Sports Revolution the largest media rights owner in UK football stadia advertising sign Partnership agreement with WSDE Sport Tourism Expo 2011, find “We are delighted to announce this partnership and it further emphasises the importance and relevance of the convergence of Sports and Tourism” said WSDE Director Tony Prince.

Kye Punter (Head of Trading Sports Revolution) states, “We see this partnership as a great opportunity to increase our growing portfolio for companies associated with, or in the travel industry wanting to build their brands through the power of sport”.

Sports Revolution is the largest media rights owner in UK football stadia advertising. For advertisers wanting to build their brands through the power of sport, Sports Revolution offers integrated media solutions spanning sponsorship; digital perimetre board advertising; high-definition concourse TV; jumbo screens; posters; field marketing; podcast and online. Aggregating these rights across 72 clubs in the English and Scottish leagues – including 19 in the Premier League – Sports Revolution can connect advertisers with a committed audience of three million football fans per month.

With the English Premier League being the world’s most-viewed football league – able to reach over 600 million people per week in 211 territories – international advertisers are increasingly using it to reach global television audiences. This includes travel and tourism brands. Cyprus Tourist Organisation and Thai Airways are two examples, using Sports Revolution’s rights and expertise in English Premier League to boost their international profile.

Television-facing digital perimeter advertising (LED) has become a powerful advertising medium in football, with Sports Revolution becoming one of the chief players in this fast-developing media space. Managed by a team of highly experienced media industry professionals, Sports Revolution offers top-level media intelligence. Its international audience measurement tool, DigiTar, can be used to scientifically measure and value the TV audience for a game in any given territory.

Sports Revolution’s subsidiary, Stadia Solutions, creates further opportunities for advertisers and rights holders through in-stadia communications and broadcast applications, such as HD Concourse TV and jumbo screens, coupled with bespoke content. Stadia Solutions now has the UK’s biggest HD concourse TV network, installed in 17 Premier League and Championship clubs, including Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

Much of the advertising money flowing into the Premier League and La Liga is coming from Asia, with the region accounting for 40 per cent of the Premier League’s global TV audience.

To better serve this growing market, Sports Revolution recently opened an office in Bangkok. The eight-strong team signals our commitment to advertisers in the region.

Trilochan Singh, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Vice President has defended the body’s shamed chief Suresh Kalmadi, after he was relielved of his duties as chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee last month.

Singh insisted that the under-fire administrator will remain in his post despite allegations of corruption for another year at least and criticised the Clean Sports India (CSI) Foundation for demanding Kalmadi’s resignation due to corruption allegations.

The IOA’s vice-president stated: “He (Kalmadi) is our President till 2012. And the IOA fully backs him. What is CSIs contribution to the sports? Why don’t they do some good work elsewhere?”

CSI is a newly-floated forum by former internationals like hockey Olympian Pargat Singh and former athletics stars Ashwini Nachappa and Vandana Rao. Kalmadi had yesterday said that the IOA had plans of including former sports persons in sports organisations.

The Annual General Body meeting of the IOA was held today, February 14, in Ranchi where the 34th National Games opened the same evening.

By Martin Laurence

The IPL’s auction of international cricket stars took place over the weekend with franchises spending a combined total of US$62.8m on player’s from India and abroad over the two days. The 10 franchises in total agreed deals with 127 of a possible 353-man auction of cricketers to form the core of the fourth edition of the high-profile Twenty20 event, beginning on April 8. 12 deals were agreed prior to the auction meaning that 139 players were signed in total.

At the start of the event a salary cap was enforced of $72.3m across all 10 IPL sides with the opening day spending of $52.8m leaving a remaining $19.5m for day two of the ground breaking event.

Day 1 of the auction, on Saturday 8 January, saw 30 Indian national player’s signed, with 42 stars agreeing deals from oversees. If franchises wished to take their full allocation of players than 18 Indian players remained for day 2, with 53 overseas players still available to make a maximum total of 71.

Day 2 saw 55 player’s taken for a total of $9.9m, the total spend over the two days was therefore $62.8m. In total 52 Indian native’s were signed alongside 87 from overseas nations.

45 of the 52 Indian player’s were signed during the two-day auction, whilst 36 Australians, 18 South African’s, 9 Sri Lankan’s and 7 from England and New Zealand were also snapped up.

A further 3 players were signed from the West Indies with 1 from Bangladesh and the Netherlands apiece completing the overhaul.

Of the 10 franchises in the league, the Chennai Super Kings were the most active during the auction, signing 18 players, just ahead of the Delhi Daredevils and Team Kochi with 17 each. The Royal Challengers Bangalore signed 16, while Team Pune and the Deccan Chargers signed 14.

Amongst the least involved franchises were the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians with 12 each. The Kings XI Punjab signed just 11 players whilst the Rajasthan Royals were the least active franchise, signing just 8 cricketers over the weekend.

Indian Test Batsman Gautam Gambhir became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL, going for $2.4m with franchises opting for youth over experience in many cases. Gambhir was sold to the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Of the English player’s sold, the likes of Kevin Pietersen ($615,000 to the Deccan Chargers), Stuart Broad ($400,000 to Kings Punjab XI), Eoin Morgan ($350,000 to the Kolkata Knight Riders) and Paul Collingwood ($250,000 to the Rajasthan Royals) were the most notable.

Numerous high-profile stars were overlooked in the bidding process with Ashes heroes Graeme Swann and James Anderson both going unsold at $400,000. Cricketing icons such as Sourav Ganguly and Brian Lara both also went unsold.

Holiday Inn is set to offer rooms at a £20.12 rate in an attempt to bolster its sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

LOCOG has confirmed that this coming Monday 20th December, abortion as the 20th day of the 12th month, will be 2012 day, with sponsors of the Games will be rolling out more activities. To mark the occasion and celebrate its partnership with the Games, Holiday Inn, official hotel provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is releasing rooms for just £20.12.

Rooms will be available to book for the £20.12 deal on 20th December from 00.01 hours to 23.59 hours for stays at 171 participating Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels. The deal involves a stay on any date between 26th December 2010 and 9th January 2011 (excluding 31 December).

Holiday Inn is currently undergoing a huge relaunch with a over US$1bn of investment across more than 3,400 hotels and 430,000 rooms worldwide.

Other elements of Holiday Inn’s London 2012 partnership include providing over 1,500 free nights to support 50 emerging and established British athletes.

Global  logistics firm FedEx is making a return to the PGA Tour as title sponsor of the 2011 St. Jude Classic in Memphis. The deal sees a multi-year sponsorship of the event scheduled in June of next year making it the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

“We continue to focus on a multi-year commitment to assure the tournament’s future success in Memphis,” PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.

The company which is based in Memphis, previously had a long-running spell as the events title sponsor until 2006 in a deal which lasted 21 years.

A federal fraud investigation of Stanford Financial Group, which had served as the title sponsor following FedEx’s departure, saw the reference to Stanford dropped in 2009.

Smith & Nephew, a global medical technology company, stepped in this year as a presenting sponsor for the PGA Tour’s third-longest running event, dating back to 1958. However, FedEx has now revived its links with the event joining the FedExCup, which is given every year to the PGA Tour’s champion.

 

According to a study conducted by Enigma Research Corporation, WrestleMania XXVI generated $45.1 million in economic impact for the greater Glendale/Phoenix area.

Organized by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the event which was the twenty-sixth annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event also generated close to $5 million in local, state and county taxes.

Over the past three years, WrestleMania has generated nearly $150 million in cumulative economic impact for its host cities and states despite the country experiencing one of the worst economic periods in decades.

“WWE’s premiere event was an important addition to Glendale’s tourism industry and position as a leading sports and entertainment destination. The $45 million boost to our region created by WWE’s fantastic fans makes It is a valuable economic attraction for every community host. We look forward to WWE returning to Glendale soon,” said Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs.

72,219 fans from all 50 states and 26 countries attended the pop culture extravaganza past March.

Some of the other facts of the study include, $45.1 million of direct, indirect and induced impact derived from spending by non-locals visiting specifically for the event; the economic impact derived from the Week created 510 full-time jobs for the area; 63% of fans were from outside the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, with 53% staying three nights or more; 60% of fans that came from out of state were from California and Nevada; 58% of fans were between the ages of 20 and 40, and 23% were between the ages of 5 and 19.

“We are very pleased that the event has once again produced a significant economic windfall for its host city. This is an incredible result in the face of a challenging economy. Our public and private sector partners within the Glendale/Phoenix area were exceptional hosts for the WWE Universe,” said Senior Vice President of Special Events for World Wrestling Entertainment John P. Saboor.

Next year, the event will take place on 3 April from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA which will be viewed in more than 100 countries. Tickets will go on sale from 13 November.

Hispania has announced that Juan Villalonga, adiposity one of Spain’s most influential businessmen, has joined the team in a bid to secure the team’s future.

Villalonga was president of Telefonica between 1996 and 2000 and during this time, he brought the company into Formula 1 as a sponsor of the Minardi team.

Hispania have struggled to make their mark in Formula 1 this season and are more often than not the last of the three new teams.

However, there is hope for the future now that Villalonga has come aboard.

“For me the key is the quality and not the quantity of sponsors,” said Villalonga. “Formula One is always associated with innovation, research and technology, and Hispania Racing must be represented on that level, with a stable leadership.”

Hispania team owner Jose Ramon Carabante was optimistic about the partnership.

“We will substantially strengthen our ability to generate innovative activities in marketing and sponsorship with his co-operation,” said Carabante.

“We will also be able to make the best of his leadership, knowledge and relationships in the fields of technology and communications.”

FMCG giant Procter & Gamble has selected Hill & Knowlton to handle its activation programme for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games.

The decision follows the announcement earlier this year of a major tie-up between P&G and the International Olympic Committee, erectile covering marketing rights for more than 50 brands across 38 product categories.

Hill & Knowlton’s UK office will advise P&G on its corporate communications in relation to the Olympics, while also providing sports marketing counsel and managing social engagement.

The agency, which already handles a number of P&G brands worldwide, will also work other P&G roster agencies – such as Ketchum, MS&L and Weber Shandwick – to create and coordinate consumer activation for specific brands.

It is understood that Hill & Knowlton secured the assignment following a competitive pitch that featured other roster agencies, although P&G brand and communications manager James Nunn declined to comment on this.

Nunn did point out that P&G has also finished “structuring” its Olympics comms team, as it aims to replicate its success during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, when the company’s efforts resulted in increased favourability, greater market share, and nearly $100 million in incremental sales.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and FLASH Entertainment, the the Gulf Corporation Council’s entertainment company announced a partnership to bring a series of NBA events to Abu Dhabi.

The events will culminate in a three-day interactive basketball festival known globally as NBA Jam Session, which will take place on Yas Island as part of the Yas Island Show Weekends; a five-weekend programme of major concerts and free entertainment running across Yas Island throughout 2010.

The NBA Jam Session, running from December 2-4, will include an exciting range of activities for fans of all ages and skill levels including exclusive appearances by an NBA Legend, along with performances by one of the NBA’s famous “dunk teams.”