Richard, Murray Barnett and Yannick Ramcke convene for a World Cup special, using the 2026 tournament as a lens on how sports broadcasting is shifting beneath the surface. The conversation moves from Qatar-to-2026 comparisons (more accelerated change, more fragmentation, but a still-basic mainstream default) through the "AI slop mountain" that the expanded tournament and unfriendly European kickoff times will generate, into the rise of creator- and personality-led shoulder programming — anchored by Goalhanger's Netflix deal for The Rest Is Football.

The panel pushes back on the easy consensus. Yannick's central argument: free-to-air, creator-led distribution cannot sustain the economics FIFA needs, and the real risk isn't broadcasters losing matches — it's the complement becoming a substitute. The trio then dissect FIFA's failed India and China deals, separating intrinsic value from negotiating theatre (the "aspirational vs delusional" exchange), and the structural mismatch between billions of eyeballs and uncertain monetization in "numbers markets" rather than "willingness-to-pay markets."

They close on FIFA's designation of YouTube as a "Preferred Platform" — which Yannick reads not as value creation for broadcasters but as a short-term revenue-maximizing tax on platforms that hadn't paid before, a net new nine-figure sum with little practical change to the ecosystem. Throughout, the recurring tension is reach versus revenue, and whether risk-averse broadcasters will actually use the first-10-minutes rights they've been handed.

This episode is sponsored by The Institute of Sports Humanities (ISH) 

ISH educates sport’s current and future leaders around the world, as the leading independent provider of sports leadership education and insight.

Their Strategic Sport Leadership Masters (MA) is for sports industry executives to study alongside their careers – designed for professionals who want to build on their experience, strengthen strategic thinking, and connect with a global network of peers working across sport.

Applications for the next intake on the 2026 Strategic Sport Leadership MA, starting September, are open.

Visit sportshumanities.org for more information

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

A first for Unofficial Partner: six years and 550+ episodes covering every sport going, we'd somehow never devoted an episode to the sport of horse racing. So we fixed that — live, in front of an audience at The Big Belly Comedy Club, London. 

We had as a starting point Spotlight Sports Group's new report, The Horse Racing Audience Opportunity. Compiled by the Racing Post's parent company, a deep dive in to the commercial future of the sport.

Panel 1: Charlie Boss (Bristol City CEO, formerly CEO of The Jockey Club), Josh Apiafi (ex-Betfair, founder of Rewards4Racing), Tom Kerr (Editor of The Racing Post / SSG).

Panel 2: Brant Dunshea (CEO of the British Horseracing Authority), Sharon O'Regan (CEO, Weatherbys), Sam Houlding (SSG).

Where's the money coming from beyond betting? Does the product fit the audience? How do investors look at racing today? All that and more. 

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Chat_UP is Unofficial Partner's AI series created in collaboration with TFG Labs.

The brief: cut through the AI firehose, work out what matters, and bring it back to the business of sport. Three stories this week.

Story One — Google I/O 2026

Google used its developer conference to reposition from "a search company that does AI" to an AI infrastructure company. Headlines: Gemini 3.5, Gemini Omni (real-time processing) and Gemini Spark, a proactive always-on agent that brings agents to search. Plus "Ask YouTube" — pulling answers out of videos rather than watching them.

Why it matters for sport: if fans send agents to fetch scores and highlights rather than searching themselves, the SEO-built internet shifts under everyone's feet. It raises hard questions for the sponsorship measurement economy (it's an agent engaging, not a fan) and for anyone building on someone else's land — Google can devote a team to your idea and eat your company. Andy's takeaway: get your house in order, own and structure your own data so you can switch foundation models at will.

Story Two — The End of the AI Subsidy Era?

A cluster of cost stories: Microsoft cancelled internal Claude Code licenses over token-based billing, Uber reportedly burned through its 2026 AI budget in four months, and US AI software prices jumped 20–37% in six months. Is the bill finally landing?

Why it matters: SaaS-era seat pricing is breaking down as agentic systems do the work of many. The in-housing dream — replacing agencies with "two smart people and a model" — looks shakier once you absorb the price volatility the vendor used to carry. For low-margin, high-volume businesses (betting being the obvious one), a few percentage points on cost-per-inference is existential, not a line-item. Andy's counter: much of this can run locally on open-source models, and Chinese models are catching up fast at a tenth of the price.

Story Three — Bryson DeChambeau & the Athlete Creator

The golfer-turned-YouTuber, in contract talks with LIV, is a proxy for the athlete-creator question. He's been on the AI train for years — using and then leading an eight-figure acquisition of AI coaching start-up Sportsbox AI.

Why it matters: the collapse of production cost liberates the wannabe Brysons, but the real change is top-line — launching clothing lines, apps and realistic content without occupying an athlete's training time. The deeper thread is disintermediation: leagues being routed around by their own star athletes, and the old rights-holder puzzle of making space for personalities while selling exclusive TV deals.

About the co-host

Andy Shora leads TFG Labs. His background is QuantumBlack, McKinsey and BCG Gamma — a wealth of experience from outside sport, brought to bear on the sector.

About TFG Labs

TFG Labs is the innovation engine of TFG, a business evolving from data-and-insights into an "augmented intelligence" company serving sports organisations. Labs was set up to get ahead of AI and build practical agentic systems that solve real problems in sport — deliberately not chasing the hype cycle.

Got questions or voice notes? Send them to Richard via the Unofficial Partner Substack newsletter.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

On 22 April 2026, Coca-Cola unveiled Cole Palmer as its newest football brand ambassador, fronting Premier League and World Cup activations. A month later, Tuchel left him out of the England squad. We use the Palmer story as a way into a wider conversation with Ricardo Fort — former global head of sport at Coca-Cola, now advisor to brands betting billions on the World Cup — about how personal endorsement deals really work in 2026.

The anatomy of an endorsement deal. Ricardo breaks down the numbers: $3-8m per year for a top player, rarely a one-year deal, so you're looking at $10m minimum before activation. Add a global campaign on top and you're at $50-60m of media spend that depends on one player turning up.

Where the leverage sits. Spoiler: not with the brand. By the time the contract gets signed, the creative idea has been built around the player, the agency is in love with the film, and the agent knows it. Ricardo on why the awkward "what if you don't make the squad?" conversation rarely happens — and why contracts that should include triggers for injury, non-selection, and tournament performance often don't.

The slow-moving machine. A good World Cup campaign kicks off weeks after the previous one ends. By the time the squad is announced, 90% of the posts, the point-of-sale, the films and the photography are already in the can. Agility in this market is a myth.

The Formula 1 jumpsuit problem. When Vinicius Jr. is fronting campaigns for Visa, Marriott Bonvoy, Rexona, LEGO, Nike, Pepsi and Havaianas, who actually owns him? Ricardo on why most brands have no idea how many other sponsors have signed the same face, and why differentiation has become the real game.

Cultural relevance, examined. The phrase everyone in sports marketing reaches for. Ricardo on why it works for Adidas and Nike, why it's largely delusional for everyone else, and why most brands are still asking players to post twice on Instagram and calling it strategy.

Also covered. FIFA as a bulletproof brand. Why the ticketing land-grab doesn't damage it. Hospitality as a business. The 3am problems that keep sponsorship directors awake during a tournament — lost VIP guests, missing teenagers, last-minute Croatian billionaires arriving by private jet. And the medal-ceremony speech Ricardo describes as the lowest point of his career.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Richard Gillis, Mike Jakeman and invited guests dissect the business of cricket.

The IPL auction has become one of the most watched events in world cricket — part financial instrument, part entertainment spectacle. This episode gets under the bonnet: how it actually works, what it means for players, why it's reshaping cricket's global talent economy, and whether any of it translates to the UK market.

The conversation moves fast from mechanics to philosophy: competitive balance vs. team identity, player as commodity vs. player as inspiration, and the central tension of the hundred — is it building something sustainable, or is it a VC play dressed up as a sport?

Guests 

Charlie Hartley — Former county cricketer (Kent), entrepreneur. Author of a cricket coaching resource and a children's book on the life lessons of sport. Founder of a sports tech platform focused on athlete-fan data and engagement. Brings a player's perspective on the franchise model and its implications for the English game.

Gaurav Sundararaman — Cricket analyst and commentator with deep knowledge of the IPL. Has worked across the IPL ecosystem and brings an Indian market perspective on how the auction works from the inside — how franchises think, how scouting operates, and how the competition has evolved over nearly two decades.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

The news agenda around this summer's FIFA World Cup in North America has been dominated by the price of tickets. 

Why are they so expensive? 

What's it got to do with changes made by FIFA specifically for this tournament? 
Guests:
Professor Rob Wilson, Dean of University Campus of Football Business (UCFB) and Shaun Stewart, vice president of StubHub, known as Viagogo in Europe.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

The Bundle is the original and much copied series on the sports media and streaming marketplace with co-hosts Yannick Ramcke, General Manager of OTT at the streaming service OneFootball and Murray Barnett, founder of 26West Sport and formerly of F1, World Rugby and ESPN.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Picks and Shovels: The Sports Investment Thesis That Doesn't Need Media Rights to Work

Altman Solon's seventh annual Global Sports Survey lands with a central argument: sport is maturing into a full-stack asset class. But the more interesting story isn't at the top, it's in the layer underneath. Richard Gillis talks to David Dellea, Christophe Sommer and Matt Del Percio about where capital is actually moving, what the $400 billion ecosystem really means when you strip out the double counting, and whether anyone has the nerve to call time on the bubble question.

Altman Solon's Global Sports Survey: The Next Frontier of Sports Investment is available now. 

Altman Solon’s 7th Global Sports Survey provides a comprehensive view of the evolving sports landscape, featuring insights from 250 sports executives globally, including rights owners, investment professionals, and media companies, as well as 6,000 sports fans across the U.S., U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy, and France.

Download the report for free by clicking this link: https://altsl.co/4n1i7VB

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

The NBA Europe franchise sale process has moved from speculation to live transaction. Franchise fees of $500m to $1bn. No broadcast deal. Governance terms that European investors have already pushed back on. And a city map — London, Paris, Madrid, Rome — that looks more like a premium real estate index than a list of places where people actually watch basketball.

Lenz Balan is right in the middle of it. He's the CEO of the London Lions, the club he helped save from administration after the collapse of 777 Partners, his former employer. He's seeking to build a new arena. He's positioning the Lions for NBA Europe and EuroLeague. And he's one of the few people who can speak to both the investment case and the on-the-ground reality of trying to grow basketball in a city that keeps saying it's ready.

This conversation covers the money — what kind of capital actually makes sense for a multi-decade project with unresolved economics. The fan map problem — whether London is genuinely a basketball market or a hospitality venue dressed up as one. And the questions that still don't have answers: media rights, player movement, the EuroLeague endgame.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Louis Theroux's documentary about the manosphere didn't at first seem to have much to do with sports digital strategy?

Until you get to the platforms: Kick. Rumble. A whole ecosystem of streaming channels that the sports business conversation barely mentions, yet where significant numbers of young men are spending serious time.

So we brought in Dan Ayers, VP of Transformation Digital at IMG, to ask: is the industry optimising for the wrong platforms?

What follows is a conversation that starts with Kick and ends somewhere much more interesting: in the weeds of Reddit moderators, Discord quiz nights, Iron Maiden's fan base, and what a thousand true fans is actually worth. 

Dan makes a strong case that the non-obvious channels aren't really about reach at all. Reddit and Discord represent a qualitatively different kind of engagement — audience-to-audience, not brand-to-audience — and the sports organisations that understand that distinction are building something that turns out to be genuinely valuable precisely when things go wrong.

There's also a sharp thread running through this about numbers — what a view is worth now that TikTok set the floor at zero seconds, why 15,000 concurrent viewers on a cycling stream is a better result than it sounds, and why the industry's fandom claims may be heading for a Barcelona email database moment.

Dan is a rare guest: someone who's been inside platform change long enough — from Sony Music in the early 2000s through to IMG's YouTube CMS work today — to have real opinions rather than consulting hedges.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.