Industry Shorts: ECB, R&a, World Rugby
The ECB has announced that two friendly matches between County Cricket clubs on 26th and 27th July will be played in front of spectators as part of a pilot scheme to test government guidance designed to enable the return of fans to elite sport.
Surrey v Middlesex at the Kia Oval and Warwickshire v Worcestershire at Edgbaston will be played out in front of a maximum of 1,000 spectators per day. Both matches will take place over two days, but the match at the Kia Oval will see fans hosted on both days, while Edgbaston will host fans on the second day only.
The pilots are set to ‘stress-test’ government guidance on the return of fans as it prepares for the full, socially distanced, return of sporting events from 1st October.
The R&A has announced that its partner, insurance firm AIG, has today extended its title partnership of the AIG Women’s Open by two years.
The move sees the Women’s British Open rebranded the AIG Women’s Open, dropping the word British from the title, and will see AIG continue its sponsorship until 2025.
The World Rugby Executive Committee has recommended a revised calendar for the sport, which it says has the ‘express objective’ of optimising recovery from the pandemic.
The revised recommended calendar sees a temporary international window take place between 24th October and 5th December to accommodate the postponed men’s and women’s Six Nations matches at the end of October before a programme of international matches involving the Six Nations and invited nations hosted in Europe from 14th November through to 5th December.
The Rugby Championship in the southern hemisphere is set to be played out in a single country between 7th November and 12th December.
World Rugby says that, subject to confirmation of the calendar, fixtures will be announced by respective unions and competitions, and that the rugby calendar will return to normal on 13th December 2020.
Premier League broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport have confirmed their final day match selections.
Sky is set to show eight of the ten fixtures, with Leicester City v Manchester United – in what could be a battle for Champions League places – headlining the picks.
BT Sport, meanwhile, will screen the other two matches, including a pivotal match in the relegation battle between Aston Villa and West Ham.
EA SPORTS has announced that Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe will be the cover star for its upcoming FIFA 21 game.
The French World Cup-winner replaces Eden Hazard on the cover of the game’s standard edition.
