Sportspro Podcast

A packed out TD Place full of young Ottawa fans have come to watch their team try to make the playoffs and SportsPro's Tom Bassam was lucky to have one of the best seats in the house. This is the PWHL, North America's incredibly popular, new elite women's ice hockey competition that is smashing attendance and viewership records in its first season. PWHL Ottawa's GM, Michael Hirshfeld, and Ottawa Tourism's Lesley Pincombe explain the impact of the new franchise in the Canadian capital, as well as what more the city has to offer as a sports destination.

Few sports properties in the world are embracing sustainability like the World Rally Championship. Co-hosting the Beyond Rally Forum, the most recent event in the FIA's Sustainable Innovation Series, was the latest initiative undertaken by the WRC to demonstrate its green credentials. We sent Cian Brittle to Porto get the inside track on the sustainability conversation in motorsport and speak to some of the key players in the space. Talking points: - Interview with Sara Mariani, the FIA's director of sustainability and diversity and inclusion (1:12) - Martin Popilka, CEO of P1 Fuels, on the potential impact of green fuel in WRC and for the automotive industry (26:09) - Santiago Peña Gomez, WRC Promoter's sustainability manager, explains how the series is putting its new Sustainability Roadbook into action (34:02) - Cian's final thoughts (1:00:06)

The year started with an Africa Cup of Nations that broke all manner of records and cut through globally unlike any tournament before. Now, with major players such as Fifa, the NFL and NBA all finally realising the continent's potential, 2024 could be a breakout year for African sport. Kicking off a new content series delving into the African sports landscape, SportsPro editorial director Michael Long and Pulse Sports MD James Torvaney speak to Sherif Hassan, head of digital and marketing products at the Confederation of African Football, about the sports business opportunity in Africa.

Richard Gould, CEO of the ECB, comes into the SportsPro Podcast studio to give his view from the top on the health of English cricket. Speaking exclusively to Tom Bassam, Gould discusses the role of the county game in 2024, dealing with the challenges of the IPL, investment in The Hundred, cricket on TV and the exciting future of the women's game.

Edmonton's history as a hotbed for women's basketball dates back more than a century with the all-conquering Edmonton Grads. Now with Fiba 3x3 events and the WNBA coming to the capital of Alberta, that tradition continues. SportsPro's Tom Bassam speaks to Janelle Janis, Executive Director of Business Development and Events with Explore Edmonton and the WNBA chief marketing officer, Phil Cook, to learn more about the city's credentials as an elite sports destination.

SportsPro's Katie Preston talks to Gemma Woor, a member of this year's NEW ERA class and a senior client director at the MKTG agency, about being a female in the sports industry and some of the initiatives she's involved in to improve it for women in the future.

The Women's Super League is under new management and top of the org chart is former Nike executive Nikki Doucet. Speaking to Sam Carp at SportsPro Live 2024 the CEO of NewCo, the commercial entity that is set to take over running the top two tiers of English women's soccer, discusses her vision for the WSL and how the league can forge a new path for women's sports. Talking points: The opportunity for the NewCo with the WSL (2:02) The broadcast rights picture and other revenue streams (10:18) Investing in equitable opportunities (14:14) Where and how the WSL reaches fans (22:58) Doucet's vision for the WSL (25:03) Reflections on the interview (27:03)

Last week Premier League ushered out the PSR era and in the dawn of 'squad cost' regulations - meaning the amount clubs can spend on players will be index rated against revenues. The Price of Football's Kieran Maguire joins Tom Bassam to unpack what it all means and provide a look across the financial landscape of English soccer's top flight.

Jon Rahm arrives at Augusta not only as defending champion but also as a member of a different tour to 12 months ago. Tom Bassam is joined by SportsPro technology editor, Steve McCaskill, to discuss the current state of the game, LIV Golf's continued disruption and some of the technology that will be on show during the Masters.

The owners of F1, Liberty Media, will now control the two biggest global motorsport properties after agreeing to pay €3.5bn for 86% of MotoGP's commercial rightsholder, Dorna Sports. The BlackBook Motorsport team of Cian Brittle, Alice Evans and Tom Brown discuss the deal as the SportsPro Podcast taps into the knowledge of Mics Out (1:18). Then, regularly scheduled programming resumes with Tom Bassam, Sam Carp and Arif Islam hitting a few of the biggest stories in the sports industry, right now. Talking points: - Liberty Media's MotoGP takeover (1:18) - The German FA splits up with Adidas (16:19) - Ipswich Town valued at £260m as it gets investment injection (23:15) - A-Rod's deal to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves collapses (30:56) Find all episodes of Mics Out here.

The opening day of the 2024 IPL season brought in 590m video views for JioCinema, showing nothing moves the needle in sports like Indian's Twenty20 franchise cricket behemoth. How far will the tournament's influence grow? Here trying to answer that question are SportsPro's Ed Dixon, Josh Sim and Tom Bassam.

Amid a very publicly announced antitrust lawsuit, FuboTV CEO David Gandler has described the new streaming service from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery as a 'streaming cartel'. With Gandler one of the speakers at SportsPro New York, we took the opportunity to take the temperature of the industry from on the ground at the Marriot Marquis.

The NWSL is back for the 2024 season with an expanded 14 franchises, a new raft of TV deals and growing interest from fans, as well as investors. Here, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman speaks exclusively to Tom Bassam in a broad-ranging interview about the direction of women's football and how the top league in the US is working to grow the game.

4.8 million people tuned in to watch the 2023/24 World Darts Championship final between Luke Littler and Luke Humphries across Sky Sports' channels - a record for a non-football broadcast on the UK pay-TV network. Since then, Premier League Darts' has also seen increased interest and a spike in viewers as fans tune in to see 16-year-old sensation Littler's matches. The man making sure the sport capitalises on this wave in interest is PDC CEO Matt Porter, so we invited him on the podcast to discuss the booming business of darts. Talking points: Porter's journey to PDC CEO (1:04) Professionalising darts (3:13) Luke Littler and the 2023/24 World Darts Championship (15:50) Reaching new audiences and changing times (26:34)

In this special NEW ERA podcast, SportsPro's Katie Preston, Yin Khoo and Jatila Blake discuss the true meaning of allyship and the importance of active support to achieve gender equity. Then, in part two (33:20), Elena Kouyoufa is joined by Santo Raggiri, the founder of Fair Play Project, where he shares practical advice and insight to the work that needs to be done to achieve gender equality in sports.

Formula One returns this weekend with the Bahrain Grand Prix and, to mark the start of the new season, BlackBook Motorsport writer Cian Brittle joins the pod to discuss all the major narratives from the paddock. Talking points: - Andretti's rejected bid to join the grid (2:56) - Keeping fans engaged when the competition is lacking (12:50) - New team sponsors and partnership challenges (22:36) - The expansion of F1 Academy (30:21) - Season predictions (37:31)

The second-ever Green Football Weekend was held earlier in February to encourage fans to adopt a more sustainable approach to following their teams. Pledgeball CEO, Katie Cross, and Helen Taylor, the former CEO of Forest Green Rovers, join the podcast to discuss the initiative and how best to tackle football's sustainability challenges. Talking points: What is the Green Football Weekend? (7:27) Why the focus on reducing meat consumption? (12:26) Are fan campaigns the most effective way of changing behaviours (16:36) Should the English football regulator be thinking about green issues? (25:30) Are broadcasters leading the way? (29:22)

Series five of Drive to Survive was watched for 90.2m hours in the first half of last year - one of Netflix's biggest hits. Box to Box, the creator of the show, is now applying the popular format across a number of different sports. Warren Smith, the production company's head of sport and factual, joins the podcast to give us the inside track on Box To Box's approach to making a hit sports documentary. Talking points: Smith's background and working at Box to Box (2:10) Why did Box to Box's style cut through so well? (9:05) Are the stars more open to the cameras now? (15:44) How the producers work on storylines and put the shows together (19:49) Waiting for the call to commission the next season and keeping the series fresh (29:47) Upcoming projects (33:51)

SportsPro has published its fifth annual class of sports technology startups worth investing your attention in. To mark the occasion, technology editor Steve McCaskill joins the pod to talk through the list before we hear from Gareth Lippiatt, co-founder and chief executive of one of the companies in this year's class, FanHub. Talking points: How the list comes together (1:08) The trends in this year's list (4:08) Steve picks his favourite startups on the list (9:58) Gareth Lippiatt interview (18:40)

Danny Townsend, the recently installed CEO of SRJ Sports Investments, has a fun job. Counting the PIF as its sole shareholder, SRJ (pronounced 'surge') has been set up to accelerate the growth of the sports sector in Saudi Arabia by targeting the acquisition of new events IP and commercial rights. Trying to unpick what that actually means is SportsPro's Tom Bassam, who sat down with Townsend to discuss how SRJ plans to spend the kingdom's money.