Ahead of the start of the Champions League knockout stages, adidas "unveiled on Monday the new match ball that will be used throughout the rest of the competition." Celebrating Wales, which hosts this year's final at the Principality Stadium, the ball's unique design features a "striking dragon print." It is inspired by the national emblem, in which the dragon "predominantly covers the country's flag." The ball will be used for the first time on Tuesday (London DAILY MAIL, 2/13).
Clothing brand Rapha returned to be title sponsor of the 2017 London Nocturne scheduled for June 10. The "night-time criterium race" was founded in '07 as a collaboration between Rapha and event organizer Face Partnership. After Rapha "stepped away for a few years," it returned for '17 as part of a new three-year partnership, and plans are being made to take the Rapha Nocturne series "further afield than London" (CYCLING WEEKLY, 2/13).
Team GB announced a new partnership between the British Olympic Association and travel and ticketing company Sports Travel and Hospitality Group called Team GB Live. In the coming months, Team GB fans will have a range of opportunities to engage with and support Team GB athletes through the creation of official travel packages for the 2018 PyeongChang Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (Team GB).
Ahead of the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, the Olympic Council of Malaysia "hopes more private companies will step in as sponsors to cover its shortfall." OCM Secretary-General Low Beng Choo said that the involvement of local private companies, including "smaller scale investment," would be "crucial to achieving the target of hosting a successful event." A major sponsorship deal for the SEA Games from food and chemical company Ajinomoto Malaysia will be announced in the "next few days," as the race to meet the $18M budget "intensifies" (ASIA SPONSORSHIP NEWS, 2/13).
Car manufacturer SEAT and Dorna World Superbike Organization signed a sponsorship agreement for the FIM Superbike World Championship. The Leon Cupra will become the official safety car for the motorcycle series when it kicks off on Feb. 24 at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia. In addition to showcasing SEAT on billboards at each round of the championship, the sponsorship agreement will enable the Leon Cupra to "feature as a safety car in a worldwide series for the first time ever" (WorldSBK).
Double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson was named the new brand ambassador for multi-platform communications company FLOW (JAMAICA GLEANER, 2/13).
French Pro A basketball side Asvel General Dir Gaëtan Muller announced the club’s future training center will be named the Tony Parker Adéquat Academy. NBA player Tony Parker is the majority shareholder and president of Asvel. The club signed Lyon-based temp agency Adéquat “for 12 years, for an amount that was not revealed.” The academy is expected to open in ’18 (ACTEURS DE L’ECONOMIE, 2/10).
