The U.S. Olympic Committee board has extended the contract of Scott Blackmun through 2021, with the potential for an additional four-year option. Blackmun has served as CEO of the USOC since January 2010.

Steve Simon has been named CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association. Simon currently serves as the BNP Paribas Open tournament director and Indian Wells Garden chief operating officer and will be leaving the Indian Wells, California, tournament at the end of November. He will succeed Stacey Allaster, who recently stepped down.

Myriam Glez has been named CEO for USA Synchro. She will also retain her previous post as high performance director, leading long-term athlete development and national team programs in synchronized swimming. She replaced Kevin Warner as CEO. In addition, the national governing body has announced that it will relocate the organization’s headquarters from Indianapolis to Colorado Springs, Colorado, by the end of 2015.

Jeff Atkinson has been promoted to president of the Honda Indy Toronto following the departure of Charlie Johnstone. Atkinson previously served as vice-president of Green Savoree Racing Promotions, organizers of the Honda Indy Toronto.

John Grant has been named executive director of the Celebration Bowl, a new postseason college football bowl game owned and operated by ESPN Events. The game, which will showcase the legacy of historically black colleges and universities, will feature the champions of the Mid- Eastern and Southwestern conferences. Grant has served as CEO of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta for 14 years.

Ceil Folz has stepped down as CEO of the Vail Valley Foundation. During her 25-year tenure, she organized the 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships and supervised the merger between VVF and the Vilar Performing Arts Center. The current senior vice-president, Mike Imhof, has been named acting CEO.

Henry Smokler has been named general counsel for the PGA of America. He most recently served as managing director of broadcast and digital media at the United States Golf Association.

Carter Westfall has been hired as the Pac-12’s vice-president of international, leading the conference’s global initiatives, with a main emphasis on China. Westfall most recently served as vicepresident of business development for the Sacramento Kings.

Dalian Wanda Group has acquired World Triathlon Corp., which owns the Ironman Triathlon brand. The Chinese conglomerate and cinema chain operator reportedly paid $650 million for the Florida-based company.

Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and WME/IMG have created an e-sports gaming league. Scheduled to begin in 2016, the tournaments will air Friday nights on TBS during two 10-week stretches per year. Both tournaments will include teams playing “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” the featured game of the first season. Turner Studios in Atlanta will serve as the headquarters for the new league.

Hosts & Suppliers

Michael Gehrisch, president and CEO of Destination Marketing Association International, has ended his 15-year tenure with the organization. DMAI Chief Operating Officer Charles Jeffers has assumed leadership until a new CEO is selected. Prior to working at DMAI, Gehrisch served as executive vice-president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and held management positions with Marriott Hotels & Resorts.

Shauna Stewart has been named executive director of the Olympia Lacey Tumwater (Washington) Visitor & Convention Bureau. Stewart most recently directed the marketing and brand management efforts for Building Champions. She previously handled membership and marketing development at the OLTVCB.

Ross Jefferson has been appointed president and CEO of Destination Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. Jefferson served for five years as executive director of Discover Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.

Doug Bennett has been appointed senior vice-president of convention development at the Louisville (Kentucky) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Bennett previously served as director of sales for the central division of Global Experience Specialists Exposition Services.

The Hampton (Virginia) Convention & Visitor Bureau has named Brooks Hierstein as the designated representative for SportsHampton, a sales and marketing initiative created in 2008. Hierstein previously was senior group sales manager for the Hampton CVB.

Sites & Venues

Caesars Entertainment Corp. has officially opened the new $125.8 million Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the Marina District, the 100,000-square-foot center can be separated into 56 rooms with up to 300 different configurations and can accommodate up to 5,000. The venue will be the home of the TEAMS Conference & Expo in 2016.

Barclays Center, NYC & Co. and WWE have entered a multiyear deal to bring SummerSlam, Monday Night Raw and NXT back to the Brooklyn arena in 2016 and 2017. SummerSlam is broadcast around the world live on WWE Network.

The first Team Challenge Cup will be held in Spokane, Washington, April 22–24, 2016. The event will feature 42 of the world’s top figure skaters from North America, Europe and Asia.

MCU Park in Brooklyn will be one of four host sites for the qualifying round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, joining Blacktown International Sportspark in Sydney; Estadio B Air in Mexicali, Mexico; and Rod Carew Stadium in Panama City. The winners of each qualifier will compete in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, which is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball confederation as the sport’s official national team world championship.

Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, will host the 105th PGA Championship on its East Course in 2023. The 2023 championship will mark the 14th time that a New York venue has hosted the PGA Championship.

The Detroit Sports Commission and the Detroit Veterans Affairs leadership have teamed up to bring the National Veterans Golden Age Games to Detroit, July 10-14, 2016. The 30th annual games are open to veterans, 55 and older, who receive health care through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Fairplex, located in Pomona, California, has been awarded a stop on the Olympic Modern Pentathlon World Cup Series Tour from 2017 through 2020. The Monaco-based Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne awarded the United States the rights to the World Cup event for four years.

Mercedes-Benz USA will be the naming partner of the new Atlanta stadium, to be called Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The agreement continues through 2042. The stadium will be home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS’ Atlanta United, and the Southeastern Conference will stage its conference championship football game there through 2026. Construction on the stadium is expected to be completed in 2017.

The Ironman Louisville triathlon will be staged in Louisville, Kentucky, through 2019. The new five-year agreement moves the event to the second Sunday in October from Its traditional date in late August.

Sponsors & Licensing

USA Taekwondo and the Ultimate Fighting Championship have announced the extension of their partnership. USA Taekwondo will be featured on UFC’s broadcasts and digital media.

BMW of North America, the official mobility partner of the U.S. Olympic Committee, has become the official partner of USA Golf in advance of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. BMW will provide transportation assistance to the USA Golf Federation leading up to and during the Games.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame has named PrimeSport as its travel and hospitality partner. The global sports travel and event management company will have high visibility during NFF events, including the upcoming NFF Annual Awards Dinner.

The University of Washington and Alaska Airlines have partnered on a naming rights deal that’s expected to be worth $41 million over 10 years, making it the largest deal of its kind in college athletics. Husky Stadium will be called Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium, and the university will create an athletic village presented by Alaska Airlines.

The Los Angeles Marathon has announced a multiyear partnership with Skechers Performance, making the footwear company the official title sponsor of the race. The Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon, which draws more than 26,000 participants annually, will be held February 14, 2016.

Delta Air Lines has launched alliances with nine universities that will embed the airline and its employees in campus and alumni events, academics and career recruiting and counseling. Delta’s new university partners include Duke University, the University of Florida, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, Penn State University and the University of Wisconsin.

And Finally…

USA BMX has announced that its STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Math) program has distributed more than 1,500 bikes, reaching more than 15,000 students in more than 150 schools nationwide. The two-year-old afterschool program provides students with an eight-module course on STEM education, a helmet, BMX bike and a one-day membership to USA BMX. The program was the first STEM curriculum developed and sanctioned by an Olympic sport. USA BMX is currently working to develop partnerships with several national organizations to implement its STEM initiative in summer camps and afterschool enrichment programs.

This current issue of SportsTravel can be viewed in digital format online by clicking here.

SportsTravel, the sports world’s event magazine, is published by Los Angeles-based Schneider Publishing Company, which also publishes Association News. Founded in 1997, SportsTravel was the first magazine to identify and serve the sports-related travel and event industry. Schneider Publishing organizes the TEAMS Conference & Expo, the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers, which will be held November 9–12 in Las Vegas. TEAMS ’16 will be held September 26–29, 2016, in Atlantic City. In addition, Schneider Publishing organizes the Meetings Quest trade-show series for corporate and association meeting planners. The travel markets served by Schneider Publishing generate 106 million hotel room nights annually. For more information, visit SchneiderPublishing.com or call toll-free 877-577-3700 or 310-577-3700 if dialing from outside the United States.
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