Messi no-show triggers MLS and Vancouver Whitecaps legal payout Sport Business Major League Soccer and the Vancouver Whitecaps have agreed to pay half a million Canadian dollars to settle a legal claim made because Lionel Messi was withdrawn from a match. A man from the Vancouver area brought the civil class action after paying more than $400 for two tickets to the game between the Whitecaps [...]
Why KKR-Arctos is not just about private equity getting bigger Sport Business The announcement that US giant KKR has acquired Arctos Partners for a reported $1.4bn (£1bn) is a significant moment in both the sports investment and private equity worlds. At first glance, the deal looks like a straightforward bet by KKR on the growing institutional appetite for sports assets. However, look closer and it says something [...]
Greedy Fifa rinsing fans over World Cup tickets – even Americans are baulking Sport Business Ed Warner finds that even Americans accustomed to paying through the nose for live sport are outraged at the prices Fifa is allowing to be set for tickets at the 2026 World Cup. It was a bitterly cold evening in Boston, the temperature well below zero, and yet the Bruins fans still rolled up to [...]
Premier League exec steps down to lead Major League Soccer challenger competition November 3, 2025 The Premier League is set to lose one of its top staff, chief football officer Tony Scholes, at the end of the season after he agreed to head up a challenger to Major League Soccer in the US. Scholes is to be president of a new top-tier competition to be launched in 2028 by the [...]
Mercedes-Benz Stadium: Home of Atlanta Falcons ready for Club World Cup stage June 10, 2025 The Club World Cup begins this weekend and Atlanta Falcons and their epic Mercedes-Benz Stadium are ready to shine. Starting on Saturday night in the US, two of 32 competitors will lift the curtain on the expanded Club World Cup. Fifa president Gianni Infantino has proclaimed the competition the pinnacle of club football but there [...]
Defend it like Beckham: Inter Miami owner bites back at MLS rivals’ taunts May 12, 2025 Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham has accused Minnesota United of a lack of respect for mocking his superstar team on social media after beating them at the weekend. Beckham clapped back at two Instagram posts by Minnesota following their 4-1 win over Inter Miami, who boast Lionel Messi and a host of other former Barcelona [...]
Houston Dynamo refund tickets after Messi misses Inter Miami game March 3, 2025 Major League Soccer team Houston Dynamo have offered supporters a refund on the cost of their tickets after opponents Inter Miami left Lionel Messi out of their match on Sunday. Houston Dynamo sold out their 22,000-capacity Shell Energy Stadium for the MLS fixture only for Inter Miami to unexpectedly rest 37-year-old eight-time Ballon d’Or winner [...]
Inter Miami is worth $1bn, doubling value in one year. Is Lionel Messi the reason? July 19, 2024 A year ago this week MLS club Inter Miami – part-owned by former England international David Beckham – completed one of the biggest signings in global sports history. They signed Argentina international Lionel Messi, one of just two players in the current GOAT conversation. And since then the franchise, the 25th in MLS, has been [...]