This is episode 12 of ReThinking Sport, our series created in collaboration with Portas, the global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport and physical activity.  

Today we’re asking what does 777 Partners, a Miami based private investment firm, see in professional British basketball? 
The company has recently bought 45% of the British Basketball League for $7million, having already bought up the London Lions franchise. 
This is part of a bigger move in to sports investment.  777 recently paid US$137 million for a 70 per cent in Vasco da Gama, which values the Brazilian club at US$333m, following on from other investments in La Liga club Sevilla and Serie A side, Genoa. 

So we talk the person Lenz Balan, who is Vice President at 777 and one of the people leading their move in to sport.

Joining Lenz is Peter Hawkings, who is sports investment lead at Portas Consulting.

You can hear the other episodes in the Portas series by searching Unofficial Partner in your favourite podcast app or going via Apple or Spotify. 

If you're interested in sports business analysis and comment, follow @UnffclPrtnr on Twitter and sign up to the weekly newsletter that goes to thousands of people across sport Thursday. 

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

The most eye catching deal of this week was the announcement that Spotify, the music streaming company is buying almost the entire sponsorship inventory of FC Barcelona, including the shirt of the men’s and women’s teams, the training kit and a title partnership of the famous Camp Nou stadium. 

To get to what’s really happening here, we’ve brought together Tom Gray, Joel Seymour Hyde and Matt Rogan.

Tom Gray is a founding member of Mercury Prize winning band Gomez and a board director of PRS For Music. Tom leads a social media-driven campaign, #BrokenRecord which calls for more of the streaming revenue ‘pie’ to make its way to artists and songwriters. His submission to the parliamentary select committee is referenced in the conversation and is available to read here. 

Joel Seymour Hyde is Managing Director for Octagon UK, the sport and entertainment agency with offices in 22 countries around the world including FRUKT which has particular expertise across music, entertainment and esports.

Matt Rogan was a co-founder and former CEO of the Two Circles agency, and is now Non Executive Director and Senior Advisor in Sport. New book, 'All to Play For' was published in July 2021. 

As you’ll hear us reference, we recorded Matt’s contribution from a car park outside Wembley Stadium, so there’s a bit of road noise in the background. 

If you're interested in sports business analysis and comment, follow @UnffclPrtnr on Twitter and sign up to the UP Newsletter that goes to thousands of sports business people every Thursday. Sign up via unofficialpartner.com 

As usual, every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. 

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

The price of television advertising is spiking rapidly and has big implications for the value of sport and the market for sponsorship, whether you're buying or selling.  
 
More broadly, the events of the past two years have led to significant disruption to the advertising landscape. 
People's media habits changed considerably as their physical location was altered and advertisers were driven to adopt new investment strategies as audiences changed and physical channels were limited. 
Consumers sought more online distribution and product access through e-commerce and the overarching theme through this period has been acceleration:  Netflix took five years to reach 10 million households and Disney+ will get there in three. E-commerce saw five years worth of organic growth in just 12 months.

To help us navigate through this complicated picture are today’s guests Alex Charkham and Bhavin Balvantrai. 

Alex is Chief Strategy Officer at Fuse, Omnicom’s sport and entertainment agency. 

Bhav is Chief Market Analyst at Omnicom Media Group and board director of BARB, the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board.

If you're interested in sports business analysis and comment, follow @UnffclPrtnr on Twitter and sign up to the popular industry newsletter that goes to thousands of subscribers every Thursday. 

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

This is an episode in our Re-Thinking Sport series in collaboration with Portas, the global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport and physical activity. Today, we're talking about the business of rugby union with our guest, Nick Garcia, the former City Football Group executive who is now CEO of Welsh club, Ospreys and Head of Team Sports at Y 11 sport and media, the Hong Kong based group that bought a 75.1% stake in the club in May, 2020. 
The other voice you'll hear is that Nick Rawlinson, senior consultant at Portas. 

If you're interested in sports business analysis and comment, follow @UnffclPrtnr on Twitter and join thousands of busy sports people who receive the Unofficial Partner newsletter every Thursday. Sign up via UnofficialPartner.com

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

The obvious context to today’s conversation are the terrible events happening in Ukraine, which has brought in to sharp focus sport’s role in the political landscape that surround them, in particular the role of governing bodies and the supply chain of professional enablers that are part and parcel of sportswashing and the soft power strategies beloved by autocratic regimes. 

My guests are two experts in the relationship between business and geopolitics.

Robert Barrington served as Executive Director of Transparency International UK and is now Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice at the University of Sussex. 

Professor Dan Hough heads the department of politics at the same university and together they’ve written a book that couldn’t be more timely. 

It’s called Understanding Corruption: how corruption works in practice

Unofficial Partner listeners can get a 30% discount by clicking the above linkand using the code EMAIL30

If you're interested in sports business analysis and comment, follow @UnffclPrtnr on Twitter and join thousands of busy sports execs who receive the UP Newsletter every Thursday. 
 Sign up via unofficialpartner.com 

As usual, every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. 

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

Former professional cricketer Patrick Foster has written a searingly honest memoir about how he became addicted to gambling while at university, developing a habit that cost him £4million and ruined his relationships and career.

So this is an opportunity to discuss sport’s commercial relationship with the betting industry, something that’s often couched in abstract terms, of new deals being struck by rights holder, team shirt sponsorship and Ray Winstone at half time.

We don’t tend to hear from the people who are being targeted by all that marketing activity and how the sports business looks from the perspective of a gambling addict.

Patrick Foster was a professional cricketer, who became a city trader.

We talk about what it feels like to lose everything to addiction, and how he views the marketing strategies of the betting industry, its use of sport as a sponsorship and advertising medium, the psychological triggers within brand communications and the gateway drugs of gamification, fantasy football, the addictive nature of crypto currency trading and football’s embrace of fan engagement tokens.

Patrick’s last bet was on King Crimson in the 2.10 at Wolverhampton on Thursday, March 22nd 2018.  Following rehab, he has a new career - educating young people about the perils of gambling. He can be contacted at Epic Risk Mangagement.

Might Bite: The Secret Life of a Gambling Addict by Patrick Foster is published by Bloomsbury Sport.

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

This week the US Soccer Federation (USSF) and the US Women’s National Team settled a six year fight over equal pay. The players will receive $24m. The USSF has promised to equalise pay between men’s and women’s national teams for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup.

Why is this happening now?

Next week the USSF elects its next president, whose tenure will include the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. 

The two candidates are former president Carlos Cordeiro and today's guest, the acting president Cindy Parlow Cone, who took over two years ago, when Cordeiro was forced to resign after his legal team filed court documents that implied men are better than women, so should get more money.

Cue a shitstorm: Coke, Visa, Nike et al took umbrage and Cordeiro walked, leaving the USSF in chaos. And that’s saying something, given the organisation was led by Chuck Blazer for thirty years, until he was flipped by the FBI as part of their FIFA corruption investigation…

So Cone for Prez? Maybe…

Given the context, Parlow Cone appears a shoe-in for president. 

But the word is that the election will be close. 

So this week’s news feels very strategic. After six years, the pay dispute is suddenly settled days before the election.

Cone is a former US international player and has Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and every pro-women, equal pay supporting liberal member of the USSF selling her campaign across social and mainstream media under the banner of ‘forward not back’.

But elections are not about the candidates, they’re about the voters. 

Read the threads that followed the news of this week’s equal pay settlement and you’ll meet the usual culture warriors doing their thing. 

Carlos Cordeiro’s campaign is focused on his business background and a plan for the grassroots development of the game in America, a key USSF constituency. 

We’ll see.

If you're interested in sports business analysis and comment, follow @UnffclPrtnr on Twitter and join thousands of busy sports execs who receive the UP Newsletter every Thursday. 
Sign up via unofficialpartner.com 

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

One of the biggest sports business stories of the past year has been in golf where the two major tours - European and PGA Tour - are in what some have called an existential battle for control of the game at the highest level. A new rival, the Golf Premier League led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi money, is attempting to disrupt the tours, by offering enormous sums to the very best players. That story is moving as we speak, as major stars such as Dustin Johnson and Bryson Dechambeau back away from their earlier enthusiasm for the project.

Whatever happens, our guest today is at the epicentre of the story.

Guy Kinnings, deputy chief executive of the European Tour and formerly head of golf at IMG. So, poacher turned gamekeeper, who in his previous role would have been advising players as to whether to take the cheque or stay within the tour structure, and get a slightly lower cheque. 

Chubby Chandler, founder of rival ISM agency and a former guest of the podcast said of Kinnings: “Guy has got a range of skills that the European Tour needs. He has run golf tournaments, big accounts, hired players, hired people to look after players, sold sponsorship for players, sold sponsorship for tournaments. That is an unbelievable range of skills. It is the first time (Keith) Pelley has had a really good shoulder to lean on for European Tour knowledge”.

As usual, every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. 

We’d love it if you could take the time to rate us on Apple or Spotify, as it helps spread the word. 

And if you’re interested in more sports business comment and analysis, you can follow me on Twitter @UnffclPrtnr 

The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.com

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

Today’s conversation is a masterclass in sports sponsorship strategy prompted by recent changes to the way FIFA is packaging its commercial rights.

Our guests are two people whose views I go to first whenever a major deal is done, so I’m very pleased to be able to get them around the microphone at the same time.

For two decades, Ricardo Fort was in charge of the global sports programmes for Visa and Coca-Cola, overseeing relationships with FIFA and the IOC among many others. He now runs his own consultancy Sport by Fort. 

Shaun Whatling is CEO of Redmandarin, the renowned sponsorship strategy consultancy which has advised many major global brands in and around the top table of sport, again including World Cups and Olympics.

So this is a deep dive in to the incentives, behaviour and psychology that sits just behind the decision making process at big corporate marketing departments, and the lens that is applied to sports rights and activation. 

As usual, every episode of Unofficial Partner can be found by using the big podcast providers, including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via your favourite podcast app. 

We’d love it if you could take the time to rate us on Apple or Spotify, as it helps spread the word. 

And if you’re interested in more sports business comment and analysis, you can follow me on Twitter @UnffclPrtnr 

The weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter is read by thousands of people across the sports business every Thursday, to join them subscribe via unofficialpartner.com

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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

Today's episode was prompted by a question posed by author, journalist and regular listener Mike Jakeman: How do you market test cricket successfully?

"The national cricket boards have figured out that the big money comes from success in the shorter formats. And certainly in England, their focus has been on building success in one day in 2020. It's been very successful. England obviously won the 2019 ICC World Cup and they reached the final of the T20 World Cup late last year.

But test cricket, it's fun too. And it delivers slow burn, sporting excellence in ways that limited overs cricket just can't replicate. So how do we sell test cricket to broadcasters, sponsors and even the cricket boards themselves?"

To answer Mike's question we recruited Omar Chaudhuri and Tony Singh. 

Tony Singh is the chief commercial officer of the England and Wales cricket board, leading the teams responsible for all ECB fan engagement and revenue generating activity across England cricket, The Hundred, recreational and professional games. 

Omar Chaudhuri  is chief intelligence officer at Twenty First Group, which advises sports bodies, such as the Premier League, European Tour, USGA and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. 

This conversation builds on other cricket related podcasts.

• Omar is a former guest on the podcast where we talked about jeopardy and the use of data to inform sporting formats - UP181 The Business of Jeopardy. 
• Also mentioned in the podcast is the excellent Sky Sports Ashes Vodcast, featuring Ian Ward, Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Rob Key.
• Our conversation with ECB CEO Tom Harrison is referenced, from May 2021. Hear that on UP161. 
• UP16 Ed Smith, former head England cricket selector and author.
• UP50 We Need To Talk About Cricket with journalist Tim Wigmore.
• UP 125 Rajasthan Royals franchise owner Manoj Badale on the lessons of the IPL
• UP145 2005 And All That, the story of

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 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

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

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