Sports Shorts

Insights on Sporting Developments

Subscribe
Visit Blog
By: Squire Patton Boggs

Blog Authors

Alexander De Wild
Bethany Bradley
Christopher Stevens-Smith
David Regan, London
Diarmuid Ryan
Dickie Chan
Dillon Ravikumar
Elsa Haj Houssain
Ethan Douglas
Isabelle Sadler
Jack Blakey
Katie Smith
Lisa Roberts
Megs Middleton
Owen Afriye
Sam Hare
Stephanie Faber
Simon Grossobel
Squire Patton Boggs
Susannah Bottriell
Thomas Noble
Tim Lowles

Latest from Sports Shorts

When Courtney Lawes charged down that box kick in the dying minutes of the England v New Zealand game last Autumn, every English fan thought their team had snatched a rare victory against the All Blacks.  The charge down set up a mesmerising side-step and thrilling try from an unlikely source in flanker Sam Underhill. But no.  As rugby fans are now all too well-accustomed, even when the referee awards a try on the pitch,…
Representing one’s country on the international stage has long been reported as the pinnacle of a footballer’s ambition. In present times, the development of international club competitions has challenged that notion. For fans of the English national representative team, the FIFA World Cup 2018 was a fantastic event, capturing mass national support for international football, as the Three Lions’ fourth place heroics restored national pride in the country’s ability at national representative level, whilst also…
flag-of-european-union-picture-id489481917
As part of a continuous attempt to move away from geoblocking and towards a Digital Single Market (“DSM”), the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council agreed, last 13 December 2018, to facilitate access to sports radio content within the new EU broadcasting rules, a move which the Premier League has criticised.  This comes much to the sports industry’s surprise as EU lawmakers and national governments had explicitly excluded sports coverage from…
On 15 January 2019, the Fédération Internationale de Natation (“FINA”), the gatekeeper for access to the Olympic Games and World Championships, announced that swimmers are now free to participate in race meetings that are organised by independent organisers (which includes those that are neither related to FINA or members of FINA) and will not be banned from competing in major championships as a result of doing so. This statement comes after three international champion swimmers,…
When French sixth-tier side Avant Garde Caennaise (“AG Caen”) were founded in 1902, even the most forward-thinking supporters could not have imagined that the club would become the pioneers that they are today. The Project Two thousand fans currently manage the team, making decisions such as the team’s line up and substitutions, via a third party app called ‘United Managers’. The virtual managers, called ‘Umans’, decide on pre-game line-ups and in-game tactics.  They have…
UEFA recently announced that it will be launching its own over the top (“OTT”) streaming platform within the next few months. When the provisionally named ‘UEFA TV’ goes live in time for the 2019/20 season, it will allow fans outside of Europe and North America to view Euro 2020 and future editions of the UEFA Nations League. Due to UEFA’s existing carriage agreements, it is unlikely that its premier club competitions, the Champions League and…
soccer3
The penalty given in the early stages of the Champions League fixture between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night has been hailed as amongst the “worst penalty decision[s] ever” by the BBC. Since there was no VAR and the fourth official appeared silent on the issue, the penalty stood and Gabriel Jesus put City up 2-0. Aside from the “meme-ageddon” that has followed, Sterling has received criticism from his harshest critics…
motorsports
“I don’t know whether a woman would physically be able to drive an F1 car quickly, and they wouldn’t be taken seriously.” “I don’t know if they’ve got the mental aptitude to race hard, wheel-to-wheel.” Regrettably, these inflammatory comments were not made by loose-lipped pub-goers, but by former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone and International Motorsports Hall of Famer Sir Stirling Moss, respectively. Given their stature, the picture of an ‘all-boys club’ is easy to…
boxing
“The richest athlete contract in sports history”. That is how ESPN described the deal between boxer Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and streaming service DAZN, which is worth a reported $365 million for 11 fights. The agreement with Canelo sits alongside a broader “exclusive” partnership between DAZN and Canelo’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, which is due to run until 2023. DAZN has certainly made a statement to its competitors with the deal, as the UK-based company adds…
mookie
The beginning of October saw the start of the postseason in Major League Baseball and we are now at the finals stage in both the National and American League competitions. In the American League, the LA Dodgers lead the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 in the best of 7 series, whilst last night the Boston Red Sox sealed a 8-6 victory over the Houston Astros, to take a 3-1 lead in the series. However, last night’s game…