LeCorner - International

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and probably one of the most famous sport entity around the world. Created in 1946, the NBA is made of 30 teams (franchises) that are divided into 2 conferences (Eastern & Western). At the end of the regular season, the eight best teams of each conference participate in the playoff  tournament to win the NBA championship title. The NBA have seen some of the best Athletes of all time: Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Tim Ducan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James etc. 

That was a short recap of the sports part, but the NBA is much more than purely Basketball. As a global brand and media business, the league is also made of different business units to manage relationships with television and digital media partners, develop marketing partnerships, oversee the licensing of NBA merchandise, and handle a wide range of responsibilities that drive the NBA’s success.

For this new episode, we had the pleasure to receive Bastien Lacheny, Associate Vice President Media Distribution EMEA to discuss the international footprint of the league (13 different offices around the world) but also its main challenges and objectives in Europe. 

Episode's timeline:

- Bastien's presentation: personal and professional background

- Working at the NBA while being a basketball fan

-  The NBA european office and its raison d'être: what was the motivation to build such a big office in Europe for the NBA?

- Does the london Office have a lot of regional freedom? What is the decision making process?

- The NBA strategy around growing the sport in Europe

- The Europen territory: a common strategy or a country based strategy?

- The NBA coming to Europe: myth or reality?

-  The commercialisation and management of the media rights 

- The NBA League Pass commercialisation and strategy

- What do you think is going to make a significant difference in the coming years in the digital landscape? (NFT & NBA Top Shot discussion)

- Having worked for a broadcaster, a tech provider and a league, which side of the scope do you prefer?

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Opta Sports is one of the most famous sports data and analytics companies in the world! Founded in 1996, the company was acquired by Perform Group in 2013 and more recently by Vista Equity Partners in 2019. 

Opta initially started collecting data and producing sports content as part of Sky Sports. A decade later, as an independently owned business, the company launched its pioneering real-time data collection processes that would go on to revolutionise data use across football. Today, as part of Stats Perform, Opta data is relied upon by some of the largest sports organisations and federations in the world.

As you will have understood, this new episode is dedicated to sports data, its growing importance and impact on the evolution and business of sport. And we had a very special guest to talk about it! 

Former Chief Strategy Officer at Stats Perform and Managing Director of Opta - and now advisor at LaSource - Andrew Cox was invited to tell us about his 20 years of working in the world of sports data.

Episode timeline:

- Andrew Cox's personal and professional background

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Welcome to the entrepreneurial journey, a new series of episode that will be showcasing CEO and startup founders that have been brave and bold enough to launch their business and create their product within the sports industry. 

For this first episode, we have invited Miheer Walavalkar, Co-founder & CEO of Livelike Inc. 

What is Livelike? 

"LiveLike is on a mission to convert passive audiences into engaged communities"

Media companies from around the world turn to them to transform their platforms into communal and interactive viewing experiences.

Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup, NBA Playoffs, French Open, European soccer and more have all worked with LiveLike to bring their fans closer to the action. They empower their partners to enhance their platforms with features such as watch parties and gamification, helping them attract younger audiences, increase session lengths and improve retention, resulting in new monetization opportunities.

____

We've been through Miheer's entire journey until the creation of Livelike, the beginning with the Virtual Reality and now the Audience Engagement Platform. We have been focusing on his entrepreneurial journey and the sacrifice to be made if you want your company to be successful. A passionating discussion between two friends as our CEO Samuel Westberg has been working with Miheer for more than 10 years. 

Episode's timeline:

- Miheer's personal and professional background

- What got him to work in sports? An opportunity or an early objective?

- What makes a great entrepreneur? Who would be a reference in the space?

- The idea of the work discipline he has as well as all other entrepreneurs should have

- His favorite parts of the entrepreneurial journey and the ones he dislikes the most

- Specific LiveLike case - one of the most important players in the Sports VR space

- The pivot and focus on the new social engagement platform vs VR. 

- A moment to get relax because the right team/processes are in place

- The most stressful about the perspective of becoming too big to be in a position to control everything

- The major change coming up in the sports industry

- His ideal position if it wasn’t being LiveLike’s CEO

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉.

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development. 

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In today’s sport organizations, some of the most important missions belong to the sports event manager, who plans all the operations that make exciting competitions possible.

These people are responsible of coordinating tons of things related to employees, facilities, plannings, equipments to provide exciting and amazing events. Sport event managers must have a clear understanding of all aspects of the event from the sport competition, to accreditation and security, sponsorship and marketing, protocol and hospitality and much more. 

In this new LeCorner episode, we had the pleasure to discuss with Daniel Ribeiro, Director of Team Services at the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and former Head of Events at UEFA for more than 10 years. We have been through the operational side of events, the importance of coordinating operations with others business units such as the marketing one and how to continuously reinvent yourself when operating sports events. 

Episode's timeline: 

- Daniel's personal and professional background, especially prior to FPF with UEFA and his various roles in operations

- Federation's presentation and why Daniel moved from UEFA to the Federation

- What does Director of Team Services mean? his day to day work at the federation as well as his involvment with the national teams and the staff etc.

- Working with different divisions: how to get different divisions aligned when preparing events

- How can OPS managers/executives be a bit more prepared to think like marketers?

- The recent successes of the federation: how does it feel from the inside? 

- The relation with the players and how to capitalise on them to develop a institution like a  federation? 

-  How can anyone become his/her own innovator? tips and insights 

-  The Innovation at UEFA when Daniel was Head of Events

- Sport organisations: delivering world-class events and being innovative

In this episode we mentioned: 

UEFA, the Portuguese Team, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rushford, UEFA, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉.

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development. 

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is Canada’s preeminent leader in delivering top quality sport and entertainment experiences to fans. MLSE is one of North America’s leading providers of exceptional experiences. It is the parent company of the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the National Basketball Association’s Toronto Raptors, Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. MLSE owns or operates all of the venues its teams play and train in, including Scotiabank Arena, BMO Field, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Ford Performance Centre, BMO Training Ground, and the OVO Athletic Centre and also provides fans in Toronto incredible live music and entertainment events. MLSE strives to deliver championships to our city and our fans and bring the world to its feet.

For this new episode of LeCorner International, we had the pleasure of spending an hour with Teeka Cockson, Commercial Strategy Manager at MLSE to best understand the core activities of the company, its desire to create winning teams and deliver championships to its city and its fans.  

Episode Timeline: 

- Teeka’s & Mapple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) presentation, a unique organisation bringing different teams/franchises together - Can you help 

- The alignment between the teams as well as the verticals or areas of interest

MLSE’s intention to build and scale products. It is not only about sourcing and monitoring. 

- The creation of MLSE digital labs group: bringing all of IT, venue technology, product, design and engineering, data science, strategy and analytics under one umbrella to develop some great cross-collaboration and innovation

- What 2020 looked like for you at MLSE while all teams and sport had to pause before restarting again in new formats?

- The innovation process at MLSE and product creation, how does the work is articulated between MLSE and the experts from the teams/franchises?

- Moving from an inside-out innovation process to the outside-in, the cooperation with the start-ups and SMEs ecosystem

- Can MLSE take shares/equity in start-ups and if not, is that something you envisage?

- Their relationship with the Leagues: NHL NBA, MLB etc. 

- Teeka’s thoughts and views on sport after this pandemic and what will be the main changes from her standpoint.

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉.

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development. 

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the world’s leading alliance of public service media (PSM). Composed of 115 member organizations in 56 countries, their mission is to to secure a sustainable future for public service media, providing them with world-class content from news to sports and music. They are also helping their member to innovate by co-creating new digital solutions to reach new audiences. 

For our third episode, we have the chance to discuss with Franck Choquard, Head Of Content & Servicing at Eurovision Sport. 

Eurovision sports is a subsidiary of EBU which works with broadcasters and sports federations to keep the best sporting events free to all - everywhere, on every platform. Eurovision sports is working on lots of main events such as La Vuelta, le Tour de France, Paris Roubaix, European Aquatics, European Championships, FIFA World Cups and with federations: World Athletics, IPC, Swiss Ski, IBU etc.

Episode Timeline: 

- Frank’s presentation and personnel Background 

- Eurovision and European Broadcasters Union’s presentations: roles and key pillars

- Eurovision to impulse innovative solutions across different territories 

- EBU as a European community rather than an agency 

- Working on an international events: co-create value with all the stakeholders

- Focus on the European Federation: building their own sustainable model

- How to engage with various community when there’s no live event

- Managing huge projects: bespoke solutions & business reality

- Moving from traditional linear TV projects to the implementation of new digital solutions 

- Productisation: Is it possible to build a common ground for every stakeholder in the community?

- The place of Eurovision, subsidiary of EBU, in the building of a new model for broadcasters

- The competitive advantages of EBU and Eurovision 

- The future of EBU in terms of digital: new project, services and positioning 

We mentioned: 

BBC, the Olympics, RTBF, Winter Olympics, European Championship, NBA, L’Equipe etc. 

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉.

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development. 

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

R/GA is an international innovation consultancy headquartered in New York and founded in 1977. The agency creates advertising and marketing products based in technology and design. They have created R/GA Venture to bring together established companies and startups to help both chart a course for their future. The Global Sports Venture Studio stands within this service and enables the world's leading sports organizations to collaborate and engage with the sports innovation ecosystem. 

For this second episode of LeCorner International we had the pleasure to interview Kyle Bunch, VP Managing Director, Global Sports Venture Studio at R/GA 

Kyle Bunch is responsible for leading R/GA Ventures’ sports innovation partnerships with industry leaders including Adidas, Angel City, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Fox Sports, Levy Restaurants, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the Los Angeles Dodgers, LAFC, UEFA, and Verizon. The GSVS engages the sports innovation ecosystem to help our partners enhance athlete and fan experiences through strategic investments and collaborative development of new products and services. Previously, Kyle has spent the majority of his thirteen years at R/GA working in sport with clients such as Beats by Dre, Nike, ESPN, Samsung, the San Antonio Spurs, the National Rugby League, and the National Football League.

Episode’s timeline:

Kyle’s Background, his passion for digital and sports and his past experience at R/GA. 

R/GA presentation: an innovation and digital agency at the beginning and the creation of a venture practice 7 years ago. 

How R/GA are helping organisations: main missions, goals and investments strategies.

The creation of the Los Angeles Dodgers accelerator back in 2015.  

Global Sports Venture: from an accelerator model to a studio one. 

The main pain points and challenges sports organizations have to face now. 

The pandemic as an accelerator of the shift in the sports industry 

2021, the future of Global Sports Venture and the emerging schemes for new innovative solutions

New roles VCs have within the sports industry : inclusion, diversity, equity

What startups should do to raise funds in the US: proof of value, founding team etc.

2021 main trends in the sports industry: cross-business, D2C strategies, working more with influential players

We mentioned: 

Super Bowl ads (Beats by Dr Dre), Los Angeles Dodgers, Elysean Park Ventures, Netflix, Adidas, Fox Sports, MLS, MLB, GS Warriors, Premier League, Lebron James, Verizon, 5G, Phoenix Suns, Liverpool, Amazon etc.

If you had good time listening this episode, do not hesitate to support us:

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉.

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development. 

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

For our very first episode, we had the pleasure to interview Michael Promann, Managing Director at Scrum Ventures. 

Scrum Ventures is a seed-stage venture firm investing across a range of industries in the U.S. and Japan. Based in San Francisco with extensive experience and networks in both Silicon Valley and Japan, Scrum Ventures accelerates portfolio companies with global opportunities and helps corporations innovate.

Michael became director more than two years ago. Before he worked in global marketing and development capacities at Coca-Cola and the National Basketball Association. Through additional roles in the early-stage space, Michael helped lead multiple startups to acquisitions and continues to play an active role in mentoring and advising founders across multiple industries and especially in the sport area. He is also managing the Sports Tech Tokyo, A program to accelerate the next generation of sports technology as well as SmartCityX, an open innovation program comprised of best-in-class, stage-agnostic startups from around the world along with iconic Japanese corporations and industry thought-leaders.

Episode’s timeline 

- Michael’s Background and first experiences at Coca Cola and NBA

- Hi entrepreneurial life and his key to success (Failure is part of it)

- The current ecosystem, Scrum Ventures, Sport Tech Tokyo, SmartCityX

- Scrum Ventures positioning with organisations and Limited Partners 

- The role and influence of VCs within the organisations

- Speeding up startups’ processes in Asia

- Smart Cities: Can sports tech startups help in that area?

- Sport industry to faster in tech and innovation areas

If you have learned things or had a good time with us, please support the podcast :

1. By subscribing, it's just a small click 😉.

2. By putting 5 stars on Apple Podcast to help us spread it. 

Finally, if you want to know more about LaSource's activity, a small tour on our website and/or on our Linkedin page never hurts: https://www.lasource.io and/or on our Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinlasource/

LeCorner is a podcast dedicated to sports and digital. Every two weeks, we have the pleasure to receive a distinguished guest from the sports industry to talk to us about digital, innovation and strategic development.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.