SportsPro Podcast

How do top female leaders juggle professional success and a personal life? Kate Miller, the ECB's chief communications and diversity officer, addresses the challenge head on in a candid conversation with SportsPro's Elena Kouyoufa. Kate, who is a NEW ERA steering group member, discusses navigating parenthood while also remaining professionally ambitious, upholding a strong internal compass and striving for meaningful change in the sports industry.

This week's guest is Michael Yormark, president of Roc Nation Sports International, the man taking Jay-Z's talent-led vision to the global sports industry. In an in-depth interview with Tom Bassam, Yormark explains how he left the US with a suitcase five years ago before going on to create a global sports agency with the likes of Vinicius Junior and Siya Kolisi on its books.

Talking points:

A Hungarian striker primed to sell you power drills, a German defender-cum TV star and a keeper with his own partnerships web page, this is SportsPro’s entirely scientific and deeply researched Euro 2024 most marketable XI.

Hosted by Ed Dixon, alongside Sam Carp, Steve McCaskill and Tom Bassam, this episode was recorded live from Hotel Mundial. Thanks to the kind folks at Footballco for having us.

The Football Ramble is an 'OG' sports podcast in the UK and Luke Moore has seen it grow from a hobby into the centrepiece of a successful, independent production company. Now the chief operating officer of Stak, Luke talks to Tom Bassam about sports podcasting, growing an audience and running a creative media business.

Euro 2024 is here, so to answer all the serious (and less serious) commercial questions ahead of the tournament, SportsPro Podcast host Tom Bassam is joined by features editor Sam Carp and technology editor Steve McCaskill.

Talking points:

The advent of artificial intelligence is the biggest tech innovation since the dawn of the Internet. The sports industry, much like the rest of society, is still figuring out how to use it effectively, but companies like Relative Insight are leading the way. Tom Bassam speaks to Rauri Hadlington, business development director at Relative Insight, to understand more about the sports industry could - and should - be using AI.

Ice Cube is many things: a rapper, a film star, producer and more recently - with the Big3 - a sports mogul. The 'fireball' 3x3 basketball league that Cube co-founded with Jeff Kwatinetz has defied pessimistic projections to survive seven years and nine seasons, selling out arenas while airing on major US network TV. Speaking to Tom Bassam, Cube and Kwatinetz discuss selling Big3 franchises, the league's future and how the rapper's career has influenced his approach to being the CEO of a sports organisation.

Talking points:

- Franchising the Big3 (1:26)

- Getting the right type of owners (8:27)

- Taking risks (21:08)

- What Cube's learned about owning a sports property (25:36)

A trailblazer in the tennis world, Katrina Adams has consistently championed gender equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout her career. Firstly as a player, then as a leader at the UTSA, US Open and the Fed Cup.

A packed out TD Place full of young Ottawa fans have come to watch their team try to make the playoffs and SportsPro's Tom Bassam was lucky to have one of the best seats in the house. This is the PWHL, North America's incredibly popular, new elite women's ice hockey competition that is smashing attendance and viewership records in its first season. PWHL Ottawa's GM, Michael Hirshfeld, and Ottawa Tourism's Lesley Pincombe explain the impact of the new franchise in the Canadian capital, as well as what more the city has to offer as a sports destination.

Few sports properties in the world are embracing sustainability like the World Rally Championship. Co-hosting the Beyond Rally Forum, the most recent event in the FIA's Sustainable Innovation Series, was the latest initiative undertaken by the WRC to demonstrate its green credentials. We sent Cian Brittle to Porto get the inside track on the sustainability conversation in motorsport and speak to some of the key players in the space.

Talking points:

- Interview with Sara Mariani, the FIA's director of sustainability and diversity and inclusion (1:12)

- Martin Popilka, CEO of P1 Fuels, on the potential impact of green fuel in WRC and for the automotive industry (26:09)

- Santiago Peña Gomez, WRC Promoter's sustainability manager, explains how the series is putting its new Sustainability Roadbook into action (34:02)

- Cian's final thoughts (1:00:06)