Week in Sportbiz: Amazon sign Serena Williams and Paul Pogba; Javier Tebas takes up league fight; Japan still cool on Tokyo 2020 with 100 days to go April 15, 2021 Amazon has continued its push into glossy sports documentaries by signing up Serena Williams and Paul Pogba. Both Williams and Pogba have committed to appearing in behind-the-scenes series about their personal and professional lives as part of wider deals with Amazon. Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Films is among the producers of the currently untitled Serena doc. [...]
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 [...]
Players vow to scupper Silver Lake £235m bid for All Blacks commercial rights March 29, 2021 Several leading All Blacks and Black Ferns say they will veto Silver Lake’s bid for a stake in New Zealand Rugby (NZR). The US-based private equity giant has offered £235m for 15 per cent of NZR’s commercial rights, which the deal values at £1.5bn. If successful, it would be the latest investment by private equity [...]
Ollie Phillips: England need change but that doesn’t mean sacking Eddie Jones; France to wreak havoc on Scotland; and Lions pecking order March 25, 2021 In the space of a few days England went from brilliant, devastating and clinical against France to devoid of ideas against Ireland. Credit to Ireland for well and truly doing a job on England last weekend. They didn’t just beat Eddie Jones’s side, they thrashed them 32-18. This is a team that talks about wanting [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Is crypto the next big player in sports sponsorship? Plus Extreme E’s Suez near miss and Amazon’s Six Nations interest March 25, 2021 Where US sports lead, others tend to follow, so it was with interest that industry insiders noted developments in Florida this week. Miami Heat’s home is set to be rebranded the FTX Arena after the NBA side struck a naming rights agreement with the cryptocurrency exchange. FTX will pay $135m for the 19-year deal, the [...]
British and Irish Lions summer 2021 tour to South Africa to go ahead March 23, 2021 The British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa will go ahead this summer despite uncertainty over whether fans will be allowed to attend. Alternative arrangements, such as postponing the tour or playing the series in the UK or Australia, had been considered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “After reviewing information relating to the various [...]
Women’s rugby has just showed it is streets ahead of the men’s game with new competition WXV March 19, 2021 “It’s not as good as men’s.” That is such an obvious response to any number of women’s sports. As if to evidence such a lowly perception of women’s sport, the recent announcement of the Women’s Six Nations postponement was met with a deluge of misogyny and comments from men who said they simply “don’t care”. Initiated by Stef Evans of Bristol Bears, the women’s rugby community countered in [...]
Ollie Phillips: Angry France will keep Six Nations in balance by unpicking Wales; England must reproduce last week’s brilliance to win in Ireland March 19, 2021 England’s win over France by the width of a blade of grass last weekend was the best match of this Six Nations by a country mile. The quality and intensity of rugby, especially in the first half, were world class. France were phenomenal, as they have been throughout this tournament, and England finally performed as [...]
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 [...]
Premiership Rugby Cup 2020-21 cancelled over player welfare and competition integrity concerns March 17, 2021 The Premiership Rugby Cup has been cancelled for this season due to complications caused by Covid-19. Premiership Rugby, which represents England’s leading clubs, cited concerns over player welfare and the tournament’s integrity if it went ahead. It means there will be domestic cup competition in English club rugby for only the second time in half [...]