The Week in Sportbiz: Big W for W Series; United show FA the way; Tour de Yorkshire; British Cycling; and Uefa November 12, 2020 Women’s sport has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic but it received a boost today from the W Series. The women-only single-seater racing championship is to stage eight races on the same bill as Formula 1 grands prix next year. “There is no doubt that our global reach, impact and influence will be [...]
FA chairman Greg Clarke quits after sparking racism row with ‘coloured footballers’ comment November 10, 2020 Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has stepped down after attracting widespread criticism for referring to “coloured footballers”. Clarke made the remarks during a gaffe-laden appearance before MPs at a select committee hearing this morning. He attracted further derision for suggesting Asians and Afro-Caribbeans had “different career interests” and that homosexuality was “a life choice”. Clarke [...]
Five substitutions and fixture congestion: Won’t somebody think of the rich Premier League superclubs? November 9, 2020 It was a good weekend for sales of tiny violins in football’s moneyed north-west heartlands, as familiar debates about five substitutes and fixture scheduling bobbed to the surface. On Sunday, Pep Guardiola revealed he and Jurgen Klopp enjoyed a touchline grumble about the cap on mid-game changes after Manchester City and Liverpool’s draw. Twenty-four hours [...]
The Week In Sportbiz: Premier League set to axe pay-per-view (for now), Formula E gets cosier with Extreme E, and Gosper gives US his World Cup vote November 6, 2020 Less than a month after its introduction, Premier League clubs are expected to ditch their unpopular pay-per-view service. Since debuting on 17 October, half of all games have been restricted to those willing to pay £14.95 a time. Fans groups protested the extra charges by successfully urging people to donate thousands of pounds to food [...]
Premier League, EFL and FA chiefs to be grilled by MPs over Project Big Picture and bailout impasse November 5, 2020 MPs have demanded to grill Premier League, English Football League and Football Association chiefs over Project Big Picture. A Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee wants to quiz Richard Masters, Rick Parry and Greg Clarke next week. The session is focused on a failure to agree a rescue package for clubs outside the [...]
Marcus Rashford and the new player power: it won’t be long until clubs and sponsors put a price on it November 4, 2020 Just when you think that 2020 can’t throw up any more surprises, Marcus Rashford, a 23-year-old footballer, becomes the government’s loudest source of opposition. At the time of writing there’s been no U-turn on extending the provision of free school meals when faced by Rashford’s campaign. But by generating support and sentiment through his 3.7m [...]
Pride tinged with sadness for devoted AFC Wimbledon fans locked out of Plough Lane homecoming party November 3, 2020 This isn’t how AFC Wimbledon’s long-awaited first match back at Plough Lane was meant to be. The return of football to this corner of Merton on Tuesday evening, when Doncaster Rovers visit the Dons in League One, should have been a huge party for supporters. Instead, the only fans present will be the cardboard cut-outs [...]
Drop in drama comes at bad time for Premier League’s pay-per-view push October 26, 2020 Who remembers the good old days of a few weeks ago, when the Premier League was all goals and madcap scorelines? Leicester smashing five at Manchester City was soon eclipsed by Tottenham’s six-goal romp at Manchester United and then, giddily, Aston Villa putting seven past champions Liverpool. Gameweek Two had set the tone, ushering in [...]
FC Nordsjaelland: How a Danish club’s global outlook has helped it to weather the Covid crisis October 23, 2020 An Englishman with no experience of running a football club and no track record in Scandinavia was always going to attract scepticism when he took over one of Denmark’s top teams. Throw in a wildly unconventional ownership model and radically idealistic notions of how the sport should be run and it is no surprise Tom [...]
The Week in Sportbiz: Rugby fans in ticket rush for Lions’ Japanese Test, plus Uefa’s Euro 2020 delay silver lining October 22, 2020 Demand for attending live sport remains very strong in the time of coronavirus, if the British and Irish Lions are anything to go by. Some 35,000 rugby fans have already registered interest in tickets for next July’s home Test against Japan, which was only announced yesterday, City A.M. has learned. That means Murrayfield’s 67,000 seats [...]