Aston Villa Women hire former Lewes FC CEO Maggie Murphy August 28, 2025 Aston Villa Women have hired Maggie Murphy, the former chief executive of pioneering Lewes FC, to be their new managing director. Murphy was the driving force behind Lewes’s radical policy of allocating equal financial resources to their men’s and women’s teams. Her appointment follows Aston Villa owner V Sports making the women’s team a separate [...]
Free-to-air broadcaster 5 to show NFL and Super Bowl August 28, 2025 Free-to-air broadcaster 5 has secured the rights to Sunday evening NFL matches, and will show the next Super Bowl. The new multi-year deal continues the long running theme of having elements of the NFL on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom, with the American football league also broadcasting a match on Channel 5 on the [...]
Are franchise IPOs the end game for The Hundred’s £1bn investors? August 28, 2025 Have The Hundred’s investors figured out yet how they will make a return? Look out for minority stake sales and maybe even listings in India, says Ed Warner. Never make an investment without having a plan on how to sell it. Illiquidity can scupper the most enticing of propositions. The very best portfolio managers, especially [...]
Hard-up Irish FA savaged after announcing plans to slash workforce August 27, 2025 The debt-ridden Football Association of Ireland has been accused of showing its staff “utter contempt” after it announced it would be making compulsory redundancies. The FAI, which has around 230 employees, said jobs would have to go as part of “a significant transformation programme to modernise how football is developed and delivered in Ireland”. It [...]
EU Commissioner: Overseas football matches a betrayal of fans August 27, 2025 A top EU figure has described plans to play European football matches in other continents as a “betrayal” of fans. The European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef said plans to play Serie A and LaLiga matches abroad should not be described as “innovation”. Both the Italian and Spanish top flight leagues are looking to play [...]
London Broncos apply to be Super League expansion club August 27, 2025 The London Broncos rugby league team have applied to join an expanded Super League next season, the club have confirmed. Super League is growing from 12 teams to 14 in time for the 2026 season, with the Broncos one of 12 clubs expressing an interest in joining the English top flight. “London Broncos can confirm [...]
Ahead of the Game: Fifa eyes Morocco over Spain as 2030 World Cup HQ August 27, 2025 Fifa is in advanced discussions about basing the headquarters of the 2030 World Cup in the Moroccan capital Rabat. The centenary World Cup will be co-hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with the opening three games to be held in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay in a nod to the competition’s roots. The 2026 World Cup [...]
Exclusive: Reading in talks over Welcome to Wrexham style docuseries August 26, 2025 Reading could be the latest EFL club to make a “Welcome to Wrexham”-style documentary series. Owner Rob Couhig is understood to have been approached by several production companies since completing his takeover of the League One club in May. The discussions have yet to involve broadcasters or streaming services, but Couhig has been told that [...]
Women’s Rugby World Cup opener peaks at 2.4m viewers August 26, 2025 England’s opening Women’s Rugby World Cup match against the USA peaked at nearly 2.5m as records tumbled during the competition’s opening weekend. The 69-7 victory over the States was watched by an average 1.5m viewers on BBC 1 while the 42,723 in attendance at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light surpassed the crowd for the previous final, [...]
Reeves warned against gambling tax as EU black market hits £70bn August 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves has been warned to halt plans for tax hikes on bookies after research revealed illegal sites took over 70 per cent of Europe’s betting and casino sales in 2024. Data published by Yield Sec suggests that black market bookies and casino operators raked in £69.7bn across the 27 European Union countries in 2024. [...]