Große Freude in Unterföhring: Die Sky Sportredaktion um Sportchef Burkhard Weber wurde von Sport Bild als beste TV-Sportredaktion ausgezeichnet und gewinnt damit den Sport Bild-Award 2012.

Carsten Schmidt, remedy Vorstand Sports, ambulance Advertising Sales & Internet: “Der Sport Bild-Award ist eine der begehrtesten Medien-Auszeichnungen in Deutschland. Es ist eine Ehre, von der auflagenstärksten Sportzeitschrift Europas bereits zum vierten Mal mit dem Preis für die beste Sportberichterstattung ausgezeichnet zu werden. Eine verdiente Belohnung für die hervorragende Arbeit des Teams um Sportchef Burkhard Weber, das in der vergangenen Saison mit vielen neuen Ideen die Sky Sport 2.0-Phase eingeläutet hat.”

Die Entscheidung basiert auf den TV-Kritiken, die die Sport Bild-Experten in der Rubrik “TV-Liga” wöchentlich in Sport Bild veröffentlichen. Im Laufe der vergangenen zwölf Monate konnte Sky durchschnittlich die meisten Punkte bzw. “Bälle” sammeln. Sky wird den Sport Bild-Award im Rahmen einer feierlichen Gala am 27. August 2012 entgegen nehmen.

Marcin Herra, abortion President of the board of PL.2012 has outlined the innovative fan and tourist services that will be in place in Poland for the country’s co-hosting of the European Championships next summer.

Writing in his exclusive iSportconnect column , unhealthy Herra stated: “For the first time in the European Football Championship, tourists and fans will be furnished with a free-of-charge tool providing comprehensive information on the host country, available not only via the Internet, but also via mobile and smart phones.

“Moreover, visitors in Poland during Euro 2012 will also be provided with a solution so far unheard of – a single-document combining a public transport pass between the Host Cities, a plane ticket for domestic and international flights, health insurance, and a hotel booking confirmation.“

The Polish Guide is available as a technologically advanced e-guide to Poland. In 2012, a personalised e-calendar will also be launched. The guide provides information regarding on a wide range of issues including fan zones, stadiums, and public transport.

The Polish Pass is a product that is designed to make planning trips to Poland 2012 simple, hassle-free and adaptable to individual needs.

U.K Transport Minister, unhealthy Norman Baker, view has suggested London commuters should consider  walking to work or using video conferencing for meetings during the 2012 Olympic Games due to congestion on the transport system.

“The games will be a once-in-a-generation test for both our transport system and our adaptability, seek ” Baker told business leaders in London, according to remarks released by his office today. “As we edge ever closer to the Olympics, hand-in-hand with new investment must go new solutions.”

The government is expecting an extra 3 million trips a day on the London transport network during the Olympics, piling pressure on a system that already deals with 12 million journeys every day. Baker said companies should encourage workers to consider walking or cycling, particularly for those who live near their workplaces.

Those workers who live farther away should consider travelling during off-peak periods, starting journeys earlier or working from home, Baker said.

It has been announced today, March 10, that Kommersant Publishing House, owned by billionarie Alisher Usmanov, a shareholder in both Facebook and Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has become the Sochi 2014 official supplier in the printed media category.

The flagship of the House is its newspaper Kommersant, one of Russia’s leading business publications.

Kommersant is the second company that Usmanov, 57, owns that has committed to Winter Games in Sochi 2014.

He is also the co-owner of MegaFon, Russia’s second-largest mobile telephone operator, who were the first company to become a Tier One sponsor of the Games three years ago.

Usmanov, the world’s 100th richest man with a fortune estimated at Forbes at US$19.9bn and who is also the President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), brought the newspaper in 2006.

An extension of a broadcast rights deal between Tennis Channel, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and United States Tennis Association (USTA) has been agreed for exclusive rights to the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup competitions.

Coverage of the American team’s matches in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas – the most prestigious tournament for national teams in men’s professional tennis – will be carried on the pay-TV channel for the next three-years.

Tennis Channel will also retain the rights to all other matches in all three competitions until at least 2015, and will have access to ITF highlights packages as well as archive footage from past tournaments.

David Scott, vice president of programming for Tennis Channel, said: “Tennis Channel viewers have always been passionate about Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup, which feature so many of the game’s elite playing for something bigger than personal glory.”

George Cohen, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, who last year brokered an eleventh-hour deal between Major League Soccer and its players, said last week that “very strong differences remain” between the two sides.

Federal judge David Doty in Minneapolis earlier this week ruled that the NFL improperly negotiated television contracts to receive $4 billion in revenue if a work stoppage leads to games being cancelled next season.

A report from Forbes states that the NFL owners want players to finance a $16bn increase in aggregate value for the league’s 32 teams in a new collective bargaining agreement, or an average of $510 million per team, 50% more than the average NFL franchise is currently worth.

The owners want to reduce the amount of league revenue that can go towards player salaries from $8bn to $7bn.

English Premier League soccer giant Arsenal has posted a loss of over US$4m for the six months through to November 30 after reporting a decline in property income and player sales.

Having failed to end a six-year streak without a trophy after losing to Birmingham City in Sunday’s League Cup final, The North London club, revealed that turnover had fallen year-on-year from $320.2m to $195.2m for the six-month period.

The half-year figures indicated that property sales had decreased by $120.5m after the sale of 50 apartments on the site of the club’s former Highbury stadium in comparison to 261 sales the previous year.

Additionally, the club reported a substantially reduced profit from player sales of $6.5m, with no big names having departed, compared to over $55m the previous year when after the big-money departures of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City.

The latest figures show that the club has $178.9m in cash reserves, while net debt at November 30 was $239.75m. The loss of around $4m was a sizeable drop from a profit of $47.5m a year earlier.

Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis spoke of the report: “Last year we had some tremendous numbers pushed by property sales and also the sale of a couple of big players. This year we don’t have those one-offs. Rather than seeing players leave we’ve actually invested in the squad.”

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said the club’s financial situation was “robust”.

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) have announced that a London-based design studio has been appointed to design the Olympic and Paralympic Torches.

The torch, which will be used for the 70-day Olympic Torch Relay, when 8,000 Torchbearers will carry the Olympic Flame across the UK ahead of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, with designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby having been chosen to design the Torch.

Sebastian Coe, Chair of LOCOG said: “The Olympic Flame will literally shine a light on inspiring people, places and 2012 Games projects and programmes right across the UK as communities begin their Olympic celebrations with the Torch Relay.

“95 per cent of the UK population will be within a one hour journey time of the Olympic Torch Relay and we are now developing the Torch which will be one of the key visual icons of the London Olympic Games.”

Based in Hackney, less than four miles from the Olympic Park, the designers were selected by LOCOG and the Design Council after a competitive tender process last year.

They are also working on design aspects for the Paralympic Torch Relay that will take place between the close of the Olympic Games and the start of the Paralympic Games in August 2012.

Boss of Formula One’s Red Bull Racing team, Christian Horner has admitted it will be difficult to fit the recently postponed Bahrain Grand Prix into the season calendar after its cancellation last week. 

The country’s Crown Prince called off the race due to civil unrest and human rights protests taking place in the region, after Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone left the decision to him. 

The Bahrain Grand Prix was scheduled to open the 2011 season on 13th March, but the Australian Grand Prix will now take centre stage two weeks later. 

No decision has been made on a new date for Bahrain, or indeed, whether there will be a Bahrain Grand Prix or not and Horner stated: “It will certainly be a challenge to accommodate, but nothing is ever impossible. It’s a very busy calendar this year. Already now, at the end of November, we’ll have finished 19 races”. 

There was however, no problem from Horner about the decision to postpone the start of the new season with the Red Bull boss adding: “Obviously the country’s got bigger issues than a Formula 1 race at the moment. It was only right and appropriate to postpone”.