Circling back onto one of my favourite early episodes of the podcast. Not only did we get chance to talk esports when it was just taking off within 'traditional' sports but also because we got to record it in a professional recording studio... on Pete Townshend's (from The Who) boat.

My guests were; 

-Vas Roberts - VP Sales, FACEIT 

- Jonny Madill - Sports & eSports Lawyer, Sheridans 

- Malph Minns - MD, Strive Sponsorship

In this episode we covered a wide range of topics that ranged from the investment in players/teams from traditional sport to the governance of eSports leagues.

Please give us a follow or a comment, review on any of our platforms. 

Find us at @DigitalSportUK and http://www.digitalsport.co

Kurt Edwards is Commercial Director at London's newest sports radio station Love Sport Radio. They have launched an unashamedly London biased radio station and have worked closely with fans to make them central to the new offering.

With former talkSPORT founder Kelvin Mackenzie amongst the investors, they've taken a different approach by involving new talent from the podcasting world as well as embracing technology as they make shows available on Amazon Echo and Google Home. 

I went down to their studio in Southwark to find out more.

[https://www.lovesportradio.com](https://www.lovesportradio.com/)

The Football Blogging Awards, run by our colleagues at Snack Media, is the Oscars of the football blogging world. Rewarding not just the professional setups at the likes of Copa90 but amateurs doing it for the love of the sport and their team.

During the evening we got to catch up with some of the winners, and hear what goes into the judging from Paul Rayner.

2:00 Paul Rayner - SPORTbible

6:40 Max Hayes - Matchday With Max

11:02 Paul Dyke - Celtic Star Pod

17:24 Matt 'Smiv ' Smith - Palmers FC

23:03 Robbie Lyle - ArsenalFanTV

28:46 Dean Stobbard - 442oons

If you enjoy the podcast then do leave a rating or review if you can. You can also follow all the latest industry news on [DigitalSport.co](http://digitalsport.co) and @DigitalSportUK

Romily is a fascinating person who has an in-depth view on the challenges football is facing. Not just the ones we're used to talking about, but those BIG things that are happening behind the scenes and could be make-or-break for the sport we love.

With the need for digital transformation well understood and underway within many industries. Football, and sport generally, has taken more of an ostrich approach to it. With short-termism hard to escape when time is so scarce and resources/money stretched (and unknown in the medium term), how can football in this country and beyond survive if it doesn't change?

So there's lots we get through on this, with 5G playing an important role that few are talking about. 

And finally esports crops up due to Romily's experience at EA - great to get his view on how different clubs and leagues have been approaching this new opportunity/challenge.

You can find Romily on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RomilyBroad) and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/romilybroad/).

Until next week...

In this week's show I try my best to surmise what took place at the Sports Technology Awards Tech Talks. A short series a presentations by leaders from Diageo, Gatorade, Hinsta Performance and HOK. 

After the talks finished I managed to catch up with HOK's Managing Principal at their Kansas City office, Chris DeVolder. As the sustainable design leader for HOK's Sports + Recreation + Entertainment practice and co-chair of both the Green Sports Alliance Corporate Membership Network Steering Committee and the USGBC National LEED User Group for sports venue development, Chris has helped advance the way our profession approaches the programming, design, construction and operations of sports venues.

We spoke (in a cafe where they were packing up the seats to close up - great timing!) about the advancement in stadium design and technology, what the future could hold and the amazing work at Atlanta's new stadium. 

If you enjoy this show, you can make it easier for others to find it by leaving rating or review.

This week saw the 3rd #DSManchester event take place, this time at the HQ for Social Chain in the heart of the city.

We covered many topics, starting off with the furore around the FA Cup tweet by the FA. Was it a light hearted piece on content that engaged with young fans, or was it the wrong side of the line? 

There are also segments on the Paul Pogba transfer, Opta's use of Twitter, why we are chasing these elusive 'next gen' fans and much more.

You read more on what happened at the event [here](https://digitalsport.co/ds-manchester-how-man-united-changed-the-game-the-line-between-fun-and-banter).

Thanks to the support of Opta in sponsoring the event, and to Social Chain for providing the venue.

Not everything you see that leads on technology and innovation takes place at the elite end of sport. Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find out what is going on and who you can learn from in the industry.

This week's guests are Matt Mead, Head of Education, and Carl Southwell, Enterprise & Employability Manager, at Chelsea Football Club. 

Last week they ran the clubs Hack event at Stamford Bridge, with 10 companies joining them for a week. And they also have a very active STEM programme, a recent link up with San Francisco 49ers and a monthly entrepreneurs club for the local community. 

It's fascinating to learn more and coming out of it there is definitely we more we can all do to help, including here at Digital Sport, to help the next generation of technologists, social media managers, etc.

Read more about their hack event at [https://digitalsport.co/chelseas-sports-tech-hack-will-keep-the-club-at-the-cutting-edge](https://digitalsport.co/chelseas-sports-tech-hack-will-keep-the-club-at-the-cutting-edge)

This week Dan has been at SportsPro LIve at the ExCel Arena in East London, an event that Digital Sport was a Media Partner for.

During the day we spoke to Ben Payne, McLaren F1's Head of Esports, to talk about their own programme and F1's announcement that they'll be running a full esports programme this year with Gfinity.

Joe Edwards, Head of Digital at FIBA, was also good enough to give us some time to chat. He was on a panel talking 'new formats, new audiences' where their story has been around the massively successful 3x3 format. 

Finally we spent 10 minutes with Alex Beckman. He is founder and CEO of GameOn and you may have used one of his main products, the SkySports Jeff Stelling Bot. 

Next week we'll be back with a more traditional 1-on-1 interview, so keep an eye out for that.

Keep up-to-date with the latest industry new on www.digitalsport.co 

DS is part of Snack Media and we produce articles, podcasts, events and offer a full recruitment service.

At our most recent event in London, we brought together some of the best in the industry to speak about esports.

This isn't a new topic and we've probably hours of content just from the podcast episodes about the subject and how it fits into traditional sports.

In this show we listen to a few of the answers that were given by the likes of Gfinity's Tom Halls, Malph Minns from Strive Sponsorship, Joe Hills from Infinite Esports and Adam Whyte from GOAT Agency.

Plus Malph and Adam spoke with our own Chris McMullan at the end of the conference to dive deeper into some of the points raised.

You can read a recap of the event on https://digitalsport.co/digital-sport-london-the-key-things-we-learned-about-esports and catch some of the videos we'll be posting on LinkedIn and Twitter as well. 

Our next event is on 24th April at Social Chain's office in Manchester (not on esports though). Details on DigitalSport.co soon. 

Please like, share, recommend, rate, review or just give me a

With four podcasts out already this month, Dan takes a look back at the best bits from his chats with Joe Hills (Infinite Esports), James Ruth (MLS), Stephen Cleary (adidas) and Benjamin Penkert (SportsTechX).

You can hear how EA and MLS are developing eMLS into a pathway for people to get involved with the league, and hopefully develop into fans of the on-pitch game from James. 

Joe Hills offers his perspective as someone deeply involved already in the esports industry. How does he see sports involvement developing and what could be done better from both sides?

Benjamin Penkert has developed the first clear picture of the sports tech scene in Europe and helped benchmark where the industry stands now. His European Sports Tech Report is definitely worth a read.

But we start off with Stephen Cleary, who provides some insights into the adidas football Tango Squad campaign and how they're turning their micro-influencers into a team of influencers in their own right, and helping them find their paths within the sport. 

Don't forget to book onto our next event in London (27th March) on esports and keep an eye out on DigitalSport.co for more coming up. 

Please do leave a rating/review if you enjoy listening, and make sure you subscribe to make sure you don't miss future shows.