Unprecedented demand for Cleveland Cavaliers merchandise following the team’s NBA Finals 2016 win helped land them to top the most popular team merchandise list for the first time since January 2015.  

Reigning back-to-back Kia NBA MVP Stephen Curry once again tops the league’s list of most popular jerseys, clinic a position he’s held since the end of the 2014-15 NBA season. 

Rankings are based on overall sales on NBAStore.com from April through June.

Rounding out the top five players are three-time NBA Champion LeBron James (No. 2), five-time NBA Champion Kobe Bryant (No. 3), 2016 NBA Champion Kyrie Irving (No. 4) and 2015 NBA ChampionKlay Thompson (No. 5).

The Cavaliers are followed by the Golden State Warriors at No. 2, Los Angeles Lakers at No. 3, Chicago Bulls at No. 4 and Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 5 on the team merchandise list.

 

Byron Spruell, cough has been appointed NBA President, League Operations, as announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. 

In his new role, Spruell will oversee critical league operations, including the Basketball Operations and Referee Operations departments and the processes regarding the management of rule changes, the evaluation and training of game officials, and the enforcement of conduct standards and discipline. 

Spruell will also collaborate with USA Basketball and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to promote the global growth of the game.

Adam Silver said: “Byron’s excellent track record of operations and employee management coupled with his established leadership skills make him well-suited to further develop and enhance the processes supporting our game,”

“An innovator with strong strategic vision and a willingness to challenge the status quo, Byron is a terrific addition to the NBA’s executive team and will be instrumental in helping to shape the future of our league.”

 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have announced that reanalysis of the “A” samples from 23 athletes who competed at the Olympic Games London 2012 has returned with failed results.

The athletes haven’t been named by the IOC, but they have revealed the athletes in question were from five sports and from six National Olympic Committees (NOCs)

In total, 265 selected doping samples from the Olympic Games London 2012 were reanalysed, all based on intelligence-gathering that began in August 2015.

The reanalysis programme is ongoing, with the possibility of more results in the coming weeks.

Last week the IOC announced that up to 31 athletes could be banned from competing at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 after the reanalysis of 454 samples from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.

In the meantime, one more sample from Beijing 2008 has shown abnormal parameters, which the IOC is now following up.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “These reanalyses show, once again, our determination in the fight against doping,”

“We want to keep the dopers away from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. This is why we are acting swiftly now. I have already appointed a disciplinary commission, which has the full power to take all the decisions on behalf of the IOC.”

The athletes, NOCs and IFs concerned are already being informed, after which the proceedings against the athletes will begin.

All athletes found to have infringed the anti-doping rules will be banned from competing at the Olympic Games Rio 2016.

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Euroleague Basketball clubs have met to discuss different topics to be presented at the upcoming ECA Shareholders Meeting, pilule which will take place in London at the end of April.

The Euroleague as previously approved will consist of 16 teams competing for the first time ever in a round-robin format under which all clubs play each other during a total of 30 regular season rounds.

This will be followed by best-of-five quarterfinal playoffs and the Final Four.

Read more HERE.

Mark Turner, shop has been appointed Volvo Ocean Race CEO, stepping down after 23 years at the helm of global sports marketing company OC Sport.

The Briton will take up his new position in succession to Knut Frostad from June 7 this year.

Turner said: “It is a significant responsibility for me to take over the leadership from Knut, who has done such an excellent job of transforming the race in to the sport’s biggest and most commercially viable top-level event.

“As the race with the most significant global footprint in both media and business-to-business terms, and a fascinating history dating back to 1973, there is a huge responsibility not only to the numerous stakeholders, Volvo, and the other team and event partners, but also to the sport of sailing in general.

“It’s a platform that can really help shape the future of the sport.”

Henry Stenson, chairman of the Volvo Ocean Race board, added:“It has been a long and thorough process, but I know that in Mark we have found the right person to take on this very challenging role,”.

“We need a man with the expertise, determination and vision to take the event to the next stage after all the great work done by Knut, and Mark has all these attributes in abundance.

“The future under his guidance looks very exciting indeed.”

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On behalf of 72 member clubs in the Sky Bet Championship, viagra cheap Sky Bet League 1 and Sky Bet League 2, ed The League is inviting companies specialising in providing sports specific solutions for web and mobile platforms, delivering audio/video content and managing payments services to be part of this review process. 

Agencies, sports technology integrators and media companies wishing to tender should initially email FLiRFP@football-league.co.uk to formally register their interest.

 

MotoGP has awarded ServusTV the Austrian broadcasting rights to the FIM MotoGP World Championship.

The broadcaster will telecast all MotoGP races live from March 2016.

Read more HERE.

By Christian Radnedge

The first ever women’s professional hockey league game was seen by a sold-out crowd in Connecticut on Sunday as a new milestone in American sport was achieved.

The National Women’s Hockey League is the first of its kind, with players of the four teams – Connecticut Whale, New York Riveters, Buffalo Beauts and Boston Pride – all being paid, at a rate of around $15,000 a year (they will still have to juggle their schedule with other jobs).

A capacity crowd of more than 800 turned out to see the Whale beat the New York Riveters 4-1 at Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Connecticut.

While the attendance doesn’t seem a huge number (the venue is a high school hockey-sized arena), the fact that the league exists at all is testament to the hard work of NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan and co-founder Angela Ruggiero, herself a member of the International Olympic Committee and a Winter Olympic gold medallist.

Rylan, herself a former player, insisted that women’s ice hockey had opportunities there for the taking.

“People will say they can’t really notice a difference between the men’s and the women’s until they zoom in,” she said.

“Women’s sports are hot right now. And there’s a business in it, it’s untapped.”

The league is funded by a number of investors, providing equipment for the teams involved. However, players can make additional revenue by way of a right to 15% of profits off any NWHL jersey sold with their name on it.

For the players though, it was just enough to see a full crowd cheering them on.

“It’s honestly a dream come true. Because never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this,” said Whale goalie Jamie Leonoff, who made 35 saves in the win over the New York Riveters.

“As a kid, you think about playing in the NHL. As you get older, you kind of realize that it doesn’t exist for women.

“They sold over 800 tickets, and you had people screaming at the girls on the ice,” said Leonoff. “It’s what every girl dreams of. Every. Hockey. Girl.”

For Rylan, Sunday was vindication of her belief that a professional women’s ice hockey game would draw a crowd – though for the league to profit, all of the season’s games leading up to the presentation of the Isobel Cup would need to sell out.

“The product on the ice was exactly what we wanted. It was a professional hockey game. The home team won, so that made it even better,” Rylan said.

“If this was someone’s first women’s hockey game, I guarantee you it’s not going to be their last.”

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