German Hockey League (DEL) club Cologne Sharks, which currently battles the Eisbären Berlin in the league's final series, has extended its premium partnership with media and telecoms company Unitymedia for the '13-14 season. The deal includes ad space on boards inside the Lanxess Arena as well as on the team's jersey. In addition, the club extended its sponsorship deal with brewery Gilden Kölsch. The club signed a new two-year deal with the brewery, which has been one of the team's main sponsors since '98 (Cologne Sharks). ... The Handball Bundesliga (HBL) has extended its partnership with sports equipment company Molten for another three years until Dec. 31, 2016. Molten, which provides the official game ball for the HBL, has been a partner of the league since '04 (HBL). ... Second Bundesliga club Energie Cottbus has reached a new two-year deal with energy company Vattenfall. The new deal includes ad space on boards at the club's home ground and training facility (Energie Cottbus). ... German 3rd League football club Karlsruher SC has extended its title sponsorship deal with sun and weather protection systems company Klaiber Markisen (KSC). ... IMG worldwide has signed Jingdong, China's leading direct B2C e-commerce company, as the exclusive online retailing partner of the China Super League for the next five years (IMG). ... The Scottish Rugby Union appointed Essentially Group, a division of CSM Sport & Entertainment (CSM), as its sole and exclusive global commercial agency; tasked with sourcing and negotiating key partnerships, including principle partner to the Scotland national team; and title sponsorship for Scotland’s autumn tests from the '13-14 season onwards (SRU). ... Money transfer company MoneyGram announced that former England cricket captain Alec Stewart will continue to serve as the company's ambassador for events leading to the company sponsorship of the Int'l Cricket Council Champions Trophy 2013 (MoneyGram).
