British and Irish Lions tour plunged into more chaos as tour match is axed and Covid cases continue in South Africa camp July 7, 2021 Fears are growing over the British and Irish Lions’ Test series in South Africa after a spate of Covid-19 cases hit both teams’ warm-up matches. The Lions were due to play the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday in their third tour match but that has now been postponed indefinitely after five Covid cases in their opponents’ [...]
Denmark given extra tickets for Euro 2020 semi-final against England after selling out initial 6,500 allocation July 6, 2021 Denmark have been granted extra tickets for tomorrow’s clash with England, meaning there will be almost 8,000 Danes at the Euro 2020 semi-final. Wembley will have a capacity of around 60,000, the biggest crowd for a British sporting event since pre-pandemic times. England supporters will still make up the vast majority as their team look [...]
Formula E gives spectators the green light for London races but caps crowd at around 10 per cent of capacity July 5, 2021 Formula E chiefs have confirmed that spectators will be allowed to attend the London leg of the series this month. But only 2,720 fans will be permitted on each of the two days of electric motor racing – around 10 per cent of the crowd originally envisaged. The London E-Prix is being held at the [...]
Burnley Women agree groundbreaking deal with TikTok to live-stream all home matches on the social media platform July 3, 2021 Burnley FC Women are to become the first UK football team to live-stream all of their home matches on TikTok. The groundbreaking arrangement is part of a wider deal with the social media platform which also sees TikTok become the team’s sleeve sponsor. It is the latest innovation adopted by Burnley FC’s American owners ALK [...]
Sport sees steep fall in gambling sponsorship as government considers ban and demand grows for social responsibility, says new study July 3, 2021 Gambling sponsorship in sport has fallen sharply ahead of a possible ban, a new report has found. The number of betting companies sponsoring sports teams in England has almost halved since 2019, according to the study by consultancy Caytoo. Gambling’s share of the market has dropped from 15.3 per cent to 8.1 per cent and [...]
Gym Group eyes £31m of investor funding for 40 new sites July 1, 2021 The UK’s second-largest gym chain, Gym Group, aims to raise £31m from investors to fund an expansion with 40 new branches. The low-cost gym operator said it plans to open the new sites over the next 18 months as it continues its rapid rollout programme. It said the impact of Covid-19 on the commercial property [...]
Juventus turn to share issue in bid to plug €400m hole caused by Covid and collapse of European Super League project July 1, 2021 Juventus hope to raise €400m via a share issue to compensate for heavy losses during the pandemic and the stalling of plans for a European Super League. The Turin football club, current home to superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, said it expected losses for the 2019-2022 period to reach €320m. Juventus were one of the driving forces [...]
English rugby scraps relegation until 2024 but chiefs insist Premiership is not being ringfenced June 29, 2021 English rugby chiefs have scrapped relegation from the Premiership until 2024 as part of wide-ranging reforms to the game. The pausing of relegation and expansion of the Premiership to 14 teams is designed to stem the losses suffered by most clubs and exacerbated by the pandemic, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said. But the RFU [...]
How Germany are using data science at Euro 2020 and why it won’t help them in a penalty shoot-out against England June 28, 2021 It’s hard to tell whether Pascal Bauer is being modest about his own work or afraid of giving too much away when he talks about Germany’s Euro 2020 showdown with England. As a senior data scientist for German football federation (DFB), he has an important role in preparing the team for matches like tomorrow’s last-16 [...]
Net profits: Andy Murray on life as an entrepreneur and investor, his new sports drink venture and why he’ll focus more on business after tennis June 25, 2021 Sportswear entrepreneur Tom Beahon can remember one of his first meetings with Andy Murray, at the 2019 Australian Open. “Andy was in his hotel room, watching a Djokovic match, making notes on which side of the service box Novak was serving to just in case he played him in that tournament,” recalls Beahon, whose company, [...]