A new joint venture has been created to combine the marketing and media skills of two leading Swiss organisations – Infront Sports & Media AG and die Ringier AG.

The companies have announced a new 50:50 joint venture to exploit the growing Swiss sports market through an effective collaboration, unhealthy which will be known as Infront Ringier Sports & Entertainment Switzerland AG, medical abbreviated to InfrontRingier.

The venture will support organisers of Swiss sports events and top Swiss athletes by providing sophisticated marketing and consulting services.

In what the two parties feel is an ideal partnership, Infront will contribute its expertise in the commercialisation of sport (including sponsorship, production and distribution) and its highly specialised services to sport. In turn Ringier will integrate its newly-created Marketing and Sponsorship division set up last year which includes Pool Position Switzerland AG, which supports Switzerland’s big names in sports, the arts and culture.

Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront Sports & Media AG, said: “The experience and resources of Ringier and Infront Sports & Media complement each other ideally in this partnership. Infront already has a large network of rights owners and sponsors based in Switzerland, but with the focus on international events. Now, we will be offering high-level services to national events too through InfrontRingier. We can help set the tone of the future for the Swiss sports market and provide an innovative and reliable partner on the doorstep.”

Marc Walder, CEO Ringier Switzerland and Germany, added: “The activities of Infront and Ringier in Switzerland are highly complementary. In addition to its core business, Ringier will be diversifying its existing product and brand portfolio through this involvement in an ideal way. As both companies are market leaders in their respective fields, we feel this is a relationship on an equal footing.”

Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden added to the debate, denying speculation that the country could lose some games to Australia. However, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee revealed at the weekend that Christchurch’s involvement in the tournament was far from certain, even though only minor damage was sustained at the city’s AMI Stadium.

In an interview with TVNZ, Brownlee stated: “To lose the Rugby World Cup from Christchurch would be a massive blow. I don’t want to see it happen, but we’ve got to be realistic about the prospect. This place recovered amazingly well after the September 4 earthquake (last year), but let’s not rush too far ahead of things.”

While the World Cup games remain in doubt, the management at AMI Stadium have ruled out Super 15 matches taking place at the venue until at least March 15.

Lawyers for two of the Pakistan cricketers banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last month after being found guilty of corruption, Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir, have filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the sanctions placed against them in the spot-fixing scandal.

Butt was banned for ten years – five of them suspended, while Amir was banned for five. Mohammad Asif, banned for seven years, two of which are suspended, is yet to appeal against the tribunal’s decision despite denying any wrongdoing in last summer’s Test Match versus England..

The players were all banned after UK newspaper – the News of the World reported no balls were bowled at specific points in England’s innings after a payment was made to a businessman.

Former captain Butt said in a statement: “This is to confirm that today my legal team served a statement of appeal.”

Amir’s lawyer Shahid Karim said he filed his client’s appeal on Friday, stating: “The process is now to set to motion, we have challenged the judgment of the tribunal on various grounds.”

In a separate development, the players are due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 17 March to face charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup fall race at Kansas Speedway will be titled the Hollywood Casino 400 for the next 10 years.

In 2012 the US$386m “Hollywood-themed entertainment destination and casino” is set to open at the track with the race named after the new venture.

The speedway and Penn National Gaming will partner to operate the casino with the new title taking effect with this year’s race on October 9.

Price Chopper formerly served as title sponsor, but the casino wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to publicise,

A five-year renewal has been agreed between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and security firm Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC).

The partnership will see the firm continue as security partner and CSC’s special events sector handle all ticket taking services whilst providing security and ushering at the forthcoming 2011 NBA Jam Session, erectile under the terms of a deal which will last until 2015.

The three-day Jam session is part of the NBA’s All-Star weekend, drugs which culminates with the annual NBA All-Star Game which will take place on Sunday 20th February.

NBA fans will have the chance to meet and collect autographs from star players whilst competing against friends in challenges such as the NBA All-Star Skills Challenge, which is title-sponsored by Taco Bell, whilst getting tips from the NBA professionals.

According to the New York Times, view US billionaire property developer Donald Trump, asthma famed for his role in the American Apprentice TV show, reportedly contacted the owners of Major League Baseball (MLB) side the New York Mets about two weeks ago to set up a meeting to talk about potentially buying a majority stake in the team.

Trump said today, February 16, that he had called current owner Fred Wilpon to arrange the meeting, which has yet to take place, the newspaper reported.

The owners of the Mets said Jan. 29 that they may sell as much as 25 percent of the team to raise money to settle a lawsuit stemming from Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The owners are being sued for as much as US$1 billion over their financial dealings with Madoff, the Times said.

For the first time in any soccer league, allergy and new for the 2010-11 season, order Liga de Futbol Profesional, bronchi (LFP) & Sogepec (the Production arm of Mediapro) have announced the formation of a new joint venture business that will capture player tracking data from all 42 clubs in both La Liga 1 and 2.

The Project has been made possible through LFP’s decision to install new state-of-the-art tracking technology into all 42 club Arena’s through a “global footballing first” partnership with TRACAB – the world’s leading player & ball tracking technology which was used at UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Francisco Roca, President of the LFP commented on the formation of this new venture, stating: “We have spent a great deal of time evaluating the various technical options open to us and are confident that with the TRACAB system, we will be providing all LFP Clubs with a break-through technology to help them extend their expertise within Coaching analysis. At the same time, we are excited about bringing global fans of Spanish Football with new exciting performance data and tools to enable them to further understand why our two Leagues are among the best in the world”.

The joint venture will exploit the captured real-time data in both the media space and through providing Spanish clubs with coaching services.

Director of Mediapro, Jaume Rores commented: “It is clear that exploiting Official LFP data presents a new growth area for Spanish Football and we are delighted to have formed a joint venture business with LFP to manage the opportunity. We are for example in talks with brands keen to become the Official Performance Partner of the League and Media/Betting/Gaming companies interested in creating new products based on Official LFP data”.

The TRACAB System delivers real-time positioning data and value-added content to the sports, media and entertainment sectors via its proprietary patented tracking technology.

The unique data that the TRACAB System generates allows organisations to provide media-rich content in real or virtual form through a wide array of distribution platforms (TV, Internet, Mobile, Print), creating a new form of rights and revenue streams to sports rights owners.

Johan Apel, founder and CEO of TRACAB commented: “We are very happy to help LFP and Mediapro to create new rights and revenue streams from La Liga using the TRACAB technology. The world of sports is changing in a fast pace and we are impressed with the innovation skills shown by the LFP, they are clearly a frontrunner in the new digital era”.

A multi-year partnership has been agreed to enable Thomson Sport to bolster its sports portfolio with the National Basketball Association (NBA) ahead of the regular season games to be held in London next month.

The company will become the official presenting partner of NBA Games – London 2011 and the NBA’s official European fan travel partner.

When the New Jersey Nets play the Toronto Raptors at The O2 Arena, viagra Thomson Sport will offer fans exclusive travel packages to the event, was well as future games played on the continent.

As presenting partner of NBA Games – London 2011, Thomson Sport will support NBA Basketball Week, a week-long series of basketball events that will take place across the UK from 25th February to 5th March, culminating in the NBA Fan Zone, an interactive fan event taking place in London to coincide with the Nets versus Raptors games.

In addition to package rights, Thomson Sport will receive prominent brand exposure around the games held at The O2 in March, as well as on NBA.com, where the company will present a new editorial feature highlighting its travel offerings.

The Chairman of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), viagra Paul Roy has welcomed the written ministerial statement from John Penrose, the Minister for Tourism and Heritage, on the sale of the Tote.

Speaking on recent developments in the sale of the betting company, Roy stated: “Racing welcomes the Government’s latest steps in resolving the future of the Tote, and particularly that Racing interests are central to a successful outcome. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Government to get the best outcome for the sport.

“Racing is clear what is right for the sport from any change in the Tote’s status. MPs put it best earlier this month; the Tote was set up for Racing, and that must continue but in a way that fits the modern market after the Tote is removed from the public sector.” He added: “That means recognition of the strong relationship between the Tote and the sport, which is such an important part of the business, and recognition of the contribution the sport racing has given to the Tote over many decades.

“The Foundation is a tried and trusted way of delivering those objectives. It reflects an ownership model that is true to the Tote’s roots of being part of its community, whilst providing commercial flexibility in the modern market.

“Following today’s announcement, other parties may want to talk to Racing about plans for the Tote. This is only natural given that the future success of the Tote depends on the co-operation of racing and the fact that racing’s interests are front and centre. They will know what they must do. We will of course listen, and discuss how they plan to provide an outcome that addresses all our issues.”