Fresh from the Uefa Women’s Euros semi-finals, Rexona/Sure Global Brand Director Emily Heath joins Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett to examine whether women’s football sponsorship actually works. Heath shares her on-the-ground thoughts on the atmosphere around this week’s games and describes the mood in host country Switzerland, plus outlines how Unilever-brand Rexona (Sure in the UK) is approaching its Uefa and Fifa sponsorship activations across different markets. She also explains how...
Jul 25, 2025•38 min
Mark Goldbridge, owner and frontman of The United Stand and That’s Football, joins the podcast to explain how he’s building the biggest football content brands on YouTube, and the truth behind the viral clips they spawn. Manchester United-focused The United Stand (19 million views in June) and That's Football (9.85 million views) were the top two YouTube football channels globally for long-form views in June. In conversation with Leaders’ Content Director David Cushnan, Goldbridge discusses how ...
Jul 16, 2025•44 min
Manchester United have remained a market leading force in commercial activity despite a run of challenging seasons for onfield performance and results. Current front-of-shirt partner Snapdragon, a mobile phone chip manufacturing brand within the Qualcomm software empire, is entering the second year of a five-year deal worth a reported $375 million. It's a top-end fee for a position at a club that finished 15th last season. On the show this week, Qualcomm CMO Don McGuire and newly installed Manch...
Jul 11, 2025•50 min
Warrington Wolves CEO Karl Fitzpatrick joins the podcast to discuss the ways in which his team and sport are attempting to widen their appeal. In conversation with Leaders' Content Director David Cushnan, he reflects on the realities of running a Super League team in the north west of England, surrounded by four Premier League football clubs; how the club - a mainstay of the Super League since its formation in 1996 - is evolving; and efforts to boost the sport's profile. As a former player, Fitz...
Jul 03, 2025•34 min
As The Championships begin, Wimbledon's Marketing and Commercial Director Usama Al-Qassab sets out what's new this year and how he's settled into his role over the past two years. In conversation with Leaders' Content Director, Al-Qassab discusses how the All England Lawn Tennis Club continues to balance history and tradition with innovation and technology; how conversations with brand and broadcast partners are changing; and how he's thinking about AI and its applications in and around The Cham...
Jun 30, 2025•30 min
Reigning Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles and four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson sit down with Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett in Cannes to discuss how track and field is being - and should be - disrupted. Lyles, who claimed gold in the blue riband event at Paris 2024, discusses his deliberate approach to personal brand-building, and what he likes and doesn’t like about the current structure of the sport. Then Johnson opens up about the successes and challenges he encountered la...
Jun 26, 2025•43 min
Welcome to the first episode in a new series called The TikTok Gameplan. Over the course of several episodes across the year, we'll be exploring the social giant's approach to sport through the prism of some of its key executives and content creators. In this first episode of the series, we dig into TikTok's Gameplan for magnifying women's sport. To help us do that, we called upon the services of the Queen of TikTok herself, England goalkeeping legend Mary Earps, who announced her retirement fro...
Jun 24, 2025•45 min
Katlyn Gao, CEO of LOVB (League One Volleyball) and Alex Bazzell, President and Co-Founder of Unrivaled Basketball join Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett to discuss why women’s sport was top of the agenda in Cannes this year. Gao charts the story so far for LOVB as it builds its own brand – and looks to attract brands - and considers the prominent role of the league’s athletes in its storytelling approach. Bazzell lays out the plan to build 3x3 women’s basketball property Unrivaled into s...
Jun 20, 2025•42 min
Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan dust off the mics to discuss what’s worth knowing this week in the global business of sport. They examine some of the sports organisations currently on significant recruitment drives - Relevent Football Partners, Premier League Studios, Glasgow 2026 and the Cadillac F1 team among them - and reflect on a remarkable weekend of Grand Slam tennis at Roland Garros. Plus why Fulham FC’s new Riverside Stand might be the new mode...
Jun 11, 2025•47 min
Outgoing Meta wearables chief Dan Reed joins the Leaders Sport Business podcast this week. Having announced his departure from the technology giant earlier this month, Reed reflects on 11 years at the helm of various departments at Facebook and then Meta. Hired out of his role as President of the NBA's G League, Reed initially joined Facebook to head up its nascent sports activity as Director of Global Sports Partnerships in 2014. Building out a crack team - which included the likes of Peter Hut...
May 28, 2025•57 min
Major League Baseball’s CMO and the President of the Harlem Globetrotters join Leaders Content Director David Cushnan in New York on the fringes of 4se, SBJ’s sport-meets-entertainment conference. MLB’s Uzma Rawn Dowler explains how the league’s MLB Life platform is at the heart of its growing activity on fashion, music, gaming, arts and entertainment, and how she’s managing her role as the league’s CMO and SVP, Global Partnerships. Harlem Globetrotters President Keith Dawkins shares how he’s tr...
May 22, 2025•36 min
World Snooker Tour CEO Simon Brownell reflects on crowning a Chinese champion, alongside Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan. In a wide-ranging conversation just after WST's debrief of this year's tournament, Brownell discusses the plan to maximise Zhao Xintong's success at the Crucible, in China and beyond; Sheffield's future as host of the World Championships; the sport's Olympic hopes and global ambitions; and how to engage a new generation of fans....
May 14, 2025•47 min
Exploring the influence Donald Trump will exert on the 2026 Fifa men's World Cup and LA 2028 Olympics, with sports communications strategist John Zerafa. John joins Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan for a tour of global geopolitics, starting at the White House where Trump this week hosted Fifa President Gianni Infantino. They discuss the implications of Trump's Presidency and policies on the upcoming Club World Cup, from visas to tariffs to how to handle...
May 08, 2025•48 min
Following Wrexham AFC's latest promotion at the weekend, CEO Michael Williamson joins Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan. He lifts the lid on a memorable day - and night - at the Racecourse Ground, as Wrexham secured its third successive promotion, as well as early planning for life in the second-tier Championship next season. Williamson also discusses the redevelopment of the Racecourse Ground, rising expectations, English football's new independent regul...
Apr 30, 2025•38 min
LA Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker joins James Emmett and David Cushnan on the Leaders Sport Business Podcast this week. After guiding James around the Clippers' staggering new $2 billion arena, Zucker sat down to chat through the process of pioneering new tech in sports venues: the facial technology that drives new, smoother fan experiences, the halo board that delivers unprecedented AV impact inside the bowl, as well as the many challenges that come with attempting to ...
Apr 23, 2025•44 min
Snap reflections on our Leaders Meet: Innovation event this week in London, with Craig Hepburn, Art Basel's Chief Digital Officer, and former Virgin Atlantic, McLaren and Chelsea FC Chief Marketing Officer, Claire Cronin. Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan are on location at 180 Studios on The Strand to reflect on two days spent with C-suite leaders from across sport, discussing the biggest global trends - artificial intelligence, the global economy and cl...
Apr 10, 2025•54 min
Lancashire County Cricket CEO Daniel Gidney takes us inside the Hundred auction, as Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan reflect on the beginning of a new era for English cricket. Gidney has been instrumental in the sale of a 70% stake in the Manchester Originals, part of the England & Wales Cricket Board’s process to sell shares in The Hundred franchises. He explains what it was like to be in the thick of February’s auction action; the preparatory work...
Apr 07, 2025•41 min
Philippe Moggio, Kathy Carter and Mark Bullingham are on the show this week, as Leaders duo James Emmett and David Cushnan reflect on a week of soccer activity on and off the pitch in LA last month. CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio, former LA28 CEO and Soccer United Marketing President Kathy Carter, and FA CEO Mark Bullingham joined James for a series of conversations in the corridors at the inaugural Business of Soccer event in LA a few days ago. The event - put on by Leaders and SBJ ...
Apr 03, 2025•45 min
India's ambitions to stage the Olympic Games and become a sport-forward nation dominated conversation at last week's RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, and Leaders' Content Director David Cushnan is joined by Portas Consulting's Nic Coward to reflect on a fantastic few days in Bangalore. They consider how India's plan to host the Games in 2036 are progressing, the ways in which the plan is galvanising national and state governments, corporate brands and influential and wealthy figures acro...
Mar 20, 2025•45 min
With horse racing's annual Cheltenham Festival playing out in the background, Jockey Club Partnerships Director Carey Weeks takes Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett on a tour of the Orchard, the racecourse's buzzing sponsor village. The episode features on-the-ground conversations with sponsorship leaders from the likes of Brooklands Watch Company and Debenhams. Later on, we hear from Leaders Managing Director Laura McQueen as she helps to launch the new 'Be the lead' initiative at an Inter...
Mar 15, 2025•52 sec
With the new MLS season underway, Radhika Duggal joins Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan to discuss the marketing activity at the centre of the league’s 30th anniversary. She explains how the season-launch Game On campaign came to life, why a Super Bowl advert was just one of many touchpoints for it and why players - as creators, brands and influencers in their own right - are increasingly at the heart of how MLS markets itself. Duggal also reflects on h...
Feb 27, 2025•34 min
Behind the scenes at F1's partner day, Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan speak to senior brand executives from some of the sport's key sponsors. You'll hear from Moët Hennessy's Sport Partnership Director, Vincent Borjun-Privé, on why experiences are at the heart of LVMH's new relationship with F1; Thomas Mulders, Global Sponsorships Manager at Heineken, on ten seasons of F1 partnership; Globant's Global Sports Partnerships Head, Nicolas Rey Petit and Gl...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 21 min
F1’s Chief Commercial Officer Emily Prazer and Director of Commercial Partnerships Jonny Haworth sit down with Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan, during F1’s hectic launch week in London. In a wide-ranging conversation on the commercial health and outlook for F1, they discuss the sport’s enviable global partner roster - including major new brands like LVMH, American Express, Santander and Kit Kat and, as well as new licensing partners like Lego. Prazer b...
Feb 19, 2025•45 min
Sports media and marketing expert David Stubley, author of ‘Gamechangers and Rainmakers: How Sport Became Big Business’, joins Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan, to discuss what there is to learn from the sports industry brands that no longer exist. It’s a whistle-stop tour through decades of sports industry history, including the American Football League and its eventual merger with the NFL; Billie Jean King’s breakaway Virginia Slims Tour; Kerry Packer’...
Feb 14, 2025•53 min
Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Steve Gera, President and COO of Grand Slam Track, the new athletics series fronted by Olympic legend Michael Johnson. Gera shines a light on this week’s US media rights announcements for the first season, starting in April, and the calendar of Slams, beginning in Kingston, Jamaica and then moving to Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles....
Feb 05, 2025•44 min
Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Juan Delgado, CEO of Footballco, the 350-person digital media company that owns and operates online brands such as GOAL, Mundial and Kooora. He explains how audiences consuming football content are growing and morphing into fully-fledged communities, the monetisation models underpinning that growth and the football content trends and ma...
Jan 29, 2025•58 min
Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Rachel Knight, Co-Managing Director of Women’s Sports Group. She details the ins and outs of the media rights process WSG ran for the Women’s Super League, which resulted in October’s landmark deal which will see the BBC and Sky Sports paying a reported £65 million for the next five seasons of live coverage. She reflects on the marketpl...
Jan 22, 2025•50 min
Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan share what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. In the mix: The Australian Open’s Nintendo Wii tie-up and a new breed of alt-casts to complement - and in some cases circumvent - traditional broadcast rights arrangements; the debut of 3x3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled later this week, which is taking place, like the new TGL golf series, in a brand new broadcast-first venue; the launch of Kroenke ...
Jan 16, 2025•35 min
Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan strap in for 2025, exploring what’s worth knowing in the global sports industry this week. They’re joined by Ed Warner, Chair of UK Athletics between 2007 and 2017 and current Chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships, to discuss who’ll be the next President of the International Olympic Committee and the routes to victory for the seven candidates in the race. Warner sets up the backg...
Jan 09, 2025•39 min
Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan are in reflective mood, as they review the stories of the sports industry year - as clicked on by you, the sports industry, in our weekly Worth Knowing newsletter. They recall Netflix’s big commitment to sport (and entertainment); organisational chop and change at Manchester United; a stream of investment chatter; the proposed merger between the ATP and WTA tour; LVMH’s takeover of the Paris Olympics; George Pyne’s inves...
Dec 18, 2024•59 min
