Professional English rugby union club Gloucester Rugby has confirmed that Martin St Quinton is the new 100% owner of the club with immediate effect.

Mr St Quinton, denture who first acquired a 25% share in the club in October 2008 before subsequently increasing his shareholding, medicine has purchased all the shares held by the Walkinshaw family and now has sole ownership of the club.

Full story HERE.

International sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media has acquired a 51 percent stake in Omnigon, link one of the leading digital services firms within the sports and entertainment industries.

The investment, cure effective immediately, unhealthy makes Infront the majority shareholder of Omnigon and follows the successful initiation of a strategic partnership announced in October 2015.

The acquisition supports the full deployment of Infront Digital Solutions, providing clients with advanced services across the entire digital ecosystem and value chain from one central source – including strategy and monetisation, technology and content creation.

Complementing Infront’s existing digital service capabilities, Omnigon will retain its current brand identity and continue to operate as a stand-alone entity.

The management team, led by CEO Igor Ulis, will remain. The company has established itself as a market leader in digital services, as it counts some of the world’s largest brands as partners including the PGA TOUR, NASCAR and NBA franchise the Miami Heat.

In 2015, Omnigon designed and developed the award-winning official Rugby World Cup mobile app and just last month launched an all-new website on behalf of AS Roma (pictured right).

Omnigon will contribute its expertise, technological and creative know-how to the Infront Group’s digital expert unit and its extensive product portfolio.

Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront, said: “Our target is to be both a thought leader and a global premium service provider for digital solutions.

“During the initial strategic partnership with Omnigon, it became apparent that the company ideally complements the existing Wanda Sports businesses with its digital know-how and solutions.

“It is now my pleasure to warmly welcome all Omnigon employees to the Infront Group. Supporting clients to leverage and monetise sports consumption across the digital landscape and remain at the forefront of development, we will offer powerful one-stop-shop solutions as well as custom-made products.”

Igor Ulis, CEO of Omnigon, added: “Recent months have fully convinced us that Omnigon fits very well within Infront’s team and culture, its working approach and client focus.

“Our current clients can be assured their points of contact at Omnigon and the high-quality level of support and delivery they’ve become accustomed to will remain unchanged.

“There is tremendous upside as this now means our clients will have access to an even broader service portfolio. We are fully convinced this step will help us elevate Omnigon to the next level, benefitting from the overall competencies, skills and network of the Infront Group.”

In the past few months, Infront and Omnigon have collaborated on several key projects.

Work is underway to develop a new app for the German Football Association’s DFB Cup and provide digital services to Lega Serie A.

{jcomments on}

Global communications group Havas have confirmed the appointment of Pedro Avery as CEO of its Havas Sport and Entertainment network replacing Lucien Boyer.

The appointment will be effective from 1 January 2016.

Read more HERE.

A business networking event at St David’s Hotel, Cardiff Bay on Friday night saw a panel of high profile sports administrators and marketeers debate the rise of Wales as a host of major sporting events in front of an invited audience

The chief executive of the Football Association of Wales, Jonathan Ford joined P1 chief executive James Durbin and Visit Wales marketing director Mari Stevens at a special sport tourism event in Cardiff on Friday to discuss the rapidly growing sports sector within the multi-billion pound travel and tourism industry.

This is an area where Wales punches well above its weight which has seen it become a big fish in a very big pond.

The latest chapter in Wales’ success story is the news that the Millennium Stadium will host the UEFA Champions League final in 2017.

Mari Stevens and James Durbin highlighted the power of partnerships in staging successful sports events to attract visitors, stimulate the local economy and raise the profile of the host city and country.

P1 partnered with the Welsh government, supported by Cardiff City Council, to present the P1 Welsh Grand Prix of the Sea on the bank holiday weekend when huge crowds lined the waterfront for two days of high-speed, free to watch marine motorsport.

iSportconnect Chairman Michael Cunnah said: “The Business Forum examined and analysed Wales’ impressive position as a venue for some of the world’s biggest sporting events. All of the panelists contributed real insight, specifically identifying the pivotal role of the Welsh government in winning such events in the past and the future.”

American Flyers was a 1985 movie depicting the strategy and tactics of road cycle racing. In addition to an early appearance by Kevin Costner, the film was notable, among other things, for its portrayal of European cycling.

At the time, professional cycling had still to take hold in the United States and Lance Armstrong was only a boy, no doubt pounding the streets of Plano, Texas in anticipation of what lay ahead. Instead, the movie’s glamour boys were the European riders who were all swagger and attitude.

Up to that point, professional cycling had been a distinctly European phenomenon. It was dominated by heroes and icons such as Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx. Another rider, Miguel Indurain, was the quintessential type of European cyclist depicted in the movie.

A five-time Tour de France winner, during his career Indurain was often portrayed as having had an impoverished working-class upbringing – cycling was his route out of farming in rural Navarre, Spain. Even so, for every Indurain, there had been a hundred other French, Italian and Spanish riders of the same ilk.

Corporate strategies

If American Flyers portrayed cycling in the way it had always been, its prophetic message was of what cycling would become. Many of the film’s scenes were staged using the actual 7-Eleven professional team as actors. In time, 7-Eleven eventually mutated into the Motorola team, which was formed by Jim Ochowicz. Ochowicz went on to become Lance Armstrong’s first professional team director when the rider competed for Motorola between 1992 and 1996.

Both Ochowicz and Armstrong brought a new approach to cycling that was less Spanish farm worker and more square-jawed American executive. Their strategy was more akin to industrial process and commercial enterprise, something which began to revolutionise professional cycling.

Under the influence of Armstrong, Ochowicz and others, the corporate types being drawn into cycling were soon themselves enticed by participation in the sport. In their book, Wheelmen, Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O’Connell of the Wall Street Journal identified how cycling was embraced by, and became the epitome of, American business culture. It was intensely competitive and combined the importance of strong strategy and tactics with the need for the good health and well-being of executives.

Olympic Effect

Following developments in the United States, cycling’s nouveau-riche contingent found a new boost from an upsurge in British interest in cycling. First came some success, most notably during the 2004 Athens Olympics, which led to a sharp increase in the sale of bicycles in Britain. Then came the emergence of a new team, Sky, which not only set about revolutionising the sport, but also provided a focus for UK sports fans and bike riders alike.

At the heart of this British new wave was a man who was neither European farmer nor American executive. Rather, he was all Fred Perry, Northern Soul and tattoos. Although he had been around on the professional scene for more than a decade, when Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and an Olympic Gold Medal in 2012, cycling in Britain went stratospheric.

If Armstrong was the poster boy for corporate America, then Wiggins was more like David Beckham on wheels. With a penchant for 1960s British music, a wardrobe of sharp suits and a loving family to boot, for many British males Wiggins was and still is a 21st-century icon in the way he balances style, rebelliousness, family life and high performance at work.

Of this Anglo-American marriage was born a love-child, the disciples of which now populate the highways of both countries and beyond. Where once, the working-class traditions of cycling witnessed farmer’s sons on bikes, now our roads are adorned with gleaming machines ridden by accountants in synthetic fabric – the MAMILs have arrived and are populating the cycling world.

Middle-Aged Men in Lycra (MAMILs) have rapidly become a cultural phenomenon and a clearly defined market segment. Kitted out in garish sponsor-laden kits of professional teams, they pedal away on £4,000 bicycles.

Some cultural commentators have identified cycling as the new golf, as hordes of men flee the fairways and head for the hills. The suspect fashion and competitive edge are still there, but health, welfare and team bravado have replaced the one-upmanship of golf’s club houses. Furthermore, there’s something distinctly 21st century about pushing oneself to the physical limit with the guys on Mount Washington in New Hampshire or in the Yorkshire Dales, rather than indulging in a Sunday afternoon saunter around a pleasant golf course.

MAMILs have also become a marketer’s dream, spending sums of money on a bike that most people would ordinarily only spend on a small family car. The preponderance of lycra, carbon fibre helmets and on-board computers has contributed to a cycling industry that is now estimated to be worth £2.9 billion or more to the British economy alone.

As Britain’s Chris Froome continues to lead the Tour de France, and with US rider Tejay van Garderen challenging strongly until his dramatic exit on Wednesday, this year’s race has been something of a MAMIL fantasy. As such, carbon fibre rim manufacturers and energy bar producers are no doubt already salivating at the prospect of further boosts to their coffers.

Yet for all the cynicism among lonely women and overweight men, MAMIL mania should not be so quickly discounted. Just think of the environmental benefits every time a pushbike replaces the 1970s fuel-guzzling sports car that such men once longed to buy in middle age. At the same time, there are health benefits as well; unlike golf with its 19th-hole celebratory cigars and round of whiskies, the new way among MAMILs is to consume energy drinks and fruit purees in order to keep their bellies in check.

While some people will mourn the passing of cycling’s heritage and traditions, we now have a sport that is exactly what the likes of Jim Ochowicz set-out to create – and then some. Indeed, as we get deeper into the 21st century, with money in sport taking hold and the need for active lifestyles pressing, it is unlikely that we will ever see a return to the rugged, unvarnished type of cycling witnessed during the era of Coppi and Anquetil.

---

Professor Simon Chadwick holds the position of Chair in Sport Business Strategy and Marketing at Coventry University Business School, where he is also the founder and Director of CIBS (Centre for the International Business of Sport). Simon is the founding Editor of ‘Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal’, is a former Editor of the ‘International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship’ (he continues to serve as an editorial board member for several other sport journals), and has authored and published more than 600 articles, conference papers and books on sport. His academic research has appeared in journals including Sloan Management Review, the Journal of Advertising Research, Thunderbird International Business Review, Management Decision, Marketing Review and Sport Marketing Quarterly. Simon has co-edited the books ‘The Business of Sport Management’ and ‘The Marketing of Sport’ (both Financial Times Prentice Hall), ‘Managing Football: An International Perspective’ (Elsevier), ‘Sport Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice’ (F.I.T.), and ‘International Cases in the Business of Sport’ (Routledge). Alongside his books, Chadwick has created a Sport Marketing talk series for Henry Stewart Publishing, is Editor of a Sport Marketing book series for Routledge (Taylor and Francis), and is a visiting academic at IESE and Instituto de Empresa in Spain; the University of Paris, France; the Russian International Olympic University in Sochi, and the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Follow Simon on Twitter @Prof_Chadwick

Simon’s 

Scottish football club Celtic FC have been given permission to introduce ‘safe standing’ at their Celtic Park stadium with the installation of a rail seating system.

Full story HERE.

The Lord’s Cricket Ground has been proposed as the venue for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup final.

The World Cup will be staged in England and Wales in 2019 and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have also suggested the semi-final venues should be Old Trafford, abortion Manchester and Warwickshire’s home of Edgbaston, symptoms with the opening game being staged at The Oval.

There will also be proposed group matches for Durham, sale uk viagra. Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, Bristol and Southampton, with Taunton set to host an international men’s cricket match for the first time since the 1999 World Cup.

All venue allocations are subject to approval by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said: “The ICC Cricket World Cup attracts television audiences which have the potential to outstrip all other major international sporting events.

“As chairman of the ICC’s Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee I know that we are anticipating a global television audience of more than two billion for the final.

“ECB are extremely proud to be staging the tournament which follows the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup in the list of truly global events being held in this country.

“Multi-cultural Britain ensures that all the teams competing in the ICC Cricket World Cup will have generous support in all the games they play in what promises to be a global celebration of cricket.”

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ECB has a long-standing reputation for its ability to host world-class events and the ICC is delighted that the ECB is hosting three global events between 2017 and 2019, each at quality venues.

“Following on from our recently announced global broadcast partnership with Star India/Middle East, we are confident that all three tournaments will generate unprecedented worldwide audiences in what is widely regarded as the traditional home of cricket.”

Steve Elworthy, ECB Head of Global Events, added: “The tournament will showcase the exceptional facilities which now exist at our leading grounds after a period of sustained investment in everything from stands to drainage to floodlights.

“The format of the tournament is also widely considered to be the most exciting with all teams playing each other in a 10-team group which will be followed by two semi-finals and a final at the iconic Lord’s ground.

“It is also fitting that Lord’s should be proposed to host the ICC Women’s World Cup final in 2017.”