Sports Ticker 13 – eSports, St Andrews and EFL salary caps

Welcome to the latest edition of the RPC Sports Ticker - providing fortnightly bite-size updates from around the sports industry.

Access the full Sports Ticker and subscribe here 

In this edition, we take a look at the potential for professional sporting fixtures in England to return from 1 June 2020. We also look at HK-based sports marketing group Y11 Sports & Media's recent investment into Welsh Rugby team Ospreys, cricketer Jofra Archer's eSports collaboration with Volace and Watford F.C.'s new kit deal with Kelme. 

As ever, if you'd like more detail on any of our updates (or if you have any questions or feedback), please let us know or get in touch with your usual RPC contact.

Jofra Archer teams up with Veloce to create eSports channels

Jofra Archer and Veloce have joined forces to launch Vikings: an Archer's Journey into the eSports world.

EFL proposes salary caps for League One and League Two

The EFL's Financial Controls Working Party has proposed introducing salary caps of £2.5m and £1.25m for League One and League Two clubs respectively.

Swing and miss: St Andrews Links fails in bid to register trade mark

Operators of the world-famous Old Course have lost a legal battle over the rights to the name ‘St Andrews’.

Watford finalise £10m kit deal with Kelme

Watford FC have signed a £10m kit deal with sportswear brand Kelme in the latest in a range of challenger football kit manufacturers / brands to enter the market.

Y11 Sports & Media swoops in on Ospreys

Hong Kong-based sports marketing outfit Y11 Sports & Media have finalised a deal to acquire a 75.1% stake in Ospreys - one of the four Welsh clubs competing in the Pro14.

Extra time...
 
… as discussed in Edition 7 of our Sports Ticker, Manchester City are preparing their appeal against a two year ban for its Men's team from European club competitions. The ban was originally  imposed by UEFA in February, in response to allegedly “serious breaches” of club licensing and financial fairplay regulations.  The club's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CaS) is now set to be heard 8-10 June (as it turns out, just six matches after the initial verdict was handed down on 14 February). The hearing itself is likely to be conducted over video conferencing, as many recent sports arbitrations have been during COVID-19. As is standard practice for arbitrations, the hearing will not be open to the public (although the entire footballing world will eagerly await the outcome of the appeal).

(Extra) Extra time…
...and finally, we are excited to be attending the #footylaw20 Football Law Digital Conference 2020 organised by our close friends at the excellent LawInSport (link here) – we would encourage you to check it out, and the LawInSport website generally, which is a fantastic market-leading resource.