Rolex sponsored Wimbledon stars made to pay for own watches
A Rolex sponsorship or ambassadorial contract is widely seen as a must-have endorsement by aspiring young tennis players, yet such deals can prove to be a mixed blessing.
Such is the value and scarcity of the Swiss luxury watches that their endorsement department operates a strictly enforced tier system, with only their A-list clients such as Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff given a free Rolex.
Other players on their books have to make do with being offered a discount, so signing a contract with the brand can prove to be a costly business.
In addition to personal endorsements in tennis, Rolex has been the official timekeeper of Wimbledon since 1978.
The brand is also prominent in golf, where it sponsors all the majors and the Ryder and Solheim Cups, as well as motorsports, yachting and equestrian sports.
Cricket talk highlights India Olympic ambition
New ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta’s reference to the importance of cricket’s inclusion in the LA 2028 Olympics in his first public statement since his appointment is seen as the strongest indication yet of India’s determination to bid to host the 2036 Games, with Ahmedabad the most likely venue.
While the IOC’s decision to include a men’s and women’s cricket tournament in Los Angeles is a significant moment for the sport its impact will be limited, not least by the fact that each competition will comprise of just six teams.
India’s anticipated bid for 2036 is likely to be a far bigger deal in the long term in what is emerging as a heavyweight three-way battle with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Champ Rugby asks for help over Covid loans
Championship rugby clubs are lobbying the Rugby Football Union for assistance in helping to repay Covid loans provided by the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport during the pandemic.
Around £4.7m of loans borrowed by second-tier clubs remains owed to the government, a figure significantly higher than the £2.2m annual funding they receive from the RFU to be split among 14 clubs in a competition that will be known as Champ Rugby from next season.
Ironically their central funding was cut during the pandemic from around £600,000 a year to about £160,000 due to RFU cost savings and has not returned to its pre-2020 levels.
The RFU provides around £33m a year to Premiership clubs as part of the Professional Game Partnership that also governs the release of players for England duty, but that agreement does not include the Championship.
Despite this funding most Premiership clubs have yet to repay the vast majority of the £123m paid out to rugby union in Covid loans.
DCMS said in a National Audit Office report last year that it did not expect to recover up to £29m of the £41.6m it had loaned to three clubs – London Irish, Wasps and Worcester – due to insolvency but is still pushing for the rest of the balance to be settled.
F1 and Wimbledon trail football in pay TV list
New research from media rights agency Peak, to be published later this week, contains some interesting insights about the sports events TV viewers are most willing to pay for.
The list of most sought after and valuable events in the UK market is dominated by football, with the Premier League and men’s Champions League the top two, although the FA Cup at number three comes as a surprise and is good news for TNT Sports, whose four-year deal for the competition starts next season.
The EFL is more in demand than some might expect at number four, with Formula 1 the most valuable non-football event at sixth, followed by the men’s Six Nations and Wimbledon.
The data indicates that there would be demand from subscription channels should either event be removed from Ofcom’s A list of crown jewel events that must be made available free-to-air.
USTA chair Vahaly serves up CEO bid
US Tennis Association chair Brian Vahaly has caused a stir across the Atlantic by applying for the vacant role of chief executive at the federation.
The previous chief executive Lew Sherr left the USTA last week for the New York Mets, who have hired him as their new president of business.
Sherr, whose main responsibility was overseeing the US Open, had been chief executive and executive director of the USTA since 2022 having worked there since 2010.
Vahaly had been appointed interim co-chief executive along with the USTA’s chief operating officer Andrea Hirsch when Sherr’s departure was announced in May, with the pair also charged with finding his replacement.
Having thrown his own hat into the ring however, Vahaly has since recused himself from that process.
5 bosses sweat on men’s tennis epic
Channel 5 executives will be the only sports fans hoping that Wimbledon’s men’s final on Sunday does not see a repeat of last month’s five-hour, five-set epic between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the French Open.
In a sub-licensing deal with Dazn, 5 has bought the rights to the Club World Cup final, which kicks off at 8pm.
Wimbledon’s decision to put back the start of the men’s and women’s singles finals to 4pm this year has created the potential for a clash, leading to fears at 5 that few viewers will switch over from the BBC if another epic tennis final is heading towards its climax.
First Hundred sale announcements loom
The Hundred franchises are planning to announce the completion of their sales to private investors on an individual basis rather than wait for all eight of the new partnerships to finalise their participation agreements, and some of the contracts could be signed this week.
England cricket chiefs had planned to coordinate a central announcement that the process of raising £520m for the sport had been completed, but with some of the negotiations dragging on the franchises have been given the green light to go public once contracts have been signed.