covering 7 territories with Ten Sports that includes a commitment to broadcast the IAAF World Championships and World Indoor Championships, during the period 2011 to 2014.

Ten Sports is becoming a rights holder with the IAAF and Dentsu for the first time and has offered good broadcast guarantees. The broadcaster is expected to provide daily broadcasts of this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

In Latin America, Dentsu has extended their existing contract with TyC Sports for all events of the IAAF World Athletics Series for the period 2014 to 2016.

Under the terms, Telered Imagen SA, the company who manages TyC Sports channel, has acquired all exclusive rights in Argentina and non-exclusive delayed pay cable rights in 14 other Latin American territories, thus making additional live coverage in these 14 territories possible.

IAAF President Lamine Diack stated: “Athletics is the most universal of sports, and the package of TV rights agreements being negotiated by Dentsu successfully mirrors that reach. The guarantees which have been achieved ensure that the athletics fans of Indian Sub-Continent and Latin America will be able to enjoy our World Athletics Series events in particular the biennial IAAF World Championships which are our sport’s brightest jewel.”

England Rugby League have announced that leading sports nutrition brand USN have been appointed as the official sports supplement partner of the national team. 

USN will provide England with some of the world’s most cutting-edge sports nutrition and bodybuilding products during the 2014 Four Nations and all international fixtures and training camps to the end of 2016.

England Team Performance Manager Mark Bitcon said: “The coaches and players from the England team will be working closely with USN over the next two years.

“It is important to support the players’ training and nutritional programmes with some of the leading products on the market. We look forward to working with a company with such an impressive reputation and who already have a strong portfolio of other world-class athletes.”

USN Managing Director Jason Oakley said: “We are delighted to be a partner of the England Rugby League team. We’re looking forward to sharing years of knowledge from our work in the premium sports nutrition industry.

“Everyone here at USN is excited to be working with the players and coaches and it all starts with the Four Nations tournament.”

England open their 2014 Four Nations campaign with a match against Samoa in Brisbane on Saturday morning. The fixture will be broadcast live on BBC2 at 6.30am.

A major three-year agreement has been reached by the Eurosport Group with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), to broadcast the newly created Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, featuring the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, for the next three seasons (2011, 2012 and 2013).

Eurosport will broadcast every minute of the mythical 24-Hour race LIVE across channels Eurosport, Eurosport 2 and Eurosport Asia-Pacific, while round-the-clock LIVE streaming of the race will also be available in Europe on the Eurosport Player web TV service and mobile application.

For the second consecutive year, Eurosport’s unbeatable coverage starts before the race with “Le Mans 24 Minutes” show each evening at 19:30 CET from Monday 6 June to Saturday 11 June 2011, in which top consultants will bring fans in-depth interviews, analysis and all the latest news direct from Eurosport’s on-site teams.

Eurosport’s extensive coverage also features LIVE broadcast of the free sessions on Wednesday 15 June and the qualifying sessions on Thursday 16 June.

The new series, created with the intention of promoting the spirit of the Le Mans 24 Hours in a unique international competition, features seven rounds and the 2011 calendar includes: 12 Hours of Sebring (United-States, 19 March), 1000km of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium, 7 May), Le Mans 24 Hours (11-12 June), 6 Hours of Imola (Italy, 3 July), 6 Hours of Silverstone (Great-Britain, 11 September), 10 Hours of Petit Le Mans (USA, 1st October) and 6 Hours of Zhuhai (China, 12 November).

Eurosport has LIVE rights to broadcast all rounds on Eurosport, Eurosport 2 and Eurosport Asia-Pacific as well as on Eurosport Player web TV service and mobile application, all of which will also be available in high definition on Eurosport HD and Eurosport 2 HD.

Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Chairman and CEO, Eurosport Group stated: “Le Mans 24 Hours is the most famous car racing event in history and one of the highlights of our programming. This extension of our long-standing relationship with ACO guarantees viewers will not miss a minute of the race wherever they are, with round-the-clock LIVE coverage on air, online and on mobile. We are delighted to showcase the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which promises to be an exciting series.”

Jean-Claude Plassart, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest added: “The renewal of our partnership with Eurosport is the guarantee of exhaustive top quality TV coverage benefiting all motor sports fans around the world, especially those passionate about endurance racing. Building on the groundwork we have done together with Eurosport for Le Mans 24 Hours, the top endurance event, our renewed partnership also includes our new series the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. We are convinced that Eurosport will deliver exceptional promotion and coverage of both the renowned Le Mans 24 hours as well as this promising new series.”

Cowdray Park Polo Club has announced today that luxury swiss watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre will become title sponsor of the Gold Cup for the British Open Polo Championship in 2015 with a long term commitment to the club and the tournament.

Jaeger-LeCoultre has been Official Time Keeper at Cowdray Park since 2006 in a significant partnership which has seen the iconic Reverso watch become the recognisable face of the scoreboard on Lawns 2, allergist the pitch where the Final of the Gold Cup is played. 

Jaeger-LeCoultre has also supported Cowdray Park’s long-standing and popular HPA series of tournaments, allergy ranging from 8 to 18 goal handicap and indicating the company’s interest in all levels of the sport. 

Chairman of Cowdray Park Polo Club Chairman Peter Barfoot says: “Jaeger-LeCoultre’s commitment to polo is unquestionable and the brand has established a solid reputation throughout all levels of the sport. We feel privileged that Jaeger-LeCoultre has chosen the Gold Cup at Cowdray Park as the means to take their support to the very highest level.” 

Zahra Kassim-Lakha, Director UK Market and Global Strategy added: “Extending our deep and close relationship with Cowdray Park Polo Club to encompass the title sponsorship of the world famous Gold Cup is a thrilling prospect for us. We hope to work closely with the club to promote the exciting sport of polo and increase its audiences.”

The 2015 Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the British Open Polo Championship will open on 23rd June with the Final taking place on Sunday 19th July. 

Cowdray Park will shortly announce sponsorship Agreements with a tier of premier sponsors covering five important categories.

The final round of the Masters golf tournament won by South African Charl Schwartzel was a big hit for UK broadcast channel BBC2, ailment peaking with 3.6 million viewers, impotent a 16.3 per cent share of the audience, ailment at 10pm GMT.

However, the audience did slip away along with the challenge of long-time leader, 21-year-old Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, with five hours of coverage between 7pm and midnight averaging 2.9 million viewers, a 14.4 per cent share.

It was also a success for the BBC’s HD channel, which had an average of 278,000 viewers, a 1.4 per cent share, between 7pm and midnight, peaking with 394,000 viewers between 9.15pm and 9.30pm.

BBC2 had about six times the average audience for Sky Sports 2?s coverage of the event, which drew an average of 521,000 viewers between 6.30pm and 12.30am though the pay-per-view channel’s coverage also peaked at 10pm, with 700,000 viewers.

Sky’s coverage was available in less than half the homes that have BBC2. Sky Sports 2?s Masters coverage was the 10th most-watched programme in multichannel on Sunday.

Last year the Augusta tournament attracted an average of 3.1 million across BBC2 and BBC HD, with 2.3 million in 2009 and 2.4 million in 2008.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) announced UL (Underwriters Laboratories) as the title sponsor of the International Crown.

The 2016 event will be played July 18-24 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, impotent Ill., while the 2018 staging will take place in South Korea.

UL served as an Ambassador Sponsor for the inaugural event won by Spain at Caves Valley Golf Club in July. The tour announced Rolex and Calamos Investments as Ambassador Partners going forward.

“You can have big ideas, you can dream up what you might be able to create, but to do it and to do it well, you have to find partners,” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said Sunday at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea.

UL is a global independent safety science company. Its team of more than 11,000 professionals work to promote safe working and living environments.

Azahara Munoz, who was part of the winning Spanish contingent at Caves Valley, said South Korea is the best place to have the first staging outside the U.S.

“The fans here are incredible every time we come to play our LPGA event,” said Munoz. “I think everybody loves coming here.”

Na Yeon Choi, a member of the South Korean team that ousted the U.S. in a playoff last summer, called it an honor to have such an event staged in South Korea.

“All the Korean fans love to watch that tournament,” said Choi. “I can’t even imagine the crowds that will come out. … So many players have wanted to play in the Solheim Cup for so long, but now we have the chance to play on such a big stage. The Korean players that didn’t get to play were jealous of us and I know we’ll all be fighting to play on the team for years to come.”

Golf’s Asian Tour has agreed a media rights deal with the Golf Channel which will take television coverage of its tournaments into three major new territories in a deal brokered by Asian Tour Media.

The agreement will see the Golf Channel broadcast the tour in north America, Latin America and Japan.

Launched in 2009 as a joint venture of the Asian Tour and IMG, Asian Tour Media has already agreed broadcast deals with the likes of Sky Deutschland, Sky Sports in the UK, and Guangdong and CCTV in China, meaning that dedicated coverage of the tour can now be seen by viewers in over 420 million homes worldwide

Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han spoke of his “delight” at breaking into new markets, adding: “The standard of the Asian Tour has increasingly grown over the years and we look forward to giving golf fans in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Japan the opportunity to watch Asia’s elite golfers.

“These new agreements by Asian Tour Media will play a big role in further accelerating the growth of the game and deliver wider benefits to our sponsors and partners.”

Michael Mellor, who is head of IMG Media, Asia Pacific, said: The vast breadth of coverage that the Asian Tour now enjoys globally is testament to the increasing interest in the players on the tour, and to the quality of the tournaments that now take place in Asia. It is also an endorsement of the high standards of production that Asian Tour Media is now setting.”

Hockey Australia have announced the men’s team will be supported by Fortescue Metals Group after the Western Australia-based company extended its relationship for a further two years. 

The agreement, which will run until 2016, will see Fortescue, the world’s fourth largest producer of iron ore, continue to be the team’s major sponsor. It extends the company’s relationship to run alongside its partnership with Hockey Australia on the National Indigenous Program. 

As part of the arrangement, Kookaburras athletes and coaching staff will work with Fortescue on its leadership, mentoring and personal development programs. They will support the programs with workshop facilitation, presentations to middle management and engagement with new graduates. The team will also run a series of Mini Miners hockey clinics for the children of Fortescue employees.

Hockey Australia Chief Executive Cam Vale said, “The continuation of what has been an excellent relationship with Fortescue is a real boost to the team and to Australian hockey as a whole. For the Kookaburras, it means continued support in the build-up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. 

“In a challenging commercial environment it is hugely significant that a major Australian company continues to throw its support behind hockey. What distinguishes our partnership is that it is more than just a sponsorship. The work Fortescue also does with our National Indigenous Program in the Pilbara is making a positive difference to the lives of young people in the community there.”

Fortescue Chief Executive Officer Nev Power said Fortescue and the Kookaburras shared many values such as determination, enthusiasm, empowerment and integrity.

“Fortescue is extremely proud to be associated with the Kookaburras, a team that is dedicated to a high performance culture, both on and off the field, and with a reputation for being the world’s best. The Kookaburras are a team that embodies the very same values that drive Fortescue’s unique culture,” Mr Power said.

“We are equally proud to continue supporting the National Indigenous Hockey Program that is working to improve school attendance and the educational outcomes for children living in the remote indigenous community of Roebourne. Through this program school students are learning invaluable health and life skills through their contact with high-performance athletes.”

ESPN’s leading cricket news and update service logged 1.8 billion page views during the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup last month, the broadcaster has announced.

Fans didn’t miss a beat of the six week competition which saw co-hosts India and Sri Lanka compete the final, with the former winning by 6 wickets, consuming more content from ESPNcricinfo online and on mobile devices than ever before, shattering all previous records logged by the world’s leading cricket website.

At its peak during the India v Pakistan semi-final match on March 30, ESPNcricinfo’s share of ESPN’s total global audience was 36.1 per cent online and 63.6 per cent on the mobile Web – the most of any other ESPN digital platform that day.

The ESPNcricinfo mobile Web site alone recorded more than 45 million page views, accounting for 45 per cent of all page views logged on Saturday, April 2 – the most of any other ESPN digital platform covering cricket that day.

It also set one-day records on March 30, logging more than 1.9 million visitors and 52.4 million page views, up 2,166 per cent compared to the daily average for all of 2010, a record year for the site.

ESPNcricinfo coverage of the World Cup across all digital platforms generated an average minute audience of 72,000 people globally through the entire tournament.  That means an average of 72,000 people went to ESPNcricinfo.com, the ESPNcricinfo mobile Web, the ESPNcricinfo app for iPhone and Android devices or the Cricket section on the ESPN ScoreCenter app at any given minute of the day during the tournament.

Additionally, during that same time period, ESPNcricinfo across all digital platforms logged 1.8 billion page views and 4.43 billion total minutes.

The Indian subcontinent generated the most mobile Web usage during the World Cup compared to all other major markets, logging more than 377.3 million page views and 807.2 million total minutes of time spent consuming content from their mobile devices.

Tom Gleeson, vice president, digital media, ESPN International, said: “We’re thrilled that fans from around the globe chose ESPNcricinfo as their digital source for news and content during the Cricket World Cup.  The tournament has truly turned into a worldwide event, and we will continue to deliver quality content that fans come to expect from ESPNcricinfo year round across all digital platforms.”

The Ryman League, which forms the seventh and eigth tiers of English Football, has this week announced a partnership agreement with leading training aid specialists Precision.

Precision will become the Official Training Aid suppliers to the Ryman League with immediate effect.

David Sanderson, Brand and Marketing Director, said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with the Ryman League and look forward to working closely with the league and all of the member clubs in the future.”

Alan Turvey, President and Chairman of the Ryman League, commented: “Precision have had a strong association with the Ryman League through their goalkeeping brand in recent years – as the sponsor of the Goalkeeper of the Month awards and we are excited about the extension of our partnership.

“The new deal will make it easy for our member clubs to access the best training equipment on the market which can only be a good thing for the continuous improvement of the coaching and playing across all levels of the game.”

Former England manager Graham Taylor is lead Brand Ambassador for Precision and they also have official partnerships with the Irish Football Association and the Football Association of Wales, Home Nations sponsor Vauxhall and the McDonalds’ Community Programme.