The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer

Ken Hershman, former Showtime Sports and then HBO Sports President involved in some of the biggest Boxing events over the past 25 years.  Great stories from his 25 years at those networks and beyond from Mike Tyson to Don King and Mayweather vs Pacquiao.  And his latest project and role as CEO of the Clash Basketball Pro League.     Key Highlights Lawyer by training, started in investment banking side – Viacom client, moved to Showtime as in-house lawyer Showtime, premium cable channel in movie space, moving into Boxing (following HBO's footsteps) Broadened offering into Inside NFL, NASCAR show, Strike Force, the Franchise (MLB), Structure of PPV deals in the early days, what really ends up with the Promoter and Fighter First Mayweather vs Pacquiao, record revenues for a fight at the time, big numbers Challenges with scheduling and frequency of fights vs big one-off events Moving from Showtime after 18 years to HBO Sports HBO Sports role and focus (eventually moving out of sports, both Showtime and HBO) Riyadh Season and Influencer Boxing discussion (entertainment vs sports), talent building crucial Stories from Mike Tyson & Don King era – Tyson/Lewis – HBO/Showtime – another bite His favorite fights and Don King stories Beyond the Pay TV business in his career, Champion Gaming lessons and now Managing Director of CTH Advisors New project – launched Clash Basketball Pro League – www.clashbasketball.com , role as CEO   About Widely known in the television sports world for his 30+ year career, Ken is an award-winning and innovative sports television programming executive. Ken is currently Vice Chairman of Champion Gaming, a sports wagering data, analytics and content company whose holdings include leading sports wagering brands EdjSports and Football Outsiders. Ken's background includes significant tenure at leading media companies in a variety of senior management roles, including serving as President, HBO Sports, where he supervised award winning shows such as Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Hard Knocks, 24/7 and the acclaimed boxing franchises World Championship Boxing, Boxing After Dark and HBO PPV. Ken also brings with him a sophisticated legal background with corporate, finance and securities experience both as an associate at Shearman & Sterling, as well as in-house counsel at Showtime Networks Inc., and sits on advisory boards for a number of companies in the sports, technology and entertainment industries. Ken is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, where he was a member of the International Law Journal. He received his Bachelor of Science degree, with distinction, from The George Washington University, where he was selected Phi Beta Kappa.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Lalit Modi, the founder of the IPL, the final episode uncovers how it all went wrong at the end.  From threats to his life, assassination attempts, to being banned for life and having to leave the country.  One final amazing episode to wrap up our four part series on how Lalit created the IPL.   Key Highlights Breaking new grounds and records in first two seasons, drama around the tender for two new team franchises Billion dollar Net worth threshold to bid for new teams – lobbying to lower threshold by various groups Minimum bid price, US 225 million per team -  Bids over 300 mil coming in for teams Sahara agreement signed quickly,  issue with winning consortium for second team (Lalit's suspicious with certain shareholders) Sunanda Pushkar (since then passed away), the unknown women in the deal?  Next call by Congress party leader Sashi Tharoor….. Lalit being forced to sign the agreement for second team under duress Next day news, Sashi Tharoor marrying Sunanda Pushkar – Lalit blows the whistle with a tweet Indian Parliament and political uproar follows – pressure on Lalit to resign, suspension while third season is wrapping up Ravi Pujari, known Indian gangster, death threats to Lalit life, assassination attempts in South Africa and Thailand Years of investigations and charges against him, nothing ever found of wrong doing BCCI suspend him, later life ban without a proper inquiry Chhota Shakeel & Dawood Ibrahim – incredible recordings and interviews with them Illegal betting – still a big issue today   Kochi team defaulted eventually as he predicted – Sahara also defaulted when billionaire owner went to jail Interim teams were brought in for two seasons before new auction -  new teams franchise fees around USD 800 mil per team Obvious question, after all this, how do you feel about what happened and you achieved?  Was it worth it? What keeps Lalit busy now – final thoughts   About Globally recognized leader, Executive Director of Modi Enterprises, with business interests across nearly every industry vertical. Built a billion-dollar brand in less than a year, launched a revolution to Indian broadcast entertainment, and negotiated partnerships with ESPN, Disney, Google, Ten Sports, B4U, Fashion TV, Voyages TV, Buena Vista Television, United Artists, Marvel, Nike and others. International business strategist who catalyzes transformation and change by capitalizing on unmet demand in domestic and overseas markets. Embraces technology and creates opportunities to enrich lives, create sustainable revenue, and optimize productivity through integration of emerging platforms in social and digital. An entrepreneur at heart with a phenomenal ability to connect people and ideas into revenue-generating enterprises, an active member of the board for one of the oldest and most successful industrial conglomerates in India, and the thought- leader behind radical change in India's leading Cricket administration, the BCCI. Recognized by Time, Sports Illustrated, Business Week, Forbes, Business Standard, and other influential global media outlets for launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of world's most popular Cricket organizations. Was Awarded ‘Indian of the Century” by India Today in Forbes nominated Modi as “Rainmaker of the Century” Against extensive political and economic challenges, brought IPL to South Africa, and sustained the same phenomenal levels of viewership and attendance despite the move. Columbia University and Stanford University Both did case studies on Modi, which are still being taught in Universities across the world. Created billions dollar opportunities, and played an integral role in shaping the cultural direction of Modern India as visionary behind transformational changes in broadcast, sports, entertainment, and consumer products.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ  

In our 3rd episode with Lalit Modi, we will dive deep into the crazy 2nd Season of the IPL (which was held in South Africa) and as a bonus discuss the stories behind the creation of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20), including the Mumbai Terrorist attacks.  As always fascinating stories and some never before heard details.   Key Highlights Year 2 of the IPL – what happened and why Media rights re-negotiations and big win for IPL Newscorp enters frame NDTV deal  and how Sony ended up with the rights again Indian elections, national security risk and what happens next Finding a new host country – enter South Africa (one year before them hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010) Dealing with two South African Presidents Bringing the teams, media, fans, etc to South Africa Launching a USD 100 million media and marketing blitz in South Africa (including concerts, etc) Miss IPL Pageantry Kick off in Cape Town IPL impact to South African economy, estimated USD 1 billion Massive viewership increase in India as well – 400% Champions League T20 – the creation and stories Ownership of Format -  India (50%), South Africa (25%) and Australia (25%) Founding Federations have two teams, everyone else one team entering the competition Broadcast deal auction – huge drama and how ESPN/Star Sports won it and overpaid for it UAE keen to host it for next 10 years – makes bid Terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, Nov 26th, just days before the start of the first competition – tournament is canceled Lalit's detailed recollection of having friends and colleagues at the hotels and getting them out Stay tuned for the final Episode 4, how it all went wrong and hear Lalit's side of the story………   About Globally recognized leader, Executive Director of Modi Enterprises, with business interests across nearly every industry vertical. Built a billion-dollar brand in less than a year, launched a revolution to Indian broadcast entertainment, and negotiated partnerships with ESPN, Disney, Google, Ten Sports, B4U, Fashion TV, Voyages TV, Buena Vista Television, United Artists, Marvel, Nike and others. International business strategist who catalyzes transformation and change by capitalizing on unmet demand in domestic and overseas markets. Embraces technology and creates opportunities to enrich lives, create sustainable revenue, and optimize productivity through integration of emerging platforms in social and digital. An entrepreneur at heart with a phenomenal ability to connect people and ideas into revenue-generating enterprises, an active member of the board for one of the oldest and most successful industrial conglomerates in India, and the thought- leader behind radical change in India's leading Cricket administration, the BCCI. Recognized by Time, Sports Illustrated, Business Week, Forbes, Business Standard, and other influential global media outlets for launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of world's most popular Cricket organizations. Was Awarded ‘Indian of the Century” by India Today in Forbes nominated Modi as “Rainmaker of the Century” Against extensive political and economic challenges, brought IPL to South Africa, and sustained the same phenomenal levels of viewership and attendance despite the move. Columbia University and Stanford University Both did case studies on Modi, which are still being taught in Universities across the world. Created billions dollar opportunities, and played an integral role in shaping the cultural direction of Modern India as visionary behind transformational changes in broadcast, sports, entertainment, and consumer products.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Lalit Modi, the founder of the IPL (Indian Premier League), sharing his in-depth recount and incredible details on how the IPL was created in this episode. How he orchestrated everything from the players, media deals, team owners to sponsors, and all within a few months.   Key Highlights Recap of Episode #1 Putting an “A team” together to make the IPL a reality, bringing IMG into the group (on success basis), finding the best experts from around the world, etc Learning from the best Leagues in the world to create a new franchise model First on the agenda, securing the top 100 players from around the world – challenges with scheduling of other Cricket globally Window from March-May was identified and locked in Creating the auction process and selling the idea to the players – brackets for players created – Minimum/Maximum cap spend on players USD 4- 5.5 mil by teams “Controversy” a key component of his strategy – keep media and people talking and guessing (free PR) “14 days” of playing Cricket  - players paid per day – USD 20k – 100k per day and some as high as USD 200k – so over USD 2 mil for the whole season  Lots of resistance at first with Media Owners – Nimbus thought they should own it because of the deal with the BCCI, black listed Murdoch (Fox), Zee TV already started ICL (competing competition) Need to create interest and competition with other broadcasters and agencies (aiming for USD 1 billion over 10 years) WSG (World Sports Group) bid USD 1b (both domestic and global rights) – partnered with SONY for year 1 in India Mapped out advertising inventory during the Match time Right to broadcast only, production done by League, etc Target USD 59 million in Year one as minimum to pay Teams (de-risk the purchase of team franchises – min USD 50 mil per franchise was his target (paid over 10 yrs) Key – an 8 pm ICT start, not to compete with other Indian Cricket afternoon slots – targeting Bollywood and entertainment budgets and appeal to Women in the household (who control the TV remote control at that time slot in the Indian household in those days) Next target – Team owners and the right profile – Shah Rukh Khan became key , Mukesh & Anil Ambani, Vijay Mallya, etc Bid for all cities allowed, highest bidder wins, if bidder wins more than one city, bidder can chose which city he wants to take Bids ranged from USD 65-120 mil  (for 10 yrs) Open process – in front of media and cameras Teams don't own Stadiums – not allowed Shah Rukh Khan – Nokia – sponsors his team and how that helped with upfront funding Everything done between January – April before the first ball was played Principal Sponsor deals for the League – USD 10 mil per year for title, USD 8 mil for associate – and stories behind it No open Media access to the matches – deliberate “controversy” strategy At the time already secured – USD 100 mil cheque for media (Year 1), USD 75 mil (10% of franchise fee) before it even started (not including sponsorship yet) Bidding process for Sponsorship rights (Hero Honda, DLF, etc) – DLF Indian Premier League Associate sponsor deals – Citi, Vodaphone, Kingfisher, etc Opening Ceremony and first game -  Shah Rukh Khan vs Vijay Mallya Sony struggling to get distribution across the country – not nationwide yet.   On day of first game, Lalit opens the doors to all media to cover the game. Sony furious. 100% TV coverage across India, all over the news and press   Shah Rukh Khan's teams win – Bollywood stars celebrating on the field – huge success Sony distribution went through the roof.  IPL was an instant success from then on Secret sauce – Competitive high profile owners, Shah Rukh Khan for entertainment and women audience, music, cheerleaders, etc To be continued…….   About Globally recognized leader, Executive Director of Modi Enterprises, with business interests across nearly every industry vertical. Built a billion-dollar brand in less than a year, launched a revolution to Indian broadcast entertainment, and negotiated partnerships with ESPN, Disney, Google, Ten Sports, B4U, Fashion TV, Voyages TV, Buena Vista Television, United Artists, Marvel, Nike and others. International business strategist who catalyzes transformation and change by capitalizing on unmet demand in domestic and overseas markets. Embraces technology and creates opportunities to enrich lives, create sustainable revenue, and optimize productivity through integration of emerging platforms in social and digital. An entrepreneur at heart with a phenomenal ability to connect people and ideas into revenue-generating enterprises, an active member of the board for one of the oldest and most successful industrial conglomerates in India, and the thought- leader behind radical change in India's leading Cricket administration, the BCCI. Recognized by Time, Sports Illustrated, Business Week, Forbes, Business Standard, and other influential global media outlets for launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of world's most popular Cricket organizations. Was Awarded ‘Indian of the Century” by India Today in Forbes nominated Modi as “Rainmaker of the Century” Against extensive political and economic challenges, brought IPL to South Africa, and sustained the same phenomenal levels of viewership and attendance despite the move. Columbia University and Stanford University Both did case studies on Modi, which are still being taught in Universities across the world. Created billions dollar opportunities, and played an integral role in shaping the cultural direction of Modern India as visionary behind transformational changes in broadcast, sports, entertainment, and consumer products.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Lalit Modi, the Architect and Founder of the IPL (Indian Premier League) – we recorded four episodes to go very deep into his amazing stories from his early days as a young entrepreneur making his marks, to his entry into Cricket (board of BCCI) to the creation of the IPL and controversies after.  Lots of amazing stories, facts and anecdotes many told for the first time.    Key Highlights Lalit's early day, joining the family Tobacco business (Godfrey Philipps India) – the three criteria for the family to support a business JV with Disney in India – licensing, merchandise, etc  (Michael Eisner his mentor)  - looking to launch sports channel with ESPN – movies, etc Early days of DTH and cable operators in India – Star TV (Prime Sports later Star Sports) Placing Disney TV program on Doordarshan (DD) – huge hit Rupert Murdoch coming into the picture – Modi Entertainment Network – Zee TV story Power of Database from Godfrey Philipps India to launch sports network – IMG Bill Sinrich early days of sales of Indian Cricket rights Leveraging Indian Cricket rights to launch an encrypted sports channel (first India's Pay channel)   Lalit entering Cricket space – Mark Mascarenhas (Worldtel) – the key broker at the time 2002/3 – first time the concept of an Indian Cricket League comes up – 50 over game – Indian Cricket League (ICL) 2005 – Lalit becoming VP of BCCI – commercialization of Indian cricket taking off under his leadership First Lalit cancels Sahara contract – (paying only USD 100k per year, front of Jersey) – pushed to USD 1 mil per Day of Cricket (105 days) Nike new kit deal – (Reebok small deal before) – Nike bids 52 mil per year during tender process Terminating Murdoch's media contract story – new tender pushing fees up 10x – bids over USD 500 million – political pressure Harish Thawani – Nimbus – USD 612-625 mil (4 years) – launched NEO Sports on back of it ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa, 2007 - re-ignites the ideas of a T20 League BCCI board gives Lalit a green light to explore the idea since he had already made some a few billions over the past 2 years Indian Players not very enthusiastic – hadn't played the format Subhash Chandra – ZEE TV owner -  copied idea and launched ICL first – lots of issues BCCI stops Indian national team players from joining – international players joined IMG - Andrew Wildblood – enters the frame – Lalit hires them to put the concept together  (Aug 2007) Lalit knows key is for India to do well in T20 WC - offers a Porsche for Six Sixes to any Indian player to motivate them to win the T20 WC Negotiating with international players in South Africa Rudra Singh hits six sixes - India vs England – huge news, Indian fans catch the fever and Indian wins the WC Open Double Decker Bus parade for players – pouring rain on that day – team arriving from South Africa – nine hour tour – 4 million people on the streets T20 was the new buzz word in India – story to be continued………   About Globally recognized leader, Executive Director of Modi Enterprises, with business interests across nearly every industry vertical. Built a billion-dollar brand in less than a year, launched a revolution to Indian broadcast entertainment, and negotiated partnerships with ESPN, Disney, Google, Ten Sports, B4U, Fashion TV, Voyages TV, Buena Vista Television, United Artists, Marvel, Nike and others. International business strategist who catalyzes transformation and change by capitalizing on unmet demand in domestic and overseas markets. Embraces technology and creates opportunities to enrich lives, create sustainable revenue, and optimize productivity through integration of emerging platforms in social and digital. An entrepreneur at heart with a phenomenal ability to connect people and ideas into revenue-generating enterprises, an active member of the board for one of the oldest and most successful industrial conglomerates in India, and the thought- leader behind radical change in India's leading Cricket administration, the BCCI. Recognized by Time, Sports Illustrated, Business Week, Forbes, Business Standard, and other influential global media outlets for launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of world's most popular Cricket organizations. Was Awarded ‘Indian of the Century” by India Today in Forbes nominated Modi as “Rainmaker of the Century” Against extensive political and economic challenges, brought IPL to South Africa, and sustained the same phenomenal levels of viewership and attendance despite the move. Columbia University and Stanford University Both did case studies on Modi, which are still being taught in Universities across the world. Created billions dollar opportunities, and played an integral role in shaping the cultural direction of Modern India as visionary behind transformational changes in broadcast, sports, entertainment, and consumer products.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Marcus Höfl, a fellow German Sports entrepreneur, for nearly three decades with his own agency MHM, representing German Icon Franz Beckenbauer and several other top sports stars.  Great stories from his time Franz Beckenbauer to many other interesting projects and lessons learned as a sports entrepreneur.   Key Highlights Growing up in Herzogenaurach, the town of Adidas and Puma – great stories how this little Bavarian town operated under those two powerful brands and owners Influenced by his father who was in PR in Adidas and Mum working in sports retail - and looking up to Robert Schwan (at that time Franz Beckenbauer's manager)  First client – Erdinger Weissbier – sponsorship of a second division club and continuing building relationship with Robert Schwan In 2002, Robert passed away – Beckenbauer now on his own – FIFA World Cup 2006 just four years away – opportunity to become the successor of Schwan Franz picked Marcus as the successor (still in his twenties) and he moved to Kitzbuehl to be closer to Beckenbauer Dream to set up a business in New York with a partner, didn't work, closed down Business partnership with Franz Beckenbauer Initially just coordinating everything for Franz – especially leading up to the World Cup in Germany (Beckenbauer was the Chairman of the Organizing Committee) Buying the rights to Franz Beckenbauer's image from Robert Schwan's widow – story behind it Franz Beckenbauer stories Visiting 31 countries who qualified for the World Cup – cris crossing the world Complimenting each other, good cop/bad cop Grew large commercial revenue around Franz Beckenbauer's image – 8 different commercial partners at the peak Franz' strength, his patience, treated everyone the same Also motivating him in his older days Red Bull – Mateschitz and Beckenbauer – Red Bull entering Football Red Bull buying Salzburg as first team, MLS team in New York team, etc Joined board of Major League Soccer (MLS), build relationships with other owners Comparing US sports vs European football structures FC Augsburg – buying a piece of the team and plans to shape the team's image – sold to David Blitzer Working with other athletes and the challenges scaling it Camp Beckenbauer – from Kitzbuehl to Shanghai , set up an office in Shanghai for a few years, lessons learned Maria Höfl-Riesch – German top Skier – from client to wife Investments – focus on fan engagement, digital, data, performance Partnering with Sports Accelerator leAD (Legacy of Adi Dassler) – fill circle to his youth   About Marcus Höfl is a founder, investor and expert in the international sports industry. Grown up in Herzogenaurach (Germany) - the hometown of Adidas and Puma - he has always been active in the football industry and shaped the business in various roles and positions on a global scale. From 2003 to 2006, Marcus was closely involved in the strategy development, planning and implementation of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. From 2003 on, Marcus exclusively represented Franz Beckenbauer in all commercial matters, as he owned the football icon's global personality rights. As Head of Global Soccer since 2006, he has developed Red Bull's strategy and commitment to soccer. Thereby he also acted as Member of the Board of Governors of Major League Soccer (MLS) in North America. Marcus Höfl was also a member of the Advisory Board of DFL Sports Enterprises from 2009 – the organization responsible for the national and international licensing, sponsorship and sale of Bundesliga media rights. Moreover, Marcus was a co-owner and shareholder of the German Bundesliga club FC Augsburg from 2016 to 2021 and was thereby a Member of the club's Board of Directors. He also mediates, develops and leads international sponsorship, consulting and implementation projects for global companies such as Mondelez (sponsorship with the Bundesliga/DFL since 2021), Lenovo (sponsorship with Ferrari and Ducati 2018 & 2019) or Hermes (sponsorship with Bundesliga/DFL 2012 -2017) and further leading clubs and associations from the sports sector such as FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Hertha BSC Berlin and the Bundesliga/DFL. Marcus Höfl also managed the football World and European Champion Stefan Reuter and the German soccer player of the year 1996, Matthias Sammer as well as the he multiple Olympic Champion in swimming, Franziska van Almsick, the tennis legend Boris Becker, the former alpine skier and three-time Olympic champion Maria Höfl-Riesch (since 2009), TV presenter Andrea Kaiser (since 2012), former world class -Biathlete Simon Schempp (since 2010) and the eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier (since 2015). Since 2021 he has also represented the basketball professional, NBA player and captain of the German National Basketball team, Dennis Schröder as a manager, primarily in marketing and communication issues worldwide.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ  

Gareth Balch, from an inspiring Olympian, with a data driven approach, taking his passion to building Two Circles into one of the hottest digital sports marketing agency from the UK, conquering the world of sports.   Key Highlights Short intro on Two Circles – help grow value of sports – data driven approach Gareth early days as a young athlete – wanting to be an Olympian – short distance runner (800 m), representing Great Britain Great learning at Manchester City How Two Circles got started – Gareth together with Matt Rogan – founding client English Cricket Board (ECB) and Manchester City Dream Team, Claire and Matt – first employee Data Scientist Data driven approach – source was First party data (from fans to organizations) Harnessing data and using it to generate new revenue, solve commercial problems, change fan behavior Scientific approach to sales and improving commercial revenue streams Examples – from All Blacks to FIFA+, NFL+ to UEFA's Women's EURO 2022 – very different services for these clients Thinkers and doers – strategic and executioners – from coming up with the ideas derived by the data to delivering the new revenue streams Mixed remuneration models based on clients needs Business plans for clients – score cards based on deep data and models Live video rights – selling media rights in a new way Growth story of company over the past 13 years – investors, acquisitions, offices around the world, etc Starting with a clearly defined philosophy – build the sports business of our lifetime Operating like an athletes as the leader of the business – detailed planning Massive learning journey – never sold the business in his mind – just making it bigger and better – focus on delivering for the clients Acquired five companies in last few years Current focus on certain territories, regions, sports and new clients   About Gareth co-founded Two Circles following a successful athletics career, representing Great Britain in the 800 metres. Transferring his passion and energy to the business side of sport, Gareth's first industry experience involved helping sports organizations such as Manchester City grow their commercial revenues, before in 2011 – at the age of 28 – he created Two Circles, an agency for the digital age, borne out of a desire to build direct relationships with sports fans using data. In the early years of Two Circles, when Gareth was Managing Director, he led the delivery of client work and helped revolutionize the UK sports landscape through a data-driven approach – recognised in 2014 when Two Circles was named Agency of the Year at the prestigious BT Sport Industry Awards. Since 2015 Gareth has been Chief Executive of Two Circles, his unique style of leadership and infectious enthusiasm for sport, staff and clients providing the driving force for the company's rapid growth. Currently Two Circles has a global network of teams working from London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Bern with a client base of over 150 of the world's leading rights-owners including the Premier League, NFL, UEFA, Formula 1 and Wimbledon.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Our guest Prof. Dr. Sascha Schmidt, a German Sports Business Professor with a McKinsey background. We look into the future of the industry, with his book “21st Century Sports”.  We explore the different technologies, how to categorize them and how to create your own tool to better follow the trends and take advantage of them.   Key Highlights Early days from Uni to his first Consulting gig at McKinsey working in Switzerland, New York and South Africa. Thesis for his Phd “Walk the talk”, do company's deliver on what they promise a-connect – German operations, develop business with sports clients in Germany, bring top tier consultants and sub-lease them to multi-national companies. Institute for Sports, Business and Society – Dietmar Hopp one of the founding partners (SAP Founder, Billionaire and owner of TSG Hoffenheim) Exploring SPOAC – Sports Business Academy by WHU , Havard Business School Case studies and MIT Sports Entrepreneurship Bootcamps Book – 21st Century Sports – essay collection, how technology will effect sports in the future.  21st Century Sports (whu.edu) Athletes and tech impact on them Sports Consumer – how tech changes consumption of sports Management – how the sports executives and leaders use tech Impact of AI in sports – example scouting , science and art Moneyball and new tech coming – motion tracking technology, even used for amateur sports Man(kind) vs Machines – how far has it come and will it go Fan controlled sports leagues (Fan Controlled American Football in the US) - younger sports fans, different consumption habit, want more participation Lessons on Customer Engagement from Fan Controlled Football Consumer tech in sports, AI – individualization of content, virtual arena's, metaverse – Sportsfix white paper example (and learning effect of Amara's law) Management and tech – can be overwhelming – below a simple matrix navigation system to sort through the tech jungle Physical tech  (robotics, wearables) Data processing (AI, Quantum tech, etc) Human interaction tech VALUE to: Athlete Consumer Management New Football concepts from Kings League (Gerard Pique), Baller League, The Icon League (Toni Kroos) Deliver an online experience, streaming, voting, influencers The Golf League (Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, etc) IPL – Indian Premier League Cricket Blending sports, music, fashion, education – edutainment products Esports discussion – big push in Asia and Middle East,  World Cup of Esports in Saudi – US$ 60 million prize pool (new Club Championship concept), difference to traditional sports, publishers control Traditional Football teams entering the space – diversification moves FC Barcelona – new approach in the tech and digital space with Barca Media Transformational Technologies Course – in partnership between WHU, MIT and Borussia Dortmund bvb.de/online-course/transformational-technologies-by-borussia-dortmund?cmpscreencustom Sports becoming an Asset Class – new institutional capital coming in – SMRF Capital – new value creation, still in development Bundesliga and new Investors collapse Resource:  WHU European Sports Business Program   About Sascha L. Schmidt is a professor and director of the Center for Sports and Management (CSM) at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management. At the same time, he is the academic director of "ESBP - European Sports Business Program“ of WHU, ESSEC Paris and Stockholm School of Economics as well as affiliate at the Laboratory for Innovation Science (LISH) at Harvard University in Boston/USA.  He studied economic sciences at the Universities of Essen and Zurich, where he also graduated with a doctorate. At the invitation of Harvard Business School faculty he worked in Boston as a visiting scholar, after which he joined strategy consulting. After several years at McKinsey, Sascha was appointed director of the ICS research program at the University of St. Gallen, and qualified as a professor at the EBS University (habilitation). He then entered into the world of entrepreneurship, building up the activities of recruitment agency a-connect within Germany. In 2011, he returned to academia and founded the Institute for Sports, Business & Society at EBS University. Sascha joined WHU in 2014. In 2019, he was a lecturer at the first MIT Sports Entrepeneurship Bootcamp.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Marco Balich, the Master of Ceremonies, in the true sense of the word - we explore the exciting world of Marco's career being involved in creating some of the most memorable moments in Opening/Closing Ceremonies for major sports, cultural and entertainment events around the world.   Key Highlights Growing up in Venice, being surrounded by art, the carnival, entertainment and beauty Leaving the “island” and exploring the world in the 80s, studying in Chicago, exploring Soviet Union countries, etc Dream of joining the Olympics in Fencing – Western block of 1980 Moscow Olympics stopped this Starting as Concert Tour Manager in Italy, U2, Simple Mind, etc – great learning experience Pink Floyd concert in Venice – a successful disaster   Moving into Music Video space – VIVA in Italy – short lived Back into Live Music -  Heineken Jammin' Festival in Milan, in late 90s First Olympic gig – Flag Handover ceremony at Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics to Torino Olympics – just after 9/11 attacks Breaking into the Olympic world, beating dominant incumbent Anglo-Sachsen agencies – with a different approach Each ceremony a piece of Art – going through some of the iconic moments of past Opening ceremony's Discussing the different roles and challenges with different countries and locations Process of an Olympic ceremony – two year journey – scale and size of budgets (huge dollars) How to deal with the cultural differences – not driven by money Tokyo Olympics – and what happened to the Opening Ceremony – the Covid games Focus of Balich Wonder Studio – giving creative talent platforms to showcase their talent  Building new iconic environments and structures for real estate projects Luxury brand launches Major global events Immersive IP and technology (Disney project) Usage of AI in the creative world Final thoughts on Paris Olympics and EURO Opening, etc   About Creative Director and Executive Producer with a record number of 14 Olympic Ceremonies and 12 Regional Games credits and several large-scale events produced all around the world. Marco's Olympic experience, awarded with an Emmy Award in 2006 and a Compasso d'Oro in 2017, began with the Salt Lake City 2002 Flag Handover, followed by Torino 2006 Olympic Ceremonies. He was involved in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Closing Ceremony and Paralympic Ceremonies and acted as Executive Producer of Rio 2016 Olympic Ceremonies (produced by CC2016), watched by 2.6 billion people. He covered the role of Artistic Director of the Italian Pavilion at the 2015 Expo in Milano, where he created the ‘Tree of Life' icon. He conceived the revolutionary format Superlive, with ‘Giudizio Universale, the Sistine Chapel Immersive Show', the highest selling show in Italy in 2018, in association with the Vatican Museums. In 2013, together with long-time partners Gianmaria Serra and Simone Merico, he founded Balich Worldwide Shows, today Balich Wonder Studio, sharing the ambition to introduce a new era in the live entertainment industry where true emotions are the driver of the creative narrative. As Chief Creative Officer of Balich Wonder Studio he embodies the role of leading inspirer and mentor of a multicultural and diverse team of highly talented Creators. His vision has been crucial to attract, recruit and raise some of the best professionals in the industry, making Balich Wonder Studio a unique playground for creative visionaries from all over the world.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Alan Pascoe, former Great Britain Olympian and founding father of Sports marketing in the UK, shares his amazing stories on how he got started, the Athletics events he created, the agencies he build and sold, and many more…   Key Highlights Early days, how o he got his start as a hurdler in school which lead him to win Medals for Great Britain in the European Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympics and become one of the most recognized athletes in the UK at the time Discovering his passion for the events business – while being a lecturer – his very first event at Cystal Palace grounds for 150 pounds and getting on the BBC live (20 min prime time) in 1971 Using his College “office” to organize events at the beginning – while winning a few more Medals for Great Britain and building his own brand name – “are you the Alan Pascoe”…. From Athletics to Sunday Times Bridge Championship and how to leverage the power of an “influencer” Omar Sharif, Egyptian Actor at the time     Other early projects, Sunday Times Fun Run in Hyde Park (before London Marathon existed) – in late 70s Start as an Entrepreneur – Alan Pascoe Associates (APA) – 1983 – taking over an existing agency, owner retiring – with partner Edward Leask Childhood Asthma story and how to think out of the box – ask questions, don't pitch at client Sold APA to WCRS Ad agency for One Million pound in cash – bought it back later Other projects, Broadcast sponsorship of NFL, Fantasy Football with Daily Telegraph and more Different focus to other agencies. Consultancy work for brand owners, amplification of sponsorship, events management and sponsorship sales Bought Personality Management company, representing TV Presenters and inventory management for A-boards of English Football Club before the Premier League Sold it again to Interpublic in 1999 – believe being part of a larger Advertising Group was the way to go to expand the business Deal with Interpublic didn't work out well personally, left company and set up a new company around British/UK Athletics (Fast Track later CSM – Chime Sports Marketing), early 2000 Ran CSM till he stepped down ten years ago (2013/14) – build up both API and CSM into top 3 agencies in the world The partnership dilemma between Advertising agencies and Sports Marketing agencies Lessons from buying other agencies worldwide - CSM buying Zak Browns agency – JMI George Soros partnership with DC United, MLS team At the time he left in 2014, 20 offices, 750 staff growing to 1,000 people around the world -  CSM recently acquired by Wasserman   Management style over the decades and how to train people Helping to win the London Olympic bid, insider stories (Seb Coe, Keith Mills, Buckingham Palace, etc) Legacy of the London Olympics, no white Elephants around London, helped transform parts of the city Wrapping up with what keeps him busy now, some consultancy work – Commonwealth Games, Moneycorp and final story   About In 2014 Alan stepped down as President of the CSM Group, the Group he founded, now part of Chime Communications, having put in place the second generation of management to take CSM and its clients onto even greater heights, including Lord Coe who took over his role as Executive Chairman. Alan continues to work as a consultant, offering strategic support with his wealth of experience across the sports and events. CSM is the second world top 3 Sport's & Events companies that Alan has built, whilst leading the creation of major events and programmes for sports, sponsors and television. Outside of sport he also devised, managed and promoted a medical programme that significantly improved the management of childhood asthma in the UK. A 3-time Olympian, winning Olympic Silver, triple European Gold, and Commonwealth Gold, Silver & Bronze medals, represented the Commonwealth, Europe and was British Team Captain. Alan started organising and promoting international track and field athletics meetings which continually reset the standard worldwide, and attracted £100's of millions from delighted sponsors and broadcasters. This led to the creation of world leading events in a variety of sports and activities including ice skating and the Paralympic World Cup, whilst devising successful programmes for sponsors and partners around the world. Having sold his first Agency Group, API, to Interpublic (to form the founding company for Octogan), Alan formed Fast Track, which then formed the corner-stone to create CSM, which he Chaired and then became Founding President before stepping down to pursue his personal interests. CSM, recently acquired by the Wasserman Group is the 3rd largest Sports & Entertainment Marketing Groups in the world with 20 offices, in c. 13 countries from the US to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Moscow, Shanghai, Rio & Tokyo. Their portfolio includes major involvements in Rugby, Cricket, F1, Basketball and Football etc. Alan was a Trustee with Sported, currently a Trustee of the London Marathon Foundation, a Board Member & Director of London Marathon Events Ltd., and a Founder of Made by Sport. Alan was Vice-Chairman of London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games – ‘my proudest moment, as I knew how many lives it would positively impact'. Alan is currently advising major brands, and Boards on strategy, and hopes to 'make a difference' in the area of the importance of exercise, especially for young people and children, as it relates to both general health, and specific medical conditions.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Paul Barber, OBE, the CEO of Brighton & Hove Albion FC – from a childhood dream of being a pro-player to a highly successful career across Football from the FA of England, Tottenham (his childhood club) to becoming the CEO of the Year in the Premier League, driving Brighton to new heights (including European Football action) in the most competitive Football League in the world.     Key Highlights Football his first love from age of 7, dream to be a pro player but didn't have the talent.  Love being involved in the game From working with blue chip financial organizations (Barclays) to the world of Football with the FA as Director of Marketing in 2000 Great time to be in the FA, first director of marketing, David Beckham era and other major changes – 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup new team marketingLarge portfolio of companies and sponsors, taking England team on the road across the country Applied for CEO of FA, didn't happen at the time and moved to Ogilvy & Mather as CEO of Europe/Middle East for a short sting Next Football stop, Tottenham Hotspurs as Executive Director – childhood dream working with the club he grew up supportingOwner Daniel Levy and working with him One of the first teams signing a big Betting company as Jersey sponsor and how to deal with the sensitivity Peace Cup in Korea Next stop, CEO of Vancouver Whitecaps FC – two years in the MLS – great learnings Taking the role of CEO at Brighton, when they were still in the Championship in 2012 – a hundred year old “start up”Vision of Tony Bloom convinced him to join Missed out on Premier League promotion before finally making it up to the top division Big American Express deal as Venue sponsor Overnight success, 7-8 years in the making – the journey and stories along the wayAll starts with a great owner – clear vision, value Best infrastructure, top training facilities, stadium Make changes and upgrade along the way, including people A bit of luck important too Ignore the “noise” by media/fans and stay focused on vision/mission How do you compete with the huge foreign capital other big clubs have at their disposal – 8-10 clubs now pushing to play in Europe in the Premier League Competing in European Football (UEFA Europa League) and keeping sight of top half in League – constant learning – competing in four competitions Tony Bloom – Moneyball in Football -  data driven recruitment (resources and data from David's core analytics business)Also creating opportunities to sell players with good margins Very engaged Non-Executive Chairman, stability is key Target to be a top 10 club in Premier league and top 4 team in Women's Super League -  still work in progressKeep improving and not standing still Women's Team discussion – development of women's football – investment in the game for long-run and the changes a club needs to make to cater the players and fans   About Paul Barber joined the board of Brighton & Hove Albion FC as chief executive in June 2012. In his first season with Brighton, the club secured its highest league position for over 30 years, made the Championship play-offs, enjoyed the highest average attendances in its division, and signed its largest-ever shirt sponsorship agreement, a multi-year deal with American Express. Paul was named Overall CEO of the Year for England and Scotland, as well as Championship CEO of the Year, at the Football Industry Awards 2013, and won the Sports Executive of the Year at the 2016 International Stadium Business Awards. Having taken part in three EFL Championship play-offs in four seasons, Brighton narrowly missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League, by virtue of goal difference, in 2016. A year later, the club achieved automatic promotion to the Premier League and subsequently finished 15th in its first season. Paul's career in professional football has spanned close to 25 years, during which time he has held senior positions at Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC, and The Football Association. Paul has served on various committees for the Premier League, The EFL, The FA, UEFA and FIFA, including The EFL's board and The FA's Professional Game Board. Most recently, Paul was elected by clubs to be a Premier League representatives on The FA Council. Paul also currently serves as one of The FA's international ambassadors. In November 2018, Barber was appointed as the club's deputy chairman following unanimous approval from the board and also became the Premier League's representative to the Professional Game Board, replacing the outgoing Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Peter Draper, a true Yorkshireman with an incredible career in UK sports from UMBRO to Manchester United and many more.  We are going all the way back to 1977 and how it all started with the English Basketball Association.  Join us for an incredible journey through English sports history.        Key Highlights How it all started, from Rugby to Basketball – 1977 -1986 , from school and amateur player to administrator in the English Basketball Association in Leeds – sports history UMBRO – big move (40 miles across the country 

Zack Sugarman, deep dive into his 17 years with the Wasserman Group to his current role as Chief Strategy Officer at Demand Sports – an AI powered top-of-funnel lead generation tool for the sports industry. If you are in sales you need to listen to this.     Key Highlights From college to first role at Sportnet (Wasserman Media Group), doing business development – finance of action sports films in 2005 (skateboard.com, etc) Deep dive into Wasserman group - from 70 people when he joined to 1,700 by the time he left recently (15 offices around the world) Global Sports Marketing & Entertainment company Helping client spend their marketing dollars wisely, negotiate, execute Maximizing revenue for teams/leagues (properties) Talent manage side – Jerry Maguire style (NFL to action sports) Growth by acquisition – music talent, celebrity influencers, creating IP & content (UK based CSM, etc) Acquisition of Brillstein – coming full circle (family history, Lew Wasserman) Casey Wasserman – a bit about the man himself – Chairman of LA 2028 Olympics – his leadership style His roles over the 17 years (2005-2022) Start of digital and social media era and developing a digital division to help monetize content Early days of live streaming – World Surf League – live webcast Properties – teams, leagues, federations, conferences, Esports teams, Develop products to offer these property owners – pre-sale and post-sale services NBA Jersey Patch, later NHL, MLB – one of the big projects – discussing deal sizes   Demand Sports – his role as Chief Strategy Officer How it works, background, Helping property rights holders – top-of-funnel lead generation, using AI to verify contacts, personalized emails Coordinate follow up and meeting times for the Property owner (all the upfront work to create warm leads) Demand Inc – tech companies, B2B business – Lasso tool tweaked to use for sports Bounce test to check emails are correct – in real time, etc Using AI to personalize emails, search web to create subject lines and hocks for a personalized touch to email Tool operates globally – language specific outreach examples 40 clients around in the US and around the world Fee structure and flexible model for Property owners Contact:  zack@demandsports.co  - www.demandsports.co US market – huge events coming the next few years from FIFA World Cup 2026 to Olympics 2028 and more… opportunities for brands and property owners Final message on Artificial Intelligence (AI) – be curious   About Zack has a proven sports executive with over ~20 years of experience in commercial strategy and revenue creation – focusing on business development, partnership creation, digital strategy, new tech integration, valuation, packaging, and execution of award winning campaigns and initiatives. Sugarman's skills include business development (identifying, negotiating, securing new clients), strategy and analytics (fan insights, commercial valuation and packaging, opportunity targeting, partnership creation, and measurement), and relationships (understand the value of connections and have enjoyed consistent networking and having multiple long-term and repeat clients). Zack likes to connect the dots between partners and bring new perspectives together in an effort to generate new value, drive innovation and facilitate new connections across the sports and entertainment business. Before joining Demand Sports, Sugarman spent 16 years in agency leadership positions at Wasserman, most notably leading the Global Properties division worldwide to help venues/teams/leagues maximize commercial revenue. At Wasserman, Sugarman helped drive millions of dollars in commercial revenue for clients including NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, FIFA, USGA, UFC, NASCAR, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, LAFC, New York Islanders, Vegas Golden Knights, CrossFit, Drone Racing League and Salesforce.  Sugarman was also instrumental in helping AEG land the largest Naming Rights deal in history with the announcement of the Crypto.com Arena in November 2021. Zack is a true tech geek who makes it a point to stay on the cutting edge of emerging technologies and digital strategies; he also firmly believes that “Fútbol is life.”   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Jason Masherah, President of The Upper Deck Company, living his childhood dream, from a young boy trading cards at school to running one of the biggest Trading cards, Memorabilia and Collectibles company in the world – enjoy our deep dive into the world of The Upper Deck Company, the industry and where the business is going.   Key Highlights How it all started, selling trading cards in middle school and attending card shows at the age of 13/14, working in trading card shop Starting his first shop at the age of 16 before going back to school From Electric Supply company coming back into sports, getting an MBA to get back into sports Via short stops at the Arena Football League (Chicago Rush) to Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Bengals, finally landing at The Upper Deck company as Brand Manager for MLB & NBA Overview of the Trading Card industry, from the first cards in the 1800 as promotion for cigarettes and chewing gums, sold as Wax packs. In 1987/88 The Upper Deck Company was founded to create a different and much better product – big growth to mid 90s when strikes in sports Leagues created issues Tough period in early 2000 to 2015 before growth came back, with Hockey, Baseball and Football Primary market, big players Upper Deck, Topps and Panini and secondary trading market Different business models by Sports Leagues in the US vs European Football leagues Global growth vs the traditional core US sports, Europe and Asia Business model with Rights holders and bidding processes Sports trading cards, Entertainment trading cards and Trading card games and the differences Three parts of the business for Upper Deck, Trading Cards, Games (Board games and trading card games) and authenticated Memorabilia Premium product focus, big names from Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky Digital products and the evolution of it – in 2011 first tokenization of cards, Upper Deck e-pack – digital to physical hybrid NFTs, blockchain – Upper Deck's Evolution platform – trading digital with physical products   Issues and challenges for primary market manufacturer playing in the secondary market (especially in NFTs) Most NFT releases were never done with collectors in mind, it mostly was a quick money grab Moving images, videos and animations open up a new opportunity to own a piece of history Upper Deck's Collect Forever – authentic third party collectibles, from Comics to Toys Upper Deck's Premise to provide the best and widest services for collectors globally Fanatics purchase of Topps – changing the game Jason's own career path in Upper Deck over the past 17 years     About Mr. Masherah oversees all day-to-day operations as President of Upper Deck, the premier worldwide sports, gaming and entertainment company. As part of his day to day duties, he is personally responsible for exclusive agreements with Upper Deck's lineup of corporate partners, licensors and superstar athletes, including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Wayne Gretzky, Marvel, Tim Hortons, CIBC, NHL, NHL Players' Association and more. Mr. Masherah is also responsible for revitalizing Upper Deck's memorabilia division, as well as Upper Deck's gaming division and the launch of Legendary, the award-winning deck building game. Prior to his appointment as President in 2013, Mr. Masherah served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Upper Deck. Mr. Masherah has been personally credited for several core programs at Upper Deck, ranging from the Yankee Stadium Legacy program in 2008 to the Evolution video cards in 2011 to, most recently, the Upper Deck e-Pack platform in 2016, which plays a significant role in the launch of Upper Deck's Grandeur Hockey Collector Coins. Before his involvement with Upper Deck, Mr. Masherah worked for professional sports teams in various roles, including the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Braves. He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and his undergraduate degree in Marketing from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University. Mr. Masherah currently resides in the greater San Diego area with his wife and children.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Andrew Ryan, corporate lawyer turned sports executive, currently Managing Director of FIBA Media, from a small town in Australia to the big wide world of sports including Perform, IOC to FIBA.  We are taking a close look into Andrew's career and the ongoing FIBA World Cup 2023 in Asia.   Key Highlights Growing up in a small town near Brisbane, with lots of access to sports in his youth and Brisbane clubs making their mark. Impact of Sydney Olympics in 2000 on him Corporate law taking him to London and New York in 2006, after Lehmann collapse joined a radio station (Absolute Radio), sports commentary, unlikely and unexpected forays into sports broadcasting with the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and BBC Sport for the 2005 Ashes series.  First contact with Perform. Group Head of Legal at Perform for four years – buying media rights, WTA deal and the growth of the business from his view Betting rights key to Perform's competing with traditional agencies in the content distribution business Getting DAZN off the ground and the work behind the scene and spinning off Perform Next stop Head of Media - Legal and Business Affairs, IOC TV and Marketing services – business strategy and more commercial role Media rights, tender processes, Olympic channel, sponsorship deals, etc Olympic Channel, what happened to it? FIBA Media – what it is and how it works – JV with DAZN (compared to FIBA Marketing, JV with Infront) FIBA Asia (ABC) my experience in Basketball in mid 90s FIBA's direct to consumer approach vs traditional broadcast rights sales globally FIBA Courtside 1891 platform www.courside1891.basketball - Courtside 1891 is a live and highlights platform for FIBA games and a lot of other leagues around the world FIBA's unique global set up – managing regional events and rights from HQ FIBA Eurobasket 2022, etc FIBA Club competitions FIBA World Cup 2023 – across Philippines, Indonesia and Japan What to expect from production and new innovations for the event FIBA and NBA relationship and players at the World Cup FIBA Women's World Cup – importance and looking back at last year's event in Australia   About As Managing Director of FIBA Media, Andrew leads the 17-year joint venture between FIBA and DAZN which encompasses all production and rights commercialisation (broadcast, OTT D2C and data) for FIBA's premium events. This includes FIBA's World Cups and Continental championships (and their qualifiers), global junior events and the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. FIBA Media has around 25 dedicated staff but collaborates extensively with sales and production teams within DAZN and scales up for events, managing 800+ personnel at the FIBA World Cup 2019. In addition to its core production and commercial activity, FIBA Media houses its own third party marketing division and established the Courtside 1891 digital brand and joint venture with Two Circles. Andrew was previously the Head of Media Legal and Business Affairs for the International Olympic Committee TMS and was part of the Leaders Under 40 Class of 2020.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Guy-Laurent Epstein a Football Association veteran and senior UEFA Executive for the past 20 years, shaping European football, the commercial side and beyond.  Deep dive into  UEFA's world from Club Football, new National Team competitions, to the growth of the Women's game and much more.  Highly educational and lots of great details you don't want to miss.      Key Highlights How it started, from a passion for mathematics, to Arthur Andersen auditing to Sony Music Commercialising the licensing rights for the FIFA World Cup in 1998 for Sony Music ISL Marketing days – joining ISL in Luzern during an interesting time for the agency Spending time in Asia, around the 2002 FIFA  World Cup Korea/Japan ISL collapse in 2001 just before the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2001, FIFA creating FIFA Marketing to take over agency role Joining UEFA shortly after the 2002 FIFA World Cup  – comparing notes on the event The start of a two decade adventure with UEFA in Nyon No Marketing department within UEFA yet when he first joined,  developing new projects and showing value to the administrators of European Football The “old” way of doing things in European National and Club competitions at the time, early 2000 Change of guards, EBU, mostly state controlled broadcasters vs more commercially driven free to air channels Non-linear channels emerge -  Pay TV – now digitization, Amazon relationship, DAZN, Apple testing US Market importance for both European Club and National team football UEFA.TV -  create new content from archive, exploring new ways to invest in brand – home of Youth and Women's football Relationship between UEFA and their agencies (Team Marketing – Club competitions & CAA Eleven – National Team competitions) Big changes and success stories from the CAA Eleven deal UEFA Nations League – the creation and where it is now and some of the challenges New UEFA Champions League format from next season explained Next steps in the governance of club competitions and relationship with the European Club Association (ECA) Covid impact on UEFA competitions – looking back, moving EURO 2020, etc Success of Women's EURO 2022 in England and the growth and unbundling of UEFA Women's Football – www.weplaystrong.com EURO 2024 in Germany – high hopes for another big Football Summer Festival   About Guy-Laurent Epstein graduated from Paris IX Dauphine University with a Master in Applied Mathematics & Social Sciences in 1990, and completed his studies with a MBA at ESSEC Business School in Paris, which he obtained 2 years later. After four years working as a financial consultant for Arthur Andersen, he decided to shift his career towards sports marketing and worked for the 1998 World Cup in France. After that, he joined ISL Marketing where he was in charge of the licensing and merchandising programme for the 2002 World Cup. In 2001, Guy-Laurent joined FIFA Marketing, where he continued to oversee the good development and implementation of the Licensing programme. He started in October 2002 at UEFA as TV& Sponsorship Manager and became Head of Marketing Activities in December 2004. In June 2005, he created the Media Rights unit which is responsible of the overall sales of the UEFA competitions TV and other media rights, which he managed till March 2010, when UEFA decided to set up a new company – UEFA Events SA - to handle all UEFA's commercial and event operations. Consequently, Guy-Laurent was appointed Marketing Director of UEFA Events SA and as such, he is responsible for the ongoing development of the marketing and commercial activities, including media and sponsorship, across all competitions of UEFA.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Paul McVeigh, from playing professional football in the Premier League to becoming a trained psychologist, and now advising C-suites and top corporate executives. Tons of great stories and lessons from his career as a professional player and how a Tony Robbins book put him on the path to studying psychology and becoming a keynote speaker.   Key Highlights Growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in a rough neighborhood in the 80s – what it was like playing football with tanks driving around the streets A journey from Belfast to London, getting offered a contract with Tottenham Hotspur in mid 90s and meeting football legend Jurgen Klinsmann His beliefs at the time about himself and what then happened in order to make his Premier League debut His football journey from Tottenham Hotspur to Norwich City, Burnley,  Luton Town and why the key was to constantly adapt his style to fit various roles for each team  How to deal with winning/losing, the psychology and mindset behind it for a professional player, being relegated and achieving promotion again Who is truly responsible when a team wins or loses?  Coach versus players? “Awaken The Giant Within” by Tony Robbins – our stories and the impact this book had on us and how this led to a degree in Sports Science and Psychology and a career in public speaking Next stops, working as pundit at Sky Sports, BBC, and giving key note speeches and running corporate leadership programs His book “The Stupid Footballer Is Dead: Insights Into The Mind Of A Professional Footballer” and an understanding of the mind of an elite sportsperson Concept of accountability – a pre-season story and his learning being exposed to world-class players Making conscious choices His current project: bringing in first-class athletes, world champions and securing them as keynote speakers to corporations, including top military, doctors, etc His contacts. Website: https://paulmcveigh.com  LinkedIn:  (5) Paul McVeigh, M.Sc. | LinkedIn  Email: paul@paulmcveigh.com   About Paul McVeigh is a Premier League football player and Performance Psychologist. Paul's credibility comes from the unique combination of reaching the pinnacle of elite sport as well as being the first Premier League footballer to qualify with a Master's Degree in Psychology. Paul specialises in implementing the psychology required to elevate the performance of leaders and teams from the financial services' industry. He has recently worked with PWC, Grant Thornton, Aviva, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Nat West, Cisco, Microsoft and many more. These lessons are even more applicable today in our remote and virtual workplaces in order to empower individuals to understand that our thinking unlocks the required behaviours that are necessary for elite performance. Paul shares his psychological framework from growing up in war torn Belfast, Ireland alongside the strategies he implemented performing under the intense scrutiny of 75,000 fans across the world. He is also an established broadcaster on TV and radio with BBC, Sky Sports, BT Sport and is also a published author of the ironically entitled book ‘The Stupid Footballer is Dead'. The insights Paul shared as a Sport Psychologist for 2 Premier League clubs have helped many players compete in, what is considered, the most prestigious and ruthless sports league in the world.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Jerome Valcke, a true legend and also tragic figure in our industry. We are going back to his early days at Canal+/Sport+ to his amazing time as Secretary General of FIFA.  30+ years in the industry, his ups and downs and the challenges at the end of his FIFA reign and his comeback plans.       Key Highlights Early days of Canal+, first Pay TV operator in France - as news presenter and magazine producer (from wars to news) 1991 -  getting involved in acquisition of sports rights for Canal +, dealing with Don King to David Stern Forming Sport+ (internal agency of Canal+) to buy sports media rights for Canal + and sell across the world, working with other agencies around the world Don King story and doing business with him (negotiation is same as war) French Football League (Ligue One) and the new Pay TV money coming in to change the game forever – new production values Canal+, turning channel into a 24 hrs Olympic channel for the entire two weeks of the Barcelona Olympics 92' and Atlanta 96' Merger between three agencies, JC Darmon, UFA Sport and Sport+ -  Bertelsmann (UFA), Jean-Claude Darmon and Canal+ (Sport+) merged in 2001 creating SportFive – and the rest is history with decades of changes for the agency Joining FIFA in 2003 as Director of Marketing – FIFA Marketing AG – in-house agency created after the collapse of ISL Marketing (initially focused on sponsorship only -  Media rights still with Robert Louis Dreyfus (owner of Adidas, Olympique Marseille).  Jerome lobbying to bring media rights in-house too. Agency offering large guarantee to FIFA – (Swiss) 1.8 billion per World Cup -  Joseph Blatter (President at the time) putting his trust in Jerome and he delivered in 2010 – close to 4 billion  Changing what FIFA was delivering to broadcasters, going beyond previous offerings Infront & Dentsu controlled certain territory rights in Asia, and other agencies around the world – top countries controlled by FIFA directly, FIFA signing all contracts Secretary General of FIFA -  the link between the political side of the Federation with the commercial and operating side Dealing with Governments and Head of States to deliver the FIFA World Cup – need to deal with politics Blatter stories – his rise within FIFA, from a low level marketing role to President -  “I am FIFA, FIFA is me”  Bidding process for World Cups – 2018 & 2022 – huge significance for the winners World Cup Legacy – South Africa 2010 stories – falling in love with the country and more… Brazil World Cup 2014 – it was complicated …….. being banned for a period of time from entering the country….. Could World Cup ever be moved if the event is at risk? Legal position vs actuality/reality 2018 & 2022 host country choices and his view on it The different parts of FIFA, from Committees and other parts of the organization Women's Football at FIFA level – Women's World Cup wasn't yet able to make enough money on its own – role of FIFA to support and develop Football for everyone Mastercard vs VISA and what happened on Sept 2015……. his side of the story Moral vs criminal accusations –  rules of engagement – code of conduct in business To reach Jerome Valcke - Jerome.valcke@gmx.es  (+34607937298)   About Jérôme Valcke, born 6/10/1960 in Paris French and South African citizenships Living in Carrer Catalunya 17, 08960 Sant Just Desvern, Spain E-mail: jerome.valcke@gmx.es Mobile number: +34 607 937 298 1983 RMC Journalist 1984 to 1988 CANAL+ News Presenter 1988 to 1991 CANAL+ Deputy Editor in Chief Newsroom 1992 to 1997 CANAL+ Deputy Director Sports Division. Responsible for all international sport rights acquisitions 1997 to 2001 CEO Sport+, Media Group CANAL+. Sport+ was a subsidiary of the Group CANAL+ for Media and Marketing rights. Sport+ acquired the international of all major football European leagues. 2002 COO Sportfive. Sportfive was created by Group CANAL+, UFA- Bertelsmann and Group Jean-Claude Darmont. Sportfive was one of the leading sports agencies in the world. 2003 to 2006 FIFA Marketing & TV Director 2007 to 2015 FIFA Secretary General. CEO of the institution. My main task was the preparation, organization and delivery of the World Cups (2010 & 2014) and the preparation for WC 2028 & WC 2022. Management of a team of 500 people. Today, owner of a winery located in Spain in the DOQ Priorat, Mas Igneus.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Alex Inglot, the Commissioner of the ESL Pro League (Esports). We discuss his legal background, his various sports roles before he entered the Esports world. Alex has been involved across multiple spectrums of the sports industry and is sharing his experiences with us before diving deep into his current role as Commissioner of the ESL Pro League (CS:GO).  Lots of great stories and learning across sports and gaming.    Key Highlights How it all started, studying law at Oxford, playing Volleyball at Uni to his first internship at IMG – Rugby World Cup contract work A few years of commercial law at various law firms in London – looking at a way back into the industry Took FIFA International Master program to bring him back into the industry First job after the program, heading to Mexico working at Atlante FC (club had just moved to Cancun), establishing a new fan base and building relationship with the region Couple of years at JTA – working on Manchester United Corporate Communication, working with owner Jon Tibbs, difference between legal and marketing communication principles Sportradar – promoting Sportradar's integrity services to Federations and other rights holders (as Director of Communication), later involved in the non-betting services and then the opportunities in US sports betting ATP Tour – Board Director – European Player Representative -working with ATP Player Council to drive progress for the members, redistribution of prize money, etc Setting up systems, processes, transparency (eliminating distrust between players and tournaments) -driven by Andrea Gaudenzi's vision, the new Chairman of ATP Tour How ATP Tour survived Covid and continued the vision of Gaudenzi – creating a JV mentality between players and events During COVID, ticketing revenue, which had always been very important for tennis events now became a vulnerability ATP Media – broadcast arm, bundling rights across different levels of events – aggregating media rights was key to create one stop shop for broadcasters and/or fans Commissioner of ESL Pro League (CS:GO – Counter Strike – Global Offensive) – major title by Valve Intro to CS:GO – history the past 10 years – one of the major FPS (First person Shooter) games, played globally ESL Pro Tour – owned by ESL FACEIT Group (new entity, created through merger, owned by Savvy Gaming Group from Saudi Arabia) CS:GO landscape with total Price money US$ 18 mil across all events  - players earning US$ 20-50k per month Comparison with other games and economics for teams – power of Publisher Louvre Agreement – distribution of money ESL makes to teams to build ecosystem – helping to sustain teams investments CS 2.0 is coming later this year and how the transition will happen Structure of League – 12 founding member teams – revenue share of traditional revenues such as sponsorship – guaranteed slot in Pro-League (currently 15 out of 32 team format) Opportunities for sponsor by aggregation of rights, bundling is key opportunity League staged in Malta – teams fly in for periods of time – Malta Gaming establishing itself as Esports/Gaming hub Esports/Gaming after Covid – from red hot to current slow down, is there a “winter” or just a natural correction? The fundamentals of Esports are solid and very attractive, especially anyone targeting the younger demographics (Metaverse, digital items, etc)   About A unique strategist drawing on years of international corporate and commercial law in the City of London; nearly a decade working at the sharp end of global sports communications and public affairs; and now Commissioner of the ESL Pro League. Focused on reading the landscape, developing a direction, securing buy-in and delivering impact. Driving the new structure that sits behind the CSGO ecosystem-leading EPL to ensure optimal governance and operations, record-breaking revenues and fair distribution, and the realisation of existing and upcoming aggregation opportunities. In parallel, using the platform to break down barriers across the wider CSGO stakeholder map and to drive collaboration for ecosystem optimisation. Took a driving role in the full review and overhaul of the ATP's leadership in order to bring in new structures and dynamic individuals, to ensure the Tour can continue to grow in a fast-changing entertainment landscape. Juggled stress-testing a seismic strategic vision, defining a clear governance upgrade and adapting to the challenges of a global circuit in COVID times, all while undertaking upgraded player outreach to ensure structure and policies were effective, well understood and beneficial. Previously led the whole range of communications and public affairs activities of one of the fastest growing enterprises in the global sports technology and innovation space, promoting their full range of expertise across data, content, betting, esports, streaming and integrity. This followed a number of years as a senior PR and international relations consultant to big names in football, Olympic sports and the integrity space. Over the years, I have been a regular spokesperson across conference panels, workshops and seminars, while also guest lecturing at academic institutions across Europe and sitting on industry event and award advisory boards. Former member of the English National Mens Volleyball Team Former coach of the Swiss Cottage Ladies Volleyball Team   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ  

Misha Sher, a sports marketing veteran, author, lecturer with a unique background and great stories from working with Pele to many other big sports properties and brands. We are going deep why brands engage with sports, esports/gaming, women's sport and how to activate it, athlete marketing and unpacking his current role as Global Head of Sport, Entertainment and Culture at MediaCom (now called EssenceMediacom and part of WPP's GroupM).    Key Highlights Born in Ukraine, immigrating to the US at the age of 13, culture shock, didn't speak the language.  Football/Soccer was his language and helped him to integrate Dream to be a pro Footballer cut short, first job in Banking in Boston – start making a living Next stop Masters Degree in Football in Liverpool – back to his passion – thesis on Premier League Clubs in North America Soccerex – Director of Business Development – helping expand to Singapore and new commercial ideas, ie cities paying host fees Short sting as Ranger Football Club as Global Partnership Director – some lessons from it Entering MediaCom – short intro on the company being part of WPP's GroupM – managing billions of dollars of advertising money Media agency investing in traditional media channels, agency starting to offer new services to take “customers” (Brands) into sport and other entertainment spaces Sports marketing agencies and Media Agencies, from partners to rivals Pele – amazing opportunity to represent him for several years to help build his brand and create commercial opportunities (Pele was 72 at the time). Brazil about to host the FIFA World 2014 and Olympics 2016 – most iconic Brazilian sports star – building his brand by association with other iconic brands (Coca Cola, Emirates, Hublot, Procter & Gamble, etc) Amazing networking by being around him and meeting Heads of States to CEO's  - signing multi years, multi million dollar deals for him – managing and maximizing his time Some personal stories about Pele, the Legend and the man he was Deploying Clients Money – over USD 1 billion in his career across B2C and B2B opportunities -  value creation is the key Transactional nature of industry vs “why” would/should the fan/customer care and what is the best vehicle to achieve the client's objectives “As a brand, don't disrupt what people love, be the thing what people love” -  Eintracht Frankfurt sponsor example (Indeed), perfect alignment with club Discussion about lack of understanding and budgets beyond the initial budget to buy into a property by many brands – ratio spending on activation Balancing risk factors for brands between engagement in athletes, clubs/teams and leagues, different risk vs rewards Athletes and influencers becoming “media platforms”, huge social media reach and the opportunity for brands Gaming/Esport/Web3, where are the opportunities for brands – examples and discussion about future growth Growth of Women's sport, the importance and opportunities for brands Working on new book  – (working title) “From Athlete to Enterprise” – how to build a personal brand and build sustainable future incomes        About Senior commercial & marketing executive with more than 15 years international experience developing some of the most iconic brands, rights holders and talent. Having operated at the cross section of sport, media, tech, talent and advertising, have an intrinsic understanding of how to unlock growth to drive commercial and strategic objectives. Have advised on strategic direction, negotiation and execution of more than £1B in partnerships across sport & entertainment in more than 40 markets. Strong business leader, with track record of building and managing diverse teams while operating in a multifaceted global organization. Possess a considerable global network of C-suite executives across sport, music, brands, governments, media owners and agencies. Passionate about embracing disruption and driving industry innovation, with opinions regularly featured in major media outlets (CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sport Business Intl). Co-Author of a best-selling book, ‘Art of Branded Entertainment', exploring the future of uninterrupted marketing. Specialties: Leadership, Strategic planning, Marketing & Brand strategy, Business growth, Commercial partnerships, Revenue generation, Sport & Entertainment strategy and activation, Public speaking, Pitching, Sales & Business Development, Talent Management, Negotiation, Brand building. Clients include: Toyota, Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Dell, Shell, indeed, Skoda, Subway, Hotels.com, BAT, Allianz, GSK, Fonterra, Sony PlayStation, Beats by Dre, Richemont, Pelé, Brian Lara, Eniola Aluko, Liverpool FC, Watford FC.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Ben Nichols, a veteran sports communication and public relations expert with decades of experiences across the industry from WADA, Commonwealth Games Federation, Sportsradar to many other consulting jobs around the world. Listen to Ben's unique journey around the world and his new company – Padel 22 – a dedicated communication consultancy for the world of Padel sport.   Key Highlights How his career started -  combining his love for writing with sports, travelling and working around the world Working in Dubai on ATP/WTA Tour stop and Emirates Dubai Rugby, next stop Lotus Renault travelling the globe and F1 circuit How to differentiate one F1 team from another and how to communicate it WADA  – unpacking his 4 years at the World Anti-Doping Agency – heading to Montreal, Canada – media relations and communication During his period, various scandals hit the press from Lance Armstrong to Russian Doping scandals, IAAF  – his experiences WADA, an “independent” body although funded by the IOC – working across all departments to assure a clear message goes out Pound and McLaren reports – big global media focus Athletics Integrity Unit  set up by IAAF President, Sebastian Coe – the sport working on cleaning up its act Commonwealth Games Federation – Gold Coast Games in Australia – setting new standards and targets for sports from gender equality to disabled vs abled body athletes competitions From briefings at Buckingham Palace to writing opening speeches for the President     Sportradar unique service– providing Anti-Doping Services to major event organizers  (intelligence investigation services, athlete performance monitoring, etc) – business development role PADEL 22 – his new agency – https://www.padel-22.com What is Padel – background and difference to other similar sports (ie. tennis, pickleball, squash, etc) Dynamic, urban, cool new sports Vision and mission of Padel 22 – why he set up a single focused agency – one sport, global focus Padel vs Pickleball (European vs American style sports promotions) and ambitions of both sports Final thoughts – opportunities around the world - “sports nomad” Link: https://www.padel-22.com/   About A leading Sports Communications, International Relations and Padel Industry professional who ran Media Relations for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) during 'the biggest sporting crisis of the 21st century' - the Russian Doping Scandal. Ben also led Communications and Public Affairs for a revitalised Commonwealth Sport movement at Gold Coast 2018, transforming the perception of the modern Commonwealth Games. Ben brings with him with 17+ years' experience and a proven track record of success running communications for the world's leading sports series, leagues, events, teams, leaders, athletes, brands and media. Ben is an entrepreneurial figure with expertise in Strategic and Corporate Communications, Media Relations, Public Affairs, Issues & Crisis Management, Event Operations, Speech Writing, Executive Communications Counsel, Marketing and as a Spokesperson. By 26, Ben was overseeing Communications for the award-winning ATP and WTA Dubai Tennis Championships and leading the Middle East region's Communications for the 2010 Asian Games 'Road of Asia' campaign. At F1 team Lotus Renault GP, Ben led Media activity including for drivers Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean and team sponsors. He oversaw Media Relations for WADA during a turbulent period for international sport. He was Communications Counsel for leadership; Editor of Play True Magazine; Speechwriter; and creator of widely-acclaimed interview series, WADA Talks. He executed Media Relations and Social Media for the high-profile WADA Investigation into Doping in Athletics, achieving a total US$4.60 Billion AVE in the process and resulting in #WADA becoming the World's No.1 trending topic on Twitter. As the Commonwealth Games Federation's first Director of Communications and Public Affairs, he developed and implemented the Marketing & Communications Strategy, positively shifting the public perception of what the Commonwealth Games meant worldwide. Ben ran his own Sports Communications Consultancy working with the likes of the International Padel Federation (FIP), Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), USA Weightlifting, USADA and the Athletics Integrity Unit, and also worked for global sports media and technology innovators, Sportradar, heading the Anti-Doping Services team for Europe. Today, he is working as a Strategic Communications and PR Consultant in the burgeoning sport of Padel – widely described as "the world's fastest growing sport".   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Great discussion with Professor Simon Chadwick, a highly respected academic in the world of sports, with several books and papers to his name and various successful consulting roles across the world combining academics with the real world.  We take a birds eye look at the world of sports, the hottest topics and issues out there, across Simon's 20+ year career.   Key Highlights  How it all started, growing up living across his local team, Middlesborough – passion passed down by generations Premier League paper in mid 90s got the ball rolling, leading to a PhD with his thesis focused on Football Shirt deals in English Football How to connect a brand to the heart of the fan through shirt sponsorship discussion Working with overseas Master & PhD students to study overseas fan behavior, how do fans in China pick a “favorite club” Stories – Ferran Soriano early vision at Barcelona & Manchester United Tour lessons from 2005 Lessons learned from trips and work IN PLACES INCLUDING THE GULF, China, Russia, - understanding the differences and impact on sports. Teaching around the world from Brazil to Japan TO THE UNITED STATES Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy – work with them prior to the World Cup Our discussion on “migrant worker” issues and “Sports Washing” history lessons, politics, nation branding, etc China – what is happening since Covid – recent Winter Olympics, dropping the AFC Asia Cup (Football) as host (Geo political issues) Public sector entrepreneur – writing books looking at Mega trends (Managing Football, Handbook of Sports Marketing, etc.  New book “The Geopolitical economy of sports” – coming out this year (Publisher: Routledge) Women's sports discussion, opportunities and challenges Esports & Gaming – how countries take advantage of investments in Esports to build new industries, ie. Korea, Saudi Arabia, China Sports coming out of Covid – survival of the fittest, concentration of power (industrial concentration) Recession talk vs Mega Media deals globally (how to explain it) – polarization   About Professor Simon Chadwick is a researcher, writer, academic, consultant, policy advisor, and speaker with more than twenty-five years experience in the global sport industry. His work focuses on the geopolitical economy of sport. Chadwick is Professor of Sport and Geopolitical Economy at Skema Business School in Paris, where he is also a member of its think tank - Publika - as well as Programme Director of Skema's Global Executive MBA in Sport. Simon previously co-founded and directed Emlyon Business School's Centre for the Eurasian Sport Industry, the University of London's Birkbeck Sports Business Centre, Coventry University's Centre for the International Business of Sport, and Salford University's Centre for Sport Business. In addition, he has worked at several of the world's most prestigious business schools, such as IESE in Spain, Otto Beisheim in Germany, Tsinghua in China, COPPEAD in Brazil and Waseda in Japan. He has written numerous articles, books and research reports for the likes of Forbes, Sloan Management Review, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Forbes, Thunderbird International Business Review, Mastercard, Newsweek, Reuters, Time, Routledge and Financial Times Prentice Hall. Chadwick has consulted for some of the biggest names in sport, such as FC Barcelona, UEFA, Adidas, the Association of Tennis Professionals, Nielsen, the European Clubs Association, Ping, Formula E, Coca Cola, and the Asian Football Confederation. Simon tweets via @Prof_Chadwick Some examples of his writing can be found via channels including: https://www.iris-france.org/geosport/ https://www.policyforum.net/authors/simon-chadwick/ https://theconversation.com/profiles/simon-chadwick-94601/articles https://www.ejinsight.com/eji/author/id/10880   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Leigh Steinberg, aka the real life Jerry Maguire, the US Super Agent goat sharing his illustrious career and accomplishments and the trials and tribulations across his 50 year career.  Enjoy the history lessons and learnings.   Key Highlights Going way back to the 1960, height of Vietnam war and dealing with then California Governor Ronald Reagan (later US President) The start of “Agents” in American Football – first deal with Steve Bartkowski in 1975 at the age of 25 straight out of Berkely Law School   His passion to give back to the community and how that has driven his selection of clients Growth of the company – focus on NFL Quarterbacks, expanding into other Sports – first book, adding agents Helping the city of San Francisco to keep SF Giants in the city, instead of being sold to investor group. Becoming a steward of sports  (being the bridge between owners vs athletes – billionaires vs millionaires – avoid strikes, etc) Start of the company, key partners Jeff Moorad and later David Dunn joining and some of the challenges Discussion about the pioneers of the industry, from Mark McCormack to David Falk Explosion of content to drive industry – sports becoming the most popular form of television programming Selling the company and what happened after and how plans changed Early days of athletes content online during the dot.com boom Personal struggles taking a toll and his personal crash in 2010 – recently celebrity 12 years of sobriety – starting all over Lessons from that time and how others can learn from it The new beginning – Steinberg Sports & Entertainment Story behind Jerry Maguire and how the movie came about and a bit about “Any Given Sunday” Current biggest stars on his roster,  superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes II – comparing contract numbers across sports and agent commissions Endorsement deals for sports stars – big difference in sports – the billionaire sports superstars of our era NIL and the impact for High School and College players – managing expectations – social media as currency Athletes taking equity in businesses they promote – new form of wealth creation – agency helps to cut those deals Content creation by athletes, production and social media What makes a great athletes a Superstar – certain qualities required His view on the future of sports and Esports and new focus on health and wellness Other things that keep him busy, new book, podcast, charity to agent academy -  www.steinbergspeaks.com   About Leigh Steinberg, premier sports agent, entrepreneur, Chairman and founder of Steinberg Sports and Entertainment, is best known for his work building athletes into stand-alone brands. He is often credited as the real-life inspiration for the Oscar-winning film Jerry Maguire. Leigh has represented many of the most successful athletes and coaches in football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing, golf, etc., including the number one overall pick in the NFL draft for an unprecedented eight times in conjunction with 64 total first round picks. Furthermore, Leigh has represented other notable athletes, including Oscar De La Hoya and Lennox Lewis, as well as multiple Olympians and professional teams. With an unrivaled history of record-setting contracts, Leigh has secured over $4 billion for his 300+ pro athlete clients and directed more than $800 million to various charities around the world.   Before making a name for himself in the sports industry, Leigh was born and raised in Los Angeles by his parents, a teacher and librarian. He obtained both his B.A. in political science and his J.D. from UC Berkeley, where he was student body president during each tenure. Passionate about giving back and making it his unrelenting personal goal to make the world a better place, Leigh has also distinguished himself by his dedication to philanthropy. He has received commendations from Congress, State Senate, State Legislature, the Los Angeles City Council, the Orange County Board of Supervisors, President Reagan, President Bush, and President Clinton. Leigh has been named “Man of the Year” over a dozen times by a variety of groups, including the March of Dimes, Cedars-Sinai, the Southern California Boy Scouts, the Orange County and Los Angeles Human Relations Commissions, the Orange County and Los Angeles divisions of the Anti-Defamation League, and several other professional and charitable organizations. He has also been awarded the “Keys to the City” in San Francisco, CA, Memphis, TN, Jacksonville, FL and Concord, CA and has even been honored with the declaration of “Leigh Steinberg Day” in San Francisco after his efforts to save the Giants. In 2017, Leigh was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame.   Over the course of his career, Leigh has been featured on numerous national television programs, including 60 Minutes, Larry King Live, The Today Show, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Frontline, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and many more. He has been profiled in a host of magazines, including Business Week, Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, People, Forbes, Playboy, GQ, and FHM. Leigh has also served as a consultant on several feature films and television series, including Jerry Maguire, Any Given Sunday, For Love of the Game, and Arli$$. Additionally, he has supplied his expertise on the business of sports and athletes for The Dan Patrick Show, The Jim Rome Show, and The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and multiple other radio and TV outlets. Leigh contributes a weekly column to Forbes, HuffPost, and the Daily Pilot and is a guest columnist at The New York Times, Sporting News, and Yahoo Sports. In addition, Leigh has penned notable articles such as “The Future of Sports” for the Sports Business Journal, “Around the NFL in 80 Million Dollars” for Inside Sports Magazine, and “The Future of Sport” for the Smithsonian Magazine.   In addition to his work in the industry, Leigh is also a best-selling author. His first book, Winning with Integrity, provides insight on how to improve life through non-confrontational negotiation, and his most recent book, The Agent: My 40-Year Career of Making Deals and Changing the Game, details his decades of dominance in the sports industry and sheds light on overcoming his personal struggles to launch his comeback. Leigh has been named one of the most powerful people in the NFL by Football Digest and one of the most powerful people in sports by Sporting News. He currently resides in Newport Beach and has three children.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Great discussion with my old friend Andrea Radrizzani, an Italian sports entrepreneur who build MP & Silva to a billion dollar company, the journey from Milan to Asia to now Leeds as Owner & Chairman of Leeds United.   Key Highlights How it started,  Media Partners,  early days of live streaming and website development (Web 1.0) Working with strong leaders and visionaries at Media Partners Move to Asia – first two years in Shanghai  - distribution of media rights , next move to Tokyo Dream was to distribute Serie A rights in Asia -  it became much bigger How MP & Silva got started, partnering with Riccardo Silva –  set up in Singapore (50/50 partnership) Growth of business with focus on Media rights -  close to USD 1 billion in revenue at the end Clear focus on Football rights initially, premium content, pay extra to get into market and build credibility Focus on local market knowledge, at one point 21 offices around the world,  breaking rights into smaller packages Sell of MP & Silva to a Chinese group and the aftermath -  starting the next businesses (Eleven) and buying Leeds United, making mistakes and learning from them Proving he can build successful platforms, investors and partners joining along the way Strategy of Eleven – focus on markets with less competition and opportunity to become a leading platform quickly (Poland, Portugal, Taiwan, etc) Deal with DAZN and ELEVEN – future plans and roles Leeds United story – how it all started and where it is now, boyhood dream come true The journey from The Championship up to Premier League and staying there last season (scoring in last minute of game to stay in)    Working with High profile Investors (49ers, American Football team) and the combination of skills Learnings from his career – how you define risk taking and the level you are comfortable with Changing management style, lessons cost millions, listen more – building strong management teams Play for Change – passion project and new projects coming up   About Andrea Radrizzani is the Chairman of Leeds United and a leading entrepreneur who has been at the forefront of the global sports media industry for more than twenty years. A self-made businessman, Andrea founded the investment platform Aser Ventures in 2015, specialising in sports, media and entertainment properties. Aser became co-owners of Leeds United in January 2017 and since May of that year, Aser has been the ultimate parent company of the club with Andrea as Chairman. During his time with Leeds United, Andrea has overseen the return of the club to the Premier League in the 2019/20 season, following 16 years in the lower divisions. Whilst at Leeds, he has also appointed world-renowned coach Marcelo Bielsa, supported the development of one of the most successful academies in English football and bought back the Club's iconic Elland Road stadium. Andrea's success in the business world dates back over two decades. Radrizzani began his career in sports media in 1999 with digital sports content distributor Media Partners and founded Media Partners' China business.  He went on to co-found MP & Silva in 2004, launching the renowned sports media agency's operations from its headquarters in Singapore and leading its global expansion into 20 countries as CEO and major shareholder. Later, through Aser, Andrea launched the international sports content platform ELEVEN SPORTS in 2015. ELEVEN has since established itself as an innovative and fan-centric media platform in markets across Europe and Asia, with a rights portfolio that includes LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Premier League, UEFA Champions League and F1. ELEVEN recently secured domestic rights to the Belgian Pro League for the next five seasons. Andrea is also the Founder and Chairman of Play for Change, an international charity that uses the power of sport to improve the lives of children in his native Italy and around the world. Born in Milan, Andrea studied Public Relations at the city's IULM University and graduated in 1996.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ    

Tracy Benson gives us an insight look into her amazing career with great stories, from her struggles as a Pro Volleyball player, to having a very successful Corporate career, learning all the tools and tactics of consumer marketing and digital to becoming an Entrepreneur and launching Obsesh, a new digital sports platform, just before Covid hit the world.   Key Highlights From student athletes to Pro Volleyball player and the changes since then (NIL) (30 years ago) – dream come true and the struggles Trying to make a living being a Pro Volleyball player, winning tournaments and prize was a case of Pepsi Moving into the corporate world, first stop Home Depot and the learning coming in as an athlete, being a leader/captain every day Olympic Work program, great way to bring fellow athletes into Home Depot and giving them a chance to make a living  (full benefits, part time work) Next stops, Jack Morton & Razorfish, learning advertising and experiential marketing (early days of Web 1 and moving into Web 2) Head of Digital/Marketing at Best Buy – building a consumer digital platform, story telling was key Best Buy buying Napster, everything shifting online, meeting with Facebook when it was a few guys around Mark Monster and Beats by Dre story, how Best Buy helped create the brand and drive sales (Black Headphones) – learning from lots of mistakes Joining Monster as Global Chief Marketing & Product officer, coming out to California, being around digital innovators OBSESH – peer to peer sports marketplace for 1:1 remote access to the best athletes as coaches  (go.obsesh.com) Focused on the 99% of athletes who are struggling to make a living with their sport Coming through Stadia Ventures Accelerator – investors include YouTube founder Chad Hurley, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels.  Ranked top 5 sports tech company to watch in 2021 Helping athletes building their brand, huge opportunity after NIL ruling with College athlete now Covid impact on the business was positive being born a “digital technology” company, also the off/on of sports during Covid, speed up space of adoption, more reasons for athletes to join the platform and seek new income streams, accelerated business across many aspects  (timing is crucial starting a business)   Company working truly online around the country, no physical office space, opportunity and challenges Business model – focus on athletes first, athletes set their own price points and keep 100% - percentage fee on top of athletes fee (mark up) Top five things every athlete wants, great details shared by Tracy Obsesh Athlete Academy – free support for athletes to learn about digital, social media, contracts, trademarks, etc – including access to standardized contracts from appearances to social media deals, learning rules of NIL, etc NFT Marketplace – in partnership with Beasy Unite,  peer to peer NFT marketplace for athletes, tokenizing memberships, digital merchandise Web3  discussion -  our “Before they were Pros” NFT project and how fans are also a very important part of the ecosystem “Chief” – founding member of private network designed to empower women in leadership roles  (https://chief.com) Being a voice for women, gay community and spreading the message of inclusiveness – global ambitions in the future How to connect with Tracy - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbdigital/,  email: athletes@obsesh.com   About Tracy Benson is the CEO and co-founder of Obsesh, the sports marketplace platform connecting consumers to top athletes, and empowering athlete entrepreneurs to manage, merchandise, market, and monetize their fans online. Previously she was Global Chief Marketing Officer at Seek Thermal, Global Chief Marketing & Product Officer at Monster Inc. (maker of Beats by Dre and Monster headphones), Head of Marketing at Best Buy, Hyper-Growth Market leader at The Home Depot (where she developed the first athlete-work program for Olympians) and Sales & Marketing Manager at AT&T. Tracy was an All-Conference NCAA volleyball athlete at Western Illinois University before becoming a professional beach volleyball player. She earned an MBA in Marketing & Finance from the University of Notre Dame.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ  

Steve Patterson, a fellow YPOer and top US Sports Executive turned Entrepreneur with an incredible four decades of experience in the business, who learned the ropes working for his dad at the age of 10. Incredible stories and insights across the US sporting landscape from NBA, NFL, NHL to major Universities and working with several US billionaire owners over the decades.  Tons of great facts and figures of record breaking deals and no end in sight for him.   Key Highlights How it all started, through his dad, co-founder of Milwaukee Bucks, him answering the phone at 10 years old Background of his dad (Ray Patterson), All American Player, turned Coach and early investor in Bucks when they went public in 1968/69 His dad drafting Kareem Abdul Jabbar and winning the Championship in 1971 Moving to Houston and first major role with Houston Rockets as Director of Business Operations His Houston Rocket Days, breaking attendance records, doubling TV revenue, first NBA game in Mexico City, first Spanish Language TV show, great stories around them Building a Championship team, including Hakeem Olajuwon, creating the team that won the NBA title in 1993-94 – how it started and the role of Def Leppard …. Difference between a General Manager and the Coach – long term vs short term view Next stop, President & Partner in Houston Aeros (Ice) Hockey Team in the IHL and Compaq Center deal Helping to bring Houston Texans (NFL) to Houston in early 2000 – Chuck Watson and Bobby McNair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_McNair  (later Senior VP & Chief Development Officer) Massive numbers across the deal, including purchase price (US$ 750 million), deal terms revealed Building a stadium, hiring staff and team from scratch Over US$ 450 million of Contractual Obligated Income (COI) generated to create first investment grade sports franchise Learn about the Texas “Superbowl Bill” and its legacy to help bring major events to the state ever since From NFL to NBA – Paul Allen, owner of Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers – taking role as President/GM for Trail Blazers Comparing numbers between Rockets and Trail Blazers 20 years later, difference in media landscape, building set up, etc Team lost US$ 135mil the year he arrived, turned it around over four years -  US$ 52 mil in “luxury tax” due on first day on the job Starting Pro Sports Consulting in 2007, providing services to companies, US governments, universities and individuals to seek, acquire, sell major/minor league sports properties, from design, finance, building to maximizing revenues Roles at Arizona State University – VP of Athletics and later Men's Athletic Director at University of Texas, Austin Differences between Pro Sports and College Sports in the US – different stake holders UT has US$ 180 million budget, largest athletic budget in the country and how it's spend NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) discussion and Steve's interesting perspective Arizona Coyotes, NHL team, successfully positioned team for sale Most recent venture, Legend Labs – branding and crisis consulting firm, representing athletes to Universities, and other entities – Co-Chairman & Partner   Pro Sports Consulting – working on Charlotte Hornets, new Stadium project  & Executive Coaching role   About Steve Patterson has served as an innovative and successful executive in the NFL, NBA, NHL, professional baseball, and college athletics for over 35 years. He has built championship teams and organizations, designed, financed, built, and run stadia, ballparks, and arenas with record setting revenues all over the United States. Patterson successfully led the effort to bring the Houston Texans NFL team and Super Bowl XXXVIII to Houston, Texas. As General Manager of the Houston Rockets, he built the 1994 NBA Championship team. Patterson is currently the President of Pro Sports Consulting, which provides services to universities, companies, government entities, and individuals that operate or seek to acquire or sell sports properties, to design, finance, build and operate sports facilities and to maximize the revenue of these and related entities. He is also the Co-Chair of Legend Labs a brand and crisis communications consultancy. Patterson is formerly the President, CEO and Alternate Governor of the Arizona Coyotes. He is also the former Director of Men's Athletics for the University of Texas at Austin where he oversaw the largest athletic department budget in all of college sports while setting records for academic success, revenue generation, endowment growth and philanthropic giving to the athletic department. Prior to UT, Patterson served as Managing Director of Sun Devil Sports Group, Vice President for Athletics and Athletic Director for Sun Devil Athletics at Arizona State University. In that capacity, Patterson was responsible for all ASU Athletic Department business and sports operations, acquisition, development, and operation of current and new sports facilities and assisted with the development of the 425-acre Sports Facilities District adjacent to the University in downtown Tempe. As President of the Portland Trail Blazers, The Rose Garden and Rose City Radio. Patterson refined his skills as a turnaround specialist, while garnering national recognition for his player acquisitions when he took over the team's General Manager duties. As the Trail Blazers General Manager, Patterson engineered a record six draft day trades that resulted in the selection of NBA Rookie of the Year and three-time NBA All Star Brandon Roy and fellow All Rookie 1st team, seven-time NBA All Star and five time All NBA member LaMarcus Aldridge. Patterson also revamped the entire basketball operation, hiring then GM Kevin Pritchard and Head Coach Nate McMillan. Patterson formerly served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of the Houston Texans NFL franchise where he led Bob McNair's successful effort to acquire a National Football League franchise and Super Bowl XXXVIII for Houston, Texas. Patterson was responsible for the establishment of the team's business, legal, media and political operations, as well as the development, design, finance, construction and operation of NRG Stadium and related facilities. Prior to joining the Texans, Patterson was the President, General Manager and Governor of the Houston Aeros hockey team. For his efforts he was named the 1995 winner of the Andy Mulligan Trophy as the International Hockey League's Executive of the Year. In addition to his roles with the Aeros, Patterson also acquired and served as President and Partner in Arena Operating Company, which managed and operated Compaq Center, Houston's home of the Rockets, Aeros and Comets. While overseeing all the business and basketball operations of the Houston Rockets, Patterson was the chief architect of the 1993-1994 Houston Rockets squad that captured the first NBA World Championship in franchise history signing, drafting, or trading for all the team's players and coaches. Patterson also led the club's successful bid to host the 1989 NBA All-Star Game in The Astrodome, which held the all-time NBA All-Star Game attendance record of 44,735 for 21 years. Born and raised in Beaver Dam, WI. Patterson attended the University of Texas, graduating with honors earning a bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1980. He graduated from UT's Law School in 1984. He is married to Yasmin Michael with whom he has three grown children.     Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Today, I am talking to Gagan Palrecha, the CEO of NFTSTAR, a new Bay Area startup in the NFT sports space. Palrecha is an engineer by training and has been fascinated by sports & music since his youth. We cover some of the stops across his career, the build-up to his current role, including time at Dapper Labs as VP of Operations. We go deep into the blockchain, crypto, NFTs, Web 2.5 to 3.0, the metaverse, digital stadium, play-to-earn, and many more current buzzwords and of course, his vision for NFTSTAR.    Key Highlights Palrecha grew up playing sports & had a passion for music. After studying computer engineering and science, he was attracted to the startup scene in San Francisco in the early 2000s. Palrecha joined Loudcloud, a startup backed by VC company Andreessen Horowitz, before moving to a few other startups. As his first entrepreneurial exploits, Palrecha started First Time Records. Palrecha helped develop a space for artists and creators at the following businesses: Zattoo -- live streaming, the first virtual cable operator Peekok -- a platform to help artists and labels create a direct retail relationship with fans, via social and interactive marketing (early days of NFTs) Chirply -- fundraising for design marketplace 2013: Blockchain and Bitcoin  The concept of a distributed ledger that governs ownership without government interference fascinated him. Palrecha's experience at Dapper Labs: Crypto Kitty was the first big project for Dapper, before it was called Dapper Labs. The NBA took a risk and jointly created NBA Top Shot in 2020. By the end of 2020 and early 2021, NFTs took off and NBA Top Shot lead the way. Over 1 billion worth of trading volume with NBA Top Shot. What worked and didn't work at the height of NBA Top Shot: Dealing with backlogs and regulatory issues. Blockchain challenges and issues with bots. Challenges of the virtual trading card model.  NFTSTAR: Palrecha's vision as CEO (website: https://m.nftstar.com/)  NFTSTAR is building the biggest sports stadium in the Web3 metaverse. The company is working with athletes to build a direct relationship with fans.  Current projects with: Neymar Jr, Luis Figo, Son Heung-Min (Soccer) Giannis Antetokounmpo (Basketball) Christian McCaffrey (American Football) NFTSTAR is currently in its startup stage, with its first collection coming out in the fall of 2022 Beyond the usual NFT headshots, NFTSTAR will include mobile gaming elements, as well an interactive and immersive fantasy world around its athlete partners. Prioritizing a meta stadium and virtual stadium vision, NFTSTAR rewards the fans and viewers with avatars and more. NFTSTAR is funded through private investors, not through a token raise. Play-to-Earn discussion: There are many current challenges early play-to-earn games are facing—taking a look at Axie Infinity for example. NFTSTAR is looking at the game and user experience first before focusing on play-to-earn business strategies.  NFTSTAR is not building a speculative platform. Instead, members are rewarded for participation with special privileges or items. NFTSTAR athlete engagement: Upcoming Neymar NFT drop, where Neymar and his team are heavily involved. NFTSTAR is all about the athlete and how they grew up, where they come from, and what shaped them.  The company helps build a community around the athletes by prioritizing experiences. If you'd like to reach Palrecha, contact him at nftstar@vsc.co.   About Gagan Palrecha joined NFTSTAR as COO in September 2021, and is responsible for business development and operations, strategic partnerships, and product strategy. As the former Vice President of Dapper Labs, creators of NBA Top Shot and the Flow blockchain, Palrecha brings extensive experience and expertise in the NFT startup space. He has held several leadership positions in business development, product and operations and has done extensive work in Europe and Asia. He is also an active angel investor through his investment fund, Palrecha Capital. Palrecha is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and currently resides in the Bay Area.    Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Damian Willoughby, turned his passion for football, playing in his youth in the UK, then NCAA football to spending his career across Rangers FC, Chelsea FC, Manchester City and the City Football Group till his current and most recent role at EA (Electronic Arts) in Esports.  Listen and learn from his experiences at some of the biggest Football brands and now at EA.   Key Highlights From playing youth Football in the UK, to NCAA “soccer” and getting his MBA at University of Liverpool in Football Leading to his first first role in Rangers FC, leading sponsorship programs Despite the huge rivalry between Rangers and Celtic (collectively called “The Old Firm”) on the pitch, both clubs cooperated on sponsorship deals to avoid brands having to split across the fan base.  Very clever Talking numbers, front of shirt and other revenue streams for Rangers.  Very competitive with the big UK clubs at the time due to passionate fan base, 50k fans in stadium, etc.  The big Premier League Media income started to make the difference and swing power to English Clubs. Next stop Chelsea, Abramovich's early era and success started to make a difference. Talking Samsung and leveraging the power of the Premier League globally.  Discussing the “not invented here syndrome” of global brand sponsorships and how to deal with it.  Singha Beer deal discussion. Moving into Player Management side with James Grant Sports Group for a couple of years to learn that part of the business, wasn't his thing Manchester City, new Arab owners already in place and club on major trajectory – joining in global sponsorship sales role City Football Group (New York, Melbourne, Mumbai, Yokohama, etc) – 12 clubs now globally – (and Ferran Soriano's role in it) How it works from a commercial point of view and creating synergies across the different clubs, leveraging the global power of Manchester City combined with the local strength of the various partner clubs Moving to Singapore running global business from there for six years, last few years also CEO of City Football India (Mumbai City FC), last few years during Covid How players move around the City Football Group ecosystem In the Middle of Covid, mid 2021, Gaming/Esports is booming, next move, VP Partnerships for EA Sports – huge company, US$ 7 billion in revenue, 13,000 people worldwide Talking Esports & EA properties, much more than FIFA, leader of sports simulation games (Madden NFL, F1, UFC, NHL, PGA Tour, etc) and other successful non-sports games (Apex Legend, Battlefield, The Sims) – difference between sports and non-sports games Huge player base and time spend in the game by Gamers, massive audiences and engagement levels – still lots of education to be done with brands on how to leverage it FIFA split, what he could share – big plans for EA Sports FC , nothing changes in the game, the teams and general feel of the game Stevenage FC and Burger King,  how it went viral, creative thinking on how to leverage a game   About  A highly accomplished and respected global football executive with 20+ years experience in generating and managing over £1.3bn in revenues, motivating large (+65 staff) and globally diverse (13 offices) teams to achieve sporting and financial goals around performance, brand, revenue and fan growth for leading sports properties including City Football Group, Chelsea & Rangers FC. Most recently CEO of City Football India following the strategic acquisition of a majority stake in Mumbai City FC, worked with CFG and Reliance as shareholders to develop the Club, Indian Super League and Indian football. Currently VP, Partnerships at Electronic Arts, originally head hunted to develop the commercial strategy for Esports across key global EA franchises (FIFA, Madden & Apex) and now working in a small core executive team to shape the future of the company's marquee football franchise.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Sandy Brown, another true American Sports Nomad, especially in the Media and Broadcasting space.  Listen to amazing stories of Sandy's globe trotting career around the world from ProServ, NBA, ESPN/Star Sports, Univision, ONE World Sports and more.   Key Highlights Growing up playing tennis, made connections through his Tennis Club in Delaware How he got started at ProServ, first meeting with Donald Dell, driving his limo around the airport Dennis Spencer one of his early mentors (shout out to one of the nicest guys in the industry) Pro-Serve, top roster of Tennis and NBA players, tennis tournaments – peak of company Before Sportel Monaco days, MIP TV and MIP Com , flogging sports TV rights in Cannes   Next stop NBA, international TV rights – David Stern his next mentor, early days as Commissioner (know your business better than anyone else was his mantra) CCTV story.  Happened to me before as well ESPN Asia,  move to Hong Kong  -  at the age of 28 (1992) Birth of Cable industry in Asia, Satellite distribution just started – DTH business across the region US content as a start and Monday night Premier League matches Creative deal making in China Merger of ESPN Asia and Star Sports in Asia (Murdoch) (new set up in Singapore) – Managing Director of new JV Big change in broadcast landscape and shock for Rights holders and agencies Two different corporate cultures working together, very focused on turning a loss making entity to break even ESPN had carriage fees,  Star Sports was free for platform owners (Advertising driven) Exploits in India, cable operators in India are another level (try to visualize it) – Chris McDonald/Manu Sawhney (wild west of India, machine guns, etc) ARPU blend discussion – penny a sub in China, 5 cent in India to 1 dollar in SEA and Taiwan – retail rate of partners Disney/ESPN recently shut the entire network structure down after acquiring FOX Sports globally a few years before, about 30 years later   Next stop CNBC Asia (NBC Universal) – learning the GE culture, Jack Welsh as CEO Business News different thing After 15 years, time to come back to the US – biggest take away, working with great people makes the difference Univision – President of Sports – launching a domestic US cable sports channel focused on Hispanic population – bringing in new ideas and concepts, pushing Rights holders to new grounds ONE World Sports – new platform targeting Asian diaspora in the US (Seamus O'Brien behind the venture) From two affiliate deals, pushed up to 70 Lots of live content, Chinese Super League, KHL (Russian Ice-hockey), ECB (English Cricket), European Football Club Channels, Table Tennis, etc Alternative to ESPN, heavy promotions and support to rights holders to market their product in the US Eventually shareholders decided to sell the business – to ELEVEN Commissioner of Major League Lacrosse – turn around situation, difficult set up with owners and commercial structure League had been around for 20 years, lots of cleaning up to do Competitive League shows up (PLL), plus Covid gets in the way Merging with PLL now, handing it over, winding up MLL Poshando Inc – starting his own consulting business just recently (back in Baltimore) Final thoughts on Broadcasting/Streaming industry currently,  subscription models (Netflix), investor expectations vs industry realities  (ARPU blend vs Sub growth) – quality of subscribers cost of acquisition of subs (cost of broadcast rights   About Alexander P. Brown joined Major League Lacrosse in February 2018. Since taking the helm, Brown has drastically improved the experience and opportunity for players, teams and fans. During his tenure, he has restructured the ownership group, rebranded the league marks and reacquired the league's media rights, leading to exponential growth in nationally televised reach. In 2019, Brown welcomed ten new partners to the league, introduced a creative and sophisticated digital team (generating 194% growth in social traffic, 97% growth in social engagement and 393% growth in web traffic) and achieved a 16% increase in total attendance year-over-year. During the 2020 COVID impacted year, Brown oversaw the most successful year in MLL's history in terms of overall engagement, generating over 150mm digital impressions over an eight (8) day tournament. Further, the league's impressions on ESPN and ESPN + increased by 150% and 1600%, respectively. Brown is an accomplished executive with over 25 years of leadership experience who has spearheaded the launch and growth of multiple sports media outlets. Most recently, he was the President/CEO of One World Sports, where he launched the HD channel across both linear and digital platforms to over 50 million US subscribers through cable and satellite distributors as well as over-the-top (OTT) platforms. In 2010, Brown became President of Univision Sports, the leading media outlet for Spanish-speaking Americans, where he created and launched Univision Deportes to over 15 million US homes. As part of this effort, Brown oversaw the rebranding of Univision Sports. Additionally, he not only supervised the production of the highest rated primetime sports broadcast in the channel's history at the time with the Mexico vs. Honduras match in the 2011 Gold Cup, but he developed Univision's nightly version of SportsCenter, “Univision Deportes Extra” or “UDX” as well as the network's signature soccer pregame program, “Futbol Central”. Brown has extensive experience in the international markets. Based in Hong Kong and Singapore, he launched ESPN's business in Asia while serving as the Managing Director of both ESPN Asia and ESPN Star Sports. Brown's international work in sports began in the late 1980's when he was hired by the NBA to oversee their international television interests in over 100 countries. Brown played lacrosse collegiately at Washington and Lee University and represented the university in the 1985 USILA North South Game.     Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Scott Levy, a globetrotting senior US sports executive with a stellar resume and decades of achievements in the NBA.  Get an inside scoop into the growth of the NBA internationally, and Scott's role and journey over more than two decades with the organization.   Key Highlights Passion for traveling inspired early after University, starting in the advertising world with Y&R and McCann-Erickson in New York City with a goal to combine his passion with work Joining the NBA in 1996 working in marketing and moving in Media and international television distribution His first decade at the NBA unpacked (1996-2006) Massive growth of global distribution, especially country by country deals – media a big focus of then Commissioner David Stern Over 20 deals in China alone, Shanghai Media story  Clear strategy to keep everything in house, not using agencies – Scott explains the reason behind it  David Stern, always pushing his team to get better, be the most educated guy in the room  The impact of players on growth,  Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki and the US superstars from MJ to Kobe Bryant The different impacts of Yao and Dirk in their respective territories, Kobe and LeBron, social media exploits and travelling the globe  Teams travelling globally to promote the League (pre-season games), comparing to European/UK Football Clubs.  Decisions are centralized and coordinated by the League Initially teams often didn't want to travel (Coaches preferred to train at home for pre-season) and now it's a part of their global brand and team building Teams been travelling since the 90s, first in Japan, up to 6-8 teams now regularly travelling each year, mostly teams playing each other Teams now using Tours to expand fan base, bring in new sponsors, etc, also driven by more diverse group of NBA Team owners    MJ Global Sports & Media – short 2-3 year break as consultant  Back into the NBA for the second round (2009-2022) Coming back as SVP & Managing Director for NBA Asia based in Hong Kong His role, everything in region excluding Greater China (separate NBA China office), firstly “learn about Asia” Philippines, highest basketball affinity in the world – mad about the game – Eric Spoelstra visiting the Philippines India, important market and development started a decade ago Basketball Africa League (BAL) success and model, potential for other regions? NBA Digital platforms (NBA League Pass) – variety of feeds (Player, Refs & Mascot cams) different languages, local influencers calling a game in local language, different packages, fourth quarter pass, etc.  Very customized to each region and country. As low as US$ 20 dollars (correction to US$ 10 dollars comment) per season Rakuten, important partnership in Japan (media partner) and globally Short form content, very important for engagement, vertical video format, finding the right mix, longer content demand growing (20-60 min) Local partnerships, depends on country, ie. Philippines, Australia and China has strong local partnerships Junior NBA program – healthy livestyle focus, more opportunities to grow with local partners Scott leaving the NBA, becoming a digital nomad, spending time between Asia and US – next moves Consulting companies in Web 3 space      NBA Top Shot, NBA an early adopter in NFT space – US$ 1 billion dollar worth of transaction  Scott sees exponential growth in the Web3 space from metaverse to Dao's – still early days  NB2K – a form of a metaverse already,  NBA Fortnite – NBA All-Star Game content (16 million visiting NBA Hub in Fortnite) His focus is on being heavily immersed in this space in the foreseeable future on his own Final words on the current NBA Play-offs and teams in the Conference Finals    About SCOTT LEVY, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, NBA Asia As Executive Vice President & Managing Director of NBA Asia, Scott Levy oversees development and expansion of the NBA's branding and basketball initiatives in Asia-Pacific, including Australia, India, Japan, Philippines, South Korea and other countries across Southeast Asia and Oceania.  Levy directs all of NBA Asia and NBA India's business groups, including media distribution, marketing and marketing partnerships, merchandising, events, digital media, and gaming.  Levy reports to NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum. Since Levy's arrival in 2009, the league has dramatically expanded its local partnerships in Asia-Pacific, resulting in more than 460 retail locations and e-commerce sites, multiple new media and marketing partnerships, the launch of the Jr. NBA across Southeast Asia, and amassing more than 35 million followers from Asia across the league's social media accounts. From 2006 to 2009, Levy ran his own consulting company, MJ Global Sports and Media Inc.  Levy previously worked for the NBA for 10 years and left as Senior Vice President, International Television and Marketing Partnerships.  During his tenure, Levy helped grow broadcast distribution for NBA programming to more than 200 countries and 40 languages.  Under his leadership, the NBA launched many new content offerings internationally, including NBA TV, the league's 24-hour network. Prior to beginning his first NBA stint in 1996, Levy traveled independently and extensively throughout China, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  Levy is on the board of the Global Health Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts camps and develops programs for children with bleeding disorders.  He has competed in multi-sport and adventure races, including the New York Marathon, Oxfam Japan Trailwalker and many triathlons raising funds for Fred's Team and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Levy is based in Hong Kong with his wife Ilene and sons Matthew and Joshua.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Oliver Slipper, a true British Sports Entrepreneur, best known for his role building PERFORM (now Stats Perform) and now the Executive Chairman of Pitch International.  Lots of great insights into Perform's business model and his follow up moves as an Entrepreneur with Head Ball and PickGuru to his current role at Pitch International, a leading sports media rights agency in the UK.   Key Highlights From playing Cricket to his first job at Accenture.  Why athletes bring unique attributes to the business world and learning on the job at Accenture. NTL, first project in sports at Accenture.  Premium TV – very early days of streaming services in the UK Lots of learning from all the mistakes being made in the business, losing money and the flawed business model at the time After restructuring the deals with Football Clubs, getting to break even and slowly business model is taking shape Winning UK horseracing deal, merging with Inform to launch Perform - Andrew Crocker's role in setting up the new company Perform business model unpacked, doubled revenue every year in next four years – leading to IPO WTA deal, switched to buying all rights, not just betting rights anymore. Netflix model and distressed media rights market inspired DAZN Latency challenges and how to overcome it for bookmakers   His thoughts on DAZN and current owners end game His next moves as an Entrepreneur: Masomo, building a great sports game called Head Ball - www.headball2.com, with 200 mil downloads and sold the company after a few years    Understanding the “K Factor” – key to growing online user base, learning App economy PickGuru, how it started during Covid – sports prediction game (App only in the UK) Executive Chairman of Pitch International – role since mid 2018 – media rights agency business, leading UK Football, Cricket, Rugby agency Four parts to the Pitch business, from content creation to distribution, including sponsorship and Brazil National team Tours Some of his investments over the years,  from Play Sports Network to Cage Warriors Wrapping it up with his non-executive roles, including England & Wales Cricket Board (new event “The Hundred”) About Oli Slipper, is the Executive Chairman of Pitch International, the leading Sports Marketing agency.  In a career spanning 25 years, Oli co-founded Perform Group, a pioneer in sports streaming and data and lead it's IPO and ultimate privatisation.  Subsequently Oli, co-founded Masomo, a mobile studio focused on sports games which was acquired by Miniclip. More recently Oli, co-founded PickGuru, a sports prediction app. In the last 10 years Oli has been an active investor in the sports, fintech and consumer tech space including: Global Cycling Network (GCN), Grabyo, Marshmallow, Cage Warriors, Sixes amongst others. Oli sits on the Board of the Professional Darts Corporation and Oval Invincibles.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Philipp Grothe, best known as the co-founder and driving force behind the KENTARO agency in the UK, a true pioneer and entrepreneur in the sports business over the past 20+ years.  Great stories from Philipp's career across UFA, IMG, KENTARO and what he is doing now.   Key Highlights Early days, coming out of Law School in Hamburg, Germany, lots of side hustles, own Ad agency, a Band, running two clubs, etc First job, UFA Sports, part of Bertelsmann Group in Germany, second largest Media group in the world at the time Competition with Kirch Media Group in Munich – small group of young sports marketing pioneers developing industry in Europe Interesting time, growth of Private TV networks in Europe, downfall of the Iron Curtain, new Eastern European countries opening-up European Football at the height of the “decentralized” era, different agencies from across Europe/UK chasing after pieces of the cake Stories on how deals were done both with the clubs and broadcasters, mostly trading with 2ndand 3rd party rights The power of Football, closely linked to powerful people in politics, creating entire new channels with key matches How the money of the Champions League has skewed the balance of power in the various domestic European leagues Next stop, IMG London – or from Guetersloh to Cleveland – learning different cultures IMG – key parts at the time, IMG Talent management and TWI Media/production at the time – company not in great shape at the final days of Mark McCormack Looking to build the House of Football – including building a Super agency – not everything worked and why Being very German and contradicting Bob Kain at the first meeting in Cleveland Bundling of rights, the oldest agency trick in the world Setting up KENTARO in a hotel in London (Kentaro meaning Lion Mother), good timing, next boom years coming   Heavy focus on Football and some Boxing (Sauerland), stay focused on core competence important Key to early success, quick decision-making process compared to bigger agencies or institutional money and always hungry for the next deal (always as good as your last deal) Not always dealing with the person you thought you were dealing with, some painful lessons New concept of “two National teams playing in a third country – neutral ground”, starting with England vs Argentina in Switzerland.  Brazil World Tour is born, 120 games later and the stories behind it Kentaro by numbers, over 500 players under contract, over 150 employees, over E$ 200 mil in revenue at the peak, but also overheads of E$ 20 mil – feeding the beast Asian Football stories, Thai FA and how this leads to helping purchase Manchester City for Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra (former Prime Minister) Managing egos, the key skill for anyone running an agency  & what happened to Kentaro at the end Moving back to Germany, this time Berlin, new company Akani – focused on sports and entertainment, football, celebrities, MENA region, etc Final thoughts on Covid and impact on Football, industry in review over the past 20 years, agency business never stops, similarity to Investment Banking   About Philipp started his career after his law degree at University in Hamburg at Bertelsmann's Ufa Sports in 1994. He was responsible for the international football division of the company dealing with federations, leagues and clubs during a time, where broadcasting rights became "golden dust“ for TV-channels across Europe and the rest of the world. In 2000 Philipp moved to London and became the Managing Director of the football division of IMG, founded by Mark McCormack and the biggest sports rights agency in the world. In 2003 he set up together with his partners his own agency Kentaro, one of the leading marketing companies in the football business in the following years. Philipp relocated in 2017 back to Germany, where he is still active in the business focussing on digital activities and revenue generation for various rights holders in Europe and the Middle East.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Special Edition with Patrick Mouratoglou, the #1 Tennis Coach on his new NFT project – “The Coach”   Key Highlights Quick check in since we last spoke on the previous Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast,  new project in Malaysia, etc “The Coach” - Patricks' new NFT project – creating an exclusive Club of 2,000 Tennis fans and Web3.0 enthusiasts The Concept - different levels of rarity (Warm up, The Match, The Celebration) – total only 2,000 NFTs Wide range of benefits, special coaching sessions, one-on-one interaction with Patrick, future pro players, bringing fans, players and Web3.0 enthusiast together and access to future opportunities of projects Patrick is creating All 2000 NFT cards will be sold at the price of $550 (estimated gas fees included) Pre-sales start on March 17th and 500 spots are available Public sale 26th March (unveiling of NFTs on 27th March) Purchase on dedicated website www.thecoachnft.io, secondary market on other NFT platforms (on Ethereum blockchain) Support team available to on-board customers who are not familiar with NFTs, purchase via credit card available Where did the idea come from and how it started & long term view, learning by doing Hope you enjoyed this short episode and introduction of an exciting new NFT project.  Check it out and let us know what you think. We have no direct affiliation and/or stake in the project and this is not investment advice.  Please do your own research and homework before you invest in any NFTs.    About THE COACH will see the merging of the NFT and sports worlds into an exclusive, one-of-a-kind club. Using the power of Web3.0, Patrick and his collaborators are creating a new experience, forming a powerful community, and looking to find new ways to improve engagement and interaction with fans.  This meeting of minds is set to change the landscape of both the sporting world and the NFT/crypto landscape — pushing the boundaries of possibilities for fans and players alike. With only 2,000 NFTs in total up for purchase, across three levels of increasing rarity — Warm-up, Match, and Celebration — fans will have to act quickly to secure their spot in this elite circle. Each NFT will unlock exclusive benefits, unrivaled access, and unique experiences. For those who manage to secure a Celebration card, you could be opening a once-in-a-lifetime experience, from a 1-to-1 tennis session with The Coach himself to the chance to chat side-by-side for an exclusive podcast opportunity. This is just the start of the NFT adventure. For those who join THE COACH on this first venture, there will be exclusive pre-sale access for future projects yet to come. The mint will be randomly selected and will take place publicly across platforms on the 26th March.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Ralf Reichert, is considered a founding father of the Gaming/Esports industry, having shaped the industry for the past 20 years as an Entrepreneur.  We are unpacking the early days of ESL Gaming and off course the current state of play and plans for the future.  Recording from my hometown in Koeln (Cologne), Germany.  Happy holidays everyone.    Key Highlights Growing up in Oberhausen, the “honest” Coal mining part of Germany with two competitive brothers Great learning from his apprenticeship at a BWM dealership while studying in Essen How SK Gaming started in 1997, by his brother.  1999 connecting with Jens Hilgers (now Bitkraft Ventures), Alex Mueller (SK Gaming) to start Turtle Entertainment, later called ESL Gaming (Electronic Sports League) SK Gaming stories, started with playing Quake World and his involved at the beginning of the team.  Later sold shares due to conflict of interest with ESL ESL Gaming, the “world's largest independent esports company”,  where everyone can be somebody – creating an ecosystem where Gamers can be stars, from amateur to pro player (From Zero to Hero) First 10 years, hard to find sponsors and funding, had to be smart and cost efficient – fight for survival – ESL was a match making platform The first big break, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), 2006, longest running global pro gaming Tour in the world Working with Twitch when it was still Justin.tv  – 2010 -2014 the golden era and big break through of Esports as an industry Bootstrapping the company the first 8-9 years, only small fund raise (US$ 1 mil), being frugal was the key.  From 2010-2016 growing from a US$ 10 mil company to US$ 100 mil company – the big growth period The different events and Leagues 2002 ESL Pro Series, local Pro League in Germany,  ESL Pro League 2013,  ESL Pro Tour 2018 (local, regional and global competitions) Focus on Counter Strike for Pro League, because of the maturity in the Game and longevity Individual Tournaments on top of the Leagues, ie. IEM and ESL ONE  - world championships type of events Prize money and event model – own and operated (ESL branded events), hybrid events in partnership with Publishers, Esports Services (agency model, power Esports for Publishers) Global footprint of ESL from Cologne to New York, regional HQs in LA, Singapore, Riyad, etc and production hubs in Poland and Malaysia and local offices in partnership with local partners 2000-2010 start up phase, 2010-2015 scale up phase, 2015-2021 globalization phase Modern Times Group (MTG) transaction in 2015 (which wasn't a sale according to Ralf), Swedish group, synergies, neutral and independent Constant changes in industry, staying focused on ESL Brand premise (North Star) and making adjustments as industry growth New partnership with Immutable X, first dip into NFT space – always trying and investing in new things ESL during Covid – going back to roots, being online focused – Esports continued to grow during Pandemic Being global is difficult and hard but the best thing the company did and ESL thrived in Covid, setting new processes Close to 700 people now, after merger with DreamHack in 2020 Other activities, advisory roles, etc mostly connected and synergies to main role as CEO of ESL – some angel investment      About Ralf Reichert Ralf is Managing Director / CEO of Turtle Entertainment the world's largest eSports company leading the industry in raising eSport production and audience levels to those of mainstream sports. Alongside the creation of Turtle Entertainment, Ralf has been an integral part of the development of ESL Gaming which is now the largest global Esports league, as well as the elite pro gaming tour Intel Extreme Masters which has given out over $3.5million of prize money spanning across 8 seasons.  Reichert's passion for gaming and technology is for all to see, and with over 20 years of experience in the industry, it is no surprise that Turtle Entertainment has been such a resounding success.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Ben Smith, a chartered financial planner for the past 10 years, is on a mission to educate young athletes about wealth management, proper financial planning and goal setting.  Very important messages for anyone dealing with young athletes and of course for athletes themselves.  Listen and learn. (The Podcast was NOT sponsored by FLM) Disclaimer: No financial advise or recommendations are given. The Podcast is purely highlighting options available.   Key Highlights How Ben got into the industry and how childhood lessons shaped his career path and mindset about investing Chartered Financial Planner, help clients make great decision with their money, from planning, tax, legal structures, etc FLM (Financial Lifestyle Management Ltd) a partnership affiliated to St James's Place Plc – a Footsie 100 company (150 billion under management), different investment solutions (highly regulated environment in the UK) The stats behind the reason for the Podcast and why it's so important for young athletes to be aware of it Early 90s, salaries in Football were only around avg GBP 20k pa, now nearly GBP 2 million per year – high earning in early part of the career (young age), opposite to traditional career path   Process to engage young athletes – step by step process to educate them in an interactive way and setting goals Passive Income and Compound Interest – key to understand it – Jill and Jack example FLM focus on Football, Rugby and Golf The process, value added services by FLM, fee structure and steps to take by athletes and families Athletes as investors beyond their Money – bringing their Name into investments – Athletes are Brands - Whoop example – risk and returns FLM's background and history over the past 20 years  (www.Flmltd.com)   About Ben Smith I help busy, successful people make great decisions with their money. I believe that wealth is dictated by behaviours, not earnings, Everything I do is focused on creating world class money habits that help my clients achieve financial freedom. This is the ability to live life to the full without financial constraints. I believe that in any area of your life, a lack of clarity can be fatal. It can lead to anxiety and hold you back from achieving what is really important to you and your family. When I first joined the industry in 2011, I had studied business, finance and economics throughout my education, yet I knew very little about personal financial planning. From working with many families over the last 10 years, I have found that money is very poorly understood in the UK which really can hold people back in a quest for a better life. With this in mind, I am passionate about financial education and the importance of having a plan. How many of us studied money or personal finance at school? It is also rarely discussed, even between close family members. I really believe in helping my clients learn as we work together, which brings both enjoyment and greater peace of mind. Having a well thought through plan allows you to get on and enjoy life whilst striving towards the things that are important to you. Everyone has a different 'why' which ultimately gets us out of bed in the morning. Maybe you want to send your kids to private school, maybe you want to retire at 45 or maybe you want to own a second home in France. The harsh reality is that, without a clear plan, you are unlikely to achieve these goals. Over the last 10 years I have worked with busy, successful individuals in London to help them establish their ‘why' and put in place prudent, robust financial plans to meet their goals. Life is as busy as it has ever been, and very few people find the time to put in place adequate financial plans and for those who do, even fewer continue to monitor them over time. I believe everyone has experienced some kind of financial inertia during their life – for some this will be for longer than others. It is arguably the single greatest threat to ones financial plans.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ  

Chris Lencheski, also better known as “SKI” in the industry is a true serial sports Entrepreneur from his early days around the Atlanta Olympics to his very successful years across global motorsports.  SKI & Company left its mark on the industry on many levels and Chris till today continues to shape the industry.  Great insights and learning from his own businesses to the various groups he worked with over the decades (Comcast Spectacor, TPG Speciality Lending, MyyTake India), including an interesting opinion on what happened to MP & Silva.  Listen and learn.       Key Highlights Starting at The Easton Events Company (spun out from United Media) – involved in the Atlanta Olympic Games and developing the protection of the marks, oversight of licensing rights, building activation plans, a great way to learn the ropes Delos Associates – first Entrepreneurial venture exclusive event marketing and management company for 1996 US Olympic Team Trials for Cycling; developed Official Corporate Marketing Partners Program first look at motorsports Next stop,  CMDC (Chesapeake Motorsports Development Corporation), oversaw advertising, marketing, sponsorship, licensing, real estate, development, co-partnership, sanction, and television deals  involved in big Pepsi deal for new Venue (NASCAR track) MFP Agency (Marketing for Fun & Profits) – first time CEO working for someone else (Legendary Rod Campbell)  Rod Campbell, founder of Campbell & Company (exclusive agent of Ford Motor Company's racing efforts globally) MFP, was separate entity involved in other motorsports ventures Indycar, F1 (lots of new learning experiences from Rod Campbell) Next up, TSI Agency for a few years Strategized commercial aspects as COO for organization that fielded teams in NASCAR Busch Series and Winston Cup competitions for Christian Fittipaldi and Kenny Wallace Created the "The Cadillac Grand Prix" with George Debidart and the late Don Panoz (founder of ALMS), the first racing event in Washington, DC – comparing with the KL City Grand Prix in Malaysia where TSA was involved  SKI & Company – back being an Entrepreneur General Motors (GM) had a problem and Chris had the answer – great story on how the company got started by helping to fix a problem for the largest automobile company in the world GM's mishap in Golf – bidding against itself for a major sponsorship How a white paper turned into the assignment as “Global Agency of record for GM Racing”, developing strategies country by country, brand by brand (from Vauxhall, Opel, Holden, to Chevy - fingers in any and all with blessing from GM) GM's large interests in motorsports around the world, including NASCAR, F1, Le Mans, etc Growth comes at a cost – selling the business to principals of former CSS Stellar Phoenicia Sports & Entertainment (live after SKI&Company) – transferring the learning and philosophy Involved across Motorsports and Football/Soccer (Bologna) Next stop, President of Front Row Marketing & Analytics (a Comcast Spectacor company) Operated the stadia, sports media commercial rights and entertainment agency inside the greater Comcast ecosystem Being part of a huge group and the pros and cons of it - picked up big clients Americas Cup, EPL Teams, French Football Championship Trophee Game (NYC), etc. IRG Sports & Entertainment – A TPG Specialty Lending Group company ,  involved in change management From Drag Racing to race tracks around the world & bringing ESPN back and growing Australia business rapidly. MP & Silva – Senior Advisor to the Board – Chris' observation as an Advisor to what happened?   Everbright Securities & Beijing Baofong investment (at the time of China's big push into Football/Sports globally) Lots of senior leadership was let go and/or advice was being ignored by the Chinese leadership which had different ideas Story not finished yet Current role at Winning Streak Sports (a Granite Bridge Partners company – linked to Wafra - Sovereign Fund of Kuwait) Number One premium licensing company in the world. From Board Member to CEO at request of Board From Live streaming, social commerce, media support to premium licensing for major sports franchises globally Last thoughts, success is not easy, never linear and not a ladder (more like a spray paint can) & when juggling businesses, especially going through Change Management, the rubber balls are the businesses, clients, etc.,(these balls will bounce) but don't drop the glass balls (which are the people you work with and the most important part of any pivot - especially in commercial rights)   About Chris Lencheski Chairman, Phoenicia Sport and Entertainment January 2009-present  Chief Executive Officer, Winning Streak Sports March 2019-present  Board of Directors, MyyTake (India) March 2021-present  Board of Directors, Electronic Gaming Federation January 2019-present  Chris Lencheski has worked in the global sports and entertainment sector for more than two decades.  As founder and chairman of Phoenicia Sport and Entertainment, a sports and media consultancy firm he launched in 2009, he advised purchasers of Italian top-tier (Serie A) football teams, developed and executed commercial rights programming for Newman/Haas Racing, the IndyCar racing team of Paul Newman and Carl Haas, developed sports television programming for the Sportsman Channel, and has represented a host of traditional sponsorship/media clients, including managing the U.S. sports marketing debut of Chinese solar company, Trina Solar (SHA:688599). From 2009-2010, through Phoenicia, Mr. Lencheski was owner of International Hockey League franchise the Quad City Mallards, an affiliate of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. The team was IHL Franchise of the Year during Mr. Lencheski's tenure.  In March 2019, while a director of Winning Streak Sports, a portfolio company of Granite Bridge Partners, Mr. Lencheski was asked to assume the role of chief executive officer, where he currently oversees all business affairs of both Winning Streak Sports and affiliate Prinstant Replays, which, together deliver the number #1 premium licensed goods and collectibles product line in professional sports by both sales and quality.  Prior to Winning Streak, from 2015 to 2019, Mr. Lencheski was the Senior Advisor to the chairman and board of managers of, MP & Silva, the Italy-based global sports media company. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Lencheski also served as co-chairman, chief executive officer and a director of IRG Sports + Entertainment, a TPG portfolio company and leading promoter of sports and live entertainment experiences. IRGSE is the parent company of the International Hot Rod Association and the International Drag Bike League and owns and operates Palm Beach International Raceway, Palm Beach Driving Club, Memphis International Raceway, Cordova International Raceway, and Maryland International Raceway. IRGSE promoted more than 1,150 global motorsports, live entertainment, and corporate events annually at its venues and within its series.  From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Lencheski was president of Comcast-Spectacor's (now Spectra) wholly owned subsidiary Front Row Marketing and Analytics (“FRMS”), which managed commercial rights, sponsorship, and analytics for the entirety of the Comcast ecosystem of stadiums, arenas, teams, and Comcast properties. FRMS was acquired by Learfield Sports in 2015. While at FRMS, his work included collaborations with the Americas' Cup, English Premier League Football, the Olympics, Formula One Racing, and FIFA World Cup projects, as well as a host of international and national properties, including every major sports league in the United States and international sport governing bodies.  In 2002, Mr. Lencheski founded SKI & Company. With offices in New York, London, Dubai, Charlotte, NC, and Bethelem, PA, SKI was the first global agency for General Motors Racing and the recipient of BrandWeek Magazine's Gold Award in the National Sales Promotion Campaign category for Mr. Lencheski's work on behalf of client Turner Broadcasting and developing their program with Target Corporation. At SKI, Mr. Lencheski authored industry-setting standards and practice guidelines followed by major entities from network and cable television providers to Fortune 500 companies. From 2005-2008, SKI was majority owner and operational manager of its NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series racing Teams. In 2009, Mr. Lencheski sold SKI to a UK-based company, the terms of which cannot be disclosed.  Mr. Lencheski has extensive experience and connectivity in motorsports. He held operational and ownership positions in teams competing in NASCAR. Through SKI & Company, from 2005-2008, Mr. Lencheski was the majority owner and chief executive officer of his NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity team. Through his role as minority owner and chief operating officer of The Source International, a sports and entertainment agency, and their racing team, Innovative Motorsports, for the 2001 and 2002 seasons, Mr. Lencheski was responsible for fielding a NASCAR Busch/Winston/Xfinity Series teams. During his time in NASCAR, Mr. Lencheski developed many sponsorship relationships with global brands including General Motors, Goulds Pumps/ITT, Stacker 2, Mike's Hard Lemonade, NOS Energy Drink, Pure Fishing, and Smith & Wesson. Operating on limited budgets, Mr. Lencheski's teams competed both full and part time, amassing one race win, five pole positions, 23 top-five finishes, and 58 top ten finishes with two top-ten year-end point standing finishes in 2001 and 2002.  From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Lencheski was chief executive officer of the MFP Agency, an automotive-focused sports marketing agency founded by automotive marketing legend Rod Campbell of Campbell & Company. From 1997-1999, he was the executive vice-president and coo of Chesapeake Motorsports Development Corporation. From 1995 to 1997, he made his first run at launching his own sports marketing firm, Delos Associates Corporation, selling the portfolio to Joe Mattioli (whose family are the longtime owners of NASCAR Cup Series Pocono Raceway). Mr. Lencheski began his career as a vice president of event marketing, Olympics marketing, and director of sponsorship at The Easton Events Company, the official event management company of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.  Mr. Lencheski has been an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies' Sports Management Master's Degree program since 2015. He is a member of the board of directors of Winning Streak Sports, MyyTake India, Electronic Gaming Federation and a Founding Member of the Board of Advisors for Syracuse University's Falk College. Mr. Lencheski is a graduate of Syracuse University and an alumnus of Harvard Business School, having completed the Advanced Management Program. He is married with four daughters.    Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Michel Masquelier had an incredible career with IMG over 35 years starting as an Intern and finishing as the Chairman of IMG Media and SNTV.  Over that time he had the privilege to work with and learn from the charismatic owners from Mark McCormack,  Ted Forstmann to Ari Emanuel at the end.  Pioneering a variety of new innovations and setting up new business units over his tenure. Fascinating stories of an amazing career.  Also check out Michel's new book “This is not a Dress Rehearsal” for more. Link to the book: http://getbook.at/NotADressRehearsal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m_masquelier/   Key Highlights Taking a plunge and heading over the channel from Belgium to the UK to seeking new challenges in London Reading Mark McCormack's book and being inspired to seek employment with the company (1985), working for free at the beginning First role in sponsorship activation, with Yves St Laurent and later focusing on sales in Benelux countries Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France – advising the Organizing Committee Mark McCormack, first interaction – “you the guy who plays golf before coming to the office in the morning” story A man of amazing innovation, vision and anticipation Setting up the Office in Brussel, at the start of the European Union After 10 years, took a six months break and toured the world – NY Office story Next stop, Media Division, selling Media rights, involvement in pioneering projects (China Football story) Intrapreneur within the company, building teams, leadership style (Love & Respect) Head of Sales Europe, Head of Sales Worldwide to President IMG Media European Tour Production deal and Mark's vision and foresight examples The shock and worry when Mark suddenly passes away across the organization Ted Forstmann era starts – US$ 750 mil purchase – leader in Private Equity New focus on “ownership” in sports,  becoming a small shareholder in the business Ted initially wanting to replace him due to clashes in strategy before new found respect Frustrating moments with Ted when it came to Minimum Guarantees for Media Rights Next Super-agent Ari Emanuel backed by PE money takes over (US$ 2.4 billion deal) and his drive and vision for the company (WME -IMG leading to Endeavor) Moving from President of IMG Media to Chairman of Events/Media, slowly winding down Huge growth from UFC deal to recent IPO at US$ 10 billion valuation under Ari's leadership and future of industry thoughts (data the new gold) “This is not a dress rehearsal”, his book about his experiences and journey – coming out in December 2021  Reminiscing about the parallels of our careers and philosophy in life   About Michel Masquelier Michel Masquelier is an Entrepreneur that has spent over 3 decades at the heart of the sports industry. Making his way up the ladder from intern to Chairman, he has become a respected leader in his field, and recognized as peoples manager. He now takes on the role of advisor to governing bodies, media organizations and private equity firms. He is also an active investor, board member and consultant for small enterprise, with a focus on the media industry. Michel is still a compulsive networker, but his passion has shift to stimulating education, especially amongst future generations. In the same spirit of innovation and disruption, he is involved in philanthropic projects, motivational speaking and development of educational programs for young executives. More recently he has been working on a book - This is not a Dress Rehearsal. In this part-memoir, part-manifesto and career guide, all inspiration-from-the-heart book, he shares stories from his early life in Belgium to his unique experiences rubbing shoulders with sports stars, business moguls and media pioneers. With open and honest examples of his triumphs, failures, and everything in between, there is something for everyone – the sports fans, the misfits, the motivated and the intrepid.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

From his two decades with DENTSU Sports to now 17 years with FIFA, Hide Arai has been at the heart of the Japanese presence in sports marketing globally for decades.  Great stories and insights into the Japanese Advertising Giant's influence in global sports for the last 40 years, driven by the emergence of Japanese super brands.  And a short discussion about FIFA's state of play, with several sensitive topics appropriately edited.      Key Highlights How it all started in the mid 80s, producing Japanese TV commercials at Dentsu Advertising Dentsu's first foray into sports marketing started in 1982 at the FIFA World Cup in Spain and 1984 LA Olympics – two Japanese Dentsu executives (Hartori & Takahashi) started to build a close bond with Horst Dassler, the powerful German businessman who controlled adidas and had launched ISL Marketing. Coinciding with the growth of Japanese brands globally.  Dentsu taking on calculated risk to acquire the rights to certain packages and then selling it to one of it's 3,000 clients. Dentsu's investment in ISL Marketing (49%) in 1984  and playing a significant role for decades ISL Marketing taking the FIFA rights away from Coca-Cola which were managed by West Nally at that time.  Host Dassler cutting a deal with FIFA's President Joao Havelange First role at Dentsu Sports Division in 1990,  sponsorship sales and rights activations World Championship of Track and Field in 1993, Stuttgart, Germany – we were both there.  Mike Powell story and Panasonic package size 1992, Barcelona Olympics – strong Japanese sponsor presence Fuji & Kodak rivalry (FIFA vs IOC sponsorships) , Sony (Playstation, FIFA ) and Panasonic (Olympic TOP program) stories His ISL Marketing years as “Dentsu Rep” (or Spy as his colleagues jokingly called it)” and some Papa Diack stories His perspective on how the ISL powerhouse crumbled – loss of key management, wrong investments and missed IPO (Heinz Schurtenberger) Loss of CEO may put on brakes at ISL (sportsbusinessjournal.com) Back into Dentsu for the World Cup 1998 in France and then back to Japan to set up a new Media Rights trading division Buying FIFA World Cup, Italian League (Canal+), Bundesliga (UFA Sports) buying rights for Japan territory Growth of MLB rights in Japan due to Japanese players playing in the League since the 90s (NHK largest MLB broadcaster in the world) Dentsu's stake in World Sports Group (AFC Marketing agency for two decades) (Seamus O'Brien & Jack Sakazaki, JSM) FIFA role from 2004 till now – Deputy Director, Business Development, sales & distribution of Media rights (partnering again with Jerome Valcke) Difference between Agency life and life at a Federation. Different type of stakeholders and their needs ISL and Kirch Media Bankruptcies endangering FIFA – on the back FIFA Marketing AG was created, FIFA taking commercial rights in-house, massive growth of fees (driven by Jerome) Mastercard vs VISA drama Growth of FIFA from 30-40 staff in the 90s to now 1,000 staff globally, all brought in-house, from ticketing, security to other areas   About Hide Arai An avid baseball fan has turned into a sports business marketeer, Hide Arai's association with the sports business has started in the early 80s when he joined Dentsu, the advertising giant in Japan and was subsequently assigned to ISL Worldwide in Switzerland during early 90s.  As VP at ISL, his activities had entailed sponsorship sales to Japanese global brands including Canon, Fujifilm, Panasonic and Toyota, as well as sponsors activations surrounding FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, and IAAF (now World Athletics) World Athletic Championships.  Back at Dentsu's Sports Division from the late 90s to early 2000s, Hide Arai had driven scores of major sports rights deals as GM of the Division, including FIFA World Cups 2002-2006, Major League Baseball, English Premier League, Serie A, The Open (Golf).   After 22 years of tenure at Dentsu, he switched his career and geographical base to a sport governing body, FIFA at Zurich, Switzerland in 2004.  Hide has been involved in sales and distribution of FIFA's media rights, covering the entire Asian and African regions, as well as host broadcast production for the last 17 years.  Hide Arai holds a BA (1981) in Political Science from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan and an MBA (1987) from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, US. His current personal pursuits are scuba-diving in South Pacific and occasional golfing.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ    

Great stories and learning from Murray Barnett's illustrious career across NBA, ISL, World Rugby and F1 to turning entrepreneur with his own boutique consulting agency during the pandemic. Lots of wisdom and great sharing from his journey over the past 2 decades.   Key Highlights Starting at Orbit, Satellite TV space in Rome, Italy and some Italian House Music  From Rome to Budapest to the NBA Europe in Paris – plan, plan and plan again – amazing level of detail, great lessons from David Stern  Lessons from being at ISL Marketing for the final years of the agency handling FINA & FIBA accounts. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true (ATP disaster)  Next stop ESPN, Russell Wolf offering a role as Employee #1 in ESPN's Disney office in London His focus at ESPN International – selling rights portfolio to other broadcasters, supervising ESPN channels in Middle East & Africa , identifying new opportunities to build the brand     Big international expansion and ESPN UK (Premier League rights for one cycle) – what worked and didn't work  Success stories, ESPN Middle East, growing to 3 channels on ART and growth of ESPN Latin America and learning from top Disney/ESPN executives  ESPN MVNO (ESPN The Phone) – culture of trying lots of new things and turning failure into learning to pivot into new areas World Rugby (IRB),  Chief Commercial Officer role, from TV to sponsorship to hospitality.  Rugby World Cup 2015 in England and other competitions (HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series deal) Rugby's different philosophy as a sport and significance of rebranding the sport to World Rugby, Olympic inclusion for Rugby Sevens  Rugby World Cup scale and size – US$250 million per event & Maradona visiting Twickenham story  Private Equity in sports - bringing external “influencers” to push change in sports, the role of “outsiders” like CVC and similar groups investing and coming into sports with a different perspective  Formula One Management – Head of Global Sponsorship & Commercial Partnerships – track side and hospitality packages        Massive ten year deal with Aramco (largest company in the world, Saudi Oil giant) and how AWS (Amazon Web Services) came into the sport  Aramco deal unpacked and how the deal happened.  And the big difference between selling TV rights and sponsorship deals.  F1 Esports, fan festivals and other new innovations  Founding 26West Sport during the Pandemic , boutique sports consultancy specializing in TV rights, sponsorship and commercial development  “Learning” being an entrepreneur the past year    About Murray Barnett Murray Barnett is a Sports Marketing professional with over 20 years' experience in Media, Marketing & Sponsorship worldwide. He has uniquely worked for sports leagues, governing bodies, TV/media companies and sports marketing agencies. Starting out in Italy and Hungary with Orbit and Nethold respectively, Murray worked on two international TV start-ups in marketing, sales and programming capacities. Upon leaving Hungary, he was employed by NBA Europe to manage marketing partnerships & programme development with NBA Broadcast partners. From there he was headhunted by ISL to manage TV accounts for FIBA basketball and Fina swimming. Amongst ISL TV's sales portfolio were also IAAF, FIFA and ATP Tennis which Murray sold across a number of European territories. From there, he was asked to join ESPN to launch their European TV Sales operations which included 3 channel brands and over 10,000 hours of content sales. Murray was also part of the launch team for ESPN UK which broadcast English Premier League, Rugby and US Sports for four seasons. After 11 years at ESPN, Murray was recruited for the role of Chief Commercial Officer at World Rugby, the governing body for the sport. His many responsibilities include all TV sales, content development, sponsorship & commercial agreements, licensing and hospitality. Following the change of ownership at F1, Murray was asked to join the management team as Director of Global Sponsorship & Commercial Partnerships tasked with developing and growing commercial opportunities for partners within F1.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Stephane Schindler, another French industry veteran who has left his mark across the sports world and in particular with CAA Eleven which changed the face of UEFA's National Team competitions and commercial structures. Lot's of great stories and details in our discussion.  Enjoy.     Key Highlights Starting as Intern at EUROSPORT, early days of cable TV in Europe Next stop Canal+, Head of Sports Acquisition of sports rights, Sport+ and Jerome Valcke connection Connecting with all the major rights holders during the role – early days of Sportel Monaco Joining IMG Media in France in 2000,  Michael Grach and Michel Masquelier roles    Great six years at IMG from selling rights to dealing with rights holders, lots of learning in the commercialization of sports rights (Golden Age of industry 1990-2010) Meeting Arnaud Lagardere and starting the agency in 2006, because Lagardere being a big listed company, organic growth wasn't an option.  M&A growth model. Setting up Lagardere Sports from scratch as first employee and going on big acquisition spree from Sportfive, World Sport Group, IEC in Sports, etc. Building a portfolio of companies. Total acquisition cost, in the EURO 1 billion range for the above agencies to buy scale in the industry fast   Recently, the group was sold for around Euro 110 million (renamed Sportfive), 90% drop in value – failure in implementation and execution, at peak Euro 60-70 mil in profits Founding his own agency, Media Sport System, short 1 year as advisor CAA Eleven, how it all started in 2012 with UEFA looking to centralize the National Team rights  - idea driven by M. Platini, G. Infantino, G. Laurent Epstein, etc UEFA was looking for a similar structure to their successful TEAM Marketing partnership for their National Team rights Finding the right partner to create a brand new agency which would only focus on UEFA rights, partnering with CAA, big US talent agency Multiple rounds of bidding, starting with 15 bidders, final rounds against IMG and Lagardere.  Advantage of being a start up and brand new company, totally dedicated to the project. How CAA Eleven won the deal?  UEFA wanted to keep full control and have protection through an agency.  CAA Eleven's first block of rights, 2014-18, since then renewed twice, currently till 2028 UEFA Nations League – turning friendly matches into something more meaningful for fans and players – every match counts – going from 700 official matches to 1,500 on offer Successful both on and off the field (commercially) UEFA EURO 2020 in 2021 – his experience from the inside. UEFA made an early decision to move up by one year. Renegotiate with everyone from host cities, sponsors, broadcasters, teams, etc Overall big success and positive feedback from partners – now focused on EURO 2024 in Germany (Football is coming home

Andrew Croker, Chairman of multiple enterprises and one of the most outspoken sports Entrepreneurs hailing from the UK.  Fun and colorful deep dive into Andrew's 40+ years in the industry from his days following his dad around Football club board rooms to successfully launching Perform, the Global Cycling Network and getting Hawk-Eye into Football.   Key Highlights How it started, back in ancient history in 1973, his father becoming the General Secretary of the English FA Opening doors and hanging out with his dad in Football club board rooms and socializing with everyone in sports Joining BSB (later BSkyB) as employee #4-5, drawing up weekly sports schedule Finders, Binders, Minders and Grinders.  He was always a “Finder” How sitting next to Sir Frank Lowe (Advertising Legend) on the Concorde lead to launching Orbit –  sports marketing agency    Next stop, Ian Todd asking him to start IMG Football Division together with Paul Smith    Sportal – massive rise and big crash  - missed the big sale by weeks – dotcom boom and bust story of the year 2000 Premier League international TV rights (IMG, Sport+, Fox/Newscorp partnership) –  working with new Sportfive as International Board Member and UK CEO How “Perform” idea was seeded and came together – group in Hamburg looking at Digital Production idea – Oliver Slipper – Premium TV  & Inform team Access Industries (Len Blavatnik) comes into the picture – meeting Robert Louis-Dreyfus – and eventually cutting a deal with Len to merge Premium TV and Inform to form Perform Going public and taking it back private, from de-coupling Perform's profitable B2B business from DAZN's B2C business and the differences in business models and valuations Next opportunity arrives with Play Sports Group – Claude Ruibal, Global Head of Sports of YouTube at the time providing the “seed money” for the Global Cycling Network on YouTube (Chairman role) – great story from how it started and eventually sold to Eurosport/Discovery Network in 2019 Fascinating Hawk-Eye Football story (South Africa World Cup story and how we ended up in the same stadium in Bloemfontein)  and our thoughts on VAR (Video Assistant Referee) in football Oakwell Sports Advisory – Chairman Advisory Board – intersection between sports world and Private Equity His views on PE in sports, not mincing his words as usual – and a bit of Consultant bashing to top it off Final thoughts on why we both love the industry and can't wait to get back out   About Andrew Croker Andrew Croker is a very well-known figure in the sports management and media business, with over forty years' experience. He has worked with many of the biggest rights holders, media owners, agencies and sports brands in the world. Andrew was the first Head of Sport at BSB, the forerunner to Sky Sports, and started and ran IMG's global football division. In 2007, as Executive Chairman, he co-founded the digital sports rights agency, Perform Group, now DAZN, the live and on-demand sports streaming service. He remains an adviser to Stats Perform, the leading sports data and streaming service. He also consulted to Hawk-Eye for ten years until 2019, focussing on the introduction of technology into football, and was also Chairman of Play Sports Group, which included the Global Cycling Network - the world's leading community of cycling fans - until its sale to Discovery Networks in 2019.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

John West, a serial entrepreneur across multiple businesses before getting into the exciting world of Sports content, influencers and social media platforms.  Started Team Whistle in 2009 after several years of figuring out his next move.  Recently partnered and merged with Eleven Sports.  Learn about his entrepreneurial journey and amazing stories of how he build a company that now has over 4 billion impressions per months across over 1,600 “Channels” of influencers and online personalities.     Key Highlights Early days as entrepreneur in environmental engineering business in his early 20s – company still around till today Getting a Harvard MBA while working and sold the business Next stop, New York City – Mitchell Madison, new Consulting group – fast growing business Silver Oak Solutions – 2nd entrepreneurial company in “spend management”, software to automate spending patterns of private equity firm's assets – sold successfully as well How he got “back” into sports and learning from his kids habits on how they consumed content (media). A group of people who made the difference in getting Team Whistle started (Geraldine Laybourne, Don Tapscott's book “Growing up Digital”  and Mark Lazor) Researched topic for four years, personal learning curve and getting the product right – GenZ focus – first few ideas didn't work well Focus on UGC (User generated content) across social media platforms – now managing over 1,600 channels and platforms Big hit with “Dude Perfect” , help them with wider distribution, content creation and bring advertisers to them Now over 500 “partners” (influencers) and over 200 Whistle owned channels Not going Negative – Content focused on being “positive, fun and entertaining”, focus on 13-15 year old's Raising Money for growth – total raise over US$ 110 mil by now Revenue share model with partners and influencers - don't need to own all the content, key is owning the data behind it and finding ways to monetize it “Brother”  big show on Snap – one great example with a social media platform 4 billion monthly views, 600 million followers globally across all channels. Currently focused on US and Europe. Expanding globally Further growth by acquisition, getting high profile investors into the business (lots of miles travelled) and partnership with Eleven Sports (Andrea Radizzani). Logic behind the deal with Eleven and the synergies between the companies – merged stock deal – combined US$ 300 mil in revenue Esports & Gaming – 25 Pro-Gamers as partners, lifestyle, etc Harvard Business School connections and his involvement as the President of the Harvard Alumni network   About John West John West is the Executive Chairman of Team Whistle, which he founded in 2008.  Prior to that, he was the CEO and Chairman of Silver Oak Solutions, which he founded in 1999, and sold to CGI in 2005.  Prior to that he was a Partner at Michell Management Group, and also Founder and CEO of Enstrat from 1989 until he sold it in 1996. John has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.  He has served on several Boards at Harvard, and is currently the volunteer President of the Harvard Alumni Association.  John lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Harpreet Singh Rai, the CEO of OURA Health Ltd, a Finish company which is making a huge splash in the wearable health and wellness space through its smart ring product.  He shares his stories how he became involved in the business and where he is planning to take it.  Great stories on how the product works and the benefits behind it, to the future growth and plans of the business.      Key Highlights Coming out college wanting to be an engineer, spending his first 10 years in the financial world on Wall Street, including Eminence Capital, multi billion dollar Fund, investing in tech  Combined his passion for health and wellness with his research in the tech space and getting into wearables as an early adopter/user Running into the co-founder at a grocery store – and hitting it off  Personally investing in the company in 2016 and joining the board.  Joining the company full time, in 2017 as President/CEO  Founders from Finland, country with great history in tech and health culture (Nokia, Polar, etc) OURA – focus on sleep tracking – massive benefits of the right amount and type of sleep (lack of sleep is detrimental to health) OURA ring – how it works, the data it measures, what it does and comparison to other wearables  “Sleep is the world's best (legal) performance enhancing drug” quote by Matthew Walker, Author of “Why we Sleep” What were the first users, beyond the early “bio hackers” adopters – awareness of Sleep becoming more main stream Sports connection, with NBA, UFC, NFL teams all inbound requests based on the product benefits  Covid influence on the business – very positive due to the ability to detect potential Covid infection before people show symptoms Shipped over 500k rings since inception, doubling every year – raised Series C, over US$ 100 mil  Great diverse group of investors globally, from Google to Temasek (Singapore Wealth Fund), Michael Dell and others. Strategic Investors supporting growth. Ouraring.com – only available online, shipping to 100 countries globally  - North America biggest markets, Europe and Asia growing  What's the future going forward.  Wearable market, 200 million units globally – smart phones over 1 billion.  Opportunities for more use cases to measure important health markers and build in preventive measures to detect heart attacks and others early signs of illnesses       Next steps after raising the money -  growth, SPACs, IPO and other options out there  Strong growth margins and profitable business  Challenges and how to overcome them – strong company values = solutions focused (find 3 solutions to every problem), Ubuntu (ancient African word -humanity to others)   About Harpreet Singh Rai Harpreet Singh Rai is the chief executive officer of Oura and a member of its board. His purpose is to be part of a team that is committed to improving the well-being of others. Under his leadership, Oura has grown to a team of nearly 100 employees and has launched its Generation 2 ring, shipping over 100,000 units to 90 different countries. He is responsible for Oura's vision and strategy and guides decisions that ensure the organization's financial health. Before Oura, Rai was a portfolio manager who led the technology, media and telecom portfolio at Eminence Capital for 9nine years. He began his career working in Morgan Stanley's merger and acquisitions group. Rai studied electrical engineering at the University of Michigan.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Terrence Burns is best known as the “Bidding Guy” (in his own words), having supported and worked on more successful Olympic bids than anyone else in the industry. Lots of great stories and learn from his incredible experiences at Delta Airlines (which inspired several books) to working with sponsors and brands across the world. Great insights into the Olympic Games, from bidding processes and how it has changed, to branding the Games, to emotions which describes what the Rings mean to people.  Enjoy the history lesson of the Games while watching the Tokyo Olympics 2020-21.      Key Highlights Starting at the bottom of Delta Airlines fresh out of College –  Maintenance Utility Employee & working his way up the ranks over a period of 15 years  Official Airline of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta – how it all started  Leading Delta's sponsorship program of the Games, massive learning curve.  Key setting clear KPI's, to manage the board expectations Moving from being a Client to the Agency side with Meridien Management, official marketing agency of the IOC Joining Founders Chris Welton and Laurent Scharapan as Sn. VP Marketing – commissioned first proper research on the IOC and Olympic brand   McDonald's five Cheeseburger Olympic story to illustrate the change in thinking Sponsors have to tell a story to show consumers why they are involved and build the connection.  The fee is just the entry ticket to the party.  Celebrate Humanity Campaign with Robin Williams  Talking numbers of Olympic programs in early 2000 – both for the TOP and LOC program  Salt Lake City crisis and how it turned around through “research lead facts” with sponsors  Losing Moscow Bid, character building and leading to the next gig – Sochi  Partnering with Frank Craighill, one of the foundering partners of ProServe (Donald Dell's Agency) and Chris Walton to launch Helios (adding Chris Renner, Prescient later) Success with Five Olympic bids & 2 World Cups , bringing Wrestling & Golf back into the Games, Asian Games, etc – helping to steer those bids and creating the stories around it PyeongChang winning bidding story vs Munich's losing story  New IOC approach to decide on future locations – no longer beauty parades, now Executive Board looks at which cities reflect the Olympic Values and best location for the movement  Emotional Senegal story – Olympics means “hope”  Asian Games gig – a balancing act – Doha 2030 and Saudi Arabia 2034 Current focus for him – working with Sponsor on the great decade of global Sports for North America, from the 2026 World Cup to the 2028 LA Olympics to potentially the Winter Olympics in 2030 Basic advice to sponsors – don't sign the BTA (Basic Terms of Agreement) before you get advice from an expert Latest numbers, US$ 200 million fees for TOP or LOC programs (4 year cycle) – the ratio of fees to activation investment debate LA Bid about the next 100 years of the Olympic movement  Sochi story – the US$ 50 billion number unpacked  Tokyo 2020-21 thoughts to wrap it up – differences in sponsor mind set in Japan or China vs the US market   About Terrence Burns I have a long history in Olympic marketing, dating from 1993. My background is unique, and includes:  A combination of sponsorship consulting/sales, Olympic and World Cup bidding, Olympic Agreement negotiation, and international sports branding and communications. Serving "on all sides of the table" - as an Olympic sponsor, as a rights holder with the IOC/Meridian, and as a consultant to bidding cities and nations, rights holders and sponsors around the world. Advising clients as varied as Allianz, the Australian Rugby Union, Australian Football Federation, Samsung, Petro-Canada, the City of Moscow, BHP Billiton, TNT China, Bell Canada, Dow Chemical, Nissin Foods, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Paralympic Committee to name but a few. Directing Delta Air Lines' highly successful sponsorship of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Joined the IOC's then-new external marketing agency, Meridian Management SA after the Atlanta Games where I served as Senior Vice President – Marketing, responsible for managing the marketing and client servicing relationships with the IOC's global TOP Partners. At Meridian, I helped spearhead the first-ever global assessment and positioning of the Olympic Brand, resulting in the IOC's first brand image campaign, “Celebrate Humanity”. Served as the lead brand and marketing consultant for the successful Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic bids, the 2018 Russia FIFA World Cup & United 2026 FIFA World Cup bids, and the Doha 2030 Asian Games bid. Served as the lead brand strategist for Golf and Wrestling's bids to return to the Olympic Games.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Patrick Mouratoglou, also known as “The Coach”, currently the most influential coach in tennis, sharing his incredible journey with us, starting with his difficulties in his childhood to overcoming them and turning his passion for Tennis first into a business (Academy) and then into a profession (Coach).  Amazing stories and incredible learning on multiple levels.  Best warm up story ever on the Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast. I am certain you will enjoy it.     Key Highlights Early childhood stories and challenges (from low self esteem and panic attacks) and the lessons from it Winning the fight against his body and mind at the age of 11 – (first little victory) – lesson, we are the product of our life lessons (have a little win every day) Started playing tennis at the age of 4, playing 8 hours per day – Court was only place where he felt safe and confident  Age 15, parents “forced” him to stop playing against his will – another turning point in his life – his dream was destroyed Age 17, started psycho therapy for 10 years – developed tremendous skills how to read people due to his in-ability to interact with people  Working in his father's company to learn the trade from the ground up – but wasn't for him – pursued his passion for tennis again Great life Lessons from his meetings with his parents  Starting his first academy – renting two Courts (for E$ 3 per court per hour) – putting flyers on cars – after one year 40 “average” players taking lessons Next step – approached Bob Brett (at that time Boris Becker's coach) to partner with him for the “Bob Brett Academy” Had two months to put it all together before Bob Brett showed up. Patrick was the “manager” and running the academy, unfortunately, after six years Bob leaves.  Worst business decision to build a name for someone else and now the “brand” disappears on him – luckily his young players stayed on He decided to put his own name on the “door”. Only problem was, he was not a Coach (yet).   From that decision onwards, it took him 10 years to win his first Grand Slam as a Coach – we unpack that incredible journey Marcos Baghdatis, first protégé, next lesson (from bad coaching) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, just made French Open Final  – 16 years old when she joined him, struggling together, great story  Serene Williams, she was going through a tough moment when they first met, hadn't won a Grand Slam for two years and lost in first round in Paris  Called him to train in his tennis academy in Paris (at that time he was coaching Grigor Dimitrov) – “talk to me” story  He showed her what he thought she was doing wrong, working for 3 days and she loved it – next meeting in Wimbledon (which she won while Patrick coached her) Massively successful year in 2012, winning Grand Slams, Olympic Gold, etc at the age of 30 – and 10 Grand Slams later  Patrick Mouratoglou Academy  - from Nice, France to Greece & Dubai (Tennis Centers within top resorts)   Schooling and sports program – 200 students, 40 different nationalities – also for families, hotel, medical center, seminar area, etc  UTS – Ultimate Tennis Showdown – amazing new concept, shorter format, adapted rules, focused on digital audiences, players love it  Patrick talks us through his vision for UTS and what he thinks is right and wrong with tennis right now – must listen for anyone in the business of tennis UTS formula - short, dynamic, immersive and authentic content – started in 2020 in height of pandemic – coverage across 100 countries, 20 mil viewers, 10 invited players  Raising US$ 50 million right now, to build a League, 10 events per year in amazing locations across the world – like F1 (only same 10 players)   About Patrick Mouratoglou is a French tennis coach and sports commentator of Greek descent. He has been the coach of Serena Williams since June 2012. He founded the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in 1996 near Paris (later relocated to the outskirts of Nice), and has coached many up-and-coming players, including Marcos Baghdatis (whom he coached to the final of the 2006 Australian Open), Julia Vakulenko, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Aravane Rezaï, Irena Pavlovic, Jérémy Chardy, Laura Robson, Yanina Wickmayer and Grigor Dimitrov. Mouratoglou started coaching the ATP player Marcos Baghdatis in 1999 when Mouratoglou invited him to his Tennis Academy in October 1999, on a one-week basis. Baghdatis was, according to Mouratoglou, "not an athlete at all", however within seven years he would become a junior world No. 1, win the 2003 Australian Open boys' title, reach the final of the same tournament in 2006 and reach the world's top ten. In July 2007, he started coaching Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Within two years, Pavlyuchenkova reached the world's top 30 and has since made two Grand Slam quarterfinals and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 13. They ended their association in August 2009, and Mouratoglou moved onto coaching both Aravane Rezaï and Yanina Wickmayer. Rezaï enjoyed a successful 2010 season, entering the world's top 20 and winning the Premier event in Madrid whilst Wickmayer reached a career-high ranking of world No. 12 in April 2010. Mouratoglou stopped working with both Rezaï and Wickmayer in August 2010 and April 2012 respectively. In December 2010, Mouratoglou started coaching Laura Robson, who was world No. 217 at the time and still struggling to break into the senior tour. They worked together for six months before separating shortly before Wimbledon in 2011, when Robson was still struggling to make any progress on the WTA Tour, having slipped further to world No. 257. During this same period, Mouratoglou also coached Jérémy Chardy within his academy. In March 2012, Mouratoglou started coaching Grigor Dimitrov and set about guiding him back into the world's top 100, having dropped to No. 102 by the time he started. This association ended in September that year and Mouratoglou moved on to coaching Serena Williams. By the time Mouratoglou started coaching Williams, she had just suffered her first-ever opening round defeat in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, losing in the first round of the 2012 French Open. Since then, Mouratoglou has guided Williams to her fifth, sixth and seventh Wimbledon titles, the Olympic gold medal, her fourth, fifth, and sixth US Open titles, her second and third French Open titles, three consecutive year-end championships titles, her sixth and seventh Australian Open title and lifted her back to world No. 1 in the WTA rankings.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Giampiero Rinaudo, a passionate Italian sports tech Entrepreneur, Founder & CEO of Deltatre. Being the CEO for the past 35 years, managing the growth over three decades with now a team of over 1,000 technologists, designers, and innovators across the world who are driven by a passion to change the way the world consumes content.    Key Highlights How it started, at the young age of 20 as a student, started to work part time in “timing support” with Olivetti – in Alpine Skiing and F1   In 1986, Deltatre was born, with three partners – continuing to service Olivetti in result and timing systems (manual time spotting at F1)  Olivetti starting to have financial problems, time to be a proper entrepreneur and start offering service to multiple clients  In 1995, about 40 people, growth in second decade driven by growth in media rights fees, especially Football  UEFA Champions League, big new client and opportunity, central results system operator  Staying at the cutting edge, working with top clients who push company to new heights and working globally  Internet and PC boom offering new opportunities, World Championship of Athletics, Gothenburg, 1995 – first real time results on the internet   Building websites and portals for Federations – clear focus to be a service provider, not in competition with our clients  In 2005 (second decade), 110 staff, two offices, heavily focused on 2-3 big clients, UEFA, FIFA, IAAF His own Entrepreneurial journey and learning – software developer turned CEO.  Learning on the job  Third decade, from 5 clients to 70 clients, streaming over the internet and social media, nearly 500 people  First Olympic streaming website for NBC at the Beijing Olympics 2008 – great success  London 2012 – first proper digital Olympics – again involved at a major level  Starting to develop “Products” for broader range of clients with smaller budget (changing from Service to Product culture) New Broadcasters clients, still focused on Europe and a few around the world  Growth funded internally until 2008, looking for growth beyond organic, Italian investor came in and Deltatre saved them during the subsequent global crisis 2016 Bruins Sports Capital (BSC), buys 75%, 25% still held by management – big growth in the US through BSC strong network  First new client(s) in the US, NFL Game Pass, then MLB, MLS OTT growth, now 50% of the business – broadcast clients  Acquisition of Massive Interactive – combining their product culture with Deltatre service culture  OTT – discussion about the evolution, the opportunities and challenge with monetization  Partnerships with Rights Holders, example with DFL (Bundesliga) and Sportec Solutions Beyond sports, a look at entertainment, Gaming & Esports Deltatre and Covid – effects on company & “one company” system & the “new normal” office culture  Look into the future of Deltatre – continued two digit growth, acquisition, etc    About Giampiero Rinaudo “When I was young, I wanted to be a timekeeper for alpine skiing,” says Deltatre's Group CEO, Giampiero. Fascinated by sports, and growing up near Turin, Italy, within easy reach of mountains, it wouldn't have been an unrealistic goal. But Giampiero, known as Gipi, would follow a related, but different, tact. After completing his Computer Science studies at the University of Turin, he took his career dream as a starting point and supercharged it. Setting up Deltatre with two partners in 1986, he combined his interests in technology and sport to produce better fan experiences across the world – an ambition which began with creating ways to record times and other sports data more accurately. “I was a lover of computers and data and I loved sports, so I thought ‘what better than setting up Deltatre?' Computers and sports were my passions,” he says. When he set up the company aged just 27, Deltatre was unsurprisingly a very different place to today. An early project involved developing software to provide more accurate timekeeping for Formula 1, with the company installing transponders within cars to ensure lap times could be measured accurately – a tactic still used to this day. Personal computers were in their infancy, meaning heavy equipment would often be carted to games. “They did the tasks we were doing at that time like record timings and inform about results,” he says. “Now we've moved in a completely different direction.” Gipi could never have foreseen the incredible growth that Deltatre would encounter. From its humble beginnings as a team of just three, to more than 1,000 technologists, designers, and thought-leaders today in 19 offices across the globe. Now a silent partner powering many of the world's most-watched events, including FIFA World Cups, UEFA Champions Leagues, ATP Tennis Tournaments, and NFL Super Bowls – to name just a few. Disruption has remained constant over the past three decades – and Gipi and employees have evolved with it rather than fervently clung on to techniques of the past. With the recent acquisition of software company Massive Interactive, which specialises in the entertainment OTT space, this has never been more true. “When I look back every year, the company is never the same as the year before; it's a constant transformation,” he says. As well as the continued growth of the company, he believes one of his biggest achievements is the culture fostered at Deltatre. “It's a very informal environment and my door is always open,” he says. And how does he want others in the company to view him? “Honest and loyal,” he says, “which I believe are also important sport values.” Outside of work, he enjoys alpine skiing, swimming, and hiking.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Clive Bowen is a man truly shaped by his early career experiences; from his days at Rolls Royce to his years working with a large Saudi group before entering into the world of motor racing and him emerging as a world leader in building Racing Resorts around the world:   Key Highlights Studying mechanical engineering and landing first job at Rolls Royce (Aerospace)  Moving on to Wright Machinery (PPM). Amazing experience serving clients in Middle East – commencement of project management responsibility  Middle East stories from late 80s. A territory which changed dramatically each year for 20 years.  Great Lessons and stories from running Haldir Ltd., a division of a Saudi group for nine years. Commencement of the ‘always under promise and over deliver' mantra 1997, meeting Paul Berger in Dubai and various other motorsports luminaries. Entry into the motorsport industry, initially as a hobby, then as a profession Pitching Dubai Autodrome for four years with Paul Berger. Cutting a deal with Union Properties, working with HOK Sports (now Populous). First design for a track and masterplan for a venue West Surrey Racing days - six years in Touring cars with MG – even becoming ‘team principal' of the Junior MG BTCC team that launched the career of Colin Turkington Dubai Autodrome stories; how it evolved as a major property development  Next Apex project in Iceland and how 2008/09 financial crisis killed it Development of first "Race Resort", Hampton Downs Motorsports Park, New Zealand  Various Karting design and construction projects in Middle East  Herman Tilke, mutual respect - positioning Apex purposely below his F1 tracks  Difference in company philosophy: Tilke ‘race circuit focus' vs ‘venue with a race circuit inside' focus for Apex  Pragmatic approach to developing leads in the industry: 1 in 100 chance a lead turns into a construction project; Apex has had over 2000 inquiries, 200 project codes, turned into 20 construction projects. Typical five years lead time from enquiry to venue Difference between a race drivers point of view vs a designer's on what constitutes a great track  What makes an ultimate race track? Race Resort Projects in China Insights into the new Miami F1 track Potential new Race Resort in South East Asia    About Clive Bowen I established Apex Circuit Design Ltd in 1997 and developed it to become a world-leader in the field of motor race circuit design, engineering and master planning. My team and I design cost-effective, relevant, multi revenue, multi-use motorsport based entertainment destinations. In 2009 we were appointed the FIA Institute Facilities Advisory Partner on a multi-year contract to support projects which are grant funded by the FIA Motor Sport Development Fund. Our service is to provide commercially and environmentally sustainable master plan designs for race destinations anywhere in the World. We pride ourselves on creating exciting, interesting and commercially viable race track designs and currently have projects on 5 continents. Our master planning services are accepted as among the World's finest. We are considered the de facto choice for commercial developers even in today's harsh economic climate. We aim to meet the future needs of environmentally sustainable developments whilst also supporting and nurturing motorsport from the grass roots to the highest levels Specialties: Race Circuit Design (Road course, street circuit, temporary circuit), Motor Sport Destination design, Entertainment Destination design, Master Planning services, Motor Sport event management, Motor Sport operational management, Motor Sport sustainability consultancy, Motor Sport environmental consultancy. Please review our website at www.apexcircuitdesign.com for further information.   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Joachim Hilke, is a German sports marketing Veteran with an colorful career across NFL Europe, UFA/Sportfive early growth story,  HSV (Hamburg Football Club) and now with Fanatics in Europe.  Lots of great stories on how the NFL started in Europe and the challenges around it, to an insider look into German Football Club thinking and off course a deep dive into Fanatics' amazing online merchandise retail business globally.  Enjoy.   Key Highlights From his College thesis to the first job at the NFL Europe with Rhein Fire - great stories how the League and team started (Americana in Duesseldorf) Next stop, UFA/Sport 5 - HSV (Hamburger Sport Verein – Bundesliga Club) great stories about selling their rights and sitting on the board of a major Club. Naming rights of HSV Stadium – AOL Arena – focusing on sponsorship and marketing while the rest of the company is mostly selling TV rights UEFA National Team deals – the good old days of maximizing 2nd & 3rd party rights both in TV and sponsorship (Double production – sell both sides of the pitch to different sponsors) Front Runner of UEFA Qualifiers packages now managed by CAA Eleven 2nd run at HSV – Chief Commercial officer & Board member again – dream job for a kid from Essen. At that time, team was a regular in European Football and amongst top teams in the Bundesliga  (Emirates Airlines on the Jersey) Challenging six years on the pitch, legal structure of German Football clubs make it challenging with Fans having a large say and voting rights (Members Club) – lots of emotions which start influencing decisions Current role at Fanatics – Managing Director Global Partnerships – massive online Merchandise and Licensing retailer, valued US$ 12.8 billion (up from 6b mid last year) – representing all major US rights holders com – V-Commerce Model (vertical) – the ultimate online sports apparel and fan gear store (80% of revenue online) Difference between official apparel of Kit supplier and other fan apparel merchandise Demand for Fan products stayed strong during Pandemic, especially after Leagues started playing again - Fandom is still alive and well International roll out – differences in Europe to US model with Leagues – in Europe deals are done with Clubs and not Leagues Some big names signed up in Europe, German and English FA, PSG (Paris St Germain) and Bayern Munich With large volume but thin margins in merchandise, wondering why European Football Leagues don't bundle merchandise like the American Leagues? Opportunity to take global IP to Asia and other parts of the world. Hillhouse Capital (PE Fund), JV partner for China market launch. Office in Tokyo, dealing with Japanese Baseball and US Sports Counterfeit products not a major focus or concern -  focus heavily on Football/Soccer for now        About 2017 – today, Fanatics International, MD Global Partnerships 2011 – 2017, Hamburger SV (HSV Fußball AG), CCO 1998 – 2010, Sportfive, CEO International 1994 – 1997, NFL International, MD Rhein Fire   Follow us on our social sites for the latest updates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsentrepreneurs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusluerpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-entrepreneurs Website: https://marcusluer.com Podcast: https://marcusluer.com/podcast To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com   Feel Good by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_feel-good Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/bvgIqqRStcQ

Ricardo Fort spent his incredible career on the "brand side" of the business, deploying hundreds of millions of sponsorship and advertising dollars for the likes of Coca-Cola and VISA to name a few. Great deep discussion about his views on sports as a platform from the perspective of a true "Advertising Man" who has worked with some of the biggest sports sponsors in the world.    Key Highlights From studying Civil Engineering to realising that marketing was his calling at Unilever. FMCG space, great place to learn marketing, brands spending big dollars His dream (which was also mine) working for Coca Cola coming true. The Coke TV commercial that triggered it (featuring Zico). Third time lucky