How ‘unsexy’ B2B firms are pushing out consumer brands in sport May 9, 2025 “Unsexy” B2B firms are increasingly replacing consumer-facing brands in some of the country’s most prized sport sponsorship deals, new research has found. Manufacturing/engineering, specialist professional services, construction and software are four of the five fastest-growing industries appearing as front-of-shirt sponsors of England’s top football, rugby and cricket teams. The study by sponsorship intelligence firm Caytoo [...]
Beckham, Neville, PR guru Kelly and Lord Davies take over Salford City May 8, 2025 Former Manchester United stars David Beckham and Gary Neville have joined forces with entrepreneur Declan Kelly and Lord Mervyn Davies to take control of Salford City FC. Beckham and Neville were already shareholders in the League Two football club as part of the Class of ’92 but Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil [...]
Chelsea Women sign Skoda as first back of shirt sponsor May 8, 2025 Chelsea Women will get their first ever back of shirt partner after signing an extension to its partnership with Skoda. The Czech brand’s UK arm will don the back of the Chelsea shirts, effective immediately, having first partnered with the Kingsmeadow club in 2024. Chelsea won their sixth consecutive Women’s Super League title this month [...]
London Lions savour turnaround and eye Super League Basketball play-off final May 8, 2025 London Lions CEO Lenz Balan has hailed the club’s “unbelievable” recovery from the brink of extinction to within touching distance of a fifth consecutive play-off final. The domestic champions were plucked from administration by new owners, Lithuanian tech incubator Tesonet, in a hugely turbulent few months for British basketball last summer. Despite shedding star names, [...]
New Zealand Rugby post £8.7m loss months after Ineos saga May 8, 2025 New Zealand Rugby has posted a third consecutive loss despite the firm – which encompasses the All Blacks – achieving record income. A NZ$19.5m (£8.7m) loss for 2024 follows losses of NZ$8.9m (£4m) and NZ$47m (£21m) in 2023 and 2022 respectively. While nowhere near the £34.3m loss at England’s Rugby Football Union recently, the 2024 [...]
Saudi Arabia’s PIF sponsors new $13m prize golf series May 8, 2025 The Saudi Arabia investment vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is to be the title sponsor of a revamped golf programme. The PIF Global Series will replace the Aramco Team Series and will have a total prize pot of $13m. The PIF Global Series will span five events on the Ladies European Tour (LET) – [...]
Raiola Ratings, FPL gurus and €1m: What super agent’s family did next May 8, 2025 The larger-than-life, occasionally combustible figure of football super-agent Mino Raiola couldn’t have appeared further from the world of number-crunching and algorithms. The late transfer broker, whose clients included Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland, always seemed far more into pressing the flesh and pouring champagne than poring over data. But one strand of the [...]
What price do you put on London 2040 Olympics and 2029 athletics meet? May 8, 2025 Ed Warner writes on the 2040 London Olympics and 2029 World Athletics Championships ambitions and what price you can put on the impact such events have. For London 2012 and London 2017 read London 2040 and London 2029. Plans are afoot to persuade the IOC and World Athletics to return their flagship events to Britain’s [...]
Crystal Palace co-owner Textor’s firm hit with strike-off notice May 7, 2025 Leading Crystal Palace shareholder John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings company has been slapped with a strike-off notice as it prepares for an IPO in the US. A First Gazette “notice for compulsory strike-off” was added to the filing history of Eagle Football Holdings Limited this month and dated 13 May 2025. Textor, who owns just [...]
David Kogan: Football regulator nominee donated to Starmer and Nandy May 7, 2025 The man nominated to chair the football regulator, David Kogan, has revealed he made donations to both Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy but insists he will have “absolute independence of political control” if given the job. Kogan, a Labour historian, said he donated “very small sums” to the leadership campaigns of Starmer and Nandy in [...]