Parliament warns against extending Premiership Rugby Covid-19 loans April 2, 2025 A top parliamentary committee has insisted Premiership Rugby clubs who are “financially unviable five years post-pandemic” should not have their Covid-19 loans extended. The damning report from the Public Accounts Committee – an influential group of backbench MPs who probe state spending – singled out the process in which £124m of loans funded by the [...]
Littler, Gen Z and Netflix: Why investment banks have fallen for darts March 20, 2025 Forget AI, clean energy and healthcare, there is a new hot tip for investors looking for big returns: the historically downmarket, beer-soaked world of darts. The sport is riding the crest of a wave generated by better promotion, wider consumption and, more recently, the rise and rise of teenage phenomenon Luke Littler. Ticket demand is [...]
Saudi Arabia SURJ mulls investment in World Athletics March 6, 2025 Saudi Arabia’s SURJ Sports Investment could invest in a new company dealing with the commercial arm of track and field body World Athletics. It would give the Public Investment Fund subsidiary access to a portion of the profits made by the organisation that runs the World Championships and Diamond League in a deal that could [...]
Six Nations investors CVC bids $1bn for major tennis competitions March 3, 2025 Private equity giant CVC Capital Partners are set to bid for a portfolio of high-profile tennis events worth £790m that includes the Madrid and Miami Opens. It could see the Six Nations investor add to its existing tennis interests, which include a commercial joint venture with the WTA launched in 2023. The portfolio – currently [...]
WTA Tour hires London agency Nomad Studio for ‘bold’ rebrand February 27, 2025 The WTA Tour has engaged London design agency Nomad Studio, whose clients include the Premier League and Rolls Royce, to launch a wide-ranging rebrand today. The rebrand of the women’s tennis tour includes a new logo, bright green and purple palettes, and slogan – “Rally the world” – designed to be “bigger, bolder and built [...]
DCMS issue insolvency threat to rugby clubs over Covid-19 loans February 10, 2025 Rugby clubs have been warned after the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said it “wouldn’t hesitate” to use “all financial levers” available to recover loan payments owed by sports organisations from the pandemic. Those powers could see the government department aid in forcing insolvency on sports clubs to ensure the taxpayer recoups the [...]
It’s not the 90s, TNT deal for Six Nations wouldn’t hurt rugby January 30, 2025 On the eve of this year’s men’s Six Nations bursts forth news that TNT Sports is preparing a bid for broadcast rights to the tournament from 2026. Cue mild hysteria at the possibility of rugby’s premier annual competition “disappearing” behind a TV paywall. An accelerant to the decline in mass interest in the sport or [...]
Hundred: Sale of franchise stakes could value cricket league at £700m January 29, 2025 English cricket is set for a major financial boost with the Hundred sale, which enters its final round of bidding, expected to value the eight franchises at as much as £700m. That figure is double the sum the England and Wales Cricket Board rejected from Bridgepoint for the whole tournament in 2022 and would therefore [...]
Six Nations investors CVC Capital Partners table Oval Invincibles bid January 23, 2025 Private equity giant CVC Capital Partners have reportedly tabled a bid for Hundred franchise Oval Invincibles. It comes as the eight teams are being asked by the England and Wales Cricket Board to shortlist three or four preferred bidders to take through to the next stage of the auction. The ECB is selling each of [...]
Ambani family on course for £100m London Spirit in Hundred auction January 22, 2025 The likely destinations of English cricket’s crown jewels in the Hundred auction are taking shape, with the Ambani family’s determination to buy 49 per cent of the London Spirit in a deal expected to exceed £100m forcing other bidders to look elsewhere. A consortium of Californian investors led by Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo [...]