Leaders Worth Knowing Podcast

The athlete sacrifice conundrum | The mechanisms protecting sports teams and leagues | When and where the goodwill will run out. Episode 78 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast - brought to you in partnership with Onside Law - features conversations with Triple S Sports and Entertainment MD Paul Stretford (discussion begins at 20:09) and Onside Law Partner Jamie Singer (discussion begins at 4:55). Speaking just hours before the Premier League announced it would be consulting its players on a potential 30% pay cut or deferral in the face of mounting public and media pressure, Stretford, whose agency represents the likes of England footballers Wayne Rooney and Harry Maguire, was happy to address what he sees as a mishandled process and a lack of understanding of the contribution many footballers are already making. Singer, meanwhile, gives an overview of the conversations he and his team are having with a range of rights holders looking to protect themselves in uncertain times and no clarity on when or where sports events might be able to restart. On the conversational agenda: - What force majeure is and how it can - and can't - protect sports organisations; - Collaboration, practical solutions and how to protect yourself now; - When the point is that the goodwill will wear thin; - How a player representation business that relies on personal contact keeps going; - The players' perspective in the argument over pay cuts. Stay safe, keep in touch.

Building and selling a hundred million dollar company | The emotional impact of years of striving towards an exit | The responsibility and solace of sports ownership | Cost cuts and rescue packages across sport. Episode 77 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast - brought to you in partnership with Onside Law - sees David Cushnan and James Emmett chat to Sydney Kings owner Paul Smith (conversation starts at 8:29). Paul founded and grew Repucom into one of the most trusted sports media measurement and consultancy businesses before selling it to Nielsen in a deal reportedly worth $195 million in 2016. After returning to his homeland of Australia, he took a majority ownership stake in National Basketball League (NBL) side the Sydney Kings through his Total Sport & Entertainment (TSA) agency before taking full control in March 2019. On the conversational agenda: - Thrills and spills at the SportAccord Convention in Sochi in 2015; - The journey of building Repucom into a saleable asset and the ultimate deal with Nielsen; - The emotional cliff post-sale, and the path through it; - Leading differently; - What team ownership can mean for an owner; - The Sydney Kings and the Sydney Flames and why basketball is under exploited in Australia; - The dynamics of taking action in a vacuum of leadership; - The end of the traditional rights model and the beginning of sport taking control of its own destiny. Let us know what you'd like to talk about and who you'd like to hear from on At home with Leaders. @JamesEmmett and @DavidCushnan on Twitter. Thanks again to Onside Law for their support for this podcast. Stay safe, keep in touch.

Getting through Coronavirus | The great calendar reshuffle | The surge in live streaming | The opportunity in esports. Episode 76 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast sees former BBC Sports News Correspondent Richard Conway (conversation starts at 7:41) and The Esports Observer CEO Chris Hana (26:06) talk via crystal clear internet connection to James Emmett and David Cushnan for another episode of At home with Leaders. On the conversational agenda: - How Richard coped with Coronavirus; - The media coverage of the fallout; - How sport is responding; - The surge in live streaming and the opportunity inherent in it; - Where the real engagement in esports is; - How 'traditional' sports organisations should be approaching esports now; - Do more eyeballs mean more dollars in the virtual world? - How to get an esports grounding during Corona-lockdown. Let us know what you'd like to talk about and who you'd like to hear from on At home with Leaders. @JamesEmmett and @DavidCushnan on Twitter. Stay safe, keep in touch.

Sports rescue packages | Gamifying archive content | How to run an organisation remotely. Episode 75 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast sees former Jockey Club CEO and current board member of the EFL and the Roundhouse Simon Bazalgette (conversation starts at 10:06) and FIFA Chief Commercial Officer Simon Thomas (conversation starts at 28:48) chat down their line to James Emmett and David Cushnan for another episode of At home with Leaders. On the conversational agenda: - The £50 million rescue package for the EFL; - Advice for leaders on how to run an organisation as an abstract concept rather than a location; - The difference between sport and arts in this crisis; - How sports entities are mucking in to help; - WorldCupAtHome and the challenge of carving out, packaging, and gamifying archive content; - Managing FIFA's partners through the crisis; - The implications of UEFA's Euro 2020 postponement. Let us know what you'd like to talk about and who you'd like to hear from on At home with Leaders. @JamesEmmett and @DavidCushnan on Twitter. Stay safe, keep in touch.

The greenshoots of recovery in China | Tips and insight from China's quarantined workforce | The situation in Australia | The Australian Open's bushfire relief work. Episode 74 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast sees Red Lantern's Head of Content Victor Lin (conversation starts at 10:25) and the Australian Open's Head of Digital Strategy Finn Bradshaw (conversation starts at 34:04) chat down the line to James Emmett and David Cushnan for another edition of At Home with Leaders. Based in Chengdu in China's Sichuan province, Lin leads digital media agency Red Lantern's content team, delivering services for western sports entities looking to drive engagement with Chinese consumers. Clients include Wimbledon, Formula 1 and Premier League side Liverpool. Based in Melbourne, Bradshaw joined the Australian Open from Cricket Australia last year, and led the tennis tournament's digital department to a record year in 2020, in the midst of the wildfires that devastated swathes of the country, and just a few weeks before the global COVID-19 outbreak began to wreak its own havoc. On the conversational agenda: - The slow return to normality in China; - Living and working through quarantine - how to do it; - The social media trends from China's lockdown period and why they're not what you would have expected; - How to drive engagement with sports fans without live product; - Dealing with the bushfires at the Australian Open; - Contingency planning and building up a communications ‘trust bank’; - Muddy rain; - Getting the tone right for the downtime. Let us know what you'd like to talk about and who you'd like to hear from on At Home with Leaders. @JamesEmmett and @DavidCushnan on Twitter. Stay safe, keep in touch.

The sports industry faultlines exposed by COVID-19 | Brand purpose in times of crisis | Jean-Claude Biver on passion, emotion, and status. Episode 73 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast sees James Emmett and David Cushnan talk to Kate Bosomworth about the COVID-19 crisis and its ramifications on sport before introducing a recording of Kate's session with Hublot Chairman Jean-Claude Biver from the Leaders Sport Business Summit in October (session starts at 26:42). Kate, a former Sport England board member, sports marketing agency CEO, and CMO of M&C Saatchi, helmed a typically energetic discussion with Biver, a legend in the luxury brands world and the man credited with transforming the fortunes of Tag Heuer and Hublot through a savvy and committed marketing strategy. The discussion roamed fluidly from piercing business and marketing advice, to approaches to interpersonal skills and instinct, by way of colourful anecdotes about Diego Maradona. On the conversational agenda: - Biver's first job as a charismatic but useless watch salesman; - The point of passion at work; - Why you don't buy a watch to tell the time; - Why Diego Maradona always wears two watches; - Sports marketing and the power of emotional connection.

Mentorship and role models | Imposter syndrome and professional confidence | The importance of reflection. Episode 72 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast features conversations from in and around the Leaders Meet: Diversity events on women in sport from 6th March with Liz Nicholl (conversation starts at 5:31), CEO of the International Netball Federation, and Becca Valle (conversation starts at 21.23), Head of Marketing at the New York Knicks. Nicholl, speaking at the live-streamed, behind-closed-doors event in London last week, was elected as the President of the International Netball Federation last year. A former netball player herself, Nicholl had two stints as the CEO of the All England Netball Association in her early career, before joining UK Sport in 1999, and serving as CEO of the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the UK from 2010 to 2019. Valle, speaking from her office at Madison Square Garden after the New York Leaders Meet: Diversity event was cancelled due to the coronavirus, joined the New York Knicks as Head of Marketing in 2017, having previously held executive positions at advertising giants BBDO and Ogilvy & Mather. On the conversational agenda: - Approaches to mentorship and role models; - Imposter syndrome and growing confidence; - Professional journeys; - Asking and giving advice; - The importance of reflection.

Under the hood of the NFL. Episode 71 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast features a conversation with SportsBusiness Journal NFL reporter Ben Fischer. On the agenda: - The NFL's business and political wins in 2019; - The CBA negotiations, what they mean and how they're going; - What to expect in the year ahead; - The XFL and its chances of success.

Under the hood of the boxing business | Manchester City's FFP penalty | Fun With Balls and squash. Boxing business heavyweights Lou DiBella, Joe Markowski, and Stephen Espinoza were joined by FuboTV Chief Strategy Officer for a spiky panel on the state of the boxing industry at the Leaders Sport Business Summit in New York in May (conversation starts at 13:56). Harvard law graduate DiBella spent 11 years building HBO into America’s go-to boxing platform before becoming an independent boxing promoter in his own right with DiBella Entertainment in 2000. Espinoza is President of Showtime Sports. He began his career while still at law school working for renowned sports agent Leigh Steinberg. He represented Oscar de la Hoya and Mike Tyson before becoming lead counsel for Golden Boy Promotions. Since joining Showtime in 2011, Espinoza has delivered the three highest grossing pay-per-view events in TV history : Mayweather Canelo in 2013; Mayweather Pacquiao in 2015; and Mayweather McGregor in 2017. Markowski is EVP of North America for DAZN. He led the pure-play sports streaming service’s Japan business before moving to the US in 2018 to do similar in North America. In the US, DAZN has high profile agreements with Matchroom Boxing, Canelo, and Gennadiy Golovkin and has moved into the boxing market with a subscription model and a pugnacious advertising campaign declaring that pay-per-view is dead. On the agenda: - Is pay-par-view dead? - What is DAZN's boxing model in the US and can it work? - The general health of boxing in the US; - Wilder vs Joshua and how it might work;    

Changing a culture at British Cycling | The Premier League's new £2bn, six-year Scandinavian deal | A new buzz around Wimbledon's sustainability plans. British Cycling CEO Julie Harrington is the guest on episode 69 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast (interview starts at 8:28). Harrington joined British Cycling in May 2017, replacing Ian Drake at the helm of one of British sport's most successful National Governing Bodies, but one in need of governance reform following successive investigations into anti-doping procedure and workplace culture. Harrington took on the role having been Group Operations Director at the FA since 2011, running both Wembley Stadium and St George's Park. Prior to working for the FA, Harrington spent nine years with the Northern Racing Group as operations director. Harrington has also worked in senior marketing roles for brands such as British Airways, Whitbread, and Carlsberg-Tetley. Harrington sat down with Leaders during a break at Global Sports Week in Paris, where she was speaking on the subject of sport and urbanism. On the conversational agenda: - How Harrington has gone about building a new integrity and compliance function within British Cycling; - "Three years of flying the plane, while trying to fix the plane;" - The challenges she has encountered during the change process and her advice for other leaders with a mandate for reform; - Her route into the sports industry and why working for a brewery in sports sponsorship felt like too much like hard work; - Imposter syndrome, Gareth Southgate's killer question for Harrington on her FA recruitment panel, and her advice for how to crack an interview for a big job.