Money is being raised by a group calling itself the Hornets’ Business Council to buy tickets for National Basketball Association (NBA) side the New Orleans Hornets and encouraged local businesses to do the same.

The efforts are being made in an attempt to prevent the team from moving outside of New Orleans after majority owner George Shinn revealed that he was selling the team to the league. This has sparked fears that the team could be shipped out of New Orleans by prospective buyers.

Michael Hecht, president of Greater New Orleans Inc. stated: “The Hornets franchise is important to economic development, the team is also important to our civic pride and quality of life.”

The group has raised US$250,000 in 48 hours to be used to purchase tickets and boost attendance at games. The ticket sales boost is an attempt to stop the rates falling below an average attendance 14,735 which would spark a clause in the teams lease at the New Orleans Arena that would allow them to leave after this season.

The effort to boost ticket sales began last week when Gov. Bobby Jinidal and Mayor Mitch Landrieu solicited community support to pack the arena and support the team.

A massive deal has been struck which will see GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquire the Maxinutrition Group Holdings Limited for around £162m (US$253.7m). The company, who produce protein enhanced functional nutrition products, used by a vast array of sportsmen and women, will now relinquish 100 per cent of their shares to GSK in a deal which is subject to approval from the Office of Fair Trading.

Last year’s sales from Maxinutrition, which includes flagship product Maximuscle, totalled at approximately £36m ($56.4m) for the fiscal year ending in April 2010. GSK’s reach will now branch into wider categories, complementing its existing nutritional healthcare business.

John Clarke, President Consumer Healthcare, said: “This deal will give GSK a strong presence in the fast developing protein-based sports nutrition market, appealing across a broad spectrum of consumers from elite athletes to sports participants and those seeking additional nutritional supplementation.

“GSK will invest behind Maxinutrition’s science-proven products to extend the growth of Maxinutrition within its UK and European footprint and expand to the global marketplace, where GSK has existing infrastructure and capabilities.”

Netball took the first step on the road to joining the Asian sports family by making a presentation to the Olympic Council of Asia’s Sports Committee on Thursday. A popular women’s team sport in several countries around the world, thumb mainly from the Commonwealth, arthritis netball’s goal is to become recognised by the OCA and join initially the SEA Games and Asian Indoor Games.

The presentation was made by Cyrus Medora, Executive Director of Netball Singapore and Treasurer of the Asian Netball Federation. Describing the sport as “dynamic and exciting”, he played Sports Committee members a short clip of the recent Commonwealth Games final between Australia and New Zealand in Delhi.

Mr. Medora explained that the International Netball Federation (IFNA) had 68 members from Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Oceania, and IFNA was the sole internationally-recognised governing body.

With a global playing base of 20 million, netball has been a recognised Olympic sport since 1995 and has featured in the World Games in 1985, 1989 and 1993. The top 10 countries in the world rankings are: 1, Australia; 2, New Zealand; 3, England; 4, Jamaica; 5, Fiji; 6, South Africa; 7, Malawi; 8, Trinidad and Tobago; 9, Samoa; 10, Cook Islands.

The Asian Netball Federation has 13 full members and five associate members, with a secretariat in both Singapore and Australia.

The Asian rankings based on based on the 7th Asian Netball Championship in 2009 are: 1, Sri Lanka; 2, Singapore; 3, Malaysia; 4, Thailand; 5, Hong Kong; 6, Chinese Taipei; 7, India; 8, Maldives; 9, Pakistan.

The World Netball Championship 2011 will be hosted in Singapore next July, when the world’s top 16 teams will be competing and ESPN will be the broadcaster for worldwide coverage.

One of the key issues for netball to be recognised by the OCA is for the various netball associations to be part of their National Olympic Committee, as some of the Asian members are not recognised by their own NOC.

Samsung, viagra a TOP sponsor of the Olympic Games, ampoule has partnered with VisitBritain to help promote Britain as a popular tourism destination before, during and after the Olympic Games.

At a high profile event held beneath the iconic Tower Bridge today, Gyehyun Kwon, Vice President & Head of Worldwide Sports Marketing, Samsung Electronics, David Song, Managing Director of Samsung UK & Ireland and Sandie Dawe, CEO, VisitBritain revealed the detail behind an exclusive agreement designed to help promote Britain as a compelling destination for tourism before, during and after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The agreement sets out the commitment to celebrate the Games in Britain and make available fresh information and content provided by VisitBritain to be preloaded on the Samsung Galaxy Tab from December 2010.

Seb Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said: “The London 2012 Games will be a fantastic way to showcase the best this country has to offer – to the spectators, tourists, athletes and media alike. Now visitors will have a chance to find out the best things to do and see in Britain, making sure their experience during the London 2012 Games is the best it can be.”

Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, commented, “The London 2012 Games provide a fantastic opportunity to boost UK tourism and stimulate lasting economic growth. The Government is investing around £50 million in tourism marketing, and challenging industry to match that to create a £100 million marketing fund to capitalise on 2012 and beyond. This partnership between VisitBritain and Samsung is a great example of what can be achieved when the public and private sectors come together. The UK has one of the most vibrant and varied tourism offers in the world and innovative ideas like this, along with our new marketing fund, will help to encourage more visitors to our shores.”

Sandie Dawe, CEO VisitBritain added, “This exciting partnership with Samsung is about creating an increase in tourism in Britain in the run-up to the London 2012 Games and after. VisitBritain believes that by sharing stunning images, video and information that shows Britain at its best we will encourage people in growing markets around the world – and particularly younger travellers – to visit. We hope that tourists who consult the Samsung-VisitBritain app will be inspired to explore the whole of the UK.’’

Reflecting on the announcement, Mr. Kwon of Samsung Electronics offered: “Samsung is committed to Britain and London 2012. Customers can look forward to consuming exclusive content from VisitBritain on the Galaxy Tab and we hope this combination of great content on a great wireless device will enrich the experience for all of us.”

Samsung renewed its contract with the International Olympic Committee as a TOP sponsor of the Olympic Games in 2007, through to 2016.

Atlanta based Helios Partners, in a joint statement with its sister company Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), announced the formation of Helios Partners Europe, a new business unit that will capitalize on the opportunities and rapid growth of the sports marketing industry throughout Europe.

Helios Partners Europe will focus on global business development in close collaboration with A.S.O. The unit will be led by Chris Renner, a 20-year industry veteran who most recently oversaw the company’s Beijing-based division as President of Helios China. While assuming responsibility for developing the European market, he will continue to oversee Helios’ operations in China. With Renner’s relocation to Paris, Helios establishes a centralized European operation that will provide an ideal foundation for aggressive growth through stronger alignment and resource efficiencies with A.S.O.

“We are looking forward to sharing our skills with Helios Partners Europe, who will bring to the business its strong bid city and brand consulting expertise in relation to big events such as the Olympic Games. The blending of our complementary strengths will create additional value for our clients and events alike,” said Yann Le Moenner, CEO of A.S.O.

Renner began his sports marketing career in Switzerland with ISL Worldwide. During the late 1990s, Renner developed ISL’s Asia Pacific business. Along with opening offices in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo, Renner also oversaw development and sales of a record-breaking sponsorship program for the Asian Games. Moving to Beijing in 2005, Renner developed Helios Partners into one of China’s leading sports marketing consultancies, representing international blue-chip clients and some of the country’s most prestigious brands including FedEx and Lenovo, as well as a roster of sports properties such as Major League Baseball International and FIFA.

“I am energized by the prospect of working with our partners at A.S.O., who have a proven expertise and record of success in all areas related to the creation, production and promotion of sporting events,” said Renner. “In addition, with the next two Olympic Games taking place in London and Sochi, we have an excellent opportunity to leverage Helios’ collective sponsorship and consulting experience to grow our business in the UK and Russian markets.”

Serving a wide range of global clients, with offices in Atlanta, London, Paris and Beijing, Helios Partners specializes in sponsorship consulting, sports property representation and bid city and organizing committee consulting.

A.S.O. is a global leader in sport event management, owning and operating 25 events across four continents, with world-renowned properties such as the Tour de France, Dakar Rally and the Paris International Marathon among those in the company’s portfolio.

Moscow are set to tighten security during this summer’s world athletics championships following the deadly Boston Marathon bombings.

The blasts left at least three people dead on Monday and 144 others injured, some critically, after a pair of powerful explosions ripped through a crowd near the finish line as the prestigious US race was still in progress.

Head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, Vyacheslav Balakhnichev told R-Sport: “Naturally, tougher measures will be taken. We have high security anyway, but we will obviously draw conclusions from the incident in Boston.”

US authorities have launched a criminal investigation that they have also classified as a “potential terrorist investigation” Richard DesLauriers, a special agent with the FBI’s Boston Division, was cited by CNN as saying.

“Terrorists don’t choose any old target, but the more vulnerable areas from the security services’ point of view. Sports events that take place in the open air are harder to protect because (attacks) can happen anywhere,” Balakhnichev said.

The Russian capital has been rocked by major terrorist attacks over recent years including the 2010 Moscow subway suicide bombings that killed 40 people and the 2011 Domodedovo Airport suicide blast that killed 37 and injured more than 100.

The IAAF championships are to be held at Moscow’s iconic Luzhniki stadium from August 10-18.

Sochi 2014 Beefs Up Security

Sochi 2014 CEO, Dmitry Chernyshenko also made reassurances about the security and revealed it will be ‘safest in history’.

He said: “Those who will be at the Olympic Games in Sochi should know this: We will provide them with security.”

“The security system for the Games was devised with the participation of leading international experts. It conforms to the security demands of an event of this magnitude and has been repeatedly checked at test competitions and other events.”

Thursday will see the first games in the under-18 world hockey championships, the first test event for the Bolshoi Ice Dome and Shayba Arena, another dry-run for security operations ahead of the Olympics.

“We’ll test this system yet again so that the Olympic Games in Sochi become the safest in history,” Chernyshenko said. 

One of the UK’s leading bookmaker William Hill today announced the completion of their acquisition of Sportingbet’s Australian business as part of £460m transaction (A$660m).

The acquisition continues William Hill’s move into international markets. Last summer, the company became the first British bookmaker licensed in the US following their purchases of three Nevada land-based businesses, a move preceded by approvals for licensing in both Spain and Italy for William Hill Online.

Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill, said: “This acquisition is part of our core strategy to expand selectively into international markets and to grow our online business.Australia is one of the largest licensed betting markets in the world where William Hill does not have a footprint. We have particular skills in those areas of the market that are demonstrating strong growth: online, mobile, fixed odds betting and sports betting. The Sportingbet Australian business offers us a well-recognised brand, an experienced team and a market-leading position in a highly competitive market. We are excited by the potential of combining those strengths and look forward to working with our new colleagues to bring Australian customers a market-leading betting offering.”

Michael Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Sportingbet, added: “Sportingbet is excited to become a part of William Hill, one of the world’s leading wagering companies. It will be very much business as usual at Sportingbet with the existing management team staying in place to grow the business alongside William Hill. There will certainly be no change for our clients, who will continue to be offered the huge range of markets and service that they have become accustomed to. We also look forward to developing our existing relationships within the racing industry and continuing our support of major racing and sporting clubs across Australia”

William Hill is the UK’s leading land-based and online bookmaker. It offers sports-betting and gaming in 2,400 licensed betting offices (LBOs) and operates across the UK and online, by mobile and over the telephone through William Hill Online. It was established in 1934 and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2002.

China has vowed to increase the nation’s public sporting areas to 1.5 square meters per head of population by 2015, according to new a five-year plan.

Under the plan drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, and the General Administration of Sport, China will construct more public sports facilities in the next three years.

The central government will earmark funds each year to ensure each county with suitable conditions builds a stadium, and half of all cities or regions of the same administrative level have indoor sports centers.

China currently has more than a million sports venues.{jcomments on}