Alex Ferrer Kristjansson: How EuroLeague Basketball Retains a Startup Mentality

Today’s Episode, I’m joined by Alex Ferrer Kristjansson, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at EuroLeague Basketball.

Having joined almost 20 years ago, Alex began his career working on the ULEB Cup, now known as the EuroCup, developing and coordinating the marketing strategy across the teams and he has since held a number of different positions at the organisation, always related to marketing somehow, be it ticketing, brand management, or social media and digital.

Since 2012, Alex took on the role that he currently holds, focused on marketing communications, which means overseeing everything related to the promotion and distribution of the competition from PR and comms, to brand and business intelligence. He also looks after the EuroLeague’s long term partnership with IMG, which has had a huge impact on the league since beginning in 2016, from changes to the format, to the allocation of new licenses in markets like Germany and France. 

The league is a truly unique case study merging the worlds of European and North American sporting governance. Their startup attitude also provides many lessons for us to learn from. 

Time Stamps 

2:00 - Alex’s Career Journey

4:00 - The Impact of Partnering with IMG

6:00 - The Format of the EuroLeague

13:00 - Increasing Presence in Strategic Markets

16:00 - Harnessing the Brand Power of the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich

19:00 - Retaining a Startup Culture and Launching Fan XP Innovation Challenge

31:00 - Leveraging Creators and Launching Hoop District

38:00 - Future Plans for EuroLeague Final Four

40:00 - Influence of the Adidas Next Gen Tournament

Additional Links

Future Gazing: EuroLeague was Early on OTT, Sees VR as Next Big Opportunity

Euroleague Basketball launches 3x3 content creators tournament 'Hoop District'

Overtime Elite to represent the USA in ANGT Finals

EuroLeague Basketball FanXP relaunches with exciting SPORTBIZ partnership

Connect with Alex on LinkedIn - Here

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - Here