THE LOWDOWN EPISODE #61 - THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF FOOTBALL w/ KENNETH CORTSEN

“The greatest good for the greatest number of people, If there is any meaning in discussing fair play and codes of conduct in sports, then it is time to show Russia the red card.“

Yesterday February 24th was a dark day for humanity. Amidst the backdrop of current affairs Professor Kenneth Cortsen and I recorded a podcast regarding the growing commercialization of the once beautiful game. In this hour or so we documented it's growth from the reformation of competition format's in the 1990's to the integration of social media platforms today. The top echelons of football seem to be fueled by the mutual interests of career politicians and new upstarts with little corporate governance to boot, With NFT's, cryptocurrencies and diverging ownership motives thrown into the mix, 90 minutes of football on Saturday has never been as profitable.

Yet is what we are doing sustainable? Is it ethical at it's core? How can we do it better? At what point does “fan engagement“ meet the law of diminishing returns?

Or should we hand free reign to these tenants?

Among what we discussed included;

- What impacts will current events in Ukraine have on the continental game?

- A history of the professionalization and the subsequent commercialization of football.

- DAZN and the cautionary tale of sports broadcasters.

- How football clubs can better ethically conceptualize tokenisation?

- What steps athletes are taking now to leverage Web3 as they attempt to control the narrative?

Timestamps;

00:00 - 13:55 - History

13:56 - 23:43 - Russia

23:44 - 35:01 - Corporate Governance

35:02 - 41:18 - Romanticism

41:19 - 46:30 - Fan Engagement

46:31 - 53:23 - NFT's

53:24 - 58:31 - Web3

58:32 - 1:05:56 - Advice

Kenneth's LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethcortsen/

Kenneth's Website; https://kennethcortsen.com/