The Sports Business Leaders Podcast

Michael Vardzell is the President of AithELITE  and a former Division I football player at University of Pittsburgh who is now building technology at the center of one of the biggest transformations in college sports. After playing at Pitt and coaching at Wofford College, Michael saw firsthand how difficult roster management, recruiting, compliance, NIL, and financial decision-making had become fo...

Raef Jackson is an investment professional and sports industry specialist currently serving as an Associate at Accelerate Ventures in London. His work focuses on deal origination and analysis within the sports and technology sectors

On this episode of the Sports Business Leaders podcast, we're bringing you a front-row seat to our April Philadelphia fireside chat featuring Sydney Couval, Principal at NewBound Venture Capital. NewBound is a consumer-centric, early-stage VC firm investing in the companies reshaping sports, media, and lifestyle — with a portfolio that includes TMRW Sports, StellarAlgo, and Greyson Clothiers....

Sports Business Leaders returned to Boston for another exclusive, invite-only gathering of sports investors, executives, and growth-stage founders at the iconic Legacy Club. In this episode, we bring you highlights and insights from a powerhouse panel featuring: Jon Von Deylen, sharing his perspective on sports venture capital and where the smart money is moving Alexander Van Alen, on building a d...

After 20+ years as a college soccer coach and Sports Management professor, Christian DeVries shifted his focus from winning to something bigger. That mindset shift became two ventures: VOLTA Sports, a leadership coaching platform for coaches, and AOS (Athlete of Significance), a framework that helps athletes understand their value extends far beyond the X's and O's. In this episode, Christ...

Brian Monihan spent nearly 40 years at the intersection of sports, media, and sponsorship, including 14 years as President and General Manager of NBC Sports Philadelphia. In that role, he oversaw media rights, team partnerships, and the network's evolution from a cable channel into a full multiplatform brand serving the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies, 76ers, and Wings. In this conversation, Brian sh...

Robert Cohen is a strategic operator and investor with a career that spans global M&A, venture investing, and cutting-edge technology. Robert was part of the team that led the full buyout and transformation of AVG Technologies, helping scale the business internationally and ultimately take it public on the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, he’s invested in over 30 early-stage companies acro...

Mike Metcalf is a former NASCAR pit crew champion and has spent over 18 years mastering the art of speed, teamwork, and culture. As co-founder of DECK Leadership and co-author of 12 Second Culture , he helps organizations transform chaos into cohesion—turning toxic environments into spaces where people and performance thrive. His approach isn’t about moving faster for the sake of speed; it’s about...

What does it take to build a $6 billion real estate empire from scratch — and then bet on a soccer team nobody believed in? Rob Buccini, co-founder and co-president of The Buccini/Pollin Group, joins Justin to tell the story of starting a company during an economic collapse, assembling a world-class team, and transforming underutilized urban land into assets that anchor entire communities. From hi...

On this episode, we sit down with Michael Hutner, founder of SPiN (Sports Profile Network), a platform built to solve one of the biggest problems in youth and amateur sports: fragmentation. After spending over two decades in fintech and scaling Eze Software into a global business with 1,200 employees and over $300M in revenue, Michael made the leap into sports tech. The idea came from firsthand ex...

David Gutstadt, CEO of Ballers Social Sports and founder of Fitler Club, joins the podcast to break down how he’s building a new category at the intersection of sports, hospitality, and community. With over 20 years of experience across hospitality, real estate, and finance, David started his career at Goldman Sachsand went on to lead hospitality advisory at Morgan Stanley before helping launch Eq...

James Robinson from RRE Ventures joins the podcast to break down what investors are actually looking for in sports tech right now. We get into his path from the Boston Bruins and Octagon into venture, and how that operator perspective shapes how he evaluates companies today. RRE has been around for over 30 years and is one of the more established early-stage firms in the market, with over  $2.5B i...

Mark Ventriglia, is a marketing leader who has helped shape go-to-market strategy at companies like Hudl and Catapult Sports. Mark has been behind products used by coaches and athletes at every level of the game, from high school programs to the pros. We get into what actually drives adoption in sports tech, and why most products miss the mark. We talk about how to build solutions that fit into a...

Jesse Biddle is a General Partner at October Ventures. October Ventures is a professional athlete investment syndicate and fund, leveraging the power of athlete networks to accelerate the next generation of great businesses. Biddle is also a former professional baseball pitcher, World Series Champion (Atlanta Braves, 2021), and Nippon Professional Baseball Champion (Orix Buffaloes of Japan, 2022)....

Kyle Israel is the Co-Founder of Momentous Sports and Managing Partner of Sports & Entertainment at Magnolia Hill Partners. Kyle is building at the intersection of team ownership and real estate, and it’s one of the most interesting opportunities in sports right now. We spent a lot of time breaking down the idea behind Momentous. Instead of just investing in teams, they’re pairing team ownersh...

Today’s guest is Brett Johnson, CEO of Benevolent Capital and one of the leading voices behind sports as an institutional asset class. Benevolent Capital, founded in 2005, operates as a family office investing across private equity, venture capital, real estate, and global sports—backing companies like Oura, Athletic Brewing, and multiple football clubs. Brett’s portfolio spans teams including Ips...

On this episode of the Sports Business Leaders podcast, we sat down with Michael Schreiber, founder and executive chairman of Playfly Sports, to discuss how he built one of the fastest-growing companies in the sports business ecosystem. Founded in 2020, Playfly Sports has quickly scaled into a major force across sports media, sponsorship, and fan engagement. Today, the company has 1,300+ employees...

On this episode of the Sports Business Leaders podcast, we sat down with Dan Soviero, founder of Signature Athletics, to discuss his mission to get 10 million more kids playing youth sports by 2030. Dan shares how Signature Athletics is building a vertically integrated youth sports ecosystem across uniforms, media, and program operations to solve major industry challenges like rising costs, fragme...

Greg Sampson, founder and CEO of Courtside Video Entertainment, joins the Sports Business Leaders Podcast to discuss how his company is transforming courtside real estate into a new revenue engine for sports teams. A computer engineer out of Howard University and former Intel supercomputer engineer, Greg has spent his career building products at the intersection of technology and sports. Courtside...

Evan Anders Magnusson, founder of Valor Vision, joins the Sports Business Leaders Podcast to break down how AI and 3D motion capture are transforming the way athletes train, recover, and stay on the field. As a former UVA rower and computer engineering student, Evan built Valor at the intersection of human performance and cutting-edge technology. Today, the platform turns a simple iPhone video int...

Asna Khan, Head of Product at Fitmatch AI, joins the podcast to break down how a 3-second mobile scan is turning into one of the most powerful data engines in sports, health, and retail. We get into her move from corporate to startup, what it takes to build trust in computer vision and machine learning in the real world, and how Fitmatch is democratizing access to body data that was previously loc...

Episode 58 of the SBL podcast featured Anthony Brock, VP of Business Strategy and Analytics at Comcast Spectacor. Hear from Anthony who breaks down how the Flyers are building a data-driven organization. We get into his path from entrepreneurship to the Pacers to Philadelphia, what it means to own the full data lifecycle, and how analytics touches everything from pricing and ticket strategy to mob...

Greg Sacidor is the  Director of Marketing Strategy for the Philadelphia 76ers  and the  Founder of the Martha League , a Philadelphia youth basketball program creating safe, inclusive spaces for the next generation. In this episode, Greg shares his journey from Philly sports radio to the Sixers, the mentorship that changed his career, and how a community-first mindset shapes the way he builds cam...

Garnet Heraman brings three decades of experience as a founder, operator, and venture investor to a conversation that cuts through the noise of the startup and VC world. A 3× exited entrepreneur who built his career from a scholarship kid in New York to co-founding Aperture VC — one of the largest fintech funds led by diverse managers — Garnet shares what actually drives venture outcomes, what mos...

Austin Kruger is building a sports media company for fans who are tired of being talked at. After years of writing about the Packers and watching the industry lean further into clickbait and recycled national narratives, he launched  Sideliner  to create something different. The model is simple but powerful: put real fans in the content, let them speak for their teams, and build a platform around...