If you’ve followed the rise of soccer in the United States – America’s sport of the future since 1971 – you know his voice, you know his humor, you know his unrivaled passion. He is Roger Bennett, the co-founder of the Men in Blazers Media Network. By the way I stole the line about the sport of the future from Rog, who likes to say some version of that at the beginning of his podcasts.

We are speaking to Rog at a truly monumental moment for his beloved sport. The World Cup is finally here, running in 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico – but mostly the United States 

Rog insists here, now, finally, with the world’s eyes on America’s stewardship of the  most glorious sporting event on earth – this will be the moment it officially becomes the sport of the now. Not just during the World Cup, but after it.

In this episode, we trace the incredible journey of Men in Blazers—from a “janky” (his words) podcast that paid him $250 an episode to a sprawling independent media empire with TV shows, live tours, and a recent Series A venture round of $15 million to expand ahead of this World Cup – the first time Men in Blazers has taken outside funding. 

Rog opens up about the business of modern sports media, how major blue-chip brands like Budweiser and Bank of America became characters in his ecosystem, and the fascinating, controversial "Americanization" of the global game.

Four months ago, John Furner took the helm as CEO of Walmart Inc. after a lifetime at the company.

Hollywood talent agencies have evolved far beyond the Michael Ovitz era, Ari from Entourage, and the whole mailroom-to-boardroom archetype. Today they're billion-dollar cultural powerhouses navigating AI transformation, creator economies, and the convergence of entertainment, sports, and corporate strategy. David Kramer embodies this evolution—he started in UTA's mailroom in 1992 when it was a 50-person  literary agency and has spent 34 years at the company. He’s about to celebrate his one-year anniversary as CEO.

Under Kramer's leadership, UTA has radically diversified beyond traditional film and television representation, which he says now comprises just 40% of the business, compared to 95% fifteen years ago. The agency's portfolio spans pop-music giants like Bad Bunny and John Legend, LeBron James and other athletes via its Klutch Sports, digital-native creators like Alex Cooper and Mr. Beast, and corporate advisory for Coca-Cola, Google and other brands. 

This transformation reflects a broader industry shift where creators want traditional entertainment opportunities and legacy talent seeks digital platforms. Basically, everybody wants a piece of what everyone else is doing. It’s a complex convergence, and Kramer is right at the middle of it.

On today’s episode, we’re doing something a little different. We’re just home from Austin, Texas, where we popped up the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. We spoke with a nonstop parade of great speakers at the Grill, and for today’s episode we’re featuring highlights from the leaders who took the stage in Austin.

That includes Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, Kim Vaccarella, founder and CEO, Bogg, the lifestyle brand known for its durable, washable beach totes; Jen Zeszut, Cofounder and CEO of Goodles, which makes a healthier mac and cheese, and Stack Overlow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar.

On today’s episode Brendan Vaughan interviews Anjali Sud, the CEO of fox-owned streaming service Tubi.

What’s unique about Tubi is that they don’t have a subscription model like just about every other major streamer. Instead they employ an ad-supported model, which gives every viewer free access to its library of 3000,000 movies and TV episodes, from syndicated ’70s sitcoms to art-house mainstays. That’s helped the service rocket from 51 million monthly active users in 2022 to over 100 million active users today.

Brendan talks to Anjali about the company’s revenue model, staying competitive in a crowded market, and how it listens to its audience to create fan-driven content.

On today’s episode Brendan Vaughan talks to Kevin Ryan. Kevin is the founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, the VC firm behind companies like Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola and Mongo DB. But, you might remember Kevin as the CEO of Double Click, one of the first internet ad tech companies during the original dot com boom back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The company was eventually acquired by Google for $3.1 billion.  

Double click was notable for being part of Silicon Alley, which was the term coined for the tech startup scene in New York. Despite being the epicenter of finance and media, New York was not considered a destination for tech companies in the 90s…certainly not on par with Palo Alto or Boston. That was until Kevin and his contemporaries worked to change that perception. 

On today’s episode, Brendan Vaughan talks to ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. For the summer issue of Fast Company Magazine, Jimmy talked to Fast Company about what was then the upcoming launch of ESPN’s first-ever direct-to-consumer offering. 

That service launched in August. We wanted to catch up with him about how that rollout has been going, but also to discuss ESPN’s sports betting partnerships in light of recent scandals in the NBA and MLB. PLUS we had to ask him about his chances of succeeding Bob Iger as CEO of Disney, ESPN’s parent company.

On this episode, Brendan Vaughan talks to Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. This past summer, Cloudflare released a tool for websites to block unwanted AI data scraping. They discuss what that means for media companies, content creators and anyone who depends on discoverability to make money online.

On today’s episode Brendan Vaughan talks with Amy Howe, CEO of FanDuel. If you’ve watched just about any sporting event, or listened to a podcast from the Ringer, you’ve heard about FanDuel. They are one half of the duopoly at the top of the booming world of sports betting. (Draft Kings is the other.) 

Ever since the 2018 supreme court decision that struck down a federal law prohibiting sports gambling, the industry has been on a steady rise. It’s legal in 40 states now, with the notable exception of California. The industry’s revenue has grown exponentially year over year with nearly 14 billion in total revenue in 2024 according to the American Gaming association. The vast majority of that revenue came from online betting on platforms like FanDuel. But, while the economic gains are impressive, there are downsides to combat…like problem gambling and the specter of match fixing. 

Today’s episode is coming to you from the Fast Company Innovation Festival that took place in New York last week. I interviewed author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt on the state of technology’s effect on our children. A conversation that is more important now than it’s ever been. 

Jonathan’s book, The A nxious Generation,  came out last year and ignited a national debate about childhood in the age of smartphones and social media. Since then, more than half of U.S. states have moved to limit phone use in schools, Australia has announced plans to restrict social media for kids under 16, and the EU is weighing similar measures. Haidt’s argument has become a rallying point in a broader movement to protect children’s mental health as new tech risks emerge