The UK government’s public sector budget for the Games totals £9.3 billion, which includes all venue construction and infrastructure projects. That figure has already risen from the £2.37 billion quoted when London won the right to stage the Games seven years ago, and Sky News on Thursday reported that an additional £2.4 billion has been added to public sector spending.

Commenting on the appointment, The Sports Consultancy Director Angus Buchanan said: “The Marine Division offers boating enthusiasts of all levels the opportunity to indulge their passion through their specialist travel brands. We believe in turn the emotional appeal this passion invokes creates a huge opportunity for partner brands to connect with this affluent audience.

The Sports Consultancy has built up a strong reputation in the commercial business of sailing representing clients including the Volvo Ocean Race, Americas Cup World Series, Disney and Virgin. This project combines our experience from both the rights holder and brand perspective whilst also tapping into our legal competency.

Alison Woolcock, Head of Customer Engagement, TUI Travel PLC’s Specialist and Activity Sector’s Marine Division said ”The Sports Consultancy impressed us with their commercial understanding and insight into this specialist market. We are looking forward to working together and developing brand partnerships.”

“We believe that Buenos Aires would be an excellent host city for this exciting new addition to the Olympic sports calendar,” said Werthein. “Our aim is help spread the positive values of Olympism amongst young people in Argentina, South America and across the world.”

The BOA announced yesterday that it was considering a bid and that potential candidates must submit applications by a deadline of January 30, 2012.

Glasgow in Scotland, the host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has already been mooted as a potential bidder for the Youth Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee has set a closing date of March 1, 2012 for bids for the 2018 Youth Olympics to be received and the BOA has stated that it will make a decision by then on whether to proceed with a candidacy.

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said: “Delivering a tangible, UK-wide sporting legacy was a key element of London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics, so it would be fitting if hosting the 2018 Youth Olympics contributed to bringing this ambition to life.”

The NBA, fresh from the resolution of a labour dispute which had threatened an entire season – the league will now commence on Christmas day following a five-month lockout – has announced five major sponsorship deals within the last week. The league has renewed existing deals for the brands Budweiser, Gatorade and Autotrader.com, each reportedly earning it significantly higher revenues than under the existing deals. A new lucrative arrangement allowing Under Armour to use official NBA uniforms in its advertising has also been announced. And a further deal, which sees Sprint replacing T-mobile as the official wireless sponsor, has reportedly netted the league $45m over a four-year term – an 80% increase on the T-Mobile deal.

Meanwhile, the NFL has announced 9-year extensions to its domestic broadcast contracts for Sunday games with CBS, Fox and NBC. The deals are worth over $3bn per season to the league, representing a 63% increase on the existing arrangements.

The BOA is currently the only National Olympic Committee to impose a lifetime Olympic ban on any athlete who has been banned for more than six months for a doping offence. This policy has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who have declared it to be contrary to the body’s code.

In October, CAS controversially ruled that the International Olympic Committee’s similar rule, prohibiting any athlete who had been banned for more than 6 months for a doping offence from competing in the next Olympic Games, was unenforceable. That decision allows LaShawn Merritt, the world 400m champion, to defend his title at the London Games next year.

Both the BOA and WADA are hoping for a ruling by April 2012, which could allow Dwaine Chambers (the British athlete who received a 2-year doping ban in 2003) to also compete in London.

The announcement comes after DP World, the world’s third largest marine terminal operator, renewed its sponsorship of the Championship. As part of the the deal, the tournament will be renamed the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.

Financial details have not been released, although it has been announced that the prize money for the renamed Championship will be increased by US$500,000 to US$8million.

The FEI appointed The Sports Consultancy in 2010 to review the Federation’s Host City bidding processes and bring best practice to the tender process for the selection of Host Cities for the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2018 and the FEI European Championships 2015. This appointment follows a series of successful commercial consultancy projects, which the agency has delivered to the FEI since 2006.

In reviewing and creating the Host City tender process and all the supporting marketing and legal materials, The Sports Consultancy has been responsible for a comprehensive review of the bidding process, briefing and managing partner agencies to create impactful documentation, including Deloitte’s economic impact report, which has enabled the FEI to launch a competitive, professional and transparent tender.

Commenting on the announcement, The Sports Consultancy Director Robert Datnow said: “It is extremely rewarding for us to see the initial results of our strategic review and the success of the subsequent launch of the formal host city tender process for the World Equestrian Games. The results so far underline the increasing appetite of venues to participate in clearly conceived and professionally managed competitive tenders for the world’s major sporting events. The process demonstrates to national federations and local, regional and national government and tourism agencies the value in staging the event.

Our work with the FEI further cements The Sports Consultancy’s position as one of the leading international consultancies in the field of major venue procurement for international sports federations and sports event rights holders and builds on our broader commercial consultancy in this area.”

Carsten Couchouron, Commercial Director, FEI added: “The Sports Consultancy has a strong heritage in all commercial aspects of international sport as well as a great track record of delivering successful host city partnerships. They have been a valuable partner in guiding us through our host city tender review. Having eight initial applications to stage the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018 is testament to the fact that the Games are a very attractive property which is increasing its profile with every edition of the Games.”

“The ATP World Tour provides the perfect opportunity for the state of Rio de Janeiro to showcase internationally the unique combination of one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world with the passion for sports,” said Marcia Lins, Rio de Janeiro’s secretary of state for sports and leisure. “Rio de Janeiro has a history of hosting and supporting big events. The state is experiencing a unique moment in time with upcoming major sporting events like the World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games. We invite sports fans around the world to plan their visit to Rio de Janeiro.”