Leaders Worth Knowing Podcast

WWE President Nick Khan, Garcia Companies Founder Dany Garcia, and IMG President Adam Kelly sit down for a series of punchy conversations on Leaders Worth Knowing this week. On the eve of Leaders Week, James Emmett and David Cushnan give an inside view on what to look out for at the biggest sports industry event of the year at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham next week, before introducing a series of conversations recorded at the IMG x RedBird Summit last week. Fresh from TKO's debut boxing event in Las Vegas, WWE President Nick Khan talks ground-breaking media deals with Netlfix and ESPN, ponders the future of PPV, and explains why he won't use emojis; Dany Garcia - the woman who runs Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Promotions production company, as well as the UFL, Danimás, and a portfolio of other businesses - explains what makes a great sports film, talks bodybuilding, and finally reveals what it was that the Rock was cooking. And Adam Kelly looks back at a year of breathtaking deal-making and partnership building at IMG, and gives us a view from his front row seat overlooking the rapidly changing picture that is the macro media market.

In the second episode of the series between Leaders and TikTok, we explore the social giant’s approach to sport through the prism of some of its key executives and content creators.To help us do that, we called upon Rich Paul, Founder & CEO of Klutch Sports Group – one of the most influential sports agencies in the world with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Juju Watkins and Draymond Green on its books. Paul has recently become a TikTok user and has already been widely admired for dropping brilliant insights on athlete branding, draft picks, and what it takes to build a lasting sports empire.Vanessa Craft, TikTok’s Global Head of Content Partnerships and Business Development, joins Paul on the show to talk through community-building, how the worlds of sports, music and fashion are showing up on TikTok, and the consumption habits between men and women on the platform.SBJ’s Managing Director Dan Kaufman hosted the conversation a few days after TikTok’s North American Sports Summit.

As the finals take place this week, Billie Jean King Cup CEO Kerstin Lutz joins the show from Shenzhen, China, which is hosting the women's national team tennis competition for the first time.Lutz explains how China's third-largest city is embracing the finals, and shares her tips for working in and running events in the country, as it re-emerges onto the global stage.She also reflects on her first 18 months as CEO of the BJK Cup, the operational takeover of the tournament in 2023 by Billie Jean King and TWG's Mark Walter, working in tennis alongside the sport's many stakeholders, and the elements of agency life - Lutz is a veteran of Team Marketing - that have helped as she settles into life running a sports property.

Nascar EVP and Chief Media & Revenue Officer Brian Herbst joins the show to discuss how the stock car series thinks about broadcasting and engaging fans. Speaking to Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett, he explains the rationale behind the latest cycle of US broadcast rights, including a new partnership with Amazon, which began this season and netted Nascar a reported $7.7 billion over the next seven years. Herbst also discusses why and how Nascar shows up in Roblox and Fortnite, plus its recent debut on Substack, and where international rights and coverage fits into his thinking as he plots the future media direction of the top-level Cup Series, the secondary Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. 

Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) completed a series C funding round earlier this summer, raising a reported $40 million. The round was led by Saudi Arabia's SURJ Sports Investments, and supported by Cordillera, Verance Capital, and initial investor Sir Michael Moritz. Sam Renouf is the founder and CEO of PTO and the man who leads the organization's T100 series of triathlon events. He led the efforts to raise the money. He joins the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast this week to give us a step-by-step guide to the year-long process that led to the capital injection.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Professional Triathletes Organisation and many other rights holders from across global sport will be out in full force at Leaders Week London from 29 September - 2 October. To find out more and to secure your pass, visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

David Bruce is the Chief Business Officer at Sunderland, the North East club that's back in the Premier League after an eight year absence. Under owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, who, at 28, is the youngest Chairman in the Premier League, Bruce is responsible for steering the commercial operations at Sunderland. Staying in the Premier League is the aim this year, and, quite simply, much of the resource required for putting together a team capable of doing that is being driven by Bruce and his team. Bruce, who left his role as CMO of Major League Soccer to take up a position at his home club of Sunderland two years ago, joined the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast fresh from an opening day win against West Ham. On the agenda: - The record shirt sales achieved through partnerships with Fanatics and Hummel;- The new need for a season-ticket waiting list for the team's 49,000-capacity Stadium of Light;- The new premium offerings rolled out this season;- Finding new fans, and reconnecting the club to the city and its people;- The business and marketing lessons he learned in the US that he's trying to implement in Sunderland.

According to Google, that's the second most common question people ask in relation to the former FC Barcelona and Spanish international football legend. The answer may well be 'very'. Since retiring from playing in November 2022, Pique has launched himself whole-heartedly into the running of his Kosmos agency. A few short weeks after hanging up his boots, he launched Kings League, a seven-a-side football competition with unconventional rules designed to major on the entertainment side of the sport. Two and half years later, and Kings League has established itself as a new model for short-form football; it's expanded out of Spain and into new markets around Europe and South America, with the Middle East and the US now firmly on radar. Pique sat down to record with Leaders at the Cannes Festival of Marketing earlier in the summer. Fresh off a whirlwind few weeks of activity with Kings League - including signing a landmark deal with Saudi Arabian fund SURJ, and overseeing a successful finals event in Paris - Pique gave his thoughts on football's expansion into the US market, the Club World Cup, spawning competitor outfits like the Baller League, and the transition from the field to the boardroom.

Raine Group Partner and Head of EMEA, Jason Schretter joins the show to explain how the England & Wales Cricket Board managed the sale of stakes in the eight Hundred franchises - which drew significant investment from the United States and India. Raine was the lead financial advisor to the ECB on the auction process, working closely with Deloitte to achieve an overall valuation of over £975 million across the eight franchises, and a £500 million windfall for the development of English cricket. In conversation with Leaders' Content Director David Cushnan, Schretter reflects on the process from start to finish, shares the rationale for such sizeable investments, identifies some of the lessons for other sports looking for investment and offers his assessment of the sports industry's current financial literacy.  Look out for the Leaders Week London agenda, which is out next week - check out leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

Tom Jackson, Group Director, Content at the DP World Tour - once known as the European Tour - joins the podcast to share the organisation’s approach to content creation and in particular its run of viral videos featuring challenges and players.In conversation with Leaders’ Content Director David Cushnan, Jackson explains the critical planning and process required to bring a comprehensive content strategy to life; how his team convinced players to take part; the risk and reward of humour in content; and how the DP World Tour’s approach to branded content has become more sophisticated.Join leading creatives, digital and content experts, and organisations including Ferrari, FIFA, Chicago Bulls, Snuggs, NASCAR and more, on the Creative Stage at Leaders Week London - 1st and 2nd October at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. To find out more visit: www.leaders on sport.con/leadersweek

Fresh from the Uefa Women’s Euros semi-finals, Rexona/Sure Global Brand Director Emily Heath joins Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett to examine whether women’s football sponsorship actually works.Heath shares her on-the-ground thoughts on the atmosphere around this week’s games and describes the mood in host country Switzerland, plus outlines how Unilever-brand Rexona (Sure in the UK) is approaching its Uefa and Fifa sponsorship activations across different markets.She also explains how and when Unilever will measure the success of the Euros - from sentiment to sales - and offers a few top tips to rights-holders about how to approach partnership conversations with the brand.Emily Heath will be one of a gaggle of senior, global brand-side executives speaking at Leaders Week London, on 1st and 2nd October at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. To find out more visit: www.leaders on sport.con/leadersweek