ITV launches £80m bid for rugby’s Nations Championship December 2, 2025 Rugby union’s inaugural Nations Championship looks set to be shown on free-to-air television after ITV bid more than £80m. If successful, every Six Nations match and Nations Championship fixture will be terrestrial TV in the UK until at least 2029. The broadcaster has been in competition with TNT Sports, the early favourites to land the [...]
Scotland Rugby should demand Wales’ cut region, and target Newcastle Red Bulls November 21, 2025 Is the Scotland rugby team a little bit naff? They’re struggling to beat the biggest of opponents and are always the nearly team in the Six Nations. They’ll probably finish this autumn with expected wins over the USA and Tonga, while agonising losses to New Zealand and Argentina – thanks to one of the greatest [...]
England Rugby extends deal with O2 until 2031 November 20, 2025 England Rugby this morning penned a deal with O2, extending the partnership between the two organisations to 35 years. The extension will see O2 remain the front-of-shirt sponsor for England Rugby’s men’s and women’s teams in what the Rugby Football Union describes as “one of the longest standing shirt sponsorships in the world”. It is [...]
Lloyd’s of London CFO leaves role with Prem Rugby club Saracens November 18, 2025 Lloyd’s of London’s chief financial officer Alexandra Cliff has left her role as director of Prem Rugby club Saracens after less than a year. The former Direct Line Group, StarStone, and AJ Gallagher figure was appointed as a director of Saracens on 25 November last year following the departure of former chief executive Mark Thompson [...]
WRU chiefs should eat humble pie over empty Wales rugby stadium November 14, 2025 The redeeming factor for Wales in their 28-52 loss to Argentina in Cardiff is that only 50,000 had to watch it inside the Principality Stadium. That’s not because the team’s national arena has a 50,000-seat cap for this game, or because renovation works forced the closure of a stand. It was because millions of Welsh [...]
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 [...]