Ben Wells

Chelsea FC joins forces with Legends/ASM Global in multi-year deal Chelsea Football Club has entered a new multi-year partnership with Legends/ASM Global Europe, which will become the Club’s official catering service provider. The partnership brings Legends/ASM Global’s wealth of expertise to Chelsea – one of the world’s most iconic football teams – where the team will deliver a unique and fresh approach to the culinary experience for all guests, ensuring world-class match day and premium experiences for fans and guests. Starting this 2025/26 season, Chelsea FC has appointed Legends/ASM Global – the world’s preeminent premium live events company – to enhance the F&B operations across both Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow. This includes the reimagination of premium hospitality catering, ensuring the highest levels of innovation in the club’s suites and lounges. The partnership spans both matchday and non-matchdays, as well as conference and events (C&E) catering, and the training and development of the club’s F&B and hospitality teams. Bonnie Rolfe, Chelsea FC’s Venue Director,  said: “As a club, we are committed to excellence in everything we do. We want to ensure the matchday experience for our fans at Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow meets that ambition with a world-class food and beverage offering. We are looking forward to working with Legends/ASM Global to deliver on this and ensure Chelsea’s stadium catering is second to none.” Chris Bray, Legends/ASM Global President, Europe said: “We are delighted to partner with Chelsea FC and bring our expertise and passion to the club. In this new and exciting partnership, we are going to bring a fully open and transparent approach to the commercial relationship. The synergies that we can leverage from our newly combined Legends and ASM Global teams means that we are well aligned with the team at Chelsea FC whose vision and expectations for innovation and elevation in this space matches ours. This fresh, industry approach makes this partnership all the more meaningful, and we’re incredibly excited and ready to get to work with one of the most prestigious clubs in European football.” For the full story, go to: https://lnkd.in/g6APSuYW Legends/ASM Global will be out in force at the 2025 SVB LIVE Conference & Exhibition – focused on elevating the live experience – being held at Villa Park on October 6-7th. An Opening Night Icebreaker at one of Birmingham’s iconic arenas will kick things off on October 5th and the SVB LIVE Awards at the home of Birmingham City FC will close the event on October 7th. Martin Jennings, Legends International’s Head of Global Planning, spoke at the recent SVB LIVE Networking Event at Fulham Pier. #HospitalityBusiness #LiveEvents #StadiumBusiness #StadiumCatering #FanExperience #PremiumExperience #SportsBiz #SportsVenueBusiness #SVBLIVE Sports Venue Business ASM Global

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Hünnebeck are delighted to announce a new strategic partnership with Hull Kingston Rovers, one of the premier Rugby League teams in the United Kingdom. Hull KR compete in the elite European League, The Betfred Super League and are the 2025 Challenge Cup Winners, and 2025 League Title Winners. The move will see Hünnebeck become principal partner of the club and showcase its brand on the front of Hull KR’s playing jerseys as well as around the clubs stadium, Sewell Group Craven Park. Ashley Kates, Hünnebeck Managing Director UK said: “This is an exciting milestone for us on our growth mission, as we partner with a team and organisation operating at the very top of its industry. It has been obvious throughout this process and our several dealings with the club that we are fully aligned, not only in terms of ambition but culturally too. We both have strong growth ambitions and believe in teamwork, passion and partnership to build sustainable success. Hull KR is an example of the impact powerful organisations can have on community and we're excited to support this wherever we can. We look forward to meeting businesses and fans connected with the Robins, and to support the exciting development opportunities that exist across the region.” Hull KR Chief Executive, Paul Lakin spoke on Hünnebeck partnering with the club and said: “We are delighted Hünnebeck chose Hull KR to develop their links in the region specifically, whilst taking advantage of the national and international profile principal partnership brings. In terms of global footprint, it is undoubtably one of the biggest brands that will be attached to Super League next season. Which is an exciting milestone and achievement for the club on our journey. We’ve been working hard in the background over the last couple of years to reduce the number of brands that appear on our shirts to clean them up, so we are delighted Hünnebeck have taken that opportunity to shine front and centre. No doubt, once we reveal the shirts, supporters will agree it elevates both our partners and shirt designs. From the first conversation with Ashley (Kates) and his team, we have been impressed with their ambitious UK plans, but also the passion and excitement of their team across Europe to bring this new partnership to life and Rugby League to a new audience.“ About Hull KR • Hull Kingston Rovers was founded in 1882 and for over 140 years have been an anchor institution in the community of East Hull, playing home games at Sewell Group Craven Park. • Hull KR compete in the elite European League, The Betfred Super League and are the 2025 Challenge Cup Winners, and 2025 League Title Winners. • The previous club principal partner Connexin will continue to support the club. • The Robins have the fastest growing social media numbers in the sport and are expected to be the most followed Super League team by 2026. • The team will head to Las Vegas in Feb 2026 to play in front of an expected 50,000+ crowd.

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Breakaway rugby league R360, established by 2003 Rugby World Cup-winner Mike Tindall, has secured investment from Baller League shareholder 885 Capital, Sky's City editor Mark Kleinman has learned. Full story 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eD_P4qSK #rugby #r360 #ballerleague

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UK sport has traditionally been left in the hands of the private sector (sports governing bodies) rather than the Government. But with the Football Governance Act 2025 now in full force, is the relationship between the State and sports governance changing? In this Sports Shorts blog, #TeamSPB's Henry Goldschmidt examines: ❓ How and why the UK Government intervenes in sport ❓ Whether there is a limit to intervention ❓ What might the future hold, considering recent trends Click here to read the full blog ➡️ https://ow.ly/IcTB50WZita #️⃣ #SportsGovernance | #IndependentFootballRegulator

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SUNDERLAND Multi Sports Portfolio Grows - NOW includes Rugby 7s League *Sunderland AFC’s owners Kyril Louis-Dreyfus & Juan Sartori have pivoted into rugby sevens, spearheading a privately funded franchise-based global league, scheduled for Aug 2026. *Operating through their investment vehicle Bia Sports Group (BSG) Holdings and newly formed Ultimate Rugby7s UK Ltd / SPV owning Project 7s IP & UK operations *Bia Sports have already closed an eight-figure seed round (Estimated £18m) and begun marketing seven men’s and women’s franchises. *35% of Year 1 gross revenues to a central prize and welfare fund. Proposed Format: *Seven Rugby7s Franchises (Male & Female), Names TBC, 7 rounds of fixtures to play in 7 European Cities, stadium size 20,000.  *Games to be played Mid-week (Thursday evenings) games will be one half with one timeout per team. *Non-exclusive contracts offered to current SVNS players *Season scheduled August-Sept to avoid SVNS calendar Long Term Funding  *Series A (2027) Expansion franchises and digital-product R&D, target strategic media investors, planned to raise £25-30m *Debt Layer (2028) Revolving credit facility secured against multi-year media-rights contracts once league attains EBITDA positive status. *Liquidity Event (2030+) Options include SPAC merger or minority sale to private equity, Sunderland AFC *64% Kyril Louis-Dreyfus *36% Juan Sartori Kyril Louis-Dreyfus (Swiss) *Kyril is one three siblings whose father is the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus. *Louis-Dreyfus Group turned over £50.6bn in 2024, Kyril net worth is around £2bn. *Louis Dreyfus Company owns a 5% stake in Olympique de Marseille *Kyril and his twin brother Maurice own swiss based esports Ovation *2023 Kyril & Juan invested in SX Global an organisation responsible for promotion, development and organising world-class Super-cross events that attract top athletes. *2022 Mubadala Capital invested n SX Global, Mubadala Capital is a subsidiary of Mubadala Investments which is the sovereign wealth fund of UAE Juan Sartori (Uruguay) * Juan is the founder of Union Group which has investments in agriculture, energy & real estate. Through Agriculture Kyril and Juan met. *Juan is a politician for the National Party and in 2019 came runner up in the party primary elections securing 23% of the votes. As a result became a member of the chamber of senators in Uruguay. *Juan Sartori father-in-law is Dmitry Rybolovlev who owns 67% of AS Monaco  *Juan owns 20% of Dmitry Rybolovlev stake in AS Monaco and has a place on the main board. *Dmitry Rybolovlev has a majority stake in Belgian pro league club Cercle Brugge Football League Club Owners & Other Sports is a growing trend *Todd Beheld & Trent Rockets *Marinakos & Netball Super League Side Nottingham Forest *Wagner Knighthead Capital owns stakes in both Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix & netball Super league team Birmingham Panthers #multiclubownership #footballbusiness #footballfinance #SunderlandAFC #R7s

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Sports agency launches to deliver 'real results' “Our role is simple: bring together excellent brands and rights holders, and tell their stories in the right way.” Mikey Rowe and Huw Warren have founded OffPitch Sports International. The duo say the Wales-headquartered venture will “connect rights holders, teams, players and brands through authentic partnerships and powerful digital storytelling”. The endeavour has already worked with organisations including Wales Golf, Reflo and the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e_m688qC

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As had been rumoured McLaren Group Ltd has purchased the shares of McLaren Racing’s minority shareholders, which it lists as MSP Sports Capital, funds managed by O’Connor Capital Solutions, Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment funds, and Caspian Funds. Bahrain's Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company ("Mumtalakat"​) and Abu Dhabi's CYVN Holdings, have thus increased their shareholding and now assume full ownership, the latter holding a non-controlling stake. In December 2020 McLaren announced that MSP Sports Capital "will invest a total of £185m into McLaren Racing, acquiring an initial 15% stake that will increase to a maximum of a 33% shareholding by the end of 2022. The transaction values McLaren Racing at £560m, post-money." MSP's partners at the time were named as UBS O’Connor and The Najafi Companies. Although this time around no numbers have been given reports suggest that the company's valuation is now in the £3bn range, which means that MSP and the others who are selling have reaped a huge profit. McLaren Group's executive chairman Paul Walsh says: “Our suite of minority investors came on board in 2020 and we thank them for their tremendous support over the past few years as we set McLaren Racing on a path to commercial growth and financial stability. "We now have two fantastic shareholders in Mumtalakat, a long-standing and deeply valued partner, and CYVN, whose additional investment in Automotive and McLaren Racing, together with their strategic focus on advanced mobility, strengthens our ability to future-proof the business and capture new growth opportunities.” McLaren Racing encompasses not just the F1 team but also the IndyCar programme and the WEC project that will hit the track in 2027.

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