UP484 Inside Edge: Alex Balfour on cricket and the Internet

The story of Cricinfo is the history of sport's relationship with the internet and digital culture.

It remains central to the experience of millions of cricket fans. 

But what does it tell us about how the internet changed what we define as sporting fandom?  

 Alex Balfour co-founded the site and sold it to ESPN in the noughties and he is a global expert on sports relationship with the internet and digital channels.

He was head of digital for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, his company Generate Digital advises clients on the value of digital assets, and his CV is includes The Guardian Newspaper's first websites, the UK's first general election website, the first UK government online consultation, and the first International 2020 cricket tournament

He co-founded Cricinfo and sold it to ESPN. It remains the world's leading cricket publisher and India's favourite sports website. 

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.