Sportspro Podcast

SportsPro digital editor Tom Bassam and media and technology editor Steve McCaskill join Eoin Connolly to review another week of stories and trends from around the sports industry. Steve recaps key talking points at the SportsPro OTT Summit USA, from the big streaming picture at Turner Sports and ESPN to a widespread interest in betting and the burgeoning commercial appeal of women’s sports media. Then the trio pore over Apple’s deal with Major League Baseball, asking how the tech giant’s sports strategy could play out, and look at under-the radar news including the latest on the Premier League’s NFT rights.

On the eve of a new Formula One season, Eoin Connolly talks to Oracle chief marketing officer Ariel Kelman and Christian Horner, team principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing. They discuss how Oracle’s analytics and cloud solutions helped power Max Verstappen to an unforgettable first world driver’s title in 2021, how the partnership is expanding this year, and why machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies are playing an ever bigger role in racing, development and fan engagement.   Ariel also explains how sports partnerships showcase Oracle’s positioning, and Christian talks about getting the team ready for another challenging campaign.

Eoin Connolly and SportsPro digital editor Tom Bassam return to reflect on another busy week of industry developments.  Sports bodies cover more difficult ground in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the Premier League reviewing its media rights options and gymnastics up in arms over an ugly podium protest from Ivan Kuliak.  Then the conversation turns to baseball, as MLB drifts deeper into a season-delaying lockout. There is a discussion about supporting women in the sports business, and time for two stories going under the radar: a new phase for Brand Beckham, and another stab at soccer’s Super League. 

Many sports organisations are on the journey from being administrators or event businesses to media enterprises, which creates a host of knock-on impacts for acquiring and nurturing talent.  For the latest Playbook Podcast, Matt Rogan is joined by HR expert and strategic advisor Charlotte Hignett for a broad discussion on creating optimal workplace cultures. Hignett, who was people director EY Lane4 for 12 years, explains how businesses can best secure the right personnel and then ensure they develop in their roles. The conversation also covers retaining key staff, organisational design, the skills required for board-level HR leaders and managing generational tensions.

Discussing race used to be something that sports organisations avoided at all costs but thankfully in recent years things have moved on a little, even if the conversation is far from finished. For the latest Playbook Podcast, Matt Rogan welcomes Sonny Peart, co-founder of Black Trail Runners, on to the show to look at the relationship between sport and race. Peart explains how his charity took a data-informed approach to responsibly demonstrate the problem and quickly break down any bias in the running community - while explaining how this method can be applied more broadly. The conversation also covers why it is important to avoid the ‘low cost and easy’ approach to creating awareness around implicit and explicit racial prejudice in the sports industry - and how to prioritise action and impact to create genuine change. Finally, Peart outlines how senior leaders can champion change by educating themselves and others, placing critical emphasis on the importance of business leaders taking personal

The latest SportsPro Podcast sees Eoin Connolly joined by digital editor Tom Bassam and deputy editor Sam Carp to roundup of some of the big stories in the sports industry over the last week. After a catch up on some of the headlines coming out of the Super Bowl, including some gaudy numbers to complete a bounce-back year for the National Football League (NFL), discussion moves to reports regarding the success of the Premier League's overseas broadcast rights sales operation. The episode then dives into the narratives coming out of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, including the troubling doping revelations around Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. Then Bassam and Carp pick out a couple of 'under-the-radar' stories from the last seven days they think are worthy of a bit more attention. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to

Alan Gilpin, chief executive of World Rugby, tells Eoin Connolly about the changing responsibilities of the global governing body. They run through the latest on discussions with commercial investors and the role venture capital and private equity firms might play in the growth of the game. They also talk about vital consultations on player safety and welfare, as well as the prospects for women’s rugby ahead of this year’s World Cup. And Alan lays out the far-reaching Environmental Sustainability Plan 2030, which aims to dramatically cut World Rugby’s carbon emissions and build better choices into all of its activities. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

The latest episode of the Playbook Podcast sees host Matt Rogan delve into an area that established businesses confront almost daily – managing change. To take on the task, Rogan chats to Alexandra Willis, communications and marketing director for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC). The Wimbledon tennis Grand Slam has always embraced change and Willis lifts the lid on the process for managing this. The conversation covers internal communication, as well as putting in systems to maximise co-creation, plus how to actively and intentionally enable people to contribute. Rogan and Willis also explore how the different elements of an organisation can be structured to embrace change - both formally and informally – as well as ensuring you have the right people in place to cope during periods of transition. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that

Eoin Connolly is joined by SportsPro senior staff writer Ed Dixon and Steve Martin, global CEO at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, to preview a contentious Winter Olympics in Beijing. They discuss how Covid complications and allegations of human rights abuses against Uighur people in Xinjiang have dominated an uneasy build-up to the Games, and consider how the International Olympic Committee, its sponsors and broadcasters will move forward. Then, China Sports Insider founder Mark Dreyer returns to give a perspective from the ground in Beijing, and look at the future of winter sports and the rest of the industry there. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

In a session from SportsPro’s inaugural Ignition event, Eoin Connolly talks to George Pyne, founder and chief executive of sports and entertainment investment fund Bruin Capital. George explains where Bruin identifies opportunities, its partnerships with scale-up companies like Deltatre, Two Circles, Oddschecker and TGI Sport, and how that compares with its activities in the startup space. He also lays out some of the key growth trends in sports technology, shares his thoughts on the prospects of NFTs and metaverse technologies, and discusses how the industry has changed since he moved on from IMG to set up Bruin Capital in 2015. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

SportsPro media and technology editor Steve McCaskill talks to Eoin Connolly about the latest developments in the sports tech startup and investment space. They reflect on SportsPro’s 2022 list of the 20 sports tech ideas to invest in now, teasing out key trends from personalisation to digital betting and networks in grassroots sport and college endorsements. They also consider the perspectives shared on an investor round-table, asking where value is being sought and whether excitement about the metaverse and NFTs is premature. Steve then talks to the co-founder of one of the companies on the list, RespoVision’s Pawel Osterreicher. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

The latest episode of the Playbook Podcast sees host Matt Rogan seeking how to shape and influence the cultural side of an organisation. Matt is joined by Tony Simpson, partner at Oliver Wyman, to decipher high-performance cultures and to find out if any business really wants one. The pair also discuss how to create drive and energy in your business in a candid and wide-ranging conversation. Tony Simpson has held a variety of leadership roles in sport and media businesses in both Europe and the Middle East advising corporations and governments on business transformation, corporate structure and executive alignment strategy. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

Eoin Connolly gets a look inside soccer’s transfer market with Financial Times sports business correspondent Sam Agini; Kieran Maguire, author of The Price of Football and co-host of the podcast of the same name; and Daniel Geey, partner in the sports group at Sheridans law firm and author of Done Deal. They explain what must happen and who needs to be involved for a player transfer to take place, reflect on how deals are valued and the financial instruments that pay for them, and consider how the market affects clubs’ behaviour and what reforms could improve the state of play. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

Amid a build-up dominated by the Novak Djokovic vaccine saga, Press Association tennis correspondent Eleanor Crooks joins Eoin Connolly to preview the Australian Open. They discuss how the men’s world number one’s Covid stance will affect his standing in the game, how the episode has been received by other players and fans, and the implications for the tennis authorities and other sports bodies in creating vaccination policy. They also cover broader themes in the business of tennis, from competition in the calendar to how the WTA will cover the fallout from the alleged 2021 disappearance of Chinese star Peng Shuai. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

The latest episode of the Playbook Podcast sees host Matt Rogan seek to challenge the assumption that financial management in business is a formulaic skill. In a bid to prove that financial management is not just simply having the numbers in the right place on a spreadsheet, Rogan talks to two partners at EY in Anna Faelton and  Eva Garcia de la Fuente about their work at the global services firm, as well as some of the challenges outside of the sport-space and the applicable lesson in dealing with them  for those within it. As the conversation moves on Anna Faelton and Eva Garcia de la Fuente also lift the lid on how to approach translating a company's finances into a coherent strategy and then executing on that plan. And more good news! The SportsPro Podcast has been nominated for a Sports Podcast Award. If you like what you hear, please vote for us in the Best Sports Business Podcast category here. Please note that you will have to register first.

SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly turns quizmaster for a festive reflection on some of 2021’s defining trends. Two teams – SportsPro digital editor Tom Bassam and senior staff writer Ed Dixon; SportsPro media and tech editor Steve McCaskill and Charlie Beall, VP of digital strategy and ventures at Seven League, the digital sports consultancy within IMG’s Media & Events division – battle to a dramatic and by no means contentious finish.   They cover soccer’s European Super League debacle and its fallout, NFTs and sport’s metaverse dreams, major events and geopolitics, media rights adjustments and the continued rise of the athlete voice.

SportsPro senior contributor Matt Rogan talks to Louise Johnson, chief executive at sports marketing agency Fuse, about business planning going into 2022. They discuss how Louise juggles daily and long-term planning in an organisation with 100 staff in the UK and another 250 around the world. Louise also explains how she balances the needs of clients – including PepsiCo, McDonald’s, Nissan, and Carlsberg – with those of internal teams and Fuse’s parent, Omnicom. And they look at how best to assess annual targets, growth and resources, and future changes and obligations, in a testing period for the industry.

As tennis star Peng Shuai’s generates headlines worldwide, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly is joined by China Sports Insider’s Mark Dreyer and Professor Simon Chadwick, global professor of sport at Emlyon Business School. They discuss local reaction to Peng Shuai’s sexual assault allegations against former vice premier Zhang Goali and consider the WTA’s response. With a US-led diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022 possible, they ask whether sport’s relationship with China is changing. Then SportsPro staff writer Rory Jones talks to Danish Football Union (DBU) chief executive Jakob Jensen about its promotional boycott of the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup.

SportsPro senior contributor Matt Rogan talks to Emma Barraclough, product owner at Blue Fuel. Emma leads elite sports nutrition company Blue Fuel, launched in 2020 within Chelsea Digital Ventures - a ‘digital-first, consumer product business spun out from Chelsea Football Club.’ Rather than narrowing the conversation to a single area, this conversation covers the expanse of responsibilities undertaken by a business leader - in particular ones in a fast growth sector. From launching during a pandemic to scaling both a B2B and B2C business simultaneously, this is a fascinating look inside a fast growth business and a really candid reflection on the highs and lows of leading and juggling divergent priorities.

With a racism scandal rocking English cricket, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly talks to Chris Grant, an independent Sport England board member and expert in change management, to ask how organisations can respond properly to reports of discrimination and protect people from abuse. Chris outlines the structural reforms sports bodies and businesses should embrace and explains why an honest dialogue is vital to the industry’s future, culturally and commercially. Meanwhile, SportsPro staff writer Rory Jones dials in from the Smart Cities and Sport Summit in Copenhagen to relay the key trends in event hosting and urban development.