Sports Loft Podcast

By Sports Loft

On the Sports Loft Podcast, we talk to the innovators shaping the future of the sports industry.

Our guests include tech pioneers building groundbreaking companies, leading executives from the world’... more

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FAQs about Sports Loft Podcast:

How many episodes does Sports Loft Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 84 episodes available.

Sports Loft Podcast episodes:

April 01, 2025From Threads to WhatsApp: How sports organisations are making the most of Meta’s platforms.
Will Pithers, Strategic Partner Manager for sports at Meta, joins Andy and Charlie on the Sports Loft podcast. Having previously work at City Football Group , Will helps teams, leagues, federations, athletes and creators optimise their content strategy across Meta’s platforms.
With user behaviour shifting from public feeds toward private messaging, and short-form video dominating content strategy, we wanted to get an insider’s view on how sports organisations such as Formula 1, Premier League clubs and Mercedes F1 are navigating Meta’s eco-system to engage fans globally.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Why short-form video (ie Reels) is the key to success across both Facebook and Instagram
How F1 teams and drivers have built a thriving community on threads
Why the majority of a social media user’s time will soon not be spent in feeds, but rather in private and group messaging conversations.
How Meta is looking to make their platforms more attractive for content creators?
Why providing utility and not posting too much has been so important for success with WhatsApp channels
How sports organisations are looking to monetise their activity across Meta’s platforms
Why teams should be investing in tools that can help them manage their content archives
The potential opportunities for sports organisations in AR with Meta’s Orion glasses
...more
53min
March 04, 2025Scoreplay: Centralising Sports Media in the Age of AI
In the latest Sports Loft podcast, Andy and Charlie are joined by Victorien Tixier, CEO of Scoreplay. Fresh off the announcement of their $13m Series A funding round, ScorePlay have been seeing huge success onboarding new clients. So we wanted to discuss how they see the content market evolving, their future product strategy and to get some very specific examples of how sports organiastions are using ScorePlay to its full potential.

Some of the topics we discuss include:
Why has the fragmentation of content workflows has become such a big pain point for sports organsiations?
How has ScorePlay leveraged best-in-class AI technologies for facial recognition, logo detection, speech to text conversion and even dubbing, rather than trying to build it themselves?
How are rightsholders using the platform with their commercial partners?
How has the content market evolved since the launch of ScorePlay and how will it continue to change?
Why they have stayed very focused on the sports vertical?
How have their athlete investors played such an important role in driving adoption in the locker room?
Why does Victorien see the future for ScorePlay as the “media infrastructure for sports”? – and why is developing their API so important in order to achieve this?
...more
44min
January 23, 2025From Highlights to Creators: How the sports industry is innovating on YouTube
Jonny Keogh, UK&I Sports Lead at YouTube joins Andy and Charlie on the Sports Loft podcast. Having previously worked at Sky, Jonny now helps major rightsholders and sports creators make the most of YouTube. So we wanted to dig into what’s coming from YouTube, who is being really innovative in their use of the platform and get some specific examples of how teams are using it to drive revenue.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Has YouTube become THE destination for highlights?
How are rightsholder’s monetising their content, but also how are they incorporating YouTube into their sponsorship conversations?
How are YouTube Channel Memberships being used by some clubs as an extension of their OTT platforms? And in some cases could it be a more cost-effective alternative?
Should creators be viewed differently now that much of the output is almost broadcast quality in terms of the production and storytelling? And which teams and broadcasters are working with them well?
With athletes such Jude Bellingham becoming creators – how are they developing different content formats and commercialising their own YouTube channels?
What benefits are rightsholders and broadcasters seeing from having live games on the platform?
Where is AI being used in the YouTube platform to create new content and commercial opportunities?
...more
49min
December 16, 2024The ICC: Innovating at the Cricket World Cup.
Finn Bradshaw, Head of Digital at the ICC, joins Andy and Charlie on the Sports Loft podcast. Having worked previously with Cricket Australia and in tennis at the Australian Open, Finn now drives the digital agenda at the ICC and has events such as the Cricket World Cup to look after. So we were keen to dig into how the ICC is looking to innovate and adopt new technologies.

In our latest episode with Finn Bradshaw:

Innovating at the Cricket World Cup
Why the challenge for cricket in America is not building an audience, but having the right product?
How did the ICC work with influencers such as Jomboy during the World Cup and what did they learn?
Why did the ICC partner with existing games on Roblox rather than building their own?
How did experiences on the Apple Vision Pro help with partnership discussions?
What were Finn’s biggest learnings from getting 4million viewers on the ICC TV app?

How the ICC uses different social platforms
Why are Facebook and Instagram the best marketing platforms ever built?
Which platform has the best analytics?
Why did match highlights only go on Meta channels up until 2023 and why change?
How does Finn balance the need to build audiences on their own channels vs getting the reach on social?

Running proof-of-concepts at the ICC
How does the ICC test ideas before rolling them out more broadly?
How did the ICC test vertical video? What did the learn and how did they adapt?
How have POC’s built trust with internal stakeholders, sponsors and partners?
Why is it important how you measure success for POC's?
Why has senior backing been so important for implementing a “test and learn” approach?
...more
50min
November 22, 2024VRTL: Scaling in person fan experiences to a global audience
Courtney Jeffries is CEO of virtual events platform, VRTL. She describes herself as a “recovering Sports Exec” having worked at the Raiders, Pac-12, MSG and then moving into startup life at Satisfi Labs. VRTL is used by the likes of Atlanta Falcons, ESPN, NY Rangers, Tottenham Hotspurs and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In this episode with VRTL’s CEO:

The revenue opportunity from driving engagement with non-match attending fans
Are fan engagement strategies too focused on in-venue and matchday?
Have teams already saturated their local market?
How much more do engaged fans spend than non-engaged fans?
Why the playbook for engaging fans in-venue should be extended to fans globally?

Creative uses of the platform in both the UK and US
How are Premier League teams using the platform to engage with their global fans?
How are the Minnesota Vikings using VRTL to give extra value to season ticket holders?
How is an F1 team looking to connect hardcore fans in discussion with car engineers?
How did ESPN use the platform to drive conversations around a new 30 for 30 documentary?
Are sponsors leveraging a team’s virtual events or are they putting events on themselves?

Combining versatility with the ability to scale
Why does “one size fits all” not work in the sports industry?
How have fan’s expectations changed post pandemic from a generic zoom call to a “special” experience?
Why are the virtual autographs so popular?
How will CRM integration enable events to be more targeted?
Why making the experiences scalable is so important to teams?
How much “handholding” of customers is currently required and at what point will the platform be viewed as “self serve”?

Early adopters, pilots and opportunities in music
Why is it important to work with teams who want to be early adopters?
Why are UK teams more likely to try things in-season than their US counterparts?
Why is sports a “copycat” industry and why is this a benefit to tech companies?
How important have pilots been in helping conver teams into customers?
Can sports be a beach-head to expand into other industries?
What is the opportunity in music and film?
...more
46min
October 24, 2024Trajektory – a holistic view of sports sponsorship
With Yanni away in Hawai'i (working on the IRONMAN World Championship, rather than competing in it) Charlie took the reins of the podcast this week, welcoming Alex Kerr, CEO of Trajektory, to chat about sponsorship analytics in the sports industry. We’ve been tracking his company – which uses advanced AI and a dynamic valuation method to deliver more accurate media analytics – for a while, so it was great to get Alex on to dig into the business.
Along with our Head of Strategy, Andy Selby, Charlie and Alex explore the significance of data in driving revenue for both rights holders and brands, dig out success stories from Trajektory's client base, and explore the balance of providing a SaaS service and supporting customers through hands-on customer success teams. Based in Chicago, the company works with major brands and teams across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS.
Timestamps:
06:15 – Intro to Trajektory
11:00 – Client successes
14:30 – Understanding brand objectives
22:00 – Innovations around in-venue data tracking
28:30 – Serving both sides of the market
34:30 – Getting granular on reporting
39:00 – The culture at Trajektory
...more
44min
September 27, 2024ADvantage VC: Investing in early-stage tech companies
In this episode of the Sports Loft Podcast, hosts Yanni Andreopoulos and Andy Selby are joined by Sam Schmelzer, Partner and COO of ADvantage VC, to dig into early-stage investment in sports-focused technologies.
ADvantage focuses on three areas of the sports tech ecosystem: fan engagement, the connected athlete and derivative sports, which spans fantasy, gaming and e-sports. As such, the its portfolio includes the likes of Greenfly, the short-form content distribution platform; Tappp, which enables commerce, betting and interactive polling to sit alongside live sports on a single screen; and Infinite Athlete. ADvantage tends to lead investment rounds for Series A and B companies, with cheque sizes ranging from $2-5 million and $4-8 million, respectively.
Timestamps:
06:00 – The ADvantage thesis
12:00 – The role of strategic LPs
18:00 – Evaluating sports tech startups
24:00 – Fan engagement technology
30:00 – Emerging sports leagues as investment opportunities
36:00 – How ADvantage is looking at AI in sports
...more
45min
September 11, 2024AudioShake: using AI to take control of audio content
This week, Yanni and Andy chat with Suzanne Kirkland about how the company uses AI to separate audio into its “stems” or component parts, giving organisations more control over their audio and video assets. In sports, that means tweaking levels or replacing unwanted sounds to make content libraries more usable. But the tech, which was born out of a love for homemade karaoke, also has powerful applications across TV, film and the music industry.
Timestamps:
08:30 – Intro to AudioShake
15:45 – How the tech alters the content creation process
19:00 – Speed of processing and real-time
23:00 – The reaction of the sports industry
30:00 – Karaoke and the company's founding
33:30 – The business model
39:30 – Real-time audio splitting
45:30 – Training the AI models
...more
49min
August 28, 2024 OpusClip: using AI to turn your content into viral shorts
In this week’s episode of the Sports Loft Podcast, Yanni and Charlie sit down with Shubh Jagani, head of enterprise solutions at OpusClip, the AI startup that can turn long-form videos into viral clips with just one click.
Today, every organisation – from sports teams to media giants – needs a constant stream of engaging social media content. OpusClip makes that possible, helping clients like VoxMedia, Seattle Seahawks, FloSports, Memphis Grizzlies and Juventus to transform their video libraries into shareable clips, to engage their existing audiences and find new fans.
Over the course of the conversation, we cover the companies inception and growth, its relevancy to the sports and entertainment industry, and the company's new product, ClipAnything – which allows users to effortlessly generate specific moments from any video using natural language prompts.
Timestamps:
07:00 – Introduction to Opus Clip and Clip Anything
13:00 – Use cases of Opus Clip in sports organisations
16:45 – Opus Clip's virality model
31:00 – How ClipAnything works
36:30 – Model training
40:21 – Company growth
45:30 – The market's acceptance of AI
...more
46min
August 14, 2024OneCourt: using touch to help blind fans engage with sport
On this episode of the Sports Loft Podcast, hosts Yanni and Charlie sit down with Antyush Bollini, COO and co-founder of OneCourt, a groundbreaking company making sports more inclusive for fans who are blind or visually impaired.
OneCourt has developed a haptic device that allows fans to feel live action through trackable vibrations, revolutionising the way sports are experienced. The company, spun out of the University of Washington, recently partnered with T-Mobile and Major League Baseball to showcase their innovation at the MLB All-Star Game and are on the verge of launching a new device with improved features.
There's also an angel round underway, with the likes of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, heading up the cap table.
Timestamps:
05:00 – Developing the One Court haptic device
15:00 – Testing and piloting the technology
24:15 – The market
32:30 – The role of audio
37:45 – Partnership with T-Mobile and MLB at the All-Star Game
45:00 – The journey ahead
49:45 – OneCourt's angel round
...more
55min

FAQs about Sports Loft Podcast:

How many episodes does Sports Loft Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 84 episodes available.