Can professional video gaming take off in the UK? Gfinity just launched the first eSports arena – welcome to the weird world of video game voyeurism March 31, 2015 It’s been a big couple of weeks for UK sport. Roy Hodgson’s England side took a step closer to qualifying for Euro 2016, the Six Nations came to a dramatic conclusion, Sheffield boxer Kell Brook defended his world title – and the UK’s first eSports arena staged its premier event. Professional video gaming has launched [...]
The Saints go marching on to profitability: Southampton’s David Bence is heading for a sustainable business model March 30, 2015 Those who read the business press as opposed to only the sports pages might have already adjusted themselves to the fact that Premier League football clubs can occasionally make profits, especially now that new financial fair play rules have begun to constrain the wage demands of the top players. But the story of Southampton Football [...]
Newcastle United score record £19m profit thanks to TV income and new sponsorship deals March 30, 2015 Newcastle United yesterday reported record profits of £18.7m last season – but its debt in the form of an interest-free loan from owner Mike Ashley remained static at £129m. The Premier League club put the profit down to increases in TV income and new sponsorship deals. The Magpies announced a recorded profit for the fourth [...]
Experimental Hodgson set to trial Kane March 30, 2015 PROLIFIC forward Harry Kane has the chance to follow in the footsteps of a Tottenham legend when he makes his full international debut in England’s friendly with Italy in Turin tonight. England manager Roy Hodgson last night confirmed his intention to hand Kane his first senior start in his side’s clash at the Juventus Stadium, [...]
Premier League clubs agree £1bn for good causes if TV rights deal remains after Ofcom investigation March 26, 2015 The Premier League yesterday conditioned a £1bn grant for a variety of good causes, including grassroots football, on its new bumper £5bn TV rights deal not being overturned by a regulatory investigation. The body that oversees England’s 20 elite football clubs says its offer will not stand if an investigation by Ofcom, instigated after a [...]
No sentiment attached to new Terry contract, insists Mourinho March 26, 2015 CHELSEA boss Jose Mourinho insists the decision to hand skipper John Terry a new one-year deal was governed by his enduring on-field value and not sentiment. Terry’s existing contract was set to expire at the end of the season but he is now committed to the Blues until the end of next term, in line [...]
Accounts with benefits: The perks of premium bank accounts March 26, 2015 Nothing says “badge of success” quite like a private bank account. Historically, offering them to customers has been the preserve of the private bank, but in recent years, growing numbers of high street institutions have begun to offer packaged – or premium – accounts to customers with substantial savings and (more often than not) six-figure [...]
Premier League clubs score a £190m record profit March 25, 2015 England’s leading football clubs have left their loss-making ways behind and entered a new era of profitability after mustering record-breaking pre-tax profits last season. Premier League teams registered a combined pre-tax profit in 2013-14 for the first time in 15 years, with the £190m figure almost four times the previous record of £49m, set during [...]
Chelsea kick Heron Tower police raid firm into touch March 25, 2015 CHELSEA Football Club has ripped up its partnership agreement with a firm that was raided by the police’s fraud squad earlier this month, City A.M. understands. CWM FX became the Premier League club’s official online forex trading partner at the start of the year, as part of a sequence of glamorous marketing deals directed at [...]
Academies to benefit from clubs’ profits March 25, 2015 Teams tipped to invest in new stadia League more attractive to investors PERHAPS it is pertinent that the Premier League’s emphatic return to profitability after 15 years is confirmed on the day that its club chiefs meet to discuss decisions that could shape the next decade or more. Today in London Football Association chairman Greg [...]