Queens Park Rangers is "parting company with shirt sponsor Gulf Air after three years, and is on the hunt for a replacement commercial partner to leverage its promotion" to the EPL. Sources said that the club is "in talks with a number of prospective new sponsors about a multimillion-pound deal." Gulf Air has been QPR's "main sponsor since signing" a US$11.5M, three-year deal in '08, with gulfair.com "appearing on the team's shirts" (MARKETINGMAGAZINE.co.uk, 6/8).
ROCKING & ROLLING: In N.Y., Larry Dorman profiles PGA Tour player Hunter Mahan under the header, "Golfer Includes A Dose Of Rock In His Approach." Mahan, 29, "sends out regular Twitter messages and is very much in sync with the PGA Tour strategy of putting a hip young face on a sport that is bent on making inroads into the youth market." He is a "study in difference, an outwardly cool competitor," who sports psychologist Neal Smith said can be "extremely passionate and pretty emotional." Mahan attended a golf media day at the Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland yesterday and is a "huge music fan, his iPod filled with Linkin Park, the Clash and Florence and the Machine" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/9).
NAME CHANGE: The ATP Tour event known for the past 25 years as the Tennis Trophy "will be renamed the Erste Bank Open after longtime sponsor Bank Austria pulled out." Bank Austria "pulled out after tournament venue Wiener Stadthalle announced a sponsorship deal with main business rival Erste Bank" (AP, 6/8).
