NFL Reveals Salary Cap Rise

The National Football League (NFL) have revealed their salary cap for next year will increase by $10m next year, as revenue from commercial agreement rise.

The decision means teams will have a total of $133m to use on salaries, with the cap based on projected revenues from all of the NFL’s commercial agreements for the upcoming season.

It also meets requirements under the Players’ Association’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The 2014 level represents the highest salary cap set by the league, and this is expected to rise next year when new television contracts are factored into the equation.

A current CBA agreement allows players 55% of revenue from TV deals, 45% of money from league properties and 40% of local revenue.

Pittsburgh Steelers ($138.7m) and Dallas Cowboys ($150.9m) are the only two teams projected to be above the salary cap and the increased limit for the 2014 season will allow them greater opportunity to hold onto players.

Teams have until March 11 to cut or trade away players on their roster or renegotiate contracts to ensure they meet the cap requirements. Teams face fines for breaching the cap.

UCI Appoints Two New Hosts for 2016 & 2017 BMX Championships

The UCI Management Committee has announced that the 2016 UCI BMX World Championships will be held in Medellin, prostate Colombia, viagra and that Cairns, viagra 40mg Australia, will host the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships.

Meeting in Bergen, Norway, the Management Committee meetings were held alongside meetings of the Professional Cycling Council (PCC).

UCI President Pat McQuaid said: “We’re delighted that Medellin, the ‘City of the Eternal Spring’ in the Andes Mountains, will be our host city in 2016 for the UCI BMX World Championships. The event will take place on a brand new track built in the city’s existing cycling complex.

McQuaid continued: “In 2017, the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships will be held on the iconic Smithfield course in Cairns. We’re certain that the thousands of professional athletes, coming from all around the globe, will relish competing in this beautiful tropical location.”

During the meeting, the Management Committee discussed the UCI Stakeholder Consultation ‘A Bright Future for Cycling’ at length, as well as the resulting recommendations put forward by the Deloitte report.

The Management Committee accepted in principle the 11 ‘crucial’ and ‘high-priority’ recommendations in the report– and agreed to establish an action plan based on these recommendations. 

In particular, the Committee decided to continue with the establishment of an independent auditor group to look into the Armstrong era and agreed that the UCI should continue to move forward with its discussions with WADA in this regard.

Commenting on the decision, Pat McQuaid said: “I am extremely happy that the Management Committee has accepted in principle the 11 recommendations. The UCI is committed to listening to its stakeholders – the people we serve – and responding to what they tell us.

“As I said when the report was first published, a number of the recommendations are already underway. In addition to the discussions with WADA around holding an independent audit, we are also in the process of developing a long-term strategic plan for cycling.”

NHL Games Cancelled Through to 30 December

There will be no Ice Hockey for National Hockey League fans until next year after two more weeks of games were cancelled through to 30 December.

The league continues to talk with the Players’ Association over a solution to the row over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Their latest set of talks broke down last week after fans and players alike had admitted they were more hopeful of a breakthrough than at any point during the lockout, which has been in place since the summer.

A total of 526 regular-season games – 42.8 percent of the season – were scheduled for the period from 11 October to December 30.

The warring parties hope to talk again later this week, and the cancellation of only another 16 days worth of games is taken as a broad hint that a result might not be too far off.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said last week, after the most recent round of negotiations, that a season must consist of at least 48 games to protect its integrity, the same number played during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season.

FIFA Bans Guatemalan Players after Match-Fixing Scheme

Three Guatemalan internationals have been banned for life by FIFA after they found guilty of match-fixing.

Gustavo Cabrera, Yoni Flores and Guillermo Ramirez were found guilty of involvement in the fixing of three matches, two of them involving the national side.

The matches in question were Guatemala’s 3-2 defeat by Costa Rica in a friendly in May, a friendly against Venezuela last year and a 6-1 win by Mexico’s Santos Laguna over Guatemala’s Municipal in the CONCACAF Champions League in October 2010.

The Guatemalan FA had already banned the three for life, but FIFA’s action means the sanctions will take effect worldwide.

“The Disciplinary Body of the Guatemala FA, after having conducted complete and extensive investigations, passed their decisions on 6 September 2012, which are now final and binding,” a statement on the FIFA website read.

“FIFA’s decisions were taken following receipt of the case file, and are in accordance with article 136 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.”

NFL Extends Trading Card Deal with Topps

The Topps Company, drugs one of the leading manufacturers and marketers of sports trading cards, cough announced today a multi-year licensing agreement with the National Football League.

The longstanding relationship between the two organizations has spanned more than a half century.

“At Topps, clinic we take great pride in our enduring relationship with the NFL,” says Ryan O’Hara, Chief Executive Officer and President of The Topps Company. “We’re thrilled to know we’ll be in business with the league for years to come.”

Doug Kruep, Vice President and General Manager, Sports & Entertainment of The Topps Company, said: “Our commitment to creating exciting and innovative product is as strong as ever and this deal will allow Topps to continue offering collectors the most sought-after football cards in the industry.”

Leo Kane, NFL Senior Vice President of Consumer Products added, “The Topps Company has been a great teammate for decades. We look forward to bringing more fans their product and their proven ability to excite adult and kid fans alike.”

New York Yankees Blames Poor Attendances on StubHub Partnership

The New York Yankees, health recent poor attendances have been accounted largely with theie StubHub partnership.

Attendance at the stadium is down 3.6% this year, pill a 6% increase over last season’s 3% drop.

“We believe there are serious issues with the StubHub relationship, search ” team president Randy Levine told The Post yesterday. “We are actively reviewing more fan-friendly alternatives for next year.”

The Yankees, like some other Major League teams, believe that more fans are turning to the online reseller, rather than paying a higher premium to buy tickets directly from the team. The Yankees had been ranked first or second during their first three seasons in their new stadium…they are currently the fifth best selling team this year.

While the Yankees are claiming the “StubHub effect” is hurting their ticket sales, MLB attendance as a whole is up 7%. Although this is largely due to the Miami Marlins move into their new stadium. Marlins attendance is currently around 28,000 a game, an increase of almost 10,000 people per game from this time last year.

The Yankees contract with StubHub expires at the end of this season.

UNICEF to be Dropped from Front of Barca Shirts

Spanish soccer giant Barcelona, is to drop the UNICEF logo from the front of its shirts at the end of this season, to be replaced by the name of its new Qatari sponsor.

Barcelona is the most well-renownd of a small group of soccer clubs in the world not to have a corporate logo on its shirts, instead displaying the name of the United Nations Children’s Fund, for which it pays the organisation US$2.03m a year.

However, last month the club agreed a record five-year sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth $40.57m a season and will have ‘Qatar Foundation’ on the front of its shirts from July 1.

Barcelona vice-president Javier Faus stated: “It has been decided that the Qatar Foundation logo will go on the front of the shirt, on the breast.

“In the end, there will be only two words – Qatar Foundation – in yellow. UNICEF will go on the back underneath the player’s name.

“We continue to have significant structural problems, which we have been burdened with for some years, but which are our structural problems now and which we have to deal with.

“We have solved some of them with the Qatar Foundation sponsorship deal but we still have many challenges ahead.”

Faus was unsure as to whether the UNICEF logo would be allowed to appear on shirts worn in the UEFA Champions League, but added: “What we can guarantee is that every FC Barcelona shirt that is sold around the world will have the UNICEF logo on the back.”

NBA Finalise Hornets Buy-Out

A deal has now been completed which has seen the New Orleans Hornets become the first ever National Basketball Association (NBA) side to be owned by the league itself. The NBA’s acquisition of the team has long been suspected but is now finalised after previous owner George Shinn was forced to sell the franchise due to financial troubles.

The NBA will run the side until a new owner can be found after New Orleans native, Jac Sperling was placed in charge of finding the right buyer. It is believed that as a local man himself, Sperling is focusing his attentions on keeping the side in New Orleans which is also the incentive for an amalgamation of local business owners calling themselves the Hornets’ Business Council.

The group have been attempting to boost home ticket sales to prevent the side from relocating, though the Hornets still have the third lowest attendance in the league. Shinn founded the Hornets himself in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He then relocated the club to New Orleans in 2002 where they play at the New Orleans Arena.

Costa Brava Regions Receives Legacy Benefits after 2014 Open de España

The Costa Brava region in north-eastern Catalonia believes The 2014 Open de España has provided a positive legacy.

According to a recent report by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, asthma Energy and Tourism, medic there was a 2.4% increase in foreign visitors to Catalonia in June compared with the same month in 2013, drugs which set a new tourism record for the first half of the year, with 7.1 million foreign tourists to the region. 

The European Tour event, which was held near Girona at World Top 100 venue, PGA Catalunya Resort, and won by Spanish golfing icon, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, attracted over 39,000 visitors during tournament week, and injected an estimated 1.8 million Euros into the area.

With a potential combined household reach of almost half a billion viewers from around the world, according to The European Tour’s tournament valuation report, this year’s Open de España has also achieved a cumulative global media value of over $16 million – more than double what was secured for the 2013 event.

Ramón Ramos, Director of Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board, said he was pleased The 2014 Open de España had been such a major triumph, offering outstanding golf and achieving thousands of hours of global media coverage for Spain’s best golf course.

“An important goal for us has been to ensure that the four-day event was not a one-off success story, but a platform to provide support to local tourism businesses, elevate PGA Catalunya Resort’s status as a great golfing venue and boost the area’s reputation as an important European golf destination,” he said.

For over a decade, Golf Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona’s Golf Marketing Club, which consists of golf clubs and resorts, hotels, restaurants and numerous tourist attractions, as well as the tourism board itself, have all been working together to promote the region as a must-visit, European hot-spot.

“Since Costa Brava was voted the IAGTO Emerging Golf Destination of the Year in 2000, we have aimed our strategic plans and marketing campaigns at increasing awareness of the fantastic courses and facilities available in our region,” he added. “The interest has since been phenomenal, and hosting The 2014 Open de España has been the icing on the cake.

“Costa Brava is a perfect destination for golfers of all levels – right on Barcelona’s doorstep – with great courses, experiences, and value that cannot be met by any other golf destination. Plus there is a wealth of historical, cultural, sporting and leisure attractions for family members not so eager to spend all their time on the greens.”

brandrapport Reveals Revamp Including Ownership Change

Sport & entertainment agency brandrapport has announced today a revamp to the company, physician which includes a change in ownership.

In seeking to deliver a more rounded brand experience offering to its clients, brandrapport has developed a new innovative Brand Planning & Insight model, widened its Digital & Social Media offering, expanded both its Communications & Events teams and set up a ‘Social Sponsorship’ division.

The Senior Management of the agency have also announced they have completed a buy out of the business from previous owners Ingenious Media.

brandrapport has also picked up several new projects in recent weeks from the likes of Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks, CNP (part of First Milk), Jaguar, Polar & Samsung.

Andy Kenny, Managing Director commented: “Our agency belief is that brands can build and maintain trust by making a real difference to their customers, communities & colleagues – and our new look and feel reflects our expertise and energy in creating and delivering inspiring content to help companies do just that.”

Andy Dwyer, CEO added: “It’s an exciting new phase for the agency and we are delighted to be back in control of our destiny. Whilst we have some clear thoughts for the future of the business, we are also open to exploring new opportunities and partnerships.”

brandrapport’s clients include Allianz, Burghley, Center Parcs, Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks, CNP (part of First Milk), Jaguar, LV=, Nestle, Prudential, RaboDirect, Samsung & Sport England.