The Munich 2018 Winter Games bid team have been boosted by the announcement of Germany and Bayern Munich soccer stars Sebastien Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Thomas Muller as bid ambassadors.

The hat-trick of German icons will add valuable backing to the bid as representatives of Munich based soccer giants. Philipp Lahm is the national team captain while Muller and Schweinsteiger were both highlighted as top performer’s in last summers World Cup, with the former picking up the Golden Boot award.

The players helped to launch the nation’s top soccer league, the Bundesliga’s support for the Bavarian capital at the recent Munich 2018-branded match against FC Kaiserslautern.

Philipp Lahm said: “I am convinced that Munich 2018 has developed the perfect concept, offering great benefits to athletes visiting from all around the world.

“The Munich Olympic Park with the Olympic Stadium would be a perfect site for the Winter Games in 2018.

“I will be very excited if the Games come to Munich as not only am I a resident of the city, but I know that it would be a great opportunity to relive the amazing atmosphere that surrounded the FIFA World Cup in 2006 – the bid gets my vote.”

Bastian Schweinsteiger, who in his youth was a talented Alpine skier before embarking on a career in football, said: “Skiing is a passion of mine and I have always had a strong connection with winter sports.

“Many children dream of playing in a FIFA World Cup or competing in the Games in front of a home crowd.

“I was lucky enough to take part in a FIFA World Cup in my own country and, by supporting the bid to bring the Games to Germany in 2018, I hope to give all the young winter sports talents the chance to see their dreams come true as well.”

Echoing his teammate’s sentiments, Thomas Müller said: “The Olympic and Paralympic Games are one of the biggest and most important sports events in the world – that is why I am backing Munich’s bid and want to show my support as a sports ambassador.”

 

Surrey County Cricket Club have signed Braben, a specialist PR consultancy, to drive ticket sales for the 2011 season at the newly named Kia Oval. The company will be charged with delivering an online and offline campaign in an attempt to boost sales and attendances.

Among Braben’s responsibilities will be to manage PR activity for the club’s social media channels, including Facebook, to promote the sides Friends Provident t20 tournament fixtures as well as the international matches due to take place at the ground.

Seven of Surrey’s eight Friends Provident t20 home matches this year will be played at The Kia Oval, starting 2nd June 2011. In addition, The Kia Oval will host three international fixtures this summer, including the final Test Match in England by Indian batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar.

Among those expected to feature in the new PR campaign are England’s victorious Ashes stars Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett, alongside other Surrey players such as Mark Ramprakash, and the youngest captain in County Cricket, Rory Hamilton-Brown.

English rugby Super League side, the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats’ have suffered a big blow in their attempts to move into a new stadium in 2012. The team are one of three, along with Salford City Reds and Castleford Tigers, whose attempt to obtain a renewal on their Super League license depends on an ability to acquire a new stadium by 2012.

A planning application for the construction of a community stadium at Newmarket, where the rugby league team was due to be major a tenant, has been referred by the Government to the UK Secretary of State and could well cause a long delay in the process

“With Super League licensing looking closely at facilities, this delay is a huge blow, rugby league has been synonymous with the City of Wakefield for 137 years and this delay could put that in jeopardy.” admitted Wakefield CEO James Elston.

He added: “We now need to conduct further meetings with the developer, the Community Trust and with other stakeholders to review the contingency plans that were put in place in the event of such a delay in planning.”

A premium live sports streaming package has been acquired by major online gambling group, bet365 from the Sportsman Media Group (SMG). SMG, a Munich and Vienna based sports rights and online publication company, has supplied the package to the betting firm which includes Spanish La Liga fixtures and German Bundesliga games among its coverage.

The Sportsman claims to have offered and implemented live motion pictures of high profile sporting events for more than five years in their role as a provider of live streaming solutions for online betting platforms.

Alongside La Liga and the Bundesliga soccer leagues include rights for the Volleyball and Handball Champions League as well as events from the world of tennis, basketball, beach volleyball and table tennis.

The PGA Tour have announced a five-year marketing partnership with United Continental Holdings Inc. revealed on Wednesday 8 December. The deal will aligns both carriers to the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour as of 2011.

United Continental Holdings is the holding company for Continental and United as the carriers complete the integration process to create the world’s leading airline. The Official Airline designation will be handed to United as the integration process develops.

Tom Wade, chief marketing officer for the PGA Tour stated: “We are extremely pleased to announce this new long-term agreement with United Continental Holdings and are very excited about the consumer and player programs that will be initiated through our partnership

“The combined hub system and route network align extremely well with our Tour schedules, which is very beneficial to our members, as well as to the frequent fliers who might take advantage of the special PGA TOUR promotional programs.”

The new partnership will last for an initial four-years providing both airlines’ frequent flier members the opportunity to obtain special benefits related to the PGA Tour including: Unique PGA TOUR player experiences as well as private and semi-private hospitality areas at selected tournaments.

Jim Compton, United’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer added: “We are thrilled to partner our brand with an organization that receives great global attention. This partnership will offer exceptional benefits for our customers and the PGA TOUR’s membership base of players from around the world. We’re proud to be the ‘Official Airline’ of the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour.”

Members of the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour will now receive significant travel benefits such as complimentary access to over 50 airport lounges throughout the world.

Liverpool owners New England Sports Ventures have appointed global headhunters Spencer Stuart to begin a worldwide search for the club’s new chief executive.

Figures released yesterday will bring cheer to the UK Horse Racing industry as they show a significant 3.6% increase in racecourse attendances to date in 2010, sale compared with 2009. The figures are made all the more impressive by the fact that a number of high profile fixtures were lost in January due to the icy weather. Despite the drop in race meetings, the average daily attendance has grown from 4,351 to 4,513 year on year.

These figures will be particularly welcomed by the industry in the current economic climate when other major sports continue to struggle with declining gate receipts. The increase in attendances has been consistent over the past nine months but April (+7.3%) and July (+10.1%) were particularly strong.

Another feature of the figures is the growing success of racing’s main showcase meetings, the Cheltenham Festival, the Aintree John Smith’s Grand National, the Ivestec Epsom Derby, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, York Ebor Festival and the Doncaster Ladbrokes St Leger Festival. At each of these major events, 2010 crowd numbers exceeded the previous year’s attendances.

However, racing’s success story hasn’t just been achieved around the Festival meetings. Three racecourses, York, Newbury and Chester, have reported record numbers of visitors attending Saturday fixtures during the summer. In addition, a Yorkshire Summer Racing Festival involving nine courses in the county attracted a massive combined crowd of 101,705. This is in addition to strong performances by many other racecourses, such as Thirsk, who saw attendances up 4.2% against 2009 and Carlisle where the Summer Family Festival in July saw 11,000 people flocking to the course, an increase of 3,000 on their previous best.

Along with competitive racing, many courses have been taking the opportunity in 2010 to broaden the entertainment on offer, hosting concerts and themed days to draw in the crowds. In August, a concert by the Irish boy band Westlife sold out Newbury Racecourse to cap an excellent day’s racing.

Earlier, in April, the industry, under its Racing for Change banner, initiated the first ever ‘week of free racing’ with nine courses, including Ascot and Goodwood, allowing the public in at no cost. This promotion proved highly successful, attracting an extra 40,000 customers through the gates (compared to the previous year’s attendances). Research showed that over 60% of these racegoers were new to the sport.

Many of the 60 courses in Great Britain have also been actively marketing their fixtures to a broader audience and working hard to make sure that visitors have a memorable leisure experience. The Racing for Change project places particular emphasis on demystifying the sport for novice racegoers and promoting the human and equine stars more effectively, both at the tracks and through the media.

Stephen Atkin, Chief Executive of the Racecourse Association commented, “This is a fantastic performance by British racecourses given the financial strain that many people have found themselves in recently and the fact that we are in a World Cup year. It goes to prove that racing remains a highly popular and attractive day out, and that horseracing offers an exciting and innovative experience for all the family.”

Canadian company Rogers Communications has replaced General Motors (GM) as the title sponsor of the Vancouver Canuck’s ice hockey arena.

The arena has now become Rogers Arena, after a 20-year deal between GM Canada and Canucks Sports and Entertainment ended five years earlier than originally intended. Rogers Communications has agreed a ten-year naming rights deal for the arena.

Chief operating officer at Canucks Sport and Entertainment, Victor de Bonis, said: “General Motors has been an integral part of our business for many years. We are excited about our continuing sponsor partnership that will align with General Motors’ new business priorities. Our home arena has hosted some of the biggest events in the history of our country and we are fortunate that General Motors has been a loyal partner for so long.”

Rogers Communications president and CEO, Nadir Mohamed, said: “It’s not just the branding aspect, but also extending it into the community and leveraging our technologies. One of the things we believe in is taking the game to the fans wherever they might be.”

Rogers also owns Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays and the team’s home, Rogers Centre.

The ECHL, physician the third tier of Ice Hockey in the US, has announced it has approved the addition of seven expansion teams to the league.

The League’s Board of Governors has approved the Membership applications of the Allen Americans, Brampton Beast, Missouri Mavericks, Quad City Mallards, Rapid City Rush, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder for admission to the ECHL. 

The seven expansion teams will begin play in the ECHL this season, giving the League 28 teams in 20 states and one Canadian province for its 27th season of operation, which begins on Friday, Oct. 17 and runs through Saturday, April 11. 

The applicants were approved at a special meeting of the ECHL Board of Governors in Chicago on Tuesday. 

“The ECHL is very pleased to welcome these new Members to the League,” said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. “These additions strengthen our base in the center of the country and give the ECHL, for the first time, a true national presence. It expands our ability to act as a development league and more closely aligns our number of teams with both the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League. 

“There will be logistical challenges in the short term, however, in the long term, it is certainly in the best interest of the ECHL, the new Members and minor-league hockey in general,” McKenna added.

National Football League’s (NFL) Pittsburgh Steelers have partnered with Fanatics Authentic for the team’s official memorabilia.

For the first time, fans will be able to purchase autographed collectibles, various game-used items and a wide range of Steelers memorabilia at Heinz Field for every home game in 2014. Kiosks will be located near Sections 108 and 127 that will feature these one-of-a-kind items.

Official Fanatics Authentic personnel will be on site to verify and document all items to ensure that all items purchased by fans are authentic and genuine and that it was checked by first-party authenticators.