Papa John’s, remedy the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL, pharm today signed a new “franchise player” for the brand, cialis announcing Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning as its newest franchisee.

Manning, in partnership with Papa John’s, will own 21 restaurants in the Denver area.

“Customers and franchisees place a premium on quality, and that’s where Papa John’s competes and wins – in our products and how we operate our business with franchisees and partners. I don’t know of a person or business partner who has a higher standard on quality or competes more fiercely than Peyton Manning – on and off the field,” Papa John’s Founder, Chairman and CEO John Schnatter said. “Having Peyton as a franchisee is a huge win for our brand, especially for our customers in Denver, where our business has never been better.”

“I’ve been a fan of Papa John’s pizza for a long time, and now knowing John Schnatter, his team and the business intimately over the past year, I am thrilled to formally join Papa John’s as a franchisee in partnership with the brand,” Manning said. “It’s a smart investment now and will be long after I’m done playing football. I’m particularly impressed by John’s drive to make everything about Papa John’s better along with his ambition and plan to continue growing the brand around the world. Also, Papa John’s being the Official Pizza of the Denver Broncos makes this even more exciting.”

Papa John’s has locations in 32 countries on five continents and in September opened its 4,000 restaurant. The brand also recently unveiled its 2013 franchise development incentive program, which, effective immediately, includes zero franchise fee, 0% royalty for 18 months, and $50,000 in restaurant equipment for new restaurants opened through 2013. Papa John’s growth, despite ongoing economic pressures and uncertainty, is a result of its never-ending commitment to quality, Schnatter said.

Manning’s involvement with Papa John’s dates to 2011, when he was featured in Papa John’s efforts to market its novel Super Bowl XLVI Coin Toss Experience in which Papa John’s awarded a free pizza and 2-liter Pepsi MAX to all members of its Papa Rewards online customer loyalty program after America correctly called the coin toss for Super Bowl XLVI.

Manning and Schnatter kicked off the 2012 NFL regular season where they left off at Super Bowl XLVI by offering all of America the chance to win another free large one-topping pizza. Featured in national television ads, Manning convinced Schnatter to give away 2 million large one-topping pizzas to Papa Rewards members throughout the regular season – double the number of pizzas Papa John’s gave away last regular season.

Manning will tout his status as a Papa John’s franchisee on camera Sunday night during his appearance in a custom integration on NBC TV’s “Football Night In America” telecast, when he and Schnatter will unveil for fans another “big treat” for Halloween during NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” telecast from Denver.

Papa John’s is in the third year of a multi-year sponsorship with the NFL and is also the Official Pizza of the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins.

The European soccer leagues plan to decide their own policies on financial controls, third party ownership and how best to address the impact of UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play rules.

Representatives from leagues throughout the continent will discuss the issues at a European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) seminar in Edinburgh next month.

In a statement, the EPFL said: “During the last couple of decades, professional football has grown exponentially in terms of global appeal, attractiveness and income, driven by the unconditional passion of millions of fans and the influx of money from TV broadcasters, sponsors and other investors.

“Despite the income rising every year, expenses have also escalated, especially on players’ wages, transfers fees and payments to agents, leaving many clubs under considerable financial distress.”

It said this situation was “aggravated by the impact of this severe and unprecedented crisis which affects the European and global economy” and had resulted in a need to promote “implementation of the highest financial standards and supervision mechanisms to ensure clubs’ financial sustainability”.

The organisation said it was setting up a series of seminars on good financial governance, with the first of them taking place in the Scottish capital.

It said the event would focus on issues including club financial control systems, financial transparency, third party ownership and FFP.

Roger Federer’s historic seventh Wimbledon title was watched by a peak TV audience of 17million.

Coverage started at 12.55, peaking at 6.14pm with 17.1 million viewers and a 67.9% share. This is more than the Euro 2012 final shown the previous week which peaked at 13.6 million.

The show did an average of 21.7 adults TVRs which equates to 10.6 million viewers with a 59.6% share; in Scotland the show had 25.2 adult TVRs with 986,000 viewers and a 67.7% share.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp and Sheffield Wednesday chairman Milan Mandaric have been found not guilty of both counts of tax evasion.

Jurors agreed with Redknapp’s denials that he avoided tax on any payments over £189,000 found in a Monaco account.

His acquittal alongside co-defendant Mandaric calls a close on a five-year £8 million police investigation which did not yield a single conviction.

Mandaric and former Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie were also cleared of £600,000 tax evasion claims at a previous trial, it can be reported for the first time.

Redknapp and Mandaric hugged as the jury cleared them of all counts.

Redknapp was at times moved to the verge of tears as the Crown alleged that he told a pack of lies in an attempt to get off the hook.

But jurors accepted Redknapp and Mandaric’s evidence that the Monaco account in the name of Redknapp’s dog, Rosie, was nothing to do with footballing matters.

The two-week trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court threatened to derail Redknapp’s progress at the pinnacle of his 30-year managerial career.

Having led Spurs through their most successful period in the Premier League era, the Londoner was tipped as the outstanding favourite to replace Fabio Capello as England manager this summer.

The verdicts mark the end of an exhaustive inquiry into football corruption by tax authorities and City of London Police.

Police began pursuing Redknapp in 2006 after he admitted having the Monaco account as he was questioned by the Quest inquiry into Premier League bungs.

The transactions took place as the pair squabbled over a transfer bonus Redknapp was due for the £3 million profit the club made on the sale of England striker Peter Crouch.

But the jury accepted Redknapp’s claim that he knew he was “morally but not legally” entitled to the cash.

A recorded telephone conversation between News of the World reporter Rob Beasley and the pair in 2009 was a pivotal element in the Crown’s case.

Redknapp telling Mr Beasley it was money for transfer bonuses was “the most compelling and important evidence”, prosecutor John Black QC said.

But defence barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC said the Sunday tabloid’s evidence was “primarily despicable”.

“I do not shrink from suggesting to you it is repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness in the criminal justice process,” he said.

The case served up high courtroom drama over two weeks as one of the biggest names in English football appeared in the dock and gave an impassioned display in the witness box.

Redknapp attacked a detective for “staring” and shouted at prosecutor Mr Black: “You think I put my hand on the bible and told lies? That’s an insult, Mr Black, that’s an insult.”

Redknapp said he was “a fantastic football manager, not a hard-headed businessman” and had always paid too much taxes.

He also revealed that he had squandered millions in bad investments and had the writing ability of a two-year-old.

Serbian Mandaric, an entrepreneur behind a multibillion-dollar business empire, claimed he had paid £100 million in taxes during his time in football, adding: “Did I suddenly go crazy?”

Redknapp, of Poole, Dorset, first flew out to Monaco – a tax haven – in April 2002 to set up the account.

He did not tell investigators about Rosie 47 as tax officials investigated a £300,000 payment he received over Rio Ferdinand’s record-breaking transfer between West Ham United and Leeds.

But he voluntarily gave details of the Monaco account as he was questioned by the Quest inquiry.

Mandaric and Redknapp embraced in the dock as the verdicts were read out after five hours of deliberations.

Having lost the contract to fierce competitors IEC in Sports for 2010-13, The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has decided to revive its partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for distribution of major event media rights in Europe and Africa from 2014-17. The deal will cover all IAAF World Athletic Series competitions, including the World Athletics Championships in Beijing and London.

EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot said: “I am very pleased of the IAAF decision to become partner of the EBU again. It shows that the traditional strengths of the EBU combined with a new tailor-made servicing concept are more than ever strong assets for a sport federation like the IAAF. We are convinced this will enable the further development and promotion of athletics.”

Having lost out to commercial broadcaster Channel 4 for the rights to the 2011 and 2013 World Championships, EBU member the BBC announced that it had acquired rights for the 2015 and 2017 World Athletics Championship. BBC Sport director Barbara said: “We’re delighted the Championships are returning to the BBC. The 2017 Championships, taking place at the Olympic Stadium will be a huge moment for UK athletics, helping to deliver the Olympic legacy, and we’re thrilled to be bringing the event to our audiences.”

 

The London 2012 organising committee (Locog) will hit their target of completing the process of taking payment for Paralympic tickets by the end of October it has confirmed.

Ballots have now been completed across 117 price categories in 80 sessions. On 18 October, Locog will begin taking payments from Visa cards and cashing cheques and postal orders.

It is anticipated that more than 100,000 people will be allocated approximately 800,000 tickets to the Paralympic Games, meaning nine out of 10 applicants are likely to receive some or all of the tickets they applied for. 

Locog CEO Paul Deighton said: ‘We were thrilled by the response to Paralympic Games tickets and since the application process closed our teams have been working hard to run the required ballots, ready to begin the process of taking payments and allocating tickets. We are on track to complete payments by the end of the month ready to inform people what tickets they have by 18 November.’

The application process for London 2012 Paralympic Games tickets ran between 9–26 September and saw unprecedented interest, with 116,000 people making applications for over 1.1 million tickets.

The remaining Paralympic Games tickets will go on sale on a first come, first served basis later this year

Following the news that the The International Cycling Union (UCI ) has asked the Spanish National Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open disciplinary hearings against Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, RFEC chief Juan Carlos Castaño has told Spanish sports daily Marca that he hopes the proceedings against Contador “go well” and has indicated that cycling’s governing body in Spain will treat the rider’s case like any other it may receive.

The rider’s press officer Jacinto Vidarte has expressed hope that he’ll be able to defend the charges.

Vidarte told Spanish media that the situation is “normal and what we expected”, explaining that the rider’s representatives will “submit all documents which show that [Contador’s case] was a clear case of food contamination.”

Contador has maintained that the presence of banned stimulant Clenbuterol in an anti-doping test sample obtained on the second rest day of this year’s Tour de France in Pau was the result of eating contaminated meat, hence the miniscule amount of substance in his system.

Upon further analysis in a German laboratory it was later discovered that Contador’s blood also contained minute levels of plasticisers found in blood bags, indicating the possible use of blood doping.

“The Federation’s official version is that it is a normal process as with any other records. It will analyse all the documentation that we have forwarded to the UCI and the Competition Committee will begin examining the process as usual,” Castaño explained.

“If the Committee decides to continue with the process, then we will contact the rider to open the file so that the athlete can present their arguments and documentation that may be necessary for his defense. We will contrast that with what the UCI has given us and thus expose the athlete, [after which we] will proceed to make a decision of record.”

Castaño added that the maximum time to process this case is three months and stated: “I would like [the case] to come out well, but now the Competition Committee has to study this and solve it the way it considers fair.”

The ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), sailing’s premier global match racing tour, has opened the bidding process for cities, regions and countries from around the globe to enter the race for the right to host a stage of sailing’s leading world series.

Recognised by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with special event status, WMRT is a professionally managed tour currently consisting of nine events worldwide. The Tour culminates in the crowning of a World Champion.

The bidding process, which will be managed by venue acquisition consultancy Regatta International, will see six new venues selected to join the Tour from the 2012-2013 seasons. The new venues will win the right to hold a World Championship stage, each lasting for 5 days.

Commenting on the opening of the bidding process, WMRT CEO Jim O’Toole commented, “The World Match Racing Tour is a well proven marketing platform for destinations wishing to showcase their facilities, infrastructure and organisational capacities, increase their international tourism profile and attract inward investment.”

“We are currently undergoing an intense period of expansion and are looking forward to partnering with venues who share our ambition. We have already fielded strong levels of interest from potential venues and by opening up the bidding process we’ll be requiring bidding venues to meet certain criteria.”

Regatta International’s Director Terry Newby said, “The World Match Racing Tour is already one of sailing’s most respected brands with outstanding events around the world. The opportunity to work with interested parties to develop the series to 15 stages by 2013 is a hugely exciting prospect.

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) looks set to expand following a meeting designed to improve Scottish football.

The current 12 clubs on Wednesday held the latest in a series of meetings designed to improve Scottish football.

Chief executive Neil Doncaster stressed that no format or system had yet been decided upon at the Hampden gathering.

But he told BBC: “The 12-team format is something that people perceive has possibly seen its best.”

Talks have been taking place for weeks between concerned chairmen, asthma who privately admit that drastic action is needed to give the top flight a boost.

And, if the majority get their way, the new-look SPL will welcome two new teams and become a division of 14 and will also include one automatic relegation spot, with the second bottom side facing a play-off involving the top three from the second tier.

“I am absolutely delighted at the contributions that are being made some big thinkers in Scottish football,” Doncaster told BBC Scotland.

“They are coming to the party, they are wanting to make a contribution and they want to help with the process of reaching a consensus.”