The Iran National Olympic Committee has written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a threat to boycott the London 2012 Olympics after claiming the Games’ logo is “racist”.

The nation’s Olympic Committee secretary general Bahram Afsharzadeh, sent the letter to the IOC claiming that the emblem resembles the word ‘Zion’ – a biblical term for Jerusalem.

The letter also urged other Muslim states to oppose the “racist logo”, but a statement from the IOC said: “The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else.”

Afsharzadeh, in his letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, stated: “There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles.”

A statement from the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) said: “(The logo) was launched in 2007 following testing and consultation. We are surprised that this complaint has been made now.”

Chief financial officer for Formula 1 team McLaren, Andy Myers has stated that it will not be following its British rival Williams to the stock market.

50 per cent of the ownership of McLaren is held by Bahrain’s Mumtalakat sovereign wealth fund with the remaining shares in the hands of its chairman, Ron Dennis, and Saudi tycoon Mansour Ojjeh. 

In November 2009, they bought out former shareholder Mercedes’ 40 per cent stake but the motivation was not to list the business according to Myers, who stated: “The McLaren group has no plans to float in the future.”

Tomorrow, March 2, Williams will become the first F1 team to float when it lists 28 per cent of its shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange with the majority of the offering sold by its co-founder Patrick Head, who intends to retire this year.

Myers said McLaren’s strategy “is to remain as a private company in the ownership of a small number of focused shareholders, since we believe that best suits our business model”.

Soccerex have announced both Begoña Sanz, physician Deputy Sales and Marketing Managing Director, unhealthy Real Madrid CF and Salvatore Cuccu, story Commercial Director, ACF Fiorentina will be speaking on club commercial challenges and strategy at the Soccerex European Forum, 30-31 March 2011.

The news comes the week after Spain’s La Liga topped the European merchandise and licensing revenue charts, according to a study by Sport+Markt and PR Marketing. The study showed that 80 per cent of the leagues 2009-2010 season total, which surpassed the English Premier League, was generated by the countries two biggest clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The news sets the scene for the panel discussion titled “All clubs great and small – the differing commercial challenges”, which will look to assess the varied commercial opportunities available to clubs of different sizes.

This highly topical subject is part of a diverse agenda reflecting the latest issues in European Football including Financial Fair Play, sponsorship, rights holder relationships, digital media and fan interaction and International FA development.

Weber Shandwick Sport, a leading communications agency, has been appointed by The Jockey Club, the largest commercial group in horseracing, as its centrally retained communications agency.

Weber Shandwick Sport will work alongside Scott Bowers, The Jockey Club’s group director of communications, to provide communications support aimed at promoting the 260-year-old organisation and its 14 leading UK racecourses, training facilities, breeding operation, charity arm and other interests.

Weber Shandwick Sport was also recently appointed as the retained communications agency for British Champions Series, UK horseracing’s new premier Flat racing series, in which The Jockey Club is the largest shareholder.

The Jockey Club’s racecourses host many of British racing’s iconic festivals, including the John Smith’s Grand National Meeting at Aintree, the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Downs, the Cheltenham Festival and the Guineas Festival at Newmarket.

Scott Bowers stated: “The Jockey Club is at the heart of the UK’s second biggest spectator sport, but we are also a multi-dimensional company with a wide range of interests. In Weber Shandwick Sport we have a partner offering award-winning sports expertise and a track record of reaching out to consumer and business audiences across the board, which should complement us well.”

Fiona McLachlan, head of sport at Weber Shandwick, added: “We’re very excited to work for the leading commercial group in British horseracing, in a sport that is making every effort to market itself better. The Jockey Club owns many of racing’s most iconic and valuable assets, including some of the UK’s most famous racecourses.”

A suggestion made by Birmingham City Council Leader, Mike Whitby, to charge local residents to watch top athletes like Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix train there before London 2012 to help cover a US$345m budget cut, has angered many in the area..

Whitby led negotiations which saw Birmingham sign deals with the athletics teams from Jamaica and the United States to set-up pre-Games training camps there next year, representing somewhat of a coup as the two countries are arguably the most high-profile athletics teams competing at London.

Whitby has estimated that the deals could be worth up to $24m to Birmingham’s economy, with the US team set to be based at Alexander Stadium while Jamaica are to train at the University of Birmingham.

Whitby, who represents the Conservative party in the UK, wants to use the opportunity to raise extra cash to help offset the massive cut in funding Birmingham City Council is facing, and stated: “We need a more effective way of generating revenue.

“We have a tremendous capacity to increase revenue. 

“We have the Olympic training camps coming next year which is a fantastic opportunity.

“We are looking at charging to watch the athletes train.”

Perry Barr Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, who represents communities surrounding Alexander Stadium, has led opposition to the controversial plan, telling the Birmingham Post: “It’s absolutely disgraceful.

“This is a scrooge measure by this Council which will deter ordinary people in Birmingham from engaging with the Olympics.

“How are we supposed to encourage and inspire young people from poorer backgrounds to enjoy sport if we exclude them when these athletes are on their doorstep?

“The people have already paid for the Olympics through their taxes. 

“This should be abandoned before it goes too far.”

Whitby later claimed to insidethegames that the suggestion had been just an idea and not one he planned to pursue, stating: “Quite rightly we will and do look at a whole range of revenue generating ideas but this is not something we will be taking forward.”

The ticket prices have been announced for the Europa League final, to be played on May 18 at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, a week after UEFA revealed their rocketing Champions League prices.

In fact, the most expensive tickets for the Europa League final will cost less than the cheapest tickets generally available for the Champions League final.

UEFA’s category one tickets for the Europa League final in Dublin have gone on sale priced at £129 (US$208.37) almost £50 ($80.76) cheaper than the lowest priced Champions League tickets at Wembley, including a £25 ($40.38) booking fee, with all fans able to buy category four seats, the cheapest, for £77 ($124.4).

UEFA angered fans in England last week when it was announced the cheapest tickets on general sale for the Champions League final at Wembley would cost £176 ($284.4) – including a £26 ($42) administration fee.

Rome’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be led by former Italian Sports Minister Mario Pescante, after Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has turned down the opportunity to lead the bid.

Pescante, 72, is the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and according to officials, is set to be formally confirmed as President of Rome 2020 on Wednesday, February 23.

Ferrari chief Montezemolo, who organised Italy’s 1990 FIFA World Cup and has been chairman of Fiat, was proposed as a bid head last week but said he would only take the job if there was enough financial and Government support.

Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno stated: “I’m sorry that Luca di Montezemolo has decided there are not the conditions to accept the role. He was a very good candidate. 

“We are now working together with the Government and Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) to find a chairman with a profile different from someone with an entrepreneurial background, which will be presented officially on Wednesday at the States General of the city of Rome.”

Pescante, a member of the IOC since 1994, is a professor who was Italy’s Sports Minister between 2001 and 2006 and was closely involved in the organisation of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin as the Italian Government Supervisor.

The Ferrari boss is not the first to have turned down the opportunity after Nerio Alessandri, the founder of London 2012 sponsor Technogym, had also turned down the job, meaning Pescante will be the third choice to head Rome’s campaign to bring the Olympics back to the Italian capital for the first time since 1960.

Gianni Petrucci, President of CONI, claimed that Pescante was the right person to lead the bid: “He is a good choice because he has a high-profile in sports and has followed the ideals of the Olympic Movement all his life,” he said.

Liverpool’s former co-owner with George Gillett, Tom Hicks has suffered a setback in his battle to claim financial damages over the sale of the English soccer club after a High Court judge ruled that he must bring any claims he has in the UK rather than his home country, the United States.

It wasannounced in October that New England Sports Ventures (NESV), now the Fenway Sports Group – had bought Liverpool for US$486.5m against the wishes of the controversial co-owners, in what Hicks claimed at the time was an “epic swindle”. He wanted Mr Justice Floyd to lift anti-suit orders that prevented him from pursuing action in the Texas courts to halt the deal.

However, the judge dismissed the application, although he did alter the injunction to allow Hicks to make applications in the US in support of any proceedings in the UK.

A statement released by Liverpool read: “We are delighted that Mr Justice Floyd has granted the applications requested by Sir Martin Broughton, RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) and NESV and that the anti-suit injunction prohibiting the former owners from commencing legal actions against these parties outside the EU has been upheld and clarified.

“Sir Martin, RBS and NESV continue to maintain that there is no basis to challenge the propriety or validity of any actions by them or any of those involved on their behalf in the sale of the club. They will continue to take all steps necessary to defend vigorously any litigation threatened or commenced by the club’s former owners,” the statement added.

Mr Justice Floyd also dismissed an application to strike out or stay claims by Broughton seeking damages against Hicks for his actions during his time as co-owner.

K&N Filters have been confirmed as an official sponsor of the 2011 Nascar season.

K&N, medstore | an automotive filter manufacturer, pharmacy ed will see their oil and air products become Nascar’s filter of choice under the terms of the agreement, as well as providing K&N a marketing platform for its products. K&N will also have the rights to use the Nascar brand name in their advertising and packaging.

Jerry Mall, K&N founder, said: “K&N is clearly a force to be reckoned with.”

President of K&N Steve Rogers added: “Some things were just meant to be. I always believed it was just a matter of time before Nascar and K&N reunited, I feel like we have so much in common as family run businesses driven by our passion for motorsports.”

K&N will continue as an official developmental series partner of Nascar, title-sponsoring the K&N Pro Series, and be a contingency sponsor in the Nascar Sprint Cup series, Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, Modified Tour and Whelen All-American Series.

The America’s Cup has been forced to slash it’s entry fees by almost three-quarters due to a lack of entries for the next event in 2013.

The flagship sailing event has seen just 5 teams commit to an interest in competing including defending champions BMW Oracle and challengers of record Mascalzone Latino. Worries are mounting ahead of the event due to kick off next June with a series of preliminary regattas in smaller versions of the official America’s Cup 72ft wing-masted catamarans.

The entry fee and performances amount was set to total at £2.6m (US$4m) but has been drastically reduced to £710,000 ($1.1m) following discussions between existing and potential competitors and the event organisers, America’s Cup Racing Management.

A further five months have also been allowed to make those payments in recognition of the difficult economic climate which is said to be preventing campaigns from raising the necessary sponsorships funds, said to be at least £15m ($23m) a year.

“These changes are designed to allow the teams to put their initial investments into building their teams and boats,” said Iain Murray, regatta director for the 34th America’s Cup and head of ACRM.