Football’s most lucrative match stagnates in value amid Premier League rights growth slowdown May 22, 2019 The Championship play-off final, which takes place on Monday at Wembley and pits Aston Villa against Derby County for the last remaining spot in next season’s Premier League, is well established as the most lucrative one-off match in the world of club football. Worth an estimated minimum of £170m to the victors – 10 times [...]
Exeter’s chief Tony Rowe has overseen the club’s rise to the top of English rugby – now he’s dreaming of a second Premiership title May 22, 2019 When Tony Rowe sat down with Exeter chairman John Baxter in 1993 to discuss a £4,000 sponsorship deal, neither could have envisaged the success that was to follow. Exeter were in English rugby’s fourth tier and struggling, but local businessman Rowe, owner of South West Communications, was sold by Baxter’s passion. So began a 26-year [...]
“We’re not just competing against other sports”: The Hundred’s managing director explains why English cricket needs a new format May 21, 2019 The staggered launch of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s great new hope hasn’t gone exactly to plan. Although it was always unlikely to begin in textbook fashion, The Hundred has so far experienced the full repertoire of problems on the runway, leaving the majority of its passengers apprehensive ahead of take-off. After all, the [...]
From the World Cup to Ashes series and The Hundred: English cricket’s battle for hearts and minds May 21, 2019 With the biggest ever summer of international cricket about to start, featuring a men’s World Cup as well as men’s and women’s Ashes series, the sport faces perhaps its greatest challenge. But will such riches put cricket back in the public consciousness for the first time since 2005? That year’s Ashes series marked the end [...]
Lord’s last One-Day Cup final? MCC head of cricket John Stephenson on Hampshire v Somerset, the domestic 50-over competition’s future and The Hundred May 20, 2019 John Stephenson knows a thing or two about one-day cricket. As a fan, player and now head of cricket at Marylebone Cricket Club, he has watched, participated in and enjoyed the format as it has evolved. As a child his interest was piqued by Gloucestershire’s Mike Procter, who scored 94 in a win over Sussex [...]
Formula One taking cues from the Premier League on increasing competition and wants to add African race to calendar May 20, 2019 Since Liberty Media took over Formula One in 2017, the company has been insistent on the sport’s potential for commercial growth. How to achieve that has posed challenges, though, highlighting a need to improve the product on the track as well as expanding its reach. The first of those hurdles has proved difficult to jump, with [...]
Manchester City: Treble winners, record breakers, untouchable – and too good? May 19, 2019 In the wake of a domestic treble unprecedented in English men’s football, there should be no sparing of praise for the brilliance of Manchester City. Saturday’s FA Cup final against Watford was a devastating showcase: a 6-0 dismantling of a good team, the most emphatic margin of victory in the fixture for more than a [...]
Debate: As National Vegetarian Week ends, will this group outnumber meat eaters in the next decade? May 17, 2019 As National Vegetarian Week ends, will this group outnumber meat eaters in the next decade? YES – Sophie Lewis is chief strategy officer at marketing agency VMLY&R. If you’d asked me two years ago, my answer would have been in the negative, but we’ve reached a cultural tipping point when it comes to both vegetarians [...]
Ollie Phillips: Premiership play-off place in Harlequins’ grasp ahead of trip to under-performing Wasps May 16, 2019 The final weekend of the Premiership season is upon us and there’s plenty to play for, with the last play-off spot still up for grabs. As it stands Northampton Saints are in pole position, occupying fourth, one point ahead of fifth-placed Harlequins. But despite their points advantage I’d rather be in Quins’ position – and [...]
Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic review: Casting black actors adds a new dimension to Arthur Miller’s classic May 16, 2019 Such is the power of the racial divide in America that simply casting a black family at the heart of Arthur Miller’s 1949 masterpiece presents it in a dark and troubling new light. The Wire’s Wendell Pierce plays Willy Loman, the titular travelling salesman weighed down by economic hardship, social anxiety and a crippling desire [...]