Six Nations investors CVC Capital Partners table Oval Invincibles bid January 23, 2025 Private equity giant CVC Capital Partners have reportedly tabled a bid for Hundred franchise Oval Invincibles. It comes as the eight teams are being asked by the England and Wales Cricket Board to shortlist three or four preferred bidders to take through to the next stage of the auction. The ECB is selling each of [...]
HSBC Championships: Bank replaces Cinch as Queen’s Club sponsor January 23, 2025 HSBC has doubled down on tennis by taking title sponsorship of the new combined men’s and women’s championships at Queen’s Club. The bank, which already counts Emma Raducanu and Tim Henman as ambassadors, has signed a four-year agreement with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). This year the traditional pre-Wimbledon event in west London will add [...]
Football Governance Bill ‘weird’ and regulator could be ‘terrible’, says Brady January 23, 2025 West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady has laid out her case for opposing the introduction of the football regulator, arguing that it “could have a really detrimental effect” on the game. Baroness Brady has been one of the most vocal peers in questioning the plans for a watchdog, the key plank of the Football Governance [...]
Clear and simple calendars like NFL, not tennis, should be applauded in sport January 23, 2025 The NFL, unlike tennis, should be applauded for its clear and simple sport calendar that sees athletes thrive, writes Ed Warner. Naomi Osaka, Gael Monfils, Jack Draper. Each retired from the Australian Open mid-match. No substitutes bench in tennis, so the ultimate anticlimax for spectators. Injuries are an occupational hazard, but across sport the sheer [...]
Real Madrid named richest football club after breaking €1bn revenue barrier January 23, 2025 Real Madrid have cemented their status as the richest club in world football after becoming the first to achieve more than €1bn of revenue in a single year, says Deloitte’s Football Money League. The European champions increased their income by 26 per cent to €1.046bn (£884m) for 2023-24 thanks to the full reopening of their [...]
Netflix to hike prices as live sport aids surge in subscriber numbers January 22, 2025 Netflix boasted 19m extra subscribers in their fourth quarter results for 2024, partly due to their rise in live sports offering, as the streaming giant passed 300m paid subscribers. The platform added live sport to its slate in 2024, showing boxing, NFL and WWE. It also won the media rights to the next two Fifa [...]
Naomi Girma: Chelsea agree first $1m transfer in women’s football January 22, 2025 Chelsea are set to make USA defender Naomi Girma the first $1m transfer in women’s football after agreeing a world-record fee with San Diego Wave. Girma is expected to join the reigning Women’s Super League champions this week in a deal worth $1.1m (£889,000) – more than double the previous British record fee. The transfer [...]
English rugby chief Bill Sweeney defends bonus as critics call for his head January 22, 2025 Bill Sweeney, the embattled president of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), insists he tried to defer his controversial bonus but has defended his acceptance of the six-figure payment. Sweeney is facing a vote of no confidence after the bonus took his overall pay to £1.1m in 2023-24, a year in which the RFU made 42 [...]
Is Hamilton and Ferrari the biggest deal in sport, not just Formula 1? January 22, 2025 Lewis Hamilton tests his Ferrari today for the first time. Is this partnership one of the most iconic in sport? We take a look. Usually the thought of Formula 1 drivers testing their cars ahead of a new season wouldn’t even approach the realms of interesting. But at Fiorano Circuit near Maranello in northern Italy [...]
Ambani family on course for £100m London Spirit in Hundred auction January 22, 2025 The likely destinations of English cricket’s crown jewels in the Hundred auction are taking shape, with the Ambani family’s determination to buy 49 per cent of the London Spirit in a deal expected to exceed £100m forcing other bidders to look elsewhere. A consortium of Californian investors led by Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo [...]