British Swimming have agreed a partnership with the Royal Navy which will see the two organisations showcase the multiple opportunities available to recruits and the possibilities of a career in the Royal Navy.

The partnership will evolve over the coming months with the two parties exploring further ways to share knowledge and training skills with a view to forging a longer term relationship to promote careers within the Royal Navy.

Captain Mark Cameron said: “By developing a relationship with British Swimming the Royal Navy is able to demonstrate that there are many more parallels than people might realise. The Royal Navy might offer one career but there are many opportunities within that and if recruits are particularly passionate about a sport, hospital like swimming, denture then we can support that. I can clearly see in Michael and Keri-anne the qualities we look for in personnel: leadership, camaraderie, courage and passion.”

Citi, ed which will sponsor the 2014 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams for the Sochi 2014 Olympics, has unveiled a new national advertising and marketing campaign ahead of the Winter Games.

The campaign, featuring U.S. Olympic and Paralympic qualifiers, hopefuls and legends who comprise Team Citi, includes broadcast, print, out-of-home, social media, and digital advertising, as well as special events, promotions and retail activations. The campaign is infused with Citi’s brand messaging and showcases many of Citi’s competitive and innovative banking products, including Citigold, the Citi Mobile app, and the Citi ThankYou Preferred Visa card.

Citi is continuing its successful Every Step of the Way program, first launched for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and bringing it to life through a comprehensive advertising and marketing campaign featuring the athletes of Team Citi – Julie Chu, Billy Demong, Erin Hamlin, Ted Ligety, Evan Lysacek, Dan Jansen, Picabo Street, Alana Nichols and Rico Roman. 

“Citi is delighted to continue its support for Team USA, this time in their efforts at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games,” said Citi Chief Brand Officer Dermot Boden. “Building on the success of Citi’s inaugural Team USA sponsorship at the London 2012 Olympic Games, we are now pleased to launch a fully integrated campaign that will create an enhanced connection with our customers, our employees and fellow Olympic and Paralympic fans. Just as Citi aspires to help our clients on their journeys from ambition to achievement, we are proud to support our Team Citi athletes every step of the way as they work towards and reach their goals.”

Citi’s television campaign will kick off today with a spot featuring Nordic combined skier Billy Demong. Two additional broadcast spots airing later this month will feature alpine skier Ted Ligety and will focus on the way the Citi Mobile app allows consumers to bank from almost anywhere. The spot that begins airing today will focus on the Citi ThankYou Preferred Visa card, which allows consumers to earn 2X points on dining and entertainment at no annual fee. 

“Our customers want their bank to understand how they live and get them where they want to go – whether they are banking on their smart phone mountainside or earning points for music downloads purchased with their Citi ThankYou Preferred Visa card,” said Elyssa Gray, Director of Creative and Media, North America Consumer Marketing, Citi. “We’re excited to introduce this advertising in which Team Citi athletes bring to life the stories of Citi’s banking products in a fun and engaging way.”

The NCAA has awarded NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships to host venue IMG Academy for the 2016-17 seasons.

IMG Performance will host the championships in conjunction with the University of Tampa on the campus of IMG Academy in Bradenton, capsule Florida. The events will take place will take place May 26-28, pills 2016 and May 25-27, order 2017.

“When you look at the list of cities and venues that will host our championships, there is no doubt the experiences across divisions and sports will likely be the best in NCAA history,” said Mark Lewis, NCAA executive vice president of championships and alliances. “The process was extremely thorough and allowed the sport committees to have some tremendous options, which will ultimately provide our student-athletes, coaches and fans the best experience possible.”

“We look forward to hosting our first NCAA Championship event at IMG Academy, where we recently launched a track and field program housed in our new stadium. We feel a key element in our selection is the focus we place on creating a great student-athlete experience,” remarked Gary Pluchino, Vice President, IMG Performance. “We are also looking forward to hosting a national event that will attract athletes, coaches and fans from all over the country to the Bradenton area where they will be greeted by a welcoming community, great weather, and countless attractions.”

Sochi mayor Anatoly Pakhomov announced the city will host the 2014 Russian Grand Prix in November of that year.

Russia is scheduled to join the Formula One circus in 2014 with the Black Sea resort of Sochi playing host to the grand prix.

It is costing around $200 million to build the venue.

There were serious reports of construction delays last year, although Pakhomov insists everything is now progressing on schedule.

“It will be held in November, after the (Winter) Olympics,” Pakhomov told Reuters.

“The circuit’s construction is being closely monitored by the regional government. Everything is going according to plan.

“If we had any problems we would have asked for help from other regions.”

The British Basketball Association (BBA) has today announced further plans to establish the UK’s premier professional basketball competition.

Capitalising on the growing interest in basketball across the UK, adiposity the nationwide league will showcase leading British players alongside international basketball talent and provide a timely boost for the sport in the country. 

The development of the league will be spearheaded by the BBA Chief Executive Officer, Ron Scott, and newly-appointed Chief Commercial & Operating Officer David Paton who joins from Grant Thornton where he led the company’s Sports Advisory Group.

Paton and his team at the BBA have started to actively market the league franchises to businesses and entrepreneurs who are interested in tapping into a sport that enjoys an avid and growing fanbase in Britain. Basketball is currently the fourth highest participation team sport for ages 16 and over, and is the number two sport for team sports played in secondary schools in the UK.

With an initial pool of eight franchised teams, each covering a major UK city, the BBA aims to stage its first pre-season game in October 2014 with the first league game following in November 2014. The BBA will then have the option of increasing the number of franchises to 14 depending on the level of demand.

The BBA management team operates from offices in both London and the US and is formed of business, marketing and basketball experts, including John Amaechi who, as Co-Director, will provide counsel on specialist basketball matters.   

Ken Olisa OBE, Chairman of BBA, said: “There’s an established and fast growing basketball fanbase in the UK and, with a mix of star talent and the best in sport entertainment, I’m confident the BBA league matches will become key dates in the sporting calendar. We’re passionate about complementing what the NBA stands for globally and we have the right management team in place and an inviting business proposition that we hope will attract considerable interest.”

David Paton, Chief Operating and Commercial Officer, BBA, said: “We’re extremely excited about realising our ambitious but realistic vision to create the UK’s leading professional basketball league. The BBA league will deliver the sport in a new and exciting way and make basketball more accessible than ever before nationwide, to live and televised audiences. ”

The ICC World Twenty20 is set to reach an audience of more than 1.5 billion across 226 territories, treat a record for any cricket event, thanks to new and extended agreements secured by ESPN STAR Sports.

This includes a groundbreaking partnership with ESPN in the US, Caribbean, Central and Latin America and the continued coverage of the ICC World Twenty20 in Europe via Eurosport, this time in 18 languages.

Following on from the world class production of the ICC Cricket World Cup last year, ESPN STAR Sports will produce High Definition (HD) broadcast coverage using 29 cameras, an array of on-air enhancements and compelling graphic presentation to accompany the insightful and trusted voices of its expert group of commentators.

The live broadcast will feature 16 commentators and legends of the game from the leading participating countries. These include Sourav Ganguly, Sanjay Manjrekar, Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja, Ian Chappell, Tony Greig, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming, David Lloyd, Nasser Hussain, Ian Bishop, Simon Doull, Pommie Mbangwa, Russel Arnold, Harsha Bhogle and Alan Wilkins.

Campbell Jamieson, ICC General Manager – Commercial, said: “The ICC World Twenty20 2012 will have the best reach ever for a cricket event and combined with the unique passion and enthusiasm for our great sport in Sri Lanka, the event is set to create a new benchmark.

“And for those people around the world who can’t be there in person, ESPN STAR Sports’ distribution efforts have ensured that more than 1.5 billion people across the globe can view every single match from the comfort of their own home.”

Peter Hutton, ESPN STAR Sports’ Managing Director, said: “We believe that this event is an excellent way of attracting new audiences to the game worldwide, and hope that our production and commentary teams will ensure the best possible experience for viewers across six continents.” 

There will also be extensive radio coverage of the ICC World Twenty20. In Sri Lanka, national broadcaster Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) will cover the event. Outside of host country, the event will have radio coverage from Channel 2 (Middle East & North America), All India Radio (India) BBC (UK), SABC (South Africa), Sport Radio (New Zealand), Croc Media (Australia) and CMC (Caribbean). Channel 2 is also doing live commentary on the internet via Cricket Radio.

The Green Bay Packers have announced record profits of $42.7 million for the fiscal year that ended March 31.

The Packers won the Super Bowl after the 2010 season, and they went 15-1 in 2011 before losing to the New York Giants in the NFC divisional playoff round. 

Team president and chief executive officer Mark Murphy credited booming merchandise sales at Lambeau Field as well as online, plus record attendance at the team’s Hall of Fame and for Lambeau tours.

 “We did set records in terms of local revenue, total revenue was the first time ever over $300 million, and the profit from operation was at an all-time high of $43 million,” Murphy said on a conference call. 

Even one negative from last year turned out to be a positive for the Packers from a financial standpoint. The 2011 NFL lockout led to reduced operating costs for a chunk of the year.

“It wasn’t unusual for departments to be deferring projects, waiting to see the outcome,” vice president of finance Paul Baniel said, according to Bloomberg.com. “Some of the decline is just due to the fact that we were in a slower state for those first four months.” 

The Packers reported a $17.1 million profit in the previous fiscal year. Total revenue for the latest fiscal year was $302 million, after it was $282.6 million the prior year.

MillerCoors filed a lawsuit against the National Football League’s New England Patriots on Monday after the America’s second largest brewer claims the team agreed on an exclusive and lucrative deal and chose to award that deal to its top competitor, Anheuser-Busch InBev, instead.

MillerCoors (a joint venture of SABMiller and MolsonCoors), which has been a sponsor of the Patriots for nearly 10 years, said it negotiated an exclusive beer deal with the team that would begin at the end of this season and run through 2019.

But after the deal was signed and even commemorated with a dinner by the marketing agent working on behalf of MillerCoors and the Patriots sales team, the company says the Patriots decided it was not a valid contract and chose to do the deal, for the same category and time frame of seven years, with Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The suit, which was filed in Massachusetts Superior Court asks for the exclusive agreement to be deemed valid and enforceable and that the brewer be awarded additional damages to compensate them for costs and good will.

Jackie Woodward, vice president of media and marketing services for MillerCoors, said: “We expect to win and when we win we will be a great partner to the Patriots. We look forward to bringing our marketing muscle and activation prowess to bringing football to fans in New England.”

Woodward told CNBC that it was clear that her team had reached agreement on all material business terms and that “there was nothing left to discuss.” But company execs now believe that the Patriots will or have entered into an exclusive deal with Anheuser-Busch.

“We appreciate competition, but we respect the integrity of a deal above all else,” Woodward said.

A spokesman for the Patriots had not seen the suit and could not immediately comment.

As part of the pitch, the Patriots told MillerCoors that the NFL Board of Governors had agreed to expand each team’s definition of “Home Marketing Territory,” defined as the area in which team sponsors can activate their campaigns in stores. The Patriots’ territory was expanded from Massachusetts and a 75-mile radius around its Gillette Stadium to further include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut.

From 2002-03 season to the 2010-11 season, Miller Coors’ Coors Light brand was the official beer of the NFL, but Anheuser-Busch InBev paid a reported $200 million a year for the rights to get that designation for its Bud Light brand for the next six seasons. Teams can, however, do their own deals, which are mostly non-exclusive. The Patriots currently have deals, through this season with MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Boston Beer, parent company of Sam Adams.

Aside from its right to use league marks as part of the NFL sponsorship, Anheuser-Busch InBev has deals with 28 of 32 teams. The Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have an exclusive with MillerCoors. MillerCoors also has the rights to 17 teams on a non-exclusive basis.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is considering launching it’s own IPL-style T20 tournament, Bangladesh Premier League in February next year.

The inaugural BPL will a 21 day event with six teams which will be franchised. The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka and Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong will be used as the two venues for the BPL T20.

The matches will be held in a double-leg format followed by semi-finals and final. The BCB is expected to float an international tender inviting sports marketing companies to organise the competition. 

Furthermore, the BCB is planning to start it’s own channel for which a committee has also been formed under BCB Media & Communications Committee Chairman Mohammed Jalal Yunus.

Currently, the broadcast rights for international cricket in Bangladesh is held by Nimbus Sport.