The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer

Tracy Benson gives us an insight look into her amazing career with great stories, from her struggles as a Pro Volleyball player, to having a very successful Corporate career, learning all the tools and tactics of consumer marketing and digital to becoming an Entrepreneur and launching Obsesh, a new digital sports platform, just before Covid hit the world.   Key Highlights From student athletes to...

Steve Patterson, a fellow YPOer and top US Sports Executive turned Entrepreneur with an incredible four decades of experience in the business, who learned the ropes working for his dad at the age of 10. Incredible stories and insights across the US sporting landscape from NBA, NFL, NHL to major Universities and working with several US billionaire owners over the decades.  Tons of great facts and f...

Today, I am talking to Gagan Palrecha, the CEO of NFTSTAR, a new Bay Area startup in the NFT sports space. Palrecha is an engineer by training and has been fascinated by sports & music since his youth. We cover some of the stops across his career, the build-up to his current role, including time at Dapper Labs as VP of Operations. We go deep into the blockchain, crypto, NFTs, Web 2.5 to 3.0, the m...

Damian Willoughby, turned his passion for football, playing in his youth in the UK, then NCAA football to spending his career across Rangers FC, Chelsea FC, Manchester City and the City Football Group till his current and most recent role at EA (Electronic Arts) in Esports.  Listen and learn from his experiences at some of the biggest Football brands and now at EA.   Key Highlights From playing yo...

Sandy Brown, another true American Sports Nomad, especially in the Media and Broadcasting space.  Listen to amazing stories of Sandy’s globe trotting career around the world from ProServ, NBA, ESPN/Star Sports, Univision, ONE World Sports and more.   Key Highlights Growing up playing tennis, made connections through his Tennis Club in Delaware How he got started at ProServ, first meeting with Dona...

Scott Levy, a globetrotting senior US sports executive with a stellar resume and decades of achievements in the NBA.  Get an inside scoop into the growth of the NBA internationally, and Scott’s role and journey over more than two decades with the organization.   Key Highlights Passion for traveling inspired early after University, starting in the advertising world with Y&R and McCann-Erickson in N...

Oliver Slipper, a true British Sports Entrepreneur, best known for his role building PERFORM (now Stats Perform) and now the Executive Chairman of Pitch International.  Lots of great insights into Perform’s business model and his follow up moves as an Entrepreneur with Head Ball and PickGuru to his current role at Pitch International, a leading sports media rights agency in the UK.   Key Highlight...

Philipp Grothe, best known as the co-founder and driving force behind the KENTARO agency in the UK, a true pioneer and entrepreneur in the sports business over the past 20+ years.  Great stories from Philipp’s career across UFA, IMG, KENTARO and what he is doing now.   Key Highlights Early days, coming out of Law School in Hamburg, Germany, lots of side hustles, own Ad agency, a Band, running two...

Special Edition with Patrick Mouratoglou, the #1 Tennis Coach on his new NFT project – “The Coach”   Key Highlights Quick check in since we last spoke on the previous Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast,  new project in Malaysia, etc “The Coach” - Patricks’ new NFT project – creating an exclusive Club of 2,000 Tennis fans and Web3.0 enthusiasts The Concept - different levels of rarity (Warm up, The Match...

Ralf Reichert, is considered a founding father of the Gaming/Esports industry, having shaped the industry for the past 20 years as an Entrepreneur.  We are unpacking the early days of ESL Gaming and off course the current state of play and plans for the future.  Recording from my hometown in Koeln (Cologne), Germany.  Happy holidays everyone.    Key Highlights Growing up in Oberhausen, the “honest...

Ben Smith, a chartered financial planner for the past 10 years, is on a mission to educate young athletes about wealth management, proper financial planning and goal setting.  Very important messages for anyone dealing with young athletes and of course for athletes themselves.  Listen and learn. (The Podcast was NOT sponsored by FLM) Disclaimer: No financial advise or recommendations are given. Th...

Chris Lencheski, also better known as “SKI” in the industry is a true serial sports Entrepreneur from his early days around the Atlanta Olympics to his very successful years across global motorsports.  SKI & Company left its mark on the industry on many levels and Chris till today continues to shape the industry.  Great insights and learning from his own businesses to the various groups he worked...

Michel Masquelier had an incredible career with IMG over 35 years starting as an Intern and finishing as the Chairman of IMG Media and SNTV.  Over that time he had the privilege to work with and learn from the charismatic owners from Mark McCormack,  Ted Forstmann to Ari Emanuel at the end.  Pioneering a variety of new innovations and setting up new business units over his tenure. Fascinating stor...

From his two decades with DENTSU Sports to now 17 years with FIFA, Hide Arai has been at the heart of the Japanese presence in sports marketing globally for decades.  Great stories and insights into the Japanese Advertising Giant’s influence in global sports for the last 40 years, driven by the emergence of Japanese super brands.  And a short discussion about FIFA’s state of play, with several sen...

Great stories and learning from Murray Barnett’s illustrious career across NBA, ISL, World Rugby and F1 to turning entrepreneur with his own boutique consulting agency during the pandemic. Lots of wisdom and great sharing from his journey over the past 2 decades.   Key Highlights Starting at Orbit, Satellite TV space in Rome, Italy and some Italian House Music  From Rome to Budapest to the NBA Eur...

Stephane Schindler, another French industry veteran who has left his mark across the sports world and in particular with CAA Eleven which changed the face of UEFA’s National Team competitions and commercial structures. Lot’s of great stories and details in our discussion.  Enjoy.     Key Highlights Starting as Intern at EUROSPORT, early days of cable TV in Europe Next stop Canal+, Head of Sports A...

Andrew Croker, Chairman of multiple enterprises and one of the most outspoken sports Entrepreneurs hailing from the UK.  Fun and colorful deep dive into Andrew’s 40+ years in the industry from his days following his dad around Football club board rooms to successfully launching Perform, the Global Cycling Network and getting Hawk-Eye into Football.   Key Highlights How it started, back in ancient...

John West, a serial entrepreneur across multiple businesses before getting into the exciting world of Sports content, influencers and social media platforms.  Started Team Whistle in 2009 after several years of figuring out his next move.  Recently partnered and merged with Eleven Sports.  Learn about his entrepreneurial journey and amazing stories of how he build a company that now has over 4 bil...

Harpreet Singh Rai, the CEO of OURA Health Ltd, a Finish company which is making a huge splash in the wearable health and wellness space through its smart ring product.  He shares his stories how he became involved in the business and where he is planning to take it.  Great stories on how the product works and the benefits behind it, to the future growth and plans of the business.      Key Highlig...

Terrence Burns is best known as the “Bidding Guy” (in his own words), having supported and worked on more successful Olympic bids than anyone else in the industry. Lots of great stories and learn from his incredible experiences at Delta Airlines (which inspired several books) to working with sponsors and brands across the world. Great insights into the Olympic Games, from bidding processes and how...

Patrick Mouratoglou, also known as “The Coach”, currently the most influential coach in tennis, sharing his incredible journey with us, starting with his difficulties in his childhood to overcoming them and turning his passion for Tennis first into a business (Academy) and then into a profession (Coach).  Amazing stories and incredible learning on multiple levels.  Best warm up story ever on the S...

Giampiero Rinaudo, a passionate Italian sports tech Entrepreneur, Founder & CEO of Deltatre. Being the CEO for the past 35 years, managing the growth over three decades with now a team of over 1,000 technologists, designers, and innovators across the world who are driven by a passion to change the way the world consumes content.    Key Highlights How it started, at the young age of 20 as a student...

Clive Bowen is a man truly shaped by his early career experiences; from his days at Rolls Royce to his years working with a large Saudi group before entering into the world of motor racing and him emerging as a world leader in building Racing Resorts around the world:   Key Highlights Studying mechanical engineering and landing first job at Rolls Royce (Aerospace)  Moving on to Wright Machinery (P...

Joachim Hilke, is a German sports marketing Veteran with an colorful career across NFL Europe, UFA/Sportfive early growth story,  HSV (Hamburg Football Club) and now with Fanatics in Europe.  Lots of great stories on how the NFL started in Europe and the challenges around it, to an insider look into German Football Club thinking and off course a deep dive into Fanatics’ amazing online merchandise...

Ricardo Fort spent his incredible career on the "brand side" of the business, deploying hundreds of millions of sponsorship and advertising dollars for the likes of Coca-Cola and VISA to name a few. Great deep discussion about his views on sports as a platform from the perspective of a true "Advertising Man" who has worked with some of the biggest sports sponsors in the world.    Key Highlights Fr...