Unofficial Partner Podcast

Unofficial Partner
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Feb 8, 2022 • 45min

UP224: ReThinking Sport 10: Professionalisation

This is episode 10 of ReThinking Sport, our series created in collaboration with Portas, the global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport and physical activity.  The focus today is on the idea of professional sport. What does it mean when a sport is professionalised. And what are the trade offs in terms of access to opportunity, competitive balance and for the well being of the athletes themselves. It’s a conversation that talks to the very nature and broader purpose of the sports business, where much of the attention is taken up by huge rights fees, sponsorship deals and the wealth of a few lucky superstars at the top of the pyramid. Our guests are Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, England rugby player turned media pundit Ugo Monye and Rowena Samarasinhe, expert partner at Portas Consulting.  Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. We’d love it if you could take the time to rate us on Apple or Spotify, as it helps spread the word. And if you’re interested in more sports business comment and analysis, you can follow me on Twitter @UnffclPrtnr The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial 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.
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Feb 4, 2022 • 41min

UP223: Elements of Value

This is a deep dive in to the relationship between sports fans and teams, with Ben Phillips and Mike Brady from InfrontX. And specifically, we break down the component parts of the value exchange that exists between a football club and a fan, particularly when the relationship is conducted almost entirely via digital channels.I’ve written about this topic in this week’s UP Newsletter,  so you can see the Elements of Value model that we reference in the podcast. Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. We’d love it if you could take the time to rate us on Apple or Spotify, as it helps spread the word. And if you’re interested in more sports business comment and analysis, you can follow me on Twitter @UnffclPrtnr The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial 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.
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Feb 1, 2022 • 41min

UP222: PickGuru

Today we talk about the launch of PickGuru, a new social gaming disruptor app launched by Oli Slipper, the Stats Perform and DAZN Co-Founder, who recently completed a seed funding round, securing an enterprise investment of £2.6 million, which values the company at £6million.Slipper leads PickGuru’s enterprise team formed by Paul Cobley the ex founder of Matulo Software as CTO and former Sportsquake and Stats Perform financial lead Paul Watkins as COO.The press release for the launch says its ‘a concept built and refined by some of the most successful sports entrepreneurs in the UK, PickGuru will allow users to test their knowledge to win big cash pots for small stakes in nationwide leagues or compete with their friends in mini-leagues,”.So we went to Putney in south west London to talk to Oli Slipper along with the company’s CEO Olly Roland Jones and Nick Compton, the former Middlesex and England cricketer and one of Pick Guru’s sporting experts on hand to help customers to make better prediction decisions.You can download the PickGuru app in the App Store or Google Play.For listeners of the UP podcast, PickGuru has created a free to play Unofficial Partner mini league. Follow this link: https://926ft.app.link/0hfPEfahfnb, or enter access code:  XKHA-20569-WKWJKWe will put up 2x tickets to the Darts World Championships to the winner of the UP Mini League.  Good luck. 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.
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Jan 28, 2022 • 47min

UP221: Inside Beijing

Next week is the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the first city to host both a Winter and Summer Games. Go back to 2008 and the story the IOC was telling was one of engagement and the power of the Olympics to open up China to the West. By contrast, the run up to this event has been dominated by human rights violations in Hong Kong, the appalling treatment of Uighur Muslims and the fate of tennis player Peng Shuai. The intervening 14 years has seen many false narratives, as organisations from across the sports business seek to build sustainable and profitable businesses in China, with the promise of selling their sport to the 1.4billion people in the country.Mark Dreyer moved to Beijing to cover the 2008 games and has stayed ever since, so he’s had an up close view of the many twists and turns in the relationship, through the boom and bust of President Xi’s football strategy to the NBA’s media blackout and the on-off story of China’s World Cup 2032 World Cup bid. Dreyer has written a book about it all, called Sporting Superpower: An Insider’s View on China’s Quest To Be The Best, which we reference in the conversation. Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial 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.
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Jan 25, 2022 • 51min

UP220: The Bundle 15

This is number 15 of The Bundle our series on the broadcast, streaming and media rights market with regular co-host Yannick Ramcke and special guests Murray Barnett and Charlie Boss.Charlie is Chief Commercial Officer at The Jockey Club and has Disney ESPN, The FA and England Rugby on his cv. Murray is another ESPN alumni, who was CCO at World Rugby and Head of Global Partnerships at F1. His 26West Sport consultancy specialises in TV rights, sponsorship and commercial development.The conversation starts on Apple and moves quickly to the big deal of the last week, Microsoft’s proposed buyout of gaming giant Activision Blizzard for around $70billon. What are the implications for sport and for the media market generally, what does it say about the value of IP, and how are the broadcasters and streamers going to respond?Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial 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.
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Jan 18, 2022 • 1h 4min

UP219: Web3 WTF?

Today we’re talking about web3, blockchain, NFTs, fan engagement tokens and the metaverse. Our guests are sports investor and former advisor on tech and innovation to FIFA Michael Broughton and Carsten Thode, founder of Aphetor, the games for creators and influencers who was formerly strategy head for Synergy Sponsorship and Manchester United.Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial 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.
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Jan 11, 2022 • 50min

UP218: Steve Perryman MBE

Steve Perryman MBE is a legend of Tottenham Hotspur FC, whose 17 years at the club began as a teenager in the late 1960s before becoming one of the clubs longest serving and most decorated captains, winning The FA Cup twice in the early 80s. But that’s just a part of this conversation, which takes us inside the business of football at the sharp end. Perryman’s love affair with Spurs ended unhappily in 1994 when he was part of the management team of his friend and fellow Spurs star, the Argentina World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles, who were sacked by then owner Alan Sugar.Perryman recalls his journey from player to management, for Watford, Brentford and to great success in Japan’s J-League, again with Ardiles. For the last two decades, Perryman has been an unpaid director of football of Exeter City in the lower reaches of England’s professional league pyramid. This gives him a perspective on the current debate about the fundamental importance of lower division football, both to the communities they serve and as the training ground for the superstars of tomorrow. The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comUnofficial 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.
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Dec 24, 2021 • 50min

UP217: Esport Economics 3

This is episode three of our series on the business of esports, created in collaboration with Nielsen Sport, the world’s leading source of sports measurement and analytics.Today’s conversation moves the focus to the market for mobile gaming in the Asia Pacific region and our guests are Ajay Jilka Director of Regional esports partnerships of Moonton Games, and Mike Wragg, Nielsen Sport’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific who is also the company’s International Head of Strategy Consulting and Research. Moonton Games was established in 2014, based in Shanghai, China, and is best known as one of the pioneers of MOBA Gaming and in particular the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship. In March 2021 Moonton was acquired by ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, in a deal valued at around $4billion, marking the mobile social platform’s move in to the gaming business.To keep in touch with the rest of the series, make sure you subscribe to Unofficial Partner via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. If you like the podcasts you’ll love the Unofficial Partner newsletter, that goes direct to the inbox of thousands of senior executives across the global sports business every Thursday. To join them, sign up via unofficialpartner.com 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.
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Dec 17, 2021 • 27min

UP216 Sport, the IOC and China

Today’s guests are Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson and Ben Rogers, co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, the lobbying group The topic is sport’s relationship with China, the value of diplomatic and sporting boycotts, the role of sportswashing, the limits and opportunity of athlete activism, the IOC’s handling of the Peng Shuai situation and ultimately we ask, what is the purpose of the IOC and the Olympic Movement in 2022? Every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. And if you don’t already get the weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter, you can join thousands of busy sports biz execs who receive it direct to their inbox every Thursday, subscribe via the unofficialpartner substack.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.
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Dec 14, 2021 • 1h 5min

UP215: Pepsi, Barclays and Fuse

This was a bit of a moment for Richard and Sean as its the first in person recording we’ve done since the lockdown forced us online. Newer listeners won’t remember but the first fifty or so podcasts we did were face to face at various locations, and we’ll be looking to do more through 2022, virus permitting.So, we met up at the London headquarters of Omnicom Media Group for the second in our series on sports marketing in partnership with Fuse, the sport, entertainment, cause and culture agency, who helped us pull together a stellar panel that includes Tom Corbett, Group Head of Sponsorships and Media at Barclays, Adam Warner, Senior Director of Global Sports Marketing at PepsiCo, along with Steven Hutchison, Managing Director of Fuse.It’s a broad conversation about football sponsorship, the UEFA Champions League, The Premier League and the FA Women’s Super League, through the eyes of the people making the decisions on the brand side of two of sport’s biggest spending commercial partners.  The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.comEvery episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. 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.

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