Sydney has been confirmed by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) as the host city for the 2015 World Netball Championship.

The New South Wales (NSW) city beat off competition from Manchester for the right to stage the tournament. Netball Australia secured the hosting rights after Sydney missed out on staging this year’s edition of the Championship, which will take place in Singapore in July.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer stated: “This is a dream come true, thanks to a team effort from the NSW Government, Events NSW, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, Netball NSW and Netball Australia.

“We aimed high when we set out to win the right to host the event and our goal now is to deliver the best and most commercially successful World Netball Championship ever, thereby ensuring that IFNA has the resources to deliver the sport’s strategic priorities,” added Palmer.

Sporting Kansas City, a Major League Soccer (MLS) club, have signed a non-profit naming rights agreement with Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation.

Formerly Kansas City Wizards, have signed a deal which will see their new US$200m stadium named the Sporting Livestrong Park for the next six years, a charity founded by the seven-time Tour de France champion.

Over the course of the partnership the club aim to raise US$7.5 million for Livestrong to assist in fight against cancer, rasing funds through tickets, concessions and revenue from soccer matches.

Sporting KC’s chief executive Rob Heineman said: “We’re proud of Kansas City’s history as a philanthropic leader and we believe that this innovative partnership continues that legacy. Livestrong Sporting Park provides each of us with the opportunity to stay involved in the cause and celebrate many of those things worth fighting for, the support of community, the thrill of victory and events that bring us all together.”

Livestrong founder Lance Armstrong, who has recently retired from professional cycling, said: “Livestrong is honoured to bring its mission to Kansas City through Livestrong Sporting Park. Professional sports provide a powerful vehicle to affect positive change in the world. This partnership with Sporting Club gives us an innovative opportunity to advance the cancer fight in this region and we are eager to get started.”

Livestrong president and chief executive Doug Ulman added: “Sports are a unifying force in bringing people together. Livestrong Sporting Park is more than just a stadium it’s the first athletic venue in the world with a social change mission and offers an ideal arena to champion the cancer cause.”

The deal is a first in US sports, with no other American stadium being named after a charity. The Livestrong Sporting Park is scheduled to open on 9th June.

The agreement reached between Sporting KC and Livestrong echoes Spanish soccer giants FC Barcelona’s partnership with global charity Unicef in 2006, which saw Barcelona pay the charity to have its logo on the front of the team’s kit.

An agreement has been reached which has seen One World Sports obtain the North American rights to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League under terms of an agreement with World Sport Group, the AFC’s exclusive media and marketing partner.

One World Sports will present the 2011 AFC Champions League matches in English on television, broadband and mobile to the event, launched in 2002, which is Asia’s premier soccer club competition. This year’s winner secures a position in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.

The 2011 AFC Champions League started March 1 with the Group Stage, which includes 32 teams from 10 countries, including Japan, Australia, South Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The championship match will be held in November 2011.

The acquisition of the AFC Champions League follows the success of One World Sports’ live and exclusive HD exhibition of the 32 game AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 this past January. This major soccer event was also available live on One World Sports’ website and Verizon VCAST.

Preston Bornman, Chief Operating Officer, One Media Corp, parent company of One World Sports, stated: “The AFC Champions League multi-screen rights are on strategy with our long-term commitment to deliver Asia’s best soccer events live on TV, broadband and mobile to U.S. sports fans. The American response to the AFC Asian Cup was tremendous; the AFC Champions League is the top professional soccer tournament in Asia every year. We expect it to generate great interest among U.S. soccer fans and ex-pats from Asia living in the states.”

Mark Hardess, President, ASEAN and Australia, World Sport Group, added: “One World Sports did an outstanding job with the telecast of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 across North America. World Sport Group is pleased to expand the relationship with the AFC Champions League, and to fulfill our commitment to our partners and fans to extend broadcast coverage for the competition. Now, fans in the United States will be able to follow all the action and excitement from this league.”

A potential Britain national soccer team could begin its preparations for London 2012 with a special fundraising match against New Zealand at Wembley Stadium for the victims of the Christchurch earthquake if a proposal from the President of the Oceania Football Confederation is accepted.

David Chung has already received approval for a “Football for Hope” match in principle from world governing body FIFA, to help the people affected by the earthquake in Christchurch last month, which killed 166 people with more than 30 still missing. 

Chung has now begun making overtures to see if Britain’s controversial Olympic team can be lined-up to be the opponents for the All Whites, who were the only undefeated side at last year’s World Cup in South Africa.

The controversy surrounding the possibility of a British Olympic team is currently the subject of a fierce row between the four Home Nations over who will be eligible to play. The Football Associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland fear that they will lose their independence from FIFA were they to join forces, alongside England, in next year’s Olympics.

“FIFA have approved the concept of a ‘Football for Hope’ match,” Chung told the Sunday News in New Zealand.

“Despite the wish to do it quickly in a rush to confirm something, it’s going to take a bit of time.

“One thing we’ve floated is if Great Britain could put an Olympic side out in preparation for the 2012 Games.

“If New Zealand played at Wembley, being conservative, even if you only sold 40,000 tickets [roughly half capacity] at US$66, that’s $2.6m.”

The topic was raised by Chung and OFC secretary general Tai Nicholas this weekend during a visit to Celtic Manor in Wales where they were attending the International Football Association Board meeting, which is made up of FIFA and the four Home Nations.

“The four British associations are here and so are four representatives from FIFA,” Chung said. 

“So it will be a good time to discuss the idea.

“There’s a lot of hurdles to pass in terms of where and when, but a summer match would be good.”

The British Olympic Association (BOA) have admitted that British athletes are facing a funding shortfall of up to US$8m which could affect their preparations for next year’s Olympics in London.

The BOA plans to support at least 500 athletes in the country’s biggest Olympic team in more than a century with extra athletes featuring in sports where Britain has not previously been represented but can take part next year as host nation.

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt told the BBC: “We’ve still got a gap to close.

“I’m absolutely certain we will have a full team at the Games and the money will not affect that.

“The level to which we can support the team is where the challenge comes.”

The BOA, which will provide help with training and medical treatment for athletes, does not receive any money from the Government, getting funding from commercial sponsorship.

The BOA is understood to be in talks with its partners, including London 2012, the Government and sponsors about ways to fill the gap, with Hunt adding: “We need to make sure we can really do our best to make sure the team can compete on a level field of play.

“The British public will judge the success of the Games on the success of the team.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to have actors to go on that stage. 

“It’s a bit like creating a theatre. 

“The actors are the athletes and that’s why it’s so important they are properly supported.”

A spokesman for the BOA went on to say: “We always knew that the funding needs for Team GB would be greater in 2011 and 2012 as we will be sending a team to the London 2012 Olympics that is going to be twice the size compared to what we had in Beijing – 550 athletes for London versus approximately 300 in Beijing.

“We delivered a balanced budget in 2009 and 2010 and we are confident we will meet our financial requirements in 2011 and 2012.

“We always knew that 2011 and 2012 would be exceptionally challenging due to the financial constraints which we inherited with regards to the Joint Marketing Programme Agreement with the London 2012 Organising Committee: this sees us receive $30.9m in cash over seven years compared to the $115.5m that the Canadian Olympic Committee received for a much smaller Olympic Winter Games.

“Despite this the BOA has lived within its means, has strengthened the organisation to be world class and continues to work with our supporters and partners to select and support a full team in London 2012. We are confident we will succeed.”

International Olympic Committee delegates attending the meeting on combating illegal and irregular sports betting at their headquarters in Zurich were reportedly “shocked” to hear of the full extent of the problem from an Interpol source. 

The meeting heard that last year’s figure for illegal betting was an estimated US$140bn and in confirming this figure, rx Jacques Rogge, medical the IOC President, allergy described it as “a budget much higher than that of many developing nations.”

The revelations saw the delegation, including representatives from the sports world, governments, international organisations and betting operators agree to create a task force assigned to work on a set of action points they approved at the meeting.

The task force will comprise members of the sports movement, governments, international organisations and betting operators, and will seek to address the following action points:

• * The necessity and possibilities for governments, international organisations and sports betting operators to support the sports world in its efforts to protect the integrity of sports competitions;
• * The various means to strengthen cooperation between themselves to fight more effectively against all forms of cheating in sport, particularly those linked to  irregular and illegal betting;
• * The various existing systems, national laws, self-regulating systems and implementation methods, in order to identify effective methods for cross-border cooperation;
• * The various existing systems of enforcement, punishment and measures in terms of education;
• Appropriate methods of funding to support the efforts of the sports movement to protect the integrity of competitions.

Jacques Rogge added: “Today’s (March 1) meeting was the latest effort in an ongoing process that will grow to involve many more countries, international organisations and Olympic partners,” said President Rogge. “I am pleased with the fruitful discussions we had today and the progress we made in many areas, all of which will be communicated to our partners in the Olympic Movement in due time.”

The Mercedes Formula One racing team is now fully owned by the car manufacturer Mercedes GP, after its parent company bought remaining shares from former Brawn GP team management.

Daimler AG and Aabar acquired the final 24.9 per cent from Ross Brawn, now team principal, who states that the move is positive, after the F1 team was taken over by Mercedes in 2009.

Brawn stated: “It’s a further step in strengthening for the future. I remain fully committed for the long term.”

He added: “Motor racing, particularly F1, is a very specialised industry and we are privileged to have such strong and understanding partners as Daimler and Aabar to support our joint ambitions.

“I remain fully committed to our team for the long term, along with the management team and all of our employees. We all look forward to the challenge of making our team successful, and proudly representing Mercedes-Benz and the racing tradition of the Silver Arrows.”

The new shareholding structure means Daimler AG owns 60 per cent, with Aabar taking control of the remaining 40 per cent.

Dr Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler AG, said that taking total control of Mercedes GP was a statement of intent about his company’s ambitions of remaining in the sport, stating: “The acquisition of a majority stakeholding in our Silver Arrows team sends a clear signal that we intend to achieve technical and sporting success on world motorsport’s biggest and most important stage – and to do so in cost-effective conditions.”

According to sources cited by ESPN.com, unless a last-minute agreement that no one around American Football expects, the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) plans to decertify by Thursday in an effort to pre-empt an owners-generated lockout.

The National Football League’s (NFL) current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) states that the union “in effect must wait six months to decertify if it does it after” the CBA expires, which will occur at 11:59pm ET Thursday, March 3.

If the union decertified, it will no longer be a union, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) loses its hold over the NFLPA.

If the decision to decertify is carried through, the league’s owners are expected to claim that it is a sham and challenge it in the NLRB.

Being 70% mountainous Korea’s topography sets it out as an amazing sport tourism Mecca. The peninsulas coastline has a plethora of islands and islets, bronchi the biggest of which is ‘Jeju’, order a semi-tropical island off the south coast, formed by the ancient exploits of an underwater volcano. Added to which, Korea is the 15th biggest economy in the world and already an ‘old head on young shoulders’ when it comes to hosting the world’s biggest sporting events. All these ingredients have interwoven to form an Asian hub for sport tourism.

Within the psyche and fabric of Korean society, well-being for mind and body is within the country’s DNA and Koreans take advantage of the 20 national parks dotted across the country to hike, climb, ski and white water raft making it easier than ever for the international tourist to do the same. The watch word for Korea is ‘diversity’ exemplified by 15 ski-resorts mainly in the north-eastern part of the country keeping a vibrant ski season in business with world class facilities.

2011 will be another hugely important year for Korea’s sport tourism portfolio. The World Taekwondo Championships will be held in May, the IAAF World Athletics Championships in August and another F1 race will return to the new track at Yeongam in October.  Added to which, Pyeongchang, will find out if it will host the 2018 Winter Olympics, when the decision is made in July. Having narrowly missed out on the 2010 & 2014 games, Korea has high hopes for securing 2018; three consecutive bids shows the professionalism, tenacity and belief in what Korea can offer in this field. Investment in winter sports is evident with the opening of the Alpensia Resort, Gangwondo, costing more than $1.8 billion and includes Olympic-standard ski facilities, a five-star hotel and two golf courses. Such a busy sporting calendar is thanks to the legacy and positive reverberations continuing to be felt and reflected in all sectors of Korea’s tourism industry, since hosting the 1988 Summer Olympiad and 2002 FIFA World Cup.

If successful, the winter Olympics will bring global attention to the Korean peninsula once again and with that comes lucrative tangible and intangible benefits for the host nation. Winning the right to host a global sporting festival provides a unique platform from which to raise awareness of the destination, whilst cutting through cultural stereo-typing and showcasing the country’s diversity in areas such as arts, culture, heritage, music and dance. Not to mention acting as a catalyst for change with job creation and development of skills through volunteerism, also new or upgraded infrastructure such as Korea’s award winning Incheon International Airport which opened in 2001 just before the 2002 FIFA World Cup and huge investment in spacious exhibition and conference venues equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

Korea is divided into nine provinces and central government have been astute in spreading major events to all corners of the country widening economic development and raising awareness of areas beyond the capital ‘Seoul’, thus ensuring that the media have a consistent and balanced tourism narrative about the country to export internationally.

Closest to Seoul is the international gateway city of Incheon, dubbed the ‘new Dubai’, which has seen huge expansion and aims to become one of the four top distribution hubs in the world having been designated as a ‘free-economic zone’. Investment and development has helped it win the right to organise the 2014 Asian Games.

In August 2011, the world’s top athletes and media will descend on Daegu, for the IAAF World Athletics Championships. Daegu is located just under 2 hrs from Seoul by rail and is benefitting from the upgraded line carrying the high-speed KTX train between Seoul and Busan, now possible in 2 hours 10 minutes. Having already hosted the ‘2003 Summer Universidad’ Daegu is more than prepared for Augusts major event.

Further down the western coastline, a second F1 race will take place in autumn; a vehicle to regenerate the south west region. In addition to the circuit, the leisure complex will include hotels, a water park, marina, casino, golf course, theme park, shopping malls, water sports, restaurants and bars once all construction phases are complete. Yeongam will compliment ‘Yeosu 2012’ which is a world expo themed around ‘water and sustainability’.

Since 1996 Jeju Island has been a self-governing province, with tourism a key industry for the Island. Also, home to PGA standard golf courses and a world class football stadium, yet nature remains the major draw to adventure and health tourists, lured by the Island’s volcanic legacies which became Korea’s first natural site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage listing back in June 2007, in recognition of their uniqueness. Activities that best take advantage of Jeju are the ‘Jeju Olle Trail’ – 200km of paths which criss-cross the island leading to forests, mountains and beaches. For adrenalin junkies the island is a natural play ground to mountain bike, scuba dive, paraglide or backpack to the craters and lava streams. The island has previously hosted ‘The Jeju International Ironman Korea’ authorized by the World Triathlon Council.

In 2013 a ‘Taekwondo Park’ is set to open in Muju and is anticipated to be a modern ‘world cultural heritage’ for Koreans and sport enthusiasts. The Korea Tourism Org in London is using this mile stone and the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics to work in partnership with Sport Taekwondo (UK), which is the performance arm of the British Taekwondo Control Board, to raise awareness of Korea as the ‘Home of Taekwondo’. This is providing an exceptional platform to promote the destination through the national sport using dedicated online brochures, social media tools and presence at key events.

Taekwondo is a hugely popular global sport with around 60 million practitioners in 184 countries and is a ‘must-do’ activity for tourists to experience whilst travelling in Korea.  The Taekwondo Park is a huge complex spreading across 2,314,000 m sq and divided into three theme zones: ‘Body’ – referred to as a ‘space for experience’ will encompass, for example, a Taekwondo Exhibition Hall and a ‘World Taekwondo Village’; ‘Mind’ will be dedicated to training with a multi-purpose stadium (5,000 seat) and World Taekwondo Academy; ‘Spirit’ will symbolize what the sport means to the home nation but also to sports people around the globe and will contain a ‘Hall of Honour’, ‘Water Terrace’ and ‘Observatory’. The park is nestled under Mt. Baekunsan in Muju, which boasts beautiful scenery of nine valleys. By 2016 forecasters predict annual visitors to reach 1.94 million.

Korea will become only the seventh country in the world to have organized the ‘Triple Crown’ once the IAAF World Athletics Championships Daegu are completed this year, following the successes of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and 2002 FIFA World Cup. Thus, Sport tourism on the Korean peninsula is developing at a speed that ‘Usain Bolt’ would struggle to keep up with. Not only will federations entrust the country with future sporting events but as importantly global tourists, corporate meeting planners and conference organisers are confident to explore the scenic beauty and world-class cultural assets. Korea will continue to prosper as a hub for sport tourism and this sector will enhance the destination as a diverse, attractive and memorable country for visitors from all walks of life.