ECB insists sale of Hundred teams will go through despite TV rights wrangle

The England and Wales Cricket Board insists that the sale of the eight Hundred franchises will be completed by the end of April, despite the delays to negotiations.The governing body’s chief executive, Richard Gould, said that the high valuations were not one of the issues behind the delays, but admitted that future broadcasting rights were. “All the discussions are on a very, very sound footing,” Gould said, “we’re just trying to work out how to maximise value from sponsorships, tickets sales and broadcast revenues. They’re investing a lot of money into our game and we want to make sure that pays dividends.”One sticking point is the issue of overseas TV rights

Spain could include Camp Nou final in bid to host 2035 Rugby World Cup

The 2035 Rugby World Cup final could be staged at the revamped Camp Nou in Barcelona with the Spanish rugby federation in discussions with La Liga over using celebrated football stadiums as part of its bid to host the tournament.Delegates from the Spanish federation met World Rugby executives last weekend to demonstrate their intentions to host the tournament in 2035 and discussions are said to have piqued interest.The Camp Nou is undergoing a £1.3bn refurbishment and is set to reopen with a 105,000-capacity in June 2026 while Real Madrid’s Bernabéu has recently undergone a similar facelift. Using both venues for a first World Cup in Spain has obvious appeal while the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao hosted the Champions Cup final in 2018 and will do so again next year

Worcester wind back to life with second-tier return and vow to clear debts

Worcester Warriors insist they will be both sustainable and competitive when they return to English rugby’s second tier next season almost three years after going bust. The club’s new owners have had to provide stringent financial guarantees and commit to repaying rugby creditors left high and dry when Worcester went into administration with debts of more than £2 5m in September 2022.In the past clubs such as Richmond and London Welsh have been forced to start again at the foot of the English pyramid but a condition of Worcester’s return to the new-look Tier 2 league is that outstanding debts to, among others, HMRC and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be settled by the end of the year. In addition, the new owners have already made substantial payments to the administrators.Worcester are now set to take their place in a 14-team league that will include the 12 existing Championship clubs and the top side in National One, which Richmond currently lead by 10 points with three games remaining

County Championship bursts back into life with calm before the storm

The 125th edition – the calm before the 2026 storm – begins on Friday with notable names headlining the cast list The cut of the grass, the shine of a boot, the sigh of a drop, the joy of a catch, the crunch of a four, the hope of the spring. Time stealthily gouging out lines, on faces, over scars, around knees. A first season. A last.Here, suddenly, is April, unexpectedly sunny and dry

PGA Tour stands firm on golf reunification despite Saudi $1.5bn offer

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has failed in an attempt to persuade the PGA Tour to deliver serious concessions in exchange for a $1.5bn (£1.14bn) investment, leaving elite golf no closer to reconciliation just days from the season’s first major.The PGA Tour’s stance will give credence to the rising sense that the organisation has increasing confidence in its position after a turbulent period caused by the formation of the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.Sources indicate that in correspondence sent to the PGA Tour last week, PIF sought assurances the LIV circuit could continue to operate and that its governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, could take a place as co-chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises

Big matchups and bigger bucks: Michael Johnson pledges Grand Slam Track will bring ‘fantasy to life’

Athletics legend says his new four-part event, which launches on Friday, is exactly what the sport needsMichael Johnson is one of the few true legends of track and field. Now, though, he is chasing the holy grail. Every four years, athletics is the biggest sport at the Olympics. In between, for most casual fans, it tumbles off a cliff. But Johnson, a four-time gold medallist across the Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney Games, believes he can change all that with a new big-money professional track league, Grand Slam Track, which launches on Friday in Kingston, Jamaica