Japanese power tool manufacturer, Makita has strengthened it’s sports sponsorship links in the US by returning as the official power tool of the 2011 AMA Supercross season.

As part of the deal Makita will also become the primary sponsor of the Rockstar Makita Suzuki Team which won the tournament last year as well as world Supercross and Motocross champion Ryan Dungey.

Dungey became the first person ever to achieve the double feat in the 2010 season at the age of 21.

In addition to a strong portfolio of racing sponsorships, Makita is the official power tool sponsor of Major League Soccer (MLS), and the Mexican National Soccer Team during their competitive matches in the United States.

The ATP has announced that the men’s tennis calendar will be shortened by two weeks from 2012 giving the players a seven-week off-season.

Roger Federer is leading the calls for the ATP Tour to extend the gap in between seasons, which this year sees the top stars have just over a month off before starting another 11-month campaign.

The ATP have responded by extending the break by two weeks, but it now means that the Paris Masters and ATP World Tour Finals are to be held back to back.

The Paris tournament is the last qualifying event for the end-of-season eight-man showpiece, with the following week given over to practice time for the players and promotion of the event, which began a five-year stint at London’s O2 Arena in 2009.

The changes were approved at a board meeting in London on Saturday, with two weeks removed from the calendar courtesy of condensing Paris and London as well as the reallocation of three smaller tournaments to earlier in the year.

ATP executive chairman and president Adam Helfant defended the changes saying it was the only way a longer break could be brought in.

“We’re very happy with the result,” said Helfant. “The length of the off-season is arguably the biggest issue confronting the sport of tennis, and it was the responsibility of the ATP to find a way to address the problem.

“As you can imagine, there were quite a few options that were on the table. And the board weighed up all the different considerations and ultimately decided that the calendar as you see before you reflects our best options for achieving our goal, which was to create a more meaningful off-season.”

World number one Rafael Nadal has been a particular critic of the gruelling nature of the tennis season but it remains to be seen whether the players believe this represents the best option.

There will be concern the changes will negatively impact on the World Tour Finals, but Helfant insisted that will not be the case.

He continued: “We promote this tournament all year long. In fact, when you leave the arena on Sunday after the finals, we will be promoting next year’s finals.

“The success of this event does not depend on a couple of promotional activities that have traditionally taken place in the week before our last Masters 1000s and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.”

Source: Sky Sports

Scottish Rugby has extended is partnership with viagogo by announcing that the world’s largest ticket marketplace will return as partner of Scotland’s Autumn Tests for a second consecutive year.

viagogo sponsored last year’s Test series as part of a three-year ticketing partnership, providing an affiliated, safe, secure and guaranteed platform to buy and sell tickets for all Scotland home matches, with today’s new deal adding a fourth year to the ticketing partnership.

The viagogo Autumn Tests will pitch the national team against Argentina (Saturday 8 November) and the All Blacks (Saturday 15 November) at BT Murrayfield Stadium, followed by Tonga at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (Saturday 22 November).

Scottish Rugby’s Director of Commercial Operations, Communications and Public Affairs, Dominic McKay, said: “We’re delighted to extend our three-year partnership with viagogo, which includes the renewal of their Test series naming rights sponsorship for another year.

“Last season, we established a relationship with viagogo that is extremely beneficial to both Scottish Rugby and its supporters and we’re pleased to be able to extend it for another year, starting with our three Tests against Argentina and New Zealand at BT Murrayfield, and Tonga at Rugby Park, in what will be the first international rugby match involving a tier one nation to be held on a synthetic pitch.”

He added: “Since we started working with viagogo last October, we have sold tickets in more than 45 countries, bringing thousands of new fans from as far afield as Singapore, Malaysia and Japan to BT Murrayfield.”

Steve Roest, spokesperson for viagogo, said: “We’re proud to develop our partnership with Scottish Rugby further, after a successful year working together to protect its fans, promote its world-class rugby to a global audience, and continue our investment in the sport.

“It’s our mission to enable people to buy and sell any ticket, to any live event, anywhere in the world, using the language, currency and device of their choice.

“Scottish Rugby fans all over the world can now click on viagogo and buy before they fly with complete confidence.”

Sports company PUMA has appointed advertising agency JWT New York as its lead creative agency.

JWT will assume a leadership position over all PUMA advertising and creative on a global basis, generic with reach across North America, generic Europe, apoplectic Latin America, APAC and Middle East/Africa.

JWT will work with PUMA to develop and define a fast-moving creative process poised to capitalize on culturally relevant sporting moments. The agency will immediately begin working on a project to re-ignite the brand heat, working with PUMA to define its new Forever Faster brand messaging before rolling out a new global brand campaign in the second half of 2014.

“In JWT, we have found an agile agency with a global reach that understands the PUMA brand and culture,” said Björn Gulden, CEO of PUMA. “The team quickly proved that they could deliver on our new mission to become the Fastest Sports Brand in the World. Together we’ll craft a more nimble creative structure that will allow us to support all of the company’s sporting and lifestyle categories with a single consumer message and streamlined creative concept across territories.”

The PUMA account will be led out of JWT’s flagship headquarters in New York, with offices across the agency’s network contributing regional insight and localization of the global brand campaign.

“PUMA is more than an advertising relationship for us; it’s a true brand and business partnership,” said Peter Sherman, CEO, JWT New York.  “It will be a privilege to work with this team.”

PUMA is the latest in a string of new business wins for JWT New York in the last three months, which includes a consolidation of Energizer brands and a creative assignment from Google.

Timo Glock has lost his drive at Marussia F1 for the 2013 season due to ‘commercial reasons’ according to reports.

The German left the Banbury-based team by “mutual consent” after a three-year spell, although Marussia team boss, John Booth hinted that the decision was made for “commercial” reasons. 

This was backed up by an exchange Glock had with fellow F1 driver Mark Webber on twitter.

The Red Bull ace expressed sympathy with Glock for losing his drive, to which the German replied: “Hi mate, thanks a lot for that message, that means a lot to me!”

He added: “That’s the way of F1 at the moment hope it will change again soon because like this it has nothing to do with sport!

“Now it’s up to you guys to make things clear in drivers meetings.”

Glock, 30, was on a salary and the team could now replace him with a new driver who would bring in money through his own sponsorship deals.

Booth said: “Timo is a fantastic driver and he has been a very popular member of the team.

“Our team was founded on the principle of benefiting from proven experience whilst also providing opportunities for young emerging talent to progress to the pinnacle of motorsport.

“This philosophy has also been reflected in our commercial model.

“The ongoing challenges facing the industry mean that we have had to take steps to secure our long-term future.

“Tough economic conditions prevail and the commercial landscape is difficult for everyone, Formula One teams included.

“We would like to thank Timo for working with us to reach this decision, especially as he had a valid contract, and also for the contribution he has made to our team.