Unofficial Partner Podcast

What's the point of major sports events?  Ten years on from London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we talk about legacy, promises, over claims and returns on investment.  As the UEFA Women's Euros ends and the Commonwealth Games continuing in Birmingham, it's a subject that's ever more relevant to the business of sport, which makes ever more ambitious claims as to the short...

The market for soccer simulation games is dominated by EA Sports' FIFA franchise, a licensing agreement that is in its 23rd and final year. It's a very lucrative market. Last year EA made around $1.6billion in net revenues, with 150million players. FIFA makes around $150million from the license. So what happens now? How will EA and FIFA move forward in this new era and is EA's marke...

Match tickets are the point at which the promise of new technology meets real life. And the results are mixed.  Some of the biggest football matches in recent times have been blighted by claims and counter claims of ticket fraud and technology failures, most notably at the 2022 UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in Paris, the start of which was delayed amid frightening a...

This is an episode of ReThinking Sport, our series created in collaboration with Portas, the global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport and physical activity.   Today’s guest is Baroness Sue Campbell of Loughborough, the former chair of UK Sport who is now The FA’s Director of Women’s Football.  We talk about the UEFA Women’s Euros, currently taking place across England. We use this as a jumpi...

Michael Beloff QC is often described as ‘the godfather of sports law’ and the person who Chambers legal directory said ‘more or less invented sports law’ as a discipline. As a result Beloff is one of the most influential people in world sport over the past three decades.  He’s written a memoir about his life and career in and out of sport. It’s called MJBQC and we recommend it highly.  Beloff was...

Today’s guest is Lucas Von Cranach, the founder and CEO of OneFootball, the global media platform based in Berlin with regional offices around the world.  The company recently announced it had raised a $300 million Series D funding round led by blockchain investor Liberty City Ventures , creating a web3 joint venture, One Football Labs, with blockchain games firm Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs kno...

We can file this podcast under the banner heading of Web3 WTF, an occasional series in which we talk to a wide range of people about sport’s relationship with the next iteration of the internet.  Future episodes will talk to people on every side of this subject, from new blockchain, web3 and metaverse startups to financiers, agencies, fans and sports rights holders.  Unofficial Partner’s position...

This is an episode of ReThinking Sport, our series created in collaboration with Portas, the global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport and physical activity.  This week we went to Wimbledon to talk to Jamie Baker and Alex Willis. Jamie was a professional tennis player, British number two and Davis Cup player who is now Tournament Director and Head of Professional Tennis at The All England Law...

The Bundle is our regular deep dive in to the sports broadcast and streaming market with regular guests Yannick Ramcke, head of OTT for OneFootball, Charlie Boss, chief commercial officer at The Jockey Club and Murray Barnett, director of the D2C consultancy and formerly of F1, World Rugby and ESPN.  Today’s conversation covers MLS and Apple; IPL, Disney and Viacom18; Rugby League and IMG; why is...

This is the second of our For What It’s Worth series in collaboration with Turnstile and is an opportunity to pick apart the reality of the sponsorship sales process on both sides of the negotiation table.  To do this we’re pleased to welcome Celine Del Genes and Rob Grenville Jones. Celine is Global General Manager of Specialist Sports at Adidas and Rob is Commercial Partnerships Director at the...

Welcome to the 250th Unofficial Partner sports business podcast. To mark the occasion, we've been going back into the archive and re-listening to many of the conversations we've had over the last three or more years. What we found were a mass of interconnecting threads, each telling a part of the bigger story that is the sports industry's past, present and future.  This episode pull...

The Tour de France is one of the great sporting moments of the year, with a storied history and cultural heritage that is both international and uniquely French.  Journalist Alex Duff has written a book called Le Fric, which uncovers the business story of this great French institution and its ever changing relationship with money and power; the secretive family who own it and the multiple attempts...

Today's guest is Andy Gardiner, the man behind the Premier Golf League, the self-styled Formula One for professional golf whose promising to generate $1.8billion of annual revenue and $10billon of equity value by 2031.  This comes a week after our podcast with Sean Bratches from the rival disruptor league, Saudi backed LIV Golf. Since we spoke, Bratches has resigned. As you'll hear in ou...

Welcome to The Bundle, our regular series on the sports broadcast and streaming market with regular guests Yannick Ramcke of OneFootball and Murray Barnett, former ESPN, World Rugby and F1. The conversation takes us from Formula One in Miami to soccer in Mexico via FIFA+, Disney+ and the questions facing Discovery’s direct to consumer future.  You’ll hear us reference various articles and stories,...

There’s a lot riding on 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.  It’s often sold as the moment America finally gets it: When the game catches fire as a professional entertainment product, justifying the investment money flowing in to the MLS and the accompanying franchise valuations , which don’t seem to make sense unless something transformative is about to happen.  So 2026 as catalyst:...

Lorraine Ugen's story is a must listen for anyone interested in the personal and commercial reality of professional sport. Ugen is an Olympian who competes in her own brand; one she designed, manufactured and models, and who's building a community of fellow athletes who face the dilemma of competing at the highest level without personal sponsorship from the big sports apparel and equipme...

We went to the NFL’s London office to talk with Brett Gosper, the former head of World Rugby who leads the sport’s push in to the UK and Europe.  We discuss the NFL brand, the German sports market, what he’s learnt about private equity’s role in sport, the conversation around the big tech platforms and why Mad Men was not far from the truth when it comes to the early days of the advertising world,...

Sean Bratches spent close to 30 years with ESPN, and then became Managing Director of Commercial Operations at Formula 1, following Liberty Media’s acquisition of the race series from CVC, the private equity group. In November last year, Bratches announced he’d joined Greg Norman at LIV Golf, the organisation behind the Golf Super League, backed by funding from PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund...

Dave Roberts is one the primary architects of FIFA+, the football governing body’s newly launched global streaming service.  It’s an opportunity to peak below the surface, at what the initial plan was; how it works and how that’s evolved; who’ll watch it and what they’ll watch; how and when it will be commercially viable; and what it says about how sports governing bodies view themselves in 2022....

This is episode of ReThinking Sport, our ongoing series created in collaboration with Portas, the global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport and physical activity .  Today’s topic is girls participation in sport and our special guest is Baroness Sue Campbell of Loughborough , one of the most influential sports administrators of the last thirty years.   A former PE teacher, she was made chief e...

This is the first of a series in collaboration with Turnstile , looking at alternative ways of valuing sports sponsorship and other commercial inventory.  The conversation took place at the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club and our guests are Juliet Slot, Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer and Dan Gaunt, general manager of Turnstile.  We talk about what a football club is selling, th...

What is the state of Rugby League today? Who has the commercial and political power in the game and what impact will this year’s Rugby League World Cup have in the game’s major heartlands of the UK and Australia. These are just a few of the questions I put to today’s guest, Jamie Peacock MBE, who brings a lifetime of insight and expertise to the conversation, courtesy of being the most successful...

The subject today is club ownership in English football and the ongoing debate about the need for an independent regulator following the UK government review in to the governance of the game led by Tracey Crouch MP. Our guests are Nick Harris, John Scales and Niall Couper. Nick Harris is chief sports news correspondent for the Mail on Sunday newspaper and has recently published an extensive report...

Today’s conversation is about Olympic sports federations and the challenge of building and sustaining audiences for their sports on social media platforms.  Our guests are Jonny Murch and Stéphane Schwander. Jonny is Chief executive of Red Torch, the award-winning research, digital and social media agency. Stéphane is head of digital at the FEI, the world governing body for equestrian sport and a...

Our deep dive in to the sports media market with regular co-host Yannick Ramcke and guests Murray Barnett and Charlie Boss. Murray is founder of 26West Sport and formerly had senior roles at World Rugby, F1 and ESPN. Charlie is chief commercial director of The Jockey Club and was formerly at the Walt Disney Company. We talk about Buzzer, IPL, Discovery and HBO, Genius Sports and Pixellot; CVC and...