Volvo Event Management UK (VEMUK), organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race, have appointed sports marketing agency The Sports Consultancy (TSC) to manage the host port procurement process for the 2011/12 edition of the event.

It is a role the agency has taken on twice before, including for the current edition of the race. Each port pays a fee in the region of US$2.5 million to host a leg of the race. TSC can expect to collect a commission of US$2 million from the anticipated nine or ten ports it will engage.

VEMUK chief executive Knut Frostad said: "The Sports Consultancy has a strong heritage in all commercial aspects of international sailing as well as a great track record of delivering successful host city partnerships.  I am confident they will deliver a first class route for the 2011/12 Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo Ocean Race is going from strength to strength, continually evolving to meet the needs of our rapidly expanding and changing global audience and we believe that host ports play a key role in this process."

The Volvo Ocean Race is the world's most famous round-the-world sailing race. The current race route covers nearly 39,000 nautical miles and is expected to reach a cumulative television audience of two billion worldwide.