U.S. businessman Ronald Gordon has taken a controlling stake in Edinburgh football team Hibernian, the Scottish Premier League club said on Tuesday.

Reuters reports:

Gordon has bought the shares in Hibs from Tom Farmer, owner since 1991, and Chairman Rod Petrie and becomes Executive Chairman.

Hibernian said in a statement the club was now debt free six years ahead of schedule and Gordon was making a seven-figure cash injection into the club.

“Following the transaction around one-third of the shares in Hibernian Football Club will be owned by existing shareholder supporters with Ron becoming the new majority shareholder,” the club said.

Farmer said the club was “significantly better off than when we walked through the doors all those years ago, with a 20,000 all-seater stadium that is one of the best in Scotland, a first-class training centre and no debt.”

The team finished finished fifth n the SPL last season,

You can watch the press conference here.

Major League Baseball plans to open an office in New Delhi that will focus on growing the game in cricket-obsessed India through fan engagement and baseball development.

Well aware of the technical similarity of throwing, hitting and catching that link cricket and baseball, MLB is ready to showcase America’s pastime with a game broadcast on Facebook each week in India through the end of the regular season.

Reuters reports:

“The country has huge potential for us, and we want to make sure that India is an important part of the ever-growing brand that is MLB,” Jim Small, MLB Senior Vice President of International, said in a statement on Tuesday.

As part of the initiative MLB said Million Dollar Arm, a contest that began as a reality TV show and was the basis of the 2014 movie of the same name, will run this year with thousands of participants competing to earn a tryout with an MLB team.

The MLB First Pitch grassroots program will also be introduced and give primary school children across New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai an opportunity to learn the sport through workshops led by MLB International coaches.

Indian Premier League team Delhi Capital’s assistant coach Mohammad Kaif was present at the announcement and said he looked forward to introducing a new generation to baseball.

“Cricket and baseball have quite a few things in common. Growing up playing cricket, we always knew there was a similar sport played in the United States, but never imagined it would come to India one day,” said former India cricketer Kaif.

“The Delhi Capitals are delighted to help support the MLB brand and introduce India to a new sport.”

 

It’s a big moment for global basketball. The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, starting in two months, will be held for the first time in China, where the sport is already hugely popular. Andreas Zagklis, Secretary General of FIBA (the International Basketball Federation), speaks to iSportconnect TV about the flagship event, the Olympics next year and more in this wide-ranging interview.

With a record 32 participating teams, the 18^th edition of the Basketball World Cup will be played from 31 August-15 September in eight cities: Beijing, Foshan, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Shanghai (which will host the final) and Guangzhou.

For the first time, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will qualify seven teams directly for the following year’s Olympic Games.

FIBA is an anomaly among the IFs in that the Secretary General (rather than the President) is effectively the top person in the organisation.

Extreme E has revealed an adventurous and impactful brand identity as the ground-breaking eco-conscious motor racing championship continues to take shape.

Featuring electric SUVs racing head-to-head in some of the world’s most remote and extreme environments, Extreme E will showcase E-SUV innovation and performance, while raising awareness of the global threat of climate change and inspiring action.

Extreme E’s competitors will battle across five formidable locations – the Himalayas, Arctic, Amazon Rainforest, Sahara Desert and an Indian Ocean island – when the first season gets underway in early 2021. The series is committed to sustainability and will play its part in the restoration of the areas in which it races.

Alejandro Agag, Founder & CEO of Formula E – operating partner of Extreme E – said: “Sport creates a passionate following like nothing else, and Extreme E will use its motorsport platform as an opportunity to raise awareness of critical environmental issues.

“Extreme E is our race to save the planet. From melting ice caps and glaciers, to deforestation and desertification, Extreme E will provide a crucial storytelling platform about the threat and impact of climate change in each location in which we race, and as we lay out the foundations of this brand new sport, it was crucial to design a brand presence which supports this bold mission.”

‘X’ is a symbol of hazard and caution recognised worldwide, signifying issues that lie ahead – this warning sign acts as the heart of the Extreme E logo and offers a window into the areas of the planet that are under threat. It is positioned between two ‘Es’, representing ‘Extreme’ and ‘Electric’.

‘Extreme E’s new logo. The brand’s feature colours include green and black, symbolising a contrast of climate threat against hope and a feeling of collective responsibility for the planet’s future.

The brand’s feature colours include green and black, symbolising a contrast of climate threat against hope and a feeling of collective responsibility for the planet’s future.

The brand identity also provides an expression for each of Extreme E’s five locations, which visually represent each of these unique environments. Whilst ensuring the brand lives and breathes within a digital world, with a strong focus on the execution within a broadcast storytelling.

The brand agency behind the design, Interstate Creative Partners, has worked with Extreme E since the series was first launched in early January.

Nick Downes, Managing Partner, Interstate Creative Partners, explains: “The Extreme E brand is the product of young people caring, actually getting angry about the environment they live in and the long-term damage they see affecting the human race and everything around it.

“This unique motorsport platform comes packed with the entertainment, adventure and strong purpose. ‘The Race For The Planet’ is not just an aspirational sporting position, but also outlines society’s race against time to slow down climate effect and bring about solutions for sustainable change.”

The sport of surfing will ride into its first Olympics in Tokyo next year with its place on the Games programme in 2024 also now secure following approval for inclusion in the Paris Games during the IOC Session last week. Robert Fasulo, Executive Director of the International Surfing Association, updates iSportconnect TV on the sport, and ISA Vice President Barbara Kendall, winner of Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals in board sailing, adds perspective on the progress of women in sports leadership.

The ISA World Surfing Games will take place in September this year as one of the main qualifying events for the Tokyo Games. Top pros will also qualify via the World Surf League Championship Tour.