Sports Pundit Podcast

Today's episode, I'm joined by Stefano Petruzzo. Stefano is the Principal Owner of Hampton & Richmond FC, an English football club based in South West London and competing in the 6th tier of English football.  

Stefano and his brother and business partner on this venture, Rafa, recently celebrated their first anniversary of ownership of the club, having initial conceived the idea whilst working together at the Arcadia Group as Chief Strategy and Chief Digital Officers respectively. 

Stefano also spent 6 years as Strategy Director for Liverpool FC, contributing to their journey back to challenging at the top of the Premier League and for the highest European honours. 

It’s an incredibly unique journey, and while the internet signal was in places a little lacking, the insights from Stefano more than make up for it.

Time Stamps:

2:00 - Investment Interest in the English Football Pyramid

5:00 - Applying Benchmarks to your Performance

8:00 - Going from the Premier League to the National League

12:00 - Are There Lessons to Take from Topshop's Digital Transformation?

16:00 - Reducing Reliance on Third-party Platforms

20:00 - A Groundbreaking Partnership with Movember

26:00 - Launching a Newsletter and Being Transparent with Fans

33:00 - Rallying Youth Participation On and Off-the-Field

37:00 - Putting the Foundations in Place for a Women's Team

43:00 - Aspirations for the Future of Hampton & Richmond FC

Additional Links

Donate to Hampton & Richmond FC's Movember Page

Embracing identity: What we can learn from Liquid Death

Lose the excuses: Creating a winning sustainability formula

Connect with Stefano on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠⁠here

Today’s episode, I’m joined by Ari Mark, the Senior VP, Head of Partnership Development at The Drone Racing League. 

Mark joined the DRL from the NFL, where he led corporate partnership sales for the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium. Before that, Ari spent eight years in global business development for the NBA, securing sponsorships across the NBA, WNBA, G League, USA Basketball, and NBA 2K League.

Over the last several years, Ari built a legacy for developing new, groundbreaking programs, including the creation of the DRL’s largest ever partnership with Algorand, the leading high-performance blockchain platform as well as launching DRL Labs, an innovation hub to research and develop next generation drone technology with Dragan Fly. 

The league is flying high *pun intended* as the world’s premier, professional drone racing property and in the process is creating a new era of sports that brings high-speed competition in real life and digitally.

Time Stamps:

3:00 - Taking Lessons from the NBA and NFL

5:00 - The DRL as an Innovation Hub and Accelerator of Technology 

10:00 - Tapping into Alternative Budgets 

11:00 - Solving Problems for Partners and Tapping Partners to Solve Problems 

13:00 - Engaging with Fans Away from Broadcast TV

16:00 - Connecting with Fans of the Non-Traditional Sports 

19:00 - Embracing Meta’s Launch of WhatsApp Channels

24:00 - Evolving the DRL from Season to Season 

27:00 - Deciding on where to Race 

29:00 - Tapping into Athlete Appeal of the DRL Pilots 

32:00 - Esports as a talent funnel and engagement tool

37:00 - An opportunity for DRL events to tap into culturally relevant IP.

38:00 - Vision for the future of the DRL

Additional Links

Serving Fans: Why FC Barcelona Are Embracing An Overlooked Social Platform

Overtime's Playbook: Focus on 'Winning' the Group Chat

The Great Divide: The Future of Social Media

How F1 Technology has Supercharged the World

How High-Speed Drone Racing could Aid Struggling Air Force Recruitment

Connect with Ari on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠here⁠⁠

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠here

Today’s episode I’m joined by Eddie Lewis. Eddie was an American soccer player and is now the CEO and Founder of TOCA Football. 

During his 14 year tenure as a professional player, he spent much of his time in the US and UK, playing for the likes of San Jose Clash, Preston North End, Leeds United, and LA Galaxy - where he played alongside David Beckham.

Since finishing his playing career, Lewis has remained in football, founding TOCA, a training technology company that is used in both elite training centres as well as within TOCA Social, entertainment venues that tap into the trend competitive socialisation, which is best encapsulated by the likes of TopGolf and more recently, F1 Arcade.

Time Stamps:

2:00 - Visiting TOCA Social at the O2 in London

3:00 - Expanding the Experiential Venue Concept into the U.S.

5:00 - The Growth of Women's Soccer and How TOCA can Support

8:00 - The Impact of Beckham and Messi and Forecasting the Growth of Soccer in the U.S.

10:00 - Taking Investment in TOCA from Major League Soccer

14:00 - Becoming 'TopGolf for Football' and Engaging with Fans and Players

17:00 - Applying Lessons from Playing Professional Football to Founding a Company

20:00 - Using Technology to Close the Gap and Enhance Player Development

26:00 - Dealing with Rivals and Taking Inspiration from Other Sports

31:00 - Building for Athletes First - A Lesson from Will Ahmed, CEO of Whoop

34:00 - Future Plans for TOCA Football

Additional Reading:

• Game On: Experiential Venues Worth a Shot to Engage Fans Outside the Stadium
• Driving Engagement: F1 Arcade Opens First US-Based Venue
• Digital Revolut-ion: Why it's Important That WeWork On and Offline

• Sweaty Equity: Why Sports Leagues are Setting Up Investment Funds
• Diary of a CEO Podcast with Whoop CEO, Will Ahmed - How I Built A $3.6 BILLION Company & BEAT Apple! 

Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn - ⁠here⁠

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - ⁠here

Today’s episode I’m joined by Zarah Al Kudcy, the Commercial Director for Chelsea FC Women’s team, as well as a trustee of the Women’s Sports Trust.

Having previously held commercial roles in World Rugby, ECB, and most recently, Formula 1, Zarah joined Chelsea this summer tasked with building and growing commercial revenue related to the women’s team through sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality, and digital content.

Time Stamps:

1:00 - NWSL Final and learning from other sporting properties

2:00 - The Case for Women’s Football to be Standalone from the Men’s

5:00 - Engaging with fans of Chelsea’s Men’s and Women’s Teams

6:00 - The difference between International and Domestic Growth 

10:00 - Balancing Coverage Between Match Reports and Lifestyle Content

12:00 - Better Signposting Women’s Football 

15:00 - Including Women’s Players in EA Sports FC24

23:00 - Commercial Power of Female Fans and Breaking Down Women’s Football Audiences

27:00 - Sponsorship Case for Investing in Women’s Sport

34:00 - Not Becoming Reliant on Subsidies or Sponsors

36:00 - Lessons to Learn from Men’s Sport (Football and Rugby) 

38:00 - Keeping up with the Pace of Change On-and-Off the Pitch

41:00 - Extending the Legacy of the Lionesses Off the Pitch 

45:00 - Highlighting Female Leadership Off the Pitch with Angel City 

Additional Reading:

• In The Game: How Ultimate Team Inclusion is Driving Women’s Football Forward
• Female First: Kang Bets on Value of Women's Teams as Independent, Collective Assets  
• Perfect Stormz: Making Diversity and Inclusion in Football a lot less Merky
• The 'unbundling' of Women’s Football (Arsenal x Adidas x Stella McCartney)
• ⁠Finally, a Female Football Boot⁠ (Nike football boot launch)

Connect with Zarah on LinkedIn - here

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - here