ONE World Sports has extended its agreement with Infront Sports & Media, the exclusive global marketing partner of the Chinese Basketball Association. Under the new multi-year, multi-screen agreement, OWS continues to be the exclusive distributor of CBA Professional League games in North America. A minimum of 40 games from the CBA season will air. OWS will also air the CBA All-Star game, the playoffs and the finals (Infront Sports & Media). ... Emerging Queensland mining company Guildford Coal has extended and expanded its sponsorship of National Rugby League club North Queensland Cowboys for the '13 season. The new agreement includes becoming North Queensland’s back-of-jersey sponsor for the first time, sponsorship of the Cowboys’ coaching staff and membership program, as well as sponsorship of the annual Laurie Spina Shield U11 rugby league carnival. The announcement was made at Dairy Farmers Stadium Wednesday by Guildford Coal Chair Peter Lindsay and North Queensland Cowboys CEO Peter Jourdain (North Queensland Cowboys).
FREE PASS: Western Union, a new global partner of the UEFA Europa League, revealed it will turn every successful pass in this season's competition into funding to provide one day of education for young people around the world. The PASS initiative will be fronted by former int'l footballer Patrick Vieira and start during the group stages of the '12-13 Europa League, which kicks off on Sept. 20 across Europe (Western Union). ... Malaysian sports equipment company X’Calibur Distributor Trading "has become a major sponsor of the Malacca Squash Rackets Association." The deal is for three years and is said to be worth RM210,000 ($68,300) in cash and contra (ASIASPONSORSHIPNEWS.com, 9/12).
