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Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast

BALTIMORE
Countries set for new LPGA event

Eight countries qualified for the LPGA’s International Crown, the first-of-its-kind global team match play competition set for July at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. Countries were determined based on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. The countries are Australia,Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the United States.

BOCA RATON, FLA.

Florida Launch begins MLL play next year
Major League Lacrosse will place a team in South Florida for the 2014 season. The team will be named the Florida Launch and will play at FAU Stadium on the campus of Florida Atlantic University.

CHICAGO
Cubs could sell alcohol outside park

Chicago Alderman Tom Tunney unveiled a proposal to the City Council that would allow the Cubs to sell beer and wine in their new outdoor plaza connected to Wrigley Field, according to a Chicago Tribune report. The ordinance would allow alcohol to be sold in a plaza next to any Chicago sports stadium with capacity above 30,000.

‘Century of Wrigley’ published
Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs released a new book to commemorate Wrigley Field’s 100-year existence: “A Century of Wrigley Field: The Official History of the Friendly Confines.”

COLUMBUS
Jackets renew with sponsors

The Columbus Blue Jackets renewed corporate partnerships with Verizon, Walgreens and Ohio Lottery. Verizon’s partnership includes ice-level signs, in-game electronic messaging and concourse promotions.

DURHAM, N.C.
Bulls sign TS Sports for new displays

TS Sports signed a contract with the Durham Bulls, the Class AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, to install primary and secondary video boards. Durham Bulls Athletic Park has undergone extensive renovations, including a new field, new seats, and new lighting. The $19 million project is set to be complete early in 2014.

INDIANAPOLIS

ECHL expansion team granted
The ECHL’s board of governors approved the expansion membership application of the Indianapolis Fuel. The team will begin play in October 2014 at the 6,145-seat Fairgrounds Coliseum.

MIAMI
Heat puts Samsung on floor apron

The Miami Heat is the NBA’s third franchise to sign a floor apron advertising deal, per the team’s new sponsorship with Samsung. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but no NBA team is pricing the new apron inventory below $1 million. The Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors have also signed apron deals.

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL
Swiss firm buys SportsData

Tech startup SportsData, which disseminates game stats to media outlets and other businesses, has been sold to a Swiss company for an undisclosed amount. St. Paul-based SportsData will retain its name and leadership. The deal allows the buyer, Sportradar, to enter the U.S. market. Sportradar distributes game stats and makes sports-betting technology.

GovX, Wolves partner on tickets
GovX and the Minnesota Timberwolves partnered to launch an online ticketing service that provides game tickets to members of the U.S. military and government first responders. GovX is also the presenting sponsor of the Color Guard at 28 home games and of the Timberwolves Heroes United pregame event.

ORLANDO

Magic mascot Stuff and team ambassador Bo Outlaw help marshal in a Southwest aircraft. Below: Nikola Vucevic (left) and Kyle O’Quinn take turns as pretend pilots.
Photo by: GARY BASSING
Players, airline workers trade places
Orlando Magic players Nikola Vucevic and Kyle O’Quinn celebrated the team’s 25th anniversary recently by trading places for a day with Southwest Airlines all-star employees. Joining Vucevic and O’Quinn were former players Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw, mascot Stuff and the Magic dancers. Southwest is in its second year as the team’s official airline.

PHILADELPHIA
Eagles, Ricoh extend partnership

The Philadelphia Eagles and Ricoh Americas reached an extension of their partnership, which keeps Ricoh as the team’s official documents solutions partner. The partnership
Photo by: FERNANDO MEDINA
began in 2010.

Temple sets sights on new stadium
Temple University is exploring the possibility of building a football stadium on its North Philadelphia campus. Neil Theobald, the college’s president, said a stadium would likely be part of a master plan for Temple expected to be presented next year. Temple now plays its home games at Lincoln Financial Field, incurring rental costs of about $1.5 million a year.

SACRAMENTO
USL Pro team eyes MLS chances

While USL Pro expansion club Sacramento Republic FC won’t take the field until next spring, its promoters are already shooting for an ambitious goal: landing an MLS franchise in 2016, according to a Sacramento Bee report. The team launched a campaign to convince MLS that Sacramento would be a first-rate market for the league. MLS Commissioner Don Garber has said that he wants the league to expand to 24 teams by 2020.

TALLADEGA, ALA.
Track confirms reduced capacity

Talladega Superspeedway officials confirmed that the track will see its seating capacity reduced to about 80,000 seats by next season, according to a Charlotte Observer report. The largest change will come from the recent demolition of the Allison Grandstands, a large swath of seats located on the backstretch that had a seating capacity this season of 18,000.

TAMPA-ST. PETERSBURG
GSSP, Firestone open IndyCar season

Green Savoree St. Petersburg will join forces with Firestone for the opening race of the 2014 IndyCar Series season — the newly titled Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations and GSSP entered a multiyear agreement beginning with the March race weekend.



      COAST TO COAST — BEYOND THE COASTS

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
Kyocera sponsoring Sharks Rugby
Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa is associating with South African Rugby with a sponsorship of the Sharks Rugby team. The Kyocera logo will be the brand on the back of the new official jersey.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
Mitsubishi sponsoring rugby squad
Pro 12 club Edinburgh Rugby agreed to a one-year sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Motors in the U.K. will sponsor Edinburgh Rugby for the 2013-14 season with logo placement above the number on the back of the shirt.

LONDON
Record high for World Cup ticket
The most expensive seats at the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final at Twickenham will cost a record $1,100 as organizers bid to generate the $130 million they have guaranteed to pay the International Rugby Board, according to a (London) Evening Standard report.

PARIS
City, PSG reach stadium extension
The city of Paris and Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain said they reached an agreement allowing the club to remain at the Parc des Princes, according to a Le Parisien report. The new agreement will allow PSG to stay at the stadium for another 30 years.

SAKHIR, BAHRAIN
Track testing lights for F1 race
Bahrain circuit officials tested a new floodlight system as part of their plans to turn their 10th anniversary Formula One Grand Prix into a night race next April, according to a report in The National. Singapore currently hosts F1’s only full-night race.

SOCHI, RUSSIA
Shamans pray for Olympic snow
Olympics organizers arranged for dozens of shamans to pray for snow in Sochi, according to an R-Sport report. As the torch relay last week entered Russia’s remote Asian region of Altai, where ancient shamanism is still popular, traditional holy men and women greeted the Olympic flame in full traditional dress. Organizers have stored nearly half a million cubic meters of snow in reservoirs if the clouds fail to deliver in February.

For more international news, visit www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/global.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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