Warner Bros. revelation Lands Legends Team Cup Rights; Premiership Final Breaks Records

A summary of the week’s top sports buisness stories, including broadcast rights acquisitions, viewership records, and new partnerships.

Warner Bros. Discovery to Broadcast Legends Team Cup

NEW YORK – Warner bros. Discovery (WBD) has secured the exclusive European rights to broadcast the Legends Team Cup, a new international tennis event featuring former stars of the game. The tournament will include players such as Dominic Thiem, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Feliciano Lopez, Sam Querrey, and Diego Schwartzman.

WBD Sports Europe will provide live and exclusive coverage of all seven tournaments in 2025 via its streaming platforms, including HBO Max and discovery+. The tour will span across Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East. Additionally, a Legends Team Cup highlights show will be broadcast on Eurosport across Europe, and TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland, following each event.

Each tournament will last three days, with two teams competing in two singles matches and one doubles match per day. The teams will compete for the Björn Borg Trophy, named after the tournament patron, with a total prize pool of £12m.

the competition features three teams, each led by captains Carlos Moya, James Blake, and mark Philippoussis.

Marten Hedlund, President of legends Team Cup, said, “I’ve long had the belief that there should be more opportunities for tennis players to extend their careers once they retire from the ATP Tour, and that is what we are providing with the Legends Team cup.”

Hedlund added, “This is a new chapter in the history of tennis, one where legends can continue to inspire, compete and connect with fans worldwide.”

Premiership Final Viewership Breaks Records

LONDON – Bath Rugby’s victory over Leicester Tigers in the Premiership final on 15th June 2025 has become the league’s moast-watched game ever.

An average audience of 973,000 viewers watched the title-decider across TNT Sports and ITV1,with a cumulative peak audience of 1.26 million viewers.

TNT Sports experienced a 15 per cent increase in average viewership compared to last year’s final,while ITV saw a ten per cent year-over-year audience boost.

The combined audience share for the game on both channels was 16.5 per cent.

This follows TNT Sports having confirmed an extension of its rights deal with Premiership Rugby,which will run until the end of the 2030/31 campaign. The agreement, which includes every game from the competition, is reportedly valued at £200m.

Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby Chief Executive, said, “To sell out general admission tickets before either finalist club had been determined, for the frist time in our history, is a testament to the unrivalled matchday experience and special family day out that the final offers fans of all ages.”

Leicester Tigers Partner with Castore

LEICESTER – Leicester tigers have announced a long-term kit partnership with performance sportswear brand Castore.

Under the agreement, Castore will be the official kit supplier to Leicester Tigers, providing playing kit, training wear, and athleisure for the men’s, women’s, wheelchair and academy squads.

The first range of products is set to launch in August,ahead of the new season.

As part of the partnership, Castore will manage kit manufacturing and the club’s physical and online retail operations. Supporters will be able to purchase the new range in person at Castore’s Leicester Highcross store.

the agreement represents Castore’s continued investment in elite rugby, bringing the number of Gallagher Premiership clubs under its banner to five, also supplying Saracens, Bath, Harlequins and exeter Chiefs.

Castore also announced a partnership with England Rugby in April,ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Andrea Pinchen, Leicester Tigers Chief Executive Officer, said, “We join a list of clubs that will benefit from their investment in rugby and, throughout the process, have been extremely impressed by the quality of the range that our players and fans will have available to them.”

British & Irish Lions Partner with Kitman Labs

LONDON – The British & Irish Lions have partnered with Kitman Labs for their third successive tour.

The rugby union side will use the performance intelligence company’s data and analytics platform for the 2025 Tour to Australia.

The Lions will utilize Kitman Labs’ Performance Medicine and Performance Optimisation Solutions during their tour to Australia this summer.

The Intelligence Platform combines medical and performance data into a single system to support clinical governance, injury surveillance, and player management.

The Kitman labs Intelligence Platform is also currently used independently by england’s Rugby Football Union and the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The company recently expanded its partnership with the RFU to cover senior teams and academies in Premiership Rugby, Premiership Women’s Rugby, and the Championship.

Stephen Smith, CEO & founder of Kitman Labs, said, “We’re excited that Kitman Labs will be used by The British & Irish Lions for the third successive Tour.”

Smith added, “Working with the IRFU and the RFU has shown us that rugby union is fully embracing the submission of data and technology and this is another example of rugby organisations uniting to unlock player health and performance outcomes on the regional, national and international stages.”

Champion Partners with Katie Taylor

DUBLIN – Global sportswear brand Champion has announced a new multi-year deal with Irish fighter Katie Taylor.

The partnership has included a limited-edition KT Reverse Weave t-shirt paying tribute to her career, as well as a bespoke fight kit and team gear for the Serrano encounter.

The collaboration will lead to the launch later this year of a next-generation combat sports range, shaped by insights from Taylor.

Following the signing in May of UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall, this collaboration has reinforced Champion’s commitment to the world of combat sports.

“Every boxer dreams of being a Champion and I was no different as a child.” said Taylor.

Taylor added, “I’ve been lucky enough to realize those dreams over the years in the amateurs at world level and the Olympics and now as a professional boxer in becoming a two weight Undisputed Champion so to partner with Champion just seems like the perfect fit.”