As Premier League clubs seek government support to restart the focus is on the brutal gap to the Football League’s three divisionsIf one impact of the Covid‑19 catastrophe has been to hold Britain rigid and shine a merciless light on all our structures, it was inevitable that football’s struggles would culminate in a piercing look at the money. And just as there are calls for fundamental improvements to the nation’s inequities when the horror is finally over, a focus is emerging on football’s own inequalities and how sustainable they really are.The financial gap between the Premier League and the rest has widened exponentially over the 28 years since the First Division clubs broke away from sharing with the Football League’s...
The Six Nations and the private equity firm CVC’s impending deal is threatening to take some games off free-to-air TV, and that could be a dangerous moveIn August 1990 a retired French nuclear physicist called André Gardes armed himself with a semi‑automatic and launched a one-man invasion of Sark. When he arrived on the island he put up a pair of posters warning the residents that he was going to take over at noon the next day. And he would have, if a local constable hadn’t disarmed him by asking if he could hold his gun for a minute. Gardes removed the magazine, handed it over, and the policeman punched him on the nose. The invasion was over. Gardes actually...
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...
TikTok, Helo, YouTube and the rest – like highlights after midnight – cannot make up for a widespread inability to watch the games unfoldRepeat a word often enough and it seems to lose all meaning. It’s called semantic satiation, and it’s a phenomenon you will already be aware of if you have spent much time talking to toddlers or sports marketing executives. “Legacy” went some time in the last decade, buzzworded to death after London 2012, and I suspect we’re about to lose “engage” and its variations, too. The England and Wales Cricket Board says it has “engaged” 1 million children in this World Cup, the International Cricket Council has set up fan zones to “engage” with families, partnered with...
The broadcaster wants to revolutionise televised racing – and is prepared to invest money and resources to do soThere are unlikely to be many mourners when At The Races officially expires at midnight on Monday. After all, and with all due respect to the television channel’s home in Milton Keynes, it is going to a much better place. Just short of its 18th birthday, the adoption papers were signed and approved earlier this year and from Tuesday, it is official. At The Races is part of the Sky Sports “family” now.The “At The Races” name is old enough for a PR executive with political ambitions called David Cameron to have been peripherally involved with the initial launch in 2000, when...