In 2023, one-day cricket enjoyed its 60th birthday.

David Tossell has written a book on the evolution of the format. He describes those early days as “nicely naïve”. But, at the same time, they were the foundation for every major innovation in cricket ever since.

These days, the 50-over game is under an existential threat due to the rise of T20. Can it survive, is it worth saving and what would be its legacy?

We discussed all this and more on this episode of Sports Content Strategy

Topics

Why one-day cricket first started? Its early evolution

The formative years of the Gillette Cup

The influence of television on the growth of the game

The cultural importance of the Sunday League

The way it has changed the game’s tactics

The importance of Pakistan and India’s World Cup victories

The game that led to the Duckworth Lewis

Decline and the need for T20

How T20 has affected 50 over cricket

Where the 50-over game fits into the future of cricket

The legacy of one-day cricket

Ricardo Fort has led the sponsorship strategy for brands at World Cups and Olympics.

After a long, successful career with the likes of Coca-Cola and Visa, he has set up his own consulting firm. In this podcast, Ricardo gives straight answers to key questions in sports sponsorship and outlines how content fits in. This is a sophisticated 101 for anyone interested in working in the commercial department at a major sports organisation.

Is sponsorship just about "hanging out with the cool kids"

Does there always have to be a positive financial return?

"The brands want to be relevant, most brands are irrelevant in the lives of people"

Are brand sponsorship decisions emotional?

The best sports sponsorship deal he did at Coca-Cola - The case study of the FIFA World Cup trophy tour

Measurable and immeasurable benefits

What are the Key KPIs and the less important metrics for sponsors?

How can brands be sure about the impact of a sponsorship?

Sponsoring a tournament or event as opposed to a team. What are the differences?

Moving from badging and advertisement to 'clever content'

The value of creating a content strategy that stands out

The comparison between NFL and European football in accommodating sponsors

In NFL, the owner gets the trophy before the players - what does that tell us?

Why the fans police any over-commercialisation in Europe

"All sponsors say they want data, but very few know what to do it."

How can you make a partnership scandal-proof?

How to do your due diligence and protect against future problems

The fans' voice in sponsorship

Sponsorship in gaming and the Alex Hunter deal

Alison Kervin is a pioneer in women's sports journalism. She was the first female editor of Rugby World and the first female sports editor of a UK national newspaper. Kervin's eight-year spell at the Mail on Sunday has just come to a close so he has started up a media agency for athletes. Oh, and she is a successful novelist too.

If she was editing this piece, undoubtedly 'the line' would centre on her gender-based breakthroughs. After all, that is why she was awarded an OBE. But Kervin's spell at the Mail has coincided with huge disruption in the newspaper industry, sparked by digital transformation. She reveals the skills and knowledge she has had to acquire for the 'new' media age and the core abilities every storyteller still requires.

TOPICS

Writing a sports reporting book back in the 1990s

What has changed and not changed in sport reporting

The skill of a sports writer. Does it garner respect?

The feature writer's evolution. What worked and what did not for her.

Coping with the management of athletes in modern sport

What qualities meant it was she who made the key breakthroughs as a female sports journalist

Did the door slam behind her?

Is the lack of female sports journalists down to confidence?

The growth of digital in newspapers since she took over at the Mail on Sunday sports editor in 2013

Concerns of speed being much more important than quality in the digital age

The problem of SEO-based 'churnalism' driven by clicks

The shortening of feedback loops

The difficulty of shareability

How does Alison measure the success of female sports journalism these days?

Writing novels under the pen name of Bernice Bloom - mimicking the box-set mentality

Starting a media agency - knowing what a journalist would want

* This episode of Sports Content Strategy is brought to you by the Digital Marketing & Analytics for Sports Professionals - Your road to digital excellence in sports. Online course starts August 31

The use of data in the analysis of sporting performance is well-known but not yet universally employed.

Many teams say they are going all ‘Moneyball’ but few truly follow it through. Often, decision-making is still emotional, made without evidence and based on the eye rather than the numbers.

Poker has become viewed as a Petri-dish for strategic thinking based on probability which, if applied correctly, can provide long-term success.

Dan Weston is a former professional gambler and poker player. He was also one of the UK’s top slot-machine players in his young days.

Now, he is applying his shrewd statistical knowledge to cricket as recruitment analyst of Leicestershire CC and the Birmingham Phoenix. 

In this podcast, he discusses his career, his current work and the move towards game theory. 

TOPICS

His role at Leicestershire 

Dan’s Table of Justice

Using poker as a ‘thinking process’

The trend for ex-pro gamblers to run Premier League football clubs… and run them well

“Poker is a long-term skill game but short-term luck game.’

Proving the case for giving him a role at a cricket club

How his content helped this process

Taking the emotion out of decision-making

The importance of accountability 

The myth of ‘the eye’

How to build a squad

Dealing with Drafts

Why fans and the media need to fully understand an evidence-based strategy

LINKS

Sarim Akhtar's face has become synonymous with anger but he is actually a very happy chap.

However, when the television cameras momentarily caught his expression at a cricket match two years ago, the Pakistan fan was furious after his team had dropped a catch. Within hours, the anonymous meme-makers had pounced on the picture and spread it around social media. He has been 'Insta-famous' ever since.

How should you react in this situation? Ignore it, embrace it or just make as much cash as you can? Then there is your family and work colleagues. And what about those occasions when you become the face of something you know nothing about.

Then there is the real question at the heart of the matter - as the subject of a sports meme does Sarim have any idea why his one happened to capture the world's imagination.

Topics

How the meme happened

Why he was actually suppressing anger

When the meme really took off

Getting thousands of Facebook requests overnight and why he got scared at first

"My meme is not an awkward moment so perhaps I can embrace it more than some."

He has never made a meme and was not a social media person

The versions of the meme he has enjoyed the most

What people say when they contact him

The person who wanted permission to put his face on their credit card

Making money - a Coca-cola ad in Pakistan and why he has got more advertisements

The promo for the Pakistan Cricket Board

His family's reaction

What happened on the two-year anniversary of the meme

Did it sum up the moment for Pakistan cricket

Will he ever get tired of it?

Has he ever thought why it happened to him?

Is he happy it happened?

[Click out all the content from MrRichardClarke here]

Contrary to popular belief, the New York Cosmos are still alive.

Gone are the glitter-strewn days of the late 1970s when Pele played on the pitch, Mick Jagger watched from the packed stands and then, afterwards, they partied together at Studio 54. The old North American Soccer League soon crumbled under the weight of its own excess. However, its leading team gained an enduring legend.

I spoke to official club historian David Kilpatrick about the incredible origin story of the Cosmos, its brief spell in the limelight, its troublesome rebirth and how, just maybe, there may be a route back to centre stage.

TOPICS

The genesis of the Cosmos - Atlantic Records, two Turkish brothers, Gotham Soccer Club and the New York Generals

The impact of the 1966 and 1970 World Cups

Cosmos is short for Cosmopolitan like NY Mets is short for Metropolitan

Chasing Pele - "George Best did not turn up and Henry Kissinger helped"

Adding Carlos Alberto, Giorgio Chinaglia

New York in the late 1970s - financial problems, the 'Son of Sam' murders and the need for glamour

The power of Chinaglia at the Cosmos

The retirement of Pele

The global tour - Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia London - and the tax dodge that helped

Why the Cosmos became the first US soccer brand

Warner's problems, a failed video game for ET - Extra-terrestrial and the sale of the club

"I'm with the Cosmos" - the phrase that got you into Studio 54

The reboot for the NY Cosmos after the documentary "Once in a Lifetime"

Why they did not join MLS

"The most successful franchises in MLS are those who have embraced their NASL history."

Did the Cosmos win battles for the ‘soccer family’ in the US?

The influence of the Cosmos in the early American World Cup squads

Steve Hunt - seven games for Villa, sold to the Cosmos, played with Pele, went back to the English top flight. Does this prove the standard of the NASL?

The problem of TV ratings in NASL back then and MLS now

The pro/rel issue and the Cosmos

Can global leagues create a route back for the Cosmos?

Why the introduction of New York City FC hurt the new version of the Cosmos

What is the future of the club?

The legal case to try and align North American soccer with global football

Is there still a fanbase out there for the New York Cosmos?

Rob Moody runs a YouTube channel with over 900,000 subscribers and holds an important influence over the agenda in his sport but he has never made a penny.

If you are a cricket fan with access to the internet, it is highly likely you have seen one of his videos. Robelinda2 is the ‘go to’ channel for the rare, unusual or controversial moments in the game. His archive has received over a billion views in its 10-year existence by curating niche cricketing content that is appetising to fans and acceptable to rights-holders.

His one-man mission has been so successful that, these days, major players and executives offer their support whenever he suffers a copyright strike.

Moody will say there is no strategy behind his channel, I disagree. His ideas are perfect for his niche, he looks at metrics and experiments constantly. One recent change saw a 10-year-old video move from 170 views to 80,000 in just 48 hours. However, the Australian expects his channel to be shut down soon. 

This is an unusual digisport success story. Yet, there are many lessons to be learned.

TOPICS

His unhappiness at conventional cricket highlight edits

Curation – why produce a 32-minute video of all Glenn McGrath’s boundaries

The long list of requests and how he handles them

His stats since lockdown - 200k increase in subscribers, 249m views in 12 months

The Steve Waugh run-out video and how Shane Warne got involved

The value of heritage content and why it is not considered by many channels

Ignoring all good practice in YouTube channel-building - apart from the headlines

How changing the title of a 10-year video saw it go from 170 views to 80,000 in two days 

“I have pushed the envelope and been as offensive as I can possibly be just to see what would happen”

Does the flak affect him? 

Catering for older cricket fans

Why his channel is living on borrowed time

His process for dealing with takedown notices

Have the broadcasters tried to learn from Robelinda2? (The answer is only once and only briefly)

Pushing against the norms of YouTube

Content strategy, the cookie apocalypse and other disasters

Like a great drummer, a sports content strategy should be tight and consistent but happy to improvise when required.

Many content leaders have been caught out by changes in Facebook's algorithms over the years and, in recent months, Google and Apple have introduced fundamental alterations that will have knock-on effects for almost everyone in the digital space, not just the sports industry.

Recently, a blog by Johan Junker entitled the Cookie Apocalypse caught my eye. He is a deep thinker on content, sports business and the future. His company, Antourage are trying to solve some of the issues. But there are plenty more to discuss.

This is a long theoretical discussion and we don't have all the answers. In fact, we are just trying to see if our questions are in the right areas.

TOPICS

The main weakness in sports content strategy right now

Why OTT platforms only worry about dwell time

Our brains are not built to have more than 200 relationships in real life so how can we have a relationship with 10,000 brands?

The 'Cookie Apocalypse' blog

Losing the obsession with big numbers

Why the sports industry is old-fashioned in harnessing the power of personality

The advantage of a robot posting content - because it is talking to a robot initially. This allows you to reallocate 75 per cent of your content staff to jobs that matter

Get the human content team to craft emotional stories

Why sports marketing will change fundamentally in 2022

Why credibility will be crucial for personalities and influencers going forward

Are sports rights-holders REALLY struggling for compelling content

Definitions of ambassadors and the role they can perform

Quality v speed (and what is quality anyway)?

Share value vs pushing your product

The opportunity created by the pandemic - where are you going to invest your time?

Being the mayor of your village

Johan's recommended products

TOPICS

What has changed in the last three years?

The first book coincided with the introduction of GDPR? Looking back how has that rolled out?

The differing approaches of sports organisations to GDPR, particularly Manchester United

Why you should never take anyone out of your database? The importance of the win-back plan

What has developed over the last 10 years?

The move against personalisation, and why Fiona disagrees

Adding in psychological info and the problems with Net Promoter Score 

The concept of “Jobs To Be Done” 

Talking about the R in CRM

The importance of marketing to young fans and the restrictions around the world

Marketing in different countries  

The inclusion of social media in your CRM ecosystem. The problem of scraping data

The ambitions of big and small clubs. The difference in framing

“Technology is not a silver bullet” - The 80:20 split. Spending 80 per cent of your resources on the people

The next three years in CRM

TOPICS

Why digital is the second industrial revolution

Why control of the customer relationship is crucial

The battleground that has been lost to the social media companies by sports

Putting 'goodwill on the balance sheet'

The role content plays in your strategy

The current sports commercial model - ad-hoc and unstrategic

"Sponsorship will become cashless. Partnerships will be partnerships"

Comparing the average of season ticket holders in different sports around the world

The importance of reengaging with communities post-Covid

The purpose-driven approach behind brand

The reaction to Covid and how it will be led by price or quality

What specifically is being pushed forward because of Covid

The importance of a clear communications strategy

Why the future belongs to "marketers and value creators not salesmen"

The widening split between rich sports and poor sports

The development of "football groups" is a relatively recent and controversial phenomenon. The pioneer has been City Football Group, which started with the acquisition of Manchester City and has since bought significant stakes in clubs in the United States, Australia, India, Japan, Spain, Uruguay, China, Belgium and France.

The Red Bull group has been constructed a different way, with the energy drink company taking over teams in Salzburg, New York, Brazil, Ghana and, most controversially, Leipzig between 2005 and 2010 after earlier forays into F1 and extreme sports.

Both groups have been criticised for throwing money at footballing success but the Red Bull clubs are often dismissed as a marketing exercise and labelled with one of the most damning words in the supporters’ lexicon - plastic.

Last year, Karan Tejwani published Wings of Change: How the World’s Biggest Energy Drink Manufacturer Made a Mark in Football. In this podcast, we discuss the business the meaning and the lessons behind Red Bull’s football story.

TOPICS

Why did they get into football?

After going with his local club Salzburg, why did Dietrich Mateschitz expand to New York, Brazil, Ghana and Leipzig?

The marketing link in India and Goa

Is it just about selling drinks?

Why are they so criticised?

The particular criticism of RB Leipzig - the name and the ownership structure

Why the German fans have maintained a special intensity around RB Leipzig

How have RB Leipzig grown off the pitch and are they popular in Saxony?

Are the East German roots of RB Leipzig are a factor too?

The importance of Ralf Rangnick to the RB Leipzig story?

His three Cs - Capital, Concept and Competence

Getting success in taking players out of Africa

The common philosophy across all the clubs on the pitch

Are RB Leipzig the No1 and the others just feeder clubs?

Their reaction to the criticism

The comparisons to Man City and City Football Group

Is there a difference with other brands backing clubs? Fiat and Juventus, Phillips and PSV, VW and Wolfsburg etc?

Does their lack of history allow a culture of speedy innovation?

Would and should RB Leipzig get into a remodelled European Super League if it were to be introduced?

Why have they not moved into SE Asia?

Are the Red Bull group inspired others?

Have all these football acquisitions actually grown the Red Bull brand?

What would the reaction be in German football if RB Leipzig won the Champions League?

How he ended up in the J.League and Vissel Kobe

The international development role at FC Koln  

The difference in communications requirements between Germany and Japan

The need to actively pitch stories in the J.League

The dominance of newspapers in the sports media market in Japan

The media requirements in the J.League and the organisation of the communications/media department at Vissel

How Vissel Kobe handled the signing of Andreas Iniesta 

The strategy that links with parent company Rakuten 

Their relative strengths on social media - most-followed J.League club on Instagram and previously top on YouTube

The international players’ influence on the club’s social media growth 

How they use Viber internally and externally

The J.League’s plan to become the leading league in Asia

The influence of the DAZN deal on J.League clubs

Vissel Kobe’s first foray in the AFC Champions League - starting well, Covid, one team pulling out of the group, pandemic protection 

Covid’s effects on the J.League as a whole
Lukas Podolski - Poldi’s Noise and how he turned it into a media brand, being “Farmer Smart”, using humour to help the team and charitable causes

Why the respectful approach of the media comes from the culture in the country 

Where does the J.League need to strengthen in the next five years?

Alex Phillips does not look or sound like a revolutionary but his ideas could shake up football.

He spent 15 years at Uefa, including a couple as Head of Compliance and Governance. He was seconded to the Asian Football Confederation for three years and now leads the World Football Remission Fund, a FIFA body administrating how money "stolen from the game" should be returned for its overall benefit.

Phillips has been described as "the most influential football administrator you have never heard of". Certainly, he has an analytical eye and passion for reform.

In this podcast, we discuss good governance, the ramifications of the failed Super League project, educating owners and fans, setting examples and, of course, content

TOPICS

His views on the Super League between its collapse and now - "a great fragmentation"

Uefa's mistake of not making co-efficient qualification 'a red line'

Having the same people governing conflicting tasks

Why regulatory bodies are "not up to the job"

Linking financial control to regulation and its inherent problems

Not restricting finances but restricting player numbers instead

Changing payers and coach's behaviour

Using broadcasters to educate players and fans

"Leadership time is often spent chasing money rather than on sporting issues"

How to change a football reputation - the example of German refereeing

The differing concepts of "cheating"

The values of football's myths and stories. And why owners need to be educated

How television does football's marketing job

The challenge to retain younger audiences whose frame of reference is different

The concept of scarcity in creating sporting interest - 'hats off to the Champions League?"

Working properly with partners and sponsors to grow a sport

Alex's three recommendations to grow football

The two golden eras of British speedway - immediately post-war and 60/70s

How Wembley drew more than 1m speedway spectators in 1956

The downward spiral since the 1980s - from over 90,000 watching Bruce Penhall at Wembley in 1982 to just over 1,000 at top-flight meets

The origin story of speedway. High Beech in 1928

The World of Sport days and the significance of its loss. Being late to "live sports"

The comparison to snooker and darts in the UK

The importance of an entrepreneurial influence

The dislocation of speedway teams because promoters do not own their tracks

The working-class nature of speedway. The crossover with greyhound racing

"It's a £10 sport" and does that work anymore? Is it possible to monetise it in the way of modern sports business

The new speedway venue in Manchester

Why successful speedway teams like Workington went under as well as less successful clubs

Attracting sponsors, especially when you are outside big cities

The ageing demographics of modern speedway

The movement of club and riders 'doubling up' affecting the identity in the fanbase

The famous stat that speedway was the second most popular spectator sport in the UK

The demise in the number of teams

The TV deals in the UK - Sky, BT, Eurosport

Newspaper coverage. Only the Daily Star is still flying the flag

The European Grand Prix How the Cardiff event manages to cut-through with an attendance of 40,000

The growth of the sport in Europe, especially Poland

Should UK speedway become a polish feeder league?

What would Roddy do to carve a future for UK speedway?

Trends of 2020 - "clubs have 'thought beyond the norm' and I don't think it will go back"

The 'two extremes' from Covid - the need for fans to support them v the need for money from sponsors

What activities created by the Covid crisis will persist after the virus is beaten

Getting by giving - the authenticity of the Marcus Rashford story

The way clubs talk to their fans - the problem of 'closing the reality gap'

The psychological move of sports social media after Covid-19 hit

The movement of the social media platforms over the last year - why Mario got it wrong on Instagram and TikTok is "an ocean of content"

Facebook's problems, its legal issues and the effects on sports clubs

The political dimension to curbing the social media platforms

The problem with fake social media advertising metrics. The lack of transparancy

The one country trying to license valid social media metrics

How Mario has investigated the problem

The problem of the Nielsen approach and CPM as an estimate

Why a European Super League will happen and World Cups will be staged every two years

The importance of CSR and being fancentric

The risk of clubs going all-out for promotion

The assumption that fans will come back automatically

Rich Luker's '2% solution'

Marketers letting go of big numbers of engagement and concentrating on real numbers

Mario's tips for running club accounts in 2021

TOPICS

"In 1988 there was absolutely no systematic research on sports fans in the US"

Why sport fandom was linked with the economy and wealth until 2010

"If you go to your first baseball game before you are five you go to 58% more games per year than if you go to your first game at 14."

The problems of seasonality, looking only at one sport, studying it 'all the way'

Starting ESPN Sports Poll and then buying it out

Measuring free time and the effects of Covid-19

The drastic challenges facing the sports industry before the pandemic

Studying two paradigm shifts in his research

the changing nature of sports media consumption

the invention of the smartphone taking the internet 'off the desk'

Why 2026 was set to be THE critical year as every new adult would now grow up with smartphones

Why these fans will not 'come back' at 35 because they were never there in the first place

The growth of post-war PE in the US and how 'making it fun' created sports

"That was the only real investment in sports fans"

The importance of the bonding experience with your parents (mainly Dad)

Why tattoos are a 'canary in the coalmine' for sports stories

Why no-one is paying attention to community in sports but the lack of it is the biggest threat?

CRM in sports is just 'transactional and transitional'

The lack of research into young children's preferences

"The biggest change is change itself... everything is fluid. Being a human being is the only thing that is constant"

Asking the sports team owners "what they sell?"

Comparing esports with the poker phenomenon

The Luker plan for sports post Covid - community, young fans, revolutionising the gamecast and bringing sports to the fans

Who is the instigator of community?

Signs of hope and worry - finding sports' Anthony Fauci.

TOPICS

After 24 years as a soccer journalist in the US, does Grant feel like a pioneer?

Convincing editors to cover soccer in the US

The importance of the World Cup 2010 'breaking through' in the US

His book on David Beckham’s time at the LA Galaxy and becoming the first soccer title to reach the NYT Bestseller’s list

His writing course at Princeton - John McPhee and David Remnick

Structuring stories and writing in different styles

Sports Illustrated's style of magazine journalism

Running for the presidency of FIFA

MLS - "They should be proud as to how far they have come"

The big, thorny television issue

Where does MLS fit in the growth of the US men's national team? The Landon Donovan example

How it has changed with Gio Reyna, Christian Pulisic

The damage of missing the World Cup

The boost of the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada

The US women's national team - their popularity and their legal claim for equal pay

Why a women's league has not yet worked in the US

The opportunity to become the best women's league in the world

The expansion of European football into the US, the legal case

The leagues below MLS - their strength and expansion plans

TOPICS

Reflections on the FIBA World Cup and how content led their growth strategy

The breadth of FIBA events throughout the year

Publishing 2000 games on their YouTube channel each year

The organisation of the content team

Defining the content strategy of FIBA media

Closing the gap between media teams and broadcast partners

Working with influencers/players to mutually build their brands

FIBA's approach to multi-lingual content

The challenge of acting holistically with different internal media agencies

Balancing FIBA's OTT product with live media rights

Personalisation of OTT - where they are and where they are trying to get to in five years

The trust factor that allows sports to positively exploit data

Using 3x3 to grow the game

Where esports fits in FIBA's future

TOPICS

A crucial technological change in the printing process, allowing better pictures

The editing system he learnt and employed throughout his career

"I had no skills whatsoever". The advert I answered read: "Beginner wanted for children's comics""

Changing Tiger to an all-sports comic and increasing the features

The big picture policy

Getting the big-name celebrities involved

How The Duke of Edinburgh helped to launch Roy of the Rovers

Becoming a visible editor even signing his name under his copy

The importance of the feedback, sending in their two favourite stories

The Roy of the Rovers feedback phone-line and how it broke down

The importance of schools roadshows and get-togethers

Publicity 'stunts'

The change of tone with Roy of the Rovers, entering the off-field arena

The importance of the 'parent buy'

Trying to make Melchester your local team

The dual problem - rising television and long deadlines

The problems in football in the 1980s and how Roy Race handle them

The moral compass employed in deciding what story to cover

The shooting of Roy Race - a tale involving Sir Alf Ramsey, a 14-0 win and the noise of the crowd

Keeping the storylines fresh

Balancing up the art and the business of Roy of the Rovers

The end of Roy Race

The Scorer cartoon strip in the Mirror

The reputation of comics then and now

Would Roy Race work today? The graphic novel publication by Rebellion and the schools' involvement

Dan Dare, the Mekon and Big Daddy in the Waldorf Hotel

Will sports comics have their day again?

Barrie's legacy and how he would like to be remembered

TOPICS

The original story of the Barmy Army

The tour of Australia in 1994/95

The culture of positivity and the notion of self-policing

Hoggy’s Rules - the code of conduct

The streaker in Sri Lanka

The Barmy Army trumpeter and 'Barmy's got Talent'

The entertainment and atmosphere - how much is organic?

The tour business side of the Barmy Army

“We are part of the occasion and the economics of the game”

The criticism of the corporatisation and being against the spirit of the game

Covid and the travel industry

The difference between the many cricketing countries they visit

The charity works and the events outside the cricket

The relationship between the England team and the Barmy Army

The use of the Barmy Army as a playing tool for the team

The Fanatics (Australia) and the Bharat Army (India) - the response to the Barmy Army

How supporter groups could work to even up the power in the game

The secondary ticket market and the problems at the 2019 World Cup

Taking tours to Brazil and Argentina and beyond

His favourite song and why Mitchell Johnson's 'sh*te' bowling breaks an important rule

TOPICS

Definitions of esports and gaming

The rule of the British Esports Association - "We're a national body not a governing body"

The medal event at the Rio Olympics, helped by the UK Government

Why the IOC wants every sport to have a "gaming strategy"

The role of the game FIFA in the spread of football in the US

Passive media v active and social media

The RAF scheme to combat loneliness

The potential benefits of esports in fighting dementia

The digital disconnect and importance of treating players as athletes

Opening up career pathways in esports. The size of the industry

The diversity issues in esports and how to solve them

The possibility of women-only tournaments

The development of veterans' tournament

The effect of lockdown on esports and why it was not all upside

Is investment growing on the back of lockdown? "The UK is the black hole of esports investment"

The cost of running an esports side

The importance of getting brands involved, especially in the UK

The problem of toxicity in esports and the ways to combat it

Chester's current to-do list

The problem of planning ahead in esports

TOPICS

Putting IPL and Indian cricket in a global context

The early years of IPL and how heroes like Tendulkar and Ganguly became ‘the opponent’

How cricket start competing with entertainment such as soap opera

How the Knight Riders have developed their fans’ story - the power of brand

The early years without success and the subsequent change in CEO and captain

Changing from a white-collar to blue-collar in club ethos

The success of the first club anthem and “I am KKR”

The adventurer who is part of the team and at the forefront of their content

The Living with KKR documentary

The importance of embedding the content team with the playing team. Taking away gatekeepers

Handling individuals so they create great content but not give away secrets

The use of music and Bollywood spectaculars

Social media - why are their Facebook figures far above other IPL sides

The fans’ think tank helping the real think tank

The 12-year-old who told KKR to choose five players… and they signed four of them

The development of fan culture in IPL

The internationalisation strategy for KKR

The multi-language content and consideration of overseas fans

The content collaborations with overseas teams looking to penetrate the Indian market

Moving the IPL to the UAE this year and how it affects content

The upcoming KKR movie and the footage rules

Moving into the fiction space

Connecting the Knight Riders around the world

TOPICS

What is Transfermarkt

The importance of crowdsourced data

Why did Transfermarkt prosper when similar sites did not

Connecting the data geeks via community

The business v community service

The business model

How Transfermarkt recruit their researchers

How Transfermarkt calculate their player values

The importance of adding marketing value for major players

Obtaining the concrete information

How agents use Transfermarkt

The importance of SEO

The internationalisation of Transfermarkt

How Transfermarkt decide which markets to enter

How Transfermarkt are staffed

The transfer and rumours section

Has anyone gamed the system?

The technical infrastructure required

Did the deal with Axel Springer want to change anything

What Transfermarkt can tell us about attention spans and the obsession with data

The challenges facing netball are different to other sports. While we have seen growth in women's football, tennis and boxing in recent years, it has always occurred through the lens (or perhaps in the shadow) of established male forebears. Netball does not have this baggage. Its story, product and message can be tailored specifically toward women and girls.

Claire Nelson is CEO of Netball Scotland and the Strathclyde Sirens. Her focus is to capitalise on this advantage and carve out a unique niche for the sport north of the border. In this podcast, we discuss the key areas in which she is concentrating - sponsors, player development, marketing, messaging, media deals and, of course, content.

TOPICS

The overall landscape of netball

Adapting netball's story and building a sport and lifestyle brand

Working against established cultural habits

Why women's sport is "not a nice-to-have but makes economic sense"

How the storytelling focus changes for a 'female sport'

The untapped audience of women

The differences in the female fan - different message, spending patterns and the 'guilt factor'

Not limiting their vision to competition and 'bums on seats'. "There's sportainment and lifestyle"

The Fast Fives concept

Creating player pathways

Comparisons with women's football. "The men's game has decided to invest more into the women's game"

Moving to the Women's Super League from the 'amateurish' of environment leisure centres and into arenas

The influence of the Commonwealth Games this summer

The one thing netball most needs

TOPICS

What was the state of the OTT pre-Covid-19?

The rights gained by Eleven Sports. Starting in Belgium, Poland, Thailand and Singapore then growing

Becoming the Belgian League’s domestic broadcaster - and why its a game-changer

How does the OTT product differing in different markets? - the importance of localisation

The stability of the stream - the fundamentals

The recipe for taking on Serie C and D in Italy - serving an underserved market with a passionate fanbase that may accept a lower broadcast standard

Why it is not about the big rights all the time.

The opportunities thrown up by lockdown - the acceleration of esports, looking at other rights, behind closed doors games

The Watch Together function - why it was launched two years ago, why it has evolved, and the boost from lockdown

The tricky issue of synchronisation, the VIP function

The acceleration of digital communities because of lockdown

The piracy problem - “It’s part of the reason we left the Singapore market”

The need for broadcasters to unify on piracy.

Data - the problems on traditional llnear TV data and big advantage of OTT in this area

Amazon’s entry into the Premier League market

The way Eleven can use its data

No getting ‘bogged down’ by data

Combatting churn “is tough everywhere” - but is it different in OTT?

How and where Eleven looks outside of football

AI - how it affects production flow and the potential of OTT?

The Netflix UX/UI - I that the blue riband experience? Can this be replicated in sport

The do’s and don’t of set up an OTT channel

The terror of the last-minute crush into live events

Where is OTT going in the next 5-10 years?

TOPICS

Is this a good time to buy a football club?

Will there be a raft of sales? In what timescale?

The type of due diligence needed to buy a club

Is there more value in Europe? The creation of club groups

What about the best value in Britain? What about Scotland and Ireland?

The potential of clubs - is it just down on the historical fanbase?

The role of private equity. Kieran calls them “vultures”

Is becoming a community asset a potential business strategy for big clubs?

The value of meaning and why clubs do not invest in it enough

Why the ‘benevolent dictator’ model is the best

What are the latest accounting trends in football?

How Kieran would change football finance reporting and accountability

The value of the fit and proper person fit (now the Owner and Directors’ Test)

Getting away from the boom and bust culture and the role fans play in that process

Valuing a transfer deal

Why do intelligent business leaders make stupid decisions when they buy a club

TOPICS

How he went from being assistant manager of Worthing to head coach of the Philippines

Having Ronaldinho on his CV

The decisions you have to make if you want to be a coach but have not had a high-profile playing career

How Simon has educated himself after taking a fast-track into the practical side of coaching

Coaching a team when you do not speak their language

The difference between coaching in SE Asia and Europe

The smaller size of footballers in SE Asia and the effect on coaching and playing style

How he won the Indonesian League with Bhayangkara

Putting the league title victory with a small club into context

The infrastructure behind Indonesian teams - how teams are funded and supported

How Simon was approached to be the national team manager for Indonesia

The crazy adulation that surrounds the Indonesian national team and its manager

Why Simon knew the World Cup draw would he cost him his job

The problem of short-termism and fan pressure

Specific communications issues in the Philippines and Indonesia

The crowd trouble that flared up late in the crucial game against Malaysia

The insecurity of football in Indonesia and its effect on family life

Is success in SE Asia transferable? Will it help get jobs in other countries.

Why is Indonesia not able to transfer its talent to Europe - early football education, passports etc

The Beckham of Indonesia who is currently playing in the reserves at Lech Posnan in Poland

Two longer-term improvements the Indonesian FA could implement now

The battle between a strong league and strong national team

The strong teams in SE Asia right now

What would a World Cup in SE Asia do for the sport in that area - “It would be sold-out the minute it was announced”

The corruption in Indonesian football

Stories about the passion of Indonesian fans

TOPICS

Andrew’s background - the SXSW conference (sports and gaming)

His role as GM and Sporting Director

The financials of the 2k League and the player contracts

The great validity of 2K in esports as every on-court player is controlled by a human.

Sponsorship - is it easier to be attached to a traditional sport because of the existing franchise infrastructure and the familiarity of the sport?

The relationship between the traditional sports franchises and the esports ones

Sharing resources with a traditional sports team - psychologists, analytics teams

The environment created for esports players to excel - nutrition and physical training

The rule preventing cross-over and collaboration

The importance of storytelling around esports players

The journalistic challenge of getting engaging narratives from young people

The ESPN deal taking the 2K League on linear TV for the first time

Leveraging traditional Wizards fans into their club’s 2K franchise

Michael Jordan’s ownership of the new 2K franchise in Charlotte

The new Shanghai franchise and the opportunities it creates

The importance of having a geographical home and tournaments

The venue question. Will esports regularly fill up stadiums?

Barriers of entry for a generation that ‘won’t pay for content” - or will they?

The hockey franchise - the response to launching their own tournament

Do they make money?

The importance of the Gretzky v Ovechkin charity esports game

How the draft works

The allocation of positions in the esports draft

The mechanics of trading a player in esports

TOPICS

Introducing the Savannah Bananas, the lowest level of baseball in there US

Wearing a yellow tuxedo every day

"We are not in the baseball business, we are 1000% in the entertainment business"

Why he has no marketing budget

The all-you-can-eat deal to stop you getting "nickel and dimed"

Eliminating friction-points for the fan

Why they have no advertising and, as of February 2020, no partnerships

The decision to name the team the Savannah Bananas

Taking over from a historic baseball outfit where Babe Ruth played

Why having fun is your best business strategy and has improved home performance

The type of coach that copes with the showbiz

How does Jesse hires his staff

The concept of the director of first impressions

Can an introvert work for the Savannah Bananas?

The legend of Bill Veeck

What opposition owners and players make of the Bananas?

Why the Bananas perform better than the average team in comparison to other teams in the League

Creating the right working culture among staff

Why the staff are paid to read

The policy of hiring young and where older staff fit in

Who does Jesse consider as competitors to his shows?

Is the Savannah Banana's model transferable?

How stories are deliberately cultivated to reflect culture

Why you can only judge you marketing by shareablity?

Would learning marketing have actually hampered Jesse's ability as a marketer

What experiments have failed and at what point were they abandoned?

The concept of being 'the only'

Lessons from Walt Disney

Where he wants to take the Savannah Bananas in the future

TOPICS

What sort of sporting environment will we see after the lockdown

David's top 3 - more creativity, virtual communities, the acceptance of lower quality content

His worries for sports at non-league level

The background to MyCujoo

The opportunity in the new realities of sport in the post-Covid-19 world

How can MyCujoo assist a non-League club, leagues and federations

Monetising tools with MyCujoo

The crucial aspect of building community

Why not use YouTube or Facebook instead

The opportunity to test new sports business models

The opportunity for players

Working the federations and leagues for a centralised production approach

How the Netherlands is coping with Covid-19

Rebuilding sport in a better way, not the same way

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TOPICS

The communication principles to use in the coronavirus crisis

The differences of approach around European football

Rights and wrongs of a holding statement

The possible repositioning of football after we return - “We could be a better society at the end of this, one where we are kinder”

Reframing the narrative around the game

Collaborative working between clubs

Looking back at changes during Adrian’s time as Director of Communications for the England team

The first Twitter World Cup

The influence of Gareth Southgate in England’s recent PR revival

The change in newspapers’ influence and tone in recent decades

How England players like Lampard, Gerrard etc learnt to handle the media

The rigours of the role - being on call 24/7, arguments, powerful personalities

How to use social media to correct negative stories

The move to become MD of Team England

The rarity of moving into a leadership role with a background in communications

In the post-coronavirus football world will the leadership of football clubs lean more to communications and community?

Moving to the FA of Wales for this their successful Euro

The pressure of certain countries/club and how that can stifle joy

Extrapolating a positive culture when you have a great leader

Values - creating them and communicating them. “Values are not just words, Values are what you live”

Having stretch targets and creating transparency with supporters

The pressure of success and how that affects values

Adrian’s key tips for sporting organisations when we emerge from the coronavirus

Why did he choose to move into authorship?

How has he chosen the subjects for solo projects?

How did the fly-on-the-wall book about Millwall develop?

Becoming part of the team and understanding their problems and insecurities - “It had to be warts-n-all”

Having faith in yourself and self-publishing

The modern battle between the written word and video - “Access is just another product to be commercialised”

Why TV is ‘fast food’ but writing a book is a ‘four-course meal’

How the book about scouting began

Why the title is key? - “You can sell a book on a title”

The importance of questions - having them at the start of the process and do they evolve

What his book on managers taught him

Emphasising the humanity of the individual

The writing process - when to interview, when to write

Selling the book yourself - “don’t underestimate the power of mateship”

Journalists are now brands in their own right

Quality journalism v modern churnalism

The exploitation of young players in No Hunger in Paradise

Has the growth of sports business made the game inhumane?

The Americanisation and corporatisation of football

How the Accrington Stanley management team know 400 supporters by their first name

“Because my dad does” is the essence of football

The purity of non-League football

The tipping point for arrogant clubs who disregard the customer

The art v science debate raging at football clubs

Co-writing books with famous athletes - the honest and pain

Why he had to sleep in Gareth Thomas’ bed when writing his book

The key question about his sexuality and the place he had picked for his suicide

The origins of the PAOK OTT platform and the issues with the broadcasting deal

Learnings from the first two years when the service was going only to overseas fans

"The final decision was taken just a week before the first game"

Solving problems - marketing, paywalls and the payment mechanism

The biggest issues - connectivity in remote areas

The problems of a late rush for the banking system

The use of smart TV apps and rolling it out across bars and coffee shops

How they made their pricing decisions

Is it profitable?

The opposition and criticism they faced in the football industry

Why other clubs have approached them about their service

The production quality

The reaction among the fans, including the senior ones who may not be so digitally -able?

How have PAOK staffed up?

Why the circumstances were right for this to happen in Greece and at PAOK

Other digital innovations to develop the PAOK brand

The buy-in from the owner and the board

Bucking the trend and moving into high-quality 'coffee-table' magazines

The 765-page magazine that PAOK sold for 40 Euros

The international strategy

Defining the tone of voice for the club

Handling the biggest game of the season - Olympiakos at home

Reflecting the fans in their communications

How PAOK has continually grown its fanbase despite going 34 years between title wins

Plans for the future

For the past two decades, cricket has been trying to cross new boundaries. Previously, its global footprint mirrored its past as the game of the British Empire but, in recent years, countries like the Netherlands, Namibia and Afghanistan have risen to prominence

In the next 10 years, the game will try to cross its biggest and most important new frontier - the USA. They have been awarded co-hosting rights for the 2024 T20 World Cup and a buzz is building around the chances of inclusion in the Olympics in Los Angeles four years later.

Minor League Cricket started last season and its Major League big brother begins in 2023. Tom Dunmore is VP of Marketing for both tournaments. In this podcast, we discuss the story so far, the challenges they face and the vision for success.

TOPICS

Where is the landscape of cricket in the US right now?

The reliance on the south Asian audience

Why Major League Cricket is the ‘tip of the spear’ but they are looking to grow a sport

‘It is a unique opportunity but the USA is not afraid to take a deep dive and make a big bet’

The ‘feel’ of a Minor League Cricket game and having 3,000 fans at the final

The 35 professionals brought in as mentors to raise the standard

The authenticity and integrity of the game in the wide variety of US climate conditions

Learning from the development of Major League Soccer - stadium build, fan experience, getting priority dates for fixtures, ownership models

“We’ll be able to have world-class players right away, up there with the CPL and BBL”

The different investment models

Content strategy for franchises

Using a YouTube influencer and video games as tools

Being one of many ‘Major League” sports trying to get a foothold in the US

Whose audience are they going to take?

Is the push for the 2028 Olympics realistic?

Why did he take such a brutally honest approach to telling his story

The early signs of his alcohol problems

Why the strength of the athletes' personality can be a problem

The imposter syndrome of being 'just good enough to survive'... so he won all the fitness tests

Replacing a legend in the Lancashire side and the pressure that created

The intervention that led to his spell in the Priory

Meeting characters like 'Lenny'

The pressurised world of the athletes and how it is not that different from the general public

The reaction inside sports and outside sports to his problem

Why sport has to do better in its reaction to mental health

Has his experience made him a better agent?

How would Luke have coped with social media in his playing days?

How did Luke's family cope with his story going public?

Writing out his problems v Talking out his problems

The worrying statistics on cricketing suicides

The particular problems of a cricketer's retirement

Could Luke leave cricket behind?

Why society has to change its story of success

Have athletes come to him about their mental health after the book

Spotting problems earlier thanks to his experience

Being prepared to 'leave money on the table' in order to look after a client's mental health

How he started his agency

The reaction of young people to his book compared to the older generations

Lessons outside of sports from Luke's story

How does sport have to change in the long term

TOPICS Do they consider themselves a success story?

The acceptance that was an emotional decision to buy the club

How a conversation on holiday after listening to Tranmere’s relegation on the radio prompted the purchase of the club

Asking the hard questions to the previous owner and why the deal nearly faltered

They had financial and legal backgrounds but what did they lack?

Did Nicola encounter sexism when they took over in 2014

What about more passive comments like ‘Is your husband there?”

The three phases of the five-year plan - create space, change business plan, look for investment

Changing the dialogue with the fans

How they communicated a ticket price increase after they had suffered relegation to non-League - and why take-up increased 10%

Why they put a Supporters Trust representative in the management meetings and not on the board

The issue of confidentiality and overcoming issues of trust and fear

The social media strategy that has brought them 34% Twitter followers from overseas

Using educational courses for released players as a revenue driver for the club

How a football club brings in an audience that would normally ignore social services

Using the community scheme to extend the reach of Tranmere in the city with two major Premier League sides

Creating community spirit in Liverpool and whether you could replicate it in other cities

The structural issues in English football and the unintended consequences that harm the lower areas of the pyramid - EPPP and parachute payments

Balancing the success budget v community budget

The ‘danger zone’ of trying to move into the Championship

The club’s early work in Asia - Mongolia

The Indonesian investment, which has seen them take a place on the board and 15% of the club. Why do it and what is the plan?

What the Indonesian side are looking to get from the deal?

Using social media to a commercial relationship in Indonesian

The possibility of developing Indonesian talent at Tranmere

TOPICS

Leprechauns - McGuigan v Pedrosa and Eubank v Close II

The T-junction narratives of Joshua v Ruiz II

The Daily Mirror's front page after Clay v Liston, calling out the reporters who got it wrong, including their own

Leon Spinks - the eight-fight novice who beat Ali and then threw it away in the rematch seven months later. He was arrested seven times between the fight

The adversarial nature of the boxing build-up - press conferences and weigh-in

Why those nasty press conferences may have reached their peak

How the police so nearly saved Errol Christie's life

The fake hate and real hate in press conferences

How wrestler Gorgeous George forced Ali to change his promotional game

Why Anthony Joshua won't do theatrical press conferences because of his violent past

The Larry Holmes v Trevor Berbick grudge

The natural 'rise and fall' story arc of boxing

The litany of British legends who were left with no money

The character of the promoter - Don King, Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren

The growth of YouTube channels in boxing

The critics of the new channels and the deconstruction of old media virtues

Buncey asks some advice about podcasting

Why boxing writing has a special tradition

Filing copy from fight night by knocking on houses and asking to borrow a phone

The danger of living in the past as a boxing writer

The concept of the Chief Sports Writer

Has boxing writing gone downhill?

Why boxing movies are the best sports movies

The legend of Nosher Powell

Buncey's novel - The Fixer

Why boxing is the only sport that seems to work on pay-per-view

Buncey's prediction for boxing's future - the threat from MMA

TOPICS

Why 70% of football results are decided by economics, 10% luck, but what about the 20%?

The academic approach

The boardroom issues and how to overcome them

KPIs every club should have

The internal battle that can exist between the TD and Head Coach

Why Manchester United and Arsenal “lost their identity” after major figures left

Cutting through the insular business of football

Analysing over a long period and not game to game

Mads’ experience in China and how he forged a successful team

Enacting his strategy as Technical Director to Andre Villas-Boas

Going six transfer windows without signing a player… and then winning the league

“Coaches come in thinking they have more power than they have”

Underestimating fans and misunderstanding their motives

Every club wants a great academy supplying players to the first team but why don’t the follow through

The Declan Rice story and loaning players out

Mad’s seven-point sustainability model

Club Vision & Strategy - Dividing into four categories in terms and understanding your ambition

Philosophy (style of play)

Methodology

Recruitment Strategy

Academy Master Plan / Youth Development - “The first place we recruit is our academy”

Head Coach - It is a disruption for the clubs and the coaches

Transfers

How long does it take to deliver this strategy?

Which teams are making this strategy work for them Fitting the football club to the culture of the area

”The biggest clubs can get away with bad planning”

Is the insular world of football opening up a little

The problem with the US How long does it take?

Who is doing this well - Liverpool, Man City, Brentford, Auxerre

Why Real Madrid are not a good example

Why doors are opening in football for Mads

Is winning the be-all-and-end-all for a club

Why he does not get called when clubs are winning

What has and has not changed in 2019

Has the label ‘digital’ disappeared the movement of digital talent

Clubs can monetise by carving out rights in overseas territories not covered by existing deals

Why 2020 is the year of streaming

The importance of politics running over borders to solve sporting problems

Streaming direct-to-consumer - will it work in football

The divergent revenue in football

Why this all leads to a global super league

Why ‘The Avengers Assemble’ approach could kill passion

Lessons from 2019 in football social media - Instagram, TikTok

What metrics can you trust

Why football must change its view of television

Why the growth of MLS in the last decade must be admired

Has Mario’s 2019 prediction about Instagram’s engagement levels come true?

Why analytics is the key to TikTok’s success

Twitter’s role in sports these days

Regional differences in sports social media - why Japan is an exception, why the UAE misses GooglePlus

The emergence of paid-for options on club’s social media

How data will be used in 2020

A plea against short-termism in football

Mario’s three predictions for 2020 - google Maps, selling on Instagram and the rights cycle

TOPICS

The Bristol Sports model that sits “behind the teams”

The efficiencies that this model brings Why rebrand Bristol City?

The ‘more extreme’ rebrand of Bristol Bears and what was learnt

The response from the fans after the club asked for their opinion

The importance of local knowledge

The sense checks and challengers needed in ‘the circle of trust’

Changing the formation date on the previous crest

Taking off key features - like the famous bridge in the city

Giving out information on the crest but still expecting fans to be shocked

The importance of presenting the crest in the city and ‘underground’ sites

What information was taken from the fan survey

Why they chose the design agency they did? “Where you can, keep it local”

Why they released all their pages in the design process

The reason for launching in March and the nature of the launch event

“You can’t learn this stuff, you have to live it”

Learning from mistakes by others

Avoid the 'cartoon feel'

Admiring the rebrand of Juventus

The importance of versatility in the badge

Determining the signal from the noise

Putting a hashtag on the badge

The social media strategy for launching the kit

The problem of keeping it under wraps

Taking something from US Sports and why the Colorado Rockies are his second baseball team because of their social media

Changing the way you talk to your fans

Measuring the success of the rebrand

What they would have done differently

TOPICS

The importance of running a high-quality event

Keeping the standard high despite the crowded calendar

Growing the PDC Darts event behind a subscription wall on Sky

The peculiar nature of darts - you can’t see the sport even when you are there

The way players have individualised and marketed themselves

The WWE influence over the entrances

The debate over darts’ sporting credibility

Football’s over-reliance on tribalism and lack of interest in marketing the product

Darts players and social media.

The relationship between social media and sponsorship in darts

How they use PDCTV, their OTT channel.

The importance of unofficial content channels

The human side of darts

Prince Harry becoming “a darts influencer”

Why darts is the UK’s most trusted sport

The challenger tour and academy set up

The opportunity to create a gender-neutral sport

The Premier League concept - Thursday night events in provincial towns

Why the PDC will always ‘leave ticket money on the table’

The development of different tournaments and why they are at maximum capacity

The determining factors behind darts’ global growth

Why they did not move into Holland earlier?

Which country has over-indexed and surprised him

The difficulty of expanding into Asia

Will the sport need a stand-out Asian player to make the breakthrough?

Why the future is consolidation

TOPICS

The problems surrounding football clubs entering the esports market

The “extreme contortion” that football clubs are trying to pull off

The true threat to football from esports

What lessons have we learned from what has not worked

Will football clubs be prepared to accept a subservient role to games publishers?

Why esports is a media business not a sports business and the players are entertainers, not athletes

Should football clubs enter the esports market while it is cheap even though they might not have a clear strategy?

Why Leagues can take a more strategic approach

Fantasy games rather than sports are the best avenue for esports

The unfair comparison of TV and gaming audiences. They are both “made-up metrics”

What would early scandals in esports do to the brand value of the sport?

Why the biggest problem in esports is the word “sports”

Managing player contracts in esports?

What if football ignores esports?

Is esports better prepared for modern patterns of consumption

The little signals of a potential downturn in TV sports rights

Oscar’s advice to the football industry on embracing esports

Taking the lead from MLB Advanced Media and creating “platforms”

TOPICS

Why makes a footballer go bankrupt

Navigating a player through the difficult period just after they have retired

Gaining the trust of a newly-rich player

“The danger of contract improvements”

Why Stijn likes to work with players before they sign their first big contract

Why players should invest in property over stocks and shares

Using social media to develop commercial models

How Vincent Kompany is an example of using social media to push his post-playing career

How to train as an agent

The transparency problem in the agency world

How Stijn would regulate agents

The pastoral care of players and where the responsibility rests

The primary aims when negotiating a new contract

Stopping yourself getting cynical

Why Stijn will not take on new players during the transfer window

The legal and cultural differences in dealing with different countries

Topics

His early work at USA Swimming

The issues of modernisation

Communicating with swim parents

Launching into CRM and the content strategy that feeds it

The Olympic Trails and their commercialisation and sponsorship activation

Lessons from being an American at Derby County

The television and live streaming strategy

The importance of top stars in keeping USA Swimming relevant, especially outside the Olympics

How a new swim league is allowing swimmers to create interest and sponsorship

The Olympics restrictions on commercialisation by athletes and how they might change

Safe Sport – how has USA Swimming reacted to Larry Nassar case in gymnastics

The breadth of his role. Being judged on medals but having to care for the recreational

Why swimming may fit perfectly in the modern world

The cost of giving back. Why membership dues have not changed in over 30 years

Why transparency is key for a non-profit

The fast-track learning in a period of significant growth in MLS

USA Swimming’s relationship with para-swimming – “We are supporters on the sidelines”

The Olympics targets and priorities

Leveraging Olympic success to create new fans

Brian Jacks was a household in the UK in the 1980s. The pinnacle of the judo player’s sporting success came when he won a bronze medal at the Munich Olympics in 1972. But a few years later he would become much more famous as the UK and European champion in Superstars, a popular television programme that saw the best athletes of the day compete in events outside their niche. The show grew throughout the world to become perhaps the first modern example of how sporting heroes could cross into mainstream media, with all its financial benefits, through light entertainment television.

Now living in Thailand, Jacks talks about his motivations, how he leveraged his Superstars fame, his rivalry with Daley Thompson and why he’d love to be a grappling coach in UFC

Podcast partner: Sports Tech Match - Simplifying Sports Tech Procurement 

TOPICS

Was his mental strength the key to his success, not his physical strength

The importance of a challenge 

Making sure you have the grit to make his career ‘gambles’ pay-off  

Why Brian believes Team GB judo is ‘soft’

“You have to see what failure is to see what achievement is”

Getting on to Superstars

How he monetised his stardom 

Did you he enjoy the fame?

His approach to Superstars - breaking down the problem?

How do you find his ability to rise to a challenge?

Would he have fancied turning to UFC? 

Coaching Neil Adams and punching him in the face as motivation before the biggest bout of his career

The power of  community in his success

Being from a Black Cabbie family

The rivalry with Daley Thompson  

Brian’s life now - his fitness, his hotel and charity work 

Feeding over 32,000 people who were starving as a result of the pandemic

Running his apartment block business 

His ambitions now

TOPICS

Creating the first ad selling tickets for Tottenham in the mid-80s with “Mrs Riddlington and Peter Cook”

But “advertising can’t compensate for a poor product”

The story of Spurs in the Champions League last season

Is Mauricio Pochettino the fulcrum of the club?

The usefulness of an ‘English culture’ at the Premier League club

What is the ‘Spurs Way’ and is it a help or a handicap?

Assessing Daniel Levy

Why it is wrong to sell the naming rights to White Hart Lane

Why it is NOT wrong to treat your club as a brand

The strength of Man United’s brand and having the ‘Theatre of Dreams’

Why the football system is wrong and fans pay too much

The inmates, ie the players, have taken over the asylum, which is the Premier League

How Tottenham have bucked the trend on paying player wages and keeping a team together

The Man United v Manchester City comparison

Are local rivalries a distraction these days?

The news stories about the Champions League re-organisation and the need for change

“No-one cares about the second-rate clubs”

Why the German set-up could be the basis for a new Champions League structure

Why it is optimistic and unrealistic to expect sporting institutions like the EFL to change themselves in light of recent crises

Alex’s plan for regional football and why it will never be implemented

Does English sport have a particular problem is reforming itself?

TOPICS

What a sports agency does

How the “managed decline” of the newspaper industry has affected their business and the current situation

The increasing demand for video in the past decade

Are words important anymore in sports journalism?

Why the pay problem will lead to a lack of diversity

Has the route to a national newspaper changed?

The shrinkage of local newspapers

The new approach - making a brand of a sports news agency via YouTube and long-form documentaries

The growth of club media on the sports agency model

The assistance they had from the growth of fan channels. And might they expand to be accredited media outlets

The importance of relationships in the agency game and playing the long game

How best to handle scoop

The new generation of journalists who grew up with social media

The British system of embargoes and the US system of access

Gareth Southgate’s success with the media at the World Cup

What type of video content is being ordered from Hayters?

Has the social media age changed reporting orders from newspapers?

Do you have to be entrepreneurial at an agency

The model of buying in a star journalist and syndicating

The differences between US and UK sports journalism models

The personal qualities and skills needed by young journalists in this era

How video is presented for clients

TOPICS

What do we mean by the ‘Fan Experience’?

Why they are obsessed with families and use them as a catalyst

The concept of “emotional loyalty” and how it benefits clubs - “We can’t treat away fans well, they are the enemy!”

Is football trying a lot harder now?

Why women’s football should not follow the example of men’s game

The problem of getting fans to reconnect

The basis of a fan engagement strategy

Answering the question: what makes your club distinct?

The principles: club meaning, fan experience, reaching the community

The pillars: why, focus and feedback

Explaining the Net Promoter - a standard tool in customer-facing businesses

A special social media KPI - what percentage of criticism is defended. Feedback as a catalyst for change

The importance of visibility from senior staff on matchday- The touchpoints in a fan experience strategy, Finding info/ticket purchases, Social media, The last mile of the journey, Retail/Merchandise, Food&Beverage, Experience inside stadium - stewards/concourses/entrances

Two things a clubs who no money could put right now for free

What is the role of a Supporters Liaison Officer? Having the resilience to deal with the intensity of fans

The ‘first game’ schemes in the English Football League

How to make eSports part of the matchday experience

The potential split between the top six chasing the Champions League and the need for great sustainability outside it

Why Mansfield Town have removed eSports from their matchday experience

A glaring gap – upcoming and coming ‘growth sports’ are dedicated to building a matchday experience, is football? Will it get left behind?

TOPICS

Moving from academia to the practical side of football

How they started their CRM system

Where the data was stored in the early days?

Connecting established and disparate databases

What conversations did you need to have internally

Narrowing down the scope of your CRM

The specific issue: how to arrest a fall in season ticket sales.

Surveying

How do your message each segment correctly?

The relationship with the content teams

What other campaigns do you create

Who does the analysis?

Those ‘cheap early wins’ what were they?

What did not work?

When the critics jump and say: "look it won't work"

Demographics v sentiment segmentation

AZ's clustering campaign

The idea of promoting content, not just transactional campaigns

Using the fans for mutual benefit

How do you plan for scale?

What metrics prove success?

What about the influence of team performance?