Sacramento Kings current owners, The Maloofs have agreed a deal to sell the NBA team to a Seattle based group.

A source close to the situation said Sunday that the Maloof family and the Seattle group, led by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer, could announce a deal as early as today. If the sale is approved by the NBA’s board of governors, consisting of league owners, the team would move to Seattle next season and would be renamed the SuperSonics, after the franchise that left Seattle for Oklahoma City in 2008.

A sale price wasn’t released, but Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has said he believes the Maloofs were working on a deal that would value the entire franchise at $525 million. The Maloofs and a partner in Oklahoma control 65 percent of the team. The Maloof family declined to comment through a spokesman Sunday night, and Hansen’s representative couldn’t be reached for comment.

The price would be a record for an NBA team. ESPN.com, quoting anonymous sources, said Hansen has agreed to give the Maloofs a $30 million nonrefundable down payment and allow them to keep a small ownership stake in the team.

Sacramento officials, however, vowed to press on with their plan to assemble a counteroffer that would keep the Kings from leaving. Johnson plans to bring a rival investor group to the board of governors’ meeting in New York in April and make the case for keeping the team in Sacramento. The board would then presumably vote on which city would get the Kings – Seattle or Sacramento.

“When it comes to keeping the team in our community, Sacramento is playing to win,” the mayor said Sunday night in a prepared statement.

 

 

Sri Lankan Airlines has signed a sponsorship deal to support Japan’s National Championship, viagra order which is named the “SriLankan Airlines Japan Cup” under the agreement.

Sri Lankan Airlines has sponsored the event for the past two years, allergist the new agreement covers the 2012 edition.

Japan Cricket Association (JCA) CEO, erectile Naoki Alex Miyaji, said: “We are extremely pleased at how the Sri Lankan Airlines Japan Cup has developed with the support of Sri Lankan Airlines. Winning the Sri Lankan Airlines Japan Cup is the ultimate goal for cricket clubs in Japan. It has also played an important role in organising and developing regional cricket across Japan. We are looking forward to another great event which will be held this weekend.”

The 2012 SriLankan Airlines Japan Cup will take place on October 6-8 in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture. Five teams from across Japan compete.

The deal has also created ties with Japan and SriLanka. Last year, a Japanese high school made a cricket tour to Sri Lanka and others have visited the country to watch live cricket, including the current ICC World T20.

“Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and the people love their cricket. It is one of the closest Test playing nations to Japan, so it is an ideal place to tour. We look forward to building stronger ties with Sri Lanka and are extremely grateful to SriLanka Airlines for creating such fantastic opportunities,” Miyaji said.{jcomments on]

 

Boxing Clever, illness an advertising agency with a bull’s-eye on strategy and design, sales was announced today as the promotional and interactive agency of record for the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL)

As agency of record, viagra Boxing Clever will provide creative for print, tv and radio advertising, promotions, events, as well as social and digital marketing.

“Boxing Clever is the perfect fit for the Rams,” said Brian Killingsworth, vice president of marketing and brand strategy for the St. Louis Rams. “This is an exciting time for the brand. Working in collaboration with Boxing Clever will allow us to enhance our fan interaction and engagements by creating lasting emotional connections to the team by building family-focused activities and outreach.”

“The power of the NFL is tremendous with over 182 million fans, and the excitement about the Rams around our agency is infectious,” said Dave Scott, senior partner at Boxing Clever. “We’ve already built a great relationship with the marketing team and have seen their vision. With the new leadership at the Rams, there’s a real belief St. Louis will celebrate another championship team soon. That belief is what we want to communicate to the St. Louis fans. We can be as great a football town as we are a baseball town – that time is now!”

Boxing Clever’s first assignment with the Rams is creating a new branding and messaging standard for the entire season, beginning with television spots the agency is already producing. This look and tone of voice will encompass broadcast, print and digital engagement at all consumer touchpoints.

“We’ve been watching the Rams from the South End Zone since they came to St. Louis, and our agency is extremely proud to be working with them,” said Jim Harper, partner and executive creative director at Boxing Clever. “With the youngest squad in the NFL and a marquee starting quarterback and former rookie of the year winner in Sam Bradford, the market is relatively untapped and ripe for cultivating new Rams fans and expanding the Rams brand.”

The nominations for the 2011 International Sports Event Management (ISEM) Awards have been confirmed.

The ISEM Awards will reward leaders in the sports event management sector. Previous winners include Gilbert Felli, sale Danny Jordaan, denture and Bernie Ecclestone. The categories include Event Look, prescription Event Marketing, Event Services, Brand Presentation,  Event Hospitality and Travel, and Outstanding Contribution. A special award will presented for the Environment and Sustainability category.

The shortlist for the award includes organisations such as the International Federation of Netball Associations, ICON, Sport Event Denmark, the International Cricket Council, Motto PS, Fast Track, and Infostrada Sports Group.

The Sport City category features entries from Melbourne (Australia), London, Sheffield, and Manchester (UK), Dubai (UAE), and Shenzhen (China). The Awards take place Oct.12 alongside the International Sports Event Management Conference.

FC Sion are seeking compensation from UEFA for their omission from the Europa League and still believe there is a chance they will participate in the tournament.

Celtic replaced them in the group stage after it was ruled the Swiss side had fielded ineligible players in a play-off victory over Neil Lennon’s team.

UEFA rejected an appeal from Sion , who are now seeking 4m euros in compensation through the civil courts. 

Sion also say they will probably pursue the matter with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

They could ask CAS to make an interim ruling on the case as before full evidence is presented, which may yet threaten Thursday’s kick off between Celtic and Atletico Madrid at the Estadio Vicente Calderon.

A spokesman for Sion told BBC Scotland that Uefa’s ruling against their appeal was “a clear case of misfeasance”, adding that a “Swiss court won’t let the case fall”.

Nicolas Pillet, the club’s head of communications, added: “Uefa believes that it rules the world. The players and coaches are very disappointed. But we still believe we can integrate into the group stage later. We now wait for damages for the harm.”

Sion claim the 4m euro sum is to compensate them for the qualification bonus they have missed out on.

On hearing of Uefa’s ruling against the club’s appeal, Sion defender Jose Goncalves told BBC Scotland that the fight for reinstatement would go on.

“I am really sad that they are not accepting the decision of the law. I can’t understand,” the former Hearts player said.

“I think at the moment we are doing anything possible to get back into the group stages. Not only for this Thursday, but also maybe for the next game. I’m very disappointed because we followed the rules and we went to the courts here because the president and the club are sure we are right. Uefa are going against the law. I just can’t understand that and it is very difficult to accept this decision. No-one can understand this in Switzerland.”

London 2012 Organisers (LOCOG) have revealed that thousands of people who were allocated London 2012 tickets have had their cards declined, meaning those tickets have now been allocated to others and the new recipients will have the money debited by the end of Friday.

A second phase of ticket sales takes place on June 24 and up to a million more will be released next year when venue capacities are confirmed, though these will only be offered to those who missed out the first time around.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast, LOCOG Chairman Lord Coe defended the Olympics ticketing process, saying people should not be “coy or naive” about the funding provided by businesses.

There has been indignation over tour operators, including Thomas Cook, that are now offering Olympics packages with tickets at significantly higher prices.

Coe said: “The corporates are responsible for about 8% of the tickets, the high-end ticket packages are actually only 1% of tickets.

“The corporates in large part pay for the Games, we shouldn’t be coy or naive about that. Twenty five per cent of the operating budget for the staging of the Games comes from ticket sales, and the corporates are probably collectively contributing about £1.5bn to what we’re actually doing.”

Major US satellite radio station, Sirius XM have agreed an exclusive contract with English soccer giant Manchester United to broadcast the club’s matches in America on a multi-year contract.

Subscribers of the New York-based company will be offered live commentary of every Premier League game for the Red Devils via the club’s official matchday broadcast.

The station obtains the rights to stream matches live online on the Sirius and XM Radio websites under the terms of the agreement, as well as on the Sirius XM mobile application.

“This agreement demonstrates the enduring strength of the club internationally. We are very proud to have Sirius XM as our first satellite radio broadcaster in the US” said Manchester United chief executive David Gill.

He added, “This is an exciting arrangement as we know how passionate our fans are in the United States and now they can catch all the match action live on Sirius and XM.”

Sirius XM’s president and chief content officer, Scott Greenstein added: “Manchester United is one of the most famous and widely followed sports franchises in the world and we’re thrilled to offer our listeners access to every one of their Premier League matches.

“Fans across the US will be able to tune in to live play-by-play through their radios, through their computers and through the SiriusXM App. No matter where you are in the US, you won’t have to miss a minute of Manchester United football throughout the season.”

Richard Davies will resign from his post as ATP properties CEO at the end of 2010, announced the ATP.

The position has been held by Davies since 2004 which saw him responsible for the company’s sponsorship sales. Amongst his achievements in the role includes and instrumental effort in securing Corona Extra as the Tour’s global premier partner.

ATP executive chairman and president, Adam Helfant spoke of Davies decision: “We thank Richard for his many contributions to the ATP over the past six and a half years. Richard will be missed and we wish him the very best.”

Recent developments at the have seen the organisation heed to the cry of an increased rest period by many of the games professionals. ATP announced that the men’s tennis calendar will be shortened by two weeks from 2012 to allow the players a seven-week off-season.

Football’s governing body, FIFA, has demanded that the Nigerian Government withdraws its ban on the national team playing any international football for the next two years by this evening.

Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has imposed the ban after the team’s poor performance at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, but under strict FIFA rules, any interference in footballing matters from a country’s government is not allowed.

FIFA stated on Friday that it would give the Nigerian Government until Monday (today) to reverse the ban, or face an even lengthier one.

Yesterday it was revealed that the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) had fired its president, Sani LuLu, and vice-president, Amanze Ugbulam, as well as a member of the Federation’s technical committee in a bid to overturn the ban.

In a NFF statement it said executive committee members “passionately appeal to the president…to reconsider the earlier action of government to withdraw all the national football teams from CAF (Confederation of African Football)/FIFA competitions for two years.”

FIFA Secretary, Jerome Valcke, said the ban threatened the whole set-up of international football. “If the Government of Nigeria do not back down, we will suspend Nigeria and the decision will be taken in the next 48 hours. We have been severe with France, why would we not be toward Nigeria?

“We have 208 members and and if one of them goes against our constitution and the system, then the whole footballing pyramid is in danger.”