Fifa’s World Cup model is grotesque and will drive away credible future hosts May 14, 2026 The FA and other potential future World Cup hosts should take Fifa to task over an event model that makes no sense for rational bidders, says Ed Warner. Great news! It’s just got cheaper to get to the World Cup. NJ Transit has slashed the price of a return train from Penn Station to the [...]
LIV Golf’s decline leaves sport with more questions than answers May 7, 2026 LIV Golf. What was that all about? Ok, the past tense might be a bit harsh. But could anyone have the appetite and depth of pockets to rescue a venture that has burned through $5bn from the ignominy of collapse? Where too does this embarrassing failure leave Saudi Arabia and its sporting ambitions? Time has [...]
Sabastian Sawe and the need for clean sporting heroes we can believe in April 30, 2026 Trust in performances like Sabastian Sawe’s at the London Marathon is the cornerstone of sport’s success, writes Ed Warner. The modern sports economy is anchored in belief: belief that the successes we celebrate are genuine, hard-earned, and comparable across eras. Without this belief records lose meaning, fans become disillusioned, sponsors turn tail and there is [...]
Copilot coaching: Can AI train me to run the London Marathon better? April 23, 2026 Ed Warner has swapped relentless pavement-pounding for AI prompts in the hope of training smarter – and less – for Sunday’s London Marathon. I’m getting my excuses in early. What began as my AI-generated, pared-back London Marathon training programme has – due to entirely unforeseeable circumstances – become the skimpiest of prep for this weekend’s [...]
Rory McIlroy, Gout Gout and the search for sport’s elusive heroes April 16, 2026 Rory McIlroy’s back-to-back Masters triumphs have triggered the inevitable mythologising. Destiny fulfilled, demons banished after previous heartbreak, a journey not only completed but now extended. If he was merely the Hero of Hollywood before (that’s Hollywood, County Down not Los Angeles), to many the golfer has now donned the mantle of universal sporting hero along [...]
Familiarity of Masters and Augusta should be lesson to other golf majors April 9, 2026 Let me get the azaleas reference out of the way in this first sentence. After all, no Masters preview is seemingly complete without citing Augusta’s horticultural features. The flora are just one ingredient, though, in the secret sauce of golf’s first major of the season which starts today. Even if other sports could steal the [...]
Middlesex CCC needs saving from oblivion so ECB must take bold action April 2, 2026 As the English cricket season begins again, the demise of Middlesex should be ringing alarms bells at fat cats Surrey and the ECB, writes Ed Warner. Of course the forecast is for biting winds across the country this weekend. What did you expect? The English cricket season starts tomorrow. Expect confected hoopla about The Hundred, [...]
Tottenham Hotspur relegation: A black swan event the Premier League needs? March 26, 2026 The Premier League trades on its unpredictability so the relegation of Spurs, one of its ever-present clubs, could offer a Leicester-like lift in a dull season, says Ed Warner. Barnsley, Oldham Athletic, Bradford City, Swindon Town, Portsmouth. Just a few members of the not-so-exclusive club of 16 teams that Tottenham Hotspur fans will be desperate [...]
Google and Apple can give Team GB Lottery-like boost up medal tables March 19, 2026 It took John Major’s National Lottery brainwave to turn GB into an Olympic and Paralympic force but Big Tech could do the same, argues Ed Warner. With Milan Cortina a wrap, British athletes have completed a full set of post-Covid Olympics and Paralympics, both Summer and Winter, in 21 months. A solitary silver medal from [...]
Horse racing came together to fight tax hikes. Now it must unite again March 12, 2026 The Jockey Club’s chief executive’s recent rallying cry to British horse racing was bang on, writes Ed Warner. All successful sports have tentpole events, the occasions that attract attention well beyond hardcore fanbases and which drive profits that may (although not always) provide financial scaffolding for its lesser players and promoters. The Cheltenham Festival is [...]
