Shorts: ECB, McLaren, European Tour
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced equalised starting salaries across both men’s and women’s professional domestic cricket from 2025.
This will apply to both ‘rookie’ players, which are being introduced into the women’s game for the first time next year, and ‘senior/pro’ level players who are established within their first teams.
Additionally, all first-class counties (FCC) with tier 1 status in next year’s new-look domestic women’s structure will have squad sizes of at least 15 contracted players.
Those FCC’s are also now required to invest at least £500,000 on their salary costs next year.
The salary cap of £800,000 annually has been cemented for first-class counties with tier 1 status.
The decision to level male and female starting salaries follows the announcement earlier this month that white ball competitions for men and women will align from next season under the Vitality Blast and One Day banners.
The ECB’s Professional Game Committee (PGC) which includes representatives from FCC’S, the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) and the ECB, approved the starting salary and salary budget details.
“The changes we’ve made to the structure of women’s domestic cricket across the last nine months have been about producing a sustainable and viable product that’s attractive off the pitch, as well as being quality on it,” said Beth Barrett-Wild, Director of Women’s Professional Game, ECB.
“As part of this, it’s important that our players are remunerated appropriately, and that cricket is seen not just as a viable career option for women, but an enticing one.”
The Kia Oval will host the Vitality Blast Women’s Finals Day on Sunday 27th July 2025, with the first edition of the One Day Cup Women’s Final taking place at Utilita Bowl on Sunday 21st September.
After 14 years, Red Bull Head of Race Strategy, Will Courtenay, will leave the Formula 1 team to join rival McLaren Racing.
Courtenay will see out the reminder of his contract at Red Bull until 2026 before joining the Surrey-based team.
This marks the third departure from Red Bull’s senior management in as many months, as part of an ongoing restructuring.
Earlier this month, legendary designer Adrian Newey signed with Aston Martin Formula 1 and will start his new role in 2025.
Andrea Stella, Team Principal at McLaren Racing, said, “Will’s experience, professionalism and passion for motorsport make him the ideal candidate to lead our sporting function.
“We are now entering a key phase in our journey as a team, and we are confident that he will be a great addition to our strong leadership team as we strive to continue challenging for wins and championships.”
The European Tour group has launched a new tool that will allow its players to calculate and offset their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when travelling to and from tournaments.
The easy-to-use tool will allow players to input their event related flight information and then purchase verified carbon credits to offset their calculated GHG emissions. Carbon credits in the tool are all from Gold Standard accredited projects that support a range of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The platform, which has been built in-house by the Tour’s IT department with support from the GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation, will go live at the start of the 2025 DP World Tour season.
Rory McIlroy, who has been offsetting his tournament travel related GHG emissions for the past four years, said, “As golfers we have the opportunity to travel all over the world doing the job we love, but I do have a conscience about the impact that can have on the environment, and that’s why I began taking steps a few years ago to offset my carbon footprint and make my travel neutral. I think we can all play our part in some way or another, and it’s great to see the DP World Tour launching this new tool to help and encourage members to track and offset their travel.”
Maria Grandinetti-Milton, Head of Sustainability at the European Tour group, commented, “We are golf’s global Tour, playing 44 tournaments in 24 countries this season. This inevitably creates a large and currently unavoidable travel carbon footprint, and we are doubling down on efforts to help mitigate these emissions. The best way to do this is by investing in Gold Standard accredited climate projects, which deliver measurable climate and community benefits linked to important principles of global climate justice.
Stats Perform has secured exclusive rights to distribute Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) live video streams to licensed international sportsbooks outside the UK.
The new deal follows Stats Perform’s similar agreements with the English Football League (EFL) competitions in August 2024 and ICC International Cricket in June 2024.
This SPFL and SWPL live streaming partnership includes the men’s William Hill Premiership and the Scottish Power Women’s Premier League, plus key games from the William Hill Championship, William Hill League One, Premier Sports League Cup, SPFL Trust Trophy and the SWPL’s Sky Sports Cup.
Neil Doncaster, Group Chief Executive of the SPFL, said, “We always seek the most reliable, trustworthy partners for Scottish football, who can deliver the highest quality experiences for our fans. Stats Perform’s team and technologies are trusted by top sports federations globally, as well as billions of fans. Their experience as pioneers of live sports streaming for licensed sportsbooks means our fans also tap into a wealth of innovation in that world. We’re excited to start working together.”
Andrew Ashenden, Chief Betting Officer at Stats Perform, added, “We’re delighted to add elite Scottish men’s and women’s football to our Bet LiveStreams service. The SPFL group, with SPFL and SWPL competitions, brings another heavyweight set of well-timed, high-octane football betting rights into our package. Its teams, players and historic rivalries are very popular with global fans.
“Football remains the world’s most followed sport and the SPFL and SWPL games sit perfectly alongside our top calibre competitions from England, Spain, Italy and many more sides, making our AI-enriched service critical to any licensed sportsbook globally that has football fans as customers.”
Sportradar has announced the addition of paid search to its ad:s marketing service, allowing operators to ‘more effectively reach and acquire customers searching betting and gaming-related topics online.’
The enhancement to ad:s means the sports data and tech company’s industry-specific marketing service now covers all major digital advertising channels, allowing operators to comprehensively and efficiently acquire customers.
Nikolaus Beier, SVP Marketing Services at Sportradar, said, “Paid search is an essential marketing channel for betting operators to acquire customers. Only Sportradar, through the combination of our unrivalled expertise and innovative technology, can deliver the industry’s most effective, efficient and comprehensive paid search solution for operators’ customer acquisition efforts.”
E1, the new all-electric raceboat competition, has appointed IRIS Sport Media (IRIS) as its exclusive worldwide media partner for the UIM E1 World Championship.
As per the agreement, IRIS will market all media rights for the final race in the 2024 calendar and an expanded 2025 series featuring up to 10 races, including events in the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.
The E1 Series has this year successfully held events in Jeddah, Venice, Puerto Banus, Monaco and Lake Como, with a host of celebrity owners including sports stars Rafael Nadal, Sergio Perez, Tom Brady, Virat Kohli and Didier Drogba and from the world of entertainment, Will Smith, Marc Anthony and Steve Aoki, as well as businessman Marcelo Claure.
Rodi Basso, CEO and co-founder of E1, said, “E1 has defied expectations and broken records as a first year sports series in 2024, and we look forward to raising the bar even higher in 2025. We are confident this partnership with IRIS can bring us greater and wider audiences and take us to new heights next season and beyond.”
The application submitted by Luton Town’s development company for a new 25,000-capacity stadium at its Power Court site has been formally accepted.
The hybrid application provided full details on the Hatters’ proposed stadium and an updated outline submission for the hotel and music venue. This pack, which included a core Design and Access Statement supported by a variety of technical reports, is now available to view on the council’s website.
“We wish to place on record our gratitude to the Council’s officers and planning team for their promptness in validating these extensive set of plans,” said Gary Sweet, CEO at Luton Town.
The EFL Championship club believes that the new stadium will catalyse a regeneration for the surrounding area in the town centre.
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