Are You Not Entertained?

This week’s Goal Own Goal is a World Cup special that kicks off with Roger’s overcooked summit-wine haze and Donald Trump somehow ending up in a fight with Giorgia Meloni, before the real debate lands: whether England’s win over Mexico was the birth of belief or just one of those classic moments that tempt English football into another grand, doomed act of self-confidence. Grant and Roger chew thr...

Jon Miller - President of NBC Sports Programming joins The Captain this week. One of the most influential and powerful executives in North American sport - Jon Miller is the man responsible for NBC”s and Peacock’s extraordinary sports broadcasting - including the Olympic Games, The English Premier League, the NBA and NHL. We learn about Jon’s own passion for sport - golf, tennis and American footb...

Roger Mitchell and Mark Oliver welcome Mike Darcey, former strategic brain behind Sky and ex‑CEO of News UK, for a deep dive into the messy frontier where sport rights, streaming and regulation collide. Using Rupert Murdoch’s quiet war on the NFL as a starting point, they unpack 60 years of antitrust logic, why “no single buyer” rules gave fans more packages but not always better value, and whethe...

This week’s Goal Own Goal is a special World Cup edition that starts with Trump somehow picking a public fight with Giorgia Meloni and ends with England suddenly playing like a 1990s Premier League side under Tuchel instead of suffering through another Southgate straitjacket.  Grant and Roger chew over England–Croatia, the weird thrill of not knowing which England will turn up, the fine art of not...

In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Ray Ranson for a frank conversation about the move from football to business, and the harder lessons that came with it.  Ray reflects on the ruthless side of life in deals, the pressure of keeping a game face, the painful lesson of backing a pioneering sports tech deal that had the vision but not the pricing power to match.  It’s a...

This week’s Goal Own Goal swings from Roland Garros heat exhaustion and prize-money grumbling to the usual grand tour of football’s modern absurdities: Celtic’s managerial politics, Arsenal’s latest lesson in defending like their lives depend on it, PSG’s triumph, women’s football still waiting for the promised mass audience, and FIFA’s relentless mission to turn the World Cup into a luxury produc...

Season 3 of The Captain’s Table focuses on the movers and shakers of the sports industry. This week, The Captain is joined by the real Sheriff of British Sport, Jon Dutton — not of Yellowstone fame, but the current CEO of British Cycling and soon-to-be CEO of Team GB, the British Olympic Association. We learn about Jon’s passion for Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Cycling, as well as his unique lea...

Roger Mitchell and Mark Oliver are joined by Peter Hutton – a man who has worked for three modern moguls, Murdoch, Zaslav and Zuckerberg – to unpack what sport really means to big media in 2026. From Eurosport and the Olympics to Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and the Saudi Pro League, they dig into whether spiralling rights fees have become a “survivor tax”, why bundling and streaming are resh...

Arsenal’s title charge, Celtic’s ugly finish, and the Southampton spying mess anchor a week where football’s rawest instincts beat the PR fluff. The World Cup cash grab looms, sport’s dressing-room power games are laid bare, and the whole thing ends back where it belongs: with football, chaos, and no one getting out alive. Brought to you by Lockeroom.

Roger Mitchell sits down with Australian entrepreneur Ant Arena for a candid conversation about ambition, setbacks and what happens when a big idea hits the real world. From building Aura, an AI-driven sports streaming platform, to battling government delays, cash flow pressure and deals that slipped away to bigger players like Microsoft and Sony, Ant reflects on the lessons that came with the jou...

Grant and Roger dive into a vintage Old Firm weekend and a three‑way Scottish title race, with Hearts crashing the party while a clueless Labour leader suggests Celtic and Rangers should politely cheer for each other.  From there they go big picture: Rangers’ lost menace, clubs rebranded into asset‑class logos, and Roger’s new essay asking whether football should change for Gen Z or die with its s...

Roger Mitchell and Mark Oliver launch Citizen AYNE, a new AYNE series inspired by Citizen Kane, by rewinding to the white‑heat of the dot‑com boom and Roger’s time running the Scottish Premier League. Using their first deal together as a live case study, they unpack how tech money, over-excited broadcasters and new investors created a “boom on a boom” in media rights, why today’s AI and chip-stock...

Grant’s racing the clock to make a tee time at Sunningdale, but first he and Roger pull apart the future of LIV and Saudi money: Neom’s burning cash, the tallest‑building curse is flashing red, and suddenly golf’s easy money era doesn’t look so easy.  From there it’s London in flames — Clear Lake buzzword merchants, Spurs hiring a “lead psychologist” on LinkedIn, Karen Brady discovering that nobod...

In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Giles Morgan to explore a lifetime at the sharp end of sports sponsorship — from wielding HSBC’s global checkbook to reinventing himself as the Sponsorship Doctor. Giles reflects on how his Hong Kong glory years brought lasting regret of choosing career over time with his children, and the humbling reset that followed.  He also lay...

Grant binge‑watches 24 hours of Masters coverage as Rory hangs on to claim back‑to‑back green jackets. From there he and Roger jump to Arsenal’s title nerves, German ultras nicking and burning flags, Infantino’s tone‑deaf World Cup cash‑grab, and why real, messy fan culture and lower‑league chaos still feel infinitely more honest than the leveraged “sport as asset class” fantasy. Along the way: Ma...

In Season 3 of The Captain’s Table, the Captain is focusing on meetings the leaders of the international sports industry - to find out what their own passions for sport really are and the lessons in leadership they have learnt from working in the industry. In the first episode of the new Season, we are joined by Alan Gilpin - CEO of World Rugby. Brought to you by The Sponsorship Doctor and Fortnum...

Grant drags a “punchy” Roger out of bed to unpack Tiger’s latest DUI‑style crash, meme‑ified into a “Tiger Woods bull market indicator,” and the slow, brutal death of AMC’s diamond‑hand apes.  From there they rip into The Athletic’s Jimmy Savile hand‑wringing, the ignored courage of Iran’s women’s team, and the elite outrage over Nigel Farage at Ipswich and Ratcliffe at United—asking why half the...

Roger Mitchell: In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Tal Brown — Israeli-born Silicon Valley AI entrepreneur, former army intelligence tech architect, and the man behind Zone7’s groundbreaking injury-prediction platform — for a deeply human conversation about integrity, sacrifice, and what it costs to chase your ambitions across continents. A true “third culture kid,”...

Grant and Roger christen Roger’s new den, then use Grant’s Roadrunner “Genius Act” newsletter and his eerily on‑point drones piece to link cartoons, stablecoins and modern warfare.  From NIL and the slow death of college sports to 18‑mile “marathons,” cooling breaks, Club World Cup bloat and sanitized Premier League crowds, they argue sport is being rebuilt for fair‑weather customers while Germany...

Grant and Roger open with a heartfelt tribute to Matty Cutler, the quietly brilliant sports‑biz pioneer who helped spark this whole project. From there they dive into shadow banking and private equity creeping through sport’s finances, before landing on the U.S. Olympic hockey furore, media echo chambers, DEI rollbacks and a brutally honest question: has multicultural “integration” actually worked...

In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Caroline Rowland – one of sport’s most decorated storytellers and the creative force behind New Moon, and now archive disruptor Egoli – for a conversation about ambition, cost, and conscience. Caroline reflects on the toll of her perfectionism on colleagues and family, why asking forgiveness of yourself can be the hardest step, and...

Grant and Roger tackle declining NBA appeal and fractured sports media rights at breakneck speed. But the real meat: Why are we tanking fan engagement everywhere? VAR theatre, empty stadiums, ticket chaos, polarized discourse—all while missing the actual product. F1 drivers in revolt and Chelsea chant blowups creating the Streisand Effect. Then the Olympics hit different: women dominate (Brida, th...

Grant and Roger return with Roger in peak “miserable old bastard” form, tearing into Elon Musk’s latest stunt, a so‑called 10‑sigma gold crash, and Djokovic’s absurd epic over Sinner. From gimmick “sports” like bull poker and car‑jitsu to the very real quality of women’s volleyball in Italy, they ask what’s authentic, what’s trash, and whether Gen Z will ever care about real sport. Brought to you...

Grant and Roger kick off 2026 in chaos—Brooks returns to the PGA, Bryson demands are eye watering, and the golf majors are now the only game that matters. Football’s imploding: VAR’s still broken, Chelsea’s new manager’s already doomed, Tottenham can’t stop losing, and the MCO’s circling the drain. Scottish football hires a charity worker, tennis gets weird, Luke Littler turns heel, and Walter Pay...

Grant and Roger wrap the year. Festive cheer giving way to grim reality checks on sport’s grift economy. Goals celebrate Lindsey Vonn, Max Verstappen, Rory McIlroy, Thierry Henry, and Kate Abdo; Own Goals hammer FIFA, Messi, Tether’s Juventus bid, and WNBA absurdities. It all peaks in a candid clash over Roger’s tough-love Confessional with Eddie Pepperell. Classic GOG: witty, worried, waving good...