Lionesses’ Euro triumph draws UK’s biggest TV audience of year July 28, 2025 The Lionesses’ historic victory in the Women’s Euros final on Sunday night pulled in more than 16m viewers, making it the UK’s most watched television moment of 2025. A peak live audience of 12.2m viewers watched England beat world champions Spain on penalties across BBC One and iPlayer. Viewership of the final in Basel, Switzerland [...]
Lionesses fever sends shirt sales skywards ahead of Women’s Euro final July 24, 2025 The Lionesses’ run to the Women’s Euros final has triggered a scramble for shirts and other merchandise, with sales far higher than even during the team’s 2023 World Cup run. Global retailer Fanatics, which operates England’s official stores, said that sales of Lionesses products were up 41 per cent on the same stage at the [...]
Rugby League Ashes a North Star for the game in England July 21, 2025 Sports are forever trying to innovate, develop and find the next mast on which to pin their colours to. But not international rugby league. While the English domestic Super League have brought in IMG to promote and relegate teams based on a list of external criteria that some clubs already want tweaked, the international game [...]
Chelsea’s Club World Cup winners’ prize? A £10m US tax bill July 16, 2025 Chelsea will be hit with a US tax bill of around £10m as a result of winning the Club World Cup on Sunday. The stunning 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in New York last weekend ensured Chelsea will receive £85m in prize money from competition organiser Fifa. Some £39.7m is to be paid immediately and [...]
Exclusive: BBC makes late swoop for Open highlights deal July 15, 2025 The BBC has secured a last-minute deal to show evening highlights of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush this week. The R&A has agreed a new three-year deal with the BBC for highlights in a contract that also covers the Women’s Open, starting with the 2025 edition at Royal Porthcawl at the end of the [...]
I’ve experienced Gregg Wallace’s grim behaviour, but I blame his bosses too July 15, 2025 It shouldn’t have taken powerful “middle class women of a certain age” like Kirsty Wark and Aasmah Mir speaking up for BBC bosses to do something about Gregg Wallace, says Alys Denby I have met Gregg Wallace and, since he has retained lawyers, I’d probably better leave it there. Let’s just say his approaches had [...]
UK Athletics boosted by new five-year contract with BBC July 11, 2025 UK Athletics has achieved a significant boost by agreeing a new five-year deal for the BBC to show its flagship events on free-to-air TV. The agreement between the BBC and Athletic Ventures covers the annual London Athletics Meet, which takes place next weekend and features the likes of Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, and the national [...]
Hawk-Eye complaints at Wimbledon? You cannot be serious! July 10, 2025 Wimbledon’s Hawk-Eye controversies were human-made and technology’s role in refereeing sports will only grow, writes Ed Warner. In the chalk dust v Hawk-Eye battle there can only be one winner. Traditionalists may hanker after a Wimbledon of line judges, temper tantrums, smashed rackets and John McEnroe questioning the seriousness of the umpire but in tennis, [...]
Women’s Euro 2025 ads: Why ITV scores but BBC, Visa and Sports Direct miss July 5, 2025 It feels like there’s an unnecessary crux in women’s football as the Lionesses begin their title defence at the Euros. After the success of the last edition, the domestic game has gone gangbusters, with Arsenal selling out the Emirates for regular league games, an independent body being set up to run the WSL, and many [...]
BBC facing fight to retain £60m Wimbledon broadcast rights July 2, 2025 The BBC faces the prospect of having to significantly increase its rights fee to the All England Club to extend their exclusive coverage of Wimbledon beyond 2027 amid increased competition for tennis amongst broadcasters. While Wimbledon’s status as a Category A “crown jewel” event means live coverage has to remain available on free-to-air channels, the [...]