Euroleague Basketball has announced today that EA7 Emporio Armani Milan president Livio Proli is their Executive of the Year for the 2013-14 season.

Mr. Proli was voted as this season’s award recipient by his peers in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. In five seasons as club president, Mr. Proli has played a central role in EA7 Emporio Armani Milan returning to the forefront of European basketball in terms of results on the basketball floor and commercial growth as evidenced by the club doubling its attendance for Euroleague games last season. Mr. Proli also worked in great cooperation with Euroleague Basketball as the 2014 Turkish Airlines Euroleague took place his team’s home arena, Mediolanum Forum in Milan. 

Mr. Proli is an accomplished businessman, who worked for Giorgio Armani as CEO and general manager of the Simint S.p.A in Modena. When Mr. Armani became involved in the Olimpia Milano basketball club with Armani Jeans as its main sponsor in 2004, Mr. Proli became a member of the club’s board. He took over as team president in 2008 and on January 1, 2010 was named general manager of Giorgio Armani S.p.A. 

Under Mr. Proli’s leadership, EA7 Milan was awarded a Euroleague A-license and twice represented Euroleague Basketball by hosting exhibitions in the NBA Global Games. Last season EA7 Emporio Armani enjoyed its greatest season in a generation by winning the Italian League for the first time since 1996 and reaching the Euroleague playoffs, too. 

Going hand in hand with the team’s on-court success, EA7 Milan made huge strides in arena attendance under Mr. Proli. The club’s investment in ticketing strategies paid off handsomely last season, when attendance at Mediolanum Forum during Euroleague games skyrocketed to 8,804 fans per game, a 150% increase over the previous season. EA7 Milan sold out six of its 15 home games last season and reported a total attendance of 123,255 fans. Its ranking among Euroleague teams for attendance jumped from 23rd to 11th last season. 

The Gianluigi Porelli Euroleague Executive of the Year award is one of the competition’s two annual post-season honors along with the Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy.

The FIA Formula E Championship has today agreed a partnership with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Through the association, the Championship will show their support for the environmental actions led by the Foundation and helping to raise funds for future projects. 

The Foundation, created by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2006, is dedicated to the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development. The Foundation’s efforts focus on three main sectors: climate change and clean energies, biodiversity, and integrated and sustainable water management.  

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation joins previously announced ONE DROP as one of the official Formula E founding charity partner. 

During each race weekend, Formula E will be hosting activities to help raise funds to be distributed between each official charity, along with projects across the country and other schemes in the local area. 

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation stated: “Formula E is a perfect illustration of what can be achieved in terms of clean mobility with electric vehicles. The move towards a low-carbon economy is one of the key challenges of this century on which global climate change and the level of adverse consequences for the planet’s population will greatly depend. The development of a series of spectacular and exciting races will certainly be a key factor for raising awareness of these crucial issues and we are both pleased and proud that the organisers, recognising the action implemented by my Foundation, have chosen to make it part of their commitment.” 

Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E, said: “We are great supporters of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and their commitment to sustainability and green initiatives, which ties in with the ethos of the FIA Formula E Championship. We share many core beliefs and the goals associated with both companies are very similar: to raise awareness of environmental concerns and in turn promote renewable energy sources.” 

Formula E is scheduled to race around the streets of the Principality on May 9 2015 and will be Round 8 of the 2014/2015 FIA Formula E Championship. 

The 2014 NFL Draft drew a record 45.7 million people across NFL Network, adiposity ESPN & ESPN2 over the three days, the National Football League revealed today.

The audience topped the previous record set in 2010 of 45.4 million, according to The Nielsen Company.

First-round coverage of the 2014 NFL Draft on ESPN and NFL Network drew a combined total viewership of 32.0 million viewers, making it the most-viewed Round 1 ever, according to Nielsen. The 32.0 million viewers was up 28 percent over last year (25.0 million).

Viewership for the combined NFLN/ESPN/ESPN2 coverage of Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday night was up eight percent over last year. Day 3 viewership across the combined NFLN/ESPN coverage was up 17 percent.

In addition, the 2014 NFL Draft was the biggest NFL Draft ever on Twitter. In total, more than 9.6 million tweets were sent about the 2014 NFL Draft, up 211 percent from 2013. An average of 10 million people per day saw tweets about the 2014 NFL Draft over the three-day event (according to Nielsen Social Guide).

R&A, the organisers of The Open Championship, have suggested the current heatwave may have played a factor in the poor attendances at the event and dismissed reports ticket prices contributed to the visible decrease.

The R&A was expecting 160,000 fans and hoping for 170,000, but a total of 142,036 made the trip to East Lothian during the week, with 29,247 there to watch Phil Mickelson triumph on Sunday.

A total of 160,595 spectators were at Muirfield the last time the Open was staged at the course in 2002, with 31,422 seeing Ernie Els emerge victorious on the final day.

A spokesman for the Open Championship said: “More than 142,000 people attended the Open. That is almost 90 per cent of the figure in 2002 and we are pleased with this attendance.

“Advance ticket sales were very strong and we believe the extremely warm weather put off some of our pay-at-the-gate customers.

“That is perhaps why, unusually, we had a higher attendance on Sunday in cooler weather than we did on Friday which is normally the busiest day. The blend of a British winner of the Tour de France and Ashes cricket on television over the last few days may also have had an impact.”

Ticket prices of £75 have been blamed for the drop in attendance at Muirfield, although more than 180,000 fans made the trip to Lytham for last year’s Open when tickets cost £70.

“The Open Championship offers exceptional value to spectators who can enjoy up to 15 hours of golf in one day. Children under 16 accompanied by an adult get in free which makes it ideal for families,” spokesman Mike Woodcock said. “Nearly 30,000 people attended yesterday and the feedback suggests they enjoyed a first class experience.”

Brian Cookson, the President of British Cycling and candidate for International Cycling Union’s (UCI), has hit out at his component Pat McQuaid after the current UCI President unveiled his manifesto.

In his manifesto, titled ‘A Bright Future for a Changed Sport’, McQuaid emphasised his commitment to the fight against doping. 

McQuaid, who began his reign in 2005, said: “I am delighted to launch my re-election campaign and to present my vision for cycling’s future to the cycling family whose support over the past eight years has enabled me to transform our sport.

“Cycling has changed since I was first elected as UCI president in 2005. It is now a global sport. It is now possible to race and win clean. We have travelled a great distance together and we must never turn back from cycling’s bright future,” he added.

But Cookson accused Mcquaid of neglecting the fight against doping in favour of “destructive feuding and conflict”.

In a statement Cookson said: “Pat has been President of the UCI for two terms. While his Manifesto outlines what he believes still needs to be done for the UCI, I think that many people will judge him on his record, and ask why those things haven’t been done in the last eight years. Unfortunately under his Presidency far too much energy and resource have been devoted to destructive feuding and conflict rather than grabbing hold of the issues, listening to the right people and delivering solutions.

“In his Manifesto he talks about the UCI Stakeholders Consultation but I think he fails to address the number one critical recommendation – that the UCI ‘must take the steps necessary to restore cycling’s and its own credibility, in particular in relation to the public perception of cycling’s anti-doping measures and current UCI leadership’. It is my belief and that of many others that we need a complete change of leadership in order to successfully achieve this.”

Volvo Ocean Race have announced the French city of Lorient will return as the penultimate stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race for the 12th edition in 2014-15.

The route will take in 10 cities in nine countries – Spain, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, United States, Portugal, France and Sweden – and will require the teams to cover 39,895 nautical miles – equivalent to 45,910 miles or 73,886 kilometers.

The Race will start on October 4, 2014, day of the first In-Port Race in Alicante, and finish with a final In-Port Race on June 27, 2015 in Gothenburg, the Swedish home of Volvo.

“This route has never really been part of any ocean race any time before,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad. “And when you have that element there’s a new strategy, there’s a new route, there’s new weather, there’s new challenges for the sailors. That is exciting, not only for us but for the sailors because no-one can claim they’ve done this before.”

Lorient, the Breton city on the west coast of France, hosted the Race for the first time in 2011-12 and provided an incredible spectacle for fans.

“Lorient is France’s sailing capital and the response we had during the last Race was phenomenal,” said Race CEO Frostad. “It will be a real pleasure to come back to this stunning part of the world, where the people are so knowledgeable about the sport and the whole set-up suits the Race so perfectly. Lorient will be a real highlight on the route.”