SportsPro Podcast

Esports has entranced many within the traditional sports industry and is a fast-moving, fast-growing category in its own right. Now, Texas-based Infinite Esports & Entertainment is among a handful of groups looking to establish a presence across the competitive video games sector, with teams playing in a broad range of leagues and titles, new initiatives launched as far away as India and a permanent sports venue in the works back in Arlington. Chris Chaney, the group's founder, president and owner, and strategic partnerships director Joe Hills join SportsPro editor-at-large Eoin Connolly to discuss all of that, as well as a first season for the Houston Outlaws in the franchise-based Overwatch League, which has attracted considerable investment from within the sporting mainstream. They also discuss finding the right gaming content for the right partners, the role of players and their existing audiences, making sense of the Fortnite phenomenon, working with publishers and understanding what titles will be a hit.

As the Fifa World Cup ticks past its halfway mark, the SportsPro Podcast returns for the summer. On the ground in Moscow for the duration of the world's biggest single-sport event, Press Association chief sports reporter Matt Slater gives SportsPro editor-at-large Eoin Connolly his take on a warm and open welcome from ordinary Russians after a build-up dominated by concerns about the host nation's leadership.  Still, there are plenty of questions to be answered elsewhere. What should we make of Russia's stunning start? Have the sponsors turned up? Is football coming home and, if so, where is it going?  Also, after a vote by the Fifa Congress before kick-off gave the 2026 World Cup to the United bid from Canada, Mexico and the US, will Russia 2018 be the last tournament of its kind? And how was the United campaign able to see off the challenge of Morocco with such surprising ease?