The proposed merger between the ATP and WTA remains on the table, but as James Emmett and David Cushnan discuss, the time it's taking to finalise tells its own story.

On this week's show, there's reflections on conversations with Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, the commercial arm of the WTA, and Eno Polo, the new CEO at the ATP - and the challenges tennis faces with calendar congestion, balancing the demands of tournaments of various sizes, and player influence.

There's also time to discuss Casey Wasserman's decision to sell his stake in his agency, and the possible forms the sale could take, and as the NFL hires TMRW Sports to operate its planned new flag football league, how and where rights holders can create new IP, to make a greater footprint, expand geographically or fuel player development.

----

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek.

WTA Ventures CEO Marina Storti joins the podcast to review a transformative year for women's tennis.

She takes us inside the process of landing Mercedes-Benz as a new headline partner, in what is being widely reported as the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of women's sport.

She details the gains the tour has made across its digital output and in its internal structure.

And she explains the rationale behind the new PIF WTA Maternity Fund programme, an industry-leading scheme that provides WTA players up to 12 months of paid leave.

This episode is part of a series exploring PIF’s growing sports sponsorship portfolio, detailing how it is striving to help solve societal and sporting challenges across its portfolio.

Listen to episode 1, with PIF Director and Head of Events and Sponsorship Alanoud Althonayan, here.

-----

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek.

ATP CEO Eno Polo joins the podcast to reflect on his first 100 days in charge of the men's tennis tour.

The Kenyan sets out his strategic priorities in what could end up being a transformative year for tennis, with a merger between the ATP and the WTA firmly on Polo's agenda.

He also outlines the support that the PIF brings to the tour's work with its players, particularly through its sponsorship of the ATP Rankings and through its investment in the Tennis IQ analytics platform.

This episode is part of a series exploring PIF’s growing sports sponsorship portfolio, detailing how it is striving to help solve societal and sporting challenges across its portfolio.

Listen to episode 1, with PIF Director and Head of Events and Sponsorship Alanoud Althonayan, here.

------

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

James Emmett and David Cushnan look ahead to a new Formula 1 season and another potentially seismic shift in the sport.

With significant gains in audience and commercial growth for the motorsport series in recent years, teams have felt the trickle down benefit, logging their own commercial gains.

With the biggest set of rule changes for over a decade coming into force this season, the playing field - theoretically - has been levelled. At this stage, championship contention is a realistic goal for almost all the teams. One that stands a particularly realistic chance of improvement is Aston Martin, whose commercial MD Jeff Slack is the featured guest on the interview show this week.

James and David reflect on Slack's comments, and take some time to look back on the Super Bowl as well as ahead to the future of the IOC's TOP sponsorship model.

- -- -- -- --  

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

As F1 pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain, Jeff Slack, Aston Martin F1's Managing Director of Commercial and Marketing, lifts the lid on how the team intends to reach the front of the grid.

He reflects on the way the team has grown to over 1,100 people since it was rebranded as Aston Martin in 2021, its move into a new purpose-built facility at Silverstone and, after a 7th place finish in 2025, how owner Lawrence Stroll has set the course towards competing for world championships in the next few years, with the help of Honda and Aramco.

Slack also draws on his wider sports industry experience, including stints in leadership roles at Inter Milan and IMG, to assess the overall health of F1 and the way it's evolving for brand partners as the 2026 season dawns - and reveals what the sport must be wary of as it enjoys its current fan and corporate boom.

---

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

James Emmett in Brisbane and David Cushnan in London reflect on conversations with Australian Open CEO Craig Tiley and his top team, and explain how the expansion - outwards and upwards - of Melbourne Park hints at a new trend across sport's major events - and opens up the opportunity to create new sponsorship, entertainment and fan-friendly spaces.

There's also time to look ahead to the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, which begins on Friday, and will be spread across Northern Italy - bringing with it the potential for operational and sustainability challenges, that will help determine the future of the winter Games ahead of regional editions in the French Alps (2030), Utah (2034) and, most likely, Switzerland (2038). Plus, there's a run-through of the broadcast innovations Olympic Broadcast Services are rolling out for the Games.

- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

As the dust settles on a tournament that attracted a record 1.3 million attendees, we explore the inner workings of the Australian Open in a special episode.

James Emmett spent the weekend on the ground at Melbourne Park, as Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina claimed the big prizes, to find out how the AO operates, as a tennis and social event, and a best-in-class fan experience.

James sits down with Tennis Australia CEO and Tournament Director Craig Tiley, and then a trio of Tiley's key executives: Chief Content Officer, Darren Pearce; Director of Product and Customer Experience, Amanda del Prate; and Director of Partnerships, International, Roddy Campbell.

They explain all aspects of how the AO does what it does: designing, developing and delivering sponsor activations, creating hospitality offerings to suit all tastes and price ranges; retail and merchandising experiences; innovative content and broadcast products; and wide-ranging entertainment programmes.

- -

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

The world’s top tennis have been barred from wearing Whoop wearables at the Australian Open, reigniting a debate over who owns personal performance data.

James Emmett is on the ground in Melbourne for this week’s show, with David Cushnan back in the UK, to examine the various cases for ‘owning’ that data.

They also reflect on recent events in Saudi Arabia, as well as the Public Investment Fund’s global sponsorship strategy, laid out in David’s conversation with PIF’s Director and Head of Sponsorship and Events, Alanoud Althonayan.

And as British Cycling’s Jon Dutton is appointed as the next CEO of the British Olympic Association, what will the next period of leadership look like for British Olympic sport and its many governing bodies.

- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

Alanoud Althonayan, Director and Head of Events and Sponsorship at Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, joins the podcast to explain PIF’s sponsorship strategy and dig into its current key partnerships.

In the first episode of a new series exploring PIF’s growing sponsorship portfolio, Alnothayan sits down with David Cushnan in Riyadh for an extended conversation, outlining what PIF looks for in partners, and the ways it is striving to help solve societal and sporting challenges across its portfolio.

She explains the rationale behind the new PIF WTA Maternity Fund programme, which provides WTA players up to 12 month of paid leave; how the AI powered PIF TennisIQ platform is revolutionising and democratising data for players and coaches on the ATP Tour; how the Electric 360 initiative co-developed with Formula E, Extreme E and E1 is supporting the growth of electric transportation; how the appeal of golf is being unlocked for locals through work with Golf Saudi; and how partnerships in football, notably with CONCACAF, are giving PIF a platform in the world’s most popular sport.

Leaders Week London is moving to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. We’ll see you on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October. For more details visit leadersinsport.com/leadersweek

The NBA’s private event in London on Monday saw investors and other interested parties gather to learn more about the league’s plans for its European league; how is the project starting to come together and what happens now?

James Emmett and David Cushnan unpack the latest on a potentially game-changing project, and reflect on James’ in-depth conversation with British & Irish Lions CEO Ben Calveley, touching on the upside and downside of scarcity, clarity of business models and innovation in rugby union.

There’s also a look at the trend for NFL stadiums to have roofs, changing the look and feel of the league, and what that might mean for stadium refurbishments and new builds in the Premier League.