Businessman Tom Benson, who owns the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, will see his two sport franchises welcome an official newspaper with the New Orleans Advocate been given that designation.

The deal makes The New Orleans Advocate the official newspaper of the Saints and Pelicans, and it allows the newspaper to promote itself at home games of the two teams.

“We have a great newspaper here, a daily newspaper, instead of having one three days a week or whatever it is,” Tom Benson said in relation to The Times-Picayune’s decision to curtail home delivery. “We are excited about it. We think The Advocate is going to do real good for itself and us too. We think it is very important. My wife and I every morning sit down and read the paper. There is nothing like it.”

Rita Benson LeBlanc, vice chairwoman of the Saints and Pelicans, thanked the business and civic leaders gathered in the Bienville Club room at the Superdome.

She said her family shares an entrepreneurial spirit with Georges.

“With The Advocate, John has a vision to grow it,” she said. “It wasn’t just an acquisition in Baton Rouge, it was something that would enhance New Orleans and continue to grow through the state. It made sense to partner with the Saints and the Pelicans.”

Robert W. Merrick, chairman and chief executive officer of Latter & Blum, said the opportunities provided by a daily newspaper with a regional reach is “significant.”

“The Advocate is in a unique position to have a regional influence and a regional reach,” Latter & Blum President Rick Haase said. “And for an advertiser like us who does business from Lake Charles out through the Mississippi River Gulf Coast, to be able to have end-to-end coverage for our operations is great.”

The agreement between the newspaper and the sports teams covers marketing and promotion and does not involve news coverage of the teams. Similarly, The Advocate is the official newspaper of the LSU Tigers.

BADMINTON England has revealed Neptunus Ltd will join as an official supplier for the London Grand Prix Gold event, unhealthy in partnership with adidas.

As an international specialist in the design, medstore manufacture and rental of temporary structures for events, Neptunus will be providing the National Governing Body with a structure for the final warm-up court and interaction zone at the event.

Being held at the Copper Box Arena on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from 1-6 October, the major event will be a great opportunity to see live sport at the site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games once again.

Nicola Moloney, Head of Major Events and Competitions at BADMINTON England, said: “We are delighted to have secured Neptunus as an official supplier for the London Grand Prix Gold event.

“Their help and support with providing us with a structure for our final warm up court and interaction zone will add great quality to the event and give it a new edge compared with previous badminton tournaments.”

With 75 years’ experience and over 200 full-time, permanent staff located throughout Europe, Neptunus are looking forward to the new relationship with BADMINTON England.

April Trasler, Managing Director of Neptunus said: “We are looking forward to working with Badminton England at this prestigious event and to being back in Queen Elizabeth Park after spending so much time working there for the Olympic Games last year.

“This move will also strengthen our ties with sport as a supplier of relocatable sports buildings.”

The British Paralympic Association (BPA) has announced it has extended its partnership with adidas, prostate who have signed as Official Partner to the BPA through to the end of 2016. 

As part of the agreement, ailment adidas will bring their experience and expertise to supply high-performance sportswear for ParalympicsGB at the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The agreement with adidas is the ninth partnership signed by the BPA, demonstrating the appeal of the Paralympic brand in the UK.

adidas were a tier one partner of the London 2012 Paralympic Games as Official Sportswear Partner, and the integrated approach to the Olympic and Paralympic Games that was at the heart of the London 2012 project was reflected in adidas’ marketing strategy. In the build-up to the Games, British Paralympians were represented alongside their Olympic counterparts at the launch of the iconic Team GB and ParalympicsGB kit.

In the last cycle the partnership led to adidas support for Front Line to Start Line, a joint programme between the BPA and Help For Heroes designed to get injured service personnel into sport.

Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive of the BPA, said: “We have built a really positive relationship with adidas over the years and I am thrilled to announce that they will be part of our Paralympic family as we prepare to send teams to compete in Sochi and Rio. Kit is one of the most important things to get right to ensure athletes can deliver lifetime best performances and we have total confidence that adidas can deliver. They have consistently shown that they have really taken on board what our athletes need to give them the performance edge. British athletes are proud to pull on a ParalympicsGB shirt when they represent their country at the Games, and I am delighted that adidas will continue to be part of this.”

Nick Craggs, adidas UK Brand Director, shared his delight at the announcement. “We are immensely proud to be continuing our successful partnership with the BPA into both Sochi next year and beyond that to Rio in 2016. The unprecedented success of London 2012 provided a huge platform from which to elevate the profile and understanding of Paralympic sport on a Global scale. By continuing our close working relationship with the BPA, we will together aim to continue this unique partnership and deliver this positive momentum through to a new generation.”

BPA partners are adidas, BP, BT, Deloitte, EDF Energy, Hogan Lovells, Mondel?z International, Nissan and Sainsbury’s.

Hyundai Motor America has announced a two-year renewal of it’s title sponsorship of the PGA TOUR’s Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, through the 2014-2015 season.

The upcoming Hyundai Tournament of Champions will be held January 3-6 at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui, and will mark the PGA TOUR’s resumption in January following a 1½-month break of the 2013-2014 tournament schedule.

“We are very pleased to have Hyundai continue as title sponsor of the Tournament of Champions, which has played a distinctive role on the PGA TOUR for more than 60 years by inviting only tournament winners from the previous year,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “Hyundai has been very active in promoting the tournament and using it to broaden awareness of its brand and products. We look forward to continuing to work with Hyundai over these next two years to meet its objectives as title sponsor.”

“The Hyundai Tournament of Champions is an ideal platform to share Hyundai’s premium lineup with golf fans around the world,” said Steve Shannon, vice president, Marketing, Hyundai Motor America. “The tournament has continued to grow the past three years with ratings up more than 75 percent in 2013. Not surprisingly, the ratings increase and our involvement with the PGA TOUR has coincided with market share growth of our premium vehicles, Genesis and the flagship Equus. This tournament is a great fit for our brand.”

In addition to Hyundai’s sponsorship, Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) continues its relationship with the tournament, under terms of a 10-year agreement that began in 2010. Serving as the tournament’s title sponsor that first year, SBS had the opportunity to bring Hyundai in as title sponsor in 2011, at which time the tournament’s original “Tournament of Champions” name was reintroduced to highlight the exclusive nature of its field. Originally introduced as the Tournament of Champions in 1953, the limited-field event maintained the “T of C” identity in its title until 1994.

A broadcasting partner of the PGA TOUR for nearly 20 years, SBS also will continue to televise PGA TOUR tournaments in Korea through 2019.

The Tournament of Champions was first played in 1953 at Las Vegas’ Desert Inn Country Club, and remained there until 1967, when it moved to Stardust Country Club. The “T of C” then moved to La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, CA in 1969, where it remained until moving to Kapalua in 1999.

The Valspar Corporation, asthma a global leader in the paint and coatings industry, has become the title sponsor of the Tampa Bay area’s professional golf tournament on the PGA TOUR in a four-year deal.

Named the Valspar Championship, the tournament will be contested March 13-16, 2014 on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf & Spa Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla. The Valspar Championship will be the third of four straight tournament weeks in Florida.

In addition to the sponsorship, Valspar will join the PGA TOUR’s Official Marketing Partner program and receive the exclusive designation as “Official Paint Supplier of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.”

The PGA TOUR and the tournament’s host organization, Copperhead Charities, also announced that BB&T Corporation, a leading financial services holding company headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., has signed a four-year agreement to become the tournament’s local presenting sponsor.

“We are very pleased to announce these multi-year agreements and look forward to working closely with The Copperheads to help Valspar become fully integrated with the tournament as the title sponsor and BB&T as local presenting sponsor,” said Andy Pazder, Chief of Operations for the PGA TOUR.

“Valspar is pleased to become title sponsor of a classic tournament that will provide a unique platform to connect our brand with the PGA TOUR, which consistently produces some of the most exciting and memorable golf tournaments in the world,” said Gary Hendrickson, Valspar’s Chairman and CEO. “Partnering with the PGA TOUR and Copperhead Charities, we are proud to be doing our part to generate significant support for charitable causes important to Valspar. The timing of the event couldn’t be better as we look forward to kicking off the unofficial start of painting season.”

BB&T, with financial centers in 12 states and Washington, D.C., is looking to strengthen its visibility and position in the Tampa Bay and Gulf Coast regions through the tournament.

BB&T is also the local presenting sponsor of the Wyndham Championship PGA TOUR event in Greensboro, N.C.

“This is a premier tournament at a world-class facility and BB&T is delighted to enter into this partnership which helps local organizations that benefit from Copperhead Charities,” said Ken Coppedge, BB&T West Florida Region President. “BB&T is committed to help keep this event in the Tampa Bay area.”