Liverpool shareholders RedBird Capital set to buy stake in Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals June 24, 2021 RedBird Capital Partners, a shareholder in Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, is buying a stake in Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise Rajasthan Royals, according to reports. New York-based RedBird is buying 15 per cent of the Royals in a deal that values the team at $250m, says the FT. The transaction continues the trends [...]
AxisStars: Former Man Utd and France footballer Louis Saha on cleaning up the industry and ‘keeping sharks at bay’ with his app business June 23, 2021 Louis Saha enjoyed a glittering football career but he was far from an instant success. A promising teenager, he struggled at first at humble Metz, scored just once in a loan spell at Newcastle United, and dropped down a division to sign for Fulham in the hope of kick-starting his career. Saha proved a success [...]
Spanish football clubs buck trend and make profit despite Covid-19 June 22, 2021 Spanish football clubs bucked the trend by making a collective profit last season despite the impact of Covid-19. LaLiga, which encompasses the top two divisions of men’s football in Spain, reported a profit of €77m for 2019-20. Revenue grew 3.6 per cent year on year to just over €5bn, although net debt grew from €2.6bn [...]
David Beckham-backed Guild Esports signs up Samsung as a sponsor June 21, 2021 David Beckham’s London-listed Guild Esports organisation has signed Samsung as a sponsor. The one-year deal to be Guild’s official display partner is the electronics giant’s first with a British esports team. Samsung is meeting the undisclosed value of the deal with 50 per cent cash and 50 per cent value in kind, in the form [...]
Tokyo 2020 facing threat of spectator ban, says Japanese prime minister June 21, 2021 Japan may ban spectators from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics if the country’s Covid-19 situation worsens, prime minister Yoshihide Suga has warned. Holding this summer’s delayed Games behind closed doors was “definitely a possibility”, Suga said. “I think that’s obvious from the standpoint of making safety and security our utmost priority.” Japan has been slow to [...]
Roger Federer Wimbledon blazer set to fetch £25,000 as tennis star auctions vast trove of memorabilia June 17, 2021 Roger Federer is auctioning one of his iconic Wimbledon blazers as part of a sale of treasures from his tennis career. The 2016 blazer, which he wore to walk out on to Centre Court, is expected to fetch £15,000-£25,000. It is one of the most prestigious of 300 lots in the online auction, which is [...]
Explained: Why Cristiano Ronaldo’s Coke snub at Euro 2020 was not the cause of Coca-Cola’s share price drop June 17, 2021 Cristiano Ronaldo was credited with knocking $4bn off the value of Coca-Cola earlier this week when he snubbed the soft drink – but does the theory stack up? The Portuguese football superstar pointedly moved two bottles of Coke from his desk at a Euro 2020 press conference and instead held up a bottle of water, [...]
Russian boss of Gazprom-backed boxing body AIBA turns to man who lifted lid on Russian state-sponsored doping to lead corruption probes June 17, 2021 Richard McLaren, the Canadian law professor and sports investigator, is best known for exposing Russia for state-sponsored doping. So eyebrows were raised this week when it emerged that McLaren had been hired by one of Russia’s most powerful sports administrators. Umar Kremlev has called on McLaren Global Sports Solutions as part of his bid to [...]
US Open prize money 2021: How much can the stars of men’s golf win at Torrey Pines? June 17, 2021 US Open prize money reflects the event’s reputation as perhaps the most difficult of the four men’s majors. Whoever triumphs at Torrey Pines this week will take home a winners’ prize of $2.25m from a total pot of $12.5m. Those sums – frozen from last year – mean that US Open prize money remains the [...]
United Rugby Championship: Four South African teams join northern hemisphere sides in private equity shake-up of Pro14 June 15, 2021 Club rugby union is set for a private-equity-led shake-up later this year when the United Rugby Championship replaces the Pro14. Four South African teams will join the dozen Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian sides already part of the Pro14 to form a new 16-team tournament. The changes, which will incorporate lucrative new TV deals and [...]