Leaders Worth Knowing Podcast

Genius Sports MD Steven Burton on betting, data, and the future of the US sports gaming market | Women's sport in the spotlight | DAZN and the consolidation of the OTT market | Micropayments | Tech to watch | New stuff in new markets. David Cushnan and James Emmett bring you a bumper edition of the Leaders Sports Business Podcast to kick off 2019, as they identify ten key sports industry trends or topics to track across 2019. Including a extended interview with Steven Burton, MD of data and integrity technology specialists Genius Sports, who makes sense of the legislative changes enabling sports betting across the US and plots out the future for the sector across US sport, the episode analyses: - A big upcoming year for World Rugby, the IAAF, Japan, and Qatar; - The commercial and societal momentum gathering behind women's sport; - DAZN's 20-2020 vision and the shifts in the OTT sports broadcasting sector; - Micropayments and innovative rights packages; - 2019 as another step in sport's path to internationalisation; - Athlete power, Kosmos, and the Davis Cup; - Technology adoption and a big year for mobile ticketing; - Start-up events launching in 2019; - Private equity money fuelling league and federation growth.

Formula 1's new race in Vietnam | The European Super League | 10 years of the O2 for the ATP Finals | Pitch International's place in the media rights landscape | The Perform journey. David Cushnan and James Emmett have a small sit-down midway through the Leaders Sport Performance Summit to reflect on another batch of sports industry talking points, including the announcement of the first new race on the Formula 1 calendar in the Liberty Media era, some micro-analysis on the would-be European Super League in soccer, and some innovation kudos for the ATP and its twin tournaments in Milan and London. Later, Oli Slipper (interview starts at 13.53), Executive Chairman at Pitch International, discusses his decision to re-enter the fray of the day-to-day sports business. CEO of Premium TV, and then, when it merged with Inform in 2007, co-CEO of the Perform Group, Slipper stood down from his leadership role at Perform in March 2015. In September this year, Slipper joined London-based sports rights agency Pitch International as Executive Chairman, as Trevor East, long-time Chairman, stood down to take a board role. On the conversational agenda: - Why Slipper decided to come back; - His investments over the past three years; - Pitch International's scope of operation and future direction; - Milestone moments in the development of Perform, now the DAZN Group; - The media rights buying landscape and why it's bigger and broader than ever; - Sports media landscape trends.

The birth of GolfTV | the death of MP & Silva | the charm of Shahid Khan | equal pay & Facebook ups and downs in surfing | the Phil Taylor-shaped hole in darts | the future of the sports consumption experience. David Cushnan and James Emmett reflect on another fortnight of change across the global sports industry, including the launch of the Discovery-PGA Tour joint venture OTT vehicle GolfTV, the final demise of rights agency MP & Silva, and Shahid Khan's withdrawn offer to buy Wembley Stadium from the FA. Later, we hear from three CEOs with very different challenges ahead of them: Sophie Goldschmidt (starts at 14.31), the former WTA, NBA, RFU, and CSM executive who has been CEO of the World Surf League (WSL) for the past 13 months; Matt Porter (starts at 27.16), the Matchroom Sport Director who has been CEO of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) since 2008; and Miheer Walavalkar, the co-founder and CEO of LiveLike, which launched in 2015 as a VR company in sport but has evolved to provide full immersive broadcast experiences without the need for headsets. On the conversational agenda: - Making changes at the WSL: new formats, new calendar, new broadcast products, and a new, equal pay structure; - Working through live streaming technical challenges; - Ten years of globalisation at the PDC; - Why the Phil Taylor-shaped hole isn't as big as it once would have been; - The future of sports broadcasting and media consumption and why what we have today is not sustainable.    

Reflections on a monster week | the WWE's Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) | Gfinity's Garry Cook | La Liga on US games and the broadcast blackout | FIBA's Frank Leenders | Wimbledon's Mick Desmond | The Bundesliga's Robert Klein David Cushnan and James Emmett reflect on another edition of Leaders Week, tackling the talking points from a busy series of sports business events in London, before introducing a stellar line-up of backstage conversations. On the agenda: - WWE EVP of Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul Levesque (starts at 9.06) on the launch of NXT UK; his favourite Triple H storyline; the art and mechanics of storytelling; and why Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson could be headed for politics; - Gfinity Executive Chairman Garry Cook (starts at 27.35) on the launch of the ePremier League and the thinking behind the Gfinity studio set-up; - La Liga Chief Communications Officer Joris Evers (starts at 39.03) on the next steps for the league's attempt to play competitive fixtures in the US this year; and its support for its UK broadcast partner Eleven as it contravenes 3pm blackout rules; - Deltatre Chief Product Officer Carlo De Marchis (starts at 42.34) on the five things broadcasters and would-be broadcasters need to think about when going direct-to-consumer; - FIBA Media & Marketing Director General Frank Leenders (starts at 47.35) on finding the balance between building viewership and engagement through a rights holder OTT service and being competitive with broadcast partners; - Bundesliga International CEO Robert Klein (starts at 55.49) on the league's plans for the USA, China, and India; - Wimbledon Commercial & Media Director Mick Desmond (starts at 59.09) on the essence of the Wimbledon brand and what Amazon's entrance into tennis could mean for the property; - Kore Planning & Insights (KPI) President Russell Scibetti (starts at 1.04.30) on what data-driven giants like Amazon can bring to the sports ecosystem.

$100m F1 betting deal | UEFA's OTT plans | RMC Sport's OTT snag | Tim Shriver and the Special Olympics (starts at 16.23) | Mike Davis and Abu Dhabi's sporting strategy (starts at 37.56). Tim Shriver is the Chairman of the Special Olympics, a movement that exists to communicate as well as to play. The son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Shriver guided the movement into its 50th year in 2018. Recorded in Abu Dhabi during the Special Olympics Regional Games in March, Shriver sets out with typical passion and articulacy the mission of the movement, which now includes over 100,000 events per year and over five million athletes.The Special Olympics will bring its flagship event, the Global Games, to Abu Dhabi again from 14th to 21st March, 2019. Mike Davis is the Regional Director of CSM Sports & Entertainment in the Middle East and North Africa. CSM has worked closely with the local organising committee for the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi, and Davis's experience in the region stretches back across the last decade. On the agenda: - The power of the Special Olympics' message during times of fear and suspicion; - The relationship between Abu Dhabi and the Special Olympics and the expectations and objectives on both sides; - The event-hosting philosophy of the Special Olympics; - Abu Dhabi's considered and evolving sports and cultural events strategy.

As a FIFA World Cup summer segues into a UEFA Nations League autumn, FA CEO Martin Glenn sat down with Leaders CEO Jimmy Worrall for a conversation on business, leadership, organisational culture and, of course, football. (Interview begins at 13 mins 30 seconds). Glenn was appointed as CEO of English football's governing body in March 2015. He was hired away from United Biscuits, where he had been CEO, marshalling the McVitie's and Jacob's brands. Glenn made a name for himself in business in the 1990s while working for PepsiCo as he masterminded the reinvigoration of the Walkers crisps brand, lifting market share from the mid-20s to over 60% through product tweaks, organisational change, and brand transformation. He has held senior or leadership positions at Walkers, Birdseye, Cadbury, Mars, and Deloitte. His appointment to the newly created role in 2015 was seen as a little left-field, but Glenn did have a background in football too, as a board member at Leicester City and having gained a coaching badge in 2003. At the FA, Glenn oversees an organisation with varied set of responsibilities: from running all 24 England national football teams, to governance, rule-setting and policing, through to promotion and commercialisation, via the owning and running of Wembley Stadium in London. On the conversational agenda: - Glenn's mission to bring about transformation at the FA; - The unique challenges of sport's stakeholder-led organisations; - Changing things first to change perceptions second and other lessons from the business of crisps; - The challenges associated with streamlining an organisation; - The FA vision to unite the game to inspire the nation; - Pressing the reset button with the media, cap accumulation, and other tactics for building resilient tournament players; - The potential Wembley stadium sale.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred sat down with Leaders CEO Jimmy Worrall ahead in a quiet nook of the Green Room at the Leaders Sport Business Summit in New York earlier this year. Manfred, who gave one of the keynote interviews at the summit, became the league's tenth Commissioner in January 2015, replacing Bud Selig in the role having served for some time as the league's COO. A lawyer by background, Manfred joined the league in the challenging position of EVP of Labour Relations in 1987. In the midst of a period of evolution for Major League Baseball, as the league adapts to meet shifting consumer habits across the US, and puts tangible plans in place to play games in London, Manfred reflects on the personal and professional qualities needed to succeed as a leader in of one of the major leagues. On the conversational agenda: - Growing the game of baseball using live product; - Playing the politics of major league ownership dynamics; - Why and how the cable TV model will survive; - Biggest lesson, challenge, advice and mistake; In the second part of the podcast, Leaders Head of Content David Cushnan and Editor-at-Large James Emmett sit down with Cake Managing Partner Richard Gillis to discuss some of the patterns and trends identified in the inaugural edition of the Leaders Sport Business Forecast. On the agenda: 1) Rights holders are positioning themselves as tech accelerators and innovation hubs 2) The gamification of the fan experience and performance data as a fan engagement tool 3) The content universe is expanding and rights holders need to be adaptable 4) Everyone’s a content producer = everyone’s a sports marketing agency 5) New methods for understanding and interpreting engagement 6) Micropayments and the fragmentation of rights 7) Ease of purchase and sport as a sales driver 8) Content owners vs. audience aggregators 9) An era of new sports formats 10) Esports – consolidation and establishment 11) The mega events keep getting bigger 12) But the world gets smaller  

Just how transformative will Alibaba's Olympic deal turn out to be? Why is DDMC Fortis's capture of AFC rights a milestone moment in the evolution of the global sports industry? And how, exactly, can you shift your Chinese strategy from engagement to monetisation? These were a few of the questions posed to the speakers at the Leaders Sport Business Summit in Beijing on 25th July. 250 senior international executives gathered at Sina's headquarters in the 'Beijing Silicon Valley' in the north west of China's capital to discuss strategies for growing sport and sports businesses in China, and to forge some valuable connections along the way. Backstage, we spoke to a selection of the speakers to get the inside track on their activity in one of the most beguiling but challenging markets in world sport. On the podcast: - Leon Xie (9:00) – the GM of Olympic Business at Alibaba on plans to activate the biggest deal in Olympic history; Alibaba's objectives and how it intends to measure success; and whether there are other major international sponsorship deals in the pipeline; - Scott O’Neil (21:15) – the CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment on the Philadelphia 76ers upcoming two-game trip to China; and what teams can do for their own commercial ends within a tightly controlled league environment; - Yu Hang (28:28) – the Executive Director of DDMC Fortis on how the deal for all AFC commercial rights from 2021 to 2028 came about; revenue targets and execution goals; why it represents a breakthrough moment for Chinese sports business; and his thoughts on international media rights values and consolidation in the Chinese market; - Victor Cui (40:45) – the ONE Championship CEO on the series' dominance in Asia; and why a China-specific strategy is imperative for cracking the market; - Kevin Sim (52:45) – the new Head of Asia Pacific at Bundesliga International on why China is on the verge of another huge growth cycle; and how the Bundesliga is going about trying to unearth the Yao Ming of football; - Kylie Rogers (1:01:39) – the Commercial GM of the AFL on playing the long game in China; and plans to supercharge China's participation in contact sports; - Alex Kaplan (1:07:21) - the President and GM of golf for Discovery on the gigantic new deal with the PGA Tour and why Asia - and China specifically - is key to its success; - Sam Li (1:13:02) – the Head of International Business for Sina Sports on why the organisation's burgeoning offline events business is providing a valuable new revenue stream distinct from the pure advertising media model that its competitors rely on.

Don Garber has been commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999 and it’s no exaggeration to suggest he has been fundamental to the growth of soccer across the US. (Interview begins at 10 mins 30 seconds). The league is now a thriving 23-team entity, there’s a genuine and unique football fan culture in cities across the States, and the sport has been transformed into a commercial proposition of genuine heft and global significance. Leaders CEO Jimmy Worrall sat down with Garber at the league’s New York headquarters during Leaders Week in the Big Apple back in May, a few short weeks before the US, Mexico and Canada were awarded the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In this comprehensive discussion, Garber reflects on his near-20-year career guiding the league, from his qualifications – or lack thereof – to take the job in the first place, through the early days of trauma and struggle, to the vision, strategic approach and relationship-nurturing that have gone into building and cementing MLS as a genuine major sport. On the conversational agenda: - The role of a major league commissioner; - What could have been for Garber had he not moved from the NFL to MLS in 1999; - The league’s 10-team, 3-owner nadir and a dinner with ESPN’s John Skipper that proved to be the turning point; - Long-term leadership lessons and the ones he wouldn’t necessarily have abided by if he had his time again; - Why he believes the league’s USP is its young, digitally savvy staff; - Why Gary Bettman should have a statue, and the NFL should never, ever be counted out; - The deep sense of responsibility Garber feels to owners, fans and public-private stakeholders; - His secret passion for R&B music and why his first job, at a gas station, was the best one he’s ever had.

Andreas Heyden is arguably the tallest man who’s ever sat down for the Leaders Podcast. Truly a giant of the digital world, Heyden is CEO of DFL Digital Sports, the digital arm of the Bundesliga and the 36 clubs that make up the top two divisions of German soccer. Founded in 2015, DFL Digital Sports is one of three daughter companies operating under the aegis of the DFL – the Deutsche Fussball Liga. Sitting alongside production company Sportcast and Bundesliga International, DFL Digital Sports is one of the key in-house entities that has allowed the Bundesliga to control almost every aspect of the German league football value chain. A team of some 70 people now – mainly based in Cologne – the primary function of the organization is to support the Bundesliga’s domestic and international rights tender processes with bespoke products, and all manner of digital bells and whistles. Having spent 20 years in digital with the likes of I-D Media, Microsoft and German broadcaster RTL before starting his first job in sport in 2015, Heyden, is far better equipped to explain it than me. Which is fortunate. Andreas and I grabbed a cappuccino during Leaders Week in New York last month. Earlier that morning, we’d been at a breakfast event to announce the opening of a new Bundesliga office in New York. On the conversational agenda: In-house OTT services and whether the Bundesliga is prepared to launch one How digital insight and products support the league’s ambitions to win fans and business in international territories Why accessibility might be the best weapon in the fight against piracy Disruption and why the Bundesliga is working with DAZN, Eleven and Amazon as well as helping the traditional broadcasters to disrupt themselves Generation Twitch; AR, VR and the future of the live sports viewing experience