3pm blackout: Broadcasters open to talks over scrapping UK’s ban on showing live football on Saturday afternoon February 21, 2023 English football’s 3pm blackout could come under further pressure after broadcasters indicated a willingness to discuss scrapping the ban on televising live games on a Saturday afternoon. Executives in charge of TNT Sports, the new joint venture between BT Group and Warner Bros Discovery, say they will consider showing Saturday afternoon fixtures if league chiefs [...]
BT Sport to become TNT Sports: Here’s what it means for price, programming and existing customers February 21, 2023 BT Sport is to be rebranded as TNT Sports in the first major development of the joint venture between BT Group and Warner Bros Discovery. Under the rebrand, which will take place in July, programming will stay largely the same, with TNT Sports remaining centred around live Premier League and Champions League football, domestic and [...]
Wales coach Warren Gatland calls for compromise as strike threatens England Six Nations match February 21, 2023 Wales rugby coach Warren Gatland has called on his players and the country’s union to compromise in a contract stand-off that has cast doubt on Saturday’s Six Nations match with England. Gatland cancelled a training session and delayed naming his team for the weekend fixture as a result of the row, and insists that the [...]
Gareth Southgate: Joseph Fiennes to portray England manager as Three Lions immortalised in National Theatre play February 21, 2023 Actor Joseph Fiennes will portray England manager Gareth Southgate as he’s immortalised on stage with a new play at the National Theatre The Handmaid’s Tale star will feature in Dear England, with tickets going on sale from 9 March in a production by James Graham and directed by Rupert Goold. Following the fortunes of the [...]
LIV Golf adds another former European Ryder Cup star as Thomas Pieters joins Saudi-backed league February 21, 2023 LIV Golf has confirmed the 48 players who will be competing in its first season as a team-based league, with Thomas Pieters among the new signings. After an eight-leg invitational series in its debut season last year, the Saudi-backed big-money circuit returns this week in Mayakoba, Mexico, which will host the first stop on an [...]
Do Real Madrid have Liverpool’s number? Why the Spanish giants have become the Reds’ Champions League nemeses February 21, 2023 At their best Liverpool have been irresistible under Jurgen Klopp, the most vivid expression yet of the German’s high-octane vision of football – except, it seems, when facing Real Madrid. Klopp has led the Reds into battle with the Spanish giants four times since he took the helm at Anfield in 2015. They have lost [...]
Premiership Rugby CEO clarifies role of new rugby sporting commission February 20, 2023 Premiership Rugby has announced plans to overhaul its governance with a new sporting commission and financial monitoring panel. The moves are part of sweeping changes at the top of the English game following the downfall of both Worcester Warriors and Wasps. “We’re setting up an independent reporting commission to make sporting decisions on behalf of [...]
UK Tennis chiefs offered £500k by WTA to let Russians back into Grand Slam February 20, 2023 The governing body of women’s tennis the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have offered to retrospectively reduce a £1m fine, imposed on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) last year, if Russians and Belarusians are allowed to compete in LTA competitions this year. Athletes from the two countries were controversially denied entry to the Wimbledon Championships as [...]
MLR’s Utah Warriors CEO: Rugby needs to put commercialism first February 20, 2023 If you were looking for a nation to grab something traditional by the horns and zhuzh it up, it would be the United States wouldn’t it? Well, now rugby is entering the rodeo ring to have that treatment. Because last month, Major League Rugby (MLR) franchise Utah Warriors announced a partnership with five-time European champions [...]
Manchester United bidders want public statement from Glazers to show they are serious about selling the club February 20, 2023 Manchester United suitors want the Glazer family to go public with their plans for the club and quell concerns that they are not serious about a possible £5bn sale. British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar both confirmed submitting bids to buy the Premier League club last week, [...]