Latest news with #IlonaMaher
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
How to snag free soda all summer from your favorite brands...including Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew
Panera Bread customers can score free beverages at participating US locations this summer. The restaurant chain is offering free drinks for the next three months to new Unlimited Sip Club members who sign up today through June 30. Beverages that are part of this deal include iced or hot teas and coffees, and several fountain drinks like Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew. The special, dubbed 'Summer of Free Sips', was created in collaboration with Pepsi Starry soda brands. The chain also enlisted athlete and Dancing With the Stars contestant Ilona Maher to help announce the offer. Customers interested in joining the club can sign up online or through the Panera app after creating a MyPanera account. They must then choose a plan, which usually costs $14.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Customers are also able to get a new drink every two hours, according to the chain. Unlimited refills of self-serve beverages at participating locations is one of the perks that come with guests' existing accounts. The 38-year-old chain has been launching several new items and a menu haul since last year. Panera has made a variety of changes with its menu and axed its controversial Charged Lemonade. The beverage was said to have been linked to multiple deaths, including 21-year-old Sarah Katz. Katz, a loyal Panera customer, died in 2022 after suffering cardiac arrests following Charged Lemonade consumption. Her death led to lawsuits on behalf of others who allegedly died or were left with health conditions after drinking the beverage. The restaurant chain also faced backlash after closing its fresh dough factories to shift toward frozen bread. The factories were located in several states, including California, Texas, Georgia, Colorado, Kansas, and North Carolina. The closures led to hundreds of layoffs for employees that Panera said would be offered job fairs, benefits, and reassignment opportunities. Besides 'Summer of Free Sips,' Panera Bread is busy promoting a variety of special store and menu items. The restaurant chain made headlines after offering a croissant clutch. The limited-time purse, which sold out in less than 48 hours, was worn by comedian Ego Nwodim at the Met Gala. The chain also began offering its all-new Croissant Toast Sandwiches in April, limited-time items Panera called an 'innovative gamechanger.' These sandwiches, along with its limited-time Strawberry Caprese Salads and its Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwich, are still available at participating locations. Panera, which has over 2,200 locations worldwide, aims to recover from last year's 5 percent sales dive. 'We're in the middle of a turnaround. We are taking a strategic look at where we are today and where we want to be three years from now,' said Brooke Buchanan, Panera's chief corporate affairs officer. has reached out to Panera for comment about the 'Summer of Free Sips' deal. 'Summer of Free Sips' beverages Hot Coffee Iced Coffee Hot Tea Iced Tea Lemonade Blueberry Lavender Lemonade Citrus Punch Pomegranate Hibiscus Tea Pepsi Diet Pepsi Starry Mountain Dew Bubly Lime Brisk Raspberry Tea Dr. Pepper Canada Dry Ginger Ale
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Mike Tindall the driving force behind rugby breakaway league
Mike Tindall, the Rugby World Cup winner and member of the royal family, is one of the driving forces behind rugby's new breakaway global league which has been branded as 'R360, driving generational change in rugby'. Telegraph Sport can reveal the full details of the revolutionary blueprint for the first time, which includes: The architects are Tindall, former Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper, and the lawyer behind the creation of IPL and LIV Golf There will be April-June and August-September windows as part of a promise to make players available for internationals. A 'grand prix' model of 12 franchises visiting 16 glamorous venues including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Nou Camp and Sao Paulo. There have been multiple bids for franchises from team owners in other sports, including the NFL and Formula 1. Heads of agreement signed with dozens of players with top-300 male and female players targeted. Ilona Maher featuring in promotional material with a heavy focus on giving the female game the prominence it deserves. No relegation and laws to 'minimise dead time, maximising fast-paced and non-stop action'. R360 is unapologetically attempting to recruit 'the best of the best' and crucially, have promised that its players will remain available for all international fixtures, allowing stars to continue to represent their countries. With windows from April to June and then August to September, R360 explicitly wants to turn rugby into a summer sport and to give the game 'its Super Bowl moment'. It is hoping to launch the competition next year and expand to 10 male franchises in its second year. Tindall – a member of the royal family by his marriage to Zara Tindall, the late Queen's eldest granddaughter – is listed as R360's co-founder and sporting director. In a brochure sent to investors seen by Telegraph Sport, Tindall writes: 'Rugby is feeling the fallout of the last few years with financial mismanagement, declining investment in the club game and a product that is struggling to evolve. Clubs around the world are feeling the strain and are being propped up by the international game. Rugby's lack of innovation and ability to change risks losing its appeal to new audiences and its younger market.' The other co-founders are Hooper, the former Bath director of rugby, and Mark Spoors, a former leading rugby agent, while John Loffhagen, the lawyer who played a key role in the launch of LIV Golf, is the competition's legal counsel. The competition proposes initially launching 12 franchises, eight for men and four female teams. They would compete in a grand prix model in what it claims would be a full city takeover which would transform into 'festival hubs with live music shows, fan zones and celebrity appearances.' Organisers also want to secure venues such as the Nou Camp, Tottenham Stadium and Croke Park to deliver a 'groundbreaking live rugby experience'. More exotic locations include Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, New York and Buenos Aires. This is not the first attempt at launching a breakaway league. The World 12s, a competition backed by former England head coach Eddie Jones and Steve Hansen, the ex-All Blacks coach, died a quick death following its public launch in 2021. More substantively, Kerry Packer's World Rugby Corporation only just failed to get off the ground in 1995, which could have changed the face of the professional game. Thirty years on, R360 is attempting to launch a similarly groundbreaking competition in what it is billing as a competition built for the players and fans first. Massive obstacles await, not least in securing sponsors, supporters and most importantly its stars. 'They don't know the storm that is coming' At present, England head coach Steve Borthwick cannot select any players outside the domestic structure and fresh from signing an eight-year partnership with Premiership Rugby, there would appear to be little wiggle room for the Rugby Football Union to abandon that longstanding principle. Figures within R360 believe that policy could change if they secured a cadre of leading England internationals. However, they believe rather than breaking the club game they can invigorate it by putting players and fans at the front of their new vision. Already R360 claims to have attracted multiple bids from team owners across other sports, including the NFL and Formula 1, and from individuals in four different continents. The project had already attracted significant financial investment from several parties in both the US and the UK. 'This is a project that has gone from this is a concept to this is a good idea to being capitalised to this is happening,' an insider said. Since Telegraph Sport first reported on the proposed breakaway league in November, there have been few public developments, leading figures within Premiership Rugby to believe the threat has gone away. However, an independent third party says 'they don't know the storm that is coming'. R360 has held productive talks with World Rugby, which appeared to have softened its initially sceptical attitude towards the rebels who have promised to abide by the international release enshrined in regulation nine, although it is unclear how the Rugby Championship and women's international windows fit into their proposed calendar. For any new competition to be launched, it would need to be backed by a national union and then passed in a vote by the World Rugby Council. Salaries on offer are thought to be around double what the traditional club game can offer while the organisers are also using a shorter calendar of 16 games and the ability to leverage their personal brands on a global basis as a means of attracting stars from all over the world. It is understood that dozens of players have already signed heads of agreement, which are contingent on R360 proving it has sufficient funds to launch the competition by September. In total, R360 wants to attract the top 300 players, both male and female. A key part of the R360's vision is to launch four female teams offering 'competitive salaries' with Maher, the American social media star, featuring heavily in promotional material. In the third season, they hope to expand to eight franchises. In its pitch to potential franchise owners, R360 has guaranteed that there will be no relegation to 'ensure long-term security' and a cost cap to build in parity. Organisers also believe that they can attract global broadcast deals by changing laws to 'minimise dead time, maximising fast-paced and non-stop action'. It claims it will be the first league designed for long-term financial success, a nirvana that has so far eluded the club game in the 30 years since professionalism.
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
The real star shines: Portia Woodman-Wickliffe's big day out
Analysis - She came, she saw, she conquered yet again. While the week's build up to the Black Ferns' test against the USA had been dominated by the presence of bronze medal winner Ilona Maher , once the ball was kicked off it became very apparent, very quickly that having a lot of social media followers doesn't count for anything when you're trying to stop someone who deals in exclusively in gold. The stage belonged to Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, who scored seven tries in the 79-14 win that won back the Pacific Four title. If you think that's impressive, that figure isn't even the highest amount of tries she's ever scored in a test match. Nor the only time she's ever terrorised the hapless USA Women - Woodman-Wickliffe now averages 5.5 tries per game against them. Portia Woodman-Wickliffe of New Zealand scores a try, New Zealand Black Ferns v USA Eagles Women, match 6 of the Pacific Four Series women's rugby union tournament at North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday 24 May 2025. © Photo: Andrew Cornaga / Photosport Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Then there's the World Cups, gold medals and Super Rugby titles …you get the picture. But what makes this performance just that much more astounding is that Woodman-Wickliffe wasn't even supposed to be here. She retired last year, citing a desire to "lounging on the couch, eating Maccas and KFC and popping out babies". Thankfully for the Black Ferns, who now turn their attention to an upcoming World Cup campaign, she decided that Colonel Sanders can wait and pulled the boots back on . "I'm extremely grateful, those tries were a result of what the team puts out," she said post match. "The scrums, lineouts, the handling skills. We're not happy with our first couple of games, it's been a clunky start to the season and we know there's a lot to work on…(but) it's really exciting for where we're heading off to." Woodman-Wickliffe's haul moved her into first place on the Black Ferns all time try-scoring list, another fact she was blissfully unaware of. What makes it even more astounding is that she's achieved it despite the majority of her 13-year career has been spent playing Sevens, so the 45 tries she's racked up have been across only 26 tests*. "I don't actually know, most tries ever? I knew I had the World Cup (record) but I didn't know the other one. But like I said, I'm grateful because of the work the girls did through the midfield, all I had to do was put the ball down." The test was built around the presence of Maher, however the fact that she did her media appearance during the week alongside Woodman-Wickliffe was a smart move. The pair joked it up for the big turnout of journalists, radio hosts and influencers, but it also meant that while what Maher is doing to promote herself and by association the sport can't be underestimated, Aotearoa was reminded that we very much have our own superstar who got to that status simply by being a phenomenal player. Ilona Maher. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Because really, the gulf between the two in rugby ability can be summed up in the fact that Woodman scored more tries than Maher's total carry or tackle count, with the American spending most of her energy trudging back behind her own posts to watch Ruahei Demant or Hannah King line up another conversion attempt. As for the game itself, it was certainly an overall performance to raise spirits as the World Cup looms, especially after last weekend's draw with Canada . However, it wasn't quite perfect - the Black Ferns' discipline let them down more than it should have and while it didn't matter too much in a 65-point win, it's certainly going to be an issue in a knockout game in August. Jorja Miller offloads for a Black Ferns try. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ But there was far more good than bad, most notably that Katelyn Vahaakolo scoring four tries on the other wing would be a player of the match performance any other day. The set piece was strong, Jorja Miller looked right at home in an openside flanker role and causes a good problem for the coaching staff to have around the makeup of the loose forwards, and the bench kept the foot on the gas right the way through to full time. A very positive sign, and Maher can certainly be praised for playing her part in creating, was the very good crowd that showed up to watch. It was the latest of several big sports weekends in Auckland lately where fans have been spoiled for choice, this time there was Auckland FC's big semi-final and a Warriors home game to contend with. It's fair to say that Woodman-Wickliffe's heroics, the latest in a long list of excellence to the Black Ferns, made those who made the trip to North Harbour Stadium feel like it was well worth it. * The previous record holder, Waikato's Vanessa Cootes, scored her 43 tries in only 16 tests. This included nine in one match against France in 1996, which remains a women's test world record.
RNZ News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Rugby live updates: Black Ferns v USA
American star Ilona Maher and Black Ferns legend Portia Woodman will square off at North Harbour Stadium. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / Photosport The Black Ferns need a big win to seize back the Pacific Four title, after their draw last weekend against Canada. Standing in their way are the American women, with social media superstar Ilona Maher starting at centre. Kickoff is 3:35pm NZT.
NZ Herald
23-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
What is the future of the Takapuna Golf Course?
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