Exclusive: Hundred franchises could do own sponsorship deals April 2, 2025 Teams in the Hundred could soon be allowed to negotiate their own front-of-shirt sponsorship deals, as the England and Wales Cricket Board, counties and prospective investors finalise the sale process. The ECB struck deals to sell 49 per cent stakes in the eight Hundred franchises to a variety of international investors earlier this year in [...]
British Basketball Federation hands 15-year licence to Glickman April 2, 2025 The British Basketball Federation (BBF) has defied Super League Basketball (SLB) clubs by signing a 15-year deal with Marshall Glickman’s GBB League Ltd (GBBL) to operate the men’s professional league from 2026. SLB clubs warned last week that they would take legal action to block the sale of the licence, which they say is illegal. [...]
ECB facing pressure to drop prices in Hundred franchise sale April 2, 2025 The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) could be asked to accept less than the £520m offered by new investors for 49 per cent of the eight Hundred franchises if they refuse to hand over control of the competition’s next television contract, which will begin in 2028. The ECB wants to continue its successful policy [...]
Parliament warns against extending Premiership Rugby Covid-19 loans April 2, 2025 A top parliamentary committee has insisted Premiership Rugby clubs who are “financially unviable five years post-pandemic” should not have their Covid-19 loans extended. The damning report from the Public Accounts Committee – an influential group of backbench MPs who probe state spending – singled out the process in which £124m of loans funded by the [...]
Ancelotti in Spanish court accused of €1m tax fraud April 1, 2025 Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will tomorrow appear in court accused of tax fraud of more than €1m. The 65-year-old former Premier League manager will stand trial in Madrid on charges of defrauding the Spanish tax office to the tune of £836,857 in undeclared earnings from image rights a decade ago. The trial is expected [...]
Ineos and New Zealand Rugby end deal after settling £27m sponsorship row April 1, 2025 Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has formally ended its partnership with New Zealand Rugby after reaching a settlement over a £27m sponsorship deal due to run until 2027. NZR, which is responsible for the All Blacks and Black Ferns, sued Ineos in February after the chemicals giant had stopped making payments in order to “exit our [...]
Moses Swaibu: From match-fixing to GameChanger April 1, 2025 Crystal Palace protege Moses Swaibu went from big time to a life of crime, match-fixing for betting syndicates, but – via a spell in prison – is making amends with his sport integrity advisory GameChanger360. Moses Swaibu knew he had hit rock bottom on his first night in prison. Beginning a custodial sentence for bribery [...]
Dazn eyes UK partner deal for Club World Cup rights March 31, 2025 Dazn is looking to sublicense its rights to broadcast the Club World Cup in the UK this summer in a bid to take its coverage of the historic tournament to the widest possible audience. The London-headquartered sports streaming service acquired the global rights to Fifa’s first 32-team edition of the revamped competition earlier this year [...]
Levy slams Spurs critics: We cannot spend what we do not have March 31, 2025 Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has hit out at the club’s transfer spending critics after the north London club made a loss after tax of £26.2m last year. The figure is a reduction on the £86.8m loss suffered in 2022-23 and the accounts for the year to 30 June 2024 showed a huge decrease in [...]
Former Scuderia Ferrari F1 manager loses €50m court claim March 31, 2025 Former manager of the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has lost a €50m claim against wealth manager XY UK. The Montezemolo family alleged that XY UK and its owner Daniele Migani had provided “seriously flawed” financial advice to their affiliate companies between 2016 and 2020. But Mr Justice Jacobs refuted the claims [...]