Unofficial Partner Podcast

We took The Bundle to Monaco and recorded a live podcast on stage at Sportel, the famous sports media and technology marketplace.Joining Richard and regular co-host Murray Barnett were Glen Killane (EBU Sport), Peter Bellamy (Deltatre) and Louisa Clark (Queensberry Promotions).EPISODE SUMMARYBroadcasting live from Sportel Monaco's opening session, this special episode captures the sports media industry at a pivotal moment. With Apple's Formula 1 deal breaking over the weekend, Relevent's UEFA strategy dominating conversations, and the French football crisis providing a cautionary tale, our panel explores what delegates will be discussing throughout the week. The central question: in a market that's worked the same way for 30 years, where are rights holders placing their chips now?Key Theme: Out of chaos comes creativity. The industry faces forced evolution, and this is the "Monte Carlo casino moment" - how conservative or aggressive will rights holders be?Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

António Caçorino, founder and CEO of APEX, discusses his innovative athlete investor model that combines the capital of over 70 athletes from various sports. He highlights notable investments in ventures like TGL and Baller League, showing how athletes bring credibility and insight to the table. António delves into the strategic shift towards institutional investors, including Red Bull Ventures as a key backer, and the evolving role of agents as strategic advisors. The conversation also explores the future of women's sports and how APEX navigates potential conflicts with corporate partnerships.

What Just Happened - Episode SummaryRugby League's Private Equity Play: Super League Seeks InvestmentThe Rugby Football League is in talks with private equity firms, including Lion Cap Global and Oakwell Sports Advisory, about selling a stake in Super League. This comes 30 years after Super League's formation with Sky backing, yet the sport remains in a similar position—geographically concentrated in Northern England with passionate but limited fan base. The move raises questions about IMG's role, as they're only three years into a 12-year "re-imagining" partnership. The episode questioned why the sport needs PE investment if IMG's transformation was succeeding, and how multiple stakeholders (PE, IMG, diverse club owners) would navigate competing visions for the sport's future. Breaking news during the recording revealed York Knights and Toulouse as the two new teams joining the expanded Super League, notably excluding London despite assumptions about PE interest in southern expansion.The Bill Murray Effect: Stars Trump Sports in Modern BroadcastingBill Murray will front a new Paramount Plus/BBC documentary series touring Irish golf courses, described by the BBC as a "genre-bending road trip" where "golf is just the excuse." This exemplifies the shift toward personality-driven sports content, where the star matters more than the sport itself. The discussion extended to Ari Emmanuel launching interview series on X, and the broader trend of influencers acquiring rights (like French influencer Zach Nanny getting French U21 football rights). Traditional broadcasters are caught between old methods and chasing new audiences through celebrity-led formats, often appearing to lack confidence in the sports themselves as sufficient draw.TNT's Ashes Coverage Controversy: Expertise vs. EntertainmentTNT's announcement of their Ashes broadcasting team sparked backlash among cricket fans, with rugby commentator Alistair Ekin and cycling commentator Rob Hatch as lead voices, plus football/boxing reporter Becky Ives presenting. The debate centered on whether generalist broadcasters can match specialist expertise, with examples like Andrew Cotter and Jim Rosenthal as counterpoints. The deeper question: are broadcasters too focused on capturing "promiscuous outer layer" fans while neglecting devoted audiences? With matches at 3am UK time and Sky declining to bid, the episode questioned TNT's strategy and whether cricket fans might cobble together YouTube/TikTok alternatives rather than subscribe—potentially undermining the traditional broadcast model entirely.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

We went to the London offices of Sid Lee Sport to host Cause and Effect: Why sponsorship needs an effectiveness revolution. A live recording featuring industry professionals from across the sport sponsorship marketplace, who came together in front of an invited VIP audience to ask some big questions as sport's role as a marketing platform for brands.Taking part were:Hosting the event was Charlotte Thomson, founder of The One10 Collective and formerly head of women's football at Copa90.Joining Charlotte on stage were Charlie Dundas (GSIQ), Rebecca Martin (Barclays/ESA), and Rory Natkiel (Sid Lee Sport) as founding board members of the Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum, a not-for-profit, cross-industry platform dedicated to raising the standard of sponsorship effectiveness. "By building benchmarks, sharing case studies, and challenging old assumptions, our mission is to help sponsorship achieve its true potential and claim its rightful place at the heart of brand building. This is just the start. Over the months ahead we’ll be publishing research, hosting events, and creating the tools the industry needs to move beyond exposure metrics and prove the real impact of sponsorship."Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Today's conversation was recorded at the Two Circles European Summit which took place a few weeks ago at the Institute of Engineering and Technology overlooking the Thames, next to the Savoy. Gareth Balch, founder and CEO of Two Circles is our guest, and as ever with Gareth, nothing was off limits, and its useful to periodically check in on what he's seeing right across the European and North American sports markets, where they encourage their clients to think about their relationship with the key trends, sharing nuggets of useful information that lurk just below the day to day headlines.We explore the state of sports business, what fan engagement means in 2025 and the evolving relationship between sports IP, audiences, and revenue.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

This is the fourth and final episode of our series What's Sport Selling? Created in collaboration with the Redtorch research and creative agency. Today's guest is Tim Hollingsworth, who led Sport England for eight years, managing the £300m annual budget derived from government and national lottery funding. His tenure spanned COVID, energy crisis, and fundamental strategy reset via "Uniting the Movement." Over the past three episodes, we've explored how sport can drive meaningful social impact, tackle the global physical inactivity crisis, and unlock powerful business opportunities for the industry.This conversation brings all of those themes together. If you'd like to learn more about Redtorch, the independent research and creative agency dedicated to making sport more relevant, visit Redtorch.Sport. We thank them for their support. Much appreciated and what has been a really interesting and broad series.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Guests Jen Topping and Jo Redfern critique the arguments around sport’s relationship with the creator economy, the control v chaos philosophy divide inherent in digital IP monetisation and audience building, and the PR battles being waged for premium advertising among the big platforms. Plus, the Beano. Jen Topping’s Business of TV Substack newsletter is great, as is Jo’s Kids Media Club podcast. Both are broader than sport and all the better for it. Plus:The "Taylor Swift Data Fallacy" - This explores how top-tier creator success (like MrBeast's) is mistaken for average outcomes when creators transition to streaming, leading to unrealistic expectations.The Data Reliability Crisis - Addressing the fundamental problem that much online engagement isn't authentic, with nearly half of internet traffic coming from bots.Generation Z's "Creative Maximalism" - Examining how younger audiences have developed entirely new creative frameworks that challenge traditional media production.The D2C Imperative - Why direct-to-consumer strategies are becoming essential rather than optional for traditional producers.Creator-Led Sports as a Microcosm - Using sports leagues as an example of broader shifts in entertainment consumption and production.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Sam Sadi, CEO of LiveScore Group, shares insights on the groundbreaking partnership with xAI to enhance real-time sports media and betting. He explains how integrating X's APIs will curate dynamic content, improve audience engagement, and create personalized experiences. The discussion dives into the strategic advantages this deal offers over offshore betting operators and the role of influencers in driving betting behavior. Sadi also touches on the importance of sentiment analysis and how AI will revolutionize sports content and operations.

 This is Inside Edge, which is our cricket business podcast. Regular co-host Mike Jakeman is away this week, but our guests are Beth Barrett-Wild and Jen Vile from the ECB.  Beth is the Tournament Director at ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 & Director of Women's Professional Game at ECB, and Jen Vile is Marketing Director at (ECB)So we are talking women's cricket, the T20 World Cup in England next year, and the hundred, the impact of the new money flooding into the hundred on women's cricket.  There's a lot there and we hope you enjoy it.  Leaders in Sport connects the most influential people and the most powerful ideas in global sport to catalyse discussion, and drive the industry forward. The Summit, part of Leaders Week London (their flagship event), is taking place next week on Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 October at the Allianz Stadium and this is a final call to secure your place.This is your opportunity to be in the room with the who's who of our industry, it's the most significant gathering of the entire ecosystem of global sport - we're there every year and can testify to that.We will be there, so please come and say hello to us in the Partners Village.  Visit leadersinsport.com/UP for more information and use UP15 for a 15% discount on your Summit passes.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Three stories from a week in the sports business.James Emmett comes fresh from the IMG-Redbird Summit.David Cushnan on what and who lurks behind The Enhanced Games.Richard on Jamie Redknapp and Richard Thompson's new football agency. Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.