The Leaders in Football conference, taking place at Stamford Bridge in London on October 5-6, have announced that Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn is the event’s latest confirmed speaker.

Quinn, a former international striker for the Republic of Ireland, will address delegates on a panel discussing the duties of football club chairmen alongside Stoke City and Bet365 owner Peter Coates.

Quinn successfully brokered a deal to buy a controlling stake in Sunderland in 2006 and under, him the club returned to the Barclays Premier League before Ellis Short completed a takeover in 2008.

Quinn has joined other high-profile speakers such as FIFA Executive Committee members Dr Michel D’Hooghe and Jim Boyce, Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck and Football League chairman Greg Clarke. The Football Association’s independent chairman, David Bernstein, and Jean-Luc Dehaene, chairman of the UEFA Financial Fair Play Panel, will also speak at the event.

Ticket applicants for next year’s London Olympics will not be billed until at least next week after organising officials put back the process by a week, it has been announced.

The 1.8 million who applied for 20 million tickets were originally told to make sure they had enough money in their accounts from May 10 to June 10 but London 2012 says people will now not be billed until at least May 16 as they continue spending this week carrying out ballots for oversubscribed events.

Last week London 2012 sent out an email to the people who had applied for the tickets advising them to ensure they have cleared funds to cover the cost of their applications.

A spokesman for London 2012 stated: “We have always said that the money would be taken from between May 10 and June 24 and we are still working to that.

“The earliest the money will come out is May 16 and that is within that timescale, there is no delay.”

ZOOM Motorsports have announced that George Dennis has been hired as president of ZOOM Motorsports, ailment the exclusive event promoter of Barber Motorsports Park.

Dennis will replace Rick Humphrey and will oversee all races and events at Barber Motorsports Park, order along with Five Star Event Catering, the catering division of ZOOM Motorsports.

Dennis spent the last two years serving as general manager for the Blazer IMG Sports Network and area sales for the Auburn IMG Sports Network. Prior to that, he spent 10 years at Talladega Superspeedway, home to two annual races on the NASCAR circuit, as the senior director of sales and marketing. Also holding sales and marketing positions within the Birmingham Barons Baseball Club, The Birmingham News and Kimberly Clark Corporation, Dennis comes to Bruno Event Team with a wide range of experience in sales and marketing. 

“George has an excellent background in the sports industry, and he is a natural fit as the leader of ZOOM Motorsports,” stated Gene Hallman, CEO of ZOOM Motorsports. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have him join our team and oversee our event management of this world-class facility at Barber Motorsports Park.” 

Among the many events at Barber Motorsports Park that Dennis will oversee is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, an event that has been named “Alabama Event of the Year” by the Alabama Tourism Department. With more than 80,000 fans traveling from all fifty states for the three-day race weekend, it has become a fan-favorite race on the Verizon IndyCar Series circuit. 

“I am extremely excited to join the team at ZOOM Motorsports and return to the motorsports industry,” Dennis stated. “Barber Motorsports Park is one of the finest road courses in North America, and I look forward to enhancing its great reputation during the 2015 season and beyond.” 

Dennis will begin his role at ZOOM Motorsports on Oct. 13.

The International Triathlon Union and British Triathlon have signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ to create a global Coach Education system designed to standardise and improve coaching education around the world, specifically targeting emerging triathlon National Federations (NF). 

The new ITU coaching pathway, supported by UK Sport, will be based on the International Council for Coaching Excellence’s International Sport Coaching Framework, which is a globally recognised framework for coaching system development. It will also draw on expertise from British Triathlon’s successful UK Coach Education Programmes and the UK Sport’s International Development team.

“We are thrilled to be working in conjunction with the British Triathlon Federation on this ground breaking project,” said ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado. “Nobody knows the sport better, nor can do more to impact its grow, than our National Federations. The opportunity to share expertise through an online platform with emerging Federations will be an invaluable tool.” 

The project will be overseen by ITU Sport Director Gergely Markus as well as ITU’s Zita Csovelyak and Rolf Ebeling. Paul Moss, Coaching Development Manager at British Triathlon, has been appointed as Project Development Manager and will work with ITU in directing the development and implementation of the coach education programme. 

As part of the relationship, British Triathlon will help ITU develop an online e-learning platform that is based on best practices utilised in the British Triathlon e-learning platform, as well as high quality learning programmes that are delivered by skilled ITU facilitators. 

Moss said: “Our involvement in this project provides a great opportunity to work in partnership with ITU by helping them to create a fit-for-purpose coaching pathway and programmes, as well as supporting the development of triathlon coaches around the world. 

The system will be formally launched at the 2014 ITU World Championships Grand Final in Edmonton, Canada.

Athletics Australia has appointed the Essentially Group, click a global sports marketing agency who are a fully owned subsidiary of the highly respected Chime Sports Marketing (CSM), ailment to undertake the crucial sponsorship consultancy role for Australian athletics.

Athletics Australia went throught a process to identify a company with significant experience and a proven track record in the area of sponsorship acquisition to assist in finding and matching corporate partners with its diverse range of sponsorship properties.  Essentially stood out from the crowd amongst the respondents and have subsequently been signed to act as Athletics Australia’s exclusive sponsorship consultants.

“Essentially has vast experience across the commercial side of sport, and they presented a compelling case through our Expression of Interest process,” said Athletics Australia Chief Executive Officer Dallas O’Brien. 

“They will also be able to draw upon the experience of their sister company from the CSM group, Fast Track, and apply to our sponsorship assets their model which has successfully netted UK Athletics significant commercial partnerships over the past few years.

“We’re delighted to welcome Essentially on board and we’re looking forward to working with them to identify partners for some of our great properties, like the Australian Athletics Tour and the Australian Flame athletics team, with whom we can establish long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

“Our sport is poised to enjoy an ever brighter share of the spotlight, starting in 2014 with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and then leading into the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and of course our home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018. We will work with Essentially to identify the right partners to share that spotlight with, who can grow with us.

“This appointment is also aligned with the Australian Sports Commission’s new ‘Winning Edge’ strategic direction, which requires Olympic sports to become more commercially viable and self-sufficient,” O’Brien added.

Charles Mountifield, CEO at Essentially, added “Essentially, one of the four pillars of CSM, is part of one the world’s leading sports marketing and management firms.  To align ourselves with Athletics Australia is important to our expansion in the Australian market place and we are thrilled to be associated with such a reputable and well established organisation.”

Putnam Investments has launched a multi-platform marketing campaign, building on its association with the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding, as they compete in a demanding World Cup Series leading up to the start of the Olympic Games in Sochi in February, 2014.

Appearing on network television and in print, digital and social media, the firm’s newest “Performance in Motion” campaign will kick off in earnest through broadcast advertising beginning November 29 with the World Cup alpine races at Beaver Creek, Colorado. The ads feature Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion skier Ted Ligety, whom Putnam has sponsored individually since late 2009.

Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Reynolds explained, “Ted and his teammates on the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding represent values that transcend their sport: tireless dedication to excellence, unyielding commitment to preparation and ongoing improvement, and a relentless drive to succeed at the highest level — competing against the best in the world. These are traits to which we all aspire and that we are actively seeking to communicate in our new brand campaign.”

Mark McKenna, Head of Global Marketing at Putnam Investments, indicated that the new campaign is part of the firm’s broader “Performance in Motion” sports marketing strategy to align its brand with teams and athletes that resonate with the firm’s advisor, institutional and investor audiences, and who best personify Putnam’s results-oriented philosophy and values.

McKenna explained that the campaign, which includes network television ads, print and digital media and use of social media, will run up to the cusp of the Sochi competition — when United States Olympic Committee guidelines require a “quiet period” — and resume at its conclusion.

Building upon its marketing partnership with Ligety, in October 2010, Putnam announced it had become the exclusive mutual fund sponsor of the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding, supporting U.S. athletes in the sports of alpine, freestyle, and cross-country skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding and Nordic combined.

The Cleveland Browns have completed a $5 million, ed four-month renovation project to vastly improve the team’s training facility and administrative complex.

The club headquarters now efficiently hosts approximately 160 staff members on two floors.

“We envisioned and created a vibrant, illness high-energy space that maximizes our employees’ ability to perform at the highest level in a collaborative environment,” said Browns CEO Joe Banner. “We have further established an environment that allows our team to attract and keep the top people in sports.”

By revamping 37,000 square feet of the 90,000-square-foot building, the complex now accommodates an additional 68 employees who were previously stationed at FirstEnergy Stadium, allowing executives, coaches, players and staff to unify the club’s football and business operations in one building. 

In addition to top-caliber football-operations amenities, the remodeled space houses 60 offices, 90 work stations and in-house radio and video broadcast studios for digital-content creation. 

Front-office staff, coaches, players, business partners and club guests now have immediate access to the Browns outdoor practice fields and indoor field house, as well as convenient views of both in various locations throughout the facility.

The Cleveland Browns training facility is located in Berea, Ohio, where it sits on 13 acres of land. The building originally opened in August of 1991 and has undergone three renovations. The building has two floors, both of which have been renovated during the past few years. In 2009, the first floor was completely remodeled, and improvements were made to all player meeting rooms, the player locker room and the cafeteria.  In addition, the team auditorium was expanded to 2,300 square feet and features 120 theater seats. 

Matthew Kreuzer, search player for the Melbourne-based Carlton Football Club, has become the first ever Australian Football League (AFL) player to be named Ambassador for the Australian MotoGP Grand Prix.

A self-confessed MotoGP fan, Kreuzer will preview each round of the 2013 MotoGP World Championship exclusively for Triple M’s ‘Hot Breakfast’ program in the lead up to the Phillip Island event this October.

“MotoGP and AFL have always been two of the biggest passions in my life,” he says. “As a youngster, I was always begging my Dad to take me to the Australian MotoGP and, as a family, we would have easily been to ten of the World Championship races at the Island.

“I was pumped to be asked to be the Australian MotoGP Ambassador. I look forward to sharing my race previews across the MotoGP World Championship season this year with Triple M Hot Breakfast listeners.”

Last year’s race was won by national hero Casey Stoner shortly before the double title winner retired from the sport. This year’s race takes place on 20^th October.

Sir Nick Faldo has announced that his global golf development programme, viagra pills The Faldo Series will visit Italy for the first time in 2013.

The Faldo Series Italy Championship will take place at the Golf Club Toscana in the Province of Grosseto for the next three years, starting with the inaugural event on July 18-20.

“With the Faldo Series providing opportunity for more than 7,000 young people in 30 countries worldwide, I am delighted that golfers in Italy will benefit from our programme in 2013,” commented Faldo, a six-time Major Champion. “I thank Golf Club Toscana for sharing our vision and we look forward to working with them to grow golf in Italy over the next three years. The support of the Italian Golf Association is also very important.”

“We are very excited about hosting the first ever Faldo Series Championship in Italy,” said Christian Pulz, Manager of Golf and Marketing at the Golf Club Toscana. “We look forward to welcoming talented young golfers from across Italy to the Golf Club Toscana in July.”

Supported by The R&A, ISPS and the European Tour, talented young golfers aged 12 to 21 will compete over 54 holes for the first Italy Championship at the Golf Club Toscana in Tuscany on July 18-20.