The Business of Sport

In association with the International Sports Convention

Her Business of Sport - Sally Sheppard 09/15/2025

Her Business of Sport - Emily Heath 09/08/2025

Her Business of Sport - Thayer Lavielle 08/29/2025

The Business of Sport - Justin Papadakis 08/26/2025

The Business of Sport Steven Ball 08/21/2025

The Business of Sport - Paul Stewart and Ian Bishop 07/25/2025

The Business of Sport - Michael D’hulst 07/18/2025

The Business of Sport - Charlie Copsey 06/27/2025

The Business of Sport - Ben Baroody 06/20/2025

The Business of Sport - Josh Harrington 02/13/2025

The Business of Sport - Cedric Vanden Bogaerde 01/24/2025

The Business of Sport - Dave Slemen and Anna Edwards 12/17/2024

Her Business of Sport - Leah Davis 12/13/2024

The Business of Sport - Hannah Brown 12/04/2024

The Business of Sport - Hannah Brown Hannah Brown is the co-CEO of Women’s Sport for DAZN. With over 20 years of experience in finance, sports media, pay TV, corporate venture and business transformation, Hannah now has the task of developing DAZN’s investment in women’s football rights globally, into a significant business opportunity. Together with Esmeralda Negron, she founded ata football, a streaming platform and community for women’s football fans. ata football was acquired by DAZN in 2023 and the pair now share joint CEO status of Women’s Sport at DAZN. Hannah on DAZN: “DAZN is a really interesting platform because it has grown, solely in a digital environment. So when we think about how DAZN has got it’s products to market, it has done that through really one delivery system, it’s not had to worry about legacy technology or distribution platforms. It is wholly a digital business, which allows us to do a number of things. It allows us to turn up in all markets around the world simultaneously. There are big streaming challenges in order to do that, which DAZN has tested and met as an 8 year-old business. What “digital solely” platforms allow you to do, is, yes, turn up in lots of markets at the same time, but it also gives you lots of flexibility when you think about the business models. We want to be the global home of sport. We are doing that vertical by vertical. If you ask football fans outside the UK, we are already the home of football for them.” Hannah on the DAZN FanZone: “We run Fan Zone on a multitude of our properties, not just women's football and we are getting pretty decent engagement rates, around 20 to 30% of fans on premium sports events. But when we put it on women's football, that average goes up to 40% and when Barcelona played at Manchester City in the UWCL recently, that FanZone engagement went up to 60%. It was really encouraging to see big match-ups, big story-telling moments. A similar thing happened when Arsenal played Juventus and when big team take part, fans have got a lot to say. The fans are very positive about that experience too because they are coming into an environment which is not aggressive, they are allowed to say what they want and negative chat in those groups is basically non-existent. There’s a lot of fun in the FanZone with quizzes and polls, but we integrated that into the broadcast environment in a really serious way, with commentators talking about what the fans are saying, getting their feedback, voting for Player of the Match. So its really nice to be able to say you can get involved and have fun, but we are also going to take your views and perspectives seriously from a broadcast perspective. We have seen a lot of success with FanZone and I think we have only just got started.” Hannah on the future of Women’s Sport: I think from a sponsorship perspective, the uniqueness of women’s sport is definitely valuable. How do you get to an audience with a unique message and positioning. I was a biologist back in the day at University and my analogy is that when men's football put it’s head out of the ecological pond from a commercial perspective in the 90’s, the content landscape was not cluttered and it was coming out as a big and strong fish. It had a big fandom and lots of people cared deeply about it and came out with a strategy to grow and prosper in the environment it found. Women’s football put it’s head out of the ecological pond into a concrete landscape of content and competition, and that’s not just from men’s football, its from everything that people want to do with their weekends. The ease with which content is made available is so different now. So how does women’s football lean into what makes it unique and allows it to go and compete at the product level? Because I think the challenge you have is that if you are a music artist, you are either good or you’re not. People don’t buy a ticket for Ariana Grande or Taylor Swift, thinking they will be good in three years time….they buy because they are good now. So, Women’s Football can’t ask for forgiveness on fandom for a long time, it’s got to create a unique position in the market which then becomes valuable to a sponsor, with kit apparel or broadcast rights. For football, scale is critical. Running teams and rosters isn’t a cheap business and therefore everyone pushing that bar as high is possible is critical, because mediocrity is not going to win.” /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/34284950

The Business of Sport - Sam Shave and Dr Susie Tomson 11/27/2024

The Business of Sport - Sam Shave and Dr Susie Tomson ISC International Sports Awards Agency of the Year nominee, Think Beyond, is a leading social impact and sustainability consultancy, working in and through sport and entertainment. With offices in London, New York and Lausanne, they have an impressive portfolio of clients keen to prepare for the future, including Liverpool Football Club, World Athletics, World Rugby, FIBA, Subway, The Premier League, ESPN, SailGP and more. In this latest ISC Business of Sport podcast, Andrew James talks to Managing Partner Sam Shave and Senior Partner, Dr Susie Tomson. Sam on the changing landscape of sustainability in sport: “We talk about the shift from risk, to opportunity. This started off as CSR and sport felt it had to do something, because someone might look at us, so let’s make sure we tick a couple of boxes and give some money to this charity, so nobody is going to have an argument with us now. Then it got to the point where sport realised it probably does have to do something. There’s regulation coming in, fan and sponsor expectations etc. But it was still fundamentally, risk mitigation. What we try to embed with our clients, is that actually, you need to take a different mind set. Fundamentally, what does it look like if you become leaders in this space? You are no longer just reliant on the size of your perimeter advertising boards or the eyeballs on them, you now have a story to tell and that human interest is attractive to partnets. So it’s not about mitigating risk, it’s about maximising opportunity.” Susie on the business case for sustainability in sport: “There are three angles really. One is just, fundamentally, getting your house in order. You can put a value on retaining and attracting clients, there’s a lot of research done around the expectations of the next generation and you can put a value on that too. You can also start looking at what happens if you lose your licence to operate from an environmental or health and safety perspective, where there are values if you have a breach of compliance. The third aspect is commercialisation, which is part of the conversation, but becoming an increasingly critical part. Susie on the climate future: “When you talk about the climate, that really is looking to the future and making sure that your sport or your business is future-proofed and resilient to the impacts. Now, as in Spain recently, we are seeing lost days of events and damage to infrastructure. All of that has a cost. We are certainly now moving into that space where we are helping our clients just measuring their carbon and signing the Sports Climate Action Pledge and making sure they are not being damaging, to now realising that you now have to start thinking about what the risk and the impact is on you from a climate perspective. Looking at each risk, how can you flip that on it’s head and turn it into an opportunity and make sure that from grassroots through to the professional level, you are ready for what is going to come down the track. We are starting to put numbers on ‘what is the cost of adaptation’ and ‘what is the cost of inaction’.” Sam on the American focus of the next four years, with both the world’s biggest sporting events heading to the USA. “We are looking quite carefully at the US. Whatever happens over there will be interesting to watch and we hope to be an integral part of that. We already have an office in New York and interesting clients there. NASCAR is an absolutely fascinating piece to work on. A traditional sport with a really traditional fanbase. In terms of the US political situation their fanbase will have a view on sustainability, but actually, they have got an incredible leadership team that are saying, ‘we want to look at how NASCAR develops and changes into the future”. It is easy to get into some kind of rabbit hole, looking at what needs to be done with sustainability. But actually, you just want to think ‘what is the kind of sport you want to be delivering in 20 years time and how do you get to that point. There’s going to be a huge amount of change and sustainability is going to be one of that pieces of change.” /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/34179485

The Business of Sport - Rob Wilson 11/05/2024

The Business of Sport - Rob Wilson Rob Wilson is Head of Executive Recruitment and Programmes at University Campus of Football Business, which now has sites at Wembley Stadium, Manchester with a global hub in Miami. UCFB is the first Higher Education institution in the world, dedicated to the delivery of University Degrees in the football and sports industries. Rob on the ISC Professional Network Booster: “I think it’s a really good partnership, because it provides a huge amount of value for us at UCFB and I really hope that it provides a similar amount of value for ISC, by having those UCFB students around, by enabling them to access some of the parallel sessions and the speakers, I think it will really enrich the dynamics at the events and I hope, that in two or three year’s time, we find those UCFB students that are working in middle executive leadership roles in sport, and they are on the stage at the ISC delivering a talk to the rest of the members and I think that would really demonstrate the golden thread of the partnership”. Rob on networking: “Networking is a crucial part of achieving in any sector. Understanding the people that work in the industries you want to access, but also the environments, the behaviours, the cultures, the mannerisms, the way you need to engage, the time of day you need to engage sometimes. How many opportunities do you have to go into a boardroom at a football club to meet a Director of Football Performance or the Finance Director? You need to take those opportunities and I think what the link up with the International Sports Convention does, is to really accentuate what UCFB are trying to achieve, ie: connecting with the sector and ISC is absolutely embedded in that sector. The speakers that are on offer, the events that are driven, are all the types of people and events that our students need to be able to access, to have those informal conversations and to make their impressions on the employers that might have an influence over them in the future”. Rob on the evolution of UCFB: “The sco-system is really important, so I would happily assume that ten or so years ago, when UCFB first started, people did begin to take notice of this new thing in the market place, but didn’t really know what it was or what it was offering. But the calls I now have with executives right across the sports sector, when they ask me where I’m from, they say “oh yes, we’ve got an intern from there”. Rick Parry, the CEO of the EFL did exactly that recently. I think that demonstrates the way UCFB have begun to open up their brand awareness in terms of their students, but also, and this is where its critical, is the students that are going out into those organisations and are undertaking those roles are coming with a higher degree of professionalism and a really good reputation”. /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/33798987

The Business of Sport - Mya Doelling 10/21/2024

The Business of Sport - Mya Doelling Mya Doelling is the Senior Partnership Manager at the International Olympic Committee – IOC and leads on their Purpose Partnerships Strategy. She previously directed Sports Strategy for the United Entertainment Group and is a graduate of Harvard University and NYU Stern School of Business. Many of the programmes Mya has spent the last five years creating, were delivered at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including the first ever Nursery in an Olympic Village with TOP Partner P&G. Mya on Paris 2024: “It was a really important moment for us to remind the world of the power of the Olympic movement, what these amazing athletes can do and the types of purpose initiatives that athletes champion, that our partners champion and the way that sport as a platform can really make a difference. As somebody who has spent the last five years designing how our partners can really help the Olympic movement achieve greater impact and deliver on our mission, which is to build a better world through sport, this was finally a platform where we could show everyone what we could do. It was a lot of hard work come to life and it was really beautiful to see.” Mya on Purpose Partnerships: “Sport and purpose is not for every single business and I think the ones that have naturally and strategically become partners with the Olympic movement, largely came to us because of the Olympic values. It is really about, how do we find those synergies of those values and ways in which we can work together and because it really is not for every single business, that is why it has been unique. The programmes that we have been able to develop have found those synergies where one organisation puts a stake in the ground and has long term commitments in areas of sustainability, or gender equality, youth empowerment, that line-up with the IOC’s roadmap to deliver impact in those spaces.” Mya looks ahead to LA: “In the same way that Paris was really my launching pad for what we are doing from a Purpose Partnerships perspective, and the first instance that we have been able to show the results of this strategy, Paris was the first games within the new structure of climate commitments that the IOC has made as an organisation and what we hope to do as the owner of the Olympic Games. So, as we look to LA and Brisbane after that, we have set very clear objectives for our Partners’ and for organising committees’ roles to address not only sustainability, but legacy, venue usage and optimisation. You will see partner initiatives continue to grow in line with these objectives.” /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/33546892

The Business of Sport - Zoe Burton 10/18/2024

The Business of Sport - Zoe Burton Zoe Burton is a Director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, with expertise in advising decision-makers on how best to use technology and digital to meet desired business outcomes. She leads on Deloitte’s Sports Transformation Advisory Group, working with leading sports clubs and governing bodies to future-proof their businesses. Her expertise reaches across all aspects of sport, from strategy to planning, grassroots participation to fan engagement and data & digital transformation to culture. Zoe is one of the lead authors of Deloitte’s annual signpost document, the Future of Sport report, published recently. Zoe on Deloitte’s report - “Future of Sport”: “We went out to a group of global sports leaders beforehand, to understand their perspective of the future and one of the key things that came out was that they were a lot more optimistic about the future of sport and a lot of that stems from change, so we are seeing that sports leaders have already started to transform towards the future of sport and adapt their organisations to the trends and innovate within their organisations themselves, which I think is leading to them being positive about what change can do for their organisations, for example, the use of digital to drive commercial revenues and when you can start seeing that in action, you suddenly become more optimistic.” Zoe on fan engagement: “I don’t think I fear for matchdays. If organisations really start focussing on their fan engagement strategy for Generation Z and Generation Alpha, then they will be able to get it right. There is a view at the moment that what Gen Z and Gen Alpha want is digital and content consumption. But as a collaborative view of the sport ecosystem, we need to keep on bringing those audiences into live sport and that has been a really great opportunity that Womens’ sport has done, so it is more accessible, both from a cost perspective, but also from an atmosphere perspective. It feels more family friendly and that’s where you are going to start pulling in those next generations into live sport and into matchday.“ Zoe on the demands of owners: “The next generation is coming and it is real and that increased evolving market means that what is being demanded from new investors and new owners is a whole new level of professionalisation with things like management reports, all the way through to what they are expecting from a revenue perspective, because they haven’t all come from sport and we are seeing boards made up of people from different backgrounds to a sports organisation, which means you have just got that diversity of thought, which ultimately is going to drive growth.” /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/33510932

The Business of Sport - Owen Laverty 09/20/2024

The Business of Sport - Amar Singh 09/12/2024

Her Business of Sport - Emma Murphy 09/05/2024

The Business of Sport - Jason Webber 09/02/2024

The Business of Sport - Jason Webber Jason Webber joined the Football Association of Wales almost five years ago, to lead on EDI and Sustainability, a brand new role at the time. Prior to that, Jason worked in various Football Development roles, including coaching at the Cardiff City Academy. On leaving University, Jason worked for Show Racism the Red Card, which was his introduction to the Equality World. Jason on the emergence of EDI in football: “We’ve seen quite a shift in recent years and certainly since the murder of George Floyd. There has been quite a gulf of EDI related roles, particularly in football, but in sport more broadly. Sport is starting to be under the microscope a little bit more and being held accountable for progress, or lack of it, which maybe other industries have gone through. So there’s certainly more focus in this area for Chief Executives, National Governing Bodies and in clubs across the game.” Jason on opportunity: “Through our BE: Football programme, we do a lot of work in schools, providing playing football opportunities. Unfortunately, there are still many schools that don’t offer football for girls and it’s very much an exclusive offer to boys. The Be: Football programme enables skills development and opportunities for girls to be mentors themselves in their own schools and be Ambassadors for younger girls.” Jason on Governance: “It is so important that EDI is an explicit and visible core element in any governance. Many National Associations are often a little bit archaic with how they are structured and set up and that’s been the case for maybe a hundred years. WE have had a big change ourselves in terms of our own governance models and structures, but also ensuring that EDI is a core part and embedded within those changes and processes and likewise for clubs as well. We are currently working through to make sure that every club in Wales, from our professional clubs to grassroots, all have their own strategic plans, so that they are very clear on the direction they are going. The changes we have made ourselves, have brought about better representation and we have made huge changes to our recruitment process.” /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/32860332

Her Business of Sport - Shinead Davis 07/22/2024

Her Business of Sport - Charlie Sizer 07/01/2024

The Business of Sport - Tim Hinchey III 06/13/2024

The Business of Sport - Tim Hinchey III Immerse yourself in an extraordinary episode of our sports podcast featuring Tim Hinchey III, the President and CEO of USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation! 🏊‍♂️🏅 Hear firsthand about the exciting plans for the upcoming USA Olympic Swimming Trials and how USA Swimming is aiming for new heights. 🔊 Tim on hosting the USA Olympic Swimming Trials inside an NFL stadium: "We are really excited. This year it's a bit special. We have previously held four consecutive Olympic Swimming Trials in a Basketball Court and sold them out, but this time around, we are going a bit bigger. We are using the NFL Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, The Lucas Oil Stadium, and we are going to try and set a world record attendance on the first night on June 15th, which we think is about 16,000 for a global swim meet. What is also great is that in 1924, Indianapolis hosted the first Olympic Swim Trials and also sent those athletes to Paris, so we are doing it a hundred years later, and that is going to be really exciting for us." 🔊 Tim on selling swimming to a new audience: "We are going to have nine days, on NBC, one of our largest broadcast partners, in Prime Time for nine consecutive nights. We need to take advantage of that. They are going to talk about these World-Class athletes, and it's my job to make sure those stories get out to that audience and the spotlight goes on these amazing Women and Men who are in a traditionally amateur sport, but give them the spotlight that they really deserve. USA Swimming hasn't lost a major international competition in over sixty years, so there's a lot riding on this. Hopefully, telling the stories of these swimmers will hopefully inspire the next class of swimmers and keep that 'pipeline' full. So talent development is a big part of this as well." 🔊 Tim on leadership role models: "One of the first big, huge, personalities that I was very fortunate to have several one-on-one experiences with, was the NBA Basketball Commissioner, David Stern. Watching what David did for the NBA, from the 1980's to where it is today, arguably, one of the most profitable, diverse, successful, athletic organisations globally, and to spend time with a leader like that, is something I will never forget. ...the times he put his arm around me, the times he put his finger in my chest, and grabbing those Golden Nuggets out of what he did was super inspiring." 🌟 Don't miss this episode where Tim shares his insights and excitement about the future of USA Swimming! /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/31728752

The Business of Sport - Hilary Wells 03/07/2024

The Business of Sport - Eric Stark 12/19/2023

The Business of Sport - Eric Stark Eric Stark is a co-founder and President of Slate, a US-based company that simplifies social content creation for brands, making the process much faster. Winners of the 2022 ISC Sports Tech Company of the Year, they've been in business now for almost five years. Eric makes no secret of the fact that his business journey began as an NFL fan first and foremost. He rose through the NFL to become Director of International Marketing and Content Stratgey and also, Manager of International Content Strategy. His CV includes time with the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. But having worked for multiple teams, along with a business partner, he spotted a gap in the market and Slate was born. Eric gained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film & Media studies from UC Santa Barbara in 2012. Eric Stark on getting into the Digital Sports Media Industry: "My first role out of college was with the NFL in a digital media capacity. I will say I joined the company and was interested in the role because of the NFL side not because of the digital media side and it was a good pairing because I quickly fell in love with the digital media side and specifically, how digital media and sports come together and that started my career. I have been in the digital media and sports world ever since, but really, I was just an NFL fan who had a best friend in college with a sister who worked at the NFL and I wouldn't stop bugging her, every other week, to say in touch and then an internship opened up and I got an interview and the rest went from there!" Eric Stark on Slate's USP: When we started, it was about speed for sure. We started as a mobile editing tool only, and it really was about speed of turnaround, especially when you are in person at an event. But there is a need for all social teams across industries to just be more nimble. Yes, speed is part of that, but really it's just about being able to have an idea and to easily execute it and create content. There's a higher volume of social content that every brand needs to create and there are more platforms than ever that these brands need to create content for. That's only increasing and the need for short-form video content is only increasing and it's not easy to create this content. Teams have to use several different editing tools currently, like Premier and we are trying to make it easier for those teams to create that content without it having to pass through so many hands." Eric Stark on where Slate goes in the future: "We are starting to grow more with college athletics in the US. A lot of universities are using Slate for their athletic programmes and a lot of them that aren't, I think will start using it eventually. Outside the US, we do have some Premier League Clubs and some other international football clubs and rugby and other sports that are popular in Europe and elsewhere, but there is still a lot of room for us to grow. I am getting more interested in Premier League and international soccer and did a lot of work there when I worked at the NFL with different teams in the Premier League and I think that sport continues to have a really bright future in the US and we are seeing it grow more and more. With the Premier League on NBC and the World Cup coming soon and I live in Portland, Oregon right now, a city which really cares about it's MLS team, so that sport continues to interest me and it's something I will follow." /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/29146108

The Business of Sport - Niall Couper 12/12/2023

The Business of Sport - Gabby Vidal Castillo 12/08/2023

The Business of Sport - Gabby Vidal Castillo Gabby is the Senior Strategic Partner Manager for International Sports Convention Season Ticket holder, Greenfly, a digital platform seeking to maximise fan engagement opportunities for sports, clubs and leagues globally. Greenfly enables organisations to capture, distribute and organise content. They have become established as part of the short-form content infrastructure. Gabby previously spent four years working for Meta in a Partnerships role and had a brief spell as New Media Partnerships Director for Copa 90. Gabby also includes Google among her previous employers and she has a First Class honours degree in International Business Management from Newcastle University. Gabby on the evolution of short-form content: "When you look at the way short-form content has evolved over the last few years, it's been pretty astronomical. You've had the introduction of social media platforms like Tik-Tok for instance, but equally, existing social media platforms, whether it's Instagram or You Tube have evolved their platforms to keep up with this shift in consumer trends. Gabby on globalisation of content: "Because it is short, short-form content can translate into different interests and cultures. You can make that much more accessible to fans who don't have to sit there for several minutes. You can consume a good variety of short-form content in a short space of time and I think as long as the quality is there, you can translate and make short-form content appealing to all kinds of people. I think that although that kind of content appeals to sports fans, it also appeals to casual fans. So you don't have to be hardcore fans of tennis or F1, to watch that content. I do believe if the content is engaging and entertaining, you will get an audience. We try and show our clients that yes, you are a sports entity, but you have to be in entertainment too." Gabby on User-Generated content: "USG is a really powerful tool to enable fans to be brought closer to the action. It makes content a lot more relatable to see yourself represented in that and touching on the diversity point of view, whether you are a league, a team, or a federation, you are able to represent the diversity of your fanbase and give them the microphone to tell their own stories and how they perceive the club and how they enjoy following the journey from their own perspective." /episode/index/show/internationalsportsconvention/id/28987778

The Business of Sport - James Dobbs 12/01/2023

The Business of Sport

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