Sports Ticker #127: Becks buys Salford, Sadiq seeks Olympic repeat and Hamilton signs autograph deal - a speed read of commercial updates from the sports world

In a fortnight which saw 150,000 Leeds United fans turn out to celebrate the club's promotion to the English Premier League, hundreds of daring racers take part in Essex’s annual Maldon Mud Run and the London Marathon steal New York’s crown for record number of finishers, we bring you news of Sadiq Khan’s Olympic aspirations, an insight into Lewis Hamilton’s exclusive autograph and memorabilia agreement and a peak at Channel 5’s broadcasting deal for the Men’s 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

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Running it back: Sadiq Khan sets eyes on London 2040

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced his intention for the capital to stage the 2040 Olympic Games, a mere (in Olympics terms) 28 years after its previous visit. The plans were revealed as part of a recent report circulated by the Mayor’s Office, which highlighted the financial boost provided by major sporting events in the United Kingdom. As outlined in the report, London pulled in a whopping £230 million last year off the back of six events alone, including the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund alongside the London E-Prix, London Athletics Meet and a number of Major League Baseball and NFL games. Having already hosted the Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012, a successful bid would see London take the record for most Olympics staged in one city. Some may remember the gargantuan infrastructure project associated with the 2012 Games, but Khan hopes that this time around London could utilise its existing infrastructure: “using the assets we already have… we could do it brilliantly – and cheaply”. 

Macron seals the deal with Gloucester Rugby in new partnership

Gloucester Rugby’s men’s and women’s teams will sport the Macron Hero logo on all club sportswear from the start of the 2025/26 season, following the announcement of a multi-year partnership between the rugby union side and Italian sportswear company, Macron. The deal bolsters Macron’s growing UK presence, with the brand – which originates from Bologna – already clothing Sale Sharks and Premiership Rugby title holders Northampton Saints, as well as match officials for UEFA and World Rugby, FA Cup hopefuls Crystal Palace, and a range of other football and rugby sides across Europe. As part of this most recent arrangement, Macron will later this year open and operate a club store adjacent to Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium and serve as the side’s official Technical Kit Partner and Retail Partner from next season. “We aim to build a partnership that goes beyond the pitch”, explained Gianluca Pavanello, Macron’s chief executive, exploiting a synergy through which “Macron will provide Gloucester with its expertise” in return for Gloucester’s “extraordinary heritage” and “one of the most passionate fanbases in the rugby world”. 

Channel 5 lands men's Club World Cup 2025 broadcasting deal with DAZN

The men’s 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which features 32 of the globe’s top football clubs, is set to be the biggest footballing event of the summer. To provide live-to-air coverage, Channel 5 has secured the broadcasting rights for 23 of the event’s matches through a sublicensing deal with DAZN. In what will be one of the largest football tournaments ever televised by Channel 5, the arrangement will see Channel 5 broadcast 15 group games, four round-of-16 fixtures, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final itself. The event, which will be hosted by the United States between 14 June and 13 July this year, will see English Premier League giants Chelsea and Manchester City battle it out alongside other prolific European teams representing their countries’ top leagues. Despite the broad range of time zones shared by the competing clubs, most matches are expected to broadcast at peak evening broadcasting hours for European audiences - which is great news for football fans.

Hamilton signs on the dotted line in exclusive memorabilia agreement

Britain’s king of the racetrack Sir Lewis Hamilton has signed an exclusive trading card and memorabilia partnership deal with Fanatics, the global sports commerce platform. The multi-year arrangement with Fanatics will see the seven-time F1 championship winner tied exclusively to Fanatics’ Topps brand of collectibles, which is well renowned for its Match Attax series and, more recently, its F1 Turbo Attax line (which will stand separately from the deal with Hamilton). To publicly launch the collaboration, Hamilton cut the ribbon at the grand opening of Fanatics’ flagship Regent Street store and answered questions from a crowd of onlookers, “As a kid, I remember collecting Premier League stickers… every little bit of change, I would go down and get these little packs”, Hamilton recalled. The partners are set to make more than just pocket change in this deal, however, with Hamilton’s draw already bagging Fanatics the record for the highest-selling F1-based trading card ever after one fan purchased the one-off 2020 Topps ‘Chrome F1 Superfractor’ card, which featured the champion racer, for a staggering $900,000.

Spend it like Beckham: the Salford City takeover

Manchester United heroes and long-time friends David Beckham and Gary Neville joined forces once again this week in a one-two reminiscent of their nineties glory days, after it was announced the pair, alongside entrepreneur Declan Kelly and former government minister and current Chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association Lord Mervyn Davies, had taken ownership of Salford City FC. The League Two club was previously owned by Singaporean businessman Peter Lim alongside six members of "The Class of 92", including both Beckham and Neville as well as their former teammates Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, who each (other than Lim) held a 10% share in the side. United’s former right flank are now going it alone, however, having bought out their Old Trafford peers as part of a new nine-member consortium group, which also includes Indian conglomerate Dream Sports Group. It is understood the Class of 92’s four departing shareholders will continue to support the club in “technical, football, commercial [and] recruitment” roles. The takeover is intended to breathe new life into the club, who after celebrating promotion in four out of five seasons have failed to break out of League Two since first joining in 2019. 

Extra time...

…and finally, it has been revealed that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was unprecedented in its efforts to champion sustainability and inclusion last year. As recently published in the Paris 2024 Organising Committee’s Official Report, the 2024 Games set new benchmarks for gender equality and environmental sustainability at last summer’s Olympics, being the first iteration of the Games to achieve full gender parity on the field of play through a suite of initiatives which included “mixed-gender events”, “gender-based volunteer and workforce representation” and the ground-breaking Marathon pour Tous, which marked the first time that male and female amateur runners competed in a mass event on the same course as one another. The report also flagged Paris’ successful approach to environmental sustainability, with the 2024 Games producing only half the volume of carbon emissions that were attributed to London 2012 and Rio 2016. The IOC hopes these milestones are not a standalone chapter in the history of the Olympics, but the “beginning of a powerful legacy”.