With the latest threat of transport strikes, pilule concerns with overcrowding and inflated hotel prices in London during the Olympic period, allergy it appears that foreign tourists may instead be heading to other regions of the UK.

When it was first announced that London had won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics, doctor many people across the country felt it would have little positive impact on those outside of the capital. However, recent research conducted by Skyscanner, Europe’s leading travel search site reveals that inbound tourism is set to benefit, with a massive influx of foreign visitors to regional destinations.

The North West of England and Scotland will profit most from foreign visitors during the games, with Australians and Canadian’s heading to these areas in their droves. Flight searches to regional airports from these nations are up 33% and 13% respectively with Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow all proving particularly popular.

Northern Ireland will also welcome more visitors during the games, with Canadian’s showing huge interest in visiting the country. Belfast Airport is showing an increase in searches from airports across Canada of 22% year on year.

Research by Skyscanner also shows that popular tourist attractions in the Midlands and the South West will welcome many more foreign visitors this year with visitors from Spain and Switzerland heading to the region during the Olympics. Flight searches to airports across these regions from these countries are up 25% and 24% respectively.

Interestingly, the residents of Leeds will be welcoming Cypriots to the city, as searches to Leeds Bradford Airport from the sun kissed island are up a staggering 32%.

Gareth Williams, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Skyscanner said: “It’s great to see that so many international tourists are planning to take advantage of the low cost fares on offer to visit other parts of Britain during the Games.”

by Ismail Uddin

Generate Sponsorship have been employed by Major League Baseball (MLB) to manage the MLB UK Roadshow, unhealthy an interactive fan experience that introduces young people in the UK to the excitement of baseball.

The first of the two free public events took place in Manchester on 24th September and the second stop will be London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday 1st October.  Generate has worked with MLB to create roadshow attractions that allow participants to learn more about baseball by taking swings in an inflatable batting cage, prostate testing their throwing skills in a pitching tunnel and learning more about MLB rules and players.  In addition, members of the Great Britain Junior National baseball team will be on hand to provide coaching tips and advice.

Clive Russell, Managing Director of Major League Baseball EMEA, said “The Roadshow is an exciting and engaging way to take the sport of baseball to new audiences and works perfectly as an extension of our numerous development initiatives across the region. Generate boasts impressive credentials and we are happy to continue building on a successful relationship forged in China as we bring baseball to life here in the UK.”

Sam Moqbel, Generate’s Head of Events, added: “We’re delighted to be working with Major League Baseball on the MLB UK Roadshow. The Tour activities are designed to give anyone at any level a taste of the sport, including those people who have never picked up a bat or glove.  We look forward to introducing young people in the UK to a new and exciting sport.”

Molly Rhone is set to continue her reign as President of the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) for another four years after being nominated as the sole candidate at the upcoming election.

Jamaican Rhone, a former international player, was first elected to the top position at a Congress held at the World Netball Championships in Kingston in 2003 and was re-elected for two years in 2005.

In 2007, the tenure of Presidency was extended from two to four years, meaning the upcoming term will be her fourth and take her Presidency into 12 years.

The Jamaican is already the longest-serving President of the world netball body and told the Jamaica Observer: “I think it’s a great honour, not just for me, but for my country Jamaica and it gives one an opportunity not only for netball, but also to work for my country.

“I didn’t get any feedback as to why nobody wanted to run, but I certainly have got some congratulatory messages and some people saying, ‘I think you’re doing a good job’.

“If I wasn’t being assessed by my membership and I wasn’t doing a good job, I’m sure somebody else would be up against me.”

Rhone has set the target during her next term, of helping the sport expand internationally to ultimately help it achieve its ambition of being included in the Olympics. 

She added: “It’s not easy to market women’s sports as we have discovered, but that’s our new thrust. 

“A lot of people see us as a Commonwealth sport and we are now more than that.”

The 38th domestic sponsor for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been confirmed as Rapiscan Systems Limited UK. The company will become the official security equipment and systems supplier for the event, viagra sale becoming a tier three sponsor.

Under the terms of the agreement, bronchi Rapiscan will supply 2, cialis dosage 000 ‘vehicle screening, people screening and baggage and parcel inspection systems’ to the Olympic venues.

The deal was agreed between the company and the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG), whose commercial director Chris Townsend stated: “Keeping athletes, spectators and everyone involved safe at the Games is a vital part of our role and to do that we need a significant amount of equipment and expertise, which Rapiscan Systems will provide.

“We are very happy to welcome them to the London 2012 family and look forward to working with them between now and Games-time to ensure our Games are the best – and safest – they can be.”

Ajay Mehra, president of Rapiscan Systems added: “The importance of this award goes far beyond its commercial value. The confidence that LOCOG has demonstrated in Rapiscan demonstrates our leadership in security screening solutions.”

Rapiscan is a wholly-owned subsidiary of OSI Systems, founded in 1993, though it is the UK division that has secured the contract with London 2012. Although financial details were not disclosed the value is likely to be worth a comprehensive seven-figure sum given the complexity of the scanning equipment that will be installed.

Top ESPN production executives are scheduled to meet with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) broadcasting executives in Madrid today, March 9, the latest signal that ESPN is interested in bidding for the ’14 Sochi Winter Games and ’16 Rio de Janeiro Games.

ESPN Vice-President of International Development Rob Simmelkjaer, the net’s point person on the Olympic bid, Senior Vice-President of Content Mike Pearl and Coordinating Producer Bill Bonnell are making the trip in an effort to demonstrate that ESPN can handle the Olympic Games and to discuss what their production plans would be.

ESPN’s pitch centres around televising the Games in real time rather than on a delay. Pearl brings a lot of Olympic production experience to the table, having worked on six Olympics, including as Executive Producer for three on CBS and ABC.

Sources have said that Fox and NBC also have gone through similar meetings. The ESPN delegation is meeting with Olympic Broadcasting Services Managing Director & CEO Manolo Romero and IOC Vice-President Television & Audiovisual Rights Vincent Chupin.

IOC Finance Commission Chair Richard Carrion, the organization’s lead negotiator for the broadcast rights, has said that the IOC hopes to have finalized a deal by July.

It historically has hosted negotiations near its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC is definitely accepting bids on the ’14 and ’16 Games; it is considering expanding the bidding process to include the ’18 and ’20 Games as well.

The world soccer governing body, FIFA has issued a warning to suspend Portugal’s national sides and clubs from international competition should the country’s federation fail to approve new statutes that conform with the organisation’s rules.

The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) is hoping to pass the statutes in a vote later this month, March 19, after its regional associations rejected them in previous assemblies because they feared losing influence at national level.

FIFA’s media office told Reuters: “Should that [approval] not be the case, the associations committee would refer the case to the FIFA emergency committee for possible sanctions, including suspension.”

A potential suspension would put the national side’s 2012 European Championship qualifiers at risk and exclude the country’s top clubs, such as Porto, Benfica and Braga, who have qualified for the last-16 round of the Europa League, from UEFA competitions.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter added: “We are worried about the situation in Portugal. The Portuguese federation has to approve the statutes.” 

The Portuguese government, which insists on the rule changes, has already reprimanded the FPF for not resolving the problem and terminated sponsorship contracts.

The new statutes would transfer significant voting power from regional associations to the country’s leagues, players’ unions, referees and coaches.

The FPF board released a statement, saying: “We are making another appeal to our members’ sense of responsibility on March 19, so we can avoid grave damage to Portuguese football.”

Electronics giant Sony has completed the acquisition of UK based, sports tracking technology company Hawk-Eye.

 

Financial terms of the deal which has seen Hawk-Eye snapped up by Sony have not been released, with the Japanese electronics giant hoping to utilise technology originally developed for military use in its sports broadcasting.

 

Hawk-Eye is used for the popular, newly integrated challenge system in major tennis and cricket tournaments, becoming a household name in the process. The technology and has also been used in soccer and snooker with a debate over its use in the former having existed for a number of years.

 

Naomi Climer, Vice-President Sony Europe, commented, “Hawk-Eye is recognised globally for its innovative solutions for resolving close calls in critical sporting situations, particularly in cricket and tennis where they have developed a worldwide reputation.”

 

“Players, officials and sports fans have all appreciated the accurate and entertaining way in which Hawk-Eye has integrated its technology into these key sports,” added Climer.

 

“Hawk-Eye presents Sony with the opportunity to acquire a small, innovative company with unique knowledge and excellent growth and synergies potential.

 

“It is an ideal complementary offering to Sony Professionals existing portfolio of solutions for stadiums, venues and broadcasters, as well as bringing in specific expertise around managed services and sports software solutions engineering.

 

“We see strong opportunities on the technological, business and marketing levels to further Sony’s leadership and engagement in the sports and broadcasting industry.”

The takeover includes all intellectual property, software solutions and engineering capabilities and Hawk-Eye and all of its staff will now join Sony Professional.

The report also confirmed that expenditure over the four-year period was $3.56bn, $105m over budget due to additional investments in soccer development and a $31m overspend on the 2010 World Cup.

FIFA’s annual profits have grown steadily from $49m in 2007 to $202m in 2010, while the ruling body’s reserves have reached $1.28bn.

Director of finance Markus Kattner stated: “FIFA is financially strong and dependent on the World Cup. This illustrates the necessity for FIFA to build up and have sufficient reserves to decrease its dependency on the World Cup.”

Additionally, FIFA announced that the places assured to each soccer region for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will remain the same as in 2010. Under that format, Europe is guaranteed 13 spots, Africa will have five, Asia will have four and Central and North America will have three.

South America – in addition to Brazil qualifying automatically as host – will have four spots. South America, Asia, Central and North America and Oceania were also given a half-berth, meaning one country from each region will qualify for a two-legged playoff series for an opportunity to advance as one of the final two qualifiers. The play-off series will be decided by an open draw in future, rather than pre-arranged pairings.

The FIFA Executive Committee also confirmed the host nations for a number of major youth international tournaments. The 2015 Women’s World Cup and 2014 Under-20 Women’s World Cup will be staged by Canada, the 2013 Under-20 World Cup will be hosted by Turkey and the 2015 Under-20 World Cup will take place in New Zealand.

It was also decided that the 2013 Under-17 World Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates, the 2015 Under-17 World Cup will take place in Chile, the 2012 Women’s Under-20 World Cup will be staged in Uzbekistan and the 2014 Under-17 Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Costa Rica.

An agreement was reached before the midnight (ET) expiration deadline of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to extend the labour talks for a further 24-hours, between the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) and the League to avoid a potential lockout for at least one more day.

The League-owned NFL Network reported the extension on negotiations beyond the original deadline of midnight eastern time on Thursday to the same time today, Friday 4 March.

Both parties have been in negotiations with a federal mediator over the past week after talks over how to divide the NFL’s US$9 billion annual revenues had reached stalemate. Other key issues include the expansion of the regular season to an 18-game schedule, a rookie wage scale and pensions for former players.

The announcement of an extension came just hours after US President Barack Obama urged the warring sides to reach a deal without the need for political intervention.

Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Obama stated: “We’ve got owners, most of whom are worth close to a billion dollars. You’ve got players who are making millions of dollars. My working assumption at a time when people are having to cut back, compromise and worry about making the mortgage and pay for their kids’ college educations is that the two parties should be able to work it out without the President of the United States intervening.”