Champ Rugby: Bedford vs Worcester shows strength of second tier Sport Business This Sunday afternoon at Bedford Blues’ Goldington Road could be pandemonium. The home team take on Champ Rugby giants Worcester Warriors looking to be crowned winners of English rugby’s second tier. But what’s the point, when you cannot get promoted? Well it is the continued proof that the Champ is and can be competitive, where [...]
Uefa Conference League: Even as a Palace fan there’s too much football Sport Business I’m writing aboard a plane to Berlin en route to Leipzig for the Uefa Conference League Final. By the time you read this you’ll know whether my Thursday return trip hangover is fuelled by elation or despair. Whether Crystal Palace or Rayo Vallecano triumphed in the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night, it’s right to [...]
A good deal on the London Stadium was never an option Opinion In securing a future for the London Stadium, the choice was never a great deal versus a bad deal, but between any deal or no deal at all.
I’m a Manchester United fan and marketing expert but Arsenal are cool May 25, 2026 Arsenal’s long-awaited success on and off the field has been earned with smart, patient planning, says Pitch founder (and Man Utd supporter) Henry Chappell. As a Manchester United fan since before the Fergie years, Arsenal’s march to Premier League glory and a Champions League final is a tough watch. And it’s just as hard to [...]
The season finale economy: Why we undervalue the Premier League May 24, 2026 With one round of Premier League fixtures remaining, the season finale is not approaching, it is here. Title races (usually) tighten, relegation battles become existential, and the casual viewer becomes a committed one. For fans, it is the most emotionally charged period of the year. For brands, it should be one of the most valuable [...]
Enhanced Games sells drugs and true cost won’t be known for many years May 23, 2026 The first Enhanced Games takes place in Las Vegas on Sunday. For the unfamiliar, the Enhanced Games, as its website proclaims, “celebrates human potential through safe, transparent enhancement, offering fair play, record pay and unmatched athlete care”. Or, as CNN called it, “a doping free-for-all”. It’s actually somewhere in the middle, as Enhanced athletes are [...]
Enhanced Games on metaphorical trial: is the risk worth it for partners? May 22, 2026 The Enhanced Games wants to sell itself as the future: faster, louder, richer and finally honest about the drugs elite sport has spent decades pretending do not exist. This weekend it lands in Las Vegas with a simple proposition. Let athletes use performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision, put big prize money on the table, stream [...]
Bilbao, Amsterdam, Milan: Where should Champions Cup rugby go next? May 22, 2026 The best thing about the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup finals weekend is its location: Bilbao. It is not the first time the two premier continental fixtures have ventured to El Botxo – the San Mames Stadium hosted Leinster’s victory over Racing 92 in 2018 and Cardiff’s Challenge Cup win over Gloucester a [...]
Enhanced Games isn’t sport but a product placement exercise May 21, 2026 The Killers are an odd choice of band to wrap this weekend’s Enhanced Games. I’ve no idea about lead singer Brandon Flowers’ attitude to the permissibility of performance enhancing drugs in sport, but the name of his beat combo jars with an enterprise testing scientific and medical boundaries. It won’t be spinach that the 50 [...]
City of London Nocturne return to see fan zone bonanza May 20, 2026 Britain’s biggest festival might take place in a field in Somerset, but we are proud to be bringing the festival atmosphere to the heart of the capital with the return of the City of London Nocturne. Cycling fans get the chance to see some of the world’s best on two wheels in action, but even [...]