Business of Sport

In what is virtually a Man City free show this week, we were reminded of how much is still going on in the world of sport. It’s a week where a number of topics we’ve covered over the last few months seem to have had major developments, from the WTA to LIV 2.0’s most recent deadline to what looks like the recovery of Gianni Infantino. Add to this a proper look at what is happening in French football as the business...

Stuart Cain is the CEO of Warwickshire, one of England’s most historic sporting institutions and the newly crowned champions of the 4-day game. This is a case for county cricket from Championship winners themselves. It’s a format that comes under a lot of heat: poor attendances and a challenging business model make it an easy target. Stuart puts forward one of the most compelling cases for not just the County Championsh...

The Football Regulator has released the first draft of its State of the Game report. Lock in. This is like Christmas for Charlie Snr. After months of talking about what could come from it, Charlie delivers an explanation for the ages, even by his standards. Add to this a look at the damage the City case is doing to the Premier League after a crushing result at Anfield, a check in with F1 which is balancing excellent business report...

What happens when a football club goes into administration? It’s a fans worst nightmare. An owner who decides they can no longer fund the club and as a result the community asset that has been the bedrock of many people’s lives for over a century faces closure. That is exactly what happened with Torquay United. 125 years old with a long history of Football League participation could not protect them from financial disas...

What a week it was last week. Man City’s very well publicised indiscretions will once again be looked at as we question the grounds for appeal and take a look at the role of the Premier League in securing this verdict, while also taking a peak across the pond as the LA Clippers come to terms with a very strong set of sanctions for 113 less guilty charges charges, albeit one serious one. Add to this yet more chaos at Celtic as...

If you can believe it, today we welcome our first golfer to the show. A notoriously hard group to get hold of, I have wanted to get stuck into life as a professional for years. Eddie Pepperell is the perfect person to do that with. Fully open with him thoughts, super analytical, a media voice himself as co-host of the hugely popular podcast ‘The Chipping Forecast’, and someone that has experienced both the highs and low...

It won’t surprise you to hear that today’s show will be focused completely on the guilty verdict handed down to Manchester City last Friday. Firstly, there have been many of you who have been relentlessly calling for us to do a show on this since it broke. We explain why we didn’t jump straight on at the start of today’s episode, and I am pleased that we did hold off and can come to you with a more complete ...

A genuine world class athlete joins us on the show today. There are few sports people with more influence than India’s international cricketers, and Rishabh Pant has been at the top of the cricketing world for a decade. A multi format player who captured people’s attention with his aggressive batting and elite talent, there has always to be a story to tell here that looks beyond the performance, and today we’re de...

With an extra long international break upon us, it is time to take our first proper look at what the early parts of the season have delivered, and to Charlie Snr’s no great surprise, Spurs have continued to heap more pain on their fanbase. But why? This was also the week where Manchester United released their accounts, showing record revenues, but there is much more to the story than that. Clearlake have now really got the ke...

Alexis Ohanian is back! Having joined us a couple of years ago to talk about Angel City and his broader sporting investment adventures, the time has come to dive back in with one of the most active (and successful) investors in women’s sport. In London for Athlos, the female only athletics competition he set up to both invest more and create ownership opportunities for the talent in the sport, Alexis not only took me through ...

In a week that has seen a bucket load of big sporting events and an equal amount of controversy, you won't be surprised to find out there is some heat in this show. The Ultimate Athletics Championships and Solheim Cup both delivered some serious entertainment over the weekend, emphasising the strength of women’s golf and proof that existing federations can create new IP and make it work. It’s also about time we check in...

Maarten Paes plays for Ajax and the Indonesian national team as a goalkeeper, at least that is what most of the bios will say. What they won’t tell you is that alongside his career as a professional footballer, he is also building a career in business and investment, and the approach he has taken to making himself more than his performance on the pitch is a story we had to cover on the show.

There is a shifting attitude in dre...

We came into this week thinking not a lot had been happening. We got that wrong. LIV finally filed for bankruptcy, Kevin Pietersen made a miracle return to the England set up, the Champions League kicked off with an absolute treasure chest of cash to distribute to the participants, The NFL season begins which includes the first ever game in Australia…oh and Charlie fills us in on developments in the horse racing world. If th...

Athlete stories and their journeys beyond sport are a big part of this show. James Haskell is one of the most famous rugby players of the last 20 years, and much of that fame comes from the character he presents and profile he has alongside rugby. As you would expect, there is no filter applied to this chat. This is the real James, who came in ready to talk about rugby and the broader state of the game, alongside his work in the me...

Charlie and Charlie take a deep dive into the rise and apparent collapse of LIV Golf, tracing the breakaway tour back to its ambitious launch in 2021 and the huge Saudi investment behind its attempt to challenge the PGA Tour. They examine the extraordinary financial packages offered to players, the appeal of guaranteed money and franchise equity, and why stars including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm ...

A blockbuster show to bring you this week as we look at the end of the craziest transfer window on record, Messi’s retirement from international football, the US Open tennis, and LIV’s reported preparation for bankruptcy. Add to that the story of how a golf trip to Scotland left Charlie Jr in the back of an ambulance after a run in with a colony of wasps, and we have ourselves a breakdown.

Disclaimer:

The content of this ...

Today we introduce the sport of Rugby 7’s, as a brand new tournament, ‘Ultimate 7’s’ kicks off in Cardiff on 12th September. Managing Director Barney Pascall is backing a sport that speaks to a broad audience with a strong heritage to succeed as a business as well as a sporting product. Centralised team ownership, cost controls, venue selection to bring the best out of the first iteration without placing cra...

It’s been a big week in the world of knockout interviews. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin sat down with Alastair Campbell from the Rest Is Politics to talk through the crazy few weeks at the top of football governance. What did he reveal and did we learn anything new? We’ll take a look at that alongside the football club market after Charlie suggested over half the football clubs in the EFL are looking for investment,...

This week the time has come to review the latest season of The Hundred, the ECB’s flagship franchise cricket tournament that this year showcased its biggest changes yet: New owners, new kits, new sponsors and much more. But how did it perform? Managing Director of The Hundred Vik Banerjee rejoins me having appeared on the show when the franchises were being sold a couple of years ago to talk us through some of the key points ...