Sports Pundit Podcast Network

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 Pyramid5:00 - Applying Benchmarks to your Performance8:00 - Going from the Premier League to the National League12:00 - Are There Lessons to Take from Topshop's Digital Transformation?16:00 - Reducing Reliance on Third-party Platforms20:00 - A Groundbreaking Partnership with Movember26:00 - Launching a Newsletter and Being Transparent with Fans33:00 - Rallying Youth Participation On and Off-the-Field37:00 - Putting the Foundations in Place for a Women's Team43:00 - Aspirations for the Future of Hampton & Richmond FCAdditional LinksDonate to Hampton & Richmond FC's Movember PageEmbracing identity: What we can learn from Liquid DeathLose the excuses: Creating a winning sustainability formulaConnect with Stefano on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠Connect 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 NFL5:00 - 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 TV16:00 - Connecting with Fans of the Non-Traditional Sports 19:00 - Embracing Meta’s Launch of WhatsApp Channels24:00 - 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 tool37:00 - An opportunity for DRL events to tap into culturally relevant IP.38:00 - Vision for the future of the DRLAdditional LinksServing Fans: Why FC Barcelona Are Embracing An Overlooked Social PlatformOvertime's Playbook: Focus on 'Winning' the Group ChatThe Great Divide: The Future of Social MediaHow F1 Technology has Supercharged the WorldHow High-Speed Drone Racing could Aid Struggling Air Force RecruitmentConnect with Ari on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠here⁠⁠Connect 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 Support8:00 - 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 Soccer14:00 - Becoming 'TopGolf for Football' and Engaging with Fans and Players 17:00 - Applying Lessons from Playing Professional Football to Founding a Company20:00 - Using Technology to Close the Gap and Enhance Player Development26:00 - Dealing with Rivals and Taking Inspiration from Other Sports31:00 - Building for Athletes First - A Lesson from Will Ahmed, CEO of Whoop34:00 - Future Plans for TOCA FootballAdditional 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 - ⁠here⁠Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠here

Today’s episode I’m joined by Zarah Al Kudcy, the Commercial Director for Chelsea FC Women’s team, as well as a trustee of the Women’s Sports Trust.Having previously held commercial roles in World Rugby, ECB, and most recently, Formula 1, Zarah joined Chelsea this summer tasked with building and growing commercial revenue related to the women’s team through sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality, and digital content.Time Stamps: 1:00 - NWSL Final and learning from other sporting properties2:00 - The Case for Women’s Football to be Standalone from the Men’s5:00 - Engaging with fans of Chelsea’s Men’s and Women’s Teams6:00 - The difference between International and Domestic Growth 10:00 - Balancing Coverage Between Match Reports and Lifestyle Content12:00 - Better Signposting Women’s Football 15:00 - Including Women’s Players in EA Sports FC2423:00 - Commercial Power of Female Fans and Breaking Down Women’s Football Audiences27:00 - Sponsorship Case for Investing in Women’s Sport34:00 - Not Becoming Reliant on Subsidies or Sponsors36:00 - Lessons to Learn from Men’s Sport (Football and Rugby) 38:00 - Keeping up with the Pace of Change On-and-Off the Pitch41:00 - Extending the Legacy of the Lionesses Off the Pitch 45:00 - Highlighting Female Leadership Off the Pitch with Angel City Additional Reading: In The Game: How Ultimate Team Inclusion is Driving Women’s Football Forward Female First: Kang Bets on Value of Women's Teams as Independent, Collective Assets   Perfect Stormz: Making Diversity and Inclusion in Football a lot less Merky The 'unbundling' of Women’s Football (Arsenal x Adidas x Stella McCartney) ⁠Finally, a Female Football Boot⁠ (Nike football boot launch)Connect with Zarah on LinkedIn - hereConnect with Andy on LinkedIn - here