The Six Nations is back. The northern hemisphere’s biggest annual rugby showcase kicked off last night with Wales’ visit to the Stade de France in Paris.

The return of international rugby will be greeted by some with as much relief as relish. For weeks, the sport has been rocked by a bitter pay row at the Rugby Football Union, the governing body in England. Anger over bonuses paid to senior executives at a time of record losses and significant job cuts has already resulted in the chair of the RFU being replaced. Clubs are in revolt and shifting attention back to the pitch may offer some respite, although it is likely to be brief.

It’s also a big moment for the Six Nations — and its private equity backers CVC Capital Partners — on the business front. Once the men’s tournament finishes, organisers will be out talking to broadcasters about its next rights deal. With Netflix opting not to renew its documentary series Six Nations: Full Contact for a third season, the pressure is on to deliver some good news.

This week, we’re looking at the opening salvoes in the battle to buy a slice of English cricket, with the Ambani family bagging the first team on the block. Plus, we ask if padel’s recent boom as an amateur pursuit can translate into a viable spectator sport. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

Ambani-backed English cricket team looks invincible

After months of spin and counter-spin, English cricket finally faced its moment of truth this week as bidding for the eight franchises in The Hundred got underway. The first to go on sale was a 49 per cent stake in the Oval Invincibles, with India’s wealthy Ambani family emerging victorious.

The Ambanis are no strangers to cricket, or to sport more broadly. Their Reliance business empire, which grew from a polyester trading house into a sprawling conglomerate spanning energy, chemicals, telecoms, retail and media, already has a sports division. Its cricket assets include the Mumbai Indians franchise in the Indian Premier League, and sister teams in South Africa, the US and the UAE.

Reliance also has a network of athletics academies across India that it hopes will develop a generation of Olympic medallists, and spearhead the country’s efforts to host the summer games at some point in the future.

The Ambanis and Surrey County Cricket Club, which owns the remaining 51 per cent of the Invincibles, make a powerful combination. Surrey has been one of English cricket’s success stories, thanks in large part to investments made in its stadium and surrounding infrastructure that have given it a solid financial base. Last year the club made a profit of more than £7mn, a small figure in isolation but an impressive one compared to the losses (and debts) piling up elsewhere in the sport.

The England and Wales Cricket Board, which is managing the sale of The Hundred franchises, is now led by chief executive Richard Gould and chair Richard Thompson — both ex-Surrey. The sale process itself is designed to raise funds so that other counties can emulate Surrey’s successes off the pitch.

Since the launch of The Hundred in 2021, the Invincibles have won either the men’s or women’s contest each year. The ECB and its advisers estimate the franchise will generate revenue this year of £10.2mn, the highest of all the eight teams. They also expect EBITDA of £1.6mn, more than three times that of crosstown rival London Spirit.

Spirit, based at Lord’s, fetched more than double the price of the Invincibles on Friday, when a consortium of Silicon Valley executives – including the CEOs of Google and Microsoft – agreed to pay around £145mn for a 49 per cent stake in the team. Yet forecasts suggest the Invincibles will remain the top earner in the contest for years to come.

There has been some talk of new investors lobbying to rebrand the franchises they buy into. But with India’s richest family now behind the Invincibles, the current name looks increasingly apt.

Can padel make it as a spectator sport?

Quite a few people now like playing padel, but do they want to watch it too? Well, later today the 7,000-odd capacity Madrid Arena will be sold out for the Hexagon Cup, a startup contest with some big name backers.

Enrique Buenaventura, a Formula E executive who founded the tournament, told Scoreboard that overall ticket sales are up five times since last year, and sponsorship has tripled.

The Hexagon Cup offers the biggest single padel prize pot: €1.2mn, although overall it plays second fiddle to the more established Premier Padel tour. This week, there was a large fanzone where spectators could try out their padel skills at various stalls, and a new focus on VIP hospitality, to capture all those padel-loving CEOs.

Padel still faces plenty of hurdles to grab fans’ attention. One is the doubles format of the sport. “It’s more difficult to create heroes,” says Buenaventura.

The Hexagon Cup’s strategy is to lure in fans by grouping players into celebrity-backed teams: former Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero was cheering on his KRÜ Padel; Pierre Gasly is due to be supporting his 10 Padel; Andy Murray’s and Anthony Joshua’s Ad/vantage are among the other competitors.

The long-term hope is that British fans will follow the Murray and Joshua fronted team, French fans will support Gasly’s, while Americans might cheer on Eva Longoria’s, and so on.

However, this can’t hide the fact that the best players are concentrated in a few countries. Spain and Argentina account for 19 of the top 20 players in both men’s and women’s rankings. Getting American players seems crucial for the sport to grow in the US, where it has to reckon with the success of pickleball.

Another challenge is getting viewers on YouTube, DAZN, ITVx and other media platforms  — especially those who don’t play padel — to appreciate what is going on during the long rallies. Big power shots, often the most eye-catching moments in tennis, can simply bounce back off the walls.

Padel is seeing more money. One investor, Gabriel Perez-Krieb, says his padel-focused fund Taktika is looking to invest nearly $100mn over the next five years in companies offering everything from new padel courts to coaching technology. It values its current holdings, including KRÜ Padel, at roughly $25mn. Perez-Krieb says he is repeating the playbook he used when investing in avocado oil: another challenger product that has become trendy.

Business of Football: less than a month to go

It’s February, which means our Business of Football Summit is right around the corner. If you want to hear how people running top clubs, leagues and international federations are thinking about the future of the game — from broadcast models and stadium redevelopment to new competitions and M&A — then join us online on February 26 and in person in London on February 27. All the details are here.

Highlights

• Chelsea broke the women’s football transfer record this week to sign USA defender Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave for a fee of £900,000.

• Louis Vuitton chief executive Pietro Beccari says the brand’s new tie-up with Formula One is a “particularly important” step in the company’s mission to evolve from a luxury brand into a “cultural brand”. You can read the full interview here.

• Barclays has added Lord’s cricket ground to its collection of UK sports sponsorship deals. The bank, which also has commercial deals with the Wimbledon tennis championships and the Women’s Super League football competition, will become a ‘principal partner’ of English cricket’s most famous venue.

Transfer Market

• Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari has been appointed to perform the same role at Athletic Ventures. The joint venture, formed last year by UK Athletics, Great Run Company and London Marathon Events, will deliver the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Final Whistle

Ange Postecoglou has been under pressure this season. Tottenham Hotspur have the best stadium in England, but they’re stuck in 15th in the Premier League. So it was good to see that the club’s Australian-Greek coach’s sense of humour is intact.

During the North London side’s 3-0 win over Elfsborg in the Europa League on Thursday night, he made light of the injury crisis that has hurt performances this season. Take a look.