MUMBAI: Nimbus Sport has bagged the television production rights for the new season of the Super Fight League (SFL) starting 29 March. The deal with India?s only professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) property, SFL, is for a period of five years.

ESPN Star Sports had on Wednesday announced that it has acquired the broadcast rights to the event for five years.

The Fight League has had a successful run across four seasons of stadium events and an MMA reality show with a focus on developing world-class Indian fighters and giving them a platform to showcase their skills.
The plan is to bring fans closer to the action and to this effect, the league will be produced in High Definition with a significant upgrade in the camera setup. Innovations will include a super slow motion high definition camera that will vividly capture the fights and bring action replays to life.

SFL chairman Raj Kundra said, ?We are delighted to partner with Nimbus Sport to produce the live feed of the Super Fight League (SFL). Best-in-class television production is key to growing a sport and the proven international expertise of Nimbus Sport was the clincher. We can?t wait to bring to our fans some of the biggest MMA stars in an innovative, slickly produced new season.?

Nimbus Sport COO Sunil Manocha said, "Our legacy of producing top-notch live feeds for sports events continues with the signing of this new deal and the SFL is a worthy addition to our bouquet. Through the commitment of its organizers, SFL has quickly established itself as the pre-eminent pro Fight League in India. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to present this action packed property in a manner that befits the best global standards of production for the sport."

MUMBAI: Sunil Manocha, a sports industry veteran with over 20 years of experience across sales, business development, television production, rights distribution and sponsor servicing, has taken charge as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Nimbus Sport.

Manocha replaces Yannick Colaco completing a smooth leadership transition at Nimbus Sport. Colaco has joined NBA as its India Managing Director.

Manocha started his career with Nimbus and has worked on over two dozen major international sports projects over the last two decades, in a variety of management roles. These include the Cricket World Cups 1992 and 2003; the ICC Champions Trophies of 2000, 2002 and 2004, the Asian Games 1998, Hero Indian Open Golf 2012.

He also headed the advertising revenue function at Nimbus associate company Neo Sports with distinction through 2006-2008 before a brief stint away as an entrepreneur. He returned to Nimbus Sport in 2012 to continue his long running relationship with the company.

Speaking of Manocha?s appointment to the new role, Nimbus Communications chairman Harish Thawani said, "It is with pride, affection and respect that I welcome Sunil to his new role. The little master has in the past proved his tremendous capabilities in all areas of our operations. As much a man of relationships, as he is of strategic thinking and attention to detail, his love for sports, passion to excel and excellent interpersonal skills make him the ideal person to grow the business further."

On his new role, Manocha said, "With established expertise across all verticals of the sports value chain-from origination to intermediation to delivery, Nimbus Sport is fully equipped for growth in an exciting new era for sports business in India and Asia. It?s been a journey of great learning and excitement with Nimbus so far, and in this new role, I look forward to working with the team in leading the organisation to new heights."

Nimbus Sport is the full service sports marketing division of Nimbus Communications, specializing in television rights distribution and management, television production, sponsor services, event management, new media content and on-air advertising sales.

MUMBAI: Yannick Colaco, who recently quit Nimbus Sport where he was chief operating officer, has joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) India as managing director.

Colaco will manage the NBA?s India office, based in Mumbai, and oversee all of the league?s business and basketballdevelopment in the
country. He will report to NBA President, International, Heidi Ueberroth.

Ueberroth said, ?Yannick Colaco has the ideal combination of experience and knowledge of the sports landscape in India necessary to lead our expanding operations in the country. Basketball is on the rise in India and we are thrilled to have Yannick lead our extremely talented staff as we build towards the future.?

Colaco will be responsible for leading the growth of the NBA in India. He will continue to build on the league?s efforts to grow participation in basketball in partnership with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

Colaco -- who played basketball at the national university level in India -- will work with the league?s media, marketing and merchandising partners to make the NBA more accessible to fans in India. He will also be responsible for growing further the NBA?s social media presence in the country.

He said, ?The sports market in India is poised for significant growth and as basketball participation increases further there is a tremendous opportunity for the NBA. The league has a strong staff in Mumbai and I look forward to joining their efforts to carry out the NBA?s mission to grow basketball in India.?

The NBA?s Mumbai office opened in October 2011 and includes Akash Jain, Senior Director, Business Development and Partnerships; Troy Justice, Senior Director, Basketball Operations, and three other employees.

NBA headquarters in New York also has a cross-departmental team dedicated to NBA growth in India.

Colaco was named Nimbus Sport COO in June 2009 after joining the company in August 2002. During his tenure he worked extensively across a wide range of sports properties and drove Nimbus Sport business to record profitability.

Prior to Nimbus Sport, Yannick began his career at IMG where he worked on a number of prominent event properties including India?s first ATP Tour Event, Asian PGA Tour Events and the Indian Fashion Week.

The NBA is committed to growing basketball in India and
has hosted more than 450 events in 10 cities since 2008. The league has marketing partnerships in India with adidas, Coca-Cola, Nike, Reebok and Spalding.

NBA has merchandise widely available in 200 adidas locations. Earlier this season, NBA announced a new television partnership with Multi Screen Media?s Sony Six channel providing fans in India the most comprehensive NBA programming and game coverage.

MUMBAI: The second season of World Series Hockey (WSH) organised by Nimbus Sport and IHF will have seven teams as the two teams from Punjab have decided to merge. 

The Chandigarh Comets and Sher-e-Punjab have united into one Punjab team.

The second edition starts in December 2012. The aim of one team from Punjab is so that loyalties in that big hockey market are not divided. There will now be 45 matches as opposed to 59 matches in the first season.

MUMBAI: Following the successful conduct of the first season of World Series Hockey, Nimbus and Indian Hockey Federation have announced the dates for the second season. The world?s biggest hockey league will be played from 15 December to 20 January 2013.

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, "We are delighted to announce the dates of World Series Hockey Season 2. Season 1 was a resounding success for all the stakeholders - players, commercial partners, franchise owners and above all the hockey fans."

IHF president R K Shetty said, "World Series Hockey has clearly emerged as the biggest hockey league in the world and the second biggest sports league in India after IPL. The second season will be bigger and better. We will shortly announce a host of new initiatives along with the format and schedule."

According to Nimbus, the inaugural season of World Series Hockey reached viewers in over 30 countries on television and over 65 countries on YouTube. The unique television tune-ins in India was over 32 million.

The five week long inaugural tournament created unprecedented buzz in terms of daily prime time action on television and record fan walk-ins in the stadium. An aggressive 360-degree marketing campaign and extensive media coverage resulted in high awareness and consumption of WSH.

MUMBAI: Sports broadcaster Ten Sports, which holds the rights to international cricket played in Pakistan, has evinced interest in televising Pakistan Cricket Board?s yet-to-be launched Twenty20 franchise based league.

Harish Thawani-promoted Nimbus Sport is also reported to have given a presentation to the PCB chairman and other senior officials last week on the Twenty20 league.

According to reports, Nimbus is interested in just organising the league for a fee but has not shown interest in procuring rights for the event.

Besides, Ten and Nimbus another international sports marketing agency is believed to have shown interest on the league.

"At the presentations most of those people who gave presentations made it clear that finances needed to be generated from the Indian and other markets to sustain such a major league including the franchises," newswire PTI quotes a saource as saying.

The PCB is hoping to get a price of around $4 to 4.5 million for a franchise which is expected to be held in October.

"Basically they also see October as the ideal time to launch the PPL as the ICC has kept a window open for the Champions League tournament as well and foreign players could be available as well," the source said.

"The biggest issue for the PCB is not just finances for the event but also security issues as they are keen to ensure the league launches with the participation of foreign players," the source added.