The International Cricket Council (ICC) has ensured that news from the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 will reach every corner of the globe by signing Sports News Television (SNTV), pills PERFORM and Reuters News as distributors for the event.

These deals guarantee news broadcasters around the world will have access to news highlights from matches, order press conferences, drugs player interviews and event-related stories providing up-to-the-minute information to more than a billion viewers across the world.

“The ICC already has a long-standing relationship with SNTV and Reuters News,” said Campbell Jamieson, ICC General Manager – Commercial.

“We are glad to have them on board for the next exciting instalment of the ICC World T20 as they have an excellent distribution, global reach and have previously provided great support to all ICC events including those that form part of the Pepsi ICC Development Programme.

“We also welcome PERFORM as an ICC news access licensee for the first time at one of our major events. Their inclusion will further add to the distribution and reach of the event via OMNISPORT, their multi-platform daily sports news service.”

“These partnerships will ensure that news broadcasters and, through them, cricket fans around the world will have access to match highlights and other event news.”

SNTV Managing Editor Andy Parkinson said: “SNTV is delighted to once again be working closely with the ICC and look forward to supplying our clients with the best action from the ICC Wold Twenty20.”

Claire Watson Global TV Sports Editor, Reuters News added: “Interest in sport crosses geographic borders and media platforms, so it is important to us to provide action highlights across all broadcast and online platforms globally, and with the ICC deal we can do this.”

Jamie Rice, Managing Director, OMNISPORT said: “We are very pleased to be supporting the ICC in their ambitions to bring the ICC World Twenty20 2012 to a global audience. Our unique perspective to distributing content in any format across any platform and localised to each market will ensure the ICC reaches global audiences through both traditional and new media channels.”

SNTV is the world’s leading sports video news agency supplying top quality sports highlights, features and breaking news both to traditional television stations and a growing band of digital outlets. Through its clients, SNTV’s material can be seen in more than a billion households worldwide in more than 180 territories.

Reuters News, the world’s largest international news agency, is a leading provider of real-time, high-impact, multimedia news and information services to newspapers, television and cable networks, and websites around the globe, reaching more than one billion people a day.

Reuters powers the world’s newsrooms with a global network of television journalists and camera crews delivering timely, quality video coverage to more than 1,000 TV channels

OMNISPORT is a progressive sports news services which enables multi-platform broadcasters to feed ready, formatted and cleared global sports news content across their TV, online and mobile services more easily and effectively than ever before. OMNISPORT is owned and powered by digital sports media group PERFORM.

The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) has announced it has retained Madison Street Capital, herbal a leading provider of corporate finance and mergers and acquisition (M&A) advisory services, medicine to raise capital and explore equity finance opportunities for the EFLI.

The first season for the EFLI kicks off on August 9 in Sri Lanka, featuring teams from India and Pakistan competing in American-style football.

“On behalf of the EFLI, I applaud the dynamic and sophisticated foresight of Madison Street Capital in working with us to develop the potential for the league both financially and philanthropically,” said EFLI founder Sunday Zeller.

“The world will witness two countries entrenched in political opposition face each other on a field of peaceful play. The world will recognize the impact of sport and monetary support in countries so desperate for relief socially and financially. The goal of the EFLI is to create the opportunity to see children walk out of poverty and into a home fit for growth and healthy human sustenance. We believe Madison Street Capital will relish the opportunity to change so many lives as all of us involved with the EFLI do, for this is the driving force behind the league and our people. We welcome Madison Street Capital aboard and I am personally honored and proud to make this announcement.”

“We are excited to be partnering with a highly experienced management team in media/entertainment who raised the initial equity and secured the global partnerships that will produce a successful first season launch,” said Barry Petersen, Senior Managing Director of the Capital Markets Group at Madison Street Capital.

The EFLI will use the same model as the IPL, which recently received $(US)2 billion for a 10-year broadcasting contract, using a single stadium as the venue.{jcomments on}

A US federal judge has denied Barry Bonds’ plea to dismiss or retry his conviction for obstruction of justice, upholding a jury’s verdict and setting up a possible sentencing hearing for the former superstar slugger.

Judge Susan Illston issued a 20-page order Friday night that explained in detail why she was denying the motion to vacate the verdict, the only conviction against Bonds while three charges of making false declarations wound up in mistrial in his April trial before Illston in U.S. District Court.

The judge’s document did not include a sentencing date. It’s possible now that the Bonds defense team will appeal the conviction. Also, the government has yet to announce whether it will retry any of the charges that wound up in a hung jury.

A seven-time Most Valuable Player who set the single-season and career home run records during his 22-year career, Bonds was convicted of obstruction by a jury of eight women and four men, but the jury could not come to a consensus on any of three counts of making false declarations in a trial that ended April 13. The charges are based on Bonds’ 2003 testimony before the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) grand jury, in which he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

The obstruction charge centers on one statement of four from that grand-jury testimony for which the government indicted him. It was called Statement C in the indictment, and it involved Bonds being asked whether he had received injections from trainer Greg Anderson or anyone other than his doctor. After saying that he and Anderson didn’t discuss each other’s business and then talking about being a “celebrity child” as the son of late Giants star Bobby Bonds in what defense said was 75 seconds of “rambling,” Bonds eventually answered no four times to the question.

In a Thursday hearing at the same San Francisco courtroom where his trial was held, Illston heard arguments from Dennis Riordan for the defense team and Merry Chan from the U.S. Attorney’s office for about a half-hour, before saying she would get back to them with her written opinion.

At the hearing, the government contended that the trial jury correctly found that Bonds’ non-responsive answer was intended to steer the interview away from a question he didn’t want to answer.

Chan said: “It’s rambling that the jury found was done to evade giving the grand jury truthful testimony. It’s rambling that was corruptly intended to evade, mislead and to provide false testimony.”

Illston’s opinion included mention that all the individuals in the original BALCO investigation, including Anderson, pled guilty and that Bonds entered his grand-jury testimony with immunity as long as he told the truth. As she said at Thursday’s hearing, she weighed the totality of the trial evidence in making her decision. The defense had argued that was not a specific instruction she had given the jury.

In the documents filed Friday, Illston discussed the materiality of what Bonds was being asked, which suggests that he was being evasive on something that was material to the investigation for which he was being interviewed. She said, however, she did not deny the motion based on the government’s assertion that what Bonds eventually said was false.

The next steps include possible sentencing, a possible appeal from the defense and the announcement by the prosecution of whether it will attempt to retry the three counts of making false declaration.

At trial, two of the three charges of making false declarations were voted by the jury in favor of acquittal, but one count was 11-1 in favor of conviction. That was Count Two, which like the obstruction conviction had to do with questions surrounding whether Bonds received injections from Anderson. Childhood friend Kathy Hoskins provided eyewitness testimony that she had seen Anderson inject Bonds while doing her job packing Bonds’ clothes before a Giants road trip in 2002.

The maximum sentence for the obstruction charge is five years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines and previous BALCO sentences suggest Bonds would be given house arrest and for far less time than that.

Organisers of The brmb Grass Roots Football Show have moved quickly to confirm the dates for the 2012 event.

Following a highly successful staging in 2011, Britain’s premier football show will be held at the NEC from Friday May 25 – Sunday May 27 2012.

The Show will be the prelude to a busy summer of football in 2012 with the European Championships due to kick off in June.

Joanna Burns, Director of The brmb Grass Roots Football Show said; “Our ability to confirm the dates of next year’s event so quickly reflects the positive feedback we have enjoyed from exhibitors, customers and the general football family.

“The Grass Roots Football Show has established itself as the undisputed number one football show in the UK.

“The NEC is a great venue for us and we are already working on additional expansion for the 2012 event.

“Exhibitor feedback was extremely positive and over the coming weeks and months we will be outlining our thoughts and plans for next year’s event to them.

“The passion and appetite for this event is plain to see with around 11,000 people attending over the three days of the show in 2011 and we are working hard to keep moving grass roots football forward.”

Chris Hartley, Business Development Director for the NEC, said; “We are delighted to have confirmed dates for next year’s brmb Grass Roots Football Show at the NEC.

“The vision of the Grass Roots Football Show team is obviously something that the public have bought into and we look forward to 2012 with great anticipation.”

Show ambassadors including Graham Taylor, Chris Hughton, Iain Dowie, Robbie Savage and Dion Dublin all attracted sell-out coaching clinics and seminars at the event.

Show ambassador Robbie Savage said; “I thoroughly enjoyed my debut at The brmb Grass Roots Football Show this year.

“It is a fantastic platform to discuss some of the key issues that affect the game at all levels and just shows there is a massive appetite for the game in the UK.

“For professionals to be able to mix with coaches, players, officials and everybody involved in grass roots football for three days at the NEC was an unbelievable experience and I can’t wait to return next year.”

A range of leading brands and exhibitors have already signed up and confirmed their support for the 2012 event.

The London 2012 ‘London Prepares’ sports testing programme starting this summer has launched ticket sales on a first come, first served basis to the general public via Ticketmaster.

The series was organised in order to test key aspects of the operations ahead of next year’s Games – such as results, scoring and timing systems, the fields of play, the venues and the people who will be working to ensure the Games run smoothly.

There are tickets available for some of the events offering the public a great opportunity to be among the first to experience world-class sporting action at a London 2012 venue, including;

– Hadleigh Farm Mountain Bike International: 31 July 2011, Hadleigh Farm, Essex.

– Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International: 9-14 August 2011, Horse Guards Parade, London.

– London International Basketball Invitational: 16-21 August 2011, Basketball Arena, Olympic Park.

– UCI BMX Supercross World Cup 2011 – London: 19-20 August 2011, BMX Track, Olympic Park.

Tickets are now on sale, priced between US$8 and $57 using Visa cards only.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said: “These events provide us with vital opportunities to test our venues, but also test our staff, our technologies and planning assumptions.

“They will also provide people with a fantastic opportunity to see some world class sport in these venues ahead of the Games – a snapshot of what is to come next year.

“These events are a huge stepping stone for us, helping us to prepare for and iron out any creases ahead of the greatest show on earth next year.”

Ben Wright and Drew Barrand have joined the Football League as Commercial director and Marketing director, cough | it has been revealed today.

Wright has had a distinguished career and joins The Football League from Wasserman Media Group where he is senior vice president of partnerships and business development, having previously worked as head of commercial at Tottenham Hotspur.

Barrand, a former sports editor of Marketing magazine and deputy editor of SportBusiness, joins the League from sports marketing agency Pitch where he is an associate director with experience of delivering marketing campaigns for FIFA, UEFA and LOCOG.

Football League chief executive, Shaun Harvey, said of the appointments: ‘I am delighted to welcome two experienced executives with proven track records in the sports industry to The Football League. I very much look forward to working with both of them.’

‘We have an important period ahead of us and the appointments of Drew and Ben complete a restructuring of our commercial operation that will enable us to meet the challenges of the future so that we can generate greater levels of income for our clubs.’

Wright commented: ‘This is a really exciting opportunity and I look forward to working closely with Football League clubs and the League’s existing partners, as well as identifying new opportunities for commercial growth.’

Barrand added: ‘I am thrilled to be joining The Football League at such an important time in its development. The marketing potential of the League is significant and I am looking forward to the challenge ahead.’

The Bradford Bulls directors who quit on Christmas Eve have agreed to come back to the club while discussions over the future of the Bulls continue.

Bradford chairman Mark Moore and directors Andrew Calvert and Ian Watt walked out, citing former owner Omar Khan’s refusal to transfer his shares to them as the key reason.

The trio claimed in the process that Khan was requesting the repayment of director’s loans be made by the club.

Moore, Calvert and Watt – along with the previously-departed Ryan Whitcut – stepped in at Odsal in September but in early December told the club’s fans that the financial problems they were dealing with were worse than they had thought.

They said Bradford needed to make savings of up to £400,000 and a day later redundancies were made across the club.

Their sudden departures left the club in the hands of Khan and Gerry Sutcliffe MP, who stepped in after Bradford initially went into administration in 2012.

But the trio are back at the helm, Bradford announced on Monday evening, while stating all significant parties involved in the leadership of the Bulls have come around the table to discuss where the club goes next.

The club said in a statement: “Bradford Bulls are pleased to announce that constructive talks have taken place today, between all important stakeholders, under the chairmanship of the Rugby Football League.

“All parties concerned are working to maintain positive levels of progression, with a view to a final agreement being made over the club’s ownership in the near future.

“Ian Watt, Andrew Calvert and Mark Moore will now continue to direct the business and the club will make no further comment at this time.”

Khan and Sutcliffe brought Bradford back in 2012 after the club’s dramatic financial implosion.

As part of their partnership with FOX Sports, adiposity the International Motorsports Association’s (IMSA)  have launched amulti-media brand advertising campaign including a 30-second television commercial of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.  

FOX Sports 1 is part of the five-year partnership between IMSA and FOX Sports announced in August. The advertising campaign showcasing the 2014 TUDOR Championship includes four different print advertisements in four major North American motorsports publications: Autoweek, apoplectic | Road & Track, RACER, and Grassroots Motorsports. The first of those ads also ran in the current issue of the Sports Business Journal (Dec. 16, 2013). The campaign includes vertically integrated digital, radio and social media components. 

“This advertising campaign is our opportunity to announce to the world that, after 15 months of preparation and a lot of hard work by many, the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is about to launch,” said IMSA President and Chief Operating Officer, Scott Atherton. “The creative for this campaign showcases the technology and diversity of our multiple classes, which is the basis and point of difference for our form of motorsport. It captures the essence of what we are about with a clear and concise message: It’s time to go sports car racing.” 

Pfanner Communications, a brand development and marketing agency based in Irvine, Calif., led by long-time automotive and motorsports publisher/marketer Paul Pfanner, produced the advertising campaign. The on-track footage was captured in November during TUDOR Championship test sessions at Daytona International Speedway and Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway. 

“There was an overarching objective to create something that was evocative and emblematic of the brand ethos of the TUDOR Championship, what the series is about, what it represents and what the future is moving forward,” said George Tamayo, Pfanner Communications Associate Creative Director/Brand Strategist. “I threw out an idea early in the process about thematically positioning the series around the idea of time. They had recently announced TUDOR as the [series] title partner so it made sense from that point of view. The whole concept is about time and preparation. There’s a time you need to get ready and there’s a time you have to go. 

“I think the final product turned out great and it’s something everyone involved with this historic debut of a new era in professional sports car racing can be proud of. Everybody put the best foot forward. We had a storyboard that we initially presented and, in the end, we produced something better than the storyboard.” 

“This was a truly collaborative effort between IMSA and Pfanner Communications which yielded a fantastic result,” said IMSA Vice President, Marketing David Pettit. “Our goal was to create excitement and whet the appetite of our fans that the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is almost here. We believe we achieved that goal and will build on that momentum as the season continues.” 

The 2014 TUDOR Championship opens at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. with the 52nd Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 25-26, 2014.

Infront Sports & Media have agreed a joint venture with Aspire Katara Investment (AKI) to target the growing sports marketing business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

The company will operate with immediate effect under the name AspireInfront from its new premises in Doha, adiposity Qatar.

The joint targets to support further development of domestic sport and to connect the GCC economy to international sports properties and sponsors were presented at today’s Doha Goals Forum. The first project handled by Aspire Infront will be the organisation of the FC Bayern München Training Camp, therapy hosted and presented by Volkswagen, which is taking place in Qatar in January.

The launch of AspireInfront unites the influential GCC-based business consortium with one of the leading sports marketing companies in the world. AKI and its shareholders will contribute its regional networks, know-how, and marketing capabilities together with Infront bringing its experience in developing sports properties around the world and its capacity as a full-service covering media, sponsorship, production and event delivery. For both partners, the new joint venture is a significant strategic step in diversifying current business fields as well as in expanding geographic reach.

H.E. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Chairman of AKI, commented: “Qatar and its neighbour countries have a strong legacy in sport, a passionate population and a flourishing economy keen to link into impactful sports platforms with a long-term perspective. AspireInfront will prove to be an essential driver in establishing GCC’s international prestige as a region that is dedicated to sport and committed to delivering unforgettable events.”

Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront, added: “Not only the global economy, but in particular the sports industry has recognised the strong growth potential of the GCC market and the commitment to sport. AspireInfront is to accommodate these developments and meet the emerging demand for a powerful gateway that links potential international partners with the region. For the Infront Group, this is a significant geographic expansion that provides our existing clients with access to an important growth market and rights holders in the region with our first class services and expertise.”