Max Mosley dead: Former Formula One chief dies aged 81 May 24, 2021 Former Formula One chief Max Mosley has died at the age of 81. The controversial racing boss was president of the international racing federation (FIA) and widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport. He began his career as a barrister and an amateur racing driver. Alongside [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Ed Sheeran sponsors Ipswich Town; Javier Tebas blasts Gianni Infantino; Tokyo 2020 set for first transgender Olympian May 6, 2021 It has been a whirlwind few weeks at Ipswich Town. Fresh from welcoming new owners, the League One club now has an unlikely new shirt sponsor: Ed Sheeran. The Suffolk songsmith, a long-standing fan of the Tractor Boys, has agreed to sponsor the men’s and women’s team on a one-year deal that starts next season. [...]
Formula 1 to use ‘sprint qualifiying’ to decide grid position at some races, starting with the British Grand Prix April 27, 2021 Formula 1 is to introduce “sprint qualifying” races on the Saturdays of some grand prix weekends. The 100km sprints – roughly a third of a full grand prix – will not only be used to set grid positions for Sunday’s main race but will also be worth points for the three fastest drivers. July’s British [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Sports give qualified backing to Covid certification plan; US Beijing boycott talks escalates; Masters caught up in vote row April 8, 2021 British sport’s leading governing bodies have backed plans to use Covid certification if it means they can reopen stadiums in full later this summer. But they have called for urgent clarification on how and when social distancing will be relaxed, warning that partially full venues will not stem their financial losses. The Premier League, Football [...]
Singled out: This year’s billionaire Brits April 7, 2021 Forbes released its highly anticipated billionaire list yesterday morning which has left regular folks pinching purse strings in hopes to add another zero to their bank accounts. The UK’s home-grown billionaires did not make it into the lucrative top 10, which was dominated by tech big dogs: Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon [...]
A drive to survive: How Liberty Media used Netflix and esports to win a new generation of fans and safeguard the future of Formula 1 March 26, 2021 It feels like an awful long time ago now that Liberty Media took the wheel of Formula 1, completing a takeover valued at $8bn including debt in January 2017. Donald Trump had just been inaugurated and the most relevant global health emergency was the Zika virus. In motorsport, meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton had been dethroned and [...]
Former Formula One driver and Le Mans winner Johnny Dumfries dies aged 62 March 22, 2021 Former Formula One driver and Le Mans winner Johnny Dumfries has died at the age of 62 after a short illness. The Scot was born John Crichton-Stuart, the seventh Marquess of Bute, but adopted a pseudonym to disguise his background. Dumfries won the British F3 title in 1984 and tested for Ferrari in 1985 before [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Tokyo 2020 Olympics hit by another sexism scandal; World Rugby boosts women’s game; LaLiga brings tiki-taka teachers to East Sussex March 18, 2021 “I would like to show a new direction,” said Seiko Hashimoto upon taking over as president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the wake of a sexism storm last month. Four weeks later, Hashimoto’s hopes have been torpedoed by revelations that another senior male official for this summer’s Games made derogatory comments about women. Tokyo [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Formula 1 takes the pain; Budweiser buys NBA rights; watch every PGA Tour shot; World Rugby’s bad timing; squash, the great survivor March 4, 2021 “Our goal was to try and take the pain in 2020,” Greg Maffei, president of Formula 1 owners Liberty Media, told investors this week. Maffei can consider that mission accomplished after Liberty laid bare the devastating effect of the pandemic on F1’s finances last year. F1 slipped from a $17m profit in 2019 to a [...]
Champagne knocked off the F1 podium by a wine called Ferrari March 3, 2021 In what is surely a case of nominative determinism, Ferrari Trento sparkling wine has been named the official partner for Formula 1. From next season, it will be sparkling wine dousing the podium finishers instead of the customary champagne, with the 119-year-old winemaker taking the honours from incumbent brand Carbon. Other champagne brands associated with [...]