London Spirit: Tech titans strike Nike kit deal in Hundred first July 30, 2025 London Spirit’s new part-owners, Silicon Valley-based consortium Cricket Investor Holdings, have agreed a kit deal with Nike for the Hundred franchise which will begin next year. The Nike deal is the first bespoke commercial contract secured by one of the Hundred teams, as sponsorship deals have previously been sold centrally by the England and Wales [...]
Surj leads £30m investment in T100 to bolster Saudi Olympic ambitions July 28, 2025 Saudi Arabia’s Surj Sports Investment has backed T100 to be the “growth engine” for triathlon after leading a £30m funding round in its parent organisation, the PTO. Surj, an arm of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) with stakes in Dazn, the Professional Fighters League and Kings League, was the biggest backer of the PTO in [...]
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 [...]
Rolex sponsored Wimbledon stars made to pay for own watches July 9, 2025 A Rolex sponsorship or ambassadorial contract is widely seen as a must-have endorsement by aspiring young tennis players, yet such deals can prove to be a mixed blessing. Such is the value and scarcity of the Swiss luxury watches that their endorsement department operates a strictly enforced tier system, with only their A-list clients such [...]
British basketball at war: How can BBF and SLB bloody battle be resolved? July 4, 2025 British basketball is no stranger to turmoil but even by its warped standards the raging civil war between SLB clubs and governing body the BBF is extraordinary. At its heart is a power struggle for the right to run the domestic league. But it also involves claims of dishonesty, mission creep, vindictiveness and outright illegality [...]
Surj Sports chief: Saudi parent PIF, investing and league focus July 1, 2025 Chief executive of Dazn investors Surj Sports Investments Danny Townsend discusses the state of the changing landscape. When Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchased Premier League club Newcastle United in 2021, Middle Eastern sports spending was thrust into the voyeuristic forefront of executive and fan consciousness. Since then Saudi Arabia has invested in a multitude [...]
Fifa strengthens Saudi ties as PIF joins Club World Cup sponsors June 6, 2025 Fifa has further strengthened its ties with Saudi Arabia after its Public Investment Fund (PIF) agreed a long-term commercial partnership beginning with this month’s Club World Cup. PIF has become the eighth sponsor of the revamped tournament, joining global brands Visa, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Hisense, Lenovo, Budweiser and Qatar Airways. Beyond that, the partnership [...]
Women’s Champions League to be shown on Disney+ May 23, 2025 The Uefa Women’s Champions League will be broadcast on Disney+ from next season, with 75 matches shown on the streaming platform. The announcement comes ahead of the Women’s Champions League final on Saturday between Arsenal and Barcelona in Lisbon. This weekend’s final will be shared between Dazn and TNT Sports. The Walt Disney Company has [...]
Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren interview: ‘Let’s not f*** this up’ April 7, 2025 Listening to Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren bounce off each other it is easy to forget they were sworn enemies until around 18 months ago. That was when Saudi sports impresario Turki Alalshikh essentially instructed Britain’s two biggest boxing promoters to bury the hatchet if they wanted to keep staging lucrative fights at his expense [...]
Dazn eyes UK partner deal for Club World Cup rights March 31, 2025 Dazn is looking to sublicense its rights to broadcast the Club World Cup in the UK this summer in a bid to take its coverage of the historic tournament to the widest possible audience. The London-headquartered sports streaming service acquired the global rights to Fifa’s first 32-team edition of the revamped competition earlier this year [...]