SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Government’s preferred candidate for the new Chair of the Independent Football Regulator has been revealed.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced that David Kogan OBE is likely to take on the role, after holding various senior positions in the TV and sports industries during a 45-year career as a media executive, business leader and corporate advisor.
Nandy commented: “David brings with him a wealth of expertise from the sport and media industries having worked across a number of high-profile governing bodies, competition organisers and major media corporations in a very impressive career.”
Top-tier experience
Kogan has been responsible for negotiating several TV rights deals on behalf of major sporting bodies, including the Premier League and the English Football League (EFL). He has also advised UEFA, The Scottish Premier League, Six Nations, Premier Rugby and the NFL.
Most recently, he sold the broadcast rights on behalf of the Woman’s Super League. This deal was worth a reported £65m, and will begin from the start of the 2025/26 season.
Korgan remarked: “Across the country millions of us share a passion for football, a game that is not only part of our national heritage but one of our most valuable cultural exports.
“That’s why as both a supporter and someone with many years spent working in football, I am honoured to have been asked to be the preferred candidate for chair of the newly created Independent Football Regulator.”
What significance for betting?
Kogan’s role as Chair of the Regulator will not include a direct remit of how the sport works with the betting industry, which is more the remit of the Gambling Act. However, his leadership will likely still have a strong bearing on this relationship.
The IFR has the primary goal of protecting and promoting the sustainability of English football, particularly for the benefit of fans and local communities. This sustainability is partly funded through commercial partnerships, including betting sponsorship, including those with betting firms.
Additionally, the debates around the Football Governance Bill, which seeks to independently regulate football in the UK and which gained approval by the House of Lords last month, did see some attempts by legislators to introduce more betting restrictions.
Lord Addington said that “football might be one place we could do without” betting sponsorship and marketing, suggesting that the IFR should enforce a duty that “English football must not promote or engage in advertising or sponsorship related to gambling”.
Despite this, the proposal was rejected, alongside other amendments. However, Addington did receive some support from Baroness Taylor, who raised an issue with “some of the tactics used by gambling companies to suck people into becoming addicted”.
This shows that the debate around betting’s visibility in the UK remains heated two years after the Gambling Act review White Paper was published in 2023. Kogan may find himself playing a role in navigating these relationships and debates as and when he begins his tenure.
Next steps
Kogan will now face pre-appointment scrutiny in appearing before MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
He went on to describe professional clubs, whatever their size, as a ‘source of local and national pride’.
“They generate economic growth and investment, unite communities, and create shared experiences and memories that transcend generations,” Kogan explained.
“The job of the regulator is to work with those clubs, their owners, and their supporters to create a dynamic framework that will ensure the game is on a sound financial footing so that it can continue to flourish and to grow. I cannot wait to get started.
“It makes him an outstanding candidate to be the chair of the independent football regulator.
This will be a vital, public role to ensure sensible, light-touch regulation helps to strengthen financial sustainability and put fans back at the heart of the game.”
