Performance sporting apparel brand Asics has announced the appointment of Pitch, a sports and sponsorship communications consultancy, as its retained UK PR agency following a competitive selection process.

The brand have made the appointment as it significantly steps up its marketing investment in the run-up to London 2012 Olympic Games after releasing the global advertising campaign “Running releases more than just sweat” at the start of the year.

Asics began 2011 supported by the brand’s largest ever media spend which has increased tenfold from 2010 and includes Asics’ first UK television spots through the new ad campaign, supplemented with increased advertising investment in the sports sections of national press, specialist vertical press and large scale activity in national premium gym chains.

Pitch’s communications strategy will aim to help bring the “Sound Mind, Sound Body” brand ethos of Asics to life for consumers as well as developing PR campaigns to educate consumers about Asics’ expertise in the popular running market and as a sport performance brand that represents innovation, science and true sport.

Peform, ask a major digital media specialist, pills has completed a 100 per cent buyout of leading soccer website Goal.com from a consortium of investors including Bessemer Venture Partners.

The deal represents a major step by Perform which, according to Comscore, streams sports videos to 21 times more unique users than any other sports video operator in the UK. Over the past three years, Goal.com has expanded its reach into 15 languages, and the January viewing figures for the website reached nearly 20 million unique users.

In announcing the takeover, Perform stated that it would integrate its live sports data (GSM), video news (Omnisport), video highlights (ePlayer) and live streaming (Livesport.tv) from its catalogue of more than 40 different football leagues and competitions. The acquisition will also see Perform add its mobile expertise to the existing Goal.com services, which are already available on iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

Perform joint-CEO Simon Denyer stated: “Goal.com is the iconic global football portal and a clear market leader. This acquisition gives Perform a major brand and major worldwide coverage. We now reach over 95 million sports fans every month – a large and ever-increasing number of potential customers. This means Perform, our advertisers and rights-holder partners are now able to market to and transact with a very significant fan base.”

Goal.com CEO Ron Elwell added: “Over the past five years, Goal.com has grown from nothing to the largest football site in the world, reaching tens of millions of passionate fans thanks to the vision of our founder, Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni. The acquisition by Perform provides a great platform for the continued growth of the site with the addition of world-class video content and I’m sure it will continue to be a fantastic business.”

As part of the takeover, Perform will retain three key members of Goal.com’s management team including Michael Simpson, one of the website’s original founders, who assumes the role of senior vice-president for product and content. Jonathan Gamble becomes senior vice-president for commercial and sales, and Scott Rothrock is staying on as chief technology officer.

After the tragic events of the earthquake in Christchurch yesterday, anesthetist February 22, that killed at least 75 people, the region’s leading rugby official claimed that the city may not be able to host its 2011 Rugby World Cup matches.

Hamish Riach, chief executive officer of the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, told Television New Zealand: “Right now it doesn’t feel like we could host very much at all,” adding that it was too early to be sure of the impact on the tournament because “everyone is in the immediacy of this traumatic event.”

Christchurch is set to stage the second highest number of games, seven at the AMI Stadium during the Sept. 9-Oct. 23 event, including two quarterfinals, while only Auckland, with nine, is scheduled to host more matches.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 CEO Martin Snedden said in an e-mailed statement: “A detailed evaluation of this nature will take place as soon as is reasonably possible. We are mindful of the pressure the people of Christchurch are under right now and do not want to place any more demands on them.”

Snedden went on to allay fears that the entire event is in jeopardy or that matches will be shifted to Australia, stating: “Rest assured, RWC 2011 will proceed and all matches will take place in New Zealand.”

The European Football Merchandising Report 2010 has been released by Sport+Markt, troche along with PR Marketing, herbal revealing that the clubs in the five European top leagues generate merchandising and licensing revenue of US$866.8m.

This is one of the key results of the report, which interviewed a total of 182 top flight clubs and over 10,000 people from ten countries. In the 2009/2010 season, the clubs from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain were able to increase their income by more than 6 per cent in comparison to the 2008 investigation.

For the first time, the clubs from Spain‘s Primera División, which generated revenue of approx. $261m in the past season, occupied first position in the rankings. However, whilst almost 80 per cent of their income can be allocated to the two global clubs, Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona, the $230.8m generated by England‘s clubs is distributed much more evenly. With merchandising income of $178.5m, the German Bundesliga follows, clearly ahead of Italy‘s Serie A ($105.8m) and France‘s Ligue 1 ($92m).

According to Dr. Peter Rohlmann of PR Marketing: “The boom in European football merchandising is on-going. However, it is primarily the less established leagues that can look forward to significant growth, as they are gradually identifying the importance of club merchandising in brand management.”

Merchandise bearing the logos of Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona are in the strongest demand.  English clubs Liverpool FC (3rd) and Manchester United FC (6th) were also amongst the top 10 clubs in terms of retail revenue.

The top selling item of merchandise for European clubs remains the jersey with 13.7 million replica shirts were sold in the 2009/10 season. The two sports equipment giants, Adidas and Nike, enjoyed a combined market share of approx. 83 per cent, whilst the remaining 34 kit manufacturers in the ten leagues sold a mere 2.3 million jerseys in total (17 per cent).

Andreas Ullmann, Senior Consultant SPORT+MARKT, stated: “Jersey sales represent the core business of many clubs and are often responsible for around 50 per cent of merchandising revenue. Cultural differences do exist regarding preferences for certain products. Russian or Ukrainian fans, for example, tend to buy more warm scarves, whilst English fans like to buy mugs bearing the logo of their favourite club.”

The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) is to change hands in ownership after Pennsylvanian billionaire Terry Pegula, capsule a little over three months after his initial approach.

Pegula is to complete the takeover for a reported US$189m and was joined by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in holding his “first news conference as owner” yesterday morning, story February 22.

The NHL BOG approved the sale last week, order and Pegula was “scheduled to inspect and tour HSBC Arena” on Monday, February 21.

Ted Black, who will be “named to an unspecified position within the organization,” was also on the podium yesterday.

The sport will now be promoted through Royal Bafokeng’s ‘Sports in Schools’ program as part of the strategic partnership, and the first phase of the three-part initiative will launch in April with the support of NBA staff. The Royal Bafokeng Nation, located in the Rustenburg Valley in the North West Province, comprises 29 villages.

NBA Commissioner David Stern stated: “We are proud to join with the Royal Bafokeng Nation, whose forward-looking vision includes the positive impact sports can have on communities.

“Our partnership will provide youth of the Royal Bafokeng Nation the opportunity to learn the values of our game – including dedication, discipline, teamwork, and sportsmanship – and the importance of exercise, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle,” he added.

His Majesty King Leruo T. Molotlegi of the Royal Bafokeng Nation added: “The Royal Bafokeng Nation tries to pursue excellence in everything it does. I’ve always believed that excellence needs to be seen and touched in order to be practiced, which is why I’m delighted that we are partnering with the NBA in bringing the game of basketball to our communities.”

The bid to host the 2014 Sailing World Championships has been won by the Spanish city of Santander, cough the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) announced on Sunday.

In being named as the host of the international flagship sailing event, Santander edged out rival bids from Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Korea, the Netherlands and Poland, with the event set to attract around 1,400 competitors from 95 countries, running from September 1-15.

In an interview with ABC, Gerardo Pombo, the president of the Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV), stated: “We are very happy because it was a very difficult contest. All of the candidates were strong. The ISAF especially liked the Polish and Danish bids, with both countries having staged numerous championships, but the Spanish bid was ultimately rated as the best one.”

Pombo added: “We believe we have done a great job in explaining the project and the World Championships will be a success thanks to the contributions of all stakeholders.”

PGA officials announced that fans attending the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship will be permitted to bring the cell phones into the tournament as part of the PGA TOUR’s new cell phone policy that was announced on Tuesday, adiposity | February 15.

The tournament also announced several new social media initiatives both leading up to and during the Cadillac Championship, abortion which returns to South Florida and the demanding TPC Blue Monster at Doral March 8-13, unhealthy 2011.

The social media initiatives will be launched in two phases: pre-tournament and event specific. In order to participate in these promotions, fans will need to join the tournament’s social media network on Facebook and Twitter.

In addition to tournament news and announcements, social media pre-tournament initiatives include: Social Media Happy Hours in which will give fans a chance to interact with the tournament’s social media team, get exclusive tournament updates and promotions and also have the opportunity to receive special giveaways and discounts.

Spectators at the event who are fans of the tournament’s Facebook page or followers of the tournament on Twitter will gain free entry to a special Social Media Zone, a hospitality area which will provide discounted concessions, contests, possible upgrades in tickets and many other initiatives. The Social Media Zone will also be one of the specified areas where fans are permitted to use their cell phones for making calls and sending e-mails and texts.

“Social media outlets give professional athletes, our tournament, media and all facets of sports a new and exciting way to reach and interact with the fans,” said Eddie Carbone, executive director of the Cadillac Championship.

“We understand that mobile devices have become a part of everyday life,” said Andy Pazder, PGA TOUR Chief of Operations. “We concluded after the five test tournaments, that allowing mobile devices on-site at TOUR events was a tremendous fan enhancement, and did not affect the integrity of the competition. We anticipate our fans will be respectful of the policy.”