The ‘Taking the lead’ project is designed for media partners to embed daily stories and weekly issues onto the website http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com.

Laurits Fischer-Hansen, Head of Sponsorship at Saxo Bank, says: “Pre-produced content such as interviews with Saxo Bank’s co-CEOs, riders, mechanics, soigneurs and other staff will be available for free on the website when it goes live. Newswires and web portals will be able to integrate all of the content to their sites without any cost. During the Tour we will be producing three to four daily stories as well as rider diaries and a so-called ‘Morning call’ featuring Team Owner Bjarne Riis or Sports Director Kim Andersen.”

Laurits Fischer-Hansen adds: “Saxo Bank is launching the ‘Taking the lead’ site because we want to display that winning and teamwork is what Saxo Bank has been about from the outset, but also to ensure that all fans of the sport have access to news and videos from the Tour. As our CEOs and founders have said, the sponsorship gives Saxo Bank the opportunity to highlight our values of endurance and passion, and show what sports and business can achieve together”.

Source: Saxo Bank

Damon Zumwalt, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) has launched Contemporary Security Canada (also identified as CSC) specifically to provide services in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, where it will be responsible for a security workforce of approximately 5000 licensed and trained security staff and will operate throughout all the Olympic and Paralympic venues. The contract award includes a provision of scaling costs according to hours required operationally and provides a maximum of $97.419 million (CAD) to execute the program.

Mr. Zumwalt established Contemporary Security Canada in partnership with Stephen V. Mirabile, who will oversee the project and client relations with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Public Works and Government Services Canada. Additionally, Mr. Mirabile will manage the relationship with “CSC’s” local Canadian partners, United Protection Security Group based in Alberta, and Aeroguard based in Ontario. Mr. Mirabile, who is also the President and Chief Operating Officer for Contemporary International, a sister company of CSC, states that “with over 42 years of experience, we will certainly need to draw on the resources and talent of CSC North America; after all, they provide similar services for over 7,000 events annually across North America.”

Source: Contemporary Services Corporation

MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, announced that MLB.com Mobile Premium, a new mobile-optimized live game product developed for the Palm(R) Pre(TM) smartphone, is available on the device via the MLB.com mobile Web site (wap.mlb.com).

Fans can stay connected to their favorite team wherever they go with these four live game components of MLB.com Mobile Premium:

• MLB.com Mobile Gameday Audio(TM) - Listen to live audio broadcasts of every Major League Baseball game through the final out of the 2009 World Series. Each game will offer the choice of listening to the home or away broadcasts without any blackout restrictions.

• MLB.com Gameday(TM) - Follow every pitch of every game with a detailed graphic presentation and live statistics.

• In-Game Video Highlights - Get realtime, high quality video highlights delivered directly to the smartphone quickly after the play happens on the field.

• Expanded scoreboard - View live statistical data from every MLB game, including linescores, current runners on base and other game details.

MLB.com Mobile Premium on the Palm(R) Pre(TM) is available to subscribers for a one-time fee of $14.99 for the remainder of the 2009 season, including the entire postseason, or a monthly charge of $2.99.

Source: MLB.com

Beach Tennis USA(R), the organization responsible for launching the sport of beach tennis in North America, will hold its Long Beach CA Open, Saturday and Sunday, July 4 and 5 on Alamitos Beach at the Southeast corner of Shoreline Dr. and Ocean Blvd.

The thrilling play will begin on Saturday, July 4, with the Junior and Amateur tournaments starting at 10:00 a.m., followed by the Men’s Pro Division tournament at 1:00 p.m. On Sunday July 5, the Mixed Doubles Paddles Tournament will start at 9:00 a.m., with the Men’s and Women’s Pro Division tournament beginning at 12:00 p.m. The Women’s and Men’s Finals matches will begin promptly at 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., respectively.

Players from all over the country are set to compete for the $1,000 first-place prize, plus a guaranteed spot in the 2009 Beach Tennis USA National Championship in Long Beach, New York, September 5-6.

Beach tennis, which was launched in the U.S. as a pro and recreational sport in 2005 by real estate developer Marc Altheim, is a true hybrid sport that combines tennis and beach volleyball into one exciting and fast-paced game. Played on a regulation beach volleyball court, two players on each team use standard tennis racquets to hit a depressurized tennis ball back and forth over the net without letting it hit the sand.

Since its inaugural season in 2005, Beach Tennis USA (BTUSA) has experienced tremendous growth in player participation and crowd attendance, due largely to the company’s creation of regional licensing agreements and local leagues. To date, Beach Tennis USA has signed domestic licensee agreements in Charleston, SC, Tampa, FL, Ft. Lauderdale, FL and the Metro New York region as well as similar international deals in Japan, South Africa, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

“Beach Tennis Believes,” the official charity of BTUSA, will be accepting donations throughout the weekend on behalf of “The Long Beach Alliance for Children With Asthma” (LBACA), a partnership to improve the lives of children with asthma in the Long Beach community. Beach Tennis Believes helps raise funds and awareness for community centers and youth programs.

Beach Tennis USA

Beach tennis, which was launched in the U.S. as a pro and recreational sport in 2005 by real estate developer Marc Altheim, combines tennis and beach volleyball into one exciting and fast-paced game. Now in its fifth season, Beach Tennis USA has garnered increased attention while hosting events throughout Florida, Southern California, South Carolina, and New York. Beach Tennis USA has also gained recognition in the tennis world, attracting many former top-rated tennis players. The company continues to grow by adding new licensees in various U.S. cities and establishing “Team Beach Tennis,” which promotes year-round league play. To learn more about this fast-growing sport, or to learn how to join the movement, please visit www.beachtennisusa.net.

Compete, a TNS Media company, released the rankings of the top ten sports fan sites for May 2009, based on data from Compete’s panel of two million US-based internet users. Even with the NBA and NHL playoffs underway in May, Major League Baseball fans outnumbered NBA fans online more than two to one and NHL fans more than four to one. According to Compete, number-one ranked MLB.com reached more than 12,227,000 sports enthusiasts in May 2009 (up 35% since May 2008), followed by NBA.com with 5,624,776 unique visitors (UVs), Nascar.com with 3,716,636 UVs and NHL.com with 2,899,406 UVs.

Sports Fan Sites
Ranking Web site May 2009 May 2008 Change Percent

1 mlb.com 12,227,038 9,067,116 35%
2 nba.com 5,624,776 4,262,470 32%
3 nascar.com 3,716,636 3,903,193 -5%
4 nhl.com 2,899,406 2,035,278 42%
5 nfl.com 2,385,687 1,809,218 32%
6 wwe.com 1,784,088 2,574,245 -31%
7 pgatour.com 1,222,622 672,966 82%
8 minorleaguebaseball.com 1,101,034 753,579 46%
9 ufc.com 945,495 766,853 23%
10 kentuckyderby.com 932,266 794,666 17%

Compete also compared the May 2009 numbers to May 2008, which show a year-over-year increase in sports fan interest among the fans of the four major team sports — MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL with significant increases for MLB (35 percent) and the NBA (32 percent). Meanwhile, wwe.com and nascar.com visits dropped while pgatour.com and minorleaguebaseball.com cracked the top ten in May 2009.

Source: Compete, Inc.

Online ballots for the 16 starting position players in the 2009 All-Star Game will be available through 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 2.

Entering the final week of balloting, MLB.com has recorded 163 million votes in the All-Star Game Sprint Online Ballot, a 15 percent increase over the comparable 2008 vote total. With millions of votes coming over these last days, fans will determine which players will earn the title of All-Star starter for the 80th Midsummer Classic at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Tuesday, July 14.

“With fans casting votes on MLB.com at a record pace, we look forward to a historic and exciting conclusion to this year’s All-Star balloting for the elected starters,” said Dinn Mann, Executive Vice President, Content, MLB.com.

“These close races have been fascinating to watch each week and leave us eagerly anticipating the second leg of online balloting when the final roster spots for each All-Star Team will be determined exclusively on MLB.com.”

Source: MLB.com

Major League Baseball announced it will launch this July a landmark pair of in-market subscription products, including Yankees on YES, to deliver live games online within their respective home broadcast territories. Upon launch, these will be the only live in-market streaming products in professional sports to include games with local broadcast television deals.

“These agreements are an important part of our global effort to give fans greater access to our game,” said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. “It is important that fans in local markets have portable flexibility to stay connected to their favorite team if they can’t be at the ballpark, and I believe this represents a significant step in that direction.”

MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, has entered into a partnership with the YES Network and Cablevision to provide eligible Cablevision customers throughout the Yankees home broadcasting territory with access to YES Network Yankees telecasts live on their computers. The offering, which will be implemented through an authentication process managed by Cablevision and MLBAM, will be available exclusively to Cablevision customers who subscribe to the Family Cable (expanded basic) level of television service and Optimum Online.

The Yankees on YES package, available for a one-time fee of $49.95 for the remainder of the season or $19.95 for any 30-day period, is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, July 8 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) with the YES Network’s Yankees-Twins broadcast. Beginning immediately, eligible Cablevision subscribers can review FAQs for the product and purchase Yankees on YES at Yankees.com, YESNetwork.com and Optimum.net.

Major League Baseball became the first professional sports league to make every game available online for out-of-market fans in 2003 and since that time has delivered over 250 million live video streams. It now is also the first to make this number of live games available online for fans living in a home team territory such as the Yankees.

A second in-market live game streaming product is expected to be announced the week of June 29.

Source: MLB

New York baseball fans looking to stretch the baseball season into the winter months can enjoy the warmth of the Caribbean with some of their favorite former New York Yankees and New York Mets players on select sailings of MSC Cruises’ MSC Poesia.

In addition to visiting some of the Caribbean’s most beautiful locations, each “Baseball Greats” cruise includes free interactive guest/player activities, including a player-hosted trivia game in which guests can test their baseball knowledge, question-and-answer sessions with the players, a guest pitching contest and a lively story-telling session in which the players share candid revelations about some of the “characters” of the game. Baseball players will also host pitching, hitting, fielding and base running clinics.

New York fan favorites Frank Howard, Stan Bahnsen, Hector Lopez, Ken Griffey, Sr., Jeff Torborg and Ed Kranepool are in the lineup of baseball greats scheduled to sail Caribbean itineraries roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale this winter:

• Nov. 20, 2009: Frank “Hondo” Howard (who coached for both the Yankees and the Mets) and Bahnsen will be joined by Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller, Toronto Blue Jays Manager Cito Gaston and Bill Russell on the 10-night “Dazzling Dutch Caribbean and the Panama” itinerary.

• Jan. 16, 2010: Hector Lopez (who played on five Yankees championship teams and is now a minor league instructor with the Bombers), Jeff Torborg (who coached with the Yankees and managed the Mets), former Yankees slugger Ken Griffey, Sr., and Cookie Rojas (who coached for the Mets and is now an announcer for the Florida Marlins) will join Bahnsen on the 7-night “Island Treasures & Ancient Temples” itinerary.

• Feb. 6: Bahnsen will be joined by fellow former Yankees Rudy May, and former Mets Jim Fregosi (who was traded to the Mets for Nolan Ryan) and Ed Kranepool, as well as Tony Oliva on the 7-night “Island Treasures & Ancient Temples” itinerary.

• March 6, 2010: Bahnsen will be joined by Amos Otis, Rennie Stennet and two additional players (to be named) on the 7-night “Eastern Caribbean Enchantment” cruise.

• April 3, 2010: Bahnsen, Tony Taylor, Randy Hundley and two additional players will be on the 7-night “Eastern Caribbean Dream” cruise.

Caribbean cruise-only rates begin at $549 per person, double occupancy (government fees/taxes additional). As on all MSC Cruises’ sailings, kids ages 17 and younger sail free when sharing a stateroom with two full-fare-paying adults.

To review more information about MSC Cruises and its theme cruises, visit msccruisesusa.com/specialcruises/theme-cruises or a local travel professional.

With downtown Vancouver hotels nearly completely booked, people with tickets to the 2010 Winter Games now have another innovative lodging option: staying aboard a luxury cruise ship docked along the Olympic host city’s waterfront.

Washington state residents have accounted for 50 percent of Vancouver 2010 Olympic Game ticket sales, according to CoSport.com, the exclusive U.S. ticket seller. Newwest Special Projects LP, an entrepreneurial travel company, previewed the onboard accommodations available to Vancouver 2010 Games visitors during a stop in Seattle on Saturday.

Newwest has chartered Norwegian Cruise Line’s Freestyle Cruising ship, Norwegian Star, for the duration of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Norwegian Star will be docked in North Vancouver from Feb. 10 through March 2, adding 10 percent capacity to the city’s downtown hotel inventory of 12,000 rooms.

“Having Norwegian Star in Vancouver will offer much needed accommodations for corporations, sponsors, sporting clubs and individual fans wanting to make the 2010 Olympic Games an experience of a lifetime,” said Dennis Laliberte, President of Newwest Special Projects LP. “This is a rare opportunity and our team is thrilled to help bring the world to Canada.”

Norwegian Star will arrive in Vancouver on Feb. 10, after a four-day sailing from Los Angeles, where the ship will reside in North Vancouver for the duration of the 2010 Winter Games. On March 2, the ship will head south, arriving back in Los Angeles on March 6. The pre and post cruise options give clients a great way to extend their Olympic experience, but also offer an additional means of transportation for visitors to arrive or depart Vancouver during this busy time.

“Through Newwest’s charter, Norwegian Star will offer unique accommodations for thousands of guests attending the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver,” said Andy Stuart, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Passenger Services. “We are pleased to be working with Newwest on this exciting project.”

Norwegian Star was purpose-built for Freestyle Cruising in 2001 and fully refurbished in 2006. In Vancouver, the ship will feature all the amenities, activities and entertainment programs as if at sea, with a crew of approximately 1,000 looking after a maximum of 2,240 guests. A variety of packages are available in either three or four night durations. Prices start at $350 U.S. per person, per night based on double occupancy. All packages include meals, airport transfers, daily transfers from/to the ship to North Vancouver’s Sea Bus Terminal, city tour of Vancouver and much more. A wide variety of rooms and suites are available aboard the ship from Inside and Outside Staterooms to Mini Suites with balconies and luxurious Penthouse Suites. Since the ship is a private charter, custom tailored packages can be arranged that could include private coach transfers, multilingual guides, private meals and functions for up to 1,000 guests aboard Norwegian Star.

“The ship has 1,119 staterooms allowing for 8,960 guests to be accommodated throughout the duration of the Games,” Laliberte said. “This will generate substantial revenues not only for all levels of government, but for the businesses of North Vancouver, Whistler and Vancouver.”

The head office for Newwest Special Projects LP is based in Edmonton, Alberta and has been in operation for 30 years specializing in special event travel.

Source: Newwest Special Projects LP

This project’s goal is to help 200 adolescents who live in at-risk situations. Through a combination of vocational training and educational programs, participants recover their self-esteem and dignity, discover their potential talents, and become productive citizens for their community and country. USAID, through Esperanza International and its Major League Baseball-Dominican Development Alliance (MLB-DDA), has committed $100,000 for a one year period.

Mrs. Cruz de Martinez said she became involved with the project as a result of “realizing that many Dominican youth are making poor decisions, which bring about teenage pregnancy and drug use, due to a lack of guidance and opportunities. We strongly believe that knowledge is power and when you give the right tools to a child at an early age, you can change and shape the destiny of his/her life, and therefore improve his/her self-confidence and positive leadership,” she said.

Charge Bullen said that the U.S. Government is engaged in supporting community development in the Dominican Republic and this project is the first of many more to come. He encouraged current Dominican baseball players, newly signed baseball players, academies and baseball fans to contribute through the MLB-DDA and praised the efforts of Pedro and Carolina Cruz de Martinez during his inauguration remarks.

The MLB-DDA was founded in November 2008 to tap the potential combined resources of baseball (teams, players, fans, corporate sponsors) in community outreach programs in the Dominican Republic, a country which currently produces more than 20 percent of all signed MLB players. USAID provides financial support through a matching grant incentive fund, MLB provides office and staff support, and six community development organizations (Esperanza, Plan, World Vision, Save the Children, IDDI, and Batey Relief Alliance) provide technical assistance and project management.

For more information about USAID and its programs, please visit www.usaid.gov or www.mlb-dda.org.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

Source: U.S. Agency for International Development