Champagne Taittinger has agreed a deal to sponsor the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The family-owned company announced today that it has signed a sponsorship deal with global football body FIFA that will run until the end of 2015. The tie-up, for an undisclosed sum, will see Taittinger boast the title of ‘official FIFA Champagne’ at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The brand is also the official Champagne for FIFA’s Confederations Cup, which is running this month, also in Brazil.

“Champagne Taittinger will manifest its presence at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the months to come through various initiatives with the help of its 150 distributors around the world,” the company said.

Next year’s World Cup runs from 12 June to 13 July.

Reeves, prostate a London-based accountancy and financial services firm, have become the new financial backers of GB Freeski as Official Tax and Accountancy Partner.

The partnership injects funding and financial services support into Great Britain’s elite freeski team and athletes in the critical build up to the Social 2014 Winter Olympic Games and beyond.

GB Freeski also announced today the launch of Re:talent, a Reeves-backed bursary providing support and funding to Britain’s 16-26 year old freeski athletes, enabling their access to elite competition and training programmes.

Reeves’ Managing Partner, Clive Stevens said: “The dedication, talent and creativity displayed by these young athletes is more than impressive, it is inspirational. We are inspired and delighted to be helping, and to be a part of the team behind them.”

“I am extremely excited to welcome Reeves to our team,” says Pat Sharples, Head Coach of the GBFreeski team.

“Reeves direct impact to our athletes is so vital right now as we work to realise our peak potential over a packed upcoming competition season preparing for next February’s Winter Olympics. There’s a lot to think about on and off the slope, so Reeves’ team backing our team offers a huge support, and I’m looking forwards to showing all that we can achieve together.”

Six months out from the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the newcomer on the world championship scene, GBFreeski, holds GB’s strong medal hopes with Katie Summerhayes, World #6 ranked, World Championship Silver Slopestyle medallist, and James Woods, World #1 ranked and World Championship Slopestyle Gold medal holder.

Support through this partnership will enable the expansion of GBFreeski’s elite athlete intensive conditioning and technique training programmes taking off this July in New Zealand, USA, and at UK snow centres. Great Britain’s competitive season ahead from September 2013 will see record participation from GB freeski athletes across the international circuit.

“Reeves join a growing list of vital backers and partners of British winter sport maximizing our chances of success in Sochi and beyond,” says Dave Edwards, Chief Executive of British Ski & Snowboard.

“As a rapidly rising British financial services company with a leading sport accountancy and tax practice,  Reeves support and delivery of benefits across the GBFreeski team is extremely welcome.”

Presidio, a provider of professional and managed services for advanced IT solutions, has agreed to sponsor Erica Enders-Stevens return to NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock action behind the wheel of her Cagnazzi Racing Pro Stock Camaro for this weekend’s running of the 16th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals, outside of Chicago. 

“We are very excited to take advantage of this unique opportunity,” said Robert Murphy, North Area President. “Chicago is a very important market for us and NHRA Drag racing is certainly different from the traditional customer events we get involved with, I believe our customers will really enjoy the experience. The fact that Erica is the defending event champion in Pro Stock only adds to the excitement level for our guests and the Presidio Team. We are proud to support her and Cagnazzi Racing with our 2,400 employees all pulling for a win on Sunday!”

Presidio is the leading provider of professional and managed services for advanced IT solutions. They are passionate about driving results for their clients and delivering the highest quality of service in the industry.

“Presidio is a national company with a heritage of empowering high performance technology solutions for their clients,” said Owner Victor Cagnazzi. “As the connected world accelerates, Presidio is leading the race and driving cutting edge technology solutions, we’re excited to have them on the team this weekend and hope to put Erica and the Presidio Chevy Camaro into the winners circle! We want to show them how exciting our sport can be, not only on the track but in the marketplace as well.”

Warrington Wolves have announced they have signed two new commercial deals. 

The Rugby League club extended its full service catering and events sales and marketing partnership with Lindley Venue Catering, the specialist sports stadia catering division of The Lindley Group, for another six seasons taking the contract up to the end of 2019.

In addition to this the club has also extended its association with pourage rights partner Carlsberg UK with the company continuing to supply the stadium, its Wolves’ supporters and corporate guests with a wide range of beers, ciders and soft drinks across match days and non-match days.

Lindley Venue Catering, which has been responsible for catering and event management at the 15,300 capacity Halliwell Jones Stadium for the past decade, has been awarded the six-and-a-half year £7.8 million deal by the professional Super League club following a competitive tender.

Under the renewed and extended partnership agreement Lindley Venue Catering will continue to manage sales and marketing of the venue’s facilities along with all of the matchday and non-matchday catering. To enhance the fans’ matchday experience, the caterer will be introducing a number of its award-winning branded retail concepts onto the public concourses which are being refitted with the new kiosks over this summer, in readiness for the Rugby League World Cup which starts in October. The Halliwell Jones Stadium is playing host to two Rugby League World Cup matches.

At the same time, Lindley Venue Catering has teamed up with Warrington Wolves’ beer supplier, Carlsberg UK, to install branded Carlsberg Ice Bars at the stadium which occupies the site of the former Carlsberg-Tetley Brewery. The caterer and brewer have also joined forces to develop a bespoke food and drink pairing for Wolves’ fans and visitors. Cracklings – another Lindley retail brand which serves slow cooked torn pork sandwiches, dry cured bacon rolls and British bangers all produced from locally-sourced pork – will complement the food offer with Carlsberg’s new Somersby Cider.

With the club taking a branded approach on the public concourse, the conference and events business is also being re-branded and will be marketed as The Halliwell Jones Stadium Conference & Events.

Andy Gatcliffe, Warrington Wolves’ CEO, said: “Over the past 10 years we have built up a strong rapport with both the Lindley Group and Carlsberg UK. They have been doing a great job here both in terms of the matchday catering and event management, but we felt that it was appropriate to put the contracts out to a competitive tender at the end of the current term to ensure that we had explored new and alternative options and opportunities.

“They were both hotly contested pitches, but a combination of factors led us to the decision to extend our arrangements with both Lindley Venue Catering and Carlsberg UK. What clinched the deals for us was both parties commitment to enhancing the matchday catering experience for our fans through the public concourse refit and the initiatives they have developed together, coupled with their proven track records in delivering their respective services.”

Adam Elliott, President of The Lindley Group and Executive Vice President, Centerplate, adds: “It really is a great tribute to the work, effort and achievements of the Lindley team at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, that Warrington Wolves has selected Lindley Venue Catering as their chosen catering, hospitality and events partner for another six seasons. It’s even more rewarding that the contract extension has been awarded, knowing that the club has benchmarked Lindley Venue Catering against our industry peers.”

David Barker, Regional Sales Director of Carlsberg UK, said: “We’re delighted to be extending our mutually successful and special partnership with Warrington Wolves and Lindley. The Carlsberg Ice Bars at the stadium will give supporters and visitors alike the opportunity to enjoy our leading brands, including Tetley’s, Carlsberg and San Miguel, as well as meals and snacks perfectly accompanied by a chilled refreshing glass of our new Somersby Cider. Our new agreement means we will be supplying all the stadium’s beer, cider and soft drinks until 2019.”

Dominique Shirman, Tetley’s Brand Manager at Carlsberg UK, added: “Tetley’s has long established links with rugby and continues to support the game through high profile sponsorships, such as the Super League and Tetley’s Challenge Cup. We’re very proud that our long-standing links with both club and the stadium site continue.”

OtterBox, the worldwide leader in protective solutions for mobile devices, has entered NASCAR for the first time as they will sponsor Red Horse Racing’s driver of the No. 77 Toyota Tundra, Germán Quiroga.

OtterBox will sponsor nine NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races this season starting this weekend at Kentucky Speedway for the UNOH 225.

OtterBox will serve as primary sponsor on six additional races including both races held at Iowa Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. They will also be an associate sponsor on the No. 77 Toyota Tundra for the remainder of the season.

“OtterBox protective solutions are premium and engineered, which aligns perfectly with the Red Horse Racing team and Germán Quiroga,” said OtterBox CEO Brian Thomas. “We’re excited to be a part of the team and of the sport.”

“It’s an honor for OtterBox to choose me to represent their brand in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” says three-time NASCAR Mexico Series champion Quiroga. “As OtterBox looks to grow and expand their market in the Latin community, I am eager to share our experiences together on and off the race track. We share many things in common, the most important of which is a drive for success. We are looking forward to sharing the success together starting this weekend at Kentucky.”

The Red Horse Racing organization has a strong foundation of functionality, hard work and performance, similar characteristics of the work hard, play hard environment of OtterBox. 

“Red Horse Racing is delighted to have OtterBox join our organization,” said Tom DeLoach, team Principal of Red Horse Racing. “We are excited on a number of levels. OtterBox is based on performance and functionality, and Red Horse Racing is based on performance and functionality. We want to protect our assets and go fast, OtterBox wants to protect our wireless devices and look stylish. We are both in the protection business with high performance.”