Shorts: Champ Rugby, Brentford, DAZN

English rugby union’s second tier, the Championship, has been rebranded as Champ Rugby from next season in an overhaul of the division.

RFU funding for Champ Rugby and parachute payments for relegated sides from the Premiership are still to be confirmed, with no timeline given on when this will be decided. The current Championship clubs saw their central funding cut from around £600,000 a year before the Covid-19 pandemic to about £160,000.

This figure will remain the same for the 2025-26 season.

Nick Johnson, Chief Executive at Coventry, said, “We can sit back and whinge or we can get off our backsides and do something about it. That’s what we’re doing.”

“We’ve noticed a step change in how seriously PRL [Premiership Rugby] are taking us because we’ve got our act together and our house in order. We’ve just got to keep doing that.”

Brentford have announced that their club partner Motors has switched its multi-year content partnership to the Cazoo brand.

This change has built on the positive relationship between Brentford and Motors since the partnership launched at the start of the 2024/25 season.

Motors acquired Cazoo in 2024 and relaunched it in March 2025 as the flagship brand in its advertising network for car dealers.

The switch will leverage the success of the Brentford partnership to date and accelerate reach and engagement with the Cazoo brand, building on its existing history of sponsorship and brand recognition in football.

As the new face of the partnership, Cazoo will deliver matchday activations at Gtech Community Stadium, including in-stadium media placements, as well as having access to Brentford players to create exclusive social media campaigns.

Fran Jones, Commercial Director, Brentford, said, “This is an exciting time for MOTORS as they relaunch Cazoo. We’re thrilled that Brentford will be an important part of their ambitious plans for the brand and look forward to supporting its growth in the coming years.” 

DAZN has agreed a sublicensing deal with Sat.1 in Germany for the FIFA Club World Cup and has acquired the rights to LaLiga’s free-to-air broadcast package in Spain.

Sat.1 will show all matches involving German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, who have qualified via their UEFA Champions League performances.

The cable channel will also stream these matches on the Joyn direct-to-consumer service. DAZN will also offer these games, as well as every game from the revamped tournament, free of charge on its streaming platform in Germany.

The company has acquired the global streaming rights to the Club World Cup as part of a $1b deal with FIFA. In lieu of subscription revenue, DAZN hopes to encourage users to sign up to its service so it can generate income from other services such as betting and e-commerce, whilst also potentially converting some free users into paid customers.

DAZN will also sell advertising, and hopes to offset some of the cost of its investment through sublicensing agreements that will additionally give FIFA the exposure it needs to build up the prestige and profile of the competition.

Sublicensing deals have now been secured in several markets, including Channel 5 in the UK and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in the US. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

DAZN will take over the rights to LaLiga’s domestic free-to-air package from Mediapro’s Gol TV, airing a weekly game in front of the paywall on its platform until the end of the 2026/27 campaign.

E1 Series has announced a global partnership with Bacardi-owned gin brand, Bombay Sapphire.

The agreement sees Bombay Sapphire become the official gin partner of the UIM E1 World Championship, the world’s first all-electric race boat championship.

The partnership will see Bombay Sapphire branding featured across the championship, which includes teams backed by notable figures such as Marc Anthony, Steve Aoki, LeBron James, Virat Kohli, Rafa Nadal, and Will Smith. Each team features one male and one female pilot.

Beyond the racing, E1 teams work with local communities to promote the regeneration of oceans and aquatic ecosystems.

Bombay Sapphire will also serve as the presenting partner of the E1 Series Blue Impact Championship, an initiative focused on protecting natural water environments and healing local ecosystems where the championship races take place.

The partnership is the first major activation for Bombay Sapphire’s new global campaign, ‘Step Into The Blue’, which encourages audiences to engage with immersive experiences and celebrates the beauty of the natural world.

Sandown Park and the Jockey Club have agreed a deal with Coral to extend the bookmaker’s sponsorship of the Eclipse Stakes for a further five years, continuing the partnership until 2030.

This extension builds on the association between the racecourse and the firm.

This year’s Eclipse Stakes, scheduled for 5th July 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of Coral’s backing of the race.

To celebrate this milestone, the prize-money has been boosted by £250,000, bringing the total to £1m This makes the 2025 running the richest race ever held at Sandown Park.

Coral has a long history of sponsoring major horseracing events. In addition to the Eclipse Stakes, the firm has sponsored the Welsh Grand National since 1973, demonstrating its commitment to the sport.

Simon Clare, Coral PR director, said, “We’re immensely proud to have sponsored the Coral-Eclipse Stakes for 50 years and thrilled to be announcing the continuation of our partnership with Sandown Park and the Jockey Club for another five years, with the new record £1 million prize-money in place for the race.”

British Wheelchair Basketball (BWB) has partnered with sports technology provider GameDay.

The collaboration will see GameDay implement its Passport platform to manage BWB’s membership and competition structures.

The partnership has come as BWB prepares to launch an updated membership structure and competition framework, aimed at increasing participation and improving the experience for athletes, officials, and administrators.

BWB will also be using GameDay View, a business intelligence tool, to gain a better understanding of the sport through participant data.

James Craig, Commercial and Marketing Director, British Wheelchair Basketball, said, “GameDay’s Passport platform is a perfect fit for our digital transformation needs.

“As we prepare to launch our new membership and competition framework, this partnership provides us with user-friendly technology that will simplify administration and improve engagement across all levels of wheelchair basketball in the UK.”

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