Episodes
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan give their verdict on the sports industry week, then introduce two power conversations from on stage at Leaders Week London.
First, Jess Smith, President of soon-to-launch WNBA team Golden State Valkyries sits down with Netball Super League Managing Director, Claire Nelson. Then former Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham is in conversation with Esteve Calzada, the former City Football Group executive who is now CEO of PIF-owned Saudi Pro League leaders Al Hilal.
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Brett Gosper, Head of NFL Europe & Asia-Pacific, takes a quick break from a very busy month of American football to join James Emmett on this week's episode.
He shares his top-line reflections from the 2024 London games, along with some impressive and record-breaking stats for the league; plus, what's immediately up next as the NFL touches down in Munich for its second foray to Germany, this weekend.
Elsewhere on the show, Leaders' Strategic Account Manager Javan Odegah shares his reflections on the games, having been in attendance at Wembley when a record-breaking 86,651 crowd witnessed Jacksonville Jaguars beat the New England Patriots.
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Welcome to episode two of model making, a new series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast that analyses the flux across the global sports industry and asks whether we need a new commercial vision for sport.
Are the business models that have sustained professional sport for so long at breaking point? And what are the solutions that sport's most innovative thinkers are endorsing?
Big questions answered on-stage at Leaders Week London 2024 by Chicago Cubs and Marquee 360's Senior Vice President, Cale Vennum, and Viagogo's International Lead, Matt Drew. James Emmett, Leaders Editorial Director was in the moderator's chair to find out how ticketing can help unlock additional revenue streams and engagement.
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan return to the studio, for some more reflections on Leaders Week London and to review the most notable stories of the sports industry week.
As IMG, On Location and Professional Bull Riders move from Endeavor to TKO ownership, they consider the corporate storytelling implications and ponder whether it's the precursor to further change.
They also discuss the WNBA’s upcoming collective bargaining negotiations, after the players’ decision to opt out of the current agreement early, as well as luxury brand Chanel’s decision to sponsor the annual university Boat Race along London’s River Thames.
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In this episode, James Emmett and David Cushnan are joined by special guests, Richard Conway, Founder & Managing Partner at Spectacle Partners, and serial sports industry board member, Nic Coward, to review the action from a barnstorming return to Leaders Week London.
The team touch on a number of topics from Day 2 of The Summit at Allianz Stadium as well as the on-stage sessions, which featured Nikki Doucet, Chief Executive Officer, Women's Professional Leagues Ltd; Kealan Casey, Director of Brand Marketing, North America at BBC Studios; Declan Sharkey, Global Director and Senior Principal at Populous; and Mark Ashton, Chief Executive Officer at Ipswich Town FC.
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James Emmett and David Cushnan reflect on a terrific opening day at The Summit from Allianz Stadium, which saw over 2,000 movers and shakers from across the global sports industry gather at the home of England Rugby.
The duo discuss a range of themes and talking points from on-stage sessions, which featured a stellar lineup of speakers across three stages.
Alongside the dialogue, this episode contains short snippets of sessions and from around the venue, featuring Gerard Piqué, Kosmos; Sally Horrox, World Rugby, Mark Shapiro, Endeavor; Don Garber, Major League Soccer; Gareth Balch, Two Circles and England Cricketer Tammy Beaumont.
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Welcome to model making, a new series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast that analyses the flux across the global sports industry and asks, do we need a new commercial vision for sport? Are the business models that have sustained professional sport for so long at breaking point? And what are the solutions that sport's most innovative thinkers are endorsing?
Hosted by Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Viagogo's International Lead Matt Drew, the three-part series puts sport's traditional revenue streams under the microscope.
Where and why are media rights flatlining? Are sponsorship dollars under threat below the elite level? And are matchdays being maximised?
To help them make sense of the shifting sands around them, the pair are joined by three illustrious guests:
- John Skipper, formerly of ESPN and DAZN and the architect of some of the biggest rights deals in US TV history;
- Simon Denyer, serial founder and former leader of DAZN, current leader of PEAK, and board member on a number of global properties including the WTA;
- Zarah Al-Kudcy, the newly installed CRO at the Women's Professional League Ltd, and a commercial leader at Chelsea, Formula 1 and the ICC among many before that.
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James Emmett and David Cushnan are joined by Leaders Managing Director, Laura McQueen, and Event Director, Hannah Redfern, to preview the annual sportsbiz extravaganza that is Leaders Week London.
It's a week filled with forums, think tanks, Awards and social get-togethers – taking place all day, all night, all week, right across the city. The week culminates with The Summit at Allianz Stadium: a place where you’ll find sport’s biggest names and the most progressive ideas shaping the industry, all in the company of 2000 attendees from all corners of the globe.
And ahead of all of that, the team share their top tips for maximizing on your time out of office, who to look out for on the speaker programme, and where to go if (surprisingly) you're yet to secure your event pass.
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Mary Bekhait is one of the global entertainment industry's leading talent executives.
As Chief Executive of YMU Group, she leads an international business representing mega stars across music, sport, entertainment, literary, social, art and business management, including: Davina McCall, Simon Cowell, Tom Daley, Clare Balding, Ant & Dec, Fred again, and many more.
She joined James Emmett and David Cushnan in the Leaders studio (ahead of an important business call with Simon Cowell) to run through the inner workings of YMU Group; her top tips for building and nurturing relationships (forged from a 20-year career in talent management); how brand sports marketers can best work with and maximise athlete talent; who she enjoys managing the most and what great output looks like on LinkedIn.
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan slip back into the studio to consider the stories of the sports industry week.
As Whisper secures a big contract for host broadcast services at Roland Garros, they reflect on the changes, creativity and innovation in the sports production market - and, as Lionel Messi launches his own studio, when athletes and influencers might join the contest for big live production work.
Then David plays in a couple of conversations from last week’s Two Circles EMEA Client Summit in London. The agency’s Co-Founder and CEO Gareth Balch sets the scene, then Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer Juliet Slot, Two Circles’ Managing Director of Ventures Annie Panter and Zarah Al-Kudcy, who has just started as Chief Revenue Officer at WPLL, the new entity operating the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship on England, sit down to discuss how to scale women’s football.
They explain how fan insights are impacting the stadium experience, getting ticketing strategies and pricing right (and wrong), how to carefully read the new wave of data being collected and how it’s informing approaches to marketing the women’s game.
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Welcome to Convergence – a mini-series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast about the launch of new verticals within an existing sports business. It’s a show about strategy, growth, and fitting new products to meet audience demand.
In this series we’ll be looking at sports media, betting, gamification, collectibles, merchandising and more – and it’s being co-hosted by me, James Emmett from Leaders, and Sam Sadi, the CEO of LiveScore, the football scores app-come-betting company that has supercharged its own growth off the back of a converged offering.
Diane Gotua, a strategic business leader with nearly two decades of global leadership experience in strategy, operations and corporate development within sports and finance, is our guest for episode three. Diane currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Strategy at Fanatics, having previously worked at the NBA for 9 years in a variety of leadership and strategy roles.
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Welcome to Convergence - a mini-series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast about the launch of new verticals within an existing sports business. It's a show about strategy, growth, and fitting new products to meet audience demand.
In this series we'll be looking at sports media, betting, gamification, collectibles, merchandising and more - and it's being co-hosted by me, James Emmett from Leaders, and Sam Sadi, the CEO of LiveScore, the football scores app-come-betting company that has supercharged its own growth off the back of a converged offering.
DAZN’s CEO of Growth Markets, Pete Oliver – the executive who leads the group’s activities and teams in markets such as the UK, US and Canada – is our guest for episode two.
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Dan Rossomondo has spent over 20 years in the sports industry delivering international business strategies to accelerate growth across sponsorship, media, licensing and retail.
He cut his teeth at the NBA where he helped to supercharge the organisation as a sports, entertainment and lifestyle property for over a decade. He's now bringing that experience and track record to MotoGP, where he was appointed as CCO in 2023, and is responsible for leading the media rights, global commercial partnerships and digital business teams.
One year into the role, he joined Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett to reflect on the journey so far, the incredibly exciting time for the sport, and how he's planning to fuel the continued internal growth of MotoGP's profile, audience and revenue.
This episode is part of the Leaders in Focus series, produced in partnership with IMG.
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett popped his wellies on and headed down to Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire this week to join an exclusive gathering of sports, media and entertainment leaders at the IMG x RedBird Summit.
'Raising the Game' was the theme of the event, and much of the conference content was future-focused, aimed at identifying, in RedBird CEO Gerry Cardinale's words, how to 'skate to where the puck is going'.
In amongst the on-stage sessions, the off-stage masterclasses, and the catch-ups across the farm, James sat down with a handful of the guests for a series of low time-high impact conversations.
On the show, you'll hear from:
- RedBird's Gerry Cardinale - on his investment thesis and the opportunity to rejuvenate world class IP at AC Milan, Paramount, and the Telegraph;
- IMG's President of Media Adam Kelly - on his vision for the event, and the current state of play in the sports media rights market;
- PCP Capital Partners CEO Amanda Staveley - on her exit from Newcastle United and the buyer/seller dynamics in elite football ownership;
- Gymshark Chief Brand Officer Noel Mack - on building a British brand with unicorn status;
- IMG EVP Hillary Mandel - on a year of major deal making with the USTA and ESPN, Roland Garros and Warner Brothers Discovery, and the NWSL.
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Welcome to Convergence - a mini-series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast about the launch of new verticals within an existing sports business. It's a show about strategy, growth, and fitting new products to meet audience demand.
In this series we'll be looking at sports media, betting, gamification, collectibles, merchandising and more - and it's being co-hosted by me, James Emmett from Leaders, and Sam Sadi, the CEO of LiveScore, the football scores app-come-betting company that has supercharged its own growth off the back of a converged offering.
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan hit the studio again for a wander through the sports industry stories of the week.
On the eve of the Uefa Champions League draw, they’re joined by Uefa Marketing Director Guy-Laurent Epstein to help explain the revamped competition format and the reasons behind the changes.
Epstein also discusses partner reaction to the new-look tournament; 30 years of Champions League brand finessing; the rise of the Women’s Champions League; North America’s growing interest in football and what that means for organisations like Uefa; what he’s looking for in an agency partner, as a new sales cycle looms; and the approach to innovation in a football market that prizes tradition.
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Marina Storti has spent over 20 years in the sports industry delivering strategies to accelerate commercial growth, engage diverse fans and impact positive change.
And she’s been bringing all of that experience and expertise to her new role as CEO of WTA Ventures – the commercial arm of the WTA – having previously earned her sporting stripes at Sky and NOW TV.
One year into the role, she joined David Cushnan and James Emmett to reflect on an incredibly exciting time for women’s professional tennis; the partnerships that she’s overseen during her tenure so far - most notably with Saudi Arabia - and how she’s planning to guide WTA Ventures in an innovative new era of the WTA.
This episode is part of the Leaders in Focus series, produced in partnership with IMG.
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan gather their thoughts and reflect on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
They discuss the broadcast coverage and tone, for the BBC, Discovery and NBC in particular; sponsor creep in the wake of LVMH and Samsung’s activity in Paris; the visual spectacle and the power of the still image; the challenges ahead for organisers of LA28; and Thomas Bach firing the gun on an IOC Presidential election next year.
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Claire Nelson is in the midst of overseeing the relaunch of Netball Super League. As Managing Director, she’s plotting a 10-year path to professionalisation for the newly-restructured eight-team league and intent on growing the sport around the UK.
On this edition of Leaders in Focus, she shares those plans; her approach to breaking the bad news to the existing teams that won’t be getting a place in the new league format; why working with Premier League club Nottingham Forest – which acquired one of the franchises - could open up a world of opportunity; and the commercial models that underpin the Super League’s growth strategy.
She also discusses life as a CEO; the progress being made in EDI across sport; and how to make room for brands looking to be creative – and even edgy - when activating in and around women’s sport.
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Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan are reunited for a chinwag about the global business of sport.
They reflect on the summer of sport and hospitality so far - from Wimbledon to the British Grand Prix - and consider the latest state of play at the NBA, as its new media deal nears completion, and the health of tennis and golf.
Then, on the eve of the Olympic Games, they ponder the major storylines and pointers of Paris 2024, including the baffling logistical and security operation for the opening ceremony along the River Seine; the role and integration of LVMH into various aspects of the Games experience; the political clouds hanging over the event; and the ambitious hospitality programme being delivered for the IOC by On Location.
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