SportsPro Podcast

As MLB, the NBA and the NHL return in the US, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly is joined by CNBC sports business reporter Jabari Young to run the rule over the coronavirus challenges in the American industry. They discuss a difficult start for MLB, the financial battle ahead for all the majors, the power structures between players and owners, and the emerging technological picture. They also talk about the leagues' responses to the Black Lives Matter protests (32.50) and how their efforts against systemic racism will be judged. Then Major League Lacrosse commissioner Sandy Brown (44.25) is on hand to outline what it took to complete its shortened, pandemic-affected season. Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the second part of a double feature, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly speaks to Matchroom Sport group managing director and head of boxing Eddie Hearn. Topics include plans for a behind-closed-doors Matchroom Fight Camp, the financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, taking events to Saudi Arabia, progress on an Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury showdown, boxing governance, Hearn's own profile and ambitions in the sport, and the team building the future of the company.  Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the first of a two-part series, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly talks to Barry Hearn, founder and chairman of Matchroom Sport. They discuss how the promoter has fared through the Covid-19 pandemic, from improvising through social distancing regulations with Darts at Home and behind-closed-doors snooker to establishing financial certainty, Matchroom's changing structure and content strategy, why owning events is better than renting them, and plenty more besides. Barry's son, Matchroom Sport group managing director and boxing chief Eddie Hearn, will be the guest on the next edition of the SportsPro Podcast Extra. Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  

SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly welcomes back Matt Rogan, SportsPro’s senior contributor and co-founder of the data agency Two Circles, for the latest part of his series looking at how companies should react to Covid-19 and how to operate more effectively post-lockdown.    Having given us his five brilliant basics, Matt discusses how forward-thinking executives are positioning their businesses to best deal with the challenges set to be faced in 2022 and beyond.  Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In another podcast from the SportsPro Insider Series of virtual events, SportsPro managing director Nick Meacham talks to Albachiara founder Roger Mitchell and Kyle Bunch, the VP managing director of Global Sports Venture Studio at R/GA Ventures, about the fundamentals of the sports tech startup space.   They discuss what startups can do to identify the right investors and why people and knowledge matter, how to assess valuations, why founders should focus on solutions more than products, why 2021 could be a huge year in the space after the challenges of 2020, which emerging sectors to watch, and much more. 

The curtain should have just come down on this year’s Wimbledon Championships, but instead SW19 was left empty with the event falling foul of the coronavirus pandemic.  This week, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly welcomes the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s (AELTC) commercial and media director, Mick Desmond, and Alexandra Willis, head of communications, content and digital, to find out about the work done in response to the tournament’s cancellation.  With plans already underway for 2021, the three discuss what this year has meant for the AELTC and the wider game, as well as ways to find opportunity in such testing times. Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In what was scheduled to be the week of the 149th Open Championship, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly speaks to Malcolm Booth, director of sales and marketing at golf's R&A. They discuss the unique Open for the Ages project, which will collate archive footage and historical data of the greatest players of all time to create a broadcast event to replace the pandemic-hit major. Booth also talks about the R&A's operations in 2020, running the AIG Women's British Open next month, and the prospects for golf sponsorship in the year ahead.

As Test match cricket returns to England this week, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly welcomes Daily Telegraph journalist Tim Wigmore to discuss the new future facing cricket after its enforced hiatus. (02:23) Eoin then speaks to Steve Elworthy, the former South Africa international and current director of special projects at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), to hear how the national governing body worked to get the game back on and what lies ahead for the rest of the year and into 2021. (30:59) Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

SportsPro deputy editor Sam Carp talks to Johanna Faries, the commissioner of the Call of Duty League.  They discuss the challenges of building a franchise esports competition from one of the most popular video game series of all time, what Faries' has brought to the job from her years at the National Football League (NFL), and what has been learned from working through the Covid-19 pandemic.  And, as the only female commissioner of an esports league, Faries also talks about the path ahead for women in the sports industry.   Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ahead of the rescheduled Formula One season, SportsPro editor at large Eoin Connolly is joined by Peter Jones, business director of BlackBook Motorsport, to talk through what we can expect from a very different Formula One season in 2020. Discussion also turns to the wider implications facing series promoters and teams off the back of Covid-19. (01:36) Then, deputy editor Sam Carp speaks to Frank Arthofer, Formula One’s global head of digital media and licensing, to find out how the sport has adapted its digital strategy during lockdown to ensure continued growth this season and further ahead. (32:48) Music: Surf Inspector by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4447-surf-inspector License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/