Leaders Worth Knowing Podcast

Welcome to the first episode in a new series called The TikTok Gameplan.   Over the course of several episodes across the year, we'll be exploring the social giant's approach to sport through the prism of some of its key executives and content creators.   In this first episode of the series, we dig into TikTok's Gameplan for magnifying women's sport.   To help us do that, we called upon the servic...

Katlyn Gao, CEO of LOVB (League One Volleyball) and Alex Bazzell, President and Co-Founder of Unrivaled Basketball join Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett to discuss why women’s sport was top of the agenda in Cannes this year.   Gao charts the story so far for LOVB as it builds its own brand – and looks to attract brands - and considers the prominent role of the league’s athletes in its stor...

Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan dust off the mics to discuss what’s worth knowing this week in the global business of sport. They examine some of the sports organisations currently on significant recruitment drives - Relevent Football Partners, Premier League Studios, Glasgow 2026 and the Cadillac F1 team among them - and reflect on a remarkable weekend o...

Outgoing Meta wearables chief Dan Reed joins the Leaders Sport Business podcast this week.   Having announced his departure from the technology giant earlier this month, Reed reflects on 11 years at the helm of various departments at Facebook and then Meta.   Hired out of his role as President of the NBA's G League, Reed initially joined Facebook to head up its nascent sports activity as Director...

Major League Baseball’s CMO and the President of the Harlem Globetrotters join Leaders Content Director David Cushnan in New York on the fringes of 4se, SBJ’s sport-meets-entertainment conference. MLB’s Uzma Rawn Dowler explains how the league’s MLB Life platform is at the heart of its growing activity on fashion, music, gaming, arts and entertainment, and how she’s managing her role as the league...

World Snooker Tour CEO Simon Brownell reflects on crowning a Chinese champion, alongside Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan. In a wide-ranging conversation just after WST's debrief of this year's tournament, Brownell discusses the plan to maximise Zhao Xintong's success at the Crucible, in China and beyond; Sheffield's future as host of the World Championsh...

Exploring the influence Donald Trump will exert on the 2026 Fifa men's World Cup and LA 2028 Olympics, with sports communications strategist John Zerafa. John joins Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan for a tour of global geopolitics, starting at the White House where Trump this week hosted Fifa President Gianni Infantino. They discuss the implications of Tr...

Following Wrexham AFC's latest promotion at the weekend, CEO Michael Williamson joins Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan. He lifts the lid on a memorable day - and night - at the Racecourse Ground, as Wrexham secured its third successive promotion, as well as early planning for life in the second-tier Championship next season. Williamson also discusses the r...

LA Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker joins James Emmett and David Cushnan on the Leaders Sport Business Podcast this week. After guiding James around the Clippers' staggering new $2 billion arena, Zucker sat down to chat through the process of pioneering new tech in sports venues: the facial technology that drives new, smoother fan experiences, the halo board that delivers u...

Snap reflections on our Leaders Meet: Innovation event this week in London, with Craig Hepburn, Art Basel's Chief Digital Officer, and former Virgin Atlantic, McLaren and Chelsea FC Chief Marketing Officer, Claire Cronin. Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan are on location at 180 Studios on The Strand to reflect on two days spent with C-suite leaders from acr...

Lancashire County Cricket CEO Daniel Gidney takes us inside the Hundred auction, as Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan reflect on the beginning of a new era for English cricket. Gidney has been instrumental in the sale of a 70% stake in the Manchester Originals, part of the England & Wales Cricket Board’s process to sell shares in The Hundred franchises...

Philippe Moggio, Kathy Carter and Mark Bullingham are on the show this week, as Leaders duo James Emmett and David Cushnan reflect on a week of soccer activity on and off the pitch in LA last month.   CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio, former LA28 CEO and Soccer United Marketing President Kathy Carter, and FA CEO Mark Bullingham joined James for a series of conversations in the corridors...

India's ambitions to stage the Olympic Games and become a sport-forward nation dominated conversation at last week's RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, and Leaders' Content Director David Cushnan is joined by Portas Consulting's Nic Coward to reflect on a fantastic few days in Bangalore.   They consider how India's plan to host the Games in 2036 are progressing, the ways in which the plan is...

With horse racing's annual Cheltenham Festival playing out in the background, Jockey Club Partnerships Director Carey Weeks takes Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett on a tour of the Orchard, the racecourse's buzzing sponsor village. The episode features on-the-ground conversations with sponsorship leaders from the likes of Brooklands Watch Company and Debenhams. Later on, we hear from Leaders...

With the new MLS season underway, Radhika Duggal joins Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan to discuss the marketing activity at the centre of the league’s 30th anniversary. She explains how the season-launch Game On campaign came to life, why a Super Bowl advert was just one of many touchpoints for it and why players - as creators, brands and influencers in...

Behind the scenes at F1's partner day, Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan speak to senior brand executives from some of the sport's key sponsors. You'll hear from Moët Hennessy's Sport Partnership Director, Vincent Borjun-Privé, on why experiences are at the heart of LVMH's new relationship with F1; Thomas Mulders, Global Sponsorships Manager at Heineken, o...

F1’s Chief Commercial Officer Emily Prazer and Director of Commercial Partnerships Jonny Haworth sit down with Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan, during F1’s hectic launch week in London. In a wide-ranging conversation on the commercial health and outlook for F1, they discuss the sport’s enviable global partner roster - including major new brands like LVMH...

Sports media and marketing expert David Stubley, author of ‘Gamechangers and Rainmakers: How Sport Became Big Business’, joins Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan, to discuss what there is to learn from the sports industry brands that no longer exist. It’s a whistle-stop tour through decades of sports industry history, including the American Football League a...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Steve Gera, President and COO of Grand Slam Track, the new athletics series fronted by Olympic legend Michael Johnson. Gera shines a light on this week’s US media rights announcements for the first season, starting in April, and the calen...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Juan Delgado, CEO of Footballco, the 350-person digital media company that owns and operates online brands such as GOAL, Mundial and Kooora. He explains how audiences consuming football content are growing and morphing into fully-fledged...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Rachel Knight, Co-Managing Director of Women’s Sports Group. She details the ins and outs of the media rights process WSG ran for the Women’s Super League, which resulted in October’s landmark deal which will see the BBC and Sky Sports pa...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. In the mix: The Australian Open’s Nintendo Wii tie-up and a new breed of alt-casts to complement - and in some cases circumvent - traditional broadcast rights arrangements; the debut of 3x3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled later this week, which is taki...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan strap in for 2025, exploring what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Ed Warner, Chair of UK Athletics between 2007 and 2017 and current Chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships, to discuss who’ll be the next President of the International Olympi...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan are in reflective mood, as they review the stories of the sports industry year - as clicked on by you, the sports industry, in our weekly Worth Knowing newsletter. They recall Netflix’s big commitment to sport (and entertainment); organisational chop and change at Manchester United; a stream of investment chatter; the prop...

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan buckle up and settle back to review the stories of the sports industry week. They’re joined by Isabelle Stewart, F1’s Head of Original Content to discuss her two years in the role so far; the logistics, planning and purpose behind Brad Pitt’s F1 movie as filming wraps; what F1’s content slate looks like now and could look...