Ed Warner: The metaverse, Web3 and what it means for football club valuations May 5, 2022 In this week’s column, Ed Warner delves into the metaverse’s possible ramifications for the business of sport and considers the latest twists in the Chelsea sale saga. It was the shoes that put me in my place. Queuing to enter the SportsPro Live jamboree at The Oval last week, I scanned the footwear of my [...]
Ed Warner: Russia ban shows Wimbledon chiefs have backbone – and other sports will take note April 28, 2022 Fans at the Wimbledon Championships aren’t prone to booing, even in the face of a Nick Kyrgios meltdown. And for now they have been spared the challenge to their usual decorum of a Russian or Belarusian player striding onto Centre Court this summer – to the chagrin of the men’s and women’s tours, not to [...]
Ed Warner: The higher the price for Chelsea, the sooner their new owners will feel the strain April 21, 2022 Unless the media have been blindsided by a canny investment bank, it seems that there are no sovereign wealth funds or squillionaires left in the running to buy Chelsea. No Musk, Bezos, Chinese tech magnate or gas-rich autocracy. The three remaining bidders, as reported, are all consortia. Let the game theory commence. The selling bank, [...]
Ed Warner: Docuseries triumph may drive wedge between media and sport April 14, 2022 “Please please please please just go away!” The letter writer signed off with his PS in green ink, only months into my stint as chair of UK Athletics in the days before tweets were a thing. I wish I’d kept it, the only time I’ve seen green ink scrawled in cliched anger. Sports leaders are [...]
Ed Warner: Trans debate has echoes of Semenya legal row but ‘meaningfulness’ may be buzzword April 7, 2022 It’s a pity Emily Bridges was blocked from competing in the National Omnium Championships in Derby last weekend. Yes, the cyclist would have been at the centre of an unsavoury media scrum, but we would have gathered one more valuable data point with which to try and balance the febrile debate about transgender women in [...]
Ed Warner: Commonwealth Games should consider dropping restrictive colonial ties March 31, 2022 This week, Ed Warner argues that the Commonwealth Games must adapt if it’s to survive, ponders English cricket’s leadership vacuum and hopes Russia remains in exile. Depending on your media outlet of choice, Wills and Kate’s Caribbean sojourn was either a triumph of charming diplomacy or another nail in the coffin of empire – as [...]
Ed Warner: Does it really matter if Chelsea buyers are true Blues fans? March 24, 2022 Who are the wannabe owners of Chelsea trying to impress when they flaunt their fandom? Investment bank the Raine Group is only likely to give a jot when someone first stood in the Shed, or how long they’ve sat in the same seat in the Matthew Harding Stand, if this matters to HM Treasury. If [...]
Ed Warner: This year could be huge for those with a stake in Formula 1 March 17, 2022 The rubber hits the road again this weekend as Liberty Media’s $8bn Formula 1 circus fires up its engines for the 2022 season. The tumultuous end to last year’s race series has yet to be resolved. It’s not clear whether the inquiry report will be published on the eve of the Bahrain GP as originally [...]
Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Amanda Staveley should have waited to buy Chelsea instead March 10, 2022 I can’t help thinking that Amanda Staveley and her consortium have bought the wrong football club. Had they waited just five months they could have had Chelsea FC rather than Newcastle United. A mooted £3bn price tag may be 10 times the price paid for the Magpies, but still well within the means of Saudi [...]
Ed Warner: Sport needs a united front against Russia, not patchwork of policies March 3, 2022 On the opening day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the Polish wheelchair rugby team decided not to take to the court in their Euros group match against Russia in Paris. A classy move. If only others were so decisive. The leaders of world sport are already divided in their response to Vladimir Putin’s war. It [...]
