Mercury13: Mata-backed women’s football group lines up Spanish club November 26, 2025 Juan Mata-backed investment group Mercury13 is in advanced negotiations about buying a stake in Spanish top-flight women’s club Levante Badalona. Mercury13, which bought FC Como Women in 2024 before investing in WSL2 club Bristol earlier this year, has pledged $100m to build a global portfolio of clubs, with Badalona earmarked to be its next investment. [...]
Magic Weekend 2026: Ashes sell-out lures Super League to Hill Dickinson Stadium November 25, 2025 Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium will stage rugby league’s Magic Weekend for the first time next summer following the success of its hosting of an Ashes clash. The Merseyside venue will be the third different venue for the two-day Super League festival in as many seasons, after St James’ Park in Newcastle this year and Elland [...]
F1 to rival NBA and NFL teams valuations, predicts Aston Martin chief November 25, 2025 Formula 1 teams are on course to rival top US sports franchises as the most expensive in the world following a boom in valuations, says Aston Martin F1’s commercial chief Jefferson Slack. This month’s sale of a minority stake in Mercedes F1 valued the team at $6bn (£4.6bn), while McLaren were valued at around $5bn [...]
England rugby chiefs axe bonus scheme that led to coup attempt on CEO Sweeney November 25, 2025 The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has scrapped the controversial long-term incentive plan (LTIP) that led to a major rebellion against CEO Bill Sweeney earlier this year. Sweeney faced and survived a vote of no confidence in February after it emerged that he had been paid £1.1m in 2023-24 despite the RFU making a loss of [...]
Budget: Odds to be slashed if betting industry taxed higher, Reeves warned November 25, 2025 Tax rises for the betting sector in tomorrow’s Budget could leave punters with worse odds across all sports, say industry spokespeople. Chancellor Rachel Reeves may target so-called “sin taxes” on Wednesday as she looks to fill a fiscal black hole, with the gambling sector expected to be hit. Reeves could exempt flutters on horse racing [...]
Fifa and Saudi Arabia team up again in $1bn stadium loans project November 24, 2025 Saudi Arabia and Fifa have demonstrated their close ties by offering up to $1bn (£760m) in soft loans for member football associations in developing countries to build or revamp stadiums. The Saudi Fund for Development has pledged to provide the finance, which Fifa said would “prioritise developing nations… helping them invest in facilities that drive [...]
Budget risks stifling UK sports stars of tomorrow, industry warns Reeves November 24, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves risks cutting off the UK’s pipeline of sporting talent with reform of business rates in the Autumn Budget, industry leaders have told City AM. In a wide-ranging survey of governing bodies and other stakeholders across the sector, expected changes to business rates due to be announced by Reeves tomorrow and take effect [...]
What sport wants from the Budget: UK industry leaders share hopes and fears November 24, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget on Wednesday, City AM asked decision-makers from across the UK’s sport sector what they are hoping to hear from Chancellor Rachel Reeves. UK Athletics – Jack Buckner, CEO Major sporting events drive sport. They make us feel good, but they also are profitable. They generate income. It’s challenging putting on [...]
West Ham sponsor: Bookmakers won’t desert football over Premier League ban November 24, 2025 West Ham’s front-of-shirt sponsor has reassured the Premier League that the gambling industry won’t run away from football after a ban on betting partners takes effect next year. England’s leading clubs voted to voluntarily ban gambling sponsors as front-of-shirt partners in a move due to come into force at the start of next season. Over [...]
Paralympic chief explains lifting of ban on Russia and Belarus November 24, 2025 Russia and Belarus have had their bans from Paralympic Games lifted because they are no longer using sport to promote war, says the president of the International Paralympic Committee. Both countries were suspended by the IPC shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a decision upheld for “breaches of its constitutional membership obligations” the [...]