Infront Sports & Media, sale the marketing partner of the German Football Association (DFB) for the DFB national games and the DFB Cup, has contracted three leading companies as advertising partners for the qualification and friendly matches of the men’s national team.
Workwear and safety company Engelbert Strauss, information technologies firm Kyocera and printing house Flyeralarm will each be involved in both the home and away matches of the national team.
The companies will in turn benefit from prominent stadium advertising in camera view as well as the millions of viewers that these games traditionally attract.
Bobby Sharma has been appointed as the senior vice-president of global business development for basketball by leading international sports company IMG. Sharma has quit his role as vice-president and general counsel at the National Basketball Association (NBA)
Sharma will initially relocate to Mumbai in India, where he will work as part of IMG Reliance, a joint venture between IMG and Reliance Industries. IMG Reliance snapped up all commercial rights to basketball in India for a 30-year period earlier in the year, and the development of a professional basketball league in the country will be one of Sharma’s immediate priorities.
Andrew Wildblood, executive vice-president of IMG and executive director of IMG Reliance said: “Bobby’s appointment is a major step forward in IMG’s commitment to developing the sport of basketball. With his experience in developing the sport of basketball for almost a decade at the NBA, Bobby is the right person at the right time to help us achieve IMG’s goals for the game around the world, both from a player and league development perspective.”
Sharma added: “There is tremendous interest in the game in India and its dynamic market in particular, where more than half of the nation’s population is under 25 years old, and just about every economic metric is headed in a positive direction.”
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has denied reports it offered to play a charity match in Pakistan to raise funds for victims of the country’s floods.
An official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had said the New Zealand team had offered to help the flood victims and may be touring Pakistan to play exhibition matches, with the funds raised going to the affected.
But although NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said he had contacted the PCB saying cricket as a whole should be a part of the relief effort, he said playing in Pakistan was not an option due to security fears.
Vaughan said: “At no point did we offer that the Black Caps would be touring as they certainly won’t be playing there this year.
“It would be nice to think that in a cricket-loving country such as Pakistan that cricket could play a part in alleviating some of the suffering that is going on there.
“But at this point in time there is no way anyone can consider putting a cricket team into Pakistan to play.
“If anything, the security risk will be greater now than at any other time so I don’t see the Black Caps going to Pakistan in the short term.
“But if there are ways to help the people of Pakistan, the cricketing community should be doing everything to help.”
The US PGA Championship has been movedfrom its traditional August spot to late July in 2016 to accommodate the Rio 2016 Olympics, the PGA of America have revealed today.
The change to accommodate the golf tournaments at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, with the Games running from August 5-21.
As a result, the 2016 US PGA Championship will be staged at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey from July 28-31.
The 2016 Open Championship will be held on July 14-17 at Royal Troon, leaving only 11 days between the final two majors of the year.
Not since 1971 has the US PGA Championship been played outside August and that was because the time of year was considered too hot to stage the event in Florida, where it was won by Jack Nicklaus in February.
“It’s a condensed schedule,” PGA of America chief executive officer Pete Bevacqua said. “Obviously with the Olympics, it’s also a Ryder Cup year, you throw in the (PGA playoffs), so it’s a very congested schedule.
“We actually feel really good about it.
“We think an end of July date in that part of the country and the major metropolitan area just outside of New York makes a lot of sense.
“Less people are on vacation, more people are in town and we think it will work out as a real benefit to the 2016 PGA Championship.”
The men and women golf competitors for Rio 2016 will be determined by the World Golf Rankings as of July 11 that year.
Tottenham plans for a new stadium at White Hart Lane have been boosted after the government approved Haringey Council’s Compulsory Purchase Order of the remaining land needed for building work to begin.
Spurs have played the waiting game for the last 14 months for a decision from Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and have been unable to begin work on the site in that time.
White Hart Lane currently has a capacity of just over 36,000, with the Northumberland Development Project set to increase that to over 56,000 while regenerating the surrounding area.
A statement from Tottenham read: “The club is pleased to announce that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has confirmed the Compulsory Purchase Order made by Haringey Council in respect of the remaining land required for the Northumberland Development Project.
“This is a very significant step in the CPO process.
“The club has used the intervening period productively and has refined detailed design of the stadium in order to ensure it is future-proofed and optimised.
“We shall provide our supporters with a further update and timeline on the Northumberland Development Project as soon as we are able to do so.”
Pickles said: “This scheme is supported by the locally determined development plan for the area and has received strong local support.”
Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes has denied reports he has put his Caterham Formula 1 team up for sale.
Reports emerged over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that the F1 team, symptoms | plus the associated Caterham sportscar business also owned by Fernandes, were up for sale for the princely sum of $638 million.
However, a statement from the team on Tuesday refuted the claims, and that “the reports circulating this weekend are factually incorrect.”
“Caterham Group is not for sale,” Fernandes is quoted as saying in the statement, while admitting that the company is also chasing additional investment.
“We love what we build and we are always looking for further investment. This is no different to how we started AirAsia.
“Yes, we are constantly challenging ourselves and making decisions on everything from the structure to projects within the Group.
“That is normal business. That does not mean we are selling.”
The Caterham team arrived in Formula 1 in 2010, then known as Lotus Racing, as one of two brand new teams on the grid, but has struggled to escape the tail of the field.
Now in their third season of competing, the team has still yet to score a world championship point. Their best finish is a pair of 11th places, the most recent by Marcus Ericsson just last weekend.
Japanese car manufacturer Nissan will return to the pinnacle of sportscar racing in 2015 after revealing they will enter a factory LMP1 team in the World Endurance Championship next year.
The Japanese manufacturer will take on works teams from Audi, Toyota and Porsche in the series which includes the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hour race.
“We applaud the ACO and FIA for the work they have done to get the rules right,” said Nissan’s Chief Planning Office & Executive Vice-President Andy Palmer.
“LMP1 is not just an arms race – all our rivals in the class have taken different technical approaches and we will be doing the same. We want to win in a very different way to that of our rivals. We won’t be turning up in a vehicle which is a basically another hybrid that looks like another Porsche, Audi or Toyota – they all look the same to me – our intention is to do something that is a little bit different.”
Nissan’s last attempt for outright victory at Le Mans came 15 years ago and the car they hope can deliver immediate success next year will be known as the GT-R LM NISMO.
“We have chosen to take the GT-R name to Le Mans as the GT-R symbolizes the ultimate in Nissan’s performance,” NISMO President Shoichi Miyatani said.
“It is a true aspirational brand; a car our fans, our customers love to drive, and love to own. We have been using GT-R in motorsport for many years now, in Super GT and GT3. For us LM P1 is the ultimate test. We have unfinished business at Le Mans and now we have our chance to target victory with the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO.”
Surrey County Cricket chief Richard Gould is expecting the new Natwest Twenty20 Blast to have record attendances.
The revamped competition, which has secured Natwest as a title sponsor for its inaugural season, is looking to attract more supporters.
Gould told iSportconnect exclusively: “I think the English game and this year’s Natwest T20 Blast, you will see higher attendances at County Cricket than you will have ever seen in any year in county cricket history. From that perspective we are moving in the right direction.”
Gould, the Chief Executive since 2011, also suggested the English game was more suited to supporters attending games rather than its international counterparts and that will result in higher attendances.
“We have seven home games here in the competition. Five of them are on Fridays, the ECB have had good foresight to ensure we focus on the customer and making sure we put on the game on a day where the customer can come. Whereas those tournaments around the world are made for TV, the Natwest T20 is made for the cricket supporter and a result of that we will see and explosion of fans attending Cricket in 2014.”
Gould also spoke about the recent trend of clubs rebranding their Twenty20 teams but believed this was not a possibility for Surrey.
He said: “I have considered it but all the 18 counties are very different and they all have very different business models. The great thing about county cricket is that most have brand names with brand equity that goes back for 150 to 160 years so it’s difficult to come up with a name in a couple of years that is going to share that level of equity.”
“I remember when I was at Somerset and I would speak to people abroad and Somerset to them was a place that had Sir Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Ian Botham. Surrey is the place where (Mark) Ramprakash and Alec Stewart played so whilst some counties have gone to a new brand name, Birmingham Bears being an example that may suit their market it would not suit the Surrey market at this stage.
“Our aim is to dominate Surrey and London in terms of domestic cricket and you can see we are very central to London, that’s the market we have got to play with but we think we can do that with the Surrey brand.”
The Detroit Lions have revealed the franchise will still be controlled by the Ford family after the passing of owner and chairman William Clay Ford Sr. on Sunday.
The franchise has transferred to his widow, Martha Ford who has been actively involved in the team for a number of years.
“Pursuant to long-established succession plans, Mr. Ford’s controlling interest in the Lions passes to Mrs. Martha Ford,” the team released in a statement. “She and her four children will continue to be involved in the ownership of the franchise, as they have during Mr. Ford’s tenure.”
Mrs. Ford is the granddaughter of Harvey Firestone. She and William Clay Ford married in 1947.
Mrs. Ford’s son, Bill Ford, the team’s vice chairman since 1995, will remain in that role, and daughters Martha, Sheila and Elizabeth will also be involved with the team.
The day-to-day operations of the franchise will continue to be run by team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew.
Ford died of pneumonia at the age of 88, Ford Motor Co. said in a statement Sunday. He was the last surviving grandson of automotive pioneer Henry Ford and owned the Lions since 1964.
British Cycling today confirmed that a round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup is coming to the UK with the opening round of the 2013/14 season taking place in Manchester in November.
The event will be the first time the city has hosted the series since 2011. The 2013 event will take place between 1st and 3rd November.
Speaking on behalf of British Cycling, apoplectic Cyclesport and Membership director Jonny Clay said: “We’re very happy that the UCI have again awarded our stakeholder group a round of the Track Cycling World Cup recognising the ongoing support of our venues, arthritis UK Sport and British Cycling for the UCI’s series and the sport of cycling as a whole. Returning to Manchester marks the start of a journey to Rio that we hope will culminate in welcoming the UCI Track Cycling World Championships to London in 2016 and we await positive news on the outcome of that bid.”
The build up to the event will feature a pre sale of tickets to British Cycling members giving them an opportunity to book their seat for an event that is certain to be in high demand. the previous Track World Cup in Glasgow having sold out in a very short space of time.
2013’s Track World Cup in Manchester forms part of larger programmes of sport for both of British Cycling’s partner event Stakeholders Manchester City Council and UK Sport, ed viagra which is aiming to bring 70 world class sporting events to the UK over the next six years through its National Lottery funded Gold Event Series.
Speaking on behalf of UK Sport Esther Nicholls, Head of Major Events said: “We’re so pleased that the UCI Track Cycling World Cup will once again be returning to the Manchester Velodrome, which has played host to so many fantastic Track cycling events since 2002.
“Through our £27million Gold Event Series we have been working hard to build an incredible programme of major international sporting events for the UK to host after London 2012 and hope this is the first of a number of major international cycling events to be staged on home soil in partnership with the UCI. In partnership with British Cycling and London we look forward to the decision in relation to our bid to stage the 2016 Track Cycling World Championships in the London Velodrome, the legacy venue from London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games.“
