(Source: Bloomberg) Liverpool Chairman Martin Broughton will team up with his son to invest in sports after leaving his post upon the sale of the 18-time English champion.

Broughton oversaw the 300 million-pound ($487.6 million) sale of Liverpool to the owners of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. The 63-year-old, cough who is also chairman of British Airways Plc, prostate will work two days a week with his son Michael and Nic Couchman, clinic a lawyer with 20 years experience in the industry, to find profits in sports.

Their Sports Investment Partners, which was delayed for six months because of Broughton’s role in Liverpool’s sale, will start meeting potential backers this month. Spending in the sector in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will increase to $46.3 billion in 2013 from $39.4 billion in 2009, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP report.

“It was certainly put back by Martin’s six-month adventure,” Michael Broughton, 32, said in an interview. “He’s our chairman so we weren’t going to go to market and look to raise funds from direct investors unless he could commit the time to it he should.”

Red Sox owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner completed the purchase of Liverpool on Oct. 15, and Martin Broughton will stay on as chairman temporarily to help the transition.

Broughton, a former chairman of British American Tobacco Plc, headed the company’s Formula One team and was also chairman of the British Horse Racing Authority. His involvement in Sports Investment Partners is the first time the father and son have worked together.

The new company has gotten pledges of about 200 million pounds from private equity and is planning to raise more after a series of investor presentations.

Broughton may need all his powers of persuasion to convince investors to part with money as the global economy remains sluggish following the 2008 financial crisis, according to Chris Lee, head of Barclays’ sports business group.

“I don’t think the market for sport is fantastic at the current time,” Lee said. “It’s a challenging area.”

Sports Investment Partners is planning to take significant minority or majority stakes in small to medium-sized businesses worth as much 100 million pounds. Couchman and Broughton refused to name targets, saying they are looking at sports technology suppliers, betting and gaming companies, support service businesses and sports brands.

International sports and entertainment marketing agency, tadalafil Fast Track, prostate has been appointed as the lead PR and media relations agency for this year’s Venetian Macau Open.

The Asian Tour golf event had recently announced that the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel would take on the title sponsorship role of the event.

Now, Fast Track, who are headquartered in London, will be responsible for expanding the media reach of the tournament across the region through integrated communications and media engagement programmes.

Grant Slack, Senior Vice President, IMG Golf Asia Pacific, the promoters of the tournament, said: “We have ambitious plans for the Venetian Macau Open and Fast Track will be a key partner in building the event profile and helping the tournament reach its potential.

“Their golf experience and international reach made Fast Track the ideal candidate for this role and we look forward to working with them over the forthcoming months.”

Fast Track has secured a number of similar deals in recent times, including the food redistribution charity Second Harvest and the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship, Asia’s most prestigious amateur golf event.

Eric Chiu, Fast Track Asia’s Communications Director, was pleased with the deal: “In today’s highly competitive agency environment it is testament to our high-quality service offering that we’re continuing to bring new clients on board.

“We have a simple approach: we take the time to understand our clients’ challenges and offer programmes that address those challenges.

“We’re very much looking forward to working with IMG and the other event stakeholders on this year’s Venetian Macau Open.

“It’s a tournament with huge potential and I believe our deep golf experience and international network can help make the event a standout tournament on the Asian Tour.”

The number of tourist in Ukraine has increased significantly during Euro 2012 match days with approximately 300,000 people across the Ukranian border, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure.

According to the Master Card’s Global Destination Cities Index, Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the venue of Euro 2012 final, ranked higher than Polish Warsaw, co-host of the football championship.

This June the daily number of people arriving in Ukraine grew by 90,000 compared to the same period of 2011, said Ukraine’sMinister of Infrastructure Borys Kolesnikov. On June 11, the match day between Ukraine and Sweden, over 100,000 fans visitedKyiv’s fan-zone on Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Sq.). It is expected that during the tournament’s second round of the group stage the number of tourists will exceed even the current rate.

“After the first round of the championship Ukrainian airports started to receive more applications for accepting charter flights,” commented the minister.  He believes this was caused by the foreign fans who have already visited Ukraine and shared their experiences with friends and family back home.

There are four Ukrainian cities that host the European football championship: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Lviv. These are the cities that attract the most foreign tourists in June 2012. According to Master Card’s Global Destination Cities Index, the number of people visiting Kyiv would grow by 18.5 percent, reported Liga Net.

In the Master Card’s rating Kyiv occupied higher position than the Polish capital Warsaw, another EURO 2012 co-host. Kyiv also ranked higher than Montreal, Boston, Rio-de-Janeiro, etc. Most of the guests visiting Kyiv in 2012 will come from Moscow,London, Frankfurt, Tel-Aviv, and Munich, reports the index.

Moreover, the tourists tend to spend more money on their visits to Kyiv: in 2012 the expenditures index is expected to grow by 29.8 percent. Previously, Erste Bank research unit issued a report indicating that each of the expected 500,000 visitors toUkraine will spend the average of EUR 800 over their three to four day stay in the country.

The Index of Global Destination Cities, created by MasterCard Worldwide, is an annual research program that describes and analyzes the global network of 132 destination cities and how they are connected through cross-border air travel and associated expenditures.

The Malaysian division of Carlsberg has agreed a deal, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours, to become an official sponsor of golf’s 2011 Malaysian Open in April.

The deal will last for the duration of the next five years, marking an uplift in the company’s recent backing of Malaysian golf at all levels. The beer company were previously title sponsor of the same tournament, between 2001 and 2005.

Carlsberg will also assist local organisers GlobalOne and the Malaysian Golf Federation in developing young Malaysian golfing talent, awarding some US$16,000 to five Malaysian players should they finish in the top 25 in the event, taking place in Kuala Lumpur from 14th to 17th April.

Carlsberg Malaysia’s managing director Soren Ravn stated: “With this partnership, our hope’s that our Malaysians will be trailblazers at the tournament and inspire a whole new generation of golf stars.”

John Eu, chief executive of GlobalOne, added: “To have Carlsberg on board with us for the next five years as an official sponsor, signifies their dedication towards the country’s premier golf tournament. Their commitment to this tournament is also a testament of their support in showcasing and supporting our local professionals golfers as well as the golf industry in Malaysia. We are extremely pleased to have them as a partner.”

Apple, drugs the major consumer electronics brand, ambulance has signed online broadcast deals with Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), enabling the company to stream live sports through its Apple TV service.

Agreed terms have been reached to carry both MLB.TV and NBA League Pass, online sports subscription channels, on its new digital media receiver, revamped in September 2010 as a US$99 set-top box.

Both sports services are backed by their respective leagues and offer broadcasts of live games and match highlights.

An extra cost will be incurred by any consumers who wish to carry the MLB.TV and, or NBA League Pass on top of an Apple TV subscription. NBA League Pass costs US$65 for the rest of the season, while MLB.TV’s basic package is priced at US$20 per month or US$99 per year.

The two parties have been unable to agree on whether net costs involved in the staging of the Paralympic Games should be separated from any operating profit generated by the Olympics.

The BOA is due to receive 20 per cent of any surplus, but its belief that the costs should be separate is not supported by LOCOG.

The BOA has been criticised by some who say that they have embarked on an unnecessary spending spree, with accounts showing that the body’s overall salary bill has more than doubled from $3.2m to $8m million in the last six years.

A statement from the BOA read: “As the National Olympic Committee, our principal responsibility is to safeguard future opportunities for Olympic athletes and sport throughout the United Kingdom.

“We are engaged in a formal process to ensure that any surplus resulting from the London 2012 Olympic Games is used for precisely those purposes. Quite simply, our objective is this: to guarantee that the London 2012 Olympic Games deliver a meaningful post-Games legacy that is beneficial to Olympic sport and athletes, present and future, throughout the UK.”

LOCOG responded with a statement that read: “The vision for London 2012, created by the BOA, Government and the Mayor of London and set out in the bid book is for one festival of sport, with an integrated Olympic and Paralympic Games, underpinned by a single budget. It is sad that this vision is now disputed by the new leadership of the BOA. We are grateful that the IOC is helping to resolve the issue.”

The Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka circuit has agreed an extension to continue as a fixture of the Formula One calendar until at least 2012.

With venues and hopeful hosting cities emerging at a rapid rate, the circuit’s long–term Formula One future looks more uncertain, having held it’s first Grand Prix in 1987.

This season was set to be the longest ever F1 schedule until the Bahrain Grand Prix was called off because of civil unrest, however it is unknown as to whether the race will be reinstated in the 2011 calendar at a later date. This season’s 53 lap Suzuka race will be held on 9th October.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has said 20 races, which the 2011 was scheduled for, is the maximum the F1 calender should be with the United States scheduled to return to F1 with a new track in Austin, Texas in 2012 and Russia joining the calendar for the first time in 2014.

This leaves circuits who pay lower fees and have shorter contracts, such as Suzuka, vulnerable to dropping off the list entirely.  Suzuka, like Britain’s Silverstone circuit, is not supported by national or local government, meaning the US$48.4m-$80.6m a year to host the race has to be privately funded. 

According to media reports, Suzuka look particularly vulnerable following a decline in Japanese involvement in the sport after the Honda team pulled out of F1 in 2008, with Toyota following a year later.

The website which claims to be the world’s first social betting website, Bodugi.com, has launched.

In combining a unique betting game with social network slant to encourage interaction between users, players can join a ‘table’ of members and predict various aspects of a sporting contest, with a stake starting from £5 (US$8.1). The most accurate predictions win cash prizes dependent on the number of players ‘at the table’.

The website incorporates a chat facility via Facebook and Twitter integration and public player profiles, including biographies and direct message facilities. Horseracing TV channel Racing UK is a launch partner and will provide exposure for Bodugi.com.

Co-founder Dave Nevison stated: “The Bodugi.com offering will change the face of the online gambling industry. Our unique game combined with social networking means that Bodugi is perfectly placed to challenge the established players in the sector.”

A Bodugi.com mobile application, available through Symbian, Android and iPhone devices, will be released in April 2011.