After the success of last year’s ‘free racing week’, Racing for Change has linked up with Lovetheraces.com and 25 of Britain’s racecourses to give the public the chance to watch horseracing free of charge for the entire month of April.

The initiative which lasted for 7 days in 2010 attracted an additional 40,000 visitors to the races and has been extended to a whole month this year. Some of Britain’s most famous racecourses are involved, including Ascot, Epsom Downs, Newbury, Newmarket and Sandown Park.

Seventeen fixtures are entirely free in at least one major enclosure at each racecourse, while there are a total of 5,500 free tickets available in advance at a further 11 meetings, although these are expected to be snapped up quickly.

Racing for Change chief executive Rod Street stated: “This groundbreaking move in April is being organised in a bid to attract record numbers of new customers to the fun and exciting sport of horse racing. It’s also a great way to reward existing fans of the sport.”

Street added: “The aim of the month is to appeal to people who have been infrequent visitors to horseracing in the past or who have never been to a racecourse. At many of the meetings, there will be staff, literature and displays to explain more about the sport.”

IMG Media has extended its deal to distribute the worldwide media rights of all live coverage and highlights with World Snooker Limited (WSL), treatment (excluding domestic deals) from WSL events for the foreseeable future.

The partnership will also include event development and promotion, and sponsorship rights. The professional snooker circuit includes prestigious tournaments such as the UK Championship, China Open, the Masters and the Betfred.com World Championship.

Adam Kelly, IMG Media senior vice president Marketing and commercial director, stated: “IMG Media is delighted to announce that our deal with World Snooker Ltd has developed into a long term partnership. We have long believed in the potential to grow the sport and have formed an even closer relationship with World Snooker that will help deliver a bright future. There is lots more to come from Snooker.”

World Snooker Ltd chairman Barry Hearn added: “The growth of snooker internationally in recent years has been exceptional, not only in Asia, but in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Snooker is being enjoyed by a growing number of fans around the world through our international broadcast partnerships. With IMG we are looking to develop snooker into a truly global sport with exposure to millions more fans.”

The creation of the Olympic Public Authority has been given formal approval by Brazil’s Senate to coordinate Government preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The bill was approved last week by the lower house Chamber of Deputies and has now been approved formally, to create the Olympic body, by a 46-13 vote.

The former president of Brazil’s Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles is set to be put in charge of Autoridade Pública Olímpica (PDB) – Olympics Public Authority.

The PDB was the idea of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and is modelled on the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) set-up by London after it won its bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

When it is fully up and running it is expected to employ up to 500 people. Representatives from the federal, state and city Governments will make up the agency, which is expected to have a budget of around US$18bn.

The agency, whose creation was agreed upon with the International Olympic Committee, will be responsible for coordinating investments, mostly in infrastructure, planned for the Olympic Games that will take place in Rio for 2016.

European Athletics has announced that a total of eight cities have submitted their bids for the 2016 European Athletics Championships, ask 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2013 European Cross Country Championships.

The 2016 European Athletics Championships is subject of interest from Split, here Amsterdam, viagra buy Bydgoszcz and Istanbul after submitting their bids for the flagship event.

Prague, Belgrade and Istanbul have submitted their bids to host the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships. The deadline for submission of the bids was Monday 28 February.

Meanwhile the cities of Belgrade, Antalya and Dudince have also submitted bids to host the 2013 European Cross Country Championships.

Christian Milz, Director General of European Athletics, stated: “These championships along with the SPAR European Team Championships are our most important events and a vital platform for European Athletics to communicate our messages and values across the continent, so it is very encouraging for us to receive such high quality bids.”

Dorna Sports, illness MotorLand Aragón and the Government of Aragón today signed a new agreement which will see the Spanish circuit feature as a main venue on the MotoGP calendar until at least 2016.

The extension comes after the race won the prestigious IRTA ‘Best Grand Prix’ award in recognition for being the best organised event on the calendar last year.

As part of the agreement MotorLand was confirmed as a permanent circuit on the MotoGP calendar for the next six years, viagra having initially been introduced as a reserve circuit for 2010 in which it eventually hosted the 13th round of the season.

The agreement, abortion signed yesterday, March 1, was announced at the Headquarters of the Government of Aragón, where Dorna CEO Mr Carmelo Ezpeleta, Vice President of the Government of Aragón and President of MotorLand Mr José Angel Biel, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Vice President of MotorLand Mr Arturo Aliaga and General Director of the Aragón Institute of Public Works and CEO of MotorLand Aragón Mr Antonio Gasión were all in attendance.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson will be joined by local schoolchildren on a specially designed and installed, symptoms travelling basketball court to tip off National Basketball Association (NBA)  Basketball Week.

The initiative, unhealthy which was announced earlier this year, is a week of free youth-oriented basketball events, which starts in London before travelling to five UK cities and returning to London next week in order to promote the sport in the nation.

The week’s events lead up to the NBA Games – London 2011 presented by Thomson Sport on March 4 and 5 at The O2 Arena, when the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors will play in the NBA’s first-ever regular-season games in Europe.

Basketball Week is being organised by the National Basketball Association (NBA), British Basketball (representing Team GB), the British Basketball League and England Basketball and aims to increase participation in the sport, giving young people up and down the country the opportunity to try their hand at basketball.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has warned the competitors of the upcoming Mexican Open in the troubled Pacific resort of Acapulco, over security issues, advising players against travelling outside hotels.

Players were advised to leave the city immediately after being eliminated from the tournament despite the Mexican government assuring the ATP that appropriate security measures have been put in place.

The Associated Press news agency quotes local police as saying that, several arrests have been made following a recent spate of drug-related violence in the city and a weekend of attacks on taxis in the city left 12 drivers or passengers dead.

In January, the bodies of 15 headless men were found outside a shopping centre in the resort but despite this, defending men’s singles champion, Spaniard David Ferrer, has said he has no fears about being there.

But David Nalbandian of Argentina said on Saturday he was thinking about withdrawing, adding that he also had a groin injury: “It’s a great and enjoyable tournament to play,” he said.

“But for right now it’s a little more difficult because of the security situation. We [players] are a bit scared about this and we’re trying to decide what to do.”

Paul Barber, Chief Executive of MLS’ Vancouver Whitecaps FC, has taken part in an exclusive Featured Profile interview with iSportconnect news editor Martin Laurence.

Paul spoke of his decision to leave his boyhood club Tottenham Hotspur where he served as Executive Director, a position which he claimed was “a dream come true”, in order to become the Chief Executive Officer with the MLS franchise. Barber felt that the opportunity to lead the Whitecaps was one that doesn’t come around too often, stating that “moving to North America was just one of those opportunities that I didn’t feel I could turn down, either professionally or personally.”

He stated how he believes and admitted that football is still an emerging sport in the US and added that one of the main challenges in his role at Vancouver was “selling the game, as well as the club.” Barber added that he feels that the sport can compete with the major American sports and added that “in Vancouver, more people play our sport than play Canada’s favourite pastime, ice hockey, across the whole of British Columbia.” The Spurs man admitted that, “although it will take a little bit more time than the next couple of years”, he has “no doubt that football will become the biggest sport in North America too.”

Paul also spoke of his disappointment in losing out on the possibility of England and USA winning the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids respectively, stating: “As someone who supported England’s bid, nothing would have given me more pleasure than seeing FIFA award England the 2018 World Cup and the United States the 2022 World Cup.”

Among one of a number of major sponsorship deals to have been agreed by the club, Barber spoke of the significance of the Whitecaps kit sponsorship with Bell. MLS commissioner Don Garber recently lauded the club as being ahead of their league counterparts, including David Beckham’s LA Galaxy, in terms of sponsorship revenue, and Paul has had a large part to play in the sides recent successes off the field. Paul revealed that the process of signing a shirt sponsor in Europe with a club like Tottenham is “actually a very similar process” to that in the MLS. He added that the deal with Bell Canada was a “fantastic fit” and that, “To date, they’ve been a first-class partner in every respect. They are a world-class organization.”

Having also worked for the Football Association (FA) before moving to Canada, Mr Barber spoke of the difference between working for a federation and a club, saying: Football federations are, by definition, very political…They’ve got a lot of important governance work to do and a huge number of issues to deal with daily. Inevitably, they are slow moving and can seem to be ponderous.” He added that the nature of working for a club is same in North America as it is in the UK, stating: “Clubs, on the other hand, tend to be faster moving and less hierarchical, therefore quicker to make decisions.”

Paul also spent time as a non-executive director for Hampshire County Cricket Club and spoke of his surprise that the sport was already played in Vancouver. Barber quipped: “I think North Americans would find it hard to believe that it’s possible for followers of cricket to sit through five days’ worth of action and still not have a result!” As his second favourite sport Barber stated that “if you can understand the sport of cricket, then you can very easily become a fan,” but when asked as to whether the game could establish itself as soccer has in Vancouver, he added: “Whether cricket can truly compete with the big North American sports in the way football is at present, is certainly more debatable. I doubt it, to be honest”.

Mr Barber concluded on his interest in iSportconnect and the services it provides, saying: “iSportconnect is an extremely useful way of keeping up to date with the latest news from across the sports business world. The short, sharp electronic headline format makes it an easy, quick and valuable read.”

To read the full interview click here – http://tinyurl.com/65l9qfz

EDITORS NOTE:

Paul Barber was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of MLS’ Vancouver Whitecaps FC in March 2010 after serving as executive director at Tottenham Hotspur for five years. In his time with the Premier League club, Barber reported to chairman Daniel Levy and was responsible for all of the club’s key operational divisions, including commercial areas, hospitality and ticketing as well as international tours and friendly matches. Before then he worked as commercial and marketing director at the Football Association (FA), where he was tasked with developing programs for marketing, communications and commercial affairs, including broadcasting rights of the England national team and FA Cup. Barber’s sporting allegiances do not simply revolve around football and he is a fond cricket supporter having served as a non-executive director for Hampshire County Cricket Club.

Major League Baseball (MLB) side the New York Mets’ owners, the Wilpon family, aren’t willing to sell a controlling interest in the franchise accoridng Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon who reiterated their stance after several ownership candidates surfaced in recent days.

Along with chairman Fred Wilpon, Jeff’s father, the owners announced that they may seel as much as 25 per cent of the franchise on Januray 28, because of a lawsuit tied to the Ponzi scheme created by Bernard L. Madoff.

Jeff Wilpon told reporters that his family won’t be forced to give up control of the franchise, stating: “We’re not selling controlling interest in the team. It’s not on the table.”

Trustee Irving Picard wants to recover US$300m in alleged phony profits from Madoff’s scheme made by Sterling Equities Inc., which owns the Mets, and as much as $700m in principal, his lawyer, David Sheehan, said on Feb. 11.

The comments came the day after executives from the investment bank and brokerage firm Tritaurian Capital Inc. created BuyTheMets.com, which would sell $999 shares in an ownership group that would give fans a voice in running the team.

Other reported interests have surfaced from the likes of Martin Luther King III, billionaire Donald Trump and life-long Mets fan and co-founder of Glaceau Vitaminwater sports drink, Michael Repole.

Infront Sports & Media are to deliver all key aspects of this year’s Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) World Championships, from media production, implementing new technologies and providing the highest standards of delivery.

As Official Media and Marketing Partner of the FIBT, Infront has secured title sponsor BAUHAUS alongside a wide range of broadcasters that will ensure live and/or delayed coverage to more than 20 countries and territories.

Infront produces the programming in full HD quality, whilst ensuring the highest standards and technical controls to meet the key criteriaof broadcasters, sponsors and fans across all markets. Approximately 40 staff members deliver the production with up to 27 cameras shootingthe action on and around the tracks.

Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports, says: “Once again we have been able to grow a successful ongoing client partnership organically through adding a new service from our broad range of solutions. Like the previous four FIBT World Cup races, the BAUHAUS FIBT World Championships will now also benefit from our wide experience of handling the media production for other major sports events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Serie A, Ligue 1, the FIM Superbike World Championship, the IIHF World Championship and FIS World Cups.”