Sports Pundit Podcast Network

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Kate Veronneau. Kate is the director of Women’s Strategy at Zwift, a multiplayer online cycling and running training program that enables users to interact, train, and compete in a virtual world.  A keen cyclist herself, Kate played an important role in bringing the Women’s Tour de France event, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, to fruition. This is an achievement which has since given her the opportunity to use her voice to advocate for parity and sing the praises of investing in women's sports, as well as to speak to the impact that technology can have in driving greater access and participation in sport more broadly. Time Stamps 5:00 - Joining Zwift and the launch of the Zwift Academy 8:00 - Creating Women’s Only Rides 10:00 - What does Community Look Like on Zwift? 14:00 - The (Positive?) Impact of COVID?  16:00 - The Creation of Virtual Events 17:00 - The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 19:00 - Having Parity across Men’s and Women’s  21:00 - The Commercial Case for Serving Women 23:00 - Making Triathlon a Stadium Sport 30:00 - An Opportunity for the Apple Vision Pro?  33:00 - Could AI Reduce the Barriers to Entry for Cycling? Additional Links How the Zwift Academy changed Neve Bradbury's life – and how to watch the 2024 finals Reddit Was Built On Legions of Fake Accounts Zwift Signs On as Title Sponsor for Tour de France Femmes Zwift report highlights positive impact of the Tour de France Femmes How the arrival of Zwift changed triathlon training forever Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift expands to new destinations in 2023 Connect with Kate on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Rory MacFadyen.  Rory is the co-founder of Reflo, a sustainable apparel brand made from recycled plastic waste and is also the chief marketing officer at the Icons Series, a team matchplay golf event featuring sporting icons such as Michael Phelps, Canelo Alvarez, and Harry Kane. In this conversation, we talk about the merging on these two lives, getting investment from England’s all-time record goalscorer, tearing up the traditional apparel business model, taking a sustainability-first approach, as well as partnering with a Extreme E team, plans to partner with a Formula E team, and to potentially one day land deals in football, cricket, and rugby. Time Stamps 2:00 - Working at the Icons Series and Meeting Harry Kane 4:00 - Expanding Beyond just Golf 9:00 - Developing a Passion for Sustainability 11:00 - 'McDonald's Makes Salads, it Doesn't Make them a Health Food Store’ 16:00 - Accounting for the Difference in Costs 19:00 - The Opportunity for Going Digital  22:00 - Moving into Teamwear  23:00 - Introducing Reloop 26:00 - Balancing Sustainability and Commerciality  30:00 - Harry Kane’s Investment into Reflo 35:00 - Could an Athlete do something Themselves in the Apparel Space? ⁠Additional Links ⁠Harry Kane deal can make our brand a behemoth The Fortnite skin that grossed $50 Million for Epic Games Roblox Launches Wimbledon World With Digital Swag From Andy Murray, Ralph Lauren Managing Sir Andy Murray, One of Britain's Greatest Ever Athletes with Matt Gentry Connect with Rory on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Mihir Kumar. Mihir is Senior Director for MLS Emerging Ventures, the in-house investment arm for Major League Soccer. Having taken up the role just over a year ago, it perfectly compliments his previous experience in finance (at BCG) and sport (at Overtime). Recently MLS Emerging Ventures announced the launch of the MLS Innovation Lab, a program designed to shape the future of sports through the identification of cutting-edge startups and advanced technologies to help develop the next generation of athletes, enhance the fan experience and drive continued growth for the League and its Clubs.  In this conversation, we talk about what spurred this innovation, the companies in the initial cohort, and the areas of interest for potential future cohorts. Time Stamps 3:00 - Mihir’s Experience Working at Overtime 5:00 - Launching the MLS Innovation Lab 8:00 - Applying Innovation Across the MLS Ecosystem 12:00 - Sourcing Investment Opportunities  13:00 - The Initial Cohort of MLS Innovation Lab 19:00 - Figuring out the ‘Moat’ and Confronting Competition  25:00 - Areas of Focus for MLS Innovation Labs’ Future Cohorts 30:00 - TOCA and Opportunities Around Live Experiences 32:00 - Could MLS Create their Own Consumer Products within Health & Wellness?  Additional Links MLS Launches Innovation Lab Startup Accelerator Program Game On: Experiential Venues Worth a Shot to Engage Fans Outside the Stadium Sweaty Equity: Why Sports Leagues are Setting up Investment Funds Chelsea FC launches new sports nutrition app called Blue Fuel PRIME Example: Rightsholders could benefit from Dodging industry incumbents Connect with Mihir on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Matt Gentry. Matt is the co-founder of 77 Sports Management, a boutique sports marketing agency which he co-founded alongside business partner Gawain Davies and British tennis legend, Sir Andy Murray.  As well as dealing with a number of young professional athletes, the company also deals with all aspects of Andy’s career, including commercial deals, formulation of brand, PR, media and management strategy - and they have even overseen 50+ seed investments - including a notable investment in Castore - a company recently valued at more than £900m. Matt first started working with Andy while at talent agency, 19 - where he also managed individual talent and media strategy, which included work with Lewis Hamilton and David Beckham - who he coincidently will be joining up with again in his next career move... Time Stamps 2:00 - Starting 77 Sports Management with Andy Murray  7:00 - Leaving Money on the Table and Being Value-Driven  11:00 - Getting Involved in Early-Stage Investing and THAT Castore Deal  13:00 - Getting Educated on Investing 18:00 - Finding the Right Balance Between Sponsorship and Investing  20:00 - Why Sponsorship Benefits Go Beyond Monetary Value  22:00 - Managing the Different Phases of an Andy’s Career 24:00 - Setting up Andy Post-Playing Career  26:00 - Investing into the Hexagon Cup and the Rise of Padel  29:00 - The Other Sport that Andy would be Interested in Investing In 👀 31:00 - Matt’s Next Career Move - Being Reunited with David Beckham, alongside other talent at Authentic Brands Group  Additional Links  77 Sports Management Andy Murray leaves Under Armour, will end career wearing Castore outfits Podcast: How Castore built a billion dollar British sportswear brand - Business of Sport  Podcast: Meet The Man Behind Conor McGregor’s +$650M Empire - My First Million  Tennis Star Andy Murray Launches Padel Team Book: A List Angels by Zack O'Malley Greenburg    Connect with Matt on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Julia Wall Clarke. Julia is the current Head of Communications for the Hexagon Cup, a new, innovative padel tournament, which aims to transform the sport by bringing a new approach - an approach which is brought over by a senior leadership team that has also been behind the likes of Formula E, Extreme E, and the E1 Series. It was at Extreme E that Julia first started working with this team as a Communications Manager, before quickly scaling the ranks to be Head of Communications and then Head of Impact and Communications. Prior to this, she'd already gathered a wealth of experience in communications across a wide range of sports properties including Arsenal, Tennis Australia, Wimbledon, and Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.  We start this conversation by diving into the Hexagon Cup, which now, at time of release is only one week away (31st January), before diving into some of those lessons from throughout Julia’s career so far. Time Stamps 2:00 - Introduction to The Hexagon Cup  5:00 - Taking Lessons from Formula E and Extreme E 8:00 - Injecting Sport with Purpose 12:00 - Embracing Celebrity Ownership  15:00 - The Significance of Choosing the ‘Right’ Broadcast Partners 19:00 - Taking Investment from DMG Ventures  23:00 - Retaining Authenticity While Innovating  25:00 - Applying Key Communication Skills Across Different Rightsholders   28:00 - The Difference Between Working for an Established vs Challenger League 36:00 - Applying Julia’s Career Lessons to Women’s Football Additional Links Book Tickets - Hexagon Cup, Madrid (31 Jan - 4 Feb) DMG Ventures announces investment in €1M team padel tournament Hexagon Cup ITV to Broadcast the First ever Hexagon Cup Event as Tournament Chiefs Hail the Groundbreaking Deal for the Sport  Lon-Glorious Addition: Hollywood Actress Provides Hexagon Cup Another Dimension Video: Start With Why - How Great Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek Connect with Julia on LinkedIn - here Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Leanne Bats. Leanne is President of The RugbyDAO and also holds the title of Head of Web3 at New Zealand Rugby, where she has been an advisor since 2019. She has also done work for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and consults in the women’s sport area with READY Sport. Not to mention she has also founded the internet's coolest climate action corporation, Tres Cool. In this discussion, we talk about her early involvement in sport and the important role that community has played throughout her playing days and into her professional career – as well as her transition into, and fascination with, Web3 and digital innovation more broadly. Time Stamps 1:00 – Growing up Sport-Mad 5:00 – Community as a Common Thread 6:00 – Taking Inspiration from the Bored Ape Yacht Club 13:00 – Implementing Innovation, and Web3, within an Organisation 16:00 – Launching an NFT Campaign with NZ Rugby and World of Women 28:00 – Attitude Towards the Term Web3 30:00 – Online will become ‘On Chain’ 38:00 – Introducing RugbyDAO 48:00 – Democratising Creativity with AI Additional Links All Blacks' Performance Labs New Zealand Rugby Takes First Step into the Metaverse Pioneering the Future of Rugby with Emerging Tech Video: How an NFT Book Can Fight Climate Change - Web3 Academy Connect with Leanne on LinkedIn - ⁠here⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Jo Redfern. In September, Jo became Wind Sun Sky’s first-ever managing director of kids. Before joining the Vancouver-based animation studio, Jo was global head of brand at 24 Watts, leading content strategy and expanding the studio’s Cozmo & Friends property into an animated series for YouTube and into a Roblox game.  Prior to that, she was head of brand at BBC Children’s & Education for eight years, overseeing live events, consumer product launches and opening a CBeebiesLand Theme Park and Hotel in 2017. She has also served in marketing and media consultant roles at companies such as WWE and Disney Branded Television. Like in these consultancy roles, this conversation aims to apply her vast experience in kids content over to the world of sport & entertainment - leading to a ton of fresh ideas you may not have thought about before... Time Stamps 1:30 - Why Should Sport Create Content that Resonates with Kids? 4:00 - Monetising kids Content 7:00 - What is Roblox? 10:00 - Branded Experiences on Roblox 15:00 - Why are Kids Platform Agnostic? And Why Does it Matter? 18:00 - Repackaging IP 25:00 - Personalisation of Content (Thanks to AI) 30:00 - Creating A New Sport like ‘Blade Ball’ 37:00 - The YouTuber Approach to Monetisation 40:00 - Removing the Distribution Barrier 45:00 - Using Content to Educate Kids and Change Behaviour Additional Links Jo's Kids Media Club Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Evan Shapiro's Substack - Media War & Peace Zoe Scaman's Substack - Musings of a Wandering Mind Mean Girls reposts entire movie to TikTok Is TikTok the Future of Television? Why Should New IP Launch on Roblox? Connect with Jo on LinkedIn - here Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - here

Today's episode, I'm joined by Stefano Petruzzo. Stefano is the Principal Owner of Hampton & Richmond FC, an English football club based in South West London and competing in the 6th tier of English football.   Stefano and his brother and business partner on this venture, Rafa, recently celebrated their first anniversary of ownership of the club, having initial conceived the idea whilst working together at the Arcadia Group as Chief Strategy and Chief Digital Officers respectively.  Stefano also spent 6 years as Strategy Director for Liverpool FC, contributing to their journey back to challenging at the top of the Premier League and for the highest European honours.  It’s an incredibly unique journey, and while the internet signal was in places a little lacking, the insights from Stefano more than make up for it. Time Stamps: 2:00 - Investment Interest in the English Football Pyramid 5:00 - Applying Benchmarks to your Performance 8:00 - Going from the Premier League to the National League 12:00 - Are There Lessons to Take from Topshop's Digital Transformation? 16:00 - Reducing Reliance on Third-party Platforms 20:00 - A Groundbreaking Partnership with Movember 26:00 - Launching a Newsletter and Being Transparent with Fans 33:00 - Rallying Youth Participation On and Off-the-Field 37:00 - Putting the Foundations in Place for a Women's Team 43:00 - Aspirations for the Future of Hampton & Richmond FC Additional Links Donate to Hampton & Richmond FC's Movember Page Embracing identity: What we can learn from Liquid Death Lose the excuses: Creating a winning sustainability formula Connect with Stefano on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Ari Mark, the Senior VP, Head of Partnership Development at The Drone Racing League.  Mark joined the DRL from the NFL, where he led corporate partnership sales for the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium. Before that, Ari spent eight years in global business development for the NBA, securing sponsorships across the NBA, WNBA, G League, USA Basketball, and NBA 2K League. Over the last several years, Ari built a legacy for developing new, groundbreaking programs, including the creation of the DRL’s largest ever partnership with Algorand, the leading high-performance blockchain platform as well as launching DRL Labs, an innovation hub to research and develop next generation drone technology with Dragan Fly.  The league is flying high *pun intended* as the world’s premier, professional drone racing property and in the process is creating a new era of sports that brings high-speed competition in real life and digitally. Time Stamps: 3:00 - Taking Lessons from the NBA and NFL 5:00 - The DRL as an Innovation Hub and Accelerator of Technology  10:00 - Tapping into Alternative Budgets  11:00 - Solving Problems for Partners and Tapping Partners to Solve Problems  13:00 - Engaging with Fans Away from Broadcast TV 16:00 - Connecting with Fans of the Non-Traditional Sports  19:00 - Embracing Meta’s Launch of WhatsApp Channels 24:00 - Evolving the DRL from Season to Season  27:00 - Deciding on where to Race  29:00 - Tapping into Athlete Appeal of the DRL Pilots  32:00 - Esports as a talent funnel and engagement tool 37:00 - An opportunity for DRL events to tap into culturally relevant IP. 38:00 - Vision for the future of the DRL Additional Links Serving Fans: Why FC Barcelona Are Embracing An Overlooked Social Platform Overtime's Playbook: Focus on 'Winning' the Group Chat The Great Divide: The Future of Social Media How F1 Technology has Supercharged the World How High-Speed Drone Racing could Aid Struggling Air Force Recruitment Connect with Ari on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠here

Today’s episode I’m joined by Eddie Lewis. Eddie was an American soccer player and is now the CEO and Founder of TOCA Football.  During his 14 year tenure as a professional player, he spent much of his time in the US and UK, playing for the likes of San Jose Clash, Preston North End, Leeds United, and LA Galaxy - where he played alongside David Beckham. Since finishing his playing career, Lewis has remained in football, founding TOCA, a training technology company that is used in both elite training centres as well as within TOCA Social, entertainment venues that tap into the trend competitive socialisation, which is best encapsulated by the likes of TopGolf and more recently, F1 Arcade. Time Stamps: 2:00 - Visiting TOCA Social at the O2 in London 3:00 - Expanding the Experiential Venue Concept into the U.S. 5:00 - The Growth of Women's Soccer and How TOCA can Support 8:00 - The Impact of Beckham and Messi and Forecasting the Growth of Soccer in the U.S. 10:00 - Taking Investment in TOCA from Major League Soccer 14:00 - Becoming 'TopGolf for Football' and Engaging with Fans and Players 17:00 - Applying Lessons from Playing Professional Football to Founding a Company 20:00 - Using Technology to Close the Gap and Enhance Player Development 26:00 - Dealing with Rivals and Taking Inspiration from Other Sports 31:00 - Building for Athletes First - A Lesson from Will Ahmed, CEO of Whoop 34:00 - Future Plans for TOCA Football Additional Reading: Game On: Experiential Venues Worth a Shot to Engage Fans Outside the Stadium Driving Engagement: F1 Arcade Opens First US-Based Venue Digital Revolut-ion: Why it's Important That WeWork On and Offline Sweaty Equity: Why Sports Leagues are Setting Up Investment Funds Diary of a CEO Podcast with Whoop CEO, Will Ahmed - How I Built A $3.6 BILLION Company & BEAT Apple!  Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn - ⁠here⁠ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠here