Why 2026 is the year sport needs to confront the man vs machine question January 1, 2026 Man vs machine is the future of sport, whether we like it or not, but what do we want it to look like? If you want to understand where sport is heading, don’t look at the Olympic programme or the Premier League fixture list. Look instead at the strange, noisy, algorithm‑friendly world growing just outside [...]
Is the Premier League decoupling from the rest of English football? December 18, 2025 Ed Warner pores over a report on the polarisation of English football and comes up with a solution to the Premier League’s stand-off with the EFL for the new regulator. “I just hope they don’t mess it up.” The Premier League club chairman’s answer to my question about his hopes for the Independent Football Regulator [...]
Greedy Fifa rinsing fans over World Cup tickets – even Americans are baulking December 11, 2025 Ed Warner finds that even Americans accustomed to paying through the nose for live sport are outraged at the prices Fifa is allowing to be set for tickets at the 2026 World Cup. It was a bitterly cold evening in Boston, the temperature well below zero, and yet the Bruins fans still rolled up to [...]
The best sport to watch live and solving your Christmas present dilemma December 4, 2025 “What’s the best sport you’ve ever seen, Ed?” The question from a young friend gave me pause. Not the best sporting event I’ve ever seen. That might not be easy, but some parameters immediately spring to mind to help refine my choice. No: the best sport, period. I’ve seen a fair few, after all. Got [...]
Stokes, McCullum, ECB: Who’s to blame for England’s latest Ashes failings? November 27, 2025 Assessing true accountability for England’s Ashes collapse requires tracing failure back through the chain, argues Ed Warner. “Still seething!” The WhatsApp from a prominent cricket podcaster arrived a full 48 hours after England’s capitulation in the opening Ashes Test. Did I want to provide him with a sound-bite on what appeared more than just a [...]
Why tribes are everything in sport, but growing them is no easy task November 20, 2025 Tribalism is key to fandom in sport but the challenge is commercialising and gorwing them, writes Ed Warner. To the Kia Oval for an exercise in tribe creation. Conscious that in most enterprises the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts, I have been working with the help of chairs across Britain’s sporting [...]
It’s time for BBC Sport to ditch the corporation and go it alone November 13, 2025 The BBC lurches from existential crisis to existential crisis, and yet fundamental questions about its remit and structure are rarely addressed during the frenzied bouts of self-flagellation that Britain’s public broadcaster indulges in at times such as these. Although its latest crisis – widely described as its greatest since the last greatest one – has [...]
Earps fiasco at least sparks much needed debate on culture of women’s sport November 6, 2025 Mary Earps has hit the headlines this week, and provoked a conversation about culture in women’s football “Things have escalated really quickly today, women pitted against each other. It’s gut-wrenching to be portrayed as someone you’re not. I know that the negative is what gets clicks, but it’s sad that’s the only thing being discussed.” [...]
Punk Padel and Tough Mudder: It pays for sports to buy into fun innovation October 30, 2025 I am happy to go down any rabbit hole, or country lane, in search of innovation in sport. Driving back from a trail race the other day, I passed a small sign tucked on a grassy verge in deepest Sussex. “Punk Padel”, it seemed to whisper rather than shout, as if conscious it was out [...]
In defence of sport’s blazers: Give them scrutiny, yes, but also empathy October 23, 2025 Spend a minute on social media during a major sporting event and you’ll find them: the keyboard warriors, the armchair pundits, the self-appointed arbiters of “what the fans really want”. Their target? The blazers in the boardroom perceived to be truffling for perks and who wouldn’t know how to find the nearest grassroots facility. While [...]
