The 3 is back for a special Christmas episode, looking back at the sports business in 2024.
Richard is joined by David Cushnan and James Emmett from Leaders in Sport, each of whom is tasked with revealing their most interesting story, person and sport from the year in the sports industry.
What could go wrong?

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Wedge Issues is Unofficial Partner's business of golf series.

Ryan Howsam is the insurance entrepreneur behind the giant Staysure organisation, who liked golf so much he bought the European Seniors Tour, beginning as a sponsor and turning that in to a majority ownership stake, rebranding it as the Legends Tour. 

This gives him a fascinating angle in to the golf product, from the elite tours, through to the travel market and property development side, which is all part of the plan. 

It’s a conversation that brings in Donald Trump, Elon Musk, LIV Golf and the problems with the tour model. 

Referenced in the podcast

See Ryan Howsam In conversation with 

Nigel Farage

And Eric Trump 

✱ This episode of Unofficial Partner is sponsored by We Are Sweet, helping you tell compelling stories in-the-moment, as they happen, from the heart of the action. We Are Sweet captures live biometric data from athletes to uncover great stories, from the big occasions to subtle micro-moments you might not even know are taking place. These are crafted into captivating stories and transformed into stunning visuals ready for your broadcast, live event displays, and second-screen fan experiences, all in real-time. From head-to-head heart rates to anticipated overtakes, We Are Sweet provides AI-driven insights to fuel conversations, inform bookmakers and predict future outcomes, all in the name of deepening fan engagement. Enhance your audience’s understanding of the action like never before by using live data from We Are Sweet.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

In a sports industry obsessed with data and measurement, brand is the great intangible asset, the bit of the balance sheet that remains largely opaque, which is why it’s so important. 
But mention brand in the vicinity of fans or the football media and there's a row. 
It’s no surprise that the kit launch genre has evolved during this period, growing in importance and sophistication (and cost). 

Homeground is one of the hottest creative agencies working in sport today. The London based company has pioneered the kit launch video. Working with Adidas, they are the people behind some of the most outstanding recent work in this area, from Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa to name a few. 

We talk with creative partner Rachid Ahouiyek, formerly of Iris, McCann and Wieden+Kennedy, and Polly Barnes, new business director also formerly Iris and is founder of the Women’s Rugby Association. 

Click on the showreel to see the work referenced in the podcast

https://www.homeground.london/work

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

A special live episode of the podcast recorded at BAFTA in Piccadilly in London, in collaboration with HBS, or Host Broadcast Services, the leaders in sports broadcast production, which was celebrating 25 years in the industry and the opening of it’s London office. The company has produced every FIFA World Cup and many other events since established to be host broadcaster of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea. Next year, the company will host broadcast the Women’s Rugby World Cup that takes place across England. 

One hundred invited guests were treated to two separate conversations.

The first panel were invited to respond the provocation - TV is failing women’s football.

Guests:

Zarah Al-Kudcy, Chief Revenue Officer, Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship 

Maggie Murphy, formerly CEO of Lewes FC, WSL and WCL board member and host of Expected Goals podcast on the business of women’s football. 

Jamie Aitchison, General Manager of HBS in the UK. 

The second group were invited to respond to Richard’s premise.
Knife to a gunfight: Sport’s audience is addicted to the scroll.

Guests:  

Jo Redfern, Independent Media Consultant, self described YouTube and Roblox nerd.

Steve Nuttall, sports & media advisor working for rights holders and for Searchlight Capital Partners, a private equity fund. Formerly Sky, Google and the America's Cup.

Tim Stott, executive producer digital at HBS and its new digital content unit, Skroller

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This is the first episode in a series of four podcasts made in collaboration with Redtorch, the research and creative agency that’s been at the heart of Olympic sport for over 20 years, working for many of the key international federations. We’ve used Redtorch research insights several times on the podcast because they ask really good questions that seek to break the walls between the elite performance side of the industry and the participation, retail and sporting goods sectors. 

The idea for this podcast came from a conversation with Jonny Murch, Redtorch CEO, about a peculiar problem, which has a several different applications. It’s about why the sports industry seems to find it so hard to get its message out to policy decision makers. This was a point reinforced in our recent conversation with Tracey Crouch, the former UK Sports Minister. She said, there is no social problem for which sport can’t provide an answer. So why then doesn’t government or other powerful groups listen? Why is sport not more central to decision making process when it comes to questions such as the health of the nation, the cost of the NHS or the obesity time bomb? 

Where is sport’s voice at the top table of decision makers? Why isn’t there a more powerful and coordinated lobbying group for the sports industry, in the way there is for other industry groups, such as pharmaceuticals, Big Food, oil or automobile? 

Myself and Jonny Murch are joined in this first episode by two people from a different part of the sports industry.

Celine Del Genes is Global Chief Customer Officer at Decathlon, the giant sports goods retailer.

Emma Zwiebler is a lawyer and a former Team GB professional international badminton player who is CEO of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, 

Visit www.redtorch.sport to learn more or call Redtorch CEO Jonny Murch on +44 7989 514 912 for a friendly chat with one of the industry’s most respected marketers.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

The conversation dissects sport’s relationship with the phone, how that differs depending on the nature of our fandom, and the specific roles played by mobile games and fantasy league products in attracting, building and retaining fans. 

Finn Bradshaw, head of digital at ICC, the global governing body for cricket, and held similar roles at Tennis Australia, Cricket Australia and News Corp. 

Siddharth Raman, Chief Executive Officer of Sportz Interactive, one of the biggest companies in the world when it comes to fan engagement, gaming and gamification, working with organisations from UEFA, IOC and BCCI through to many of the IPL franchises and media and gaming companies such as Star Sports and Dream11.   

The conversation dissects sport’s relationship with the phone, how that differs depending on the nature of our fandom, and the specific roles played by mobile games and fantasy league products in attracting, building and retaining fans. 

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Welcome to The Bundle, our regular series on the sports media and streaming marketplace with co-hosts Yannick Ramcke, General Manager of OTT at the streaming service OneFootball and Murray Barnett, founder of 26West Consulting and formerly of F1, World Rugby and ESPN International.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Two Circles is predicting the global sports fanbase will grow from 3.2billion to 4billion by 2033. But below that bullish headline, there’s some nuance. For example, two thirds of consumption comes from just 20% of the most dedicated fans. So there’s a race on to get at that remaining 80% of casual fans, who make up the famous long tail. But how? 

Christian Harrall-Baker is Director of Content, formerly social media lead at the Premier League. 

Laura Andriani is Senior Vice President, Consulting in New York.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

The Buy Side is our regular series talking with brand side marketers about sport and sponsorship.
Today's guest is Willem Dinger, global head of sport and entertainment partnerships at Unilever.

The Buy Side is sponsored by KORE Software the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. More than 900 brands, venues, and sports organisations trust KORE’s tools and platforms as a source of truth to manage partnerships, assets and measure impact, with real-time insights. Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing, Fan Engagement, Data Management and Analytics, KORE unites corporate sponsors, properties, and their fans with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters.

Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow them LinkedIn or Twitter.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Other People's Money is our regular series on sports investment, with co-host Matt Rogan, co-founder of Two Circles.

Today the subject is sports tech, with our guest Dugald Macdonald co-founder of Sportable.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

There’s a row going on over who should run the nascent and potentially commercially valuable sports of padel and pickleball. 

This issue has a universal application across many sports, as NGBs seek to wrap their arms around what they might call strategic adjacencies. So, what are pros and cons of the LTA owning Padel and Pickleball.

Is the NGB model the right one? Do we want or need every version of a sport to have its own governing body, or is the LTA just the best compromise solution when it comes to allocating money. Does the attribution incentive outlined above crowd out privately run Padel or Pickleball businesses or is the LTA helping to build a market for them?

Our guests are Karen Mitchell and Alex Inglot.

Karen is chair of Pickleball England, a former American Express executive who sits on the World Pickleball Federation’s Board of Directors. Alex is a former Board member of the ATP Tennis Tour, an investor in padel projects in the UK and beyond, and founder of the All The Angles podcast covering the business of padel.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.