FA Cup final in Riyadh? Why heritage competitions should follow the money February 27, 2025 Sixteen teams head into this weekend’s fifth round of the FA Cup, their fans celebrating shortening odds of a Wembley semi-final appearance and, in turn, final glory. Most will be oblivious to the £2m prize for the ultimate winners of the trophy. Club owners will likely consider this a paltry reward in itself, although broadcast [...]
Mark Kleinman: A reset BP might not have drilled deep enough for activists February 27, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. Today, he tackles activist investors drilling into BP, Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting and a big ticket auction A reset BP might not have drilled deep enough for activists Bernard’s Parable or Belated Pivot? These might be the most concise [...]
Rangers won’t become feeder club to Leeds if 49ers buy them, says Marathe February 26, 2025 Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe has insisted that Rangers will not become a feeder club if their owners, 49ers Enterprises, complete a takeover of the Scottish giants. The US group, an offshoot of NFL team the San Francisco 49ers, is reported to be in advanced talks about buying a 51 per cent stake in Rangers [...]
Premier League ‘would need 12m UK subscribers to justify Premflix’ February 26, 2025 The Premier League has been told it would need more than 12m UK subscribers paying £20 a month to justify launching its own streaming service, dubbed “Premflix”. English football’s top division generates around £3.5bn a year from selling its media rights, with around half of that coming from its UK deals with Sky and TNT [...]
Sky accuses Amazon of failing to prevent piracy on Fire Sticks February 26, 2025 Sky has accused Amazon of not doing enough to prevent the piracy of its sports rights via “jailbroken” Fire Sticks. Sky’s group chief operating officer Nick Herm said that illegal viewing of its subscription content, which includes Premier League football, Formula 1 and boxing, was costing “hundreds of millions of dollars” and that “about half” [...]
Ahead of the Game: Rangers’ US takeover could hinge on EFL talks February 26, 2025 Rangers’ takeover by US investors could depend on talks between EFL clubs about loosening regulations which prevent the dual ownership of clubs in different competitions – including the Premier League and Scottish Premier League – at their divisional meetings this week. No vote will take place as the issue is not a formal agenda item, [...]
Cadillac Formula 1 team to follow Chelsea blueprint, say owners February 25, 2025 The Cadillac Formula 1 team will “apply the same transformative growth mindset” seen at sister outfit Chelsea FC as they gear up for their historic entry to the grid next year. Cadillac F1 are majority owned by TWG Global, the investment vehicle of Chelsea part-owner Mark Walter, a long-time business partner of the club’s chairman [...]
Mo Salah’s new Liverpool contract is getting more expensive, says Slot February 25, 2025 Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted that Mohamed Salah’s blistering form is making him even more expensive for the club to tie to a new contract this summer. Salah will be a free agent in June, when he will be 33, and Liverpool’s reluctance to give big deals to over-30s could play into the hands [...]
Can Super League use Las Vegas and NRL to turbocharge English rugby league? February 25, 2025 The Super League is venturing to Las Vegas to piggyback on the NRL. But can it help to turbocharge rugby league in England? “It’s fantastic, I’ve watched a couple of the games. They’re proper hard players, and maybe they deserve that little bit more publicity. They’re spreading the word.” Those were the thoughts of Manchester [...]
Man Utd job losses could hit 450 as Ratcliffe swings axe again February 24, 2025 Manchester United have confirmed plans to make up to another 200 redundancies in a bid to arrest five years of continuous losses at the 20-time English champions. It comes just months after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos slashed 250 jobs at Old Trafford and could take the total number of redundancies to 450 since he [...]