MARKETING
ASTON MARTIN and Lola, the British race car manufacturers, said they were considering re-entering Formula One in 2010, prompted by the race series’ commitment to lowering entry costs.
SHEFFIELD UNITED agreed a one-tournament deal with the Hong Kong Football Association to be title sponsor of this season's Hong Kong FA Cup in a new deal. The 2008-09 edition of the competition will be called “the Sheffield United FA Cup”. Sheffield United owns Chinese team the Chengdu Blades, whose reserve side plays in the Hong Kong league under the name Sheffield United Hong Kong. The new deal was agreed between (HKFA) and Chengdu Blades FC Ltd.
CHRISTINE OHURUOGU appointed VERO Communications to represent her internationally in marketing and media relations. VERO will work with Ricky Simms of PACE Sports Management on commercial sponsorship opportunities for the runner who also holds the World and Commonwealth 400m titles.
POPULOUS, the architecture firm formerly known as HOK Sport, was named as the Official Architectural and Overlay Design Services Provider for the London Olympics – becoming a ‘tier three’ commercial provider.
THE CO-OPERATIVE GROUP, the UK’s largest mutual retailer, was announced as sponsor of the World Netball Series, which is taking place in Manchester on October 9 to 11, and features the world’s top six netball nations - England, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Samoa and Malawi.
VAUXHALL announced it would withdraw its VX Racing team from the British Touring Car Championship at the end of this season, citing the recession, and the absence of other manufacturer teams from the championship.
RAY-BAN agreed to renew its relationship with the Formula One team now known as Brawn GP. The sunglasses maker previously had a deal with the Honda Racing team.
EVENTS
RUGBY UNION CLUBS Saracens, Northampton Saints and Worcester Warriors have been shortlisted for a ‘Community Club of the Year’ award, as part of the UK’s Parliamentary Citizenship awards. Judging for the award will take place on April 29 at an evening reception at the House of Commons by a panel including Derek Wyatt MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Rugby Union Group; Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premier Rugby; and Miriam Sherlock, editor of SportBusiness International magazine.
SPECTATOR CAPACITY at this year’s Wimbledon is up to 40,000 from 36,000, and ticket applications were up 20 per cent this year, according to the club’s chairman Tim Phillips.
PETER KENYON, CEO of Chelsea FC, was announced as a speaker at this year’s Soccerex London Forum, taking place May 13 at Wembley Stadium. Kenyon will address attendees at a session entitled “Football sponsorship in the recession”.
WAKEFIELD WILDCATS, the Super League team, unveiled plans for a new 12,000-seater stadium. The Yorkshire rugby league club were last year awarded a licence to play in Super League until 2011, but need a new ground or risk missing out next time.
THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE inspected progress on the construction of the London Olympics venues during a two-day visit to the city.
BOLTON CHAIRMAN Phil Gartside was reported by the media to have drawn up a proposal for a two division top-flight for English football that would include Scottish clubs Celtic and Rangers. The report came ahead of a bi-monthly meeting of Premier League chairmen this week – the proposal was not on the agenda for the meeting.
LEGAL
SEPP BLATTER, president of FIFA, expressed his satisfaction at the All-Party Parliamentary Football Group report – on governance in football – recommending that UK football authorities adopt the 6+5 rule. Blatter said, “This report represents another important contribution to the ongoing debate as well as a new mark of support towards the cause we are advocating.”
THE ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY FOOTBALL GROUP backed UEFA President Michel Platini’s plans to stop the “financial doping” of Premier League clubs. In a report, it recommended a policy limiting clubs’ expenditure to a proportion of revenue, to stop them spending beyond their means to achieve success. The All-Party Parliamentary Group is composed of Parliamentary politicians from all parties with no direct legislative powers.
THE FA said it was investigating reports that tickets for this year’s FA Cup Final were being illegally sold on the internet before tickets were issued to clubs. One website is selling seats in the Chelsea section for £1,040; its owners say they are not breaking the law because their business is based in Spain.
MANCHESTER UNITED changed their season ticket policy under pressure from the Office of Fair Trading to make it fairer for fans, including ensuring that a season ticket would secure a seat at all home league and cup games.
FINANCE
THE ROYAL AND ANCIENT GOLF CLUB, host of The Open this year, is offering £250 towards coach travel to the event to every golf club in Scotland and the North of England. The move comes as corporate bookings for the July tournament are down by up to 20 per cent, with no bookings at all for premium corporate hospitality.
PRIZE MONEY at the Wimbledon tennis championships will increase 6.2 per cent this year, to £12.6 million, but the rise will be offset by the weakness of sterling against the euro and the US dollar. The winners of the men’s and women’s singles competitions will receive £850,000 each, a 13-per-cent increase.
