Dame Kelly Holmes, the 2004 double Olympic Gold medallist, believes brand sponsorship in Athletics is ‘critical’ in the sport.

Speaking to Marketing Magazine during Jaguar’s Academy of Sport event, Holmes said: “Every sport is quite different. But generally, it is quite expensive to be involved in sport.

“Everybody who starts young, like me at the age of 14, wants to be Olympic champion.

“It is critical to get the support of brands. Athletes are under a lot of psychological pressure, so the last thing they need is the pressure of not being able afford to compete. That is where sponsors come in.

Holmes also made the point that Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, two Olympics sponsors which some believe should be banned from sponsoring major sporting event, are responsible for some vital investment in athletics.

She said: “These companies put money into helping fund grassroots sports.”

McDonald’s works with the Football Association on grassroots football, supporting coaches and volunteers, while Coke has also been involved in working with grassroots sport.

by Ismail Uddin

Chris Cairns has asked the High Court for substantial libel damages over an accusation of match-fixing which had turned his achievements to ‘dust’. 

Cairns, 41, a former New Zealand captain, who notched up the rare double of 200 wickets and 3,000 runs in his 62 Tests, is suing Lalit Modi, ex-chairman of Twenty20 franchise the Indian Premier League (IPL) over an “unequivocal allegation” on Twitter, reports ESPNstar. 

His counsel, Andrew Caldecott QC, told Justice Bean, who is hearing the case in London without a jury, that Modi’s January 2010 tweet was picked up by cricket website Cricinfo. 

When Cairns complained, Cricinfo withdrew their report, paid damages and apologised – but Modi declined to apologise and pleaded justification, maintaining that the charge was true. 

Cairns’ case was that the allegation was “wholly untrue” and a very grave libel which would – if uncorrected – destroy all he had achieved over a distinguished 20-year career. 

In evidence, he said: “The defendant’s allegations have also had a profound effect on my personal and private life. It put a strain on my marriage. It hurts that my wife may think that I am not the man she thought I was. 

“It hurts me too that friends, many of whom are former cricketing foes, will question my integrity as a man and a sportsman and that all I achieved in the great game of cricket is dust.” 

Caldecott said that all-rounder Cairns, who lived in England as a child when his father Lance played here, and had himself played seven seasons for Nottinghamshire, had considerable affection for the UK and minded about his reputation here. 

At the time of the tweet, Modi was one of the most powerful men in the cricket world and any statement of his was likely to be treated as soundly-based. 

Counsel said that, in 2007 and 2008, Cairns captained the Chandigarh Lions in three competitions in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which flourished briefly before the ascendancy of the IPL. 

The allegation made by Modi related to the second and third of these competitions, between March and April 2008 and October and November that year. 

Caldecott said that, in October 2008, Cairns was called to an ICL directors meeting in a hotel room where, according to the cricketer, his denial of rumours of his alleged involvement in match-fixing appeared to be accepted. 

“No specific charges of match-fixing were ever put to Cairns. No names of any accusers were mentioned. 

“He was never informed after his departure that statements had been taken – mainly later – from Indian players alleging corrupt activity by various players including him.” 

Counsel said that Cairns was then effectively suspended for not declaring an ankle injury which had been exacerbated by a 1,000-kilometre charity walk completed in memory of his late sister. 

He returned to New Zealand for an operation, was never contacted with any complaint and, in 2009, was entered for the IPL auction. 

Caldecott said that the initial publication of Modi’s tweet in the jurisdiction was up to 95 people while the initial publication of the Cricinfo article was between 450 and 1,500. 

“Of course these receivers are bound to be cricket fans – it’s the classic kind of allegation which runs and runs – one fan to another to another – match-fixing is a subject which is always topical. 

“Be in no doubt that to everyone who hears it – Mr Cairns’s entire career is tainted.” 

He told the judge: “Preserving the integrity of any sport depends as much on vindicating the falsely accused as it does on convicting the guilty.”

by Ismail Uddin

The London 2012 website for ticket resales which was suspended Friday is still offline Monday.

The site was suspended Friday afternoon due to problems arising after tens of thousands of people went online to purchase unwanted tickets for the London Games.

A spokesman for London 2012 said, “we asked Ticketmaster to suspend the site and address several issues”. He said one of the main problems appeared to be a delay in updating the site once tickets had been sold.

The spokesman added, “we are working to get the site up and running as soon as possible”.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Ticketmaster said he didn’t have the full details as to why the site was taken offline.

The ticket resale site was to be available until February 3, but it’s not clear if the deadline will be extended following the site’s suspension Friday.

The European Football Merchandising Report 2010 has been released by Sport+Markt, allergist along with PR Marketing, symptoms revealing that the clubs in the five European top leagues generate merchandising and licensing revenue of US$866.8m.

This is one of the key results of the report, cough which interviewed a total of 182 top flight clubs and over 10,000 people from ten countries. In the 2009/2010 season, the clubs from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain were able to increase their income by more than 6 per cent in comparison to the 2008 investigation.

For the first time, the clubs from Spain‘s Primera División, which generated revenue of approx. $261m in the past season, occupied first position in the rankings. However, whilst almost 80 per cent of their income can be allocated to the two global clubs, Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona, the $230.8m generated by England‘s clubs is distributed much more evenly. With merchandising income of $178.5m, the German Bundesliga follows, clearly ahead of Italy‘s Serie A ($105.8m) and France‘s Ligue 1 ($92m).

According to Dr. Peter Rohlmann of PR Marketing: “The boom in European football merchandising is on-going. However, it is primarily the less established leagues that can look forward to significant growth, as they are gradually identifying the importance of club merchandising in brand management.”

Merchandise bearing the logos of Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona are in the strongest demand.  English clubs Liverpool FC (3rd) and Manchester United FC (6th) were also amongst the top 10 clubs in terms of retail revenue.

The top selling item of merchandise for European clubs remains the jersey with 13.7 million replica shirts were sold in the 2009/10 season. The two sports equipment giants, Adidas and Nike, enjoyed a combined market share of approx. 83 per cent, whilst the remaining 34 kit manufacturers in the ten leagues sold a mere 2.3 million jerseys in total (17 per cent).

Andreas Ullmann, Senior Consultant SPORT+MARKT, stated: “Jersey sales represent the core business of many clubs and are often responsible for around 50 per cent of merchandising revenue. Cultural differences do exist regarding preferences for certain products. Russian or Ukrainian fans, for example, tend to buy more warm scarves, whilst English fans like to buy mugs bearing the logo of their favourite club.”

Major League Baseball (MLB) side the New York Mets’ owners, the Wilpon family, aren’t willing to sell a controlling interest in the franchise accoridng Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon who reiterated their stance after several ownership candidates surfaced in recent days.

Along with chairman Fred Wilpon, Jeff’s father, the owners announced that they may seel as much as 25 per cent of the franchise on Januray 28, because of a lawsuit tied to the Ponzi scheme created by Bernard L. Madoff.

Jeff Wilpon told reporters that his family won’t be forced to give up control of the franchise, stating: “We’re not selling controlling interest in the team. It’s not on the table.”

Trustee Irving Picard wants to recover US$300m in alleged phony profits from Madoff’s scheme made by Sterling Equities Inc., which owns the Mets, and as much as $700m in principal, his lawyer, David Sheehan, said on Feb. 11.

The comments came the day after executives from the investment bank and brokerage firm Tritaurian Capital Inc. created BuyTheMets.com, which would sell $999 shares in an ownership group that would give fans a voice in running the team.

Other reported interests have surfaced from the likes of Martin Luther King III, billionaire Donald Trump and life-long Mets fan and co-founder of Glaceau Vitaminwater sports drink, Michael Repole.

U.S. Spanish network Vme has acquired the rights to broadcast the World Series of Boxing (WSB) in the U.S. Hispanic market and Puerto Rico. Carriage of the WSB will be the first sporting event to be broadcast by Vme on an ongoing basis.

Vme will begin broadcasting WSB coverage on November 20th and will continue to carry weekly matches throughout the first season. The network is also creating a WSB news and commentary program, Sexto Round, and will air this weekly on Thursday nights. 

“Vme has made a commitment to present the best international programming to its audience. The WSB is an extraordinary example and we are pleased to bring it to the Hispanic community that has a long tradition of boxing fans. The importance of this tournament and the fact that it is supported by AIBA and the International Olympic Committee made it a must in our schedule,” said Guillermo Sierra, Vme’s senior vice president.

Ivan Khodabakhsh, chief operating officer of the World Series of Boxing, said “I am delighted that Vme has acquired the U.S. Hispanic Broadcasting Rights for the WSB. Given the location of our teams in Los Angeles, Memphis, Mexico City and Miami, the Hispanic market is extremely important for WSB. I also welcome Vme’s commitment to support the launch of the first season with extensive promotion on their network.”

The World Series of Boxing is a new global boxing series that is an initiative of AIBA, the International
Boxing Association, under the leadership of its president Dr. C.K. Wu.The WSB comprises 12 city-based Franchise teams spread across three regional conferences: Asia, the Americas and Europe. During the regular season (November 2010 to March 2011), teams in each conference will compete against each other over two home and two away legs (a total of 12 matches per team).

Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan’s investment in the club has gone past the half billion pound mark after he injected an additional 80 million pounds into it.

Since buying City in 2009, he has invested over 573 million pounds, The Guardian reports.

According to documents released to Companies House last Monday, Mansour purchased 37,547,169 new shares in the Eastlands club on September 30, each costing him 2.12 million pounds.

It amounted to 79.6 million pounds of fresh investment.

The sum raises fresh questions about City”s capacity to meet new regulations coming in to force from next season.

UEFA”s financial fair-play rules require that no club should make an aggregate loss of more than Euro45m (about 39 million pounds) over the three seasons from 2011-12, or it will face being excluded from European competition.

The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) has filed a grievance over the league’s decision to reject the US$102 million, 17-year contract between Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.

The NHL initially rejected the contract last week saying it violated strict salary cap rules in place.

But the NHLPA has disputed that belief, saying that under the collective bargaining agreement, the union and Kovalchuk are entitled to an expedited resolution.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement: “Although there is no defined timetable at this point, we intend to work with the Players’ Association to ensure an expeditious  resolution of this dispute. The league looks forward to the opportunity to establish its position before the arbitrator.”

Kovalchuk’s deal was initially rejected because he was set to earn US$550,000 in each of the last five years of the contract, whereas he was set to earn US$98.5 million in the first eleven years of the deal.

By extending Kovalchuk’s contract, and paying him less money late in the deal, the Devils lowered their salary cap to US$6 million annually.

Other similar long-term deals have been signed without incident, although none of them are as long, or taper as sharply as Kovalchuk’s.

Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled plans to build a cable car across the River Thames linking the O2 Arena with the Excel Centre, which are both Olympic and Paralympic venues for the 2012 Games.

The £25 million (US$37 million) scheme could provide a crossing every 30 seconds, and carry up to 2,500 passengers an hour in each direction, cutting travel times dramatically between the two venues.

The London Mayor, Boris Johnson, said: “A cable car spanning the majestic Thames would not only provide a unique and pioneering addition to London’s skyline but also offer a serene and joyful journey across the river.

“Passengers would be able to drink in the truly spectacular views of the Olympic Park and iconic London landmarks whilst shaving valuable minutes from their travelling time.”

London’s Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: “A privately funded cable car system offers a relatively quick and cost effective way of improving connections across the river for pedestrians and cyclists.”

Barcelona, Cologne, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Madrid and New York already have urban cable cars, but this would be a first for Britain.

Providing funding and planning permission are secured, the cars should be in place in time for the 2012 Games.