GENEVA (FIBA) – April 25, 2012: FIBA on Wednesday announced that it was submitting an official application for the .BASKETBALL generic top-level domain (“gTLD”) to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
As the world governing body for basketball, FIBA has decided to apply in view of keeping the .BASKETBALL domain within basketball to protect the sport and the interests of its stakeholders as well as the more than 450 million players and fans worldwide, whether regular basketball or 3×3.
With the current list of domain names (such as .com, .net, .org, etc.) reaching saturation point, ICANN is currently taking applications for an expanded portfolio of domain names, making almost any word available to the private sector as a gTLD.
If its application is successful, FIBA will be able to supply relevant and available domain names for people, entities and organisations with an affinity for basketball, that do not currently have any particular domain space catering to their specific needs. Accordingly, FIBA will provide those users with a trusted and secure domain space that is consistent with industry standard service levels.
FIBA has partnered with ROAR Domains, LLC and Top Level Domain Holdings (AIM:TLDH), the only publicly traded company focused exclusively on acquiring and operating new generic top-level domains. TLDH’s wholly owned registry services company, Minds + Machines, will provide back-end registry services for .BASKETBALL.
FIBA Secretary General and IOC Member Patrick Baumann said: “The decision to apply for .BASKETBALL is fully aligned with FIBA’s mission to unify the basketball community, along with the promotion and development of our sport. This domain name concerns our 213 National Federations as well as all other basketball stakeholders worldwide.”
Antony Van Couvering, CEO of TLDH, added: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with FIBA on this sporting domain name. This partnership brings the legitimacy and marketing power to a new class of sporting TLDs.”
Hamish Miller, Director of ROAR Domains, confirmed: “We are excited about the partnership with FIBA and look forward to working closely with them to ensure the proper stewardship of the .BASKETBALL gTLD.”
About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.com) – the world governing body for basketball – is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
For further information about Olympic Basketball visit london2012.fiba.com, or our social networks facebook.com/fiba, twitter.com/fiba and youtube.com/fiba
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