Record £3.2bn in private equity deals for sports teams as funds target football, rugby and F1 November 22, 2021 The last twelve months saw a record £3.2bn of sports team acquisitions by private equity funds, almost treble last year’s total, as they targeted football, rugby and Formula 1 teams, according to new data shared with Morning Wire this afternoon. Last year saw an all-time high of 11 PE purchases of stakes in sports teams [...]
NBC secures Premier League rights November 18, 2021 The Premier League yesterday signed a new six-year deal with NBC. The rights deal will start during the 2022/23 season and will last until 2028. Premier League chief Richard Masters said: “ We are delighted to announce our new US broadcast deal with NBC Sports, who have been brilliant partners for the Premier League.” The [...]
Premier League on rocky road with plans to regulate sponsorship deals in wake of Newcastle takeover November 18, 2021 The recent takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund created quite a storm – both in the media and, according to reports, the other Premier League clubs. Since the introduction of so-called financial fair play regulations at the start of season 2013-14 – known as the Profitability and Sustainability Rules in [...]
Chelsea Digital Ventures: The tech business spun out of a football club November 17, 2021 Look closely next time Romelu Lukaku or Pernille Harder takes a mid-match drink and you may notice something that marks Chelsea out from other football clubs. Because instead of taking a swig from a bottle of Lucozade, or another well known sports hydration brand, players at the west London club have their own in-house product. [...]
Czech billionaire buys 27 per cent of West Ham in £150m deal November 10, 2021 Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has completed a deal which will see him acquire 27 per cent of Premier League club West Ham for £150m. The 46-year-old could use the initial investment to launch a takeover bid of the Hammers, who are currently majority owned by David Gold and David Sullivan. Kretinsky has stakes in both [...]
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini charged with fraud over £1.35m payment November 2, 2021 Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the former presidents of Fifa and Uefa, are facing trial after being charged with fraud by Swiss prosecutors. The charges relate to a payment of 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m) made by Fifa to Platini in 2011, when Blatter ran football’s world governing body. Blatter, who was forced out of Fifa [...]
Smart shin guards: the latest weapon in football’s wearable tech arms race November 2, 2021 Football is no stranger to wearables, as evidenced by the ubiquity of GPS vests, but it is about to get a new weapon in the technology arms race: smart shin guards. Italian sports tech and analytics company Soccerment will today launch their pioneering protective gear, which captures data on every run, pass, shot and change [...]
Antonio Conte is a gamble Tottenham Hotspur can’t afford not to take November 1, 2021 “It’s time to stop being so crap,” was Tottenham Hotspur manager-in-waiting Antonio Conte’s rallying cry to the Juventus squad he inherited, according to his former player Andrea Pirlo. A similar sentiment would not be inappropriate at Spurs if, as expected, Conte is named the successor to Nuno Espirito Santo, who was fired after just four [...]
Daniel Kretinksy: Czech billionaire poised to buy stake in West Ham United October 28, 2021 West Ham United are the subject of takeover interest from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, according to multiple reports. Kretinsky, who co-owns Sparta Prague and holds major stakes in the Royal Mail and Sainsbury’s, is said to be close to buying a 27 per cent stake in the Premier League club. The deal, first reported by [...]
Man Utd owning Glazers outbid in Indian Premier League franchise auction October 25, 2021 Manchester United owners the Glazer family suffered another defeat today when they lost out in an auction for one of two new franchises in cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Avram Glazer’s Lancer Capital made a bid for one of the new teams, which will begin competing next year when the high-profile Twenty20 competition expands to [...]