Real Madrid commit to EuroLeague basketball amid NBA interest after €3bn proposal Sport Business EuroLeague basketball chiefs have secured a renewed commitment from Real Madrid in the face of rival interest from the NBA after wooing teams with a €3bn package. Real Madrid are understood to have signed a new 10-year deal with EuroLeague in a move that is set to be rubber-stamped later this week. It comes just [...]
Rugby needs its Premier League to step up and take control, Raine says Sport Business Merchant bank Raine Group has warned that professional rugby is not big enough for “five or six leagues” and that it is “time for someone to put the hammer down” and become the sport’s equivalent to the Premier League. Rugby union has been going through a crisis of late, with different leagues using different structures [...]
Expect investor activity in Premier League this summer, say Raine Group Sport Business Raine Group, the bank behind the sale of Chelsea and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority purchase of Manchester United, has said to expect heightened activity this summer as Premier League clubs move to sell stakes and raise capital. The respected US merchant bank, which has recently advised on NBA Europe and franchise sales in the Hundred [...]
NBA-EuroLeague talks at an impasse, adding uncertainty to bidding process May 1, 2026 With a former NBA man installed at the top of EuroLeague, conciliatory noises coming from both camps and fresh talks held this week about cooperation, the prospects of a peace deal between basketball’s two biggest club organisers looked to be better than ever. But following the meeting, at the headquarters of world governing body Fiba [...]
NBA Europe: Bids top $1bn as London team proves hottest property – sources April 1, 2026 The NBA and its advisors have received several bids in excess of $1bn for teams in its proposed European league, according to sources close to the process. The US basketball league and its advisors, JP Morgan and the Raine Group, have begun sifting through non-binding offers for the 12 permanent franchises in the new competition [...]
NBA Europe to copy The Hundred sale process as bid deadline arrives March 31, 2026 The NBA will borrow from English cricket’s playbook when its plans to launch a European league in 2027 take another step forward this week. Potential investors including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, RedBird Capital and Qatar Sports Investments have until midnight on Tuesday New York time to lodge their bids for one of the 12 [...]
Exclusive: Prem Rugby kicks plan to hike stadiums to 15,000 into touch February 11, 2026 Prem Rugby has torpedoed proposals for a top-flight shake-up that would have seen champions Bath Rugby’s stadium deemed too small for the top flight, Morning Wire can reveal. A study, run by Deloitte, looking at how Prem Rugby can raise the minimum standards of entry to the English top flight raised the prospect of increasing [...]
Tottenham chiefs lobby Uefa to increase Champions League squad size January 28, 2026 Tottenham Hotspur are lobbying Uefa to increase Champions League squad sizes after Thomas Frank was forced to drop Mathys Tel for the second time this season. Tel, who joined the club in a £30m deal last summer, was cut from Tottenham’s squad before last week’s 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund to enable Dominic Solanke’s return [...]
NBA Europe suffers setback as Barcelona eye EuroLeague extension January 13, 2026 The NBA’s plans to launch a new basketball league in Europe next year appear to have suffered a setback after Barcelona reportedly decided against signing up to the ambitious project. Barcelona, one of the continent’s most successful and prestigious teams, were among the established names courted by the NBA and its advisors JPMorgan and Raine [...]
SA20 future in doubt as Big Bash sale process squeezes cricket investment January 7, 2026 The SA20 franchise tournament is facing an uncertain financial future amid the threat of fresh competition for funding from Cricket Australia’s Big Bash, which is preparing to sell off stakes in its franchises to private investors later this year. All six SA20 franchises are owned by Indian Premier League teams, many of whom have expressed [...]