PrimeSport, cialis the leader in providing direct access to the biggest sporting events on the planet and official Ticket Exchange and VIP Travel Package Provider of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR), drugs announced today the launch of the Official NFR Ticket Exchange for 2013.

The Wrangler NFR takes place every year at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, prostate NV. As the culmination of the rodeo season, the Wrangler NFR is the richest and most prestigious rodeo in the world. This year, the rodeo returns to Las Vegas from December 5-14, 2013.

“Partnering with PrimeSport has allowed us to provide our loyal fans with a safe and dependable source for securing their tickets to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo,” said Tim Keener, VP of Operations and Ticketing. “PrimeSport has been able to provide our fans with a great experience and a secure process for buying and selling tickets online.”

The NFR Official Online Ticket Exchange allows rodeo fans and season ticket holders to buy and sell NFR tickets to the session of their choice. Ticket holders who are unable to attend a session have a place to safely sell their tickets. Buyers can be assured that the tickets are authentic and guaranteed, even if a particular session is sold-out because of PrimeSport’s 100% customer satisfaction guarantee on all transactions.

“We are looking forward to another exciting Wrangler National Finals Rodeo event this year and continuing our great partnership with Las Vegas Events,” said Greg Nortman, Chief Operating Officer of PrimeSport. “The demand for tickets to the NFR continues to grow each year, and our goal is to provide rodeo fans with multiple options to enjoy this fantastic event.”

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), home of the sailing regattas of the 2012 Olympiad, is to host the 2013 Dragon World Championship from 5 to 13 September 2013.

With its combination of great sailing waters, purpose built shore facilities, ease of access and fabulous Dorset location on the Jurassic Coast, Weymouth was the obvious choice when the British Dragon Association looked at potential venues.

“The Dragon World Championship attracts the elite of international yacht racing, from World and Continental Champions to America’s Cup and Olympic veterans, so we need championship venues that can meet their very demanding requirements. We are delighted to be working in partnership with the WPNSA for this prestigious biennial event and are looking forward to an outstanding regatta.” Explained British Dragon Association Chairman Martin Makey.

Since opening in 2000 WPNSA has established a well-deserved reputation for delivering outstanding events for both keelboats and dinghies. With unrivalled shore side facilities, a dedicated event marina and race management teams fresh from the Olympic and Paralympic Games it is a truly world-class venue.

Chris Knight, WPNSA Business Manager, noted: “The planning of the Dragon events in Weymouth during 2013 is in full swing. We feel passionately about the Academy’s ability to deliver on such world-class events and look forward to welcoming this celebrated keelboat class.”

Teams must qualify to take part in the Dragon World Championship and so only the very best sailors from each country will compete. Reigning World Champion Lawrie Smith, crewed by Ossie Stewart and Tim Tavinor, has confirmed he will defend his title. Amongst those expected to challenge are Russia’s Dmitry Samokhin and Anatoly Loginov; Portugal’s Jose Matoso; Germany’s Tommy Mueller, Markus Wieser and Ulli Libor; Denmark’s Lars Hendriksen, Jens Christensen and Joergen Schoenherr; Evgeny Braslavets from the Ukraine; Ireland’s Martin Byrne and Simon Brien; Ben Van Cauwenbergh from Belgium; Ezio Gianni Murzi and Giuseppe Duca from Italy; Lowell and Phyllis Chang from Hong Kong and Richard Lynn from Australia. The British will field a very strong home team led by World Champion Lawrie Smith and including Klaus Diederichs, Ron James, Gavia Wilkinson-Cox and Graham and Julia Bailey.

For those keen to get in some advance training on the Worlds race area, the British Dragon Association will be holding the 2013 South Coast Championship and the Edinburgh Cup, for the British Open Championship, at Weymouth. The South Coasts will be held on 23 and 24 June and will be immediately followed by the Edinburgh Cup from 25 to 30 June 2013.

The National Hockey League (NHL) have announced the cancellation of the first two weeks of the regular season totalling a loss of 82 games from Oct. 11 to Oct. 24, health following the abcence of a collective bargaining agreement.

“We were extremely disappointed to have to make today’s announcement,” Bill Daly, the N.H.L. deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “The game deserves better, the fans deserve better and the people who derive income from their connection to the N.H.L. deserve better. We remain committed to doing everything in our power to forge an agreement that is fair to the players, fair to the teams and good for our fans.”

The players have been locked out since Sept. 15, when the collective bargaining agreement that had been in place since 2005 expired. The latest round of talks between the league and the N.H.L. Players’ Association broke off after a two-hour bargaining session Tuesday, and no negotiations have been scheduled.

“The decision to cancel the first two weeks of the N.H.L. season is the unilateral choice of the N.H.L. owners,” Donald Fehr, the executive director of the union, said in a statement. “If the owners truly cared about the game and the fans, they would lift the lockout and allow the season to begin on time while negotiations continue. A lockout should be the last resort in bargaining, not the strategy of first resort.”

The lockout has led to 100 players signing with European teams since the lockout began. During the 2004-5 lockout, when the whole season was canceled, nearly 400 players joined European leagues.

Players will receive their last check from the N.H.L. on Oct. 11, the escrow payment for salary withheld for accounting purposes from last season. That check will amount to about 8 percent of their salary from that season — $80,000 for a player making $1 million, or $192,000 for a player making the average salary of $2.4 million.

After that, players will start missing their twice-monthly paychecks. The first checks for 2012-13 were scheduled to arrive Oct. 16, with the next ones coming Oct. 30.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has been suspended for 10 months for his role in a match-fixing scandal, but players Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Pepe have been cleared.

The Italian Football Federation’s disciplinary committee announced the verdicts Friday. Prosecutor Stefano Palazzi had asked for Conte to be banned for 15 months.

Conte, who led Juventus to the Serie A title last season, was punished for failing to report match-fixing in two games during the 2010-11 season when he was coach of then-Serie B side Siena.

Juventus released a statement after the verdicts were announced, saying it has already started preparing appeals for Conte and his assistant Angelo Alessio, who has been banned for eight months.

“Juventus expresses great satisfaction for the absolution of its players Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Pepe and underlines its full support for Antonio Conte and Angelo Alessio, in the hope that the next level of the justice system can at last show they are completely innocent.”

Palazzi had asked for a 42-month ban for Bonucci and a 12-month ban for Pepe for their alleged roles in fixing the Udinese vs. Bari match in May 2010. Bonucci was a Bari player at the time, while Pepe was with Udinese.

Udinese has also been cleared, while fellow Serie A’s Bologna has been fined $37,000 — Palazzi had asked for it to be docked two points.

Former Bologna captain Marco Di Vaio, now with the Montreal Impact, has also been cleared. He tweeted: “Justice has been done!!! Cleared!!! Now I’ll go back to bed a lot lighter!!”

Meanwhile, Lecce and Grosseto have been banned from Serie B and will start next season in Lega Pro, the third division of Italian soccer. Novara has been deducted two points.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) confirmed the appointment of the final four licensees to the London 2012 licensing programme.

Innovative Sports Limited (ISL) will produce a range of official sporting London 2012 memorabilia.

This will include authentic limited edition Torches from the Olympic Torch Relay – presented by Coca-Cola, unhealthy Lloyds TSB and Samsung.

At Games time, viagra order there will also be the opportunity to purchase official sporting equipment from the Games such as the baton from the Men’s 4 x 100m final, a used beach volleyball from Horse Guard’s Parade and tennis balls from Wimbledon.

The other three licensees are Capture the Event, Lego and Oakley.

Capture the Event will provide official souvenir photographs to spectators on the Olympic Park, as well a service for athletes in the Olympic Village.

LEGO will produce a range of special edition Team GB Minifigures as part of their hugely successful Minifigures range.

Finally, Oakley will release a collection of London 2012 eyewear.

LOCOG commercial director, Chris Townsend said: ‘I am delighted to welcome our final four licensees to the London 2012 merchandise programme. It is fitting that Innovative Sports complete our line up of licensees as this is the first time in the history of the summer Games that pieces of sporting equipment will be available.

‘All of our licensees, 90% of whom are British, have a fantastic range of products, the sale of which helps fund the staging of the Games and is a great way to show your support for London 2012.’

It is estimated that the London 2012 merchandise programme will generate more than £1 billion worth of sales, contributing more than £80m to the staging of the Games. By Games time an estimated 10,000 merchandise items will be on sale in the UK.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will receive a two-year contract extension that may pay him $25 million annually increasing his title as the highest paid commissioner in sports, pills according to USA Today.

The deal will be approved at an owners’ meeting in Arizona this week, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified baseball official with knowledge of the accord.

Selig’s pay is tied to MLB revenue, which is more than $7 billion a year, USA Today said. In 2007, the most recent year in which MLB tax documents are available, Selig earned $18.4 million, the report said. He agreed to a three-year contract extension in 2009.

Selig’s salary is by far the highest among commissioners in the four major U.S. professional team sports, the report continued, with the NFL’s Roger Goodell the second-highest earner at more than $10 million a year.

Renewed corruption allegations involving FIFA executive members surfaced on Monday just days before they are due to appoint the hosts of football’s 2018 and 2022 World Cups under the eyes of world leaders.

The Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported that Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, African football chief Issa Hayatou and his South American counterpart Nicolas Leoz were tied to a secret list of payments from bankrupt FIFA marketing partner ISMM/ISL a decade ago.

The firm collapsed in 2001 in a storm of controversy over alleged kickbacks for TV rights contracts, prompting a FIFA criminal complaint that was later dropped.

A court in the Swiss canton of Zug eventually handed down fines on three ISMM/ISL executives in 2008 for embezzlement or accounting offences.

Leoz was already listed as a recipient of suspect payments from the marketing firm, alongside several companies based in offshore havens, in evidence presented by the Zug prosecutor in 2005.

All three long-standing executive committee members are among the 22 remaining top officials due to vote on Thursday on the World Cup hosts.

FIFA’s ethics committee sidelined two others, Oceania football chief Reynald Temarii and Nigeria’s Amos Adamu, on November 18 when it suspended them for misconduct or bribery following an undercover British newspaper report.

There were also signs that the secret ballot on Thursday could be thrown into disarray, as Oceania’s Football Confederation sought the right to vote by replacing Temarii.

Temarii’s lawyer, Geraldine Lesieur, told AFP that FIFA had conditioned his substitution on its executive committee on a decision not to appeal against his one-year suspension for misconduct, after being cleared of bribery.

However, he has still not received the full ruling, a key legal step that would allow him to decide, she explained.

“Mr Temarii will decide after he has been informed of the motivated ruling,” she said. “We are in an impasse.”

Temarii has told AFP that his vote for the two hosts would have been dictated by the choice of Oceania’s football chiefs.

FIFA could not be reached immediately for a reaction.

England, Russia and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are in the running to host the 2018 World Cup while Australia, the United States, Japan, Qatar and South Korea are bidding for 2022.

British Prime minister David Cameron, Prince William, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Qatari crown princes were amongst the dignitaries expected to join final pitches by their bids in front of FIFA’s executive committee on Wednesday and Thursday.

Source: AFP

A specialist venue operator which helped launch Wembley stadium and the O2 Arena was today revealed as the third bidder for the London Olympic stadium.

International Stadia Group will compete with two consortiums — West Ham United/Newham council and Tottenham/AEG — to take over the £500 million-plus venue after the 2012 Games.

The disclosure today by Estates Gazette ends months of speculation about the identity of a third bidder for the flagship venue.

It comes days before the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which is handling sales, is due to inform bidders whether they have made the shortlist before a deal is signed next March.

ISG says on its website that is has been responsible for generating more than $2 billion in revenues from the sales and marketing of stadium seats at more than 15 projects.

It has also been involved with Coventry City Football Club’s Ricoh Arena, Galatasaray’s Türk Telekom Arena in Istanbul and the Swebank Arena in Solna, Stockholm.

The group has worked extensively with the US National Football League on financing stadium investment. The NFL is understood to be considering options for moving its franchise to the Olympic Stadium.

It also has close ties with US entertainment giant Anschutz (AEG), which is bidding alongside Tottenham. The two worked together on creating, managing and selling the premium seating at the O2 Arena.

It is unclear whether the ISG bid seeks to retain the athletics track at the stadium post Games.

West Ham, in partnership with Newham council, entertainment group LiveNation and with the backing of UK Athletics, is committed to maintaining the athletics track post- Games.

Both ISG and the legacy company declined to comment.

England’s 2018 World Cup bid team is to withdraw a complaint to Fifa about Russia’s campaign following an apology from their rival bidder.

The Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has apologised for comments made by bid chief Alexei Sorokin.

England’s official complaint was that Russia had broken bidding rules when he made disparaging comments about London.

“Mr Mutko approached the bid team with a genuine apology in an honourable manner,” said an England spokesman.

“We, of course, accepted this apology and appreciate the gesture. We now wish to move on from this matter.”

Fifa’s committee met on Thursday to receive reports on the bids.

This years Business India Forum was held on July 22, 2010 and the event once more organised by Celebrasian UK was held this year in London at Christie’s. A lovely small, niche auditorium amongst all those works of art from around the world.
The mix of topics this year was once more quite interesting with sports business meeting luxury and lifestyle in an Indian context, something with the exception of IPL isn’t really the case for India just yet. So something which is set to become more and more real for India in the coming years.

It was a half day forum with over 100 delegates attending. The opening session had the title “Overview of the Indian economy and three sectors”. Ridhika Batra, Director – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, UK; was in the chair with Vijay Goel, Indo-EU Business Forum; Deepak Lalwani, Astaire Securities; and Farid Haque, Global Markets, Accenture as panellists and they all gave their views on how business could and should be done in India plus where the opportunities and possible problems lie. This set to tone for the rest of the afternoon.

The second session had the topic “The Business of Sports” with myself as the moderator with the focus mainly on cricket and football. My panel included Ishan Saksena, Chairman, Queen’s Park Rangers FC; Ashish Ray, Author and journalist; Kevin Roberts, Editorial Director, Sport Business Group; Anders Grundberg, Partner, McGuire Woods; and Clive W. Leach, Chairman, Durham County Cricket Club.

I started off giving a general overview on the Indian sporting field with the IPL the often mentioned example of commercialisation of sports in India, but I also gave the audience the information that football is a fast growing sport in India with the question to be asked on how and where can cricket grow further. My aim was to give an overview not only of cricket and football, which still where the main focus. My seasoned colleague Ashish took the discussions to another level as he is a cricket purist and was more interested in Test cricket, while most of the world was interested in 50 Overs and T20. An interesting discussion developed as India has clearly shown that Test cricket is of no real interest for the general public these days, while T20 is the new craze through the IPL; while in England Test cricket still has its place of its own. An interesting comparison was made as a strong league doesn’t automatically mean a strong national side. England and the EPL in football were compared to India and its IPL in cricket. And yes, it scarily sounded correct as both national sides have failed in recent major competition.

We also focused in the session on the main topic of business of sports in India. There are numerous opportunities not only in cricket and football with the example of the 30 year deal signed by IMG-Reliance with the Basketball Federation of India recently made, but there are also chances in Formula 1 and Golf.

After a tea break “Session Three – The Burgeoning Luxury and Lifestyle Markets” was held with Amin Jaffer, Director Indian Art, Christies; in the chair. The panel included Fiona Sanderson, Managing Director, The Luxury Channel; Onita Prasada Vashish, Owner, Onitaa Fashion; and Kevin Rego, International Head of Sales and Marketing, B4U TV.

The fourth and final session was on “Doing business in India”. It had Carl Nisser, Board member, Europe India Chamber of Commerce Counsel & McGuire Woods; as the moderator. The panel included Atul Gupta, Director, Euro Max Capital; and Parvinder Bhatia, Wasserman Media Group – India. They talked about the does and don’t in the Indian market. One thing that came out clear of this session was anyone interested to do business in India needs to know and then also understand how to do it in India. And that is the difficulty for international business across all fields as even multinationals have failed in India.

By Arunava Chaudhuri

http://arunfoot.blogspot.com/2010/07/business-india-forum-london-review.html