The city of Indianapolis have announced they will bid for the right to host the 2018 Super Bowl.

Gov. Mike Pence, mayor Greg Ballard and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay announced Friday at an event at Lucas Oil Stadium that the city plans to bid for the 2018 showpiece with likely opposition being New Orleans, Denver and Minneapolis.

“This is really unprecedented because we are going after this Super Bowl on the merits of the greatness we accomplished,” Irsay said. “We are the gold standard on how Super Bowls are run.”

The city received high marks for how well it hosted the 2012 Super Bowl that featured the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

“We raised the bar in Super Bowl 2012,” Pence said. “We’re going to do it again.”

Denver, Minneapolis and New Orleans have already announced that they plan to bid for the 2018 Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl Advisory Committee will decide which cities will be asked to bid during the NFL’s fall league meetings in Washington in October. The owners will then select the winner during the spring meetings in Atlanta in May.

Antalya, arthritis Turkey will host the 2013 BNP Paribas World Team Cup, anesthetist the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event, ITF has announced today.

The event will be staged on the clay courts of the Club Ali Bey Manavgat on the Turkish Riviera on 20-26 May.

The World Team Cup is the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis event, often referred to as the Davis and Fed Cups of wheelchair tennis. The initial event took place in California in 1985 involving six men’s teams. The women’s competition began the following year, with quad and junior events introduced in 1998 and 2000 respectively. Due to the increased number of teams wanting to take part, the ITF introduced regional qualifying for the men’s and women’s events in 2012.

Teams from over 50 countries will take part in the 2013 competition. Four regional qualifying events will determine the six men’s and four women’s teams to join the direct entries in the finals in Antalya. In Antalya, teams will contest the men’s World Group (12 nations), men’s World Group 2 (12 nations), women’s World Group (12 nations), quad event (8 teams) and junior event (8 teams).

Antalya is hosting the event for the second time having previously staged the World Team Cup in 2010. The resort has a long history of hosting major ITF events and will also stage the ITF Seniors World Team and Individual Championships in 2013. 

BNP Paribas became title sponsor of the event in 2012 in a five-year agreement that runs through 2016. The company’s long-term agreement with the ITF also includes sponsorship of Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup, and the biennial Worldwide Coaches Conference and regional coaches workshops.

ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “The ITF is delighted that the BNP Paribas World Team Cup will return to Antalya, having staged an extremely successful event in 2010. This is the most prestigious event on the ITF’s wheelchair tennis calendar, and in the ITF’s centenary year, it is fitting that it has attracted its largest entry ever.”

The UCI has given the organisers of Ponferrada, healing Spain until mid-October to show that it can fully fund the 2014 road world championships or it will move the championships elsewhere.

According to a report by EFE, the Ponferrada city council needs to come up with €5 million guarantee to the UCI by the middle of October. TheHuffington Post reported that the UCI is seeking assurances that the total budget of $19.4 million is still being allotted by the Spanish government.

Meanwhile, the city council of Cacabelos, outside Ponferrada, which was slated to hold one of the races, has today approved a motion proposing that each resident of the region chip in one euro to ensure the race will take place there.

Earlier this year a similar grassroots effort was launched to save two Basque races, the Tour of the Basque Country and San Sebastián Classic after a lack of funding nearly cost them WorldTour status or cancellation. A regional bank finally stepped in and saved the races for the time being.

UCI President, Pat McQuaid also confirmed they were contacting potential host if the spanish region cannot host the event.

“I told him (Gerrit Middag, head of the events department),” McQuaid told VeloNews, “‘Get on to all your contacts, people that you’ve been dealing with in relation to possible world championships in the future. Ring them all up and say there’s a possible opportunity. And are you interested?’”

Sailing clubs and centres across the country are celebrating having successfully secured over £1 million of funding in total, erectile through the second round of Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund.

From refurbished changing rooms to new pontoons, the funding will help 24 sailing venues to refurbish or upgrade their facilities making them accessible for the whole community.

“We are really pleased to see so many clubs being successful and sailing being so well represented in this round” said Graham Manchester, RYA Strategic Lead on Adult Participation.

Part of Places People Play, Sport England’s programme to deliver a London 2012 legacy of increased mass participation in sport, Inspired Facilities is investing £50 million of National Lottery funding in up to 1000 community sports projects between 2011 and 2014.

One club to be awarded funding is Burton Sailing Club which has been awarded almost £50,000 to put towards a bespoke training centre.

“We are over the moon to have been successful and we will now be able to expand our training facilities. 2012 really has been a landmark year for our club as not only have we become a Volvo Champion Club but we have also achieved our RYA OnBoard status.” explained Keith Pallet, Training Principal at the club.

“The demand for courses is increasing all the time and this funding will provide the space and equipment that we need. After London 2012 we hope to inspire even more people of all ages and abilities to get out on the water and give sailing a try”.

Rickmansworth Sailing Club in Hertfordshire will be using their £32,000 of funding to replace three of their old pontoons as well as a 25 year old bridge which is badly in need of repair.

“The funding has really given us a boost” said Martin Smethers, a member of the club’s committee. “We saw 90 people through our doors when we held our last open day and we think the new pontoons will look fantastic when we invite people to our club for the next one.”

Graham Manchester concludes: “There are still three more rounds of Sport England Inspired Facilities to apply so if your club facilities are looking tired and an investment would increase usage and community activity you should consider this fund. It offers a great chance in the Olympic year for a lasting legacy in our sport”.

Paciolan, the leading provider of ticketing, marketing, and fundraising solutions in college athletics, announced today that University of Arkansas has renewed its partnership with the company for a five-year term.

As part of the renewal, Arkansas added Paciolan’s Access Management and digital ticketing/print-at-home technologies for baseball last spring and football and basketball for the coming year. Leveraging Paciolan’s ticketing and fundraising system in conjunction with Ballena Technologies, Arkansas launched an innovative online seat improvement process in support of its donors. Arkansas has been working with Paciolan since 1983.

“We are excited about the tremendous success we have had with the Razorback E-Tickets in baseball and are looking forward to offering our fans the same convenient options for the 2012 football season,” said Jeff Long, University of Arkansas vice chancellor and director of athletics. “Razorback E-Tickets give our fans the opportunity to buy online and print their tickets 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. With these interactive features, fans should never have to stand in the will call line at the ticket office again. Log in, print at home and go straight to the gate.”

With the renewed partnership, Arkansas scanned tickets for all baseball games at Baum Stadium in 2012, which has a capacity to accommodate more than 10,000 fans. This fall, it will add scanning for football at the 72,000-seat Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The addition of these new ticketing solutions will help ticket operations run more efficiently by reducing congestion on game day at will call ticket windows and eliminating nearly 1,000 pieces currently handled by ticket office staff.

Arkansas successfully implemented an innovative seat improvement program by leveraging Paciolan’s fundraising and ticketing system in conjunction with Ballena’s Seats3D product. Razorback Foundation donors were able to improve their seats by going online and purchasing better seats based on their donor level as part of the Razorback Seat Value Plan (R.S.V.P.).

“The R.S.V.P Program was a huge success,” said Chris Wyrick, senior associate athletic director for the University of Arkansas. “Working closely with both Ballena and our ticketing system helped us secure a smooth operation for our donors. We definitely improved our online presence by allowing the entire seat selection and required payments to be processed on the Internet. We set a goal to raise $4 million for the Razorback Fund, and with the help of this new innovative process, generated over $6.5 million, far exceeding our goal.”

To improve their fans’ experience online, Arkansas continues to enhance its online ticket sales experience by implementing 3D clickable seats, view from seat, and a shopping cart cross-sell carousel.

“With Paciolan as our partner, we’re able to extend our ticketing offerings to our fans that are using our website, as well as continually offer enhancements to meet their 24/7 needs,” said Mark Scobey, assistant athletic director for ticket operations for the University of Arkansas. “Paciolan helps us provide a customer-friendly system where individual customers can manage their accounts at their convenience. We’ll also be able increase our box office efficiencies as well.”

“It’s been wonderful working with University of Arkansas these past 28 years to achieve success with their athletics initiatives, as well as develop new and innovative programs to best serve their needs and those of their fans and donors,” said Dave Butler, chief executive officer of Paciolan.

Australian football codes are preparing for the impact of changes to the ‘living away from home’ tax allowance that come into effect next month.

The narrowing of the allowance will make transfers to interstate and overseas clubs financially less attractive both to players and coaches.

The change is expected to have the biggest impact on West Coast rugby clubs and young players who move interstate to join the squads of National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League teams(AFL).

The living away from home allowance (LAFHA) is a government benefit offered to Australian citizens who have to move interstate or overseas for work, as well as to overseas employees who come to Australia for their jobs and hold a temporary work visa. In effect, the allowance reduces the taxable incomes of those eligible to receive it.

But the federal government from July 1 will limit the tax exemption to only those who can demonstrate that they are maintaining a residence for their personal use in Australia and that they are living away for work purposes.

Anyone claiming the allowance will also be required to substantiate their expenditure on accommodation and food.

The NRL wrote to the Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury and the Minister for Youth Peter Garrett in May asking that players under the age of 25 be exempted in the hope that the exemption would pervent young players being discouraged from leaving their family homes.

The AFL is likely to be affected most by the changes although it is yet to take any action.
“We’re still assessing the potential impact on AFL players and AFL staff required to move interstate,” an AFL spokesman said.

In the case of the Super League rugby club Western Force, the new tax laws could make the task of attracting players from the east coast to Perth even harder.

“We have 19 players out of our squad of 35 players, as well as a number of the coaching staff who are currently in the LAFHA system,” Force chief executive Vern Reid said yesterday.

“I know in one case the overall benefit is approximately $(AU) 30,000 a year, while for an extended playing squad player making $(AU) 40,000 a year, $(AU) 4,200 of that comes from the allowance.”

At present, players and coaches are allowed to claim the allowance for two years, after which they are considered by the Australian Taxation Office to have effectively moved home.

“Clearly we believe we already are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting and this is going to add to our difficulties. Agents will factor in what a player would have received under the allowance and then suggest that someone is going to need to make up that shortfall,” Reid said.

Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) boss Greg Harris said the allowance changes will cause further difficulties for Western rugby clubs.

“RUPA is looking into the problem but unfortunately that’s a cost of business consideration for the WA club and the Australian Rugby Union needs to take that into account in making its grant allocations to the franchises,” Harris said.

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IT services company Atos, a London 2012 olympic partner has acquired a 50 per cent stake in MSL Group following a 20-year working relationship between the two businesses.

Atos, which provides products and services for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and is the lead IT provider for the London 2012 Games, which is headquartered in France and has three UK offices in London.

The two companies originally paired up for the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. MSL Group’s services include real-time results and information systems for sports events.

As a combination, the companies will provide IT and data services for timing and scoring, information for the media, TV graphics, games management and system integration.

Patrick Adiba, chief executive officer for Iberia, Olympics and major events at Atos, said: “Today’s announcement marks a major milestone in our strategy to be the global IT leader for major events.

“By joining forces with MSL Group, we have a strengthened portfolio that will ensure our business technologists can continue to write history for sporting and major events around the world and that as a business we increase our market share as well as value from each deal.”

Under the terms of the deal, Atos retains the right to acquire the full amount of MSL Group. Financial details were not disclosed.

Jose Alberto Jaen, founder of MSL Group, added: “Our experience and expertise is extremely complementary, we will have the opportunity to support some of the biggest sporting events in the world.”

The National Hockey League will partner with former HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg to form its own broadcast production company.

NHL Original Productions follow similar model to the NFL’s  NFL Films company.

It will produce a range of content, including features and documentaries, for NBC Sports (the NHL’s broadcast partner), regional rights holders and NHL Network.

Further to April’s announcement that NBC had agreed a 10-year media rights agreement with the NHL, Greenburg is producing sports documentaries for NBC’s networks.

Greenburg said: “Hockey players compete in a sport that requires an unmatched combination of world-class skill and relentless toughness, all the while remaining the most approachable and genuine of professional athletes. I am thrilled to be able to tell their stories in exciting and innovative ways and delighted that I’ll be working so closely with the NHL for years to come.”

NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins stated: “We’ve wanted to do these kinds of programmes. We feel like in many respects we’ll get more traction, be able to do more and hopefully be able to do it better if we do a lot of this stuff in-house.”

Planned 2011-12 projects for NHL Original Productions include 2011-12 ‘Day in the Life’ player documentaries, as well as documentaries and features to coincide with the lead up to the NHL’s 2017 centenary celebrations.

 

MLB teams contract expenditure combined to spend $227,939,050 on draft bonuses in 2011, and a total of $235,989,050 include additional guarantees which is a record, beating the two previous marks in 2010.

Guarantees in major league contracts for Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, Anthony Rendon and Matt Purke put the total to a unprecedented mark surpassing last years figures of $195,782,830 and $201,832,830.

On the day of the Aug. 15 signing deadline, the clubs spent $132,068,500 in bonuses and a total of $139,068,500 in guarantees. Those are two more new marks, up from $91,155,600 and $97,205,600 in 2010.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, who gave a record $8 million bonus to No. 1 overall pick Gerrit Cole and set another mark for non-first-rounders by paying $5 million to second-rounder Josh Bell, spent a total of $17,005,700. That obliterated the old bonus standard of $11,927,200 set by the 2010 Washington Nationals.

The Nationals didn’t relinquish that record without a fight, spending $15,002,100 in bonuses. Additional guarantees to Rendon and Purke bring  Washington‘s overall total to $17,602,100. The record for the most guaranteed money spent in a single draft remains $19,118,604 by the 2009 Nationals, the bulk of which was a $15,107,104 big league contract for No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg.

The Royals ($14,066,000), Chicago Cubs ($11,954,550) and Arizona Diamondbacks ($11,930,000) also surpassed  Washington‘s old bonus record. The Tampa Bay Rays ($11,482,900), Seattle Mariners ($11,330,500), San Diego Padres ($11,020,600), Toronto Blue Jays ($10,996,500) and Boston Red Sox ($10,978,700) brought the total of teams spending $10 million or more to 10. Only seven teams previously had topped $10 million in bonus spending, all in the previous three drafts.

At the other end of the spectrum, the White Sox ranked last at $2,756,300. The Detroit Tigers were the only other team below $3 million at $2,878,700–less than the $3.45 million they paid supplemental first-round pick Nick Castellanos in 2010.