Calls for Prem Rugby franchising grow as clubs register debts of £340m November 12, 2025 The 10 Prem Rugby clubs registered combined debts of £340m in the 2023/24 season as calls for a radical franchising process grow louder. Despite encouraging signs of growth in commercial income, the clubs in England’s top flight made a combined loss of £34m, according to the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report. It comes as City [...]
Exclusive: Middlesex to play just two T20 Blast games at Lord’s in 2026 November 12, 2025 Middlesex will play just two Twenty20 Blast matches at Lord’s next year in a further indication of their declining foothold at the Home of Cricket. The 13-time county champions have been tenants at Lord’s since 1864 and have a 12-month rental agreement with the Marylebone Cricket Club that is renewed on an annual basis, but [...]
Aviva sign deal worth £4.5m per season for major stadium November 11, 2025 Insurance giant Aviva has extended its stadium sponsorship agreement for Dublin’s Aviva Stadium through until 2030 in a deal reportedly worth around £4.5m per season. The 51,000-capacity Lansdowne Road site has been sponsored by the London headquartered insurance firm since 2010 and the new deal – with the Irish rugby and football unions – is [...]
745 Game for MND raises £110,000 as rugby union and league come together November 10, 2025 Legends of rugby union and league clashed on Sunday as the 745 Game raised £110,000 to help fight motor neurone disease. The match, played at Prem Rugby club Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium, saw the likes of Mike Tindall run out while figures including Jonny Wilkinson watched from the sidelines. It was won 43-45 by Team Burrow. [...]
Six Nations should stage Ireland matches in USA, but not England ones November 7, 2025 There have been calls this week for Six Nations matches to be played in the United States, and I agree. But it should never be England crossing the Atlantic, and should almost always be Ireland. Andy Farrell’s Ireland successfully staged an epic spectacle at Soldier Field in Chicago against New Zealand. The game was pretty [...]
Fatter, lazier, more inactive: How businesses like Canterbury rely on healthy population November 3, 2025 Canterbury is a globally recognised brand, but it relies on a healthy population to invest in pro sports deals. By the end of the decade 3bn of us could be insufficiently active – a figure not far short of the world’s population, minus Asia, right now. It is something that Simon Rowe describes as a [...]
Formula 1 and The Hundred offer lessons in governance for fragmented likes of rugby November 1, 2025 To succeed, sports need governance structures that empower one entity to steer it, as in Formula 1, The Hundred and SailGP, writes Nevin Truesdale. The increasing commercialisation of sport has seen historical governance structures come under scrutiny. As in any business, governance structures are central to the ability to evolve in response to a changing [...]
World Rugby Nations Championship silence is deafening but predictable October 31, 2025 The World Rugby Nations Championship starts next year after the last ever autumn internationals campaign this year. Or does it? This is the last ever autumn rugby union series, not that you’d have any idea. Gone will be the days of friendly matches on chilly November evenings and in will come games with a trophy [...]
New Principality Stadium naming rights deal ‘challenging’, says former negotiator October 30, 2025 The timing of a new deal for the naming rights of Cardiff’s Principality Stadium has been described as “challenging for Welsh rugby” given the state of the game across the River Severn. The 73,931-capacity stadium on the banks of the Taff is the fourth largest in the UK and plays host to the Wales rugby [...]
Barbarians: Inside rugby team playing All Blacks in London this weekend October 28, 2025 The Barbarians are taking on an All Blacks XV this weekend at Premier League club Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium in London. Rugby’s financial structure is bizarre at the best of times: on one hand you’ve got teams playing every week struggling to make ends meet, and on the other hand you’ve got the British and [...]