About ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation that has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD, such as .uk for the United Kingdom or .jp for Japan) top-level domain name system management, and root server system management functions. As a private-public partnership, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes. www.icann.org
The development of an appropriate process and policy for the creation of new generic top-level domains (http://icann.org/topics/new-gtld-program.htm) is central to fostering choice and competition in the provision of domain registration services, and as such is critical to the promotion of ICANN's core values. gTLDs are part of the structure of the Internet's domain-name system (DNS). Each of the generic TLDs was created for a general category of organizations (see RFC 1591). Examples of gTLDs are .COM, .BIZ, .ORG, and .MOBI. A complete list of existing gTLDs is available at http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/.
With the Internet now declared to be at "steady state" by ICANN, it is moving to allow any entity that so chooses to apply to manage a TLD registry on behalf of specific (in the broadest sense of the term) community. At the ICANN Cairo meeting in November 2008, the Draft Request for Proposals, also known as the Applicant Guidebook ("AG"), was posted for public comment. At the end of the public comment period ICANN had received over 1200 pages of feedback, which led to the publishing of the 2nd Draft AG just prior to the ICANN Mexico City meeting (March 2009) and the 3rd Draft AG in October 2009 prior to the ICANN Seoul meeting. The lengthy and robust consultation is refining the new TLD application/review process to provide for a reliable, unbiased process. Four key thresholds were defined at the ICANN Sydney meeting (June 2009) and the time needed to meet those thresholds will determine when the final Applicant Guidebook will be made available to prospective applicants. At the ICANN Nairobi meeting 07-12 March 2010, the timeline was updated to advise potential applicants that the fourth Draft Applicant Guidebook would be published by the ICANN Brussels meeting in 20-25 June 2010. ICANN staff advised that the fourth Draft is anticipated to comprise a 95% final document, with the public comment period that follows expected to finalize the Final Guidebook shortly thereafter. The ICANN Board is planning a retreat at the end of September 2010 to review, what for all intents and purposes will be, the final Applicant Guidebook. The Board retreat will coincide with the kick off of the four-month global public awareness campaign to awaken both potential applicants and Internet users at large about the prospect of new top-level domains. Our most recent ICANN Update is noted here. The next Update will be published in August 2010.
dotSport LLC's goal is to establish .sport as the primary top-level domain for the global sports community to the benefit of the industry sector and sports fans around the world. A .sport Internet domain name, provides high-profile visibility expanding the sector's online presence among both users of the Internet and the broad spectrum of sport and its fans.
The approval of the .sport gTLD application will benefit the Internet community at large by offering a competitive alternative to .com, .org or ccTLDS. It will alleviate the current artificial scarcity of .com domain names, and validate innovative policies intended to eliminate the speculation and trafficking in domain names, trademark infringement, cybersquatting, and consumer fraud, while establishing policies for business practice assurances that serve the global sporting community in accordance with ICANN's stated goals.
With the Internet now declared to be at "steady state" by ICANN, it is moving to allow any entity that so chooses to apply to manage a TLD registry on behalf of specific (in the broadest sense of the term) community. At the ICANN Cairo meeting in November 2008, the Draft Request for Proposals, also known as the Applicant Guidebook ("AG"), was posted for public comment. At the end of the public comment period ICANN had received over 1200 pages of feedback, which led to the publishing of the 2nd Draft AG just prior to the ICANN Mexico City meeting (March 2009) and the 3rd Draft AG in October 2009 prior to the ICANN Seoul meeting. The lengthy and robust consultation is refining the new TLD application/review process to provide for a reliable, unbiased process. Four key thresholds were defined at the ICANN Sydney meeting (June 2009) and the time needed to meet those thresholds will determine when the final Applicant Guidebook will be made available to prospective applicants. At the ICANN Nairobi meeting 07-12 March 2010, the timeline was updated to advise potential applicants that the fourth Draft Applicant Guidebook would be published by the ICANN Brussels meeting in 20-25 June 2010. ICANN staff advised that the fourth Draft is anticipated to comprise a 95% final document, with the public comment period that follows expected to finalize the Final Guidebook shortly thereafter. The ICANN Board is planning a retreat at the end of September 2010 to review, what for all intents and purposes will be, the final Applicant Guidebook. The Board retreat will coincide with the kick off of the four-month global public awareness campaign to awaken both potential applicants and Internet users at large about the prospect of new top-level domains. Our most recent ICANN Update is noted here. The next Update will be published in August 2010.
dotSport LLC's goal is to establish .sport as the primary top-level domain for the global sports community to the benefit of the industry sector and sports fans around the world. A .sport Internet domain name, provides high-profile visibility expanding the sector's online presence among both users of the Internet and the broad spectrum of sport and its fans.
The approval of the .sport gTLD application will benefit the Internet community at large by offering a competitive alternative to .com, .org or ccTLDS. It will alleviate the current artificial scarcity of .com domain names, and validate innovative policies intended to eliminate the speculation and trafficking in domain names, trademark infringement, cybersquatting, and consumer fraud, while establishing policies for business practice assurances that serve the global sporting community in accordance with ICANN's stated goals.