.CLUB was delegated today at www.nic.club: Land Rush begins in March and General Availability in May

.CLUB Domains, LLC, the company formed to own and operate the new “.CLUB” generic top-level domain name (gTLD), announced today that its new “.CLUB” domain has been delegated by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and entered into the Internet’s Root Zone.  As required by ICANN, the first .CLUB website to go live on the Internet is www.nic.club, the registry’s website.

The delegation of .CLUB followed a rigorous application and evaluation process, including technical preparations and assessments by ICANN, and paves the way for .CLUB to execute the final processes required to make the domain name available to clubs, membership organizations, and others sharing a common interest to establish memorable “yourname.club” Web addresses.

“This is truly an exciting and historic event for us as a company as well as for anyone who uses the Internet,” said Colin Campbell, CEO and founder of .CLUB Domains.  “Now, for the first time, web address with the .CLUB extensions will be recognized in browsers and can resolve to working websites.  This will allow people and organizations to create web addresses that truly have meaning to the right of the dot, adding context to the rest of the address like never before.  .CLUB is global brand, which has so many different meanings for so many people throughout the world.  Whether you are an academic club, sports club, nightclub, social club, business club, loyalty club or fan club, you will now be able to find a great domain name that represents your group or interests.”

.CLUB has consistently been listed among the “Top 10” most popular names to be pre-registered among registrars taking pre-orders, including GoDaddy, whose relationship with .CLUB Domains was announced last week.  Before the general public will be able to purchase .CLUB, the domain will enter its Trademark Sunrise period, which allows companies with trademarks first rights to their names.  Land Rush will begin in March and General Availability in May.

About .Club Domains, LLC

Led by Internet entrepreneur Colin Campbell, whose prior successes include Tucows Interactive and Hostopia.com, .Club Domains, LLC was formed for the purpose of becoming the .CLUB gTLD registry.  Fully understanding the inherent marketing value of a .CLUB domain for any membership organization, .CLUB is also building a comprehensive social platform for club management.  .CLUB is a one-stop shop for clubs of all sizes to secure a great domain, grow club membership, improve member engagement and reduce management costs.  By combining an easy to use web services platform with a top level domain based on a globally recognized term, .CLUB is “the easiest way to find, join or start a club.”  More information and pre-registration of .CLUB is available now at www.dotclub.com