The CUSP Show

Kevin Monaghan, Senior VP of Strategic Alliances at NBC Sports Group, joins Joe and Tom by telephone to talk about a traditional TV network stays ahead of the game in digital media. As the sports industry continues to respond to changing audience preferences and technologies, Kevin provides some insight into NBC’s strategy for reaching younger sports fans. He explains how digital media has been in...

Dan Mannix joins hosts Joe and Tom this week to tell the story of LeadDog Marketing, the company he founded and grew into one of the biggest industry players in North America. Dan explains how the idea for LeadDog stemmed in part from a project in his twenties to try and bring 1994 FIFA World Cup matches to the Houston Astrodome. He also explains why LeadDog has been proactive in the hiring of wom...

Social media personality and sports fanatic JR Jackson joins hosts Joe and Tom this week to explain how he built an online audience in the hundreds of thousands for his sports video blog the JRSportbrief. With online video the current flavor of the month in the media, JR explains how he set up his one-man media organisation, and how he gained the industry credibility required to book interviews wi...

In April 2015 the Dodgers Accelerator launched, a partnership between the LA Dodgers and R/GA, with the aim of cultivating a raft of young tech companies to "usher in a new era for sports teams and their fans". Twelve months on, Partner of R/GA Ventures and Executive Director of the Dodgers Accelerator Jonathan Bradley gives his verdict on Year One of the project, explains how the idea came about,...

We’re just a few weeks on from March Madness, but college sports isn’t only about the high-profile Division 1 men's basketball tournament. In Divisions 2 and 3, in a host of sports from men's football to women's lacrosse, there are tens of thousands of students and millions of alumni to mobilize and entertain. That’s the rationale behind Collegiate Sports Management Group, a company set up by Mike...

Joining hosts Tom and Joe this week is Jeremy Goldberg, President of LeagueApps, to give the lowdown on the rapid growth of his company, which provides software to help manage local and youth sports leagues. Jeremy explains how LeagueApps set about trying to conquer a hugely fragmented marketplace - and why early on the team realised that they might have to do it the hard way, by making hundreds o...

Spencer Brown, CEO of audio company DGital Media, visits The CUSP Show this week to talk about the business fundamentals behind the boom in sports podcasting. As someone who himself made the transition from analog radio to digital broadcasting, Spencer explains why the shift towards podcasting has been one of the great commercial success stories in sports in recent years. And with DGital Media par...

As baseball season kicks off this week hosts Tom and Joe speak to former Tampa Bay Ray and Columbia graduate Fernando Perez, who opens up about his path to the Major League and his fears for the future of the sport. Fernando explains in the second half of the show (from 31:15) why he has no problem with bat-flipping, and why those who do are contributing to a "tired" baseball culture which threate...

Excelle Sports launched in February as a new media platform dedicated to covering women's sports, and founder Kim Donaldson joins Tom and Joe this week to talk about the niche her company is aiming to fill. In a week when the gender gap in sports has hit the headlines again, Kim explains why Excelle matters, and how the company plans to compete in the ever-changing and always-competitive landscape...

Sports anchor and journalist Tina Cervasio steps into our studio this week to tell hosts Joe and Tom about her career in television. From High School and Arena Football to the Boston Red Sox, New York Knicks and currently the New York Red Bulls, Tina shares her stories of covering sports in front of the camera. She explains how a high school TV interview planted the seeds of a career ambition, and...

March doesn't just signal the start of Madness in basketball - it's also the fevered peak of industry conference season. Fresh from attending two of the major events of the year, MIT Sloan Conference and SXSW, former Bloomberg Sports President Bill Squadron and CUSP Show co-host Tom Richardson give their take on the value of the big 2016 get-togethers. Bill explains why 'Badass Female Cyclists' an...

Twitch has been one of the great technology success stories in recent years, and Nathan Lindberg, the company's Director of eSports sales, drops into our studio this week to give us the latest on Twitch's role in the eSports boom. Nathan tells us why Knights and Jesters are central to the massive growth in online audiences for eSports, explains how and why gamers earn tips, and why you shouldn’t n...

Joining Tom and Joe by phone this week is Nick Cutsumpas, who leads the sports vertical for the IBM Watson Ecosystem. Nick tells the story of how a computer made famous by winning Jeopardy is also making waves in the world of sports technology. Nick gives us the lowdown on how Watson works, from how it processes the complexity of human speech to its capacity to profile an individual's personality...

Angus McNab, VP of Content at media and data company Perform Group, speaks to hosts Joe and Tom about how the current boom in sports analytics is shaking up the sports business. Angus explains the myriad ways in which data is being integrated into the everyday sports viewing experience, and predicts a revolution in the way we watch and understand sports with the introduction of wearable technology...

Cleveland Browns wide receiver and Columbia University graduate student Andrew Hawkins joins host Joe Favorito this week to talk about his plans for a career after pro football. Andrew opens up about his circuitous route to the top, which included a period playing for the Montreal Alouettes and a spot in Michael Irvin’s reality show 4th and Long, and how that led him to start planning early for li...

Our guest this week is fencer and founder of Fencing in the Schools Tim Morehouse, who went from teaching highschoolers to winning an Olympic medal and starring in commercials with Serena Williams. Tim talks about how he cultivated his personal 'brand' almost entirely by accident, and explains why, as a fencer, you’re more likely to be featured in Vanity Fair than on ESPN. And he shares his vision...

Stepping into the studio today is Bleacher Report President Rory Brown, who went from answering a Craigslist post to heading up one of the world's hottest media brands in less than a decade. Rory talks us through the extraordinary growth of Bleacher Report, and some of the difficult decisions - such as the decision to pivot away from User Generated Content and the early adoption of mobile apps - w...

Joining the podcast this week is Joe Quinlan, Senior Associate Athletics Director, Internal Operations, at Columbia University. Few are as steeped in the world of Intercollegiate Athletics as Joe, and he shares some of the vast experience he has gained from working at the NCAA, Seton Hall, Rutgers and St Peter's University, as well as here at Columbia. Joe dives deep into the nature of his role, l...

Cris Nyari, Bayern Munich's Media Manager, is our guest this week, and he explains to us the rationale behind the German soccer club's decision to open an office in New York City. Cris gives his opinion on the most valuable social media platform for sports businesses, and shares his personal journey from childhood in Romania to working in the US. Follow @FCBayernUS and @crisnyari on Twitter.  The...

Joining The CUSP Show this week is Bike New York COO Andy Gould, who explains why May's annual Five Boro Bike Tour is just one aspect of a boom in cycling in New York City. Andy talks about the challenges of organizing a major event in the wake of the Boston Marathon, Bike New York's efforts to make cycling safer all year round, and also why one of his commercial partners makes their payment in ba...

Hosts Joe and Tom explore the challenges of gender disparity in the sports industry this week with inspirational guest Neha Aggarwal, a Columbia Grad student and professional table tennis player. Neha lifts the lid on her experience representing India at the Beijing Olympic Games, shares the psychological methods she uses to train for success, and details the sacrifices she and her family have had...

Presenters Joe and Tom are joined by Columbia Sports Management grad student Iciss Tillis, who talks about her transition into the business of sport after a stellar basketball career at Duke, the WNBA and in Europe. Iciss opens up about the challenges to female professional players, and about her own ideas for improving the game for players and fans. And she lifts the lid on playing in Europe, wha...

In the first ever episode of The CUSP Show (Columbia University Sports Podcast), presenters and Columbia faculty members Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson tell the stories of their own careers in the sports industry. Joe explains why he used to make a daily hour-long commute to Staten Island for an ice hockey team that never existed. And Tom remembers his first (and so far only) visit to the Playboy...