Week in Sportbiz: Taxman cometh for football (again); BT Sport; Simone Biles; social media boycott; and NHS x NFL draft April 29, 2021 HMRC has cashed in by increasing scrutiny of the football industry, so perhaps it should be no surprise that the taxman has begun a new crackdown on players and clubs. Investigations into footballers almost tripled in 2019-20, while those concerning clubs more than doubled. The result was an increase from £35m to £73m in tax [...]
Ladbrokes owner CEO to leave after just seven months for DAZN January 11, 2021 Ladbrokes owner Entain this morning said its chief executive Shay Segev will leave after just seven months in the position. Segev will exit after a six-month notice period to join sports streaming platform DAZN as Co-CEO, only days after Entain rejected an £8bn approach from MGM. Chairman of Entain Barry Gibson said, “We are sorry [...]
Supersizing DAZN: Why a UK launch is just the start of the sport streaming service’s global ambitions December 11, 2020 “Supersizing” is the buzzword of the moment at DAZN, the sport streaming service that finally launched in the UK this month. It’s an appropriate one, in that it reflects DAZN’s expansion to more than 200 countries, making it the first global platform of its kind. It is also suitably bullish for a company that is [...]
The Week in Sportbiz: Cricket meets hip-hop; Germany exports VAR; and the ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’ goes global November 19, 2020 Cricket and hip-hop aren’t obvious bedfellows but they cosied up this week when South Africa fast bowler Lungi Ngidi joined Jay-Z’s talent stable Roc Nation. Ngidi, South Africa’s player of the year in one-day and T20 internationals, is the first cricketer to sign with Roc Nation Sports. Roc Nation has snapped up mostly American athletes, [...]
‘Netflix of sports’ DAZN to launch in UK in December at cut-price £1.99 per month October 28, 2020 Sports streaming service DAZN has rescheduled its UK launch for December and slashed the price to £1.99 a month. DAZN has spent big on boxing rights and its first major live event for UK viewers will be British lightweight Luke Campbell’s fight with American Ryan Garcia on 5 December. The self-styled ‘Netflix of sports’ is [...]