Olympique Lyonnais buys into basketball with Asvel club
June 25 – OL Groupe, owner of Olympique Lyonnais’ men’s and women’s teams, is expanding into basketball with the acquisition of 25% of Asvel.
Finance
Commisso plans Fiorentina stadium upgrade as they head to US for pre-season
June 24 – New Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso has wasted no time getting his feet under the desk at the Serie A club saying he will refurbish the stadium.
Fan engagement platform Tokabot wins Hype Capital funding
June 21 – Tokabot, a tracker that monitors and collects data on where sports fans are most digitally active, has received seed funding from HYPE Capital
Report finds US Women’s team has out-earned US Men over past 3 seasons
June 18 – The United States women’s national soccer team (USWNT), in dispute with their national federation (USSF) over equal pay and conditions, generated more revenue than the men’s side in the three years after their 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup win according to analysis of US Soccer’s audited accounts for the past three years.
Mbappe, Salah and Sterling break €200m barrier as Neymar’s value plummets to €124m
June 14 – Strikers top the latest transfer valuations of players in the five leading European leagues with PSG’s Kylian Mbappe now estimated to be worth a staggering €252 million, though his Brazilian teammate Neymar having lost more than 40% of his value dropping to €124.7 million.
Messi, with $127m, tops world sports’ rich list. Ronaldo and Neymar follow
June 12 – Lionel Messi is now officially the world’s highest paid sport star earning $127 million in the past 12 months, according to the Forbes top 100 ranking.
Stevenage equity offering to raise £1.2m launches via Tifosy platform
June 11- English League 2 club Stevenage has turned to sports investment platform Tifosy to raise £1.2 million by offering 12% equity in the club.
Moshiri tightens grip on Everton with new share buy
June 10 – Premier League Everton made another financial readjustment in its shareholding structure with billionaire owner majority owner Farhad Moshiri increasing his ownership from 68.6% to 77.2%.
NY Cosmos owner Commisso goes bigger with $180m addition of Fiorentina
June 10 – US businessman Rocco Commisso has completed his $180 million acquisition of Serie A side Fiorentina.
Premier League’s €5.6bn leads a growing €28.4bn Euro market as Bundesliga overtakes LaLiga
By Paul Nicholson
May 30 – The European football business has never had it so good. Latest data from Deloittes puts the overall market value at a record €28.4 billion, driven primarily by a 6% rise in revenues across the increasingly dominant Big 5 European leagues and their ‘super’ clubs to €15.6 billion.
Club value: Real Madrid bully Man Utd off top, Liverpool and Spurs leap up, Celtic join the party
By Paul Nicholson
May 29 – A new ranking of the value of European clubs on first glance shows few immediate surprise but a deeper look at the numbers shows the stunning growth in value of these football businesses over the past three years in comparison to other industries and Europe’s economy in general.
NY Cosmos owner Commisso closes in on Serie A’s Fiorentina
May 28 – New York Cosmos owner and billionaire businessman Rocco B. Commisso is poised to complete a takeover of Serie A club Fiorentina according to media reports.
Ashley’s £300m+ mooted sale of Newcastle might not be all about the money
May 28 – The on-off sales saga of Newcastle United is back in the news with the club having confirmed it is in discussion with UAE royal Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nahyan over what is now, reportedly, a £350 million deal.
News Analysis: Liverpool vs Spurs – World champions of profit deal their way to CL glory
By David Owen
May 27 – It would be difficult to make the case ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final that Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, the two teams set to lock horns in the Wanda Metropolitano, are indisputably the two best sides in Europe.
Aston Villa and Derby play for £170m prize and a potential £300m future
May 24 – Dubbed the £170 million game, the Championship play off for a spot in the English Premier League to be played between Aston Villa and Derby County on Monday is the most lucrative one-off fixture in world football. And it could be worth as much £300 million.