Exclusive: E1 Series set for London debut in showcase on Thames May 22, 2025 Electric powerboat series E1, which features teams owned by stars including Will Smith, LeBron James and Rafael Nadal, will make its London debut this summer. An exhibition of E1’s high-speed RaceBird boats is set to take place on the Thames near Westminster on 2 July as the series looks to build its presence in the [...]
Europa League final: Why winning competition is worth £120m May 21, 2025 Tonight in Bilbao, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will be hoping to salvage their season by winning the Europa League final. The two teams are currently 16th and 17th in the Premier League, a far cry from the top-five finish required for a place in next season’s Champions League. However, winning the Europa League would [...]
Tony Matharu, mechanical elephants and the London Sports Festival May 20, 2025 Hotelier and Central London Alliance founder Tony Matharu on why he created the London Sports Festival – and why 2025 will be bigger than ever. For Tony Matharu, it all goes back to a giant mechanical elephant and the power of the spectacle. It was the hotelier and philanthropist’s 2006 patronage of immersive theatre show [...]
Inside Tier 2 Champ Rugby: What clubs think of radical changes May 16, 2025 For the first time in a long time the various tiers of English rugby union seem to be on the same page with the launch of Champ Rugby. On Thursday evening plans were unveiled for the second tier, which will be called Champ Rugby. It is arguably the biggest shake-up to the English rugby pyramid [...]
India-Pakistan, England cricket chiefs and sport’s moral compass May 15, 2025 The ECB will be grateful that it has not yet had cause to reach for its moral compass in the India-Pakistan conflict, writes Ed Warner. I was in Paris at the 2022 Wheelchair Rugby Euros when Russia invaded Ukraine. The very next day’s results show Russia beating Poland 1-0. This in a sport in which [...]
Roc Nation boss exclusive: Rugby chiefs need to get comfortable with change May 14, 2025 The president of Jay-Z’s agency Roc Nation Sports Michael Yormark has said rugby’s stakeholders need to get “comfortable being uncomfortable with change” as the sport looks to commercialise after a turbulent period. Yormark, speaking at the group’s inaugural Champions of Marketing event, told City AM that sometimes sports are “so married to history” that they’re [...]
London Lions CEO Lenz Balan: ‘I’ve made mistakes. I’m doing all I can to give back’ May 13, 2025 It would have been little surprise if last summer proved the last that British basketball heard of Lenz Balan and the London Lions. CEO Balan was a vice-president at former owner 777 Partners, whose now notorious collapse led to the club falling into administration and the league going bust almost a year ago and, for [...]
O2 Arena owners: Lions announcement future of sport in London May 12, 2025 Last Thursday nearly 2,000 people packed their way into Indigo at the O2 as the squad for the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia was announced. It’s not the first time this kind of event has taken place. At the same site, albeit the larger O2 Arena, earlier this year Formula 1 hosted its [...]
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 [...]
Jannik Sinner and anti-doping bans in tennis: How players can mitigate risks May 7, 2025 Jannik Sinner’s reappearance at the Italian Open guarantees attention, following his three-month suspension for failing two “in-competition” drug tests, during and eight days after Indian Wells last year, for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol. Ranked world No1, the three-time Grand Slam winner’s return to competitive tennis at his home tournament this week is a reminder [...]