The rise of Betfair’s wisdom-of-crowds online gambling model has put canny sports fans in the driving seatSir Tim Rice found a moment during the gripping final hours of the third Ashes Test at Headingley last weekend to tweet about the latest betting on the outcome. “Just phoned my bookie (a rare occurrence of course),” he said, “to see what odds they were offering against an England win. They quoted 6-1! Ludicrous. Should be 500-1. At 100-1 I might have invested a fiver. Having said that I am still rooting for England. Nothing is impossible.”My first reaction on reading his complaint was a wave of nostalgia. A quarter of a century after the internet turned gambling, and so much else, into...
The concentration of wealth and attention on a tiny number of globalised superclubs is leading to moments of remarkable drama and quality – but at a terrible priceA recent Set-Piece Menu podcast eloquently made the case for fandom as a broad church. When the Premier League is marketed so aggressively all over the world, when overseas television rights bring it so much revenue, when players and managers and owners are often foreign, they argued – quite reasonably – who is to deny the travelling supporter from Baltimore or Bangalore their seat in the stadium, the right to call themselves a fan? All of that made sense.On an intellectual level I agreed with it. It fitted my general liberal, globalised worldview....
Demise is another warning that huge social value of clubs cannot beat the cold, hard edges of a free marketA good day to bury Bury. The swell of public sympathy at Bury FC’s expulsion from the English Football League was tangible on Wednesday morning. And yet, as ever with Big Football, the wheels will continue to grind on.Thursday will bring the Champions League draw, with further details of how Europe’s club elite plan to divvy up the season’s £2bn revenue. Friday promises more news on a potential mega‑move for the house of Neymar, with the proposed £135m transfer to Barcelona playing itself out up to deadline day. Beyond that, the Premier League fixture list will continue to fill the skies...
The bemusement of Liam Plunkett and co is understandable – their glory bid should be available to all on free-to-air TVThere has been a buzz around the England camp as well as a sense of puzzlement. They are in the semi-finals; they are playing well, though not flawlessly. Two victories over India and New Zealand, both easier than expected, have boosted confidence and clarified what they believe to be their best team in most conditions. Now they are kicking their heels until their semi-final at Edgbaston comes around on Thursday. It will be a long wait, though Jason Roy and Jofra Archer may welcome an opportunity to rest aching bodies.And the puzzlement? Well, like everyone else, the players have been...
Botched launches of Arsenal’s kit and Nike’s trainer exposes halfwitted naivety among wizards of merchandisingDoes any profession attract a higher percentage of sweet summer children than sportswear marketing? We are encouraged to think of this most modern discipline as a sophisticated, perhaps even cutthroat world, where promotional and sales whizzes compete to be the best of the best in the battle to market various symphonies in sweat-wicking polyester and cheap leather.In which case, why does the appearance of halfwitted naivety continue to dog these 360-degree thinkers? This week alone, Adidas and Arsenal have had to shut down a social media initiative after its promise to tweet pictures of its new kit with fan Twitter handles on it saw the official...