Imagine driving your car about 65 miles an hour down a freeway. Not that hard to imagine, right? Nothing very special about it. Chance are you might do it every day.

OK, now imagine that you’re sitting on the roof of that car while it’s speeding down an uneven road at 65 miles per hour while someone throws water in your face.

That, my friend, is SailGP, which has about as much in common with traditional sailing as a biplane has in common with a fighter jet.

That excitement it what drew this episode’s guest Mike Buckley to the sport. Already a world champion sailor, Buckley was restless to find his next challenge. After a couple unsuccessful attempts to assemble an America’s Cup syndicate, his future arrived in the form of SailGP.

Mike is now the co-owner of SailGP’s Team USA and competes in races around the world. In our conversation, we go into how the kid from small town Cape Cod fell in love with competitive sailing. We talk about the acquisition the United States team, working with his A-List of celebrity investors, and how he harnesses his competitive instincts on the water and in the boardroom.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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It’s safe to say that there’s no part of sports business that’s as dynamic as college sports. That’s the polite way of saying it, anyway. There’s a bunch of other expressions that can be applied, and often are.

But think about it: conference realignment, NIL, the transfer portal, the House v NCAA decision, private equity investments… And this has all been in the last 5 years!

Sitting in the eye of this particular hurricane is this episode’s guest, John Cunningham, the Athletics Director for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Since joining the Bearcats in December, 2019, John has quite literally seen it all. COVID. The move to the Big 12. Launching NIL programs. And that’s just scratching the surface.

In our conversation, we talk about John’s journey from being Nebraska Cornhusker fan as a kid to sitting in the big chair at the University of Cincinnati’s athletic department. We also dive into his recent decision to move multimedia rights back in-house, what’s behind the success of that decision, his view of the role of private equity in college sports, the importance of mentorship, and much more.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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Mentioned in this episode:

ADC Partners: Your trusted college sports business partner

ADC Partners

There’s a moment in every sports fan’s life where they entertain the idea of buying their team. Most times it’s just a fleeting idea. “Well, if I owned the team, I’d…” And that’s pretty much it. It’s just a fantasy.

But if you’re Spencer Gore, it’s an idea that sticks.

The lifetime soccer fan and founder of the European Medical Journal had spent years watching his local club, Chelmsford City FC struggle to remain solvent. Relegated to the 6th tier of English soccer (honestly, we didn’t even know there was a 6th tier…), evicted from their stadium, and suffering through a string of unfulfilled ownership promises, the Clarets were about as far from the bright lights of the Premier League as you can imagine.

But where most people saw a disaster, Gore saw opportunity. After a couple of attempts to acquire the club, he now sits in Chelmsford City FC’s owner’s box on match day. And once there, he publicly set his audacious goal for the team: securing a spot in the Premier League by 2038.

In our conversation, we talk about what it’ll take for Chelmsford City FC to achieve that monumental goal. We also go into the at times torturous path to acquiring a professional sports club, how he engages with fans to build trust and gain support, and how he prioritizes a long list of to dos all designed to return the Clarets to prominence.

If you’re paying attention to the business of college sports today, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by all the so called experts telling you they have the answers to what’s going to happen next. In this attention economy, loud and outrageous voices often win the day. It’s exhausting.

When you talk to Kevin White, though, it’s an opportunity to break through all that noise and hear from someone who has almost always been in “the room where it happened”.

White’s career in college sports is legendary, to put it mildly. The long time Athletic Director shaped college sports programs at stops including Tulane, Arizona State, Notre Dame, and (ultimately) Duke University, where he spent 13 years guiding the Blue Devils.

In his characteristic straightforward style, White provides insights about the state of college athletics and the lessons he’s learned along the way, many of which can be found in his recently published book, “The Good Sport”. We go into his career, his evolved opinion on NIL, the role of the NCAA in the future of college sports, and why he thinks now more than ever is the time to lean in on DEI in college sports. We’ll also find out how his thumbs are feeling after writing “The Good Sport” entirely on his iPhone.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

Mentioned in this episode:

ADC Partners: Your trusted college sports business partner

ADC Partners

If you use the phrase “sports tech”, people tend to think of things like artificial intelligence, data analysis, and apps that are meant to improve the sports experience. They’re typically heavily focused on software, subscriptions, and more often than not, have a pretty intense learning curve. This is especially true for the 100s of start ups out there using technology to help athletes achieve peak performance.

That’s what makes Raj Thiruchelvarajah and Hytro so intriguing. Raj and his partners focused on creating a product that leverages blood flow restriction, a much studied but little applied method of improving performance. They ended up innovating a comparatively low tech wearable product that has generated compelling results for teams in the Premier League, World Rugby, and the NHL. Results that will be coming soon to pro teams and universities in the US.

In our conversation, Raj and I talk about his decision to leave a successful career in finance and consulting to begin his entrepreneurial journey with Hytro. He dives into the realities of building a start-up, how he found success selling to some of the world’s most high profile sport brands, and what to expect as the brand looks to build upon its success in Europe with an increasing US presence.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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Here are some things you might not ordinarily think of when the topic of sports business comes up.

Information warehousing. Analytics. Data centers. Cybersecurity.

Typically speaking, these are NOT the topics that most fans concern themselves with when heading to a game. They just want their tickets to scan quickly, their payments to work seamlessly at concession stands, and their smack talking posts to load quickly.

And this is where Gabie Boko, the CMO of NetApp starts nodding enthusiastically.

No one knows more than Gabie about how interwoven sports and technology are. That’s why she’s been leveraging sports to help NetApp tell its story. Their partnership portfolio already includes 49ers, Sharks and Aston Martin F1, and it just got a whole lot bigger: NetApp just launched a new collaboration NFL, now serving as their official intelligent data infrastructure partner.

In our conversation, we talk about the role of sports in marketing complex enterprise technology. We also dive into how she leverages her partnerships in storytelling, how she built upon an existing business relationship with the NFL to help create the new partnership, and how she views measuring the effectiveness of her partnerships. The Alaska native also shares the story of her most frightening bear encounter, which almost assuredly will have you canceling your northern exposure trip.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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When we first spoke with Peter Frintzilas, the CEO of youth sports tech pioneer TeamSnap, the company was in the process of integrating the recently acquired Mojo Sports. As with any tech integration, it wasn't easy. "It’s not going to flip a switch and all of a sudden everything works together," Frintzilas commented at the time.

Turns out it took about 1.5 years to flip that switch: TeamSnap ONE is officially here.

TeamSnap One is a completely reimagined, end-to-end solution that sets a new standard in club, league and team management. In our conversation, Frintzilas takes us through the at times arduous journey to recreate the worlds most trusted youth sports app, and how the experience will improve for millions of families, teams, leagues and sponsors.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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We’re starting with a bit of a history lesson. In the dark ages of TV, people had about five channels to choose from, had to negotiate with family members over who got to control the remote, and had to make sure they were in front of the screen exactly when their favorite show started. And if that sounds like it sucked, that’s because it did. I speak from experience as someone who rarely (if ever) got to control the remote…

Fast forward to today — we live in a world where there are literally thousands of channels, entire sports leagues streaming online, and ads that are tailored just for you. The shift has been nothing short of revolutionary.

Our guest, Keith Bedford, has been on the front lines of this particular revolution since it began. Keith is currently a GM at Wurl, a company that sits right at the intersection of streaming technology, advertising, and live sports.

In our conversation, Keith explains how streaming is opening new doors for sports organizations, why advertisers are excited about targeting fans in more personal ways, and how new platforms are shaping the way audiences discover and consume content. We explore the opportunities and challenges for rights holders, what makes FAST channels so compelling, and how younger generations are changing the definition of “watching sports.”

So whether you’re in the business of sports, media, or marketing — or you just want to know what the future of watching live events looks like — you’re in the right place.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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If you were in charge of the world’s most innovative sports experiences and hospitality company, and you were responsible for major global sports events, how would you spend your time at those events? Walking the sidelines like a boss? Maybe catching the action from the comfort of your luxury suite?

Well, if you’re Paul Caine, the President of On Location, you spend it wiping down tables, making sure everyone has a drink, and almost never catching the end of a game.

On Location is the gold standard for sports hospitality. Think of a major global event, and they’re responsible for creating the out-of-this-world experiences for fans and sponsors. Olympics? Yup. FIFA World Cup. Also Yup. NFL Super Bowl? Look, we really don’t need to keep doing this, do we? If you want to go to it, they’re handling premium experiences.

Paul has been leading On Location since 2020. After some initial COVID related turbulence, the company has taken full advantage of the growing appetite for high end sports experiences. But that didn’t just happen organically. In our conversation, Paul dives deep into the strategic decisions that produced On Location’s leadership position. He also reviews his decision to leave a successful career in traditional media to take the helm at On Location, the leadership style that keeps him cleaning those tables, and what’s left to do to prepare for the upcoming 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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I don’t know if you’ve heard about this new racquet sport that’s growing like crazy. Let’s see if you can guess what it is. It’s easy to learn, super fun to play, and begins with a “P”.

Yup, you guessed it. It’s padel.

Now, if you live outside North America, you probably guessed right and were unsurprised at the answer. Padel after all has been exploding all over Europe, Latin America, South America and elsewhere. But if you live in North America, you’ll be forgiven for thinking of pickleball. Perhaps you’ve even never heard of padel.

Well, that is about to change. And Pablo Carro, the co-founder of Playtomic and a padel evangelist, is the one behind it.

A competitive tennis player, Carro fell in love with padel the first time he played it and has been on a mission to grow the sport around the world. In our conversation, we talk about the explosive growth of padel worldwide, and why the US is primed to follow. We go into the role of Playtomic in the sport’s upward trajectory, the support of tennis legend Rafael Nadal, the findings of the latest Global Padel Report and much more.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
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• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast