The SportsGrad Podcast #281: Journey to Head of Media Rights at Cricket Australia with Abhi Arunachalam
Meet Abhi Arunachalam, the Head of Media Rights at Cricket Australia.
Abhi started his career as a corporate lawyer, then after 6 years in private practice he made the jump to sport, landing a secondment role at the AFL as an in-house Lawyer. This gave him a foot into sport and launched his career at Cricket Australia.
In Abhi’s 9 years at CA, he’s made a few internal moves, proving you don’t have to sit still in the job you’ve got. When he started at CA, he joined as a Legal Counsel, then he moved to the Big Bash Leagues team as Strategy & Planning Director, and now he’s transitioned into Media Rights.
Lots to look out for including how to transition across industries and departments, plus the ins and outs of working in Media Rights.
If you like this episode, you can come and hear more about Abhi’s story in person at our Melbourne Meetup! He’ll be one of the guest speakers on May 10th, so make sure you grab a ticket via our website and come along.
Enjoy the episode!
We cover:
(00:43) Who is Abhi Arunachalam?
(01:59) Welcome!
(04:03) What’s happening inside the SportsGrad Community - meetup announcements, member intakes and community wins!
(07:40) Welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast Abhi
(11:05) Quick-fire questions
(17:47) What does Abhi do in his role as Head of Media Rights?
(21:49) Strategies and approaches Abhi utilises to grow cricket’s reach
(25:00) What drew Abhi to media rights
(27:09) How media rights are established and fold out over a period of time
(34:17) What were the series of jobs and experiences that lead him to Cricket Australia
(39:46) How he transitioned through different roles at the AFL
(44:30) Challenges with changing industries and departments
(47:10) Navigating imposter syndrome
(50:09) How has Abhi changed personally over the past ten years
(53:20) How Abhi strives to be a good manager and the types of people he looks for to be in his team
(57:50) Advice for Abhi’s younger self
(01:04:01) ASK SPORTSGRAD
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Additional episode you may enjoy:
#148: Andrew Ryan (FIBA) - How to sell sports media rights
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