Sports Content Strategy with MrRichardClarke: Exploring sports content, journalism, digital and social media

The two golden eras of British speedway - immediately post-war and 60/70s

How Wembley drew more than 1m speedway spectators in 1956

The downward spiral since the 1980s - from over 90,000 watching Bruce Penhall at Wembley in 1982 to just over 1,000 at top-flight meets

The origin story of speedway. High Beech in 1928

The World of Sport days and the significance of its loss. Being late to "live sports"

The comparison to snooker and darts in the UK

The importance of an entrepreneurial influence

The dislocation of speedway teams because promoters do not own their tracks

The working-class nature of speedway. The crossover with greyhound racing

"It's a £10 sport" and does that work anymore? Is it possible to monetise it in the way of modern sports business

The new speedway venue in Manchester

Why successful speedway teams like Workington went under as well as less successful clubs

Attracting sponsors, especially when you are outside big cities

The ageing demographics of modern speedway

The movement of club and riders 'doubling up' affecting the identity in the fanbase

The famous stat that speedway was the second most popular spectator sport in the UK

The demise in the number of teams

The TV deals in the UK - Sky, BT, Eurosport

Newspaper coverage. Only the Daily Star is still flying the flag

The European Grand Prix How the Cardiff event manages to cut-through with an attendance of 40,000

The growth of the sport in Europe, especially Poland

Should UK speedway become a polish feeder league?

What would Roddy do to carve a future for UK speedway?

Trends of 2020 - "clubs have 'thought beyond the norm' and I don't think it will go back"

The 'two extremes' from Covid - the need for fans to support them v the need for money from sponsors

What activities created by the Covid crisis will persist after the virus is beaten

Getting by giving - the authenticity of the Marcus Rashford story

The way clubs talk to their fans - the problem of 'closing the reality gap'

The psychological move of sports social media after Covid-19 hit

The movement of the social media platforms over the last year - why Mario got it wrong on Instagram and TikTok is "an ocean of content"

Facebook's problems, its legal issues and the effects on sports clubs

The political dimension to curbing the social media platforms

The problem with fake social media advertising metrics. The lack of transparancy

The one country trying to license valid social media metrics

How Mario has investigated the problem

The problem of the Nielsen approach and CPM as an estimate

Why a European Super League will happen and World Cups will be staged every two years

The importance of CSR and being fancentric

The risk of clubs going all-out for promotion

The assumption that fans will come back automatically

Rich Luker's '2% solution'

Marketers letting go of big numbers of engagement and concentrating on real numbers

Mario's tips for running club accounts in 2021

TOPICS

"In 1988 there was absolutely no systematic research on sports fans in the US"

Why sport fandom was linked with the economy and wealth until 2010

"If you go to your first baseball game before you are five you go to 58% more games per year than if you go to your first game at 14."

The problems of seasonality, looking only at one sport, studying it 'all the way'

Starting ESPN Sports Poll and then buying it out

Measuring free time and the effects of Covid-19

The drastic challenges facing the sports industry before the pandemic

Studying two paradigm shifts in his research

the changing nature of sports media consumption

the invention of the smartphone taking the internet 'off the desk'

Why 2026 was set to be THE critical year as every new adult would now grow up with smartphones

Why these fans will not 'come back' at 35 because they were never there in the first place

The growth of post-war PE in the US and how 'making it fun' created sports

"That was the only real investment in sports fans"

The importance of the bonding experience with your parents (mainly Dad)

Why tattoos are a 'canary in the coalmine' for sports stories

Why no-one is paying attention to community in sports but the lack of it is the biggest threat?

CRM in sports is just 'transactional and transitional'

The lack of research into young children's preferences

"The biggest change is change itself... everything is fluid. Being a human being is the only thing that is constant"

Asking the sports team owners "what they sell?"

Comparing esports with the poker phenomenon

The Luker plan for sports post Covid - community, young fans, revolutionising the gamecast and bringing sports to the fans

Who is the instigator of community?

Signs of hope and worry - finding sports' Anthony Fauci.

TOPICS

After 24 years as a soccer journalist in the US, does Grant feel like a pioneer?

Convincing editors to cover soccer in the US

The importance of the World Cup 2010 'breaking through' in the US

His book on David Beckham’s time at the LA Galaxy and becoming the first soccer title to reach the NYT Bestseller’s list

His writing course at Princeton - John McPhee and David Remnick

Structuring stories and writing in different styles

Sports Illustrated's style of magazine journalism

Running for the presidency of FIFA

MLS - "They should be proud as to how far they have come"

The big, thorny television issue

Where does MLS fit in the growth of the US men's national team? The Landon Donovan example

How it has changed with Gio Reyna, Christian Pulisic

The damage of missing the World Cup

The boost of the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada

The US women's national team - their popularity and their legal claim for equal pay

Why a women's league has not yet worked in the US

The opportunity to become the best women's league in the world

The expansion of European football into the US, the legal case

The leagues below MLS - their strength and expansion plans

TOPICS

Reflections on the FIBA World Cup and how content led their growth strategy

The breadth of FIBA events throughout the year

Publishing 2000 games on their YouTube channel each year

The organisation of the content team

Defining the content strategy of FIBA media

Closing the gap between media teams and broadcast partners

Working with influencers/players to mutually build their brands

FIBA's approach to multi-lingual content

The challenge of acting holistically with different internal media agencies

Balancing FIBA's OTT product with live media rights

Personalisation of OTT - where they are and where they are trying to get to in five years

The trust factor that allows sports to positively exploit data

Using 3x3 to grow the game

Where esports fits in FIBA's future

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A crucial technological change in the printing process, allowing better pictures

The editing system he learnt and employed throughout his career

"I had no skills whatsoever". The advert I answered read: "Beginner wanted for children's comics""

Changing Tiger to an all-sports comic and increasing the features

The big picture policy

Getting the big-name celebrities involved

How The Duke of Edinburgh helped to launch Roy of the Rovers

Becoming a visible editor even signing his name under his copy

The importance of the feedback, sending in their two favourite stories

The Roy of the Rovers feedback phone-line and how it broke down

The importance of schools roadshows and get-togethers

Publicity 'stunts'

The change of tone with Roy of the Rovers, entering the off-field arena

The importance of the 'parent buy'

Trying to make Melchester your local team

The dual problem - rising television and long deadlines

The problems in football in the 1980s and how Roy Race handle them

The moral compass employed in deciding what story to cover

The shooting of Roy Race - a tale involving Sir Alf Ramsey, a 14-0 win and the noise of the crowd

Keeping the storylines fresh

Balancing up the art and the business of Roy of the Rovers

The end of Roy Race

The Scorer cartoon strip in the Mirror

The reputation of comics then and now

Would Roy Race work today? The graphic novel publication by Rebellion and the schools' involvement

Dan Dare, the Mekon and Big Daddy in the Waldorf Hotel

Will sports comics have their day again?

Barrie's legacy and how he would like to be remembered

TOPICS

The original story of the Barmy Army

The tour of Australia in 1994/95

The culture of positivity and the notion of self-policing

Hoggy’s Rules - the code of conduct

The streaker in Sri Lanka

The Barmy Army trumpeter and 'Barmy's got Talent'

The entertainment and atmosphere - how much is organic?

The tour business side of the Barmy Army

“We are part of the occasion and the economics of the game”

The criticism of the corporatisation and being against the spirit of the game

Covid and the travel industry

The difference between the many cricketing countries they visit

The charity works and the events outside the cricket

The relationship between the England team and the Barmy Army

The use of the Barmy Army as a playing tool for the team

The Fanatics (Australia) and the Bharat Army (India) - the response to the Barmy Army

How supporter groups could work to even up the power in the game

The secondary ticket market and the problems at the 2019 World Cup

Taking tours to Brazil and Argentina and beyond

His favourite song and why Mitchell Johnson's 'sh*te' bowling breaks an important rule

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Definitions of esports and gaming

The rule of the British Esports Association - "We're a national body not a governing body"

The medal event at the Rio Olympics, helped by the UK Government

Why the IOC wants every sport to have a "gaming strategy"

The role of the game FIFA in the spread of football in the US

Passive media v active and social media

The RAF scheme to combat loneliness

The potential benefits of esports in fighting dementia

The digital disconnect and importance of treating players as athletes

Opening up career pathways in esports. The size of the industry

The diversity issues in esports and how to solve them

The possibility of women-only tournaments

The development of veterans' tournament

The effect of lockdown on esports and why it was not all upside

Is investment growing on the back of lockdown? "The UK is the black hole of esports investment"

The cost of running an esports side

The importance of getting brands involved, especially in the UK

The problem of toxicity in esports and the ways to combat it

Chester's current to-do list

The problem of planning ahead in esports

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Putting IPL and Indian cricket in a global context

The early years of IPL and how heroes like Tendulkar and Ganguly became ‘the opponent’

How cricket start competing with entertainment such as soap opera

How the Knight Riders have developed their fans’ story - the power of brand

The early years without success and the subsequent change in CEO and captain

Changing from a white-collar to blue-collar in club ethos

The success of the first club anthem and “I am KKR”

The adventurer who is part of the team and at the forefront of their content

The Living with KKR documentary

The importance of embedding the content team with the playing team. Taking away gatekeepers

Handling individuals so they create great content but not give away secrets

The use of music and Bollywood spectaculars

Social media - why are their Facebook figures far above other IPL sides

The fans’ think tank helping the real think tank

The 12-year-old who told KKR to choose five players… and they signed four of them

The development of fan culture in IPL

The internationalisation strategy for KKR

The multi-language content and consideration of overseas fans

The content collaborations with overseas teams looking to penetrate the Indian market

Moving the IPL to the UAE this year and how it affects content

The upcoming KKR movie and the footage rules

Moving into the fiction space

Connecting the Knight Riders around the world

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What is Transfermarkt

The importance of crowdsourced data

Why did Transfermarkt prosper when similar sites did not

Connecting the data geeks via community

The business v community service

The business model

How Transfermarkt recruit their researchers

How Transfermarkt calculate their player values

The importance of adding marketing value for major players

Obtaining the concrete information

How agents use Transfermarkt

The importance of SEO

The internationalisation of Transfermarkt

How Transfermarkt decide which markets to enter

How Transfermarkt are staffed

The transfer and rumours section

Has anyone gamed the system?

The technical infrastructure required

Did the deal with Axel Springer want to change anything

What Transfermarkt can tell us about attention spans and the obsession with data