How sport could shape Xi Jinping’s next five-year China plan June 25, 2025 It doesn’t feel like that long ago when the world was captivated by 2,008 drummers from China opening the Beijing Olympic Games in perfect harmony. But that was a different China in a different era, and the Sleeping Dragon has been in something of a comatose state since due to a number of factors including [...]
Brits back Team GB funding hike, but split over taxpayer involvement June 24, 2025 More than half of Britons think Team GB athletes should be given more funding but are split over whether that injection should come from the taxpayer, new research out today shows. Exclusive polling by Ipsos for Morning Wire reveals backing for athletes such as Keely Hodgkinson to receive more than the average £22,500 payment, but [...]
HMRC to cash in on hiked Wimbledon prize money June 22, 2025 The increase in prize money at Wimbledon this year has been described as a win for HMRC by a top tax advisory firm. Winners of the men’s and women’s singles titles will each bag themselves £3m at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, a figure up on last year’s sum. Even first round losers will earn £66,000 [...]
British and Irish Lions ticket prices teeter on verge of greed June 20, 2025 I love the British and Irish Lions but quite frankly the touring side is teetering on becoming a black hole of greed, pulling fans’ precious pennies and pounds into a vortex of commercial excess. Take Friday’s exhibition match against Argentina at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. There were a number of single tickets still available just yesterday [...]
Majority of Brits support London 2040 Olympic Games bid, polling shows June 17, 2025 More than half of Brits support a London bid to host the 2040 Olympics and Paralympics, exclusive polling for Morning Wire has revealed. Two-thirds of Londoners would back the proposals while 68 per cent of those who consider themselves sports fans are in favour of the capital bidding to stage the Olympics for a record-breaking [...]
Sam Renouf: From athlete to CEO and Morning Wire Triathlon Team Challenge June 12, 2025 The CEO of the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), Sam Renouf, on his journey from athlete to founder and launching the Morning Wire Triathlon Team Challenge. Sam Renouf knows exactly when he realised he had to give up on his dream of becoming an Olympic champion. A rising star in the British triathlon set-up, the 21-year-old [...]
Exclusive: R360 rugby breakaway will have a player draft and be free-to-air June 11, 2025 The R360 global rugby breakaway plans to be broadcast free-to-air, beginning with a draft of big-name male and female players where club owners are mic’d up, Morning Wire has learned. The franchise-based project is slated to launch next year and – if successful – promises to fix the loss-making club game and change the face [...]
Club World Cup tickets: Chelsea fans say Fifa shot themselves in foot June 10, 2025 Will the first expanded Club World Cup be a success or did Fifa bungle the ticket sales irreparably? Morning Wire asked two Chelsea fans who are spending thousands to attend. For lifelong Chelsea fan John Hand, 62, a trip to the Club World Cup has been several years in the making. “When we won the [...]
Can government force £2.5bn Abramovich Chelsea funds to Ukraine? June 8, 2025 Last week the UK government threatened to take Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to court to make sure the £2.5bn raised from his sale of Chelsea FC went to Ukraine. Abramovich owned Chelsea from 2003 until his forced sale in 2022 following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. But the proceeds of the sale to a consortium [...]
Trump tariffs: How Big Beautiful Bill could have bigger impact on sport June 6, 2025 To tariff or not to tariff, that has been the question on both sides of the pond recently. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan is stuck in the courts but the rest of the world is reeling from the uncertainty. That is, except for sports. Morning Wire reported this week that sports valuations are steady [...]