Roses Live

What Roses Live does

Roses Live is the digital coverage platform for the Roses Varsity Tournament, an annual inter-university sports competition between Lancaster University and the University of York first held on 15 May 1965. It is operated by Lancaster University Students' Union (LUSU), a UK non-profit, with around 10 staff and a volunteer base that includes six student media organisations (YSTV, LA1TV, BailriggFM, URY, SCAN, and York Vision). The tournament is the largest Varsity Tournament in Europe, featuring 140+ fixtures across 50+ sporting disciplines over a single weekend, with a historical record of 31 wins for Lancaster, 28 wins for York, and 1 draw.

The platform is built as a live event management system with a public website (roseslive.co.uk), a YouTube channel (@ThisIsRosesLive), Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, and the iLancaster mobile application on iOS and Android. Core product modules include a real-time Live Feed for score updates and event reporting, a TV Catchup video-on-demand library covering 20+ sports, a Timetable with downloadable Excel and venue maps, a Sports Directory of all 50 disciplines, and a History Archive back to 1965. Push notifications are delivered through the iLancaster app, which supports guest login for York users. Live coverage is produced by the combined student media teams across both universities.

Roses Live is a non-commercial entity: attendance is free for students of both universities, and there is no pricing model, no funded revenue line, and no external investment. Funding is structurally through student activity fees and volunteer effort. The customer base is restricted to students and supporters of two UK universities, with operations conducted entirely in England. There is no API, no disclosed data assets, and no AI or machine learning components.

Name

Roses Live

Legal name

Lancaster University Students' Union

Website

https://roseslive.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1965

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Roses Live is the non-profit digital coverage platform for the Roses Varsity Tournament, the largest student varsity event in Europe between Lancaster University and the University of York. It provides live scores, video, and mobile notifications for 140+ fixtures across 50+ sports, operated by Lancaster University Students' Union.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

University Sports Event Coverage

NAICS

Other Spectator Sports (711219), Spectator Sports (7112)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Sports Live Streaming Platforms (MPACACAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Live Streaming Aggregators & Multi-Platform Restreaming/Distribution Platforms (MPACACAM)

Keywords

• Varsity sports tournament
• Live sports coverage
• Inter-university athletics
• Student sports broadcasting
• University rivalry events

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Roses Live is a digital platform that provides live coverage of the Roses Varsity Tournament, an annual inter-university sports competition between Lancaster University and York University. The platform delivers real-time scoring across 140+ fixtures in 50+ sports, on-demand video coverage via YouTube, push notifications through the iLancaster mobile app, and integrated timetable and historical archive features. It is operated as a free service for students of both universities, with no commercial pricing model.

Product overview

Roses Live is a digital platform for the Roses Tournament, the largest Varsity Tournament in Europe, representing the sporting rivalry between Lancaster University and York University since 1965. The platform consists of a unified web-based product with multiple integrated modules: Live Feed for real-time score updates and event reporting, TV Catchup for video-on-demand coverage of sports events, Timetable for schedules and results tracking, a Sports Directory showcasing all 50 competitive sports, and a History Archive documenting the tournament's legacy since 1965. An associated iLancaster mobile app extends accessibility to mobile users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• iLancaster: Mobile application for Lancaster University students providing event updates and live coverage notifications

Products and services

• Roses Live Web Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 140+ sporting fixtures across 50+ disciplines contested at each tournament
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• York UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1965Co-founder and annual co-host of the Roses Varsity Tournament since 1965. York University students compete against Lancaster University across all sports fixtures. The rivalry is the foundation of the event, determining whether 'Roses are Red or White'.
• YSTV (York Student Television)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYork's student television station providing live coverage and broadcast production for the Roses tournament alongside Lancaster's LA1TV.
• LA1TV (Lancaster Student Television)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLancaster's student television station co-producing live coverage and video content for the Roses tournament alongside York's YSTV.
• BailriggFMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLancaster's campus radio station participating in the multi-media live coverage team for the Roses tournament.
• University Radio York (URY)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYork's campus radio station participating in the multi-media live coverage team for the Roses tournament.
• SCAN (Lancaster Campus Newspaper)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLancaster's student newspaper providing written coverage and editorial content for the Roses tournament.
• York VisioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYork's campus newspaper providing written coverage for the Roses tournament alongside SCAN.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/officialroseslive
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ThisIsRosesLive
• Facebookfacebook.com/LancasterSU
• Instagraminstagram.com/officialroseslive
• TikToktiktok.com/@officialroseslive
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/roses-live

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Roses Live