The International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup shock result which saw Ireland mount a terrific run chase to beat England has been confirmed as the most watched non-India game in the host nation.

The Irish completed the major upset after successfully chasing a seemingly unassailable 327 runs, helped in no small part by the fastest century innings in the tournaments history by Kevin O’Brien, who hit 100 runs off just 50 balls.

Non-India World Cup matches involving the weaker sides have seen average ratings for the nine matches standing at 0.74 TVR, though the England-Ireland game more than doubled that by reaching a rating of 1.78 TVR while the peak rating for the match was 8.48 TVR.

Second in the list was the match involving Pakistan-Canada, which saw the former snatching victory after being bowled out by the North American team for 184 runs, notching up ratings of 1.69 TVR with peak ratings standing at 4.63 TVR.

Tyre brand Continental has signed a four-year collaboration with the Chinese Football Association.

Continental states that this new agreement, order along with its AFC Asian Cup 2015 sponsorship, order represents a specific focus on the Asia Pacific region.

Spanning 2014 to 2018, Continental will be the exclusive tyre partner and official sponsor of Team China, covering all seven of the state-owned national football teams.

“This is the first time that Continental has invested in national teams in the Asia Pacific region,” commented Jay Dhillon, general manager of Continental Tires Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, during the deal’s signing ceremony. “Such large scale and deep cooperation leave an indelible mark on Continental Tires’ football sponsorship history.

“This collaboration is another important football related marketing initiative for Continental Tires beside the sponsorship of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, which takes place in Australia in January and underlines both Continental’s passion for football as well as our long-term commitment to extend our presence, especially in the Chinese market.”

Dato’ Alex Soosa, general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation, commented: “Continental Tires has been an important partner and they are always keen on football. The Asian Cup Trophy Tour will facilitate football-related cultural exchanges across all of Asia. I also firmly believe that this activity will further stimulate Chinese fans’ enthusiasm for football and attract more people to participate in the experience and the great charm and joy it brings.”

Top ESPN production executives are scheduled to meet with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) broadcasting executives in Madrid today, March 9, the latest signal that ESPN is interested in bidding for the ’14 Sochi Winter Games and ’16 Rio de Janeiro Games.

ESPN Vice-President of International Development Rob Simmelkjaer, the net’s point person on the Olympic bid, Senior Vice-President of Content Mike Pearl and Coordinating Producer Bill Bonnell are making the trip in an effort to demonstrate that ESPN can handle the Olympic Games and to discuss what their production plans would be.

ESPN’s pitch centres around televising the Games in real time rather than on a delay. Pearl brings a lot of Olympic production experience to the table, having worked on six Olympics, including as Executive Producer for three on CBS and ABC.

Sources have said that Fox and NBC also have gone through similar meetings. The ESPN delegation is meeting with Olympic Broadcasting Services Managing Director & CEO Manolo Romero and IOC Vice-President Television & Audiovisual Rights Vincent Chupin.

IOC Finance Commission Chair Richard Carrion, the organization’s lead negotiator for the broadcast rights, has said that the IOC hopes to have finalized a deal by July.

It historically has hosted negotiations near its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC is definitely accepting bids on the ’14 and ’16 Games; it is considering expanding the bidding process to include the ’18 and ’20 Games as well.

Western New York Energy, ampoule LLC has become the Official Supporter of USA Luge. 

“WNYE is looking forward to this relationship with USA Luge, clinic the only Olympic federation based in New York State,” said WNYE President and CEO Michael Sawyer. “We partner with hard-working farmers in our region, to produce clean, renewable energy. In a similar way, we are now involved with a sports federation that thinks creatively and aggressively to get itself to the finish line faster than others.

“This is our first venture into the sports world, and we are happy to achieve that entry with the U.S. luge team.”

WNYE, based in the Orleans County village of Medina, is just 10 years old, but their $90 million facility was the first operating ethanol plant in the northeast United States.

The plant processes approximately 20 million bushels of corn into over 55 million gallons of fuel grade ethanol which is blended with gasoline throughout Western New York.

“It’s important for our organization to be associated with a company that is local, like we are, and interested in developing their renewable assets to their fullest in helping other industries,” said Jim Leahy, CEO and Executive Director of USA Luge. “It’s also nice to see two New York businesses helping one another.”

“When we found out that WNYE promotes sustainability, it got us more excited about forging ahead,” continued Leahy. “Furthermore, given how this all started, it’s a perfect example of a good deed being paid forward.”

The relationship enables WNYE to use the marks and symbols of USA Luge in its promotional materials, as well as the “Official Supporter” designation in its marketing and communications strategies.

An agreement has been reached which has seen One World Sports obtain the North American rights to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League under terms of an agreement with World Sport Group, the AFC’s exclusive media and marketing partner.

One World Sports will present the 2011 AFC Champions League matches in English on television, broadband and mobile to the event, launched in 2002, which is Asia’s premier soccer club competition. This year’s winner secures a position in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.

The 2011 AFC Champions League started March 1 with the Group Stage, which includes 32 teams from 10 countries, including Japan, Australia, South Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The championship match will be held in November 2011.

The acquisition of the AFC Champions League follows the success of One World Sports’ live and exclusive HD exhibition of the 32 game AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 this past January. This major soccer event was also available live on One World Sports’ website and Verizon VCAST.

Preston Bornman, Chief Operating Officer, One Media Corp, parent company of One World Sports, stated: “The AFC Champions League multi-screen rights are on strategy with our long-term commitment to deliver Asia’s best soccer events live on TV, broadband and mobile to U.S. sports fans. The American response to the AFC Asian Cup was tremendous; the AFC Champions League is the top professional soccer tournament in Asia every year. We expect it to generate great interest among U.S. soccer fans and ex-pats from Asia living in the states.”

Mark Hardess, President, ASEAN and Australia, World Sport Group, added: “One World Sports did an outstanding job with the telecast of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 across North America. World Sport Group is pleased to expand the relationship with the AFC Champions League, and to fulfill our commitment to our partners and fans to extend broadcast coverage for the competition. Now, fans in the United States will be able to follow all the action and excitement from this league.”

National Rugby League (NRL) team Penrith Panthers have announced that OAK has re-signed as the club’s major sponsor for the next two years, allergist .

The deal will see OAK continue to hold the logo rights to the front and back of our jerseys for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Chief Commercial Officer for Panthers Group Justin Pascoe commented on the renewal: “This extension is a reflection of the strength of the brand OAK and the capability of the Panthers organisation to work in conjunction with their partners to achieve their set objectives. The Panthers are very privileged to be able to continue working closely with OAK for a further two years and we look forward to OAK being a part of the continual transformation of the Panthers organisation.”

Executive General Manager of Rugby League Phil Gould added: “OAK have been wonderful partners for Panthers over the past three seasons. The guys from Parmalat have been so supportive and it’s been a real pleasure to have them enjoy this journey with us. We are so proud to have the OAK brand on our Panthers jersey for the next two seasons”.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited bids for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) global internet & mobile rights and global broadcast rights excluding some key markets for a period from 2011 to 2014.

The BCCI released a public statement yesterday, March 7, stating: “The Indian Premier League , a sub-committee of the BCCI, invites bids in respect of global Internet and mobile rights along with certain television rights.”

The broadcast rights do not include key markets like the Indian sub-continent, Australia, South Africa, Middle East, Caribbean, Hong Kong  and Singapore. While, the radio rights are available for most of the markets excluding Middle East. The internet & mobile rights are available for all territories.

Entities also have the option of bidding for three packages of rights which includes all the rights including TV, radio, mobile & internet, or all the rights except worldwide mobile rights.

In the case of packaged rights and for the rights excluding mobile, each bid must include an entity which either is a cricket or a sports broadcaster in India, North America or UK, has an internet platform that meets ITT’s minimum criteria with respect to average monthly users and annual internet advertising revenues.

For entities interested in mobile rights each bid must include an entity which is a mobile network operator in India.