SportsPro Podcast

Who is the most marketable athlete on the planet today? What makes one athlete more marketable than another? How should the term ‘marketability’ be defined? What do brands look for when aligning with an athlete? SportsPro has been asking itself such questions every year since it first released its annual ranking of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes in 2010. The process of answering them has sparked some interesting debates and a constant reevaluation of what it means to be marketable at any given time. In this special episode of the SportsPro Podcast, released to coincide with the 13th edition of SportsPro’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes list, our team breaks down some of the key trends and talking points to emerge from the 2022 ranking with the help of Amar Singh, senior vice president of content and communications at MKTG. We also hear from Chris Collins, the president at NorthStar Solutions Group, whose updated data-driven methodology determined the 2022 rankings, making this year’s list the most comprehensive assessment of athlete marketability ever produced.

Geoff Allardice, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), sits down with George Breare ahead of the men’s Twenty20 World Cup. In addition to a preview of the tournament, the conversation explores cricket’s balance between respecting tradition and pursuing innovation for growth. On the agenda is the importance of T20 for cricket to gain a foothold in key growth territories and why the US has the potential to be the sport’s third largest media market. Allardice also explores the future of the women’s game and the role Test cricket has to play.  Finally, the discussion moves towards the ICC’s transition to a direct-to-consumer strategy (DTC), with the launch of initiatives such as the ICC.tv over-the-top (OTT) platform, the new ecommerce store with Fanatics and other digital projects.

SportsPro content manager George Breare returns from a short break to helm the latest episode of the Weekly Wrap podcast. In part one, Breare is joined by SportsPro senior staff writer Ed Dixon to get the lowdown on his recent interview with Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s director of the women’s game, ahead of the imminent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Then, recording from Visa’s European headquarters following an exclusive event co-hosted by SportsPro and Two Circles, Breare sits down with the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) Anna Shaw, Twitter’s Roisin O’Shea and Alex Teasdale of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to discuss the future of sponsorship in women's sport. In a wide-ranging discussion, the panel reflects on some of the conversations had during the event, the advantages and disadvantages of unbundling the rights to women’s sports properties, the impact of purpose-driven marketing, and where future opportunities lie for brands.

With the story of DAZN's acquisition of Eleven breaking on 27th September, Tom Bassam and Sam Carp give their immediate reactions to the consolidation of two former challenger media brands, as well as what the deal means for the industry more broadly. With Robert Sarver having announced he will be selling the  Phoenix Suns, there is also a bit of discussion (11:06) of how we got to this point, what happens next and - perhaps most importantly - who might buy the embattled National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise. On a more positive note, the Women's Super League (WSL) continues to go from strength to strength following a weekend of record attendances. (20:00) Bassam and Carp zoom out on the top flight of English women's soccer to ask how the league grows attendances beyond staging a handful of fixtures per season at the big stadiums. Talk then turns to the National Football League (NFL) and its US$50 million Super Bowl half-time show deal with Apple (29:22) and there is also a bit of time left over for a couple of under the radar stories.

In the absence of George Breare, SportsPro news editor Tom Bassam is joined by senior writer Ed Dixon for a catchup on the latest sports industry news. First up on the agenda is run through of the highlights from the recent SportsPro APAC event in Singapore, with some analysis of sessions featuring Disney Star's Sanjog Gupta, the Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Katie Sadleir, as well as Sarah Chambers and Amy Prosser from Optus. There's also a look at some of the streaming issues faced by the National Football League (NFL) and the decision from the owner of Patagonia to pledge the outdoor brand's profits to tackling the climate crisis.  We round off the show with the regular 'under the radar' stories and some listener questions.

George Breare dials in from SportsPro APAC in Singapore for a quick catchup on the key industry news stories of the past week, namely the report that Saudi Arabia is to fund a three-nation bid to jointly host the 2030 World Cup alongside Egypt and Greece. News editor Tom Bassam explains some of the details of the report and weighs up its chances of success in the murky world of soccer geopolitics, while there is also time for a quick discussion on Cazoo's impending exit from the sponsorship picture in continental Europe. Then Breare speaks to Eric Stark, co-founder and president of social content startup Slate (14:38), about the company's rise. Slate was named in SportsPro's 2020 class of 'ideas to invest in now' and won the SportsInnovation Award at this year's Ignition event in January. Stark lifts the lid on the company's origins, its funding journey and the plans for the future.

Tony Godsick, chairman of the Laver Cup tennis tournament, as well as long-time agent of Roger Federer, and event chief executive Steve Zacks join host George Breare on this special edition of the SportsPro Podcast. Ahead of the tournament’s arrival in London on 23rd September, the trio discuss the creative vision and continued commercial development of the Laver Cup five years after its inception in 2017. The conversation spans Federer’s influence on the tournament’s aesthetic and brand positioning, its founding commitment to format innovation, what to expect in London, and how the Laver Cup is serving a younger generation of tennis fans at a time when the sport’s following is only growing older.

George Breare and Tom Bassam are joined by San Francisco 49ers chief marketing officer, Alex Chang, ahead of the new National Football League (NFL) season (18:28). The conversation dives into the new International Home Marketing Areas (IHMA) programme and how the 49ers are seeking to make use of their new active territories. Chang also lifts the lid on how the the NFL team is working with Leeds, the Premier League outfit that the 49ers have a significant investment in. Before that, the hosts talk about the second season of English cricket’s short-format competition, The Hundred, and what DAZN’s Primera División rights deal means for Spanish women’s soccer.

Kirsten Corio, chief commercial officer at the US Tennis Association (USTA), takes some time out of her busy US Open schedule to join the podcast to discuss the Grand Slam's data-led strategy. Before Corio dials in from New York (19:48), SportsPro's George Breare and Tom Bassam hit some of the headlines from the previous week in the sports industry. First up the latest developments from the PGA Tour's attempt to throw money at the LIV Golf problem, then some insight into what Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TMRW Golf venture could mean for the game, before a bit of discussion of what is happening in the world of online chess. Corio then joins the pod to lift the lid on how the USTA is approaching its first US Open at full capacity since 2019, its data-led approach to business intelligence and how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used across its operations.  The show closes out with some under-the-radar stories and a couple of listener questions.

Motorsport writer Cian Brittle brings his motorsport expertise to a special SportPro Podcast looking back at the recent BlackBook Motorsport Forum in London. Post event reflections are interspersed with some of the sounds from onstage and on the floor at BBMF, as the pod analyses some of the key themes to emerge from the Leonardo Hotel. Talking points include Nascar’s efforts in the entertainment space, the enduring impact of Drive to Survive, the future of decentralised gaming, sustainability and what the Hamilton Commission’s report has taught us about diversity in motorsport. There is also a bit of time to talk about sprint racing in MotoGP and a potential Saudi Olympics.