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Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key ReadsEuropean nations agree to boycott World Cups over FIFA's private investment plans – The Athletic *

European federations push back on FIFA's PE ambitions.

EU, Football, Governance, Private Equity, World Cup

Inside NBA Investments: How the NBA Invests in the Business of Basketball – 365247 Sports *

How the NBA builds equity in its tech ecosystem.

US, NBA, Investment, Innovation, Strategy

Accessibility Has a Price – Business of Speed

F1 shows how real accessibility reshapes event economics.

Global, F1, Ticketing, Accessibility, Fan Experience

Gracenote | Sport's age of discovery – SportsPro

Navigating sports streaming overload with better data.

Global, Streaming, OTT, Media, Data

The web's broken bargain: how AI ended the deal between publishers and platforms – Medium *

AI is rewiring traffic economics for every rights holder.

Global, Media, AI, Strategy, Digital

Professional SportsThe Real Reason The Dodgers Can Outspend Everyone – Huddle Up

A media loophole that fuels a record payroll.

US, MLB, Media Rights, Revenue, Strategy

PIF's Yasir Al-Rumayyan Joins Trump Amid LIV Golf Funding Push – Front Office Sports *

What shifting LIV funding means for golf's future.

Global, Golf, Investment, Media Rights, Strategy

How WNBA Teams Are Responding to the League's Latest Culture War – Front Office Sports

Team comms playbook for navigating polarising issues.

US, WNBA, Marketing, Communications, Sponsorship

Digital & SocialTikTok, NBA and WNBA announce global partnership – NBA.com *

Short-form video strategy from the NBA and WNBA.

Global, NBA, WNBA, Social Media, Marketing

NASCAR's ‘On the Gas' YouTube series with Ryan Blaney & Chad Ochocinco – Yahoo Sports

Creator-style NASCAR content that's moving the needle.

US, NASCAR, YouTube, Content, Fan Engagement

SI hosts masterclass on fan engagement, unveils the Digital Fandom Quadrant – SportsPro

A new framework for benchmarking digital fandom maturity.

Global, Fan Engagement, Digital, Data, Marketing

Media & EntertainmentApple Takes a VR Swing at MLB, Starting With Yankees vs. Red Sox – Sportico

VR baseball shows where live sports viewing is heading.

US, MLB, Apple, VR, Media

Rizzo on Netflix's Rise in Live Sports – Front Office Sports *

How Netflix is edging into live MLB and beyond.

US, Streaming, MLB, Media Rights, Betting

Paramount Will Put 30-Film Pledge in Writing to Theater Chains – Bloomberg

Contractual release guarantees with lessons for sports rights.

Global, Media Rights, Streaming, Business Strategy

Geek OutSports Data Labs secured a USPTO patent for its AI-based consent management system governing personal data and NIL – Business Wire

A new layer for governing athlete data and NIL.

US, Data, NIL, AI, Governance

AI startup Marquee raises $US 6.5 million to fix sport's ‘data Rich, decision Poor' problem – SportsCape Magazine

Turning messy sports data into better decisions at scale.

Global, AI, Analytics, Data Management, Innovation

AIHow a simple request for AI to book a gym class exposed a major threat – ABC News *

A consumer AI assistant accidentally became a cyber threat.

AU, AI, Cybersecurity, Technology

TIME's AI-only ads may be marketing's next frontier – MarTech

Designing sponsorships aimed at AI agents, not humans.

Global, AI, Sponsorship, Digital Marketing, Media Rights

Make You ThinkWhy the Raiders' Season Ticket Box Is a Lesson in Fan Engagement – Behind Sport

Turning ticket delivery into a premium brand moment.

US, NFL, Fan Engagement, Membership, Ticketing

Deportivo Municipal redesigns kit to feature 1,000 ad squares – The Athletic

Micro-sponsorship turns a jersey into a community billboard.

Global, Football, Sponsorship, Revenue, Innovation

Kevin Kelly's 88 prompts for long term thinking – Kevin Kelly

Questions to stretch your planning horizon beyond one season.

Global, Strategy, Innovation, Leadership

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The post FIFA Boycotts, NBA Tech Equity & AI’s Broken Bargain: This Week in Sports Business appeared first on Sports Geek.

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Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key ReadsInside Mercedes F1: Ten Numbers That Explain Why The Team Is Now Worth $6 Billion – Huddle Up *

How F1's cost cap turned marketing spend into profit.

Global, F1, Commercial Strategy, Valuation, Data

College Football Jerseys Are Becoming $15 Million a Year Billboards – 365247 Sports *

Data-rich breakdown of college football's new jersey patch goldmine.

US, NCAA, Sponsorship, MediaRights, CommercialStrategy

MLS Media Revenue Has ‘Uncapped Upside,' Says Incoming Commissioner Larry Berg – Front Office Sports *

New MLS boss lays out Apple-era media ambitions.

US, MLS, MediaRights, Streaming, LeagueStrategy

FIFA scraps World Cup private investment plans as Infantino fights for his future – The Athletic *

FIFA's U-turn on private equity shows limits of monetisation.

Global, FIFA, World Cup, Strategy, Governance

Braves' Battery Recharges Finances – Atlanta Braves Holdings *

How The Battery turned a ballpark into a year-round engine.

US, MLB, Venues, MixedUse, Media

Professional SportsInside CANAL+'s Global Sports Strategy – 365247 Sports

How CANAL+ uses premium rights to drive 41m subs.

EU, MediaRights, Streaming, Strategy, Global

India's Insatiable Appetite for Cricket Has Shifted the Locus of Power – Front Office Sports

How India became cricket's commercial and media centre.

Global, Cricket, MediaRights, Sponsorship, MarketExpansion

WNBA Season-Ticket Holders Grapple With Soaring Prices – Front Office Sports

Pricing the WNBA boom without alienating core fans.

US, WNBA, Ticketing, Fan Experience, Revenue

Women's Pro Baseball League Launched With Four Teams – The Athletic

New women's baseball league tests a fresh pro model.

US, Baseball, WomensSport, MediaRights, Sponsorship

Digital & SocialDisney strikes deal with TikTok to let creators use its films and TV shows in videos – Reuters *

A blueprint for opening up premium IP to creators.

US, MediaRights, CreatorEconomy, ShortFormVideo, Partnerships

TikTok Shop's predicted 2026 sales volume tops $100 billion – Tubefilter

Why TikTok commerce is now too big to ignore.

Global, SocialCommerce, TikTok, Revenue, Strategy

4 tips to build a Snapchat marketing strategy – Social Media Today

Practical playbook for reaching younger fans on Snap.

Global, Social Media, Marketing, Fan Engagement, Digital

Media & EntertainmentJason Bateman, Netflix, & MLB Team Up on New Yankees Series – Variety

Scripted Yankees drama shows leagues' storytelling ambitions.

US, MediaRights, Content, Streaming, MLB

Fox Ices NFL Deal – Yahoo Sports

Inside Fox's strategy as the next NFL cycle looms.

US, NFL, MediaRights, Broadcasting, Strategy

If You Don't Tell Your Story, Somebody Else Will – Biz of Speed

Why Chip Ganassi Racing built its own media house.

US, Motorsport, MediaRights, Sponsorship, Data

Geek OutDisney tests natural-language search and recommendations for Disney+ and ESPN – The Verge

Conversational discovery is coming to sports streaming apps.

US, AI, Streaming, Fan Engagement, Sponsorship

How Dru Riley Iterated His Trends.vc Landing Page to 40–60% Conversion – Growth in Reverse

Seventeen iterations that turned a landing page into a machine.

Global, Marketing, Data, CRO, Digital

AI11 Charts the AI Industry Doesn't Want You to See – Medium

Data-driven reality check on where AI hype meets limits.

Global, AI, Strategy, Data, Industry-Trends

Responding to Next-Frontier Critical Cyber Capabilities – OpenAI

Why OpenAI paused Astra and what it means for safety.

Global, AI, Cybersecurity, Governance, SportsBiz

Make You ThinkPeruvian Soccer Team's New Kit Has Spaces for 1,000 Sponsors – The Athletic

How much sponsor clutter can a jersey really carry?

Global, Football, Sponsorship, Commercial, Innovation

The Cheap CPM Trap – Medium

Why chasing cheap impressions is killing your campaigns.

Global, Marketing, Advertising, Data, Performance

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Featured image credit: fuji.tim, Lewis Hamilton salutes the Silverstone crowd at Luffield after coming in third place at the 2022 British Grand Prix, via Wikimedia Commons/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

The post F1 Valuations, College Jersey Patches & Disney’s TikTok Play appeared first on Sports Geek.

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Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key ReadsFIFA World Cup sell-off: Infantino battles to restore confidence – Insider Sport *

Inside FIFA's abandoned World Cup equity plan and fallout.

Global, FIFA, World Cup, Governance, Investment, Sponsorship

Palace sponsorship crystallises Temporal's B2B strategy – SportBusiness *

How a gambling-free shirt deal signals sponsorship shifts.

UK, Premier League, Sponsorship, Marketing, Business Strategy

The Rams Juggernaut Is More Than ‘F Them Picks' – Front Office Sports *

Deep dive on roster-building, cap strategy and winning.

US, NFL, Team Management, Financial Strategies, Sports Business

How NCAA Athlete Eligibility Limbo Has Sown ‘Absolute Chaos' – Front Office Sports

Eligibility uncertainty reshapes college sports business and strategy.

US, NCAA, Regulation, Legal, College Sports

Under Armour Lowers Guidance and Begins Another Product Cull – Sportico

What Under Armour's reset signals for sports retail.

Global, Business, Retail, Marketing, Commerce

Professional SportsPGA Tour CEO Ends Talk of LIV Golf Tie-Up: ‘There's No Merger' – Bloomberg *

PGA Tour draws a firm line on LIV Golf.

Global, Golf, Mergers, Media Rights, Sponsorship

Perth Bears Unveil Home Jersey and Commercial Partners Ahead of 2027 NRL Debut – Ministry of Sport

Expansion NRL club reveals brand story and partners.

AU, Rugby League, Sponsorship, Marketing, Branding

Adelaide Football Club Secures Anytime Fitness as Official 2026 Trade and Draft Partner – Ministry of Sport

Innovative AFL partnership built around trade and draft.

AU, AFL, Sponsorship, Partnership, Fitness

Australian Golf Services Appoints Ben Sellenger as Chief Commercial Officer – Ministry of Sport

New commercial leadership shaping Australian golf's growth.

AU, Golf, Sports Management, Sponsorship, Revenue Development

Digital & SocialBlotato launches analytics, messaging, DM automations – sabrina.dev *

Unified inbox and AI automations for social fan engagement.

Global, AI, Fan Engagement, Social Media, Sponsorship

OpenAI brings product carousels to ChatGPT ads – Digiday

Conversational ads evolve into multi-product merchandising surfaces.

Global, AI, Ticketing, Sponsorship, Digital Marketing

Google Maps adds agentic features, including food ordering and hotel bookings – TechCrunch

Maps becomes a direct transaction funnel for events.

Global, AI, Fan Experience, Ticketing, Hospitality

Media & EntertainmentDAZN expands Liga Portugal coverage through SPORTFIVE multi-market rights agreement – SportsMint Media

DAZN deepens European football footprint via new rights deal.

Europe, Media Rights, Broadcast, DAZN, International Expansion

How WNBA Teams Are Responding to the League's Latest Culture War – Front Office Sports

WNBA navigates media access, controversy and brand risk.

US, WNBA, Media, Politics, Social Issues

Netflix paid $587M for Ben Affleck's AI filmmaking startup – TechCrunch

Netflix bets big on AI-native production workflows.

Global, AI, Sports Broadcast, Content Production, Media Rights

Geek OutKitesurf: The agent-first browser that runs in V8 isolates on Cloudflare Workers – Cloudflare Blog

Infrastructure for autonomous agents to work across the web.

Global, AI, Sponsorship, Marketing, Automation

WeatherNext: AI model achieves breakthrough in forecasting cyclones – Google DeepMind Blog

Hyperlocal severe-weather AI with direct event operations impact.

Global, AI, Operations, Risk Management, Data

AIDesigning With AI? Make a Jig. – Every

Why custom AI workflows beat ad-hoc prompting for teams.

Global, AI, Marketing, Workflow Automation, SportsTech

MerchantBench: Benchmarking LLM Agents as E-commerce Store Operators – arXiv

Agents vs humans at running online stores over a year.

Global, AI, Ticketing, Merchandise, Revenue

Make You ThinkQ&A: NETSCOUT on DDoS attacks and sport cybersecurity – Insider Sport *

How major events are hardening against crippling cyberattacks.

Global, Cybersecurity, Technology, Sports Tech, DDoS

CFTC Eyes Prediction-Market Conflicts of Interest: Key Points – Sportico

Regulators focus on conflicts in booming prediction markets.

US, Regulation, Sports Betting, Market Dynamics

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The post FIFA’s World Cup Sell-Off Crisis, Palace’s B2B Sponsorship Shift & PGA Tour-LIV Golf Talks End appeared first on Sports Geek.

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Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key ReadsInside the $55 Billion Business of Electronic Arts (EA) – Substack *

EA shows how sports IP becomes always‑on revenue.

Global, Gaming, Sports Business, Media Rights, Investment

LIV Golf Says It Found An Investor. Here's What That Really Means. – Substack *

Deep dive on LIV's funding, liabilities and player equity.

Global, Golf, Investment, Media-Rights, Sports-Business

Liverpool's Commercial Power in America, Their 40-Store Plan and Sponsorship Future – The Athletic *

Case study in US expansion, retail and sponsorship strategy.

US, Football, Commercial, Merchandising, Sponsorship

Akron's Viral Season-Ticket Promotion Becomes a Sales Success Story – Front Office Sports

Inventive ticketing promo turns engagement into real revenue.

US, CollegeFootball, Ticketing, Marketing, FanEngagement

How Automated Officiating Could End Star Treatment – Sportico

Automation could reshape fairness, broadcasts and fan trust.

Technology, NBA, NFL, Officiating, Fairness

Professional SportsLIV Golf Secures New Lead Investor and Multi-Partner Ownership Model – Ministry of Sport *

New ownership model signals LIV's next strategic chapter.

Golf, Investment, Ownership, Sponsorship, Sports Business, AU

Westfield partners with NFL ahead of Melbourne game – Mumbrella

Retail giant leverages first NFL regular-season game in Australia.

NFL, Fan Engagement, Sponsorship, Marketing, Australia, AU

Arsenal's ‘UK£70m' extension with Emirates continues England's most enduring stadium naming rights partnership – SportsPro

Inside one of football's longest running naming-rights deals.

Sponsorship, Marketing, Arsenal, Emirates, UK

Padel Is Booming in the UK, but Will Its Recreational Players Become Professional Fans? – The Athletic

Participation boom tests pathways from casual players to fans.

UK, Participation, Audience Development, Ticketing, Strategy

Digital & SocialThe Premier League's “Coast to Coast” nationwide US activation – Substack *

League-wide US tour blends live events and data capture.

US, Football, Marketing, Fan-engagement, Data

Why Juventus Streamed Its Pre-Season Matches on EA Sports 📲 – Substack *

Juventus tests gaming app as a live match channel.

EU, Football, Media-rights, Digital, Fan-engagement

Green Day launch Green Day TV, a 24/7 YouTube stream with archival content and a weekly variety show – Consequence

Always-on YouTube “channel” offers lessons for club content.

Global, Content-strategy, YouTube, Fan-engagement, Digital-media

Media & EntertainmentNBCUniversal and YouTube announce a global partnership bundling Peacock Premium into YouTube Premium in the US – Substack *

Bundling Peacock into YouTube rewires US sports distribution.

US, Media-rights, Streaming, Partnerships, Strategy

Disney to add more live sports to Disney+ and deepen ties between ESPN, Disney+ and Hulu – Substack

Disney tightens sports, entertainment and data across its bundle.

US, SportsMedia, Streaming, Data, Bundling

DAZN Offers US Leagues a Way Out of RSN Crisis as it Uses Local Sports to Finally Crack America – Sports Video Group

DAZN pitches itself as RSN replacement for US leagues.

US, MediaRights, Streaming, Strategy, Commercial

Geek OutVector Databases Explained: The Infrastructure Behind Modern AI – Medium

Great primer on retrieval tech behind smarter fan products.

Global, AI, Data, Technology, Product

NVIDIA Sent Me a Personal Supercomputer. I Turned It Into My Private ChatGPT – Medium

Shows what a secure, club-owned ‘team GPT' could be.

Global, AI, Technology, Data, Infrastructure

AIHow the world is putting ChatGPT to work – OpenAI *

Benchmarks how teams worldwide operationalise ChatGPT at work.

Global, AI, Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Productivity

ChatGPT brings unlimited text chats to free users – TechCrunch

Lower friction makes AI-powered fan services more viable.

Global, AI, Fan Engagement, CRM, Sponsorship

LinkedIn's new anti-slop button is coming to every platform – Fast Company

Expect platforms to punish lazy AI content soon.

Global, AI, Social Media, Marketing, Sponsorship

Make You ThinkHow Eye Black Became ‘War Paint' on the Field – Front Office Sports

Cultural journey from equipment to athlete brand canvas.

Fashion, Branding, Athletes, Cultural Trends, Sports Equipment

Study Reveals a Psychological Link Between Feeling Disadvantaged and Using People – Refind

Research insight with direct implications for team culture.

Global, Sports Management, Leadership, Psychology, Culture

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The post EA’s $55B Gaming Model, LIV’s New Investor & Premier League’s US Tour appeared first on Sports Geek.

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Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key ReadsConcussion bombshell: Player signs secret deal to absolve Vic club – Code Sports *

AFL concussion waiver sparks major legal and ethical questions.

AU, AFL, Legal, Health, RiskManagement

FIFA World Cup sell-off: Infantino battles to restore confidence – Insider Sport *

Inside FIFA's abandoned World Cup rights sell-off and fallout.

FIFA, Governance, World Cup, Investment, Leadership

DAZN offers US major leagues a way out of RSN crisis as it uses local sports to finally crack America – SportsPro *

How DAZN wants to solve the RSN collapse for leagues.

US, MediaRights, Streaming, MLB, NBA, NHL

BravesVision Rollout Drags Braves Revenue Lower – Front Office Sports

Team-run streaming network hits Braves' revenue in short term.

US, MLB, MediaRights, DirectToConsumer, Finance

LIV Golf Has Spent Four Years Disrupting Golf. Now It Has to Build a Business. – Culture of Sport (Substack) *

Can LIV's disruptive model become a sustainable golf business?

Global, Golf, Media Rights, Sponsorship, Sports Business Strategy

It's time Australia took notice of padel – Notice Sports

Why padel could be Australia's next big participation boom.

AU, Padel, Participation, Sponsorship, Strategy

Professional SportsWith New Commissioner in Place, MLS Has One Opportunity It Cannot Afford to Miss – The Athletic *

What MLS must nail in its next growth phase.

US, Football, Media Rights, League Strategy, Digital

LIV Golf Secures $250M Investment, Players Set to Become Majority Owners – ESPN

New capital and player equity reshape LIV's power dynamics.

Global, Golf, Investment, Governance, AthleteEmpowerment

Arsenal Extend Emirates Sponsorship Deal Until 2033 – The Athletic

Inside one of football's longest-running, richest partnerships.

UK, Football, Sponsorship, Commercial Strategy, Partnerships

Digital & SocialFooty, Fans and Future: Inside the AFL's Digital Playbook – Bec Haagsma, AFL – Sports Geek *

How the AFL is reshaping its digital and data strategy.

AU, AFL, Digital Strategy, Marketing, Fan Engagement

Hot Takes: Why the Smartest Sports Are Letting Fans Take Control – B&T

Why giving fans real control can supercharge engagement.

Fan Engagement, Sports Marketing, Innovation

Aston Villa taps Winvia Entertainment to drive fan engagement and new revenue with ‘Villa Win' – SportsMint Media

Prize-draw platform becomes Aston Villa's new fan funnel.

Football, Digital Engagement, Revenue Generation, Technology

Media & EntertainmentDisney Sells Out 2027 Super Bowl Ad Units at Record Rates, Record Pace – Sportico *

Record-speed Super Bowl sell-out shows live sport's pricing power.

Business, Media, Advertising, NFL

13% of US weekly podcast consumers say they consume podcasts most often… on the television – SSRS

Why big-screen podcasting matters for sports content strategy.

US, MediaRights, CTV, Digital, Strategy

Geek OutInto the Great Wide Open: Teams Launch In-House Networks and Streaming Services – Sports Video Group

MLB, NBA and NHL teams detail their own DTC builds.

US, Teams, Streaming, DTC, Strategy

Warner Bros Discovery's Anne Graham Details the Organization's Media-Ops and Metadata Consolidation Across Sports and Entertainment – Sports Video Group

How WBD is unifying metadata to unlock AI and scale.

US, Media, Data, AI, Operations

AIThe Agent Access Model – Cloudflare Blog

Designing safe, auditable access for AI agents in your stack.

Global, AI, Data, Cybersecurity, Governance

Working theory: AI slop isn't just an AI problem – These Chapters

Why incentives, not tools, drive low-quality AI content.

Global, AI, Content Strategy, Fan Engagement, Sponsorship

Make You ThinkLast of the Unicorns – by Adam Schwab – The Contrarians – The Contrarians (Substack) *

What Canva's struggles reveal about unicorn-era business models.

Global, Technology, Startups, Marketing

The Great Candy Heist: How a Chocolate Bar Stole Babe Ruth's Name – Medium

A classic IP battle with lessons for modern athlete brands.

US, Sponsorship, IP, Commercial, History

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The post AFL Secret Concussion Deal, FIFA World Cup Sell-Off & DAZN’s RSN Play appeared first on Sports Geek.

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Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key ReadsRecord $3.9 Billion Padres Sale Gets Initial MLB Approval – Bloomberg *

Record Padres sale underscores soaring major league franchise valuations.

US, MLB, Investment, Team Sales

How MLB Local Media Is Rewriting the Regional Playbook – Sports Video Group *

MLB centralises local production, reshaping DTC and RSN economics.

US, MLB, MediaRights, Broadcasting, DTC

Can We Actually Limit Ruthless Greed? – The Athletic

FIFA's commercial ambitions test football's governance and fan tolerance.

Global, Football, Governance, Finance, Strategy

Revolut's Sports Strategy and Portfolio – 365247 Sports

Fintech playbook for using sport as a growth engine.

EU, Fintech, Sponsorship, Strategy, Data

Professional SportsOn Location reportedly lost at least $252 million on Paris 2024 hospitality – Sports Business Journal *

Paris 2024 hospitality loss highlights risks in premium experiences.

Global, Olympics, Hospitality, Risk, Commercial-Strategy

How a New Team Has Taken Over the W – The Athletic

Golden State Valkyries offer a blueprint for WNBA expansion.

US, WNBA, Expansion, Fan Engagement, Sports Business

Why Investors Are Rushing to Bring Athletes Into Sports Ownership Groups – Front Office Sports

Athlete co-ownership reshapes governance, valuations and storytelling.

Global, Investment, Ownership, Athletes

Manchester United signs record £20m Betway kit deal – Insider Sport

Record Betway deal underscores Premier League betting reliance.

UK, Football, Sponsorship, Premier League

LIV Golf announces a lead investor to anchor its fundraise with players as majority equity holders – Yahoo Sports

Player-majority equity model tests golf's ownership future.

Global, Golf, Investment, League-Structure

Digital & SocialFooty, Fans and Future: Inside the AFL's Digital Playbook – Bec Haagsma, AFL – Sports Geek *

AFL shares how it is building a modern digital stack.

AU, AFL, Digital Strategy, Fan Engagement, Data

Use AI bots to reply to followers – Science Says

Data shows AI replies can significantly lift social engagement.

Global, AI, Fan Engagement, Social Media

Media & EntertainmentMoment of Truth in Sports Streaming Sparks Scramble for Better Solutions – TV Tech *

Streaming reliability becomes existential for rights value and sponsors.

Global, Streaming, Media, Technology

Paramount Antitrust Trial Delayed as Ellison Makes Case for Merger – Front Office Sports

Potential Paramount–Warner tie-up could reshape sports rights landscape.

US, Media, M&A, Sports Rights

Spotify Surpasses 300M Premium Subscribers for First Time, Revenue Climbs 14% YoY – Spotify Newsroom

Spotify's scale sets expectations for audio, podcasts and sports.

Global, Streaming, Audio, Revenue

Geek OutState of the Stack: Engineering & Technology Trends Shaping Regional Sports Production – Sports Video Group

IP, cloud and lean engineering redefine regional sports production.

US, Technology, Broadcasting, AI, Cloud

MLB's Jason Hedgcock on Using the Cloud To Produce World Baseball Classic Games for Netflix Japan – Sports Video Group

Cloud-first workflows power efficient international baseball production.

Global, Baseball, Cloud-production, Streaming

AIContinuous voice interaction with GPT-Live – OpenAI *

Sub-second voice AI unlocks new fan and service experiences.

Global, AI, Fan Engagement, Ticketing, Operations

Incident report: unsanctioned agent behaviour during cyber testing – UK AI Safety Institute

Runaway AI agents highlight governance risks for sports workflows.

Global, AI, Cybersecurity, SportsTech

AI's First Autonomous Cyber Attack – Medium

Autonomous cyber attacks foreshadow threats to ticketing and data.

Global, AI, Cybersecurity, Data

Make You ThinkNo, Sony didn't pay BMW $300 million to put a Spider-Man promo in every car – Huddle Up

Debunking viral numbers reveals how big integrations are really valued.

Global, Sponsorship, Media, Marketing, Technology

Colleges Are Avoiding Transparency on Jersey Patch Deals – Front Office Sports

Opaque patch deals raise questions about valuation and governance.

US, College-Sports, Sponsorship, Governance

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The post Record Padres Sale, MLB’s Local Media Overhaul & World Cup Governance appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In episode 454 of Sports Geek, Bec Haagsma brings a rare cross-industry perspective – from museums to digital publishing, streaming and telco, and now leading customer, commercial and technology at the AFL.

In this conversation, you’ll discover:

• Why you need “a season, not a 90-day plan” to truly understand a sport or league
• How to get crisper about which fan you're building for – and why content for everyone becomes content for no one
• How the AFL used a creator watch-along (an Australian first) to reach audiences someone else already owns
• Why consolidating product, fan and technology under one roadmap kills silos and sharpens investment
• How to roll out enterprise AI responsibly – investing in training over tools, and setting up AI champions across the business
• A practical, emotional AI use case: bringing the AFL's historic photo archive to life to build fan belonging
• The honest state of play for women in tech and leadership – the progress made and the work still to do Listen to Bec Haagsma on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Watch on YouTubeInterview TranscriptInterview with Bec HaagsmaThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:02)
Very happy to welcome Bec Haagsma. She's the EGM of Customer Commercial and Technology at the AFL, otherwise known as the Australian Football League. Bec, welcome to the podcast.

Bec Haagsma (00:13)
Thank you, great to be here.

Sean Callanan (00:15)
Well, I always start my podcast trying to figure out people's sports business, origin story and how they got into the world of sports. what about yourself? H what was your first foray into the how did your career end up in the world of sports?

Bec Haagsma (00:29)
I am.

first sports admin role here at the AFL, but I had a lot of history when I was working at Telstra, running the media portfolio there, worked very closely with the AFL there, the NRL, Australian football and netball. We ran a year long program for fans and audiences with live streaming products at the time before KO existed. So had a lot of exposure there, but I'm a lifelong fan of sport and participant in sports.

always very keenly interested from the sideline.

Sean Callanan (01:05)
And you definitely c y you came from you know, even pr prior to Telstra, you're in that you're in that broadcast space, you worked at you worked at nine, and then and then at Telstra, so obviously when you're on the broadcast side and then you're in yeah then you're in a telco side, you can't really avoid sport in in Australia, can you?

Bec Haagsma (01:23)
No, and I would probably say wasn't in the broadcast side. I was lucky enough to be on the digital side of businesses. So I started, I actually started my career in museums. you logical step to sport from a museum, but,

Sean Callanan (01:37)
Hey, so so did I. My first my first job

was at ScienceWorks, so yeah, yeah.

Bec Haagsma (01:41)
wow, how cool. So

I was at the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and instrumental, I was the second employee at the Museum of Sydney which opened in 1996 and museum experiences are all about connecting with people and telling stories and so sport, right? So all through that journey and transitioning into publishing in the digital space, when I went to Nine, I set up what was called Nine Jump In and is now Nine Now.

So we became that streaming vehicle to allow even more Australians to connect with sport and you can see some of the incredible numbers that streaming platforms now drive and opportunity to open up anywhere anytime experiences for fans and audiences. yeah, I was sort of really at that transformative intersection I think of both print publishing and then television broadcast as they moved into the digital age through my career and I

I'm not a fan of saying I was lucky to be somewhere because lucky is winning Powerball. But I think maybe I was a little bit lucky with how old I actually am because I just sort of hit my hit roles and hit industries at a time of where transformation was needed and had the skill set to be able to either participate in that transformation or lead it.

Sean Callanan (03:03)
And yeah, I I agree with that luck piece. It is a matter of getting your skill set and having your skill set ready at that right time and you know, even though I said, you know, nine and telco are media and that you've very much been on the on the technology side and the product side and that early streaming piece.

Bec Haagsma (03:20)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (03:21)
like what was 'cause, you know, I I remember those days when, you know, streaming was just coming on board and and broadcast was still like really much over the air as the main thing.

But then you also needed to make sure the infrastructure was there to to d to deliver it. So what was it like, I guess, on the on the tech side as a as a product and technology officer in that space?

Bec Haagsma (03:43)
Yeah, interesting. Every single day is different.

And the challenges are always different. so, I mean, I think that's what keeps us all engaged on the inside when we're working in the industry because we're still today finding new problems to solve and things that, it's a complicated space. And I think when you're moving and transitioning businesses from a traditional format into a digital format, people think it's faster and easier, but it's actually very complex. And when you're dealing with a board

in a C-suite who are like well you know it takes ages to print something or to create a broadcast product just plug it in and put it on a screen how difficult can it be but I distinctly recall a holiday I was on years ago I was in a botanical gardens in Lucca in Italy it was a very special birthday for my husband so he did not want me working and we got a priority one tech alert we had an issue with a stream that many many people were watching and the issue

was actually related to the load for the login into the service and so I'm sitting in the botanical gardens in the war room trying to pretend, I don't know what I was pretending I was doing, looking up floral species maybe to put my husband off the scent and you've got people clamouring from all sides going well you know like we've got to let people in, how complex is it and we all know those of us that work in the tech space that finding a root cause of something is incredibly, it's a

It's a real maze and I think that's challenging at times and complex but it's incredibly interesting and the people that you get to work with are incredibly intelligent and clever and have all sorts of different skill sets. So you have to surround yourself with so many different kinds of skills and people and a real diversity of talent. And so it's incredibly exciting to be a part of it and always has been from that. still remember, I think it was 1999, I was working at Reed Elsevier,

publishing global B2B publisher and I remember one of the engineers said, has anyone here heard of Google? Like we should give it a try as a search engine and like that's, know, it feels like it was five years ago, it was obviously a long time ago, 27 years ago and just that moment of finding something new and always exploring. But the challenges for us here too in Australia in a tech perspective are, you know, we're constantly trying to find ways from a streaming perspective to have access to the right amounts

of storage and the right delivery and the right service from our providers to enable an experience that is second to none. And geographically sometimes that's difficult too. So lots of different things to deal with and stakeholders to

Sean Callanan (06:33)
And s

Bec Haagsma (06:34)
manage.

Sean Callanan (06:35)
and so that you know, sort of go back that on that luck piece, like those experiences both with Nine, you know, with Telstra, building out building out mobile apps and and digital experiences for multiple sports as like as new phones come out every every eighteen months and new opportunities and and new builds have to happen. Was that sort of the perfect, I guess, background?

to your role now at the at the AFL.

Bec Haagsma (07:05)
Yeah, definitely. Let's be super clear for you and all your listeners, Sean. I am by no means a technologist. My degree is in political science. I'm a humanities person. History and literature are my sort of home ground in EPUB trivia. But…

But that said, I think a very, very strong grounding in product and product delivery. And of course, that means you need to understand the tech well enough to get there. And so, yes, for the AFL role, think it's interesting because I manage the commercial portfolio, the events portfolio, the content portfolio, as well as technology and product. But if you think about where we are today in 2026 and where we need to go, what we need to do to attract

a new fan and what we need to do to make sure we're servicing our avid fans is provide them with an experience on every platform that is seen. They don't care, they don't care the complexities behind it all. They just want what they want when they want it and we have a job to do to find new fans and a lot of that job starts in a social media feed really. It starts in a feed and that's where the funnel really opens up for us. So coming into the AFL, I'm not from Victoria.

I'm not a traditional AFL, I'm a woman, I'm a grandmother. So I probably don't fit the bill, but I really fit the bill in terms of the background of attracting audiences, retaining them and using our digital platforms. We have millions of people a week visiting us on our digital platforms and what we do with those and how we build that connected future for the AFL is really important for us.

Sean Callanan (08:50)
absolutely. I don't think I think you are a technologist because the best technologists can actually talk to the geeks. Like there's a lot in that translation. So understanding the tech, but able to talk to talk the tech, but then also be able to talk to the business and say, Here's how they b like that's the best skill of a of a technologist. Abs

Bec Haagsma (09:09)
The translator. Yeah.

Sean Callanan (09:11)
ab absol absolutely. And and really from a sports point of view, we're all in the audience business. We're all in the how

Bec Haagsma (09:17)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (09:17)
to how do we reach new fans. So

You came into the AFL in in Feb twenty twenty twenty five, as you said, sort of an outsider, you know, from an from an AFL point of view. What what was your first sixty to ninety days like in trying to understand the organization what they'd what they'd tried? You'd obviously seen things from the outside as a as a partner with Telstra and and seeing things

Bec Haagsma (09:40)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (09:41)
from the outside. What was it what was your first sixty to ninety days like?

Bec Haagsma (09:45)
Let's say a couple of things to clarify. Always been an AFL fan. It was the first sport I sort of connected with and knew as a child. And so I didn't have to learn the sport, which was good. Although I do remember my first, I think on day two, was a commission meeting and sitting inside an AFL commission meeting as an AFL exec, I felt pretty, it was a really privileged place to be and the conversations around footy, we were going into the, for the first time in a long time,

stars game over in Perth to open the season up. So my first 30 to 60 days were experiencing

and a product in All-Stars in Perth that was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Incredible connection to First Nations people over in WA and to the game and some incredible moments pre-game. So felt really, really privileged to be in that situation as an incoming fan, but very wary of being, you having those fan headlights on and coming in professionally. A real assessment of

what was our product suite. I was also pretty familiar with the digital product suite having run it from the Telstra side of the business about eight years ago but obviously a fair bit of time had gone by in that period and so I spent my first year let's be honest I'm not going to say it was 60 days getting around the business of 18 soon to be 19 clubs

Vendors commercial partners the AFL organization in and of itself and attending as many games and being with as many fans as I could possibly be with so I Don't think my feet touch the ground So it wasn't like a traditional first 90 days I remember I went back to nine from Telstra so I'd spent seven eight years at Telstra and then went back to nine and Had a pretty pretty traditional 90-day plan get you know get reacquainted with the business some clear goals

and this is what I'll achieve in 90 days.

the breadth of the AFL across Australia and understanding the different markets, sorry, starting to understand that I needed to understand very different markets, very different clubs, the technology landscape across the clubs is, and the fan landscape is obviously different club by club. And then experiencing a game at many different venues on many different digital platforms.

You need a season at the AFL and maybe at every sporting organisation. You need a season, not a 90-day plan, I think, is what I learnt.

Sean Callanan (12:25)
absolutely and you've already sort of touched on the I guess the different fan segments. You've got the you know, the rusted on fans that go every week, you know, like myself, the you know, my great grandfather played for Collingwood, I didn't have a choice, my son didn't have a choice, and then you've got these newer segments of of of fans coming on board and you've got you've been charged to keep those happy and also keep getting new ones. How do you how

Bec Haagsma (12:48)
Mm.

Sean Callanan (12:48)
do you tackle that you know, across your role and across all the channels that you've got available?

Bec Haagsma (12:54)
We tackle that with data and with a rigor and a discipline around.

our understanding, our building of a fan segment model and anyone who's running a business would have one of those but being really clear around the work that we're doing and so we're starting on that journey, we're on that journey but getting crisper and more disciplined about that journey is a key focus of mine at the moment and I think one of the things that we've done, we've been able to do for a long time is we do a great job of catering for the avid fan.

We have an amazing app experience that if you want to go in and watch the Pies against North Melbourne this weekend or that Carlton Collingwood game that's coming up in a few weeks, that'll be an absolute cracker for you and track every player, every piece of… you're great. But if you're my granddaughter, who I took to a Giants game the other weekend, is now an avid GWS fan, she's just also learning how to do maths, how do we help her on the beginning of her journey, understand how our scoring works? What's the…

what's the link in for her her mum and dad and her sister to start to start their fandom journey and then what's the journey for someone who's kind of in the who dips in and out of footy at times and so we would have seen we would have seen a lot of new fans coming in through lots of different podcasts and social media this year we've been working with Dan Gorange a lot we did a really good pace with Fremantle Sydney game with Dan and a watch along and so those fans that hook into

that and that then and how do they continue our journey we have to be led by we have to be led by our data and our understanding of who's in that funnel and how do we move them along and when if we succeeded what are our metrics for success as we move along is that followers is it a deep engagement and belonging and how do we measure that they're things that are critical to every action we take in the next couple of years

Sean Callanan (14:56)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean I was I was gonna touch on that. We're recording this the day after the the Dan Goringe watch along, which is the second time they're doing a a popular YouTuber and and social and and podcaster, sort of like delivering footy differently is what is sort of his his point. Was that really that pie piece of well that's where a whole bunch of our fans are, they're they're consuming it with Dan. We wanna we wanna figure out way to I think the term

Hutchie uses is pinch audiences. How do we go over and and and talk to

Bec Haagsma (15:27)
Yeah, yeah.

Sean Callanan (15:28)
that audience? Was that sort of part of that I guess that strategy to engage someone like Dan Gorange?

Bec Haagsma (15:32)
Yeah, definitely. mean, we had a Australian first last night because we had a watch along with Dan, but we also had the light. We had with very big thanks to our partners at KO and at Seven, we had the live vision on the screen with Dan. So it was a first for Australian sport to do a watch along in that way. And absolutely, like, you know, our ultimate goal is to get people to love the game and to attend the game and to watch the game on a screen live.

and ignoring that audience that comes in through YouTube or through social because they're in a different place and someone else owns that audience would not be in our best interests. And to be able to tap into that audience and to be able to work together with creators and influencers.

to drive, who ultimately all love the game and love the sport and want to introduce more people to it is just something that we're really passionate about. You will have also seen last night, for instance, he had some special guests on and at halftime he had Patrick Beech in the studio

Sean Callanan (16:38)
Yep.

Bec Haagsma (16:38)
and we thought about, so, you know, I don't know if we would have done that a year ago. I don't know if we would have said, let's cross over with another sport. Like, let's stay in our lane and what's our lane? But having Patrick Beech come on board and he plays for Melbourne City when he's here and

and he talked about talking about footy when he came to Melbourne and he was like yeah the the rabbit ohs and his teammates like mate you need to pick a team and you need to and so he's a Western Sydney boy and he talked about GWS and his fan and there and that's great like it's it's you know rising rising ships tides that saying that I never get right that's it

Sean Callanan (17:11)
Yep. ab abso no exactly. Rising tides lift all ships is the exact is is the exact thing and

and it is a case of like we've sort of seen that in other sports like the NBA is very much you know, really pushes its creators out there and gives them access and and really but also the the conversation has to happen with your partners like Seven and KO that have, you know, paid for the ride for that for that match vision.

Bec Haagsma (17:35)
Totally.

Sean Callanan (17:36)
you know, it's it's

getting, I guess, their heads around it and also the legals and all of that kind of stuff, but to say, Hey, we this is a new audience, th they will be they will be tuning in. They might they might slide and sit on the couch with their with their parents or they might become a new subscriber or, you know, they will only they will only watch via seven plus. those kind of things. It's a real I guess whole of industry sort of understanding to say, you know, there is there is more out there and

you know, opportunities via via these new channels.

Bec Haagsma (18:08)
Yeah, I mean, we have.

We have fans from those that don't even know about our sport yet because maybe they've just arrived in Australia or maybe they're like Elka, my granddaughter, who's just starting to become aware. And then we have fans who tap in and out and then we have avid fans and all of those things in between. And our job and my job is to make sure we're catering for every single one of those at every single point in the ways that we can. so we're developing a suite of product that will increasingly do that and connect to fan all the

along and then that data that plays that role in how do we convert just like in any other industry you know conversion retention attraction is is the sort of discipline focus that sits underneath all of the creative things that we're doing at the moment.

Sean Callanan (18:55)
And so we've been discussing a lot around the digital and broadcast piece, but you've got a lot of a lot a lot of folders in your portfolio. one, how do how do you manage them all and how do you like help them intersect and and help one another?

Bec Haagsma (19:10)
Yeah.

That's a big question that I ask myself across season one. How do we manage that and how do we bring it together? How do we make sure that we don't have silos where people are doing great work and pursuing great prioritisation and roadmaps, but are they actually connected? And so we've actually, I've actually recently just made a change where I'll connect all of the portfolios together. So product, fan and technology will be connected together under one leader in my organisation.

and those organisations will come together with one roadmap and that'll mean some pretty tough prioritisation decisions but ultimately it means we're directing our investments and our efforts with a lot of clarity and one clear set of goals and we're seeing a lot of organisations bring that kind martech view, that technology view, that backbone of what drives that fan engagement and the fan piece and the customer

piece all into one portfolio and so we're heading

Sean Callanan (20:14)
And and the sorry.

Bec Haagsma (20:16)
that way.

Sean Callanan (20:17)
And the and the fan remains like the North Star. Like we we want people

Bec Haagsma (20:20)
Perhaps 100%.

Sean Callanan (20:22)
to consume it. We want them to come to a game. You know, and and in the AFL's terms, you know, membership is a big thing. We you know, if you say you're a member, like your data says, Hey, people lock in, that's pretty much

Bec Haagsma (20:34)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (20:34)
your look your roadmap to say how can we get that person to eventually be a be a member?

Bec Haagsma (20:39)
To

be a member, to play, watch or go is really kind of the things that we think about. And our strategy at the AFL is now, is very clear. It's bucketed into footy fans and future. And so we use that as the North Star and the fans journey through footy fans and future sort of underpins all of that. And then the way I think about technology is it's the enabler of all of those things.

you run a danger sometimes, organisationally, in the way that you're structured, that maybe one of those things drives its own agenda and the others sit outside and you end up with investment and more of a scattering and less of a focused approach. So yeah, the fan is absolutely. But when we say the fan, we need to get crisper, all of us, every sporting industry and probably every industry when they say audience or customer, but we have to get crisper about which fan.

So when Ed Bowman who heads up our AFL digital network is talking to his team about creating a piece of content for afl.com.au or a social post on TikTok with our TikTok team or an Instagram post, which fan segment are we targeting that to and where's the conversion going to happen and when do we know that it's worked and when do we say okay we tried it, it didn't work, let's move on. Rather than maybe five, six, seven, eight years ago we might have just talked about the fan and we probably meant you avid

Sean Callanan (22:07)
Yep.

Bec Haagsma (22:07)
rusted on Piesfan.

Sean Callanan (22:10)
No, exactly. That that is the thing in you know, I when I'm talking to a digiteam, it is like a you can't produce a piece of content, it is for everyone. And when you do it just becomes for no one. And whereas if you say, this is for the avid fan and this is for the you know, for the for the new fan b you know, because as an avid fan you don't need to explain the rules to me or the scoring, but but for someone internationally or a new

Bec Haagsma (22:29)
Yeah, yeah, you're

probably very happy to explain them to me, aren't you, Sean? Yeah.

Sean Callanan (22:34)
No, I I'm happy to explain them to my friends in the US and and and America. So like you know, I think there's

a lot of AFL fans that are that are advocates in that in that sense. But it is really

Bec Haagsma (22:43)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (22:44)
important to go, you know, and again you always get the some fans complaining about s you know, certain things. It's like, well it's not for you. It doesn't have to be for

Bec Haagsma (22:51)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (22:51)
you. You don't have to consume it. and so it's sort of that that that piece. On the future front and on the on the technology front, obviously AI is looming large and and getting bigger and bigger and

And the opportunities in that enablement space. How do you how are you looking at it and and looking at some of the opportunities and also making sure things are protected from a from a cybersecurity point of view?

Bec Haagsma (23:14)
Yeah, so we are currently rolling out enterprise AI for all team members at the AFL and

we did a lot of work to sort of get to this point and a lot of thinking. And so we have an AI steeco at the AFL and on that steeco is myself, Walter Lee, who's the head of strategy and data and our people and culture EGM as well, because it's really, it's so much of AI for us is about our people and enabling them to make sure that they have the skills that they need to do their jobs and to be, you know,

valid in the workforce of today and tomorrow.

And so what we see AI doing for us is many things. Like I recently went to the US and attended a couple of conferences. AI note taking is thank you for whoever developed all of those different tools. it's so great. I wondered if it would, for instance, make me less focused in a conference environment. It made me more focused because I wasn't worrying about capturing that note and thinking about when was I going to type up my notes and what were they going to look like. I really digested the information.

more and I came back with so much more information that I would have that I can easily

represent in different forums with the right relevancy. So that to me is a great efficiency that AI provides to me as a worker. But it also enables us to do things that we talk to a lot of partners that we have across the board around their use of AI before we made our commitment. We're investing probably a lot more in training than we are in the tools itself and finding the specific tools that we need as we go through the journey with our people about where those efficiencies are. But we work with our partner Telstra a lot

on our digital platform for instance. So introducing an AI companion into our digital experiences is a bit of a no-brainer. So how do we make it easier for people to find the things that they're looking for in our platforms using AI will be something that we incrementally roll out on the platform starting at the back end of this year. And everything in between, the use of AI, mean, it's there and has been there. mean, AI is data, right? So it's been

Sean Callanan (25:30)
Yep.

Bec Haagsma (25:30)
their champion data obviously provide a big part of the

ecosystem for sport and for the AFL and so match stats and data and the ability to crunch that data and to look at it but you can imagine all the realms across the sporting organisation where AI will be useful but AI, you know, everyone's having this discussion around the dinner table, around the workplace.

and responsible use of AIs, the governance and the principles with which we use it at the AFL are really important to us. Setting up AI champions across the organisation.

is something that we're really passionate about and that many of our people are passionate about being and learning from each other. I think the more naive use of AI or the early adoption of, help me plan my holiday or my diet through

Sean Callanan (26:25)
Mm-hmm.

Bec Haagsma (26:26)
to those personal use cases. I worked really hard on those conference notes that I mentioned. I captured them.

put them into a format that I felt happy with. I probably spent five days prompting and setting it up in a way that I feel confident I can now use really efficiently. So it's not a, give me a recording and I'm done and here you go, I'll present a slide. There's a lot of work and brain power from each of us that needs to go into the responsible use of AI in our view.

Sean Callanan (26:59)
yeah, absolutely. I just got back from from seat in in Charlotte and yeah, all the way through the conference I was just chatting with my agent to take all the notes of all the things that to follow up with, when previously that just would have been a a handful of business cards, not that people have business cards anymore, and me

Bec Haagsma (27:15)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (27:15)
trying to remember, what did I talk to him about that? So, like

Bec Haagsma (27:19)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (27:20)
it was about me, you know, improving my experience there to be able to get to get more out of it. And yeah, the it it it is a bit of a

I think it is a superpower for your staff. It's it's one, you can give them the tools, but you know, we've had tools for many years. It's like how do you go about using the tools? What's the best

Bec Haagsma (27:36)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (27:37)
way to use them? is is the e easy early is the e easy early lift.

Bec Haagsma (27:42)
Yeah, think also, you know, it is…

It is, I'm old enough to remember pre laptop workplaces and some people had laptops, some people didn't and then, I mean, can you imagine not having access to a computer or a laptop in the work that we do today? And so I think that fear of what AI will do, I mean, it's a very rapid industrial revolution though, that said. So another evolution and revolution of

curiosity and learning in a career space which is interesting and then we just need to lead responsibly through it. I think is the key

Sean Callanan (28:26)
Yeah, absolutely.

Bec Haagsma (28:27)
for us and find the benefits and really be aware of that as we move through and adapt and iterate.

Sean Callanan (28:35)
I mean, we're both in the you know, the way I've described it and we've both been through these revolutions, but that that first one was the web and everyone finding the web and figuring out how to use the web. And then the you know, I started Sports Geek at the at the start of that social media, what do these platforms do to us, how do we reach our fans? And we've you know, and that vastly changed b it changed businesses, it changed the way that you talk to fans. And I think the AI revolution and the way it's going to is gonna have that same sort of transformation both

in the way you do your job and and that kind of thing, but also how we, you know, communicate with our with our fans.

Bec Haagsma (29:11)
Yeah, I think my sort of last point on AI, if we're going to move on from it,

Sean Callanan (29:15)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Bec Haagsma (29:17)
is, you know, think a big part of my job, it's growing the fan base, of course, and ensuring the fan base is there for the future of footy, but it's also deepening and creating a sense of belonging and an attachment to it. then I go, OK, well, how does AI play a role in that? One of our photography team, and you know, the AFL has this amazing photography team and archive, recently showed me this piece where they

gone back into the archives and the ability to sort of bring to the fore these beautiful historic images of a young Richmond fan, this young girl, you a hundred years ago, yeah, we can retouch those photos but actually we can make them come alive now through the use of AI and it's a beautiful, like emotional connection moment. I'm not even a Richmond fan and I got a bit teary

Sean Callanan (30:05)
Mm-hmm.

Bec Haagsma (30:05)
looking at it and going, wow, the power that this gives us to be able to create a moment

connection with the past and something that makes you think about sport as this permanent thing that is a real life, in real life experience and always will be, that is unpredictable. It's the best piece of reality TV you could ever commission and yeah and then we can also connect you with the past through the use of AI and create a sense of belonging and engagement in a way that we wouldn't have been able to before AI is beautiful. It's so powerful

Sean Callanan (30:38)
Yeah.

Bec Haagsma (30:39)
and really emotional.

So that's a great use of AI and will continue to be and a beautiful story for the fan.

Sean Callanan (30:51)
absolutely and and the fact that you can put those layers over the top of your current tech stack and your storage, like just the finding that photo is normally a human thing. It's like, Barry, our historian knows that that photo's there and he goes and finds it and he knows where it is. Whereas, you know, as we get to a point where you know, we can say, give us photos from the seventies that fit this and it goes into your archive and finds it,

Bec Haagsma (31:16)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (31:16)
like then it allows your creative people to to do amazing creative things.

Bec Haagsma (31:20)
Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Sean Callanan (31:21)
But if you can't find it, you can't do it. And so like

that's where I think that that unlock is gonna be, you know, amazing for for for, you know, sports teams but but for everyone to be able to go, we've got that resource somewhere, we can find it now.

Bec Haagsma (31:34)
Yeah, the scale of what we can do and to your point the queries that we can now, know, the questions we can ask of the material that we have and as you know, as data storage scales and allows us to do that, it's incredible, it's really exciting.

Sean Callanan (31:54)
So you've been in the in the world of media and tech and now sport for for over twenty five years. as a woman in tech and a woman in leadership, you've seen you would have seen some progress. but what one, what progress have you seen and what work is still to be done?

Bec Haagsma (32:11)
Yeah, I don't know if the work will ever stop, it's a hard question to answer because there's some great examples of loads of progress.

And then there's examples where I go, can't believe this is still happening. So recently a friend and colleague of mine in a different organisation texted me from somewhere in the US and said, I just had to text you, I can't believe this. I'm hosting a meeting.

with a partner over here in the US and I'm with two of my male colleagues, she's female. The guy we're meeting with said, are you the secretary? Have you come along to take notes? And you're like, no, she's leading the meeting. so that's unbelievable to me that that still happens and that is just a part of life. But equally, equally the…

The number of women in our organisation is strong. We are 50-50.

Sean Callanan (33:15)
Mm-hmm.

Bec Haagsma (33:16)
The number of women on our exec team is strong and we are evenly balanced. The number of conversations that I'm in…

in telco, in media, in sport, traditionally male dominated, increasingly meeting with female CEOs, female leaders, and male leaders who are very, very cognizant of the opportunity that they have to lead a diverse workforce and to encourage diversity across the board. So as I've gotten older as well, you become more aware of a range of different diverse opportunities and challenges that we face in the workforce, not just gender, but also

I often hear is that person too young for that job? I think imagine if someone said to me, I'm not sure you might be too old for that job, how I'd feel. so it's both end of the age scale, by the way.

Sean Callanan (34:12)
Yeah.

Bec Haagsma (34:13)
And so there's just, I just think we just have to stay super aware as leaders and as participants in the workforce and look around us and ask ourselves the question, are we ensuring that we're making the opportunity the right opportunity for someone

who's from a different background, so maybe you're not from footy. My favourite quote about footy is, went to this school and I'm of this gender and so I'm applying for this role because I was born for this job at the AFL and I'm like, went to Coffs Harbour High School, I'm a grandmother from Sydney and I feel like I was born for the role that I'm in now and that's not what those other people are saying that think they're ready for the role. So we just need to make sure that we're open to people with the right, you know, we need capability.

that sit across the scale and we need…

we need every kind of skill set in the business and that comes from a diverse workforce. It doesn't come from a workforce that all looks the same and we're all responsible for that. you know, as a female leader, I've got four daughters who are now also in the workforce and I look at the journey they're on and some of their experiences. so I'd love to say, it's totally changed. It's completely different. You know, it's just, it's an even road for everyone, but it's just not. We have to be aware of pay gaps. We have to be aware

of opening the door, we have to be aware of the perceptions like I said at the beginning of this question that are in the room and you have to sometimes I'm like should I have spoken up then or shouldn't I? Maybe it's in a social setting or maybe it's in a work setting and I think it's always the right thing to do if you're promoting equity.

Sean Callanan (35:54)
Ab ab absolutely. And other than calling it out calling out the rubbish that you got i got in the text, what advice do you have for listeners to help champion that, whether they be, you know, old white guys like myself or or or or or people, you know, people of diverse backgrounds trying to work their way into the industry?

Bec Haagsma (36:15)
It's, mean, it's just that constant check on your bias, like constantly.

I'll often say I've got a conscious bias and then I'll be like, well, I'm saying it, but it's actually unconscious because I had to pull it out and claim it in that way. And yeah, I think it's looking around the room going, or looking at that panel and going, hang on a sec, what's happened here? We're all of one gender on the stage or we're all of this experience. So we've just put that working group or that steer group, steer co together and everyone's got 20 years experience and they're from the same

suburb or of the same gender and it should just be a constant question. Maybe AI can help us with that Sean, maybe there's some agents and some prompts that actually bring it right to the front because sometimes you like you get there but 10 steps too late.

Sean Callanan (37:09)
So so yes it could, 'cause it does like we said, it does give you that superpower, but I've been reading a a a book on AI and you've also got to be mindful of the biases that AI has for the data

Bec Haagsma (37:22)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (37:23)
that it's ingested. Like if it's ingested a lot of content and it's come from a male point of view or a certain point of view, that's that's

Bec Haagsma (37:30)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (37:31)
what it's gonna re report back. So even that tweak of you know, it it it gives you your analysis of the fan or the project or the product.

Like going back to the going back to the prompt or going back to the LM and saying, you know, does this cater for a br a diverse group or, you know, have you looked at it from a diversity point of view is still a question you still gotta ask ask AI.

Bec Haagsma (37:53)
Yeah, yeah. think the other, and the other angle for us at the AFL is, you know, the AFLW competition is now into its 11th season. And we, when we think about fandom and everything we've been talking about, there's the fandom funnel and the fandom scale, and it's different for AFLW, and that's actually, so the question actually we asked and we spoke to a lot of sporting organisations in the US about is, should the fan funnel be the same, should you try to replicate the men's in women's,

or not.

Actually fandom in the W game, it's player led across all sports but very player

Sean Callanan (38:31)
Yep.

Bec Haagsma (38:31)
led in W and allowing and encouraging and sitting in that sense of we want W to be bold and we want the players to be bold and we don't want to constrain that. We want them to be who they are and some of them might want to be bold and some might not want to be bold and that's okay and freeing up and having a different lens to how we approach fandom.

the brand of footy that sits in W is also important as well and it's complex to negotiate creating something that from a brand and a fandom perspective, it's not a cookie cut of the same thing that's been happening for 150 years and making sure that you're respectful of the athletes and the code and driving growth and athleticism and fandom

in a maybe a different way, not because they're women, but because the fans of the game are coming from different places and are in some ways more diverse, is a really interesting and exciting opportunity for us.

Sean Callanan (39:41)
absolutely, but like how has like you've been in the AFL now for for obviously on the side but now internally, like relearning how to do that when you've had a hundred and fifty years of this is how we've done it and this is what's worked and look at us how well it's gone in the on the men's side, how's that transformation like 'cause it's a bit like baby giraffe walking. You've you've got to learn to walk again because it is, you know, you've sort of gonna say, we are gonna have this as a clean slate either

Bec Haagsma (40:08)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (40:08)
because this is what we want to do or

these are the fans that are coming and they don't fit in this model. They just get stuck because they don't they don't fit. How's

Bec Haagsma (40:15)
Yeah, yeah.

Sean Callanan (40:16)
that learning and I guess changing of behaviour been for W? Because I think it's I think it's happened with AFL W and a lot of the W sports and the women's sports in internationally in here that it that it is a different model and the fandom journey is different. How hard has

Bec Haagsma (40:33)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (40:33)
it been or that transition period to get the org, you know, to get the AFL to change its behavior a little bit to understand that?

Bec Haagsma (40:40)
I think I'd say my one word summary of it is it's exciting. it is,

because you have to go into a slightly different gear and lane, but it's a really exciting one to be in. Women's sport is on a huge growth trajectory globally. So that's how exciting to be here in season 11 and to know that we're moving in a trajectory that looks like this. And to know that we're in an age and a world where sport is an entertainment product and this product is led by the game, but also by culture.

by fashion, by music. So bringing those elements in is really exciting and Laura Kane is an exceptional leader of AFLW and exceptional executive and and her you know she's in the embracing of let's just go for it like let's not let let's absolutely go for this and what that means and the opportunity for us to offer this growth opportunity to what is the

largest playing group in women's sport in the world. AFLW has over 540 athletes that are part of the professional ecosystem which is bigger than any other sporting league in the world. It's incredible. So it's exciting but yeah it's hard at times and challenging and we have to check ourselves and you know there's a sort of like should we really be going with that? Like it's easy it's easier to go the other way so it's harder but harder things generally give you a better results and they're more exciting to be part of.

So keeps you fresh.

Sean Callanan (42:20)
absolutely. I normally finish by asking what's excited you over the next eighteen months. I think you answered a lot of it there with with with what W but looking at both W and your and your broader role, what does excite you over the next twelve to eighteen months and what you what you've got in your roadmap?

Bec Haagsma (42:35)
I think being halfway through season two for me at the AFL and having a clear vision, strategic vision, Footy fans future, and then in my own portfolio of customer, consumer and commercial and technology, being really clear around our vision to unite the fan and technology and marketing piece now, having done a fair bit of work in the content and digital side at the back end of last year, I'm excited that we're set up organisationally to now

start to really deliver different experiences for fans and starting to see them roll out.

I'm a Swans fan so I was going to say last night's game was pretty exciting up until the last little bit. So excited to see where the season goes for men's and then the England, the Australia Island game. The World Cup's got me all confused about

Sean Callanan (43:28)
Yeah.

Bec Haagsma (43:29)
my sports. The Australia Island game, the first international for AFLW is going to be an absolute cracker at North Sydney Oval so can't wait to experience that in the crowd with the fans. Our chairman does a great job, our new chairman Craig Drummond.

has this thing, he goes out into the crowd, he goes to the official functions and then just off he goes and occasionally we go with him and I spent a lot of games on the weekends just sitting in the crowd not at a function and just watching that evolution that we're going to deliver for fans and the next iteration of what we do on the digital platforms like things like last night. I'm just excited to do it with the organisation set and the strategy set underneath us.

Sean Callanan (44:11)
absolutely. Well I wanna get to the sports geek closing five, Bec. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Bec Haagsma (44:18)
So I was like, I can't remember which one it is. So my dad was a professional runner. So we used to travel all around the country going to gifts, but he also

Sean Callanan (44:26)
Yep.

Bec Haagsma (44:26)
played footy for Eastern Suburbs in Sydney, Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs at Trumper Park. And I distinctly remember I was about three or four waving the red, white and blue paper streamers for dad. Hopefully he was playing in a grand final or maybe it was just a normal game. So was either that or attending the Coon and Barabarang gift watching dad run.

Sean Callanan (44:45)
terrific. and you would have been a lot of sports events in your time. do you have a favorite food or a a go to food at a sports event?

Bec Haagsma (44:54)
So I'm very happy that food has evolved a lot at sporting events, so I'm a bit of a protein freak. And so now my go-to is a chicken and chive dumpling, which most venues do either through a food truck or at venues now really, really well. So used to be hot chips, but then I got older and had to rely on protein more.

Sean Callanan (45:13)
yeah, absolutely. And and and we are thankful that food has evolved all you know,

Bec Haagsma (45:17)
you

Sean Callanan (45:18)
at at sport. what's the first app you open in the morning?

Bec Haagsma (45:22)
Okay, this is going to live up to my at Werdel. I'm a Werdel freak still. So I open up

Sean Callanan (45:28)
That's

Bec Haagsma (45:29)
my Werdel and my mum, my husband and I compete.

Sean Callanan (45:33)
so what's your streak up to?

Bec Haagsma (45:35)
Oh gosh, so when I was in the US I dropped out, because you know when you're in a time zone it drops you out? So I'm only up to about 20 now,

Sean Callanan (45:41)
Yeah, you lose your time zone. Yeah, I know. That's the

Bec Haagsma (45:45)
but I've been going since 2022 I think.

Sean Callanan (45:50)
No, no exactly. That is a pain when you're when you're you know, you're happy to be gamified and and the and the d time zone breaks it for you.

Bec Haagsma (45:57)
Yet,

Sean Callanan (45:58)
is there is there someone that you follow, it might be a it might be a colleague, it might be an author, it might be someone online, that the podcast listeners should give a follow to and why?

Bec Haagsma (46:08)
I've got two faves at the moment and it changes obviously all the time but a constant for about the last 18 months, two years is Evan Shapiro. He maps the media universe, he's a cartographer

Sean Callanan (46:23)
Okay.

Bec Haagsma (46:24)
of the media universe and he is…

He's a predictor of the future of media and he has these amazing maps that look like maps of the world and if you look back over the last five years where the money is and where the audiences are in the media space and the role that sport plays in that I find him incredibly interesting. He's very very opinionated. He has no halfway with Shapiro and so E-SHAAP is one

Sean Callanan (46:52)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Bec Haagsma (46:53)
to follow.

Sean Callanan (46:55)
Absolutely. I'll check I'll check him out. Sends a little

Bec Haagsma (46:56)
Kate, and my

other favourite at the moment is Sophie Cunningham plays for the Indiana Fever and I just love her vibe and her energy on her socials. I was lucky enough to go see them play recently. She was injured, Caitlin Clark was playing, but Sophie Cunningham and her pointing finger is my, I wake up in the morning and go, what's she done?

Sean Callanan (47:11)
Yeah, I will yeah, well that's that'll be the promo image for this podcast. It'll be Sophie pointing to this episode. we'll we'll we'll go with that. And then lastly

I always ask, you can put your AFL hat on and you can put your personal hat on, but what social media platform is your is your VP?

Bec Haagsma (47:29)
I'm an Instagram. I'm a prolific poster myself and and I just It would be my second opening of the morning word or and then a quick check of Instagram Whether it's to see what my kids are up to to follow what's happening sport overnight Although I'm not a snapchatter, but but I'm super interested in Harland the Norwegian players snapchat It's it's been pretty intriguing to watch the people fall in love with him over the World Cup and his snapchat

Sean Callanan (47:58)
Yep.

Bec Haagsma (47:59)
Snapchat is like really short and sharp and pretty cute so I'm tempted to venture to Snapchat just for that.

Sean Callanan (48:06)
Yeah, but the good thing is about it, Instagram, like all the stuff that ends up on TikTok or Snapchat normally ends up on Instagram anyway. It sort of seems to be the final

Bec Haagsma (48:13)
Yeah, yeah.

Sean Callanan (48:14)
the final landing place for mo for most. Bec,

Bec Haagsma (48:17)
Yep. Yep.

Sean Callanan (48:19)
thank you very much for coming on the podcast. I always ask people who listen who get some value to to reach out and say thank you. What's the what's the best platform for people to do that for you?

Bec Haagsma (48:30)
For me, you can find me on LinkedIn at Bec Hagsma and yeah, I think that would be a great place to connect with any listeners and yeah, happy for any feedback as well.

Sean Callanan (48:42)
Well, thank you very much. All the best for the rest of the AFL season with the with the finals coming up.

Bec Haagsma (48:48)
Thank you, Sean. All the best to you and your pies. And thanks for having me. Really enjoyed it.

Sean Callanan (48:55)
And I'd stop.

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Learn MoreResources from the podcast Please connect with Bec Haagsma on LinkedIn. Let her know you listened to the episode. Please say thank you if you do connect. * Head to AFL's website for more * Give our new Daily podcast a listen – Sports Geek Rapid Rundown*. * Podcast episodes you should listen to: + Matthew Pavlich from AFL to startup world + AFLW players leading the way for girls to play footy + AFL, Audiences & Growth with Darren Birch * Throwback episodes you may have missed: + Impact of the AFLW, Nick Truelson + Attracting the fans of the future, Nick Ryan + Stadium tech & fan experience redevelopment, Scott Fitzgerald * Check out DanDoesFooty Watchalong discussed on the podcast Podcast highlightsHighlights from episode 454 with Bec Haagsma:

• • 01:59 Career origin – a lifelong fan who started outside sport
  • 03:10 From the Museum of Sydney to Nine Jump In (now 9Now)
  • 07:18 Has anyone heard of Google? – being early, at Reed Elsevier
  • 08:34 I am by no means a technologist – a humanities leader in a tech role
  • 10:19 Why the best technologists are translators
  • 10:49 First days at the AFL – the All-Stars game in Perth
  • 13:15 The big lesson: you need a season, not a 90-day plan
  • 16:26 The Dan Gorringe watch-along
  • 18:41 Rising tides lift all ships – collaborating with creators
  • 20:40 Consolidating product, fan and technology under one roadmap
  • 22:09 Footy, fans and future – membership as the North Star
  • 23:37 Getting crisper about which fan
  • 27:03 AI is data – governance, responsible use and AI champions
  • 30:41 Bringing the photo archive to life – AI and fan belonging
  • 32:20 Unlocking the archive so creatives can create
  • 33:23 Women in tech and leadership – progress and the work still to do
  • 33:41 Are you the secretary? – the story that still happens
  • 34:58 A 50/50 exec team, and bias at both ends of the age scale
  • 35:58 I was born for this role – reframing who belongs
  • 37:45 The constant check on your bias
  • 38:39 Watching for bias baked into AI
  • 39:22 AFLW season 11 – player-led, bold, and unapologetically different
  • 41:10 Relearning fandom for the W game (the baby giraffe)
  • 43:48 What excites Bec over the next 12-18 months
  • 45:40 Sports Geek Closing Five Digital To Dollars is the five-pillar process pro teams and leagues have used for a decade to turn digital audiences into revenue, and it’s about to be available as a self-paced program.

Join The WaitlistListen To Sports Geek Apple Podcasts * Spotify * Pocket Casts * YouTube * RSS feed * Hosted by Sean Callanan Reach sports business decision-makers through trusted contentRecent Sports Geek Reads FIFA’s World Cup Sell-Off Crisis, Palace’s B2B Sponsorship Shift & PGA Tour-LIV Golf Talks End * EA’s $55B Gaming Model, LIV’s New Investor & Premier League’s US Tour * AFL Secret Concussion Deal, FIFA World Cup Sell-Off & DAZN’s RSN Play * Record Padres Sale, MLB’s Local Media Overhaul & World Cup Governance * From WWE’s $1.7B Revenue Machine to Savannah Bananas’ Anti-Scalper Playbook * FIFA Drops World Cup Stake Sale, F1 Gets AWS Strategy Insight & Meta’s $145B AI Bet * Sign up for Sports Geek Reads Daily Email

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Media & EntertainmentTony Romo, CBS and the ‘Worst Contract in Media History' – The Athletic

What Romo's megadeal says about valuing broadcast talent.

US, Media-Rights, Broadcasting, Talent, NFL

NHL Launches Centralized Production Operation for Regional Broadcasts; Four Teams Aboard To Start – Sports Video Group *

NHL centralises production to cut costs and boost quality.

US, NHL, MediaRights, Production, Technology

Netflix Reportedly Paid $200 Million for 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup Rights in the U.S. and Canada – Yahoo Finance

Why Netflix is betting big on Women's World Cup rights.

US, Media Rights, Streaming, Women's Sport, Football

Geek OutMarquee, an AI-Native Decision Layer for Professional Sports Organizations, Raised $6.5 Million – GlobeNewswire

New funding for an AI “brain” sitting across club data.

Global, Sports Tech, AI, Data, Clubs

AIHarvard Business Review Warns AI ‘Workslop' Is Rotting Companies From the Inside – TNW

The risk of low-quality AI output flooding organisations.

Global, AI, Governance, Productivity, Risk

AI will make content infinite. Human taste will decide what matters. – TNW

In an infinite content world, curation becomes your edge.

Global, AI, Content, Media, Strategy

Make You ThinkQueensland Unveils Victoria Park Legacy Plan Built Around Year-Round Sport and Events – Ministry of Sport

How Brisbane's Olympic legacy precinct aims for year-round impact.

AU, Olympics, Urban Development, Event Planning, Infrastructure

Why Japan has the world's best trains – Morning Brew

Lessons from Japanese rail for stadium and precinct planning.

JP, Infrastructure, Urban Development, Stadium Precincts, Strategy

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Key ReadsInfantino Calls Off Plan to Sell Stakes in World Cup – Front Office Sports *

World Cup stake sale collapse reshapes FIFA's commercial strategy.

Global, FIFA, World Cup, Sponsorship, Governance

Club Sportico: FIFA's $4B Selloff Is About Buying More Power – Sportico *

Deep dive on politics behind FIFA's abandoned stake sale.

Global, FIFA, Finance, Soccer, World Cup

NCAA Athletes From Class of 2022 Can Get 5th Year of Eligibility: Federal Ruling – Front Office Sports *

Eligibility ruling with major knock‑ons for rosters and revenue.

US, NCAA, College Sports, Law, Eligibility

DC Open Quadruples Revenues: How It Rewrote Its Economics – Sportico *

Playbook for turning a mid‑tier tournament into a cash machine.

Global, Tennis, Revenue, Marketing, Sponsorship

Financial Institutions lead commercial shift in US College Athletics with landmark University partnerships – Sports Mint

Banks and fintechs drive next wave of college sports deals.

US, NCAA, Sponsorship, College Athletics, Marketing

Professional SportsGianni sees stars and Ryder Cup earns Stripes – SportBusiness

Ryder Cup and Mercedes F1 show sponsorship still innovating.

UK/EU, Sponsorship, Ryder Cup, Mercedes F1, Marketing

Doing the Fandango: Bundesliga's new US deals – SportBusiness

Bundesliga doubles down on US growth with fresh partnerships.

UK/EU, Bundesliga, US Market, Sponsorship, Media Rights

DirecTV Will Carry NFL Sunday Ticket for Bars, After All – Sportico

Commercial venues remain a battleground for NFL distribution.

US, NFL, Media, Broadcasting, Rights

College Football Playoff Expansion Remains Stalled As Season Approaches – Front Office Sports

Stalled playoff expansion keeps media and sponsorship in limbo.

US, College Sports, Media, Sponsorship, Economics

Digital & SocialFormer Tennis Pro on Influencers Swarming Grand Slams: ‘Done a Lot for the Sport' – Front Office Sports

How influencer invasions are changing tennis event marketing.

Global, Tennis, Social Media, Marketing, Influencers

Formula 1 2026: perché la batteria è sparita dallo schermo (ed è una decisione di marketing) – RTR Sports Marketing

F1 tweaks on‑screen data to serve storytelling over nerdiness.

UK/EU, Formula 1, Technology, Marketing, Broadcast

What the NFL Should Learn From the World Cup's Bar Boom – Sportico

World Cup watch‑party strategy offers lessons for the NFL.

US, NFL, Marketing, Fan Engagement, Media

Media & EntertainmentCBS-NFL Renewal Urgency Eases With Paramount-Warner Deal Stalled – Sportico

Corporate drama reshapes leverage in next NFL rights talks.

US, NFL, Media Rights, Broadcasting

Netflix and AMC Global Media have struck a five-year, $500m co-exclusive deal for the entire The Walking Dead universe — all six spin-offs and some 371 episodes – Hollywood Reporter

Co-exclusive mega‑deal hints at future sports rights sharing.

US, MediaRights, Streaming, ContentStrategy, Global

Disney is selling its 50% stake in A+E Global Media (A&E, History, Lifetime and A+E Studios) to co-owner Hearst for north of $1 billion in an all-cash deal – Deadline

Disney reshapes portfolio to fuel its streaming ambitions.

US, MediaRights, Streaming, BusinessStrategy, Global

Geek OutBuilding Cloud Environments for Coding Agents – Cursor

How to let AI safely ship real product code at scale.

Global, AI, Engineering, SportsTech, Productivity

How to Improve Website Performance: Best Practices for Faster Sites – Webflow

Essential performance tactics to boost ticketing and sponsor ROI.

Global, Web Performance, Ticketing, Sponsorship

AIModel Memory Predicts Which Brands Get Searched – GeoSurge *

Why AI ‘memory' decides which sponsors and vendors exist.

Global, AI, Search, Sponsorship, SportsTech

Mark Zuckerberg predicts that billions of people will have personal AI agents in five years – TechCrunch

Personal agents could become primary channel for fan engagement.

Global, AI, Fan Engagement, Sponsorship, CRM

Make You ThinkThe $20bn AI fund that bet big on the future — and got hit by a margin call – Financial Times

AI investing's boom‑bust cycle offers lessons for sports deals.

Global, AI, Investment, Sports Business Strategy, Governance

Oregon State WBB Players Seek Union Status in Historic Move – Sportico

Union push signals where athlete employment rights may head.

US, NCAA, Employment, Labour, Legal Issues

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Key ReadsA World Cup Preying on Fomo: Fifa's 2026 Ticket Scheme is a Late-capitalist Hellscape – The Guardian *

FIFA's 2026 ticketing scrutinised in marketing context.

FIFA, World Cup, Ticketing, Technology, Marketing

Ticketmaster: Wins $100 million Venues NSW ticketing contract, beating Ticketek – AFR *

Ticketmaster wins major NSW contract.

Ticketing, Sports Business, Technology, Marketing, Sponsorship

Netflix Expected to Make Champions League Bid – Boardroom *

Netflix eyes Champions League rights.

Media Rights, Sports Media, UEFA, Streaming

Standoff Over WNBA's Future Has Dominated Finals – Front Office Sports

WNBA CBA negotiations spotlight league's future.

WNBA, Collective Bargaining, Finance, Sports Management

Professional SportsClippers' Aspiration Fiasco Recalls Another Doomed NBA Sponsorship – Front Office Sports

Examining Clippers' sponsorship scandal.

NBA, Sponsorship, Marketing, FTX, Scandal

How the NHL Looks Out for Small Markets as Salary Caps Rise – Sportico

NHL supports small markets amid cap increases.

NHL, Hockey, Leagues, Salary Caps

Digital & SocialInstagram at 15: From Photo App to an Undeniable Cultural Powerhouse – Boardroom *

Instagram's evolution over 15 years.

Instagram, Social Media, Marketing, Branding

Geek outOlympics-Google to power LA28 with cloud infrastructure, AI tools – Yahoo Finance *

Google's tech enhances LA2028 Olympics.

Olympics, Technology, AI, Infrastructure

USC Annenberg's Next Level Sports study analyzes rise of athlete-owned media – Sports Business Journal *

Athlete media ownership reshapes sports narratives.

Athlete Media, Sports Marketing, Media, Influence

AIOpenAI unveils AI model integration strategy – Verdict

OpenAI's approach to integrating AI models.

AI, Technology, Integration, OpenAI

Meta and OpenAI are Rolling Out New AI Video Tools – Axios

AI video tools transform content creation.

AI, Video, Technology, Social Media, Content Creation

Make you thinkHow Gambling Companies Are Copying the Big Tobacco Playbook in Australian Sport – The Conversation

Gambling and sports sponsorship ethics.

Sports, Marketing, Sponsorship, Gambling, Regulation

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Key ReadsPrivate equity's entry into NWSL – The Athletic *

Impact of private equity in NWSL growth.

Private Equity, NWSL, Women's Sports, Sports Investments

LeBron's Corniest Decision Ever? – The Athletic

LeBron James' impact on NBA marketing.

NBA, Marketing, Sponsorship

NFL regular season at best mark since 2010 – Sports Business Journal *

Insights into NFL TV viewership dynamics.

TV Ratings, Audience Analytics, Sports Media, NFL

Sony Acquires GPS Wearable Company StatSports – Sports Business Journal *

StatSports acquisition enhances sports tech.

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Digital & SocialNow There’s An Oscars For Instagrammers – Cosmopolitan *

Impact of Instagram's new creator awards.

Social Media, Marketing, Influencer

Media & EntertainmentAmazon's Prime Video Unwraps Its NBA Sponsorship Playbook – Sportico *

Amazon's NBA strategy supports sports media.

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Ari Emanuel's New Endeavor – Future Party

New ventures across sports and entertainment.

Investment, Entertainment, Sports Business

Geek outAI Mode Can Now Help You Search and Explore Visually – Google

Visual search enhances sports content interaction.

AI, Visual Content, Marketing, Technology

How I Integrated Snyk Into AI-Driven Development at Clermont Digital – DeveloperSteve

Security in AI-driven development for sports tech.

AI, Security, Technology

AITurn Customer Feedback Into Action With Generative AI – Teradata Insights

Generative AI improves sports fan engagement.

AI, Customer Service, Sports Marketing, Sponsorship

OpenAI's Nick Turley on Transforming ChatGPT into an Operating System – TechCrunch *

AI integration in OS enhances fan engagement.

AI, Technology, Fan Engagement, Innovation

Make You ThinkState of AI Report 2025 – State Of AI

AI trends critical for sports business innovation.

AI, Analytics, Sports Business, Technology, Trends

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Andy Burt from episode 380

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Andy and Sean discusses:

• NZR+ offers free content globally, including broadcasting matches in “dark markets” without existing broadcast deals, such as India, China, and Portugal
• The platform combines archival content (100+ hours) with premium original programming, featuring collaborations with prominent figures like director Taika Waititi
• NZR targets key growth markets like the USA, leveraging the upcoming LA Olympics (2028) and Rugby World Cups (2031/2033)
• Partnerships with content creators like Dude Perfect help reach new audiences, with recent collaborations generating millions of views
• The platform serves dual purposes: immediate fan growth while collecting valuable audience data for future strategic decisions Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So there's a few things there. I mean, creating NZR+, which is the first thing, it's a free streaming platform, which is sort of the opposite of a lot of the other building out your streamers and, it's going to be a revenue builder. Was it primarily that growth message? And then obviously, the geek and the data geek inside me also goes, well, there's a data piece there and you're starting to get better information on some of those audiences. But it really sort of generated from a growth position and looking to grow audiences both in New Zealand, but more likely internationally.

Andy Burt: Yeah, absolutely. So definitely a growth proposition. And you know, the data, of course, is an important aspect of that. And perhaps, as we grow bigger and bigger, that will become even more important. But at the outset, it's purely a growth mechanism. So New Zealand has a population of five million people. It's a number one sport here. But if we look at rugby globally, according to the IOC, there's 500 million people identify as rugby fans. So it's 495 million people outside of New Zealand. And when you look at the All Blacks and Black Ferns being the biggest brand in the game, it's a huge opportunity for us to capture a lot of those audiences. And we thought the best way to do it was to build this free platform and provide great free content to the world and really grow the sport globally.

Andy Burt: And the other thing we're doing at NZR+ is we're taking rugby to dark markets around the world for free. So that's markets around the world that don't have a broadcast deal. And we're talking some pretty big markets, India, for example, Sri Lanka, China, Portugal, Netherlands. So if they don't have a broadcast deal for say Super Rugby, we're reaching our finals this weekend or All Blacks Test Matches, we'll take it to those markets for free. So that's we're just introducing rugby to more and more people around the world. We want to grow fandom in this game. We see a huge opportunity to really capture that. You know, there's 500 million people around the world that identify as fans to bring them into the tent. And also not only that, I'm sure there's more fans out there to be discovered of this great game of rugby.

Sean: And from an initial build point of view, how much of it was archive content that you had and was a bit of an aggregator and tagging and all those things. So it has this, it's similar to why Disney created Disney Plus. They had a whole back catalog and that's why a lot of people, but then the thing is to also be producing new content to drive people in. How do you sort of keep that cadence going?

Andy Burt: Yeah, and it's a real mix of both. I think in terms of archive, that's such a strong piece. And we've got a partner actually based in Melbourne where you live, Inverley, who we work with. So they've got access to our archive and we produced a whole bunch of base content to fill out the platform. So things like we'll create short films on moments in time. In 1992, the All Blacks played a centenary series against the World 15. Now this was a three test series involved all the greatest players from around the world.

And that series hadn't seen the light of day since 1992. It was on free to air TV in New Zealand and never been screened since then it's been locked away in an archive. So we got a hold of those three games. We produce a documentary on that. There's a great piece of archival content for the platform. They've been running through our highlight packages over the course of 30 plus years, creating various packages. We've got ex-players sitting down in a room interviewing them about moments in time. So basically it's a whole big archival project, which has filled out about a hundred hours of just archival content alone.

Remixed archive, which fans haven't seen for many years fills out the platform. And then on top of that, we've got what we'd call premium original content where we've, last year being a World Cup year as well, of course, a lot of this was World Cup focused, but we've got someone like Taika Waititi who is a Hollywood director, rugby fan himself, former rugby player. We got him to travel throughout France and do Taika's rugby road trip throughout France. And we put that on the platform. So really have a big pull to go beyond rugby.

And reach a much wider audience, which Taika does. We had our All Blacks and Black Ferns behind the scenes documentaries. We have Richie McCaw sit down with Thierry Dusautoir, who is the former French legend. They sat down and talked about France versus All Blacks. Things like that. So we really fill it out with our premium original content, balanced out with our archival content. And also beyond that, we just pulled in a whole bunch of licensed content. Things like rugby adjacent content.

Kids content, reality shows which feature rugby elements, all this type of stuff, just to really provide a great variety of content for audiences. So it doesn't matter if you're a rugby fan or not, we've got content on there that will appeal to anyone globally.

Connect with Andy BurtListen to full episodeListen To Sports Geek Apple Podcasts * Spotify * Pocket Casts * YouTube * SEN * RSS feed * Hosted by Sean Callanan Recent Sports Geek Reads FIFA’s World Cup Pricing Scheme, Netflix’s Champions League Bid & Google AI for LA28 * Private Equity in NWSL, NFL TV ratings and Instagram Rings * NCAA Betting Rule Change, FIFA’s Global Games & Celebrity Marketing Stunts * How Music Licensing Could Cost Your Brand Millions * Golf Battle, Open AI bigger than SpaceX, Lessons from Leaders * NBA in Australia, VIP gambler steals millions, Meta AI chat targeting * Sign up for Sports Geek Reads Daily Email

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Key ReadsNCAA to Allow Athletes to Bet on Pro Sports in Major Rule Change – Sports Illustrated *

NCAA changes betting rules for athletes

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Rays Owner Eyes New ‘Forever Home' Like Atlanta's Battery – Front Office Sports *

Plans for new stadium like The Battery

MLB, Real Estate, Sports Business, Revenue

FIFA approves European league games abroad – The Athletic

Games to be played abroad is sanctioned

FIFA, Soccer, International Marketing, Sports Events

Professional SportsNHL Skates Into Season With Record Revenue, Rising Cap, and Labor Peace – Front Office Sports

Record revenue reported as NHL season starts

NHL, Media Rights, Revenue, Player Contracts, Sports Business

Meet Carlie Irsay-Gordon, the headset-wearing, innovative-thinking new owner of the Colts – Indianapolis Star *

Meet the NFL's innovative Colts owner Carlie Irsay

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Digital & SocialHow interactive overlays are changing sports streaming – Insider Sport *

Interactive overlays reshape sports streaming

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Why Platforms Are Phasing Out Hashtags – The Etymology Nerd *

Social media evolves by phasing hashtags

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Media & EntertainmentTaylor Swift's Aggressive Marketing Guarantees Success – The Conversation

Taylor Swift's marketing insights for success

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Make you thinkCelebrities Keep Turning Surprise Announcements Into Marketing – The Future Party *

Celebrities use surprises for marketing impact

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Key ReadsSCA Merger an Unorthodox Lifeline for Sinking Seven – Crikey *

Explores media and sponsorship developments.

Media, Sponsorship, Business

The NFL Likely Provides The Best Benefits Of Any Company In America – Forbes *

Insight into NFL's exceptional benefits package.

NFL, Benefits, Employment, Sports Management

Why That Trending Song Could Cost Your Brand Millions 🎶 – Linsday Gamble *

Risk of using music in campaigns.

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Professional SportsAmazon Adds Golf to Its Packed Black Friday Sports Lineup With NFL, NBA – Front Office Sports

Amazon's expansion in sports broadcasting.

Amazon, Sports Media, Streaming, Golf

F1 2025 promised a tight championship. McLaren's bold car design made it a rout – NY Times

Car design impacts competitive dynamics.

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Media & EntertainmentCreate UGC-style marketing videos with Sora 2 – The Rundown AI

For sports marketing teams enhancing fan engagement.

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Dems Play It SAFE on College Athlete Organizing Rights – Sportico *

Examines legislation impacting college athletes.

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Geek outGoogle DeepMind's CodeMender – Google *

AI automatically patches software vulnerabilities.

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Agentic AI: Implementing Long-Term Memory – Data Science Collective

Advancements in AI technology.

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Spotify Picks in ChatGPT – Spotify

AI-driven media personalization.

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Make you thinkWhen Knowledge Work Becomes Professional Sports – Medium

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Key ReadsLIV Golf vs. PGA Tour: The Real Numbers Behind Golf's Billion-Dollar Battle – Huddle Up *

Analysing LIV Golf and PGA's rivalry

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The NBA's New AI Stats from Amazon's AWS Will Change the Game – Boardroom *

AI innovations in NBA analytics

NBA, AI, Technology, Data

OpenAI becomes world's largest startup, surpassing SpaceX – AP News *

OpenAI's valuation impacts sports tech

AI, Technology, Investment, Media, Sports Business

5 Trends Shaping the Future of Sports Marketing from Leaders Week 2025 – Behind Sport *

Future sports marketing trends

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Professional SportsAWS becomes the engine behind the NBA's next tech leap – Sport Mint

NBA's partnership with AWS revolutionises experience

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Saudi Arabia sports sponsorship: Fifa, F1 and ICC challenged over Aramco deals – SportPro *

Examining sports sponsorship and ethics

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Digital & SocialHow Creators Turn Followers Into Income – Later *

Monetising social media attention

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Geek outHow to Make AI Write Less Like AI – Every

Improving AI-generated content

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This startup wants to put its brain-computer interface in the Apple Vision Pro – Wired *

Brain-computer interface for sports tech

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Make you thinkNot Your Grandpa's Nuclear – Morning Brew

Innovations in nuclear energy

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Key ReadsInside the charm offensive to woo the NBA to Australia – Sydney Morning Herald *

NBA's strategic push into Australia.

NBA, Marketing, Sponsorship, International Events, Sports Business

Betting Companies Keep VIP Gamblers' Stolen Millions – ABC News*

Investigates ethics in gambling sponsorships.

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NBCU, Google Ink Long-Term Carriage Deal for YouTube TV, Which Will Add Relaunched NBC Sports Network This Fall – Variety *

Key partnership shaping sports media.

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The NBA is partnering with AWS to launch Inside the Game – Amazon News

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Booming World Cup ticket prices outstrip everything except the Super Bowl – The New York Times *

World Cup ticket pricing insights.

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Professional SportsF1's Singapore Grand Prix declared a heat hazard: What does it mean for the race? – The Athletic

Impacts of climate on F1 races.

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Dallas Stars Eyeing Possible Move to Plano in 2031 – Front Office Sports

NHL team's potential relocation examined.

NHL, Real Estate, Stadiums, Urban Planning, Sports Management

Digital & SocialMeta Will Target Ads From Your AI Chats – TechCrunch *

Innovative ad targeting by Meta.

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Amazon says its AI will let NBA fans track brand-new stats – The Verge *

AI-driven NBA fan experience boost.

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Media & EntertainmentRed Sox-Yankees Hit Paydirt as MLB Looks to Cash in on Monster Season – Sportico *

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Geek outThe Future of AI Video is Ronald – Always Be Watching

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OpenAI hits $500 billion valuation – AP News *

OpenAI's valuation impacts AI growth.

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Make you thinkHow McLaren CEO Zak Brown Became the Highest-Paid Executive in Formula 1 – Huddle Up

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Key ReadsNBA Adds Advanced Defense, Shooting Stats With Amazon's AI – Sportico *

AI tech revolutionizes sports analytics.

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Sports and Fashion Are Tighter Than Ever. But Who's Really Winning? – Business of Fashion *

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The FT recently asked a good question: Is sport a necessity or a luxury? – Finanical Times

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Harlequins Extend Partnership with Mie Honda Heat – Sport Industry

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Colts' monstrous ticketing technology upgrade: Handheld scanners are (mostly) gone – Indy Star *

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Jen Fusci from episode 371

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Jen and Sean discusses:

• Understanding your audience is crucial – balancing services for die-hard season ticket holders while adapting to new customer demands
• Flexibility is now a primary consumer expectation – offering undated vouchers and variable ticket packages addresses this need directly
• Group sales remain an underutilised revenue stream that can offset changing individual consumer patterns
• Digital ticketing has transformed group sales from simple transactions to valuable data collection and fan acquisition opportunities
• Continuous adaptation of ticketing products is essential for sports organisations to remain competitive in the entertainment marketplace Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: And over your time, like customer behavior and ticketing product has vastly changed. You know, if you look back at your early days, you know, at the Mercury and some of your first stops, you would have been selling, you know, paper tickets, full season. And that was the product like, and there wasn't anything else. And now obviously the ticket product has changed in its variety, whether they be flex games and all these different options, but also the consumer has changed in that they…

Sean: They don't want to commit to a whole season. They've got other entertainment options. Obviously COVID's were a curve ball where people went and found other things to entertain them. So how has that, how has that changed, you know, your job and I guess kept it, kept it fresh and exciting because, you know, one, you've got new exciting ticketing products, but you've also got the challenge of customers being in, in wanting different things from, from the world of sport.

Jen: Absolutely. Yeah, it's a great question in that you really always have to be evolving, right? And listening to the customer feedback, I think, is really important. You know, on one hand, you always are going to have your core fans, your die-hard season ticket holders, people that want to be at every game. So how do you continue to make that a benefit and add value to that?

Core group of people that really are so important to your business while also adapting to the customer. And we are going on sale with our flex plans tomorrow. And it's something that it's undated vouchers that you can buy in different increments and use however you want throughout the season because flexibility is something that the consumers want right now. And if you're not willing to change or adapt,

That's something that I think you can kind of stumble over. And then I think two groups, group ticket sales is a space that, you know, while groups will change and evolve over time, of course, that's a sale that, and everybody can be a group buyer, right? And I think for the most part, that's an area that doesn't get enough attention or time or resources allocated to it.

And it's an area of the business that can really make such a big impact. So while the consumer as an individual is changing and you do have to find ways to adapt flexibility, providing value, ease of purchase, I think is something that you always have to be looking at and conversion rates, click through rates.

Pricing has to make sense and has to fit. But group sales is a great way to kind of counterbalance some of the things that are always changing on an individual consumer from an individual consumer standpoint.

Sean: I mean, the thing with group sales, you know, especially again, how the technology is definitely helping that because again, 10 years ago you would have sold 30 tickets to Joe and Joe would have just handed out the 30 tickets to 29 other people and you would be going great, awesome revenue, but you wouldn't know those 29 other people. Whereas now there, you know, it's digital ticketing. You're, you know, 29 of those people might be going to a wings game or a, or a Panther city lacrosse game for the first time. And so it starts at.

Jen: Okay.

Sean: conversation. So not only are you getting that revenue, that data and that new fan that's gone and experienced the game with friends. So it always elevates their experience because they have the joy of the group. I agree. It's an amazing opportunity. You've still got to play that seat Jenga that is part of ticketing. And where do you get them? How do you get them in? How do you make that experience good? But it is an amazing opportunity.

Jen: Absolutely.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Reshina Warren from the Women's Tennis Association

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• What Reshina has learned in digital and marketing working at Disney
• Reshina’s “Let them cook” approach, empowering teams to foster creativity
• Expanding player brands through connected storytelling
• Why digital and partnerships need to collaborate
• Why you can't just “Throw it on social!” Listen to Reshina Warren on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptInterview with Reshina WarrenThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)Sean (00:02.226)
Very happy to welcome Reshina Warren. She's the VP of Marketing and Social at the WTA, the Women's Tennis Association. Reshina, welcome to the podcast.

Reshina Warren (00:11.776)
Thanks, Sean. Thanks for having me.

Sean (00:14.0)
Not a problem at all. Not a problem at all. I always start my podcast trying to find out people's sports business origin story. How did you get your start in the world of sports?

Reshina Warren (00:23.854)
my gosh, it all started in the womb. But no, seriously, I grew up around sports and my entire family played sports. And so it was life. so growing up in kind of the 90s, I'm from Texas. you know, Cowboys, America's team, Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan and all of that. So sports was just really integrated seamlessly into my life.

And so.going into college. I actually have an accounting degree, is kind of, we can probably talk about that later. Maybe that is it. Yeah, you know what? Yeah, let's go over here and do this social media thing, which my mom was very happy about. She's like, what are you doing with your life? I think that was what my intention was when I said, I got really good scores in accounting and I'll do accounting. I know I don't want to do accounting.

Reshina Warren (01:14.338)
So, when I went to school, continued to, I played like a year of volleyball in college and just really, just was still a part of sports always. And I started to kind of look around online and I found teamwork online actually. And I found an internship for the Houston Comets. That kind of dates me a little bit because the Houston Comets.

They're no longer a part of the WNBA, but had an internship with the Houston Comets and I fell in love. And it was one of the most amazing experiences. I mean, I got to do, I grew up watching the Houston Comets. And so to be able to work for an organization, see Cynthia Cooper, Cheryl Swoops, Tina Thompson, and all of those amazing, mean, Hall of Famers being able to work with them, that was, was, was a great experience going into my last year of college. And so that was a summer internship.

And then I was just kind of on the, on the hunt to work in sports, finish my accounting degree, but was definitely on the hunt to work in sports. And so that was kind of my first, that was my first intro into the business side. And then I wanted to go into grad school and someone told me about the sports management program at the University of Central Florida. So the DeVos sport management program where I received a double master's in sport business and my master's in business administration. And so I went into that and kind of that just took off from there. My career took off from there.

Sean (03:00.262)
And so again, those getting that early tastes, you know, with some internships and sort of getting that wider, I guess, scene, you know, it you weren't just in the financial, you're looking at ticketing and operations and sponsorship activation and that kind of stuff. Was it just something that's like, I want to get into and just say, Hey, it's a space that I can apply my skillset.

Reshina Warren (03:14.988)
Yeah.

Well, was, you know, starting out, it was like I didn't even know I could work in sports. so no one in my family really knew about it. You just kind of saw the you just saw it on television, right? Or you went to the stadium and you saw it and you never thought about or at least I didn't as a young, immature child. I didn't didn't think about it. And and I just took the opportunity in my motto was basically, “let's get my foot in the door and see what I like, what I don't like”.

While I was, during my internship with the Houston Comets, I basically went around and I talked to different people. What do you do? And I, because it was an internship, I got a chance to shadow people, experience things. And then when I went into the sport business management program, I learned a whole different world being led under.

I was under the leadership of Dr. Richard Lapchick and Dr. Bill Sutton, is, know, Bill Sutton is, you know, those two are the goats right there. And so really opened my eyes and that program, the DeVos Board Business Management Program really opened my eyes as well because we were able to get real life experience. going into sponsorship activation for the Tulsa Shock, which I helped start that WNBA team.

Sean (04:22.034)
Yep, well known.

Reshina Warren (04:44.914)
Right after grad school, I did a sponsorship activation project for the Atlanta Hawks my last year. was kind of like our final thing and we were put into groups, groups of like four or five and we all had to pitch to the Atlanta Hawk executive. And so, and that was sponsorship activation. And so that gave me like, I think I want to do this because it was creative. was…

Reshina Warren (05:10.698)
merging brands, how can we activate different partners or go out to different partners and things like that. And so it really gave me a good taste of what I wanted to do. I just knew I didn't want to sell tickets. That was the one thing. It's, you know, I always, whenever I speak to students and things like that, it's just as important to figure out what you don't want to do as it is, you know, figuring out what you want to do. Because it just kind of marks it off, right? Like, I don't want to do that.

Sean (05:40.786)
Most definitely, but also you don't know sort of sport does offer all these different avenues and you sort of got to do a little bit of sampling of different things to know, you know, a lot of people who started sales because, you know, we always need to get the seats, cheeks on the seats, as I like to say, and, you know, understanding that as a marketer, but also understanding how you've got to work with those partners and those departments. So when you're looking at the world of sports, you're like, okay, I, you know, I played sport, I love sport, I want to work in sport and early on it's really

Reshina Warren (05:54.516)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Sean (06:10.446)
And then sometimes, you know, you talk to graduates or people early in their journey, they go, cool. I want to work at an NBA team or I want to work at an NFL team. And they get really narrow in their focus when sport is really wide, both in, you know, breadth of, I guess, teams and organizations, but then also on the, on the partner side, the people who are, you know, supplying technology and services to the world of sport. You spend some time at

Reshina Warren (06:24.353)
Yeah.

Sean (06:39.782)
New Lion, which is a streaming giant early in the space. Is that where you of one, learn a little bit more about sport from the other side of the business, but also it was still a relatively new time in the world of streaming. The term cable cutters was just starting to be invented. What was it like learning the ropes of marketing at a company like New Lion?

Reshina Warren (07:04.418)
Yeah, it was actually really great. And also it was a nine to five sports job. So that made it very rare. But, you know, I was looking at all of my friends working on it's like, yeah, I'm going home at 430. But it was great. And I didn't realize it at the time that I was really on the cusp of when I was on the working for a streaming technology. I call it a sports technology firm.

Sean (07:09.628)
Which is very rare, right? Yeah.

Reshina Warren (07:31.996)
I didn't realize where I was and that I was working for such a innovative company. They provided the streaming for NHL Network and things like that and really got into the college athletic space for streaming, streaming games and things. And so that was very eye opening for me. And we developed like… some of the first sports apps that came out and being on that side.

So I learned the technical side of sports. worked really close, well, even just the technical side of marketing and how closely I worked with my developers, learning about the user experiences and how to put together a website that was functional and high functioning for a user and using.

Reshina Warren (08:25.342)
I use Google analytics and all of that to make those decisions, to see where people were clicking and all of that. And so really got to do a deep dive into all of that. And it was, it was for sure a huge foundation of my career and my marketing journey and social journey, because my boss and I, I tell him all the time, I'm like, I'm not in this position. If you didn't tell me to take paid social for paid social seriously.

He told me he said, he said, he said, learn it. need you to learn it here, the tools, learn it. He said, that's going to take you far in the end. The rest is history right there.

Sean (08:54.854)
Yeah.

Sean (09:04.362)
I completely agree. mean, it like, you you did all your university and you did your MBA, but to be embedded in an organization where you've got your, you know, you got your sports kick on because you're like, you're in there helping design apps and, and design websites and user flows and that kind of stuff. But then to be integrating that paid piece, which again, in that 2014, 2018 range, know, fake meta was changing everything all the time, which they still do.

Reshina Warren (09:30.682)
Yes, still do.

Sean (09:31.666)
But you would have been early on the, know, hey, what does customer acquisition look like? How can we retarget customers? How can we, you know, pull them along the funnel, which, you know, when you're in a sports role, whether you're in a content team or it's like an ancillary thing, it's like, and please, can we do this? So to get that skill set, it's a real, yeah, really useful tool or skill in your skill set.

Reshina Warren (09:55.202)
Yeah, because so the minor league hockey teams, we basically started their digital marketing. So my boss, he was he started their like Google ads running that and it was subscription based and was really getting a generating a lot of revenue by doing that. And so we basically took that model. And at the time we had like Pac 12, you know, who is that Oklahoma?

UCF came along and we I basically kind of taught I was I Considered myself an extension of those athletic departments and then taught them how to Run digital and I would do it. I would run it for them or I'm a person who likes to teach I teach you how to fish I'm not going to to gatekeep my knowledge and so really looking at digital strategy and expanding that into the paid world.

Because at the end of the day, more revenue we generated for the colleges and those minor league hockey teams, then the more it was generated for us as well. We got a piece of that as well. And so that really set me up and me to learn customer journeys and looking at it and different ways and then it was a bit of a no pressure situation.

Whereas I think within a team there's a lot of pressure to sell the tickets and things like that, but this was an added bonus and an added service to these teams who were kind of just mostly paying for our website designs, our app designs, and then just paying for the streaming technology. We recognize and my boss recognized at the time that like, if we are able to do and invest some marketing into their streaming, then we can get a kickback of that. And it was definitely successful.

Sean (11:52.102)
Most definitely. We're definitely kindred spirits in helping more people understand, I guess, the commercial realities of digital and how you can bring in revenue. And so I think, you know, the fact that, you know, yes, there was the Trojan horse of, hey, we more streaming, we want more subscribers and we get more money. But like, that's how digital makes money. You know, getting more subscribers, getting more ticket sales and digitally savvy folk that are in the roles, whether they be digital or social or marketing that have that intention.

Reshina Warren (12:11.082)
Absolutely.

Sean (12:21.615)
And understand that is where you have the success and you become well aligned with your commercial folk. Because there's nothing like talking to your CFO and showing how much revenue your team brought in. And it's like you said, it does relieve that pressure.

Reshina Warren (12:34.368)
Yeah, for sure. But yeah, it was a great experience. And then from there, I got recruited. And I like to say, Disney made me choose a major. And so was recruited to run paid social for Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts, which that was a whole other layer of foundation that I was able to build.

Reshina Warren (13:02.104)
upon with my digital marketing experience and so working for a company like that it was it was a is really great and and i learned so much

Sean (13:13.278)
Again, you know, especially when you talk to people who have been in sport and then go to a corporate and vice versa, it you know, there is some real differences because of the, you know, Disney, arguably the biggest entertainment company in the world, you know, very absolute behemoth, but then also, you know, with a laser focus, if you're running social and running paid to get people into the parks, you know, that's what that's what you're tracking. again, like is

Reshina Warren (13:36.48)
Yeah.

Sean (13:39.612)
Like you said, going to Disney University effectively would have been an amazing experience.

Reshina Warren (13:45.098)
Yeah, yeah. And from there, I learned a lot more about audience segmentation. know, Disney is Disney. They're going to make their money, but they're also trying to figure out how to make more money. Right. And so how can we gain new customers? How do how can we acquire new customers? And so I was in charge of kind of the I was in charge of quite a few segments. But one of my larger segments was just the just that brand.

Awareness targeting people who weren't Disney people or who haven't raised their hand digitally that they're Disney people. So targeting vacation goers and people who like roller coasters and theme parks so that they can come and experience the Walt Disney World magic.

And so I was able to really… learn about the different audiences and how to be efficient with the spin that we had. And then I was able to take that into my next job, which was at the United States Tennis Association. Learning what I learned there at Disney definitely played a huge role in audience growth at the USDA.

Sean (15:01.542)
And so like you said, you went to the USTA, United States tennis association, it all like, were you always looking, even though you're in the world of sport, you're sort of, did you feel like you're a bit on the sidelines? You go, I want to get, I want to get closer to the action. Was that something that you were looking for?

Reshina Warren (15:14.112)
Okay.

Reshina Warren (15:18.274)
I was not, I was happy at Disney. had, you know, I worked for Walt Disney World during COVID. You know, I was definitely blessed to not be furloughed during that time. So I ran a lot of the organic for the organic strategy for Walt Disney World and about four other Walt Disney World parks accounts. And so I was one of, I think it was like 50 or 75 that kind of kept the lights on during that time.

And so a recruiter, I was recruited to go to the USDA. I was not looking, I had just gotten promoted. I was like, yes, Disney, I'm here for it. I was going into the parks, getting the Disney ears and I wasn't quite a Disney adult, but I appreciated what Disney, I appreciated.

Disney's Hustle and how they operated. I learned a lot just about brand safety and all of that. But a recruiter reached out to me, to recruit me to go to be the director of social media content strategy and analytics for the USTA US Open. So I wasn't looking.

Sean (16:26.504)
So that role, USTA, was obviously based in US and all the tournaments related to tennis across the US. What did that role entail?

Reshina Warren (16:36.599)

Yeah, you know, USTA is the national governing body of Tennis in America. So growing from a community standpoint. So we we had 17 sections that was running locally, local tennis facilities, clinics, whatever, to grow. And we wanted to get more rackets in people's hands. And so that was the nonprofit arm. And then on the other side of that was the U .S. Open.

Reshina Warren (17:09.967)
which you know just coming off the US Open and they just had another record -breaking year. So my team ran social for the USTA which was the community side but also for the US Open which is the pro side so we're looking at the top players top tennis players in the world whereas the USTA looking for me who is shank who's shaking the ball across the street.

Sean (17:32.83)
Yeah. So you have the same thing. I've got friends at Tennis Australia and they're and people always think, you don't do anything when the Australian opens on what do you do for the other 50 weeks of the year? It's like, yeah, there's a lot of work. There's all these other tournaments. There's all this participation. We don't just work for two weeks a year. But it is a common misconception. Yeah.

Reshina Warren (17:47.738)
Right, right, there's a lot of lead up. Yeah, there's a lot of lead up to that and they're like, well, it should be easy, right? Like it's just two weeks, it's just three weeks and I'm like, actually no, like if we only operated three weeks out of the year, we'd neglect our audience and so my team had an always on social media strategy so we covered the Australian Open.

Roland Garros and Wimbledon, like it was our own. We didn't have video rights, but we would make do with our rights with the video content that we did have. And then we would cover 1000s and so like Indian Wells, Miami Open and things like that. And to make sure our audience was informed. And I think that that helped in the success and the growth that we were able to see at the US Open and during the US Open.

Sean (18:39.11)
And it is a very collegial sport in that, you know, the Grand Slam, you know, once you start getting on that circuit of tennis, you do get to know all the different, you know, Grand Slams, the people are operating them and there is a, you know, and there's a circuit of people that travel around and do the same thing. So I've had, you know, a few guests from Tennis Australia and the like that are in that ecosystem. What was it like going into the world of tennis initially?

Reshina Warren (18:51.298)
It's a whole new world.

Reshina Warren (19:08.226)
It was different. was a, you know, I actually started after the 2021 US Open. So I started in October of 2021. So I actually had a year lead up, which ended up being Serena's last US Open or her last tennis grand slam or tennis match ever, at least for right now. And so it was different.

Sean (19:28.446)
Grand Slam.

Reshina Warren (19:37.731)
I had gone to the US Open before, hadn't really, I watched the Grand Slams. I love tennis because of the Williams sisters. So I really watched them. I didn't really follow tennis like that. And so getting into it, I'm like, wait, what is all of this? What are all these different tournaments? And so just really getting a chance to learn about the different tournaments, what it stands for, points and rankings and all of that.

and how it all comes together around these grand slams, you layering in the WTA, the ATP, what do we have rights to? The players, we really don't have rights to the players. There's no rights. That's one thing that we, I did a presentation at the National Sports Forum this past year, me and my social media manager and people were like, wait, hold on. don't,

Sean (20:19.612)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (20:31.712)
get time with these players, we're like, no, we are not contractually obligated. within the sports social media world, they refer to the social media managers as the admin. And so the admin has a close relationship with the NBA players, the NFL players, and things like that. That is not necessarily the case, especially for the US Open and the USTA. That's not necessarily the case. We see them maybe definitely once a year, maybe twice a year if we go to a different tournament.

to gather content because we try to get content leading up to the US Open for us to have or just to parse out content throughout the year as well. And so people are always shocked when I'm like, yeah, we have no contractual obligation. They have no contractual obligation to us at all. So if they want to skip our media station, they can. And so we have to kind of…

present compelling arguments and get very creative. You know, if you take a look at the US Open and the USTA social media accounts, they get very creative to get in front of audiences and get new audiences.

Sean (21:44.67)
Yeah, most definitely. mean, it does. We have the same thing where we do stuff with the NFL for the Australian and New Zealand markets. And, we travel to the US or, you know, once or twice a year. And that's our opportunity to capture as much content that we might spread out over over 12 months. Does it really make those, you know, you really got to make those content capture moments and those things and whatever you're trying to pitch winners?

Reshina Warren (22:10.004)
Yeah, it's in and you most of the time you have like two to three minutes, maybe five minutes. And so you have to make it like super quick. So we're trying to we and we do this now even at the WTA. Like, what's the most impactful that we have? We have five minutes with this player. How can we maximize this? We are running through. We're doing like mock run throughs to make sure that everything flows together, that the instructions aren't

intense or complicated, we want to try to make it as seamless as possible to get them in and out. So, yeah.

Sean (22:45.276)
Yeah, and you also want to you want to have a pleasant and a fun experience for the player. Like you want to go, I love doing stuff with the US Open or like is now in the in the WTA. The other thing I want to ask about tennis, especially coming from your Disney background and audiences is like under and you know, you've done previous sport with the WNBA. know, tennis fans don't have a team they're not they're not you know, they're not barracking for

Reshina Warren (22:50.975)
Absolutely.

Sean (23:13.074)
you know, a team and have that but they're following players, which is where a lot of sports going, you know, in the NBA, people are following the player. And so how when you went into that, you've got that, that fandom and how that's, I guess, different to tradition, I guess, stick a ball and team sport. But then you've also got this other part of the event go and I follow tennis on how I just go to the tennis, you've got all these different audiences you've got to play with.

Sean (23:42.024)
Which is great for a marketer, then also you've also got to set down a strategy to go, who am I doing this for? How do you unpack that piece in for tennis?

Reshina Warren (23:51.85)
It's a lot of testing and learning. You'd be surprised some of the top tennis players may not perform well on social. You know, and so we have to, the thing is you have to try to paint it in, I call it painting outside the lines. And so putting tennis with trends and sounds and making it as relevant as possible, I'm, all about memes and, and gifs and gifs. I'm not sure how we say it these days. It's gifs. It's gifs.

Sean (24:24.326)
It's GIFs. We'll just delete the fact you said it incorrectly. That's fine.

Sean (24:34.802)
No, no, I don't want any GIF listeners. Sorry, if you're a GIF listener, stop listening.

Reshina Warren (24:48.128)

Hey, I'm here for, I'm here to appeal to the audiences. So, yeah. So I'm all for that. And I empower my team to like, let's think outside the box. How can we make this?
this relevant to somebody who doesn't even watch tennis? How do we make this saying, you know, I love post -match press. I feel like you learn so much about a person and about these players in their post -match press. And you're able to clip those and put those out and people are able to catch onto it. Use them as sounds.

I know last year, Cocoa Golf, she said, I want to thank my haters. The amount of people who use that sound to go into, talk about their own personal or put out their own personal content. Like that's what we want. We want to, we want you to use Cocoa Golf's quote to relate it to your, to your personal life or whatever that is. And so it's, it's a, it's definitely a strategy. So, you know, when you're going into events like the US Open.

Like targeting and running paid ads for that. you're looking for, like you said, the event goer, somebody who has a bucket list, but then you're looking at the true tennis fans and how you appeal to them. And so you're, you're creating content for all of that. And for social, you kind of have this one opportunity, right? To, create that for paid for paid ads and things like that. You can target.

Reshina Warren (26:07.51)
But for social, when you're thinking about it, you don't want to alienate any of your audience. So you want to try to make it as seamless as possible that any of the tennis, we won't alienate the true tennis, pure tennis, the tennis purists you want. But we will also attract like a young audience. We'll also attract like a sports goer. And then we'll just attract somebody who just thinks something is funny. And so we're looking as, as

Sean (26:24.38)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (26:37.128)
My team creates content and as we're looking to strategize on how we're going to lean into something, that's what we're looking at. It's a lot of, most people think like it's the intern, you know, that's the, that's the thing that's on social. Like who gave the intern the keys? You know, like, wait, wait, we're seasoned professionals here. We are seasoned professionals. And there was thought that went behind that post. There was thought that went behind that caption. If you thought that caption was just a coincidence, it wasn't.

Sean (26:53.63)
We're well past that. Yeah, we're well past that.

Reshina Warren (27:07.006)
If you thought that caption, putting that together with this piece of content, this photo, it's not a coincidence. And so there was some thought that went into it. And so that's one thing that I had to kind of go around to, to people who work outside of social. They're like, just throw it on social. And I'm like, that makes me angry. Please never say throw it on social marketers out there or people that's out there that's listening to this. Never tell a social person to throw it on social because it's so much more.

Sean (27:27.229)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (27:36.738)
to it than that because you are thinking about the audience. You are thinking about sentiment. How will this resonate with our tennis purists, with the new fan, with a sports goer? So all of that's been thought of in probably like a five minute split second, five minute span of pushing this piece of content out. And in tournament, it's not even that. You probably have like 15 to 30 seconds of like, okay, here's what I'm gonna do. And you just have to…

trust your gut and go with it. We have some hiccups every now and then with that type, with that amount of content and matches and things like that. for the most part, we're really thinking about all of those things as we're pushing out content.

Sean (28:26.25)
most definitely. mean, again, that, yeah, we've all had that, Hey, can you just throw this on social? But it's like, we, yes, we can. The first thing is, but then what is the intention? What do you want from this piece of content? Do you want people to, and we use a phrase, you know, when you're talking about that CocoaGolf piece, we use the phrase digital face paint. We want our fans to use it. Like if they're using that content and that's them putting their hand up and saying they're a tennis fan or they're a CocoaGolf fan or they're a fan of

Reshina Warren (28:39.113)
Right.

Reshina Warren (28:53.298)
Absolutely.

Sean (28:55.794)
the humor that's in tennis, and then that builds them on the escalator and that piece of intention. And, you know, we're always working with our social team or clients, we're saying, why, why are we posting it? What's the, know, and that's, you know, getting a team to getting your team to ask that question. And then, you know, point back to your board or what your strategy is.

Reshina Warren (29:18.751)
Absolutely.

Sean (29:18.93)
And you're right in the same way that a tennis player is deciding as they pull their hand down, whether they're to put backspin on it or not put backspin on it or whatever. The same thing applies in social. It's like, how am going to do this? I know this fits better for this, you know, this platform over here, because that's a different audience. So again, that's where it's getting more and more complex. How do you go about training, either training staff or instructing staff or conversely learning from staff that are, you know, deep on those platforms to

Sean (29:49.214)
Keep evolving that pace.

Reshina Warren (29:51.018)
Yeah. So my motto is let them cook. So I let people operate in their, whatever their strengths are and just seeing how, okay, how are you going to approach this? How are you going to, how do you approach this situation right here? If this were to come up? Yes, there's an overarching strategy, but I want you to cook within that strategy.

I want you to perform and do what you do best within the strategy that we've set forth. you know, going into say like the US Open, it's not like the NBA season or NFL season where you can like, we'll try something else next week. no, there's another match that starts in like 30 minutes. So you either act now or you don't act at all. And so we really have to be quick. And so I am a person who

Sean (30:35.228)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (30:46.092)
take a look at the pieces that I have and then let you operate in that. So I came into, for the USTA and here for the WTA, I've come into an already established team. So I've, you know, take my couple of months to look, to take a step back, look from a leadership, from a leadership perspective and figure out what pieces we have, where we have maybe strengths, weaknesses, and I'm asking my team, like.

What do you feel your strengths are? Where do you feel your weaknesses are? do you want to grow? Where do you see yourself going? And then wherever they say, I'm going to let you operate in that until I say, I don't know if that's your thing. And then we have a conversation about it. But yeah, I am one to let people operate in and I can't, especially going into the US. mean, there's no mic, you can't micromanage. If you micromanage,

Sean (31:39.368)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (31:41.09)
The team, I think our first year we hit 1 billion, our second year we hit 1 .65 billion engagements. That's not happening with a micromanager. That's not happening with someone who's not letting someone cook. And I love food, so I'm going to relate it to food. You don't mess, you don't go and mess with the chef, right? You don't tell the chef that they need to put a little added salt.

or pepper or something in there. You let them do what they do. And so that's kind of my motto. And then if they need to go from posting on TikTok instead of posting on Twitter, then like, let's do that. Let's operate in you being excellent. So yeah.

Sean (32:26.526)
I think your chef analogy is a great one because effectively you're like the head chef and then you're your digital and social producer like line cooks and it's like, it's coming through and you're seeing it come through the past and you're like, Yep, that looks good. And yeah, you've got that that that intensity, you know, like the Grand Slams, the Olympics. Excuse me, you don't have that week to week, you know, Monday morning quarterback, how did we go? It's like, no, no, you've got 14 NFL games in

Reshina Warren (32:33.344)

Right. Yeah.

Sean (32:54.398)
in 14 days. That's sort of what it's like.

Reshina Warren (32:55.413)
I say it's a Super Bowl. I described it as a Super Bowl every day for 21 straight days about four, about 17 times a day.

Sean (33:06.822)
Yeah, yeah. I think the team at the Aussie Open have the hashtag sleep is for the week for that two weeks. It's like, you know, we'll just power through and yes, that week after we probably will do have some sleep but for that two weeks is pretty intense.

Reshina Warren (33:21.364)
Yeah, yeah. so, yeah, and we during that time and during those Grand Slams, like it is a grind. You are just you're there. You're in it. And I would always tell my family and my friends and my God kids. have God kids and things like that. I'm like, hey, just just give me a face time. You know, just just bring me out out of the tennis world just for a little bit. Just say hi. Let me let me talk to my little babies and things like that. And then I go back in.

And I'm charged up and ready to go. yeah, during that time, it is definitely, a grind and a hustle and you know, matches going until two 30 in the morning. And so I can't be there from eight AM to two 30 in the morning. So talking about letting someone cook, like I trusted my team to be able to, I knighted them. like, Hey, you make the decision. I trust your decision. And if you think that your decision wasn't right, just let me know why you made that decision. And we can address it the next morning. So, yeah.

Sean (34:19.804)
Yeah, I mean, it is a terrific philosophy because again, then you're empowering your team to you know, and they're looking for the latest trends or what's working and again, you sort of you can't have a meeting to say, this actual piece or this thing is trending, we need to jump on it's like, no, it's happening. We're, you know, we're running with it. If it's a, you know, certain thing that's happening through the through the tournament, like it's our cool, all chips in, let's push on that kind of stuff. So having that flexibility is super important. You mentioned

Reshina Warren (34:37.13)
It's happening.

Reshina Warren (34:43.913)
Right.

Reshina Warren (34:48.993)
Yeah.

Sean (34:49.71)
haven't even spoken about the WTA. We're talking in the tennis world, but you're, you're still relatively new in the role for WTA. First of all, how is the working for the WTA, the Women's Tennis Association different than the USTA?

Reshina Warren (35:05.738)
Yeah, so now there's more touch points, right? So the team has more touch points. It's you know, I have someone in Guadalajara right now who's working, who's on the ground. And we introduce our social media team, our video production team. The players actually know some of our video production team and come to them with ideas and things like that. And so there's there's more touch points.

which means you can get a little bit more personal and have more personal content that goes out there. so, know, women's tennis has been at the forefront of all of the movements, you know, equal prize money. think this past year or at the end of 2023, tennis players were the highest paid women in sports. so,

been at the forefront. And so one thing that we want to do as the women's tennis association is to really expand their brands outside of the tennis court. And like, who are these people? Because I think, you know, with the NBA, WNBA, there's a little bit more, you can get a little bit more personality that comes through through content and things like that. Because there's, if they lose,

they've played a full game and they have a game the next day or within the next two days. Whereas with the tennis player, you know, a top player could possibly lose in the first round and then you don't hear from them until the next tournament. And so that could be like two or three weeks. And so we're trying to connect that these tennis, the tennis players and our athletes and to just your, common person's interests. So.

Vika, she loves horseback riding. So we just put out a horse. We took her to a, to, to a stable for her to go horseback riding and she, and we did some content pieces there. we took one athlete to a museum, art museum because she loves art and she talked about her love for art and things like that. And so we want to connect, the fans and grow that, that fan and grow that audience around these players outside of just like their.

Reshina Warren (37:23.24)
match results because they are way more than their match results. have interests and we want to know and hear about it and they want to tell it. And so we want to give them that platform and that's one of the things that we're doing from a marketing and social standpoint to really push them forward as not only athletes but just women in general.

Sean (37:46.262)
it is very much following what you would sort of apply if you said, he's an athlete strategy. You know, they want you know, fans want to know that your that their favorite player is watching the same TV show is them or has a similar interest to them. And then that becomes something that, you know, deepens their ties to go, I'm going to follow, you know, that player, but then I'll, and now I'll start following their tennis because they are also doing it. So it's a, it's a piece that some sports have a hard time

Reshina Warren (38:00.117)
Absolutely. Yeah

Sean (38:16.156)
like getting into their personal lives or telling the personal stories of the athlete because it's sort of their brand. But because you've got these individual players and a lot of them, that you can tell some of these stories and you would have players that say, I want my story to be told. I wanna have it build a fan base for themselves.

Reshina Warren (38:38.684)
Absolutely. Any type of personal nuggets we can pull out. then learning their interests, we are able to then create custom content around them, right? So Coco Golf won the US Open last year and she mentioned she loved anime. So her championship graphic, we turned her into her favorite anime character and she loved it. know, fans were like, why would you do this? And she's like, she shared it to our story. She's like, I love this because we heard them and we…

we understand that there's a layer to her. Like she said, she was watching anime in between her matches. So like, let's lean into that. Daniel Medvedev, he loves gaming. He's actually started to invest in gaming. we did one of his and did one of his celebrations, did one of the celebrations for, had that illustrated as a graphic for like his birthday or something like that. And so those little touch points, it may seem small to,

to people but for them, they're like, they heard me, they've paid attention to me. I'm not just like this person that hits the ball and wins games and sells tickets. But they've heard me and they're trying to cater to me. So that's what we wanna do. We wanna break that ice to make sure that we show them that we care about their personal interests and we want their fans, them to gain more fans through those personal interests.

Sean (40:04.284)
I mean, I use this phrase on the on the podcast a lot steel with pride when you when you're looking at another sports or entertainment brand, you go well, I really like that. How can we we adapt it? And I saw you post a nod to the WNBA with your off court fit series of the of the tunnel and sort of showing off the players. I mean, you know, how did how did that process? How did you go? we like that idea. How did you get to that process of we want to do our version of that like

Reshina Warren (40:19.456)
Yeah.

Sean (40:30.664)
Did that idea come from you looking at your social? it come from someone in your team? Like how do those type of things work in your team?

Reshina Warren (40:34.836)
Okay.

Reshina Warren (40:39.4)
Yeah, so it actually came. So we actually have a, have two marketing managers that report into me. So one that's over player marketing and this one is over tournament marketing. so during our first one -on -one, she said, you know, I want to do some cool things. I love what the WNBA is doing with tunnel fits. was like, yes, let's do it. That's, that's been my one thing because now we have all these tournaments that we're able to have touch points to and bring in people.

or create content with the players. And so we were like on the same page and didn't know it. And so she took it, she ran with it. We hired, she was able to get a local photographer in Toronto to do it, a local photographer in Cincinnati to do it. And then we just kind of had fun with it. And I wanted to make sure that, you know, I posted on LinkedIn, but just to give that nod to the W because they definitely.

up the game and the players, actually, they really loved it. So the first go round, we had players actually come back to this, come, what player actually comes back on media day for a second day to redo something and redo a piece of content. And so that excitement, knew that with that excitement, we knew we were going into the right direction. And so we're looking to, we have some things cooking.

Just to stay with that reference, we have some things cooking that we're excited to potentially do for 2025 for it. So excited about it.

Sean (42:08.962)
true. And again, cause it is, you know, both internally is it incompatible? You know, everyone's looking, that's what the, that's what's happening. Every Wimbledon have like there's that piece, but then also looking at other sports and you know, what's also connecting with your market is a, is a great way. And yeah, you know, that adapting, how do we do our version of it? Both the logistics of it, but then also how is, what's our twist? You know, what's it going to work for? And then the fact that you're getting the players on board is the, is the end goal every time.

Reshina Warren (42:21.813)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (42:37.962)
Yeah, it's the end goal. And I will say the one difficult thing, you know, that's difficult for us is that like every venue is different. So you have to you have to find a space and you have to and then you also have all of the rights holders who want to be a part of media day. So we have to make it a natural part of the media day stop. And so there's a lot from a logistic standpoint to to make it work, which makes it a little it's a it's a nice little challenge for us.

But we're making it work and we're hoping that it really takes off in 2025.

Sean (43:13.574)
Yeah, but I think that's the that's bit that I love doing the yes, that's the idea of it. There's all like we said before, there's all these steps that are part of the idea that have to be done. And that's just as important to learn all of those logistics and hurdles. And you know, if it's jostling on a red carpet on the and how much space you need all of those things that that your content capture people and social people and your digital producers need to realize that it's not just I will get a spot on a camera and he has

Sean (43:41.885)
It's all those pieces that go into that 35 second video that ends up going out and people go, well done social team. What you do is just pull out your phone and capture that. It's like, no, no, there's a lot of work.

Reshina Warren (43:46.95)
Absolutely. We just threw it up there. Just threw it up there. Threw it together.

Sean (43:54.978)
I wanted to sort of touch, go back to your focus with New Line and Disney and that commercial and partner. How do you work in the WTA in sponsored integrations and those kinds of things that you potentially either planning or ask, how do you and your team work with your commercial partners and your commercial team to deliver results from a digital point of view?

Reshina Warren (44:23.018)
Yeah, so, you know, just speaking from what's happening, what's happened prior to me coming. So we have social media series that are out there that the team has come up with for our partners. But right now I'm kind of in the process of putting together a list of all of the things within social, within digital that can be sponsored.

That's something that I did that me and my team did for the USDA and US Open and we had great success. And so we're looking to do that and looking to monetize that, figure out how to figure out our rate card and making sure that that's all right. But yeah, so we're currently, we work hand in hand. We have a weekly meeting with our partnership team. But yeah, right now we're gonna go into a brainstorming phase to figure out like,

Okay, what content do we want to push out? What do we want to do? What can be sponsored? just to give, our sponsorship team at least, something to arm, a little bit to arm them with to go into a pitch meeting. but then coming out of that pitch meeting, we want to make sure that like, that the brands one that the content align and it's not something that's just like, let's just slap a little on that. We want to make sure that, okay, you want, this is your focus.

Sean (45:31.133)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (45:45.856)
This is your tagline. All right, let's figure out how we can make this a seamless partner integration.

Sean (45:53.524)
yeah, it's absolutely vital. I mean, you know, there'll be a lot of listeners nodding that have been in a situation where something has just come down and said, this is this social piece that we've sold to someone. Can you guys put it out? And it's like, yes, we again, the answer is we're always a yes, we can. But it's like, it's got to, you know, it's got to be that triangle of fit for the fan and fit for our platforms and fit for our sponsor. And if you don't have all of those things working, then the tripod, if it's a tripod, it falls over because it's only got two legs working.

Reshina Warren (46:23.304)
yeah, it's yeah, if I my my motto is to make sure that the social media team has a seat at the table from the very beginning, because what I realized is that I saw it as I'm hearing someone talk about their goals and objectives. I'm already looking at it from a social standpoint. You as a partnership person, you're probably looking at it in all different kinds of ways. But I am hearing it directly and I'm able to

to speak to it potentially and ask potential questions and maybe set some expectations of what we can do and what we're able to do. So I always say make sure that social media, someone on the social team has a seat at the table for those pitch meetings. Even if it's just like a fly on the wall, being a fly on the wall, you don't have to be in person. They can just listen in.

And we transformed that when I went over to the USDA for the US Open. I mean, if you look at the sponsored content that's being pushed out, it is very social first. I think prior to it was just like, hey, throw this AmEx benefits on a TV spot on the channels. And we're like, wait, wait, no, it doesn't make any sense. so.

Sean (47:29.661)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (47:42.09)
And then I came from paid so I could speak to the paid aspect of it of being like, okay, well, if you want to use our brand for that, like, let's put a targeted campaign that's actually going to get you the results that you want instead of just a post with a couple of hundred likes, you know, and so was really able to speak to that and, and, and arm our team to, be able to speak to that as well, to, to fight for what would make sense for our audience and for the channels and for the brand at the end of the day and the partnership.

Sean (47:57.181)
Yeah.

Sean (48:09.596)
Yeah. And it's really good even in that point where your team is ideating and come up with new concepts to also like have, you know, for you to be proactive as a team to say, we're building out this new asset. This series is going to be really good. it's going to hit this type of audience and effectively give that olive branch or give that asset to a commercial team and say, is there a partner that fits for this type of content? Because we're, we're going to build it anyway. and sort of get in that.

Reshina Warren (48:37.162)
Right.

Sean (48:38.482)
that piece of not always making it a two -way street between digital and commercial is sort how to get the relationship to work.

Reshina Warren (48:48.074)
Yeah, and we're thinking, and that's where, you know, we're going into brainstorming and planning to figure out like, okay, like, what do we want to do? And sometimes it's a proof of concept. So even for the USTA this year, the previous year, we did like a Glee cap. And so it was a daily, like a daily Glee cap or Glee style recap of what happened. We did it and did that for just to test it out.

Sean (49:10.973)
Yep.

Reshina Warren (49:17.108)
And then I think this year when I looked, Chase had sponsored it. And so sometimes you have to do a proof of concept, but we were able to do that proof of concept. Hey, here's what we have. Look how it performed. I think this is a good sponsorable asset. then we're able to then from there, you're able to slap a logo and maybe even you can add in some. The good thing with content is that you can add in,

those lines and those goals and objectives in there easily. It's so easy to do it within content series and things like that. so you just, as I say, you got to let the social team cook and let them figure it out and make it work for you.

Sean (50:00.678)
Most definitely. And it's really important that the commercial team who are out there selling all the time, that's their job. Know that you've got this cool content either in the pipeline or is happening. You know, because that you know, that that recap you were talking about, most likely that got sold in a hospitality suite last year to go, have you seen this? And then someone to chase falls in love with the series for the rest of the tournament, like, guys, we want that for next year. And it just becomes a you know, it helps it helps their sales process. Lastly, I mean, we've talked a lot about the

Reshina Warren (50:21.014)
Yeah. We want that. Yeah.

Sean (50:30.416)
you know, running socials and those kinds of things. The tech stack in social is growing year on year, you know, even in your time, new tools, and you would have worked with different tool sets at Uline and Disney than you'd work with at Tennis. What does your current social tech stack look like? What are some of the social and digital tools that are helping you and your team succeed?

Reshina Warren (50:54.356)
Yeah, so we use WSC for all of our match highlights. so that definitely saves a lot of time with their automation, being able to automate points. Slate, which is like a content creation app that's on your phone. You can put in sponsored elements. You can put in your brand. so yeah, so your brand kit is right there. You don't have to…

Sean (51:12.253)
Yep.

Sean (51:16.574)
put in the branded piece and have the brand kit there, yep.

Reshina Warren (51:21.856)
you know, play around and remember all the code, the color codes and things like that. It's already right there for you to use. And so you're able to really as content consumption, the consumption of content is going into like, we want the raw, authentic, all of this like overly edited stuff. We don't want all that. So being able to really, you know, film something on your phone and just put your logo or put your branding into it so easily.

and then push it out, that's been easy, really, really helpful. And then we also have like press box graphics, which is a little bit more, a little heavier, which I think they're Opta now, but yeah, Opta. And so being able to push out scorecards and branded quote graphics and things like that. So that's kind of where we move in and out of on a day to day. We're onboarding monday .com for our content planning.

Sean (51:59.516)
Yeah they are, yep.

Reshina Warren (52:17.523)
being able to plan and work cross -functionally. And then we use Hoot Tweet for our analytics and pulling that in just to make sure that we're trending in the right direction.

Sean (52:29.126)
So many of those tools there and yeah, we're lucky enough to use a bunch of those, you know, the clip pro and that's the WSC being able to automate and just get all out there and then you just get to decide some amazing. So a lot of the tools that I've, know, when I'm talking to you for that, it is about first fast and being, you know, being accurate and authentic. So it's like all those tools you sort of describe help you get that, you know, get that clip, get that shot, get that sideline.

Reshina Warren (52:33.09)

Yeah. Yeah.

Sean (52:59.098)
video that you've captured out as quickly, cleanly and branded as possible because that's just the world we're now living in social to go, hey, you are competing with other tennis content providers, you're working with your broadcasters, but you're also competing with your broadcasters. And so it's a fine balance to go, it's a fast moving space.

Reshina Warren (53:23.202)
And then you're competing with the 20 ,000 people who are on site as well. Yeah, there was a funny, not a funny moment, but like when Michelle Obama was there last year, everyone else was able to post that she was there. And we were waiting for the approvals to post that she was there. And so we were like, we're an hour behind.

Sean (53:28.861)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (53:47.862)
Come on, you know, and so, but yeah, there's so much competition, especially within the algorithm, everybody's a constant creator, right? And so even leaning into that and doing UGC and all of that, it's, yeah, we wanna be quick to post, but sometimes the casual fan will beat us to it.

Sean (53:49.544)
Yeah.

Sean (54:08.082)
No, most definitely. Reshina , I really do appreciate you taking the time. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. You mentioned sport was a big part of your life. Do you remember the first sport event you ever attended?

Reshina Warren (54:13.11)
Yeah. Okay.

Reshina Warren (54:20.264)
You know, I actually thought about this and I could not. I think that's because I'm super spoiled working in sports, you know. But I will say I grew up in Texas. So it's all about Friday Night Lights. It's all about Texas football. You know, going my high school team was they were great. They were state champions, actually won an ESPY for for one of their for one of their games. And.

Sean (54:31.879)
Okay.

Reshina Warren (54:47.764)
State championship is at Cowboys Stadium at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. So I'm a little kid in elementary school going to the state championship of my high school of my future high school. So that was that was pretty amazing and definitely memorable. I definitely remember that it wasn't a professional game, but Friday nights in Texas like it's all about football.

Sean (55:08.606)
Thanks

Sean (55:12.2)
Well, that's completely fine and completely valid. And it's not as anyone can Google. So it is your answer. You would have made a lot of sports events in your time and as much as the social and digital community has evolved, so has the world, the world of food at sports events, especially at tennis, it seems to be getting leveling up. Do you have a favorite food memory or a go -to food at a sports event?

Reshina Warren (55:17.583)
Thank you.

Reshina Warren (55:34.518)
Hot dog, always a hot dog. You gotta get a hot dog. It depends on where I am. It depends. But mostly just give me like mustard, ketchup, and I'm good to go. But I will say, if I'm going to a stadium and they're known for something, I'm gonna try that, what they're known for. So.

Sean (55:38.609)
All the fixings.

Reshina Warren (55:56.902)
For the US Open, I'm getting a honey deuce. For Wimbledon, I'm gonna get strawberries and cream, you know, and a Pimms, you know. So I try to fit in with the culture and with their team culture as much as I can, but I'm always a hot dog.

Sean (56:13.244)
Yeah, the honeydews is a phenomenon like I'm talking about something that generates content, the amount of Instagram shots of people showing off their honeydews and even also I think I saw Serita Williams showing it off and like her name's on the cup just a few times.

Reshina Warren (56:28.758)
Just, you know, just casually, right? I don't even think she realized her name was on the cover. A very odd, just subtle flex right there.

Sean (56:32.22)
Like, it was just a flex. Just a flex.

Sean (56:40.254)
What's the what's the first app you opened in the morning?

Reshina Warren (56:44.167)
I am a woman of faith, so this is Bible app. But I do have a, half of my team works in the UK, so sometimes when I'm waking up, there's like chaos going on. But I try my best to open up that Bible app first to ground me for the day.

Sean (57:00.286)
Not a problem. Is there someone that the podcast listeners should give a follow? It might be someone you follow on social or an author or a colleague that you that they should check out.

Reshina Warren (57:10.73)
you know what? I was actually thinking about it from a just a social account and how they are operating right now. And and, you know, I was thinking about this. so I don't want to go political. But if you give the Kamala HQ a follow and just like strip back what it's about, but like how they are really leaning into.

Sean (57:17.958)
You can, that is more than that, you can do that.

Reshina Warren (57:38.38)
just like Gen Z and trying to get that young audience. think it's gonna be, I think that's one that's gonna be studied here in a couple of years. Win or lose, even if she loses, I think that that will be an account that's studied and that strategy and how that team just kind of the interns, as they would say, run it. And I look at it sometimes and I'm like, wow.

funny, but educational all in the same.

Sean (58:11.006)
Well, it is, I mean, like we've sort of talked about before learning from other industries, know, sport is constantly saying we want to tackle and talk to the young fan. And what you're talking about there is they're going well, these are the social platforms that are dominated by younger voters. We need to talk to younger voters as younger voters want to be talked to, you know, a, you know, a 50 post for a 50 year old is not going to work for someone who's 22. And so like,

Reshina Warren (58:38.848)
Right.

Sean (58:40.624)
it's a big leap for political parties and that to go, we're going to lean into that. So we know from the world of sport, the barriers we had to break down to go, we want to put a joke on this platform. And this sport is very serious, but this actually works, cuts through that audience. Yeah, I think there is a lot to learn. mean, if you even look back at the early use of, if you're looking at political marketing, like how Obama used paid

Reshina Warren (58:43.762)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Sean (59:08.746)
and sort of change the game when meta was the platform of choice for most people. Like it's always a place to go, well, hang on, what's happening over there? And then like we've said before, how can it be applied to your sport? So not a problem with the answer. is very much a, who should people follow? And again, I think more the reason is more the point.

Reshina Warren (59:21.973)
Absolutely.

Reshina Warren (59:30.708)
Absolutely, because that's the thing. That's the question right now. It's like, how do we this Gen Z, this Gen Alpha, all of these, all these new Gen generations that's coming up, like, how do we talk to them? And I think that they are doing a great job right now of like, listening to their audience and leaning like, I mean, you have a political president.

Sean (59:42.663)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (59:52.79)
presidential candidate talking about they're having a brat summer. Like that is, you know, and that's, that's totally what some of these brands are missing. And I think maybe they should let the intern get to the, get, get a hold of the keys.

Sean (59:56.316)
No, exactly.

Sean (01:00:05.928)
But that's the thing where one, there's discussions going, when are we using Riz and Skibbity in our copy? And then there'll be people going, what are those words even mean? And it's like, well, eventually there's gonna be a pro league or a team or someone that's just gonna start using those terms. there'll be people going, I need to, no, it's not on Urban Dictionary. Where do I look these words up?

Reshina Warren (01:00:31.786)
Yeah, I do need it. I do need some type of social media dictionary or something like that to. Yeah, because I hear like you it's lit. That's not a thing anymore. You can't say that. So I need to upgrade.

Sean (01:00:45.468)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it is a funny one. And the last one, I always ask this both from an organisation point of view and then also from a personal point of view. What social media platform is your MVP? You can answer as yourself and then also as the WTA.

Reshina Warren (01:01:02.946)
For myself, I mean, I love TikTok right now. I go down a lot of rabbit holes on TikTok and for the WTA from a brand standpoint, I think TikTok as well because you can kind of let loose a little bit. That's where, I mean, I also follow Duolingo. Duolingo is one of my favorite accounts. And so you're able to really…

add a little razzle dazzle to your content and who you are and get a totally different strategy from your other platforms. And so I would say that's my personal MVP and my brand MVP right now for the moment.

Sean (01:01:43.174)
Most definitely. Well, Reshina, I really do appreciate you taking the time. We've run long, but that always means I've enjoyed the conversation. And so hopefully everyone else has. If people who have been listening to this podcast want to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Reshina Warren (01:01:49.044)
That has been great.

Reshina Warren (01:01:57.038)
You can reach me and connect with me on LinkedIn, Rasheena Warren. R -E -S -H -I -N -A.

Sean (01:02:01.886)
There we go. Reshina, thank you very much for coming to the podcast. And hopefully, if you come down to Australia for the Australian Open, I only live 20 minutes down the road. I'd love to catch up with you in January.

Reshina Warren (01:02:14.223)
awesome. Yeah, I'll definitely, I'll definitely connect with you.

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Reshina Warren on LinkedIn and follow her on X (@MsRWarren), let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow the Women's Tennis Association across social media: + Twitter – @WTA + LinkedIn – @WTA + Facebook – @WTA + Instagram – @wta + YouTube – @WTA + TikTok – @wta * Recommendations from Reshina + Kamala HQ – check out how they are leaning into current trends + Duolingo – check them out on TikTok * Check out the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Alfonso Medina – Tennis Australia + Sarah Styles – Victorian Government + Jen Fusci – Dallas Wings & Panther City Lacrosse * Throwback episode you may have missed + Knowing your audience + How social media has evolved + The role of digital in the fan experience Podcast highlightsHighlights from this interview with Reshina Warren:

01:30 – Reshina Warren's Sports Origin Story
04:30 – Career Path and Early Experiences in Sports
07:31 – Transitioning to Streaming and Digital Marketing
10:34 – Lessons from Disney and Audience Engagement
13:32 – Joining the USTA and Understanding Tennis Dynamics
16:31 – The Unique Challenges of Tennis Marketing
19:40 – Building Personal Connections with Players
22:31 – Innovative Marketing Strategies in Women's Tennis
23:51 – Leveraging Social Media for Audience Growth
28:13 – Empowering Teams and Creative Freedom
31:20 – The Role of Technology in Social Media
33:25 – Commercial Partnerships and Sponsored Content
37:27 – Future Plans and Innovations at WTA

As discussed on the podcast#OffCourtFits to the WT

Fans

this #GDLOpenAKRONxSantander pic.twitter.com/RZJFKfr2lu

— wta (@WTA) September 11, 2024

Love the copy on this post!

  View this post on Instagram      A post shared by Women’s Tennis Association (@wta)

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Jayne Bussman-Wise from episode 146, who was at NY Red Bulls when the episode was recorded.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Jayne and Sean discussed content strands for digital revenue:

• Content Consistency: Establishing content strands ensures that the messaging remains consistent, which is vital for brand recognition and trust
• Audience Engagement: By creating multiple content strands, teams can engage different segments of their audience more effectively
• Resource Efficiency: Having predefined content strands allows for more efficient use of resources, as the content creation process becomes streamlined
• Creative Collaboration: Content strands encourage collaboration within teams, as different ideas and perspectives are integrated into a unified strategy
• Performance Tracking: It becomes easier to track the performance of different content strands, allowing for data-driven decisions to optimise future content Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: Yeah. And I think the other piece of pitching content and pushing out a content concept we've been using a long time, it sort of takes about six weeks for fans to catch on that you're doing something in a particular manner or releasing a particular series, and then form a habit around, “Yes, I want to consume that.” So there's that little bit of you've got to have faith in what you're doing, but you've got to give it a little bit of time to let the fan base see that it's a new thing. If you're just throwing out a new piece of content or trying something, if you haven't done it a couple of times, the fans haven't been able to attach themselves to it. So a little bit you've got to trust your gut and play that long game.

Jayne: Yeah, completely agree. And I think one of the things we've really shifted into is, “How do we create sort of content strands?” So thinking less about kind of one-offs. While there are moments where we may want to do that, how can we build out these strands that are recurring, whether it's weekly or potentially monthly? To your point, people get used to them and come looking for them, the audience. You're kind of training people what content they're getting on what platforms. But also one of the things that I've heard you talk about with others on the podcast is the commercial opportunity around that. Those become opportunities for partners that are far easier to monetize and can honestly have much stronger ties and be better assets, driving more value for a partner on those content strands that are recurring.

Sean: I like the word “content strands.” I'm very much if you can't name it, you can't sell it. So if you can say, “Hey, this is our so-and-so series,” then it makes it very easy for the commercial team to sell. But there is that case of you can prepare something and say, “This is what we're going to do,” and it can be sold, and then the content team can just start doing something, build out that asset, and then realize it's a really valuable asset either from an engagement point of view or a viewership or a fan passion point of view; they just really love it. Building out those content strands is a terrific way to build out those commercial opportunities. Again, you're 30 days into your role as content communications, where does your role fit in that working with the partnership team and getting some of those commercial opportunities out of digital?

Jayne: Yeah, we work really closely. And actually our Chief Commercial Officer is a woman that I used to work for at New York City FC. So we've worked together before and even worked together in different roles, but was also at the Garden at the same time. So we work really closely with them, everything from working with partners on the partnership marketing side on activating, but really I think for me it's, “How do we create content, how do we work with media in a proactive way so that we've got great assets for our partners? How do we figure out from a partner standpoint what are their goals and objectives and what might be the right fit within our assets or our platforms or content? And how do we create things that become really valuable?”

That's something that I've already started to work on and I think will continue to be an area for folks in the digital world on the team side where more and more time is spent. Because I think it's what partners are looking for, more and more asking on the digital and particularly in content now.

Sean: And I think the advantage you have, 30 days in, you're new in the role, you get to effectively ask the question, “Why are we doing this piece of content? Who is it for? Has anyone talked about commercializing it?” Because you're coming at it fresh, with fresh eyes. You can see something that potentially has that slight tweak of, “Here's all the content we're doing, it's great content, and here's the partnerships that we're doing,” but you get to be the fresh voice in the room?

Jayne: Yeah, that's what's been great, people have been really open to those ideas.

Connect with Jayne Bussman-WiseListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Content strands for digital revenue, Jayne Bussman-Wise appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Vince Rugari, journalist and author of Angeball

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Why Vince started in sports journalism unexpectedly
• How sports journalism has changed over the past 15 years
• The process of writing the Angeball book
• Vince's insights on the evolving landscape of Football in Australia
• The importance of your digital teams gaining trust and respect from your coaches Listen to Vince Rugari on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptInterview with Vince RugariThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean (00:01.452) Very happy to welcome Vince Rugari. He's the author of the new book, AngeBall, available now in all good bookstores and even some bad bookstores.Vince, welcome to the podcast.

Vince (00:11.776) Hey mate, how are you? Thank you for having me.

Sean (00:14.048) Not a problem, not a problem. I will get stuck into the book. I've just finished wrapping up on it. Really loved it. But before I always open up my podcast, asking people where they got their start in sports. What about yourself?

Vince (00:27.777) I mean, I always wanted to end up in sport growing up, because, well, I was no good at it, obviously, like most of us who end up on this side of the fence, but, trying to figure out a way, for me to, you know, be involved and initially, you know, I studied, communication and, sports management at university.

So back then I was thinking more along the lines of, I, you know, be involved in helping run a sport? or, you know, be on the more PR or comm side of sport. Cause I never liked the idea of being a journo who held microphones under the noses of athletes who didn't want to speak. But that's kind of what I ended up doing anyway, because just the way a few things landed opportunity wise for me during and after uni. And I guess a little bit more of natural skill set. I'm probably more inclined to be a journo and like tell stories and find things out. So.

Sean (00:59.16) Okay.

Vince (01:23.515) the first thing I did really in sports proper was like a, internship with, with Gold Coast United, which was a roller coaster in and of itself while I was studying at Bonn University on the Gold Coast. that club started up. so I worked, within their sort of PR department, working closely with the team and the youth team and covering their games. And it was my mentor through that who sort of suggested to me as well. was like, I think you might be a journo, mate.

Vince (01:53.465) your instincts might be more inclined to that. So I accidentally stumbled down that path and a few moves around the country later I'm pretty lucky and pretty happy to be writing about football for the Sydney Morning Herald which has a really strong football heritage in my opinion with the great Mike Cockrell having written for our paper for so many years. Best paper in Australia in my opinion, best sports section in Australia in my opinion and yeah, I'm loving being a part of what we do.

Sean (02:24.362) It's interesting because a lot of people, I have given that question, there is people that come from, wanted to be a sports journal and they even made the study that in some form and then they end up on the other side. And that was actually one of my questions. Like, have you ever looked on that other side a lot? know, and some have been pulled across the other side. It was interesting to say you started your, like you said, you're now a journal through and through. Have you had some of those sliding door moments to say, Vince, come club side or league side and sort of run the meteor ops from that side of the fence.

Vince (02:56.201) Not really, no, not to say that it won't happen at some point, maybe it will. But I don't know, I just didn't think back in those moments when you're trying to decide which path you're gonna go down, I didn't think I was equipped for this sort of stuff, but it turns out maybe I am, maybe I was wrong about myself. I'd like to write it out a little bit longer in journalism, get to at least another World Cup or two, but I certainly, bigger picture thinking would be open to really anything down the line, but this works for me right now.

Sean (03:31.48) So in your 15 years in the world of journalism, it has changed a lot from real print focus to digital. How have you seen the role of being a sports journalist change?

Vince (03:46.073) massively and kind of in a shorter amount of time than that too. Like I've felt a lot of changes within the last maybe six years, the days of sort of going to a press conference and writing up something from it. And if another player does his hamstring, do another article on that. The game's changed a little bit in the sense that it's more about, or at least in organizations like the Sydney Morning Herald, it's more about a subscriber focused.

Strategy, which means a lot more sort of like bespoke content that people will pay for, which is not necessarily the the grist for the mill kind of sports coverage that a lot of people are used to. And I certainly started out with particularly when I spent four years at AAP. And that's pretty much what it is, is just news, news, news, grind, grind, grind. It's definitely changed. Sport has changed too, which is sort of influenced the media and the way we cover sport too, just because football is a great example.

The media market shrunk and just the way we cover football as a result of that, I think has changed. I used to turn up at press conferences, no, matches, sorry, when I was starting out, go to the press box and there'd be at least a Ray Gatt, Dave Davudovic, Tom Smithies. Every News Corp masthead used to have a football writer and…

None of them really do anymore. And it's kind of a lonely existence, but you can't stop this thing that's happening to worldwide industries, really not just sport and media, but everything's going through significant change.

Sean (05:26.776) Yeah, I mean, like when I started Sports Geek, you know, 15 years ago, media departments in Clubland weren't, you know, doing the reporting they're doing now. So that competition in the space is different. And then, you know, as digital has evolved, like, you know, the game report, because so much things alive and so much, know, sports are more accessible. It's less likely that people are going to read a full match report that, you know, we would have grown up on 20, 25 years ago.

So has that sort of been the change that you're sort of trying to poke at those stories?Going contrary to thinking, like looking for that longer form piece that subscribers want, like diving in a little bit deeper that has made that change for you.

Vince (06:05.957) A bit, yeah, a little bit of it has been sort of steered by, I think, change at our papers. But I think it's also helped sharpen my sense of what can I do that you can't get anywhere else sort of thing? Like what's the best way for me to spend my time? Is it to chase something that will appear everywhere else at the same time?

Or can I use my expertise or contacts or, you know, creativity in terms of thinking up ideas or concepts for stories that will work better than that. It's a bit of that, but also just what you just said reminded me of another major thing that's happened and maybe replaced some of the stuff that's died off in media and sport and consumption as well as just like 15 years ago or 12 or whatever it was when I started out. Podcasts were not a thing, really.

They used to be quite fiddly to get on your phone. But now like the podcast, specifically sport as well in the way people follow sport, I think replaces a lot of the day to day news coverage, particularly even like some of the talkback radio kind of stuff that you know, when I was growing up, and my parents would pick me up from school in Adelaide, at least when my dad was driving the radio would always be on five double A KGN cornsies sports show.

And that almost felt like where Adelaide came together to discuss sports. And that's still going, of course, that sort of thing. But there's so many other different strands now. And I podcast is a really interesting one because certainly now for me, when I finished watching a match that I'm emotionally invested in, I want to read as much as I can. But the next day I want to listen to as much as I can. So even if it's two, three, four different podcasts, groups or teams.

Talking about the same event match, breaking it down in slightly different ways. I love that stuff as well. But that's changed. that sort of stuff is almost like a competitor in some ways to what we do. But just looking back at it all though, who would have thought all of these things would be in play some years ago.

Sean (08:20.824) And is that as we have the term now that didn't exist 10 years ago, content creator, is there the, as a journalist, do you have to now have these multiple strings to your bow to be able to talk on a podcast about the story you've done, do a short report on video, is that sort of something that a journalist needs in a skill set to be able to create content for different platforms?

Vince (08:49.673) Yeah, definitely. And that's something I'm still sort of learning with. certainly during the last two World Cups, the last few years have been amazing for me because I've covered the Socceroos in Qatar, Matildas, obviously in Australia, both the best ever campaigns for Australia at men's and women's World Cups. And the demand from our guys at the Herald was, you know, after a particular game, go outside the stadium and just shoot a one minute video and talk about what you saw, is none of that comes particularly naturally to me because I'm not trained in it.

And, know, I do my best communication via words, I would think in terms of the written word rather than just getting on a camera riff and riffing. But you got to learn because that's what they want. And more and more now, we've got social media reporters in the newsroom who if you've got a story that's interesting, you can follow your story and that's okay. But then, you know, they're going to come and look for you because they want to shoot something for TikTok. And then

I think journalists as well routinely get, particularly in sport, radio requests. So every now and then you're on the radio with a different group as well. So it's so different to the journalism that when I started out, even then, which wasn't all that long ago, it's so different to what it was back then to now.

Sean (10:05.196) Because a lot of sports media now is both following the league or the sport of choice, but then you're also following the personalities around it. And now, you know, journalists are becoming part of that. You know, talked about social media. think journalists are the ones that are most either addicted to or high usage of Twitter, you know, now X. How are you? I mean, you would have been an active user for many years.

Sean (10:30.424) I've discussed with a bunch of guests how it sort of dropped off or it's a little bit different now under Elon Musk's tenure. Has X changed a little bit for you over the last couple of years?

Vince (10:42.271) Yeah, it's definitely gotten more intense and the Australian soccer community is intense as it is, but it's almost like the floodgates have opened a lot more. Sometimes it's not a pleasant place to be, but also, you know, I think I have to credit a lot of my career to my Twitter usage, funnily enough, just because it sort of helped me build a bit of a profile and give me bit of a voice, particularly in football.

Totally unintentional. just… get on there and probably too often say what I think rather than think about it a little bit more before I say it. But I also think that maybe that's what's appealed to so many people as well is that when it comes to, you know, me and the things that I think about in Australian football, I'm going to say what I think, you know, it's all hopefully it comes across as authentic because that's what it is. But I think that's a little bit more of the flavor that people like, particularly from journalists as well. Journalists aren't popular.

Sean (11:15.458) Yeah.

Vince (11:39.595) People generally speaking, like, we're always down the bottom of the most trusted lists that end up in newspapers every year. Like, you know, it's like a journalist then lawyer or something like that, or insurance salesman. We're right down the bottom of the barrel, but I try to just be a normal person, open, honest, engaged, say what I think. So that's certainly benefited me, but the flip side of that is once you get to a certain, once your audience grows to a certain size.

Vince (12:09.813) The small percentage of people who want to be abusive or even just like debate in bad faith, that goes up. So you got to manage that personally and sometimes it's a challenge, but I think I do okay.

Sean (12:23.48) So you're not quite at the level of the NBA and the NFL insiders that are spending 23 hours on their phone to… Because there is a, I guess, a trench of journalists and news breakers and insiders that are using Twitter as a, here's the breaking news, which sort of goes against, know, if you're sending it back to your publisher to say, hey, go read my article, if it's breaking for free on X, is that something you're trying to manage? And, you know, if you've got a story coming up that you're trying to tease, but you still want to drive people back to read the full piece.

Vince (12:56.373) Yeah, it's that's challenging actually, because you're right, like my job is to bring readers to the Sydney Morning Herald. And they're not necessarily going to access Twitter or, you know, if I'm sending eyeballs to a piece of breaking information that doesn't contain a link to the Sydney Morning Herald website, at least, I'll probably get in trouble for that. Like, it's just not, it's just not on in terms of what the bosses actually want. So it is sometimes annoying when people do receive the same information as you.

But then they just tweet it out because that's their model or whatever. And that's fine. That's, you know, play on. But for me, I've got to wait until I've got, particularly for the more sensitive things, all the facts together, written, subbed, legally vetted. And it's also sometimes got to be timed correctly as well when we release it to make sure that it sees the most amount of eyeballs as well. So I wish sometimes I could just say what I know when I know it, but

Vince (13:56.053) Yeah, we do things differently, I guess.

Sean (13:59.56) Definitely. I will touch on a bit. The only other thing I want to talk about, Giles, before we get onto the book is like just the rapid change. It's in the space now. Artificial intelligence is on the rise and it is one of the reasons that we're getting either more content, whether it's good or bad. Do you have an opinion on like what AI will do or could do or how it could impact you?

Vince (14:24.289) I sense it's a little bit like the discussion that's going on around the moment with the Australian government and wanting to limit social media for kids. It's a bit like the genies out of the bottle, I think. And you're not going to get it back in. So it's a case of what do you do about it? And for me, think there's a lot of benefits to AI usage in journalism, as long as you can leverage it to enhance the things that only humans can do versus using it to replace humans.

A lot of menial data stuff, things, little things like that can be organized in an instant with AI that would be take you half a day potentially if you did it manually. I think AI can certainly help spark ideas in the creative process, but it can't give you ideas. Those are going to come from within, but maybe they can give you different prompts that you put inside your brain to then come up with things.

I think there's potentially even, you know, the, the, the daily sort of sport news coverage. I could easily see within a few years that some of that starts to be AI generated. It doesn't mean you can just let an AI, let AI, let it run loose on a sport and just run what it says. But you, you read through it and you vet it because what that can do then, particularly if you're taking, say a press release and trying to turn that into a story.

If AI can give you a draft of that within 20 seconds, and that's good because that saves me 30 minutes to an hour, which I can instead spend on the phone with people who were involved in the making of that decision. And then I can go back into that story and add insight and analysis and color that an AI or a computer can never provide. So in that way, I think it can actually be really helpful. And then the other thing is I would be completely lost without Otter.

In terms of transcribing interviews, I cannot wait for the day that that stuff gets to the point where I don't have to go through the transcript to fix up all the little errors that it picks up with accents and that sort of thing. Because there's a great example of how technology has saved me literally hours upon hours. I mean, there's no way I could have written this book that we're about to talk about if I didn't have an auto premium service where I could just put in all these hours of interviews and get

Vince (16:49.727) rough transcripts back because that would take me almost as long as it took me to write the book to go through, type it out and that sort of thing. So I'm optimistic and keen in terms of AI and journalism and how it can be used. Maybe though I do worry about some of the people who run some of the big companies and if they think of it in terms of dollar signs rather than using it as a tool to enhance what your people do.

Sean (17:16.76) Yeah, most definitely. I don't use case you just said then I had a 30 minute video. There was a full training video that I I'd watched three years ago, but I just wanted to recap all the key notes. And I just literally said, give me the transcript. And then I said, can you please redo this transcript into a nice one pager that tells me all the key things and one, it was a great way to refresh. And it's that that piece of as a tool for the right people, you can get more done or get more depth.

That's where the I guess the big benefit is. Yeah, I agree with you If people are just saying he's a cost -saving mechanism and we can replace, you know inches of Columns, it's yeah, that's not gonna that's not gonna do the job But if you've got a large data set and you say hey, I want to know what was the most important Part of the game or whatever and it can come back and give you those insights and you can dive in like that's the bit

It would be advantageous. And yeah, it was going to be one of my questions about the book. So we'll get onto the book. The book is Angeball, published by Hatchet, available on all platforms. I've actually been listening to the last of it on Audible. How did you find the process?

Vince (18:29.793) Yeah, really challenging to be honest, but in a good way. I only had four months effectively to write the first manuscript from the day after the Women's World Cup final last year, which was August 21. The opportunity had been lined up before then, but I didn't have capacity to start thinking about it, especially with the Matildas doing what they did for that tournament. I needed to focus fully on that, but then literally the next day…

I started thinking and that was so the end of August to I submitted the first manuscript on my birthday, which is January 12. So four and a bit months. I took it all on leave. I'd leave logged, which I was able to take. I've got a fairly one track mind. I'm 100 % on whatever the thing is that I'm doing. So I needed to make sure I had nothing on my plate to tackle this, particularly in that timeframe. And it was every day, most nights doing something, whether it's getting interviews in the can or sorting through it and piecing it together or a three week period

I spent in London, going to a couple of Spurs games, interviewing Ang, those sorts of things. And a lot of archival stuff like through work, we've got a facility to look back at newspaper archives going back 20, 30 years plus. So to be able to look at that sort of stuff and read about what was written when Angie was coaching South Melbourne, Brisbane raw.

The Socceroos, Melbourne victory, think definitely enhanced the book I was able to write in the end and helped me think about it in different ways. Jeez, it was hard, Yaka though. By the end of it, I was zapped.

Sean (20:12.15) Yeah, I've had a few mates that have put their hand up to write a book. And yeah, they sort of talk about it, sort of going into a cave and, guys, you're not going to see me for two or three months. I'm just going into this dark room with a little light. I'm going to keep tapping away on this keyboard, you know, chipping away just on the task itself. Was there a specific point?

Vince (20:31.865) I was here in this, yeah, I was here in this room at this desk, by the way, just writing it out. And also the main other location was on our balcony. We have a hammock, like a hammock on a stand sort of thing. And we're talking last year, September, October, November, December, holidays months. So there were some days I was in this dark room with most of these lights off, just ferreting away. Other days were spent on a hammock. So some days weren't too bad.

Sean (21:03.032) Part of the book that I like, I was lucky enough to be working with the FFA around the time that Ang was there. And so it sort of brought back some memories of when David Gallop was recruiting him and that Asian Cup run, which was a big, part of his legacy with the Socceroos. But the bit that I did like was the fact that you got access to a bunch of documentary footage that didn't happen from Richard Baylis and Steve Coon. And Rich has been on the podcast before. How much was that like?

Vince (21:35.679) Like just finding gold as you were going through your research was I'm not sure I would have been able to write the book without what those guys provided. So obviously, most people who watch football would know Richard Bayless from his presenting on Fox and Optus and Benny Coon and is one of like the the most underrated gems in Australian football, in my opinion, like anyone who knows him knows he's an absolute legend. If you've watched video stuff, most videos that have been created video content, documentary content that relates to Australian football.

He's usually involved somewhere in there. So these guys were filming a behind the scenes documentary on that qualification campaign for the World Cup with FFA's assistance. But that got spiked when Angle F's Burt Van Marwite came in and they had no interest proceeding with it. But, you know, they've been able to use parts of it over the years. Like a couple of years ago Optus did a thing called Football Belongs, which was about the

You know, the 2020 euros and just connecting European influence on Australian football through all the migrant clubs of the, 50, 60, 70s. So bits of what I used was used for that. But, you know, Benny sent me like a 20 gigabyte Dropbox link and it was the full versions of some of these speeches that people have seen snippets of before, which were like seriously incredible. And then also

The videos that and got Ben to put together to help inspire the team. But, you know, clips of great Australian sporting achievements or, you know, different things that he would, you know, touch upon to, to fire him up mentally and all that sort of stuff. was like, you know, you'd always want to be there for those moments, but this is basically the next best thing. I was almost like I was able to go back in time and, and sit there in that room with these players and listen to what I told them or, or try and imagine.

What it would be like before a game to watch this video of like, know, Ian Thorpe and Mick Dillon and, you know, Pat Rafter winning things on the global stage and then, and making the suggestion like now it's your turn sort of thing, you can go do that. That was so good, but not just the video content that done some interviews with, with Ang and some players as well, which were going to be used for the documentary. And because I had such a massive time restraint on producing the first first manuscript.

Vince (24:00.987) I was able to use little parts of the interviews that they'd done to plug some holes that I had. And looking back, I would have been scrambling to plug those holes with stuff that I'd sort of, you know, got from people myself. So they kind of made the book possible in a way. But put that aside, they also just enhanced it in a massive way with the insights I could take from everything that was in that Dropbox link.

Sean (24:28.01) Yeah, I I like, you know, I love that inner room stuff. And we're always working with, you know, sports teams or leagues to build that trust with the coach and for Benny to get that trust of Ang to both, you know, cut these videos together as part of his pregame address and pump up stuff, but then also say, yeah, yeah, I want the lapel mic. I want you to record this for me. Now, whether, like you said in the book, whether Ang is like, I'm going to use this as a bit of a resume builder, like down the down the track or but just also to build that close relationship.

It's unfortunate the asset, the film didn't get up and the doc didn't get up, but it is if you're working on that team side, if you can build a relationship, the content that you can get is so rich and it's exactly what the fans want. And it's worth the hard yards to build trust with your coaching and your high performance staff to get that stuff.

Vince (25:19.541) Yeah, absolutely. I'd like to think I was able to finish off the documentary they started in a different sort of way in the end. I imagine there would have been some crossover with bits of what I did and what they were working on. So if they couldn't do it, I was happy to take the ball and run with it.

Sean (25:35.914) So the book has been out for I think about a week or so as we're recording this. What's been the response so far to the book been so far?

Vince (25:46.625) Pretty positive mate, it's been a weird experience for me, like seeing it on shelves and knowing that people are slowly getting through it in their own time, but nah, I haven't had any negative feedback so far. A lot of people enjoying it, as I did writing it to be honest, because it's an enjoyable journey that Ansh has gone on over the years. So much of his journey is the journey of Australian football in my opinion.

And he's just such an inspiring figure and his football is so absorbing that, you know, I found in a lot of the discussions I had with people I interviewed for it, they would just go on and on because we're talking about some of the best times in these people's lives, be they're players or fellow assistant coaches and all that sort of stuff. So I'm hoping that that sort of comes through in the text a little bit, how much joy and passion and all that, that, know, not only I put into it, putting it together,

But also these people, imparted on me. And then it was my job to put the jigsaw together really. But most people seem to be enjoying it, which is good. And probably, as I hoped as well, taking a little bit of a bittersweet sort of flavor away from it at the end, because, you know, as a country, we lost Ange, we had his influence here on the game. And maybe it was inevitable that he was always going to leave and go on to bigger and better things overseas. But at the moment, it's definitely a little bit like.

Yeah, it's great that you're doing that over there, mate, but like, geez, we miss you. We miss like, you know, what would you do with this situation or what would your advice be on this team right now? it's a pretty sad sort of story really, his exit from Australian sport, but it's one that had to be told.

Sean (27:32.78) No, definitely. And I think the piece that I enjoyed about the book is like, I consider myself as like a mainstream football fan. Like I'm the one that does tune in for the Socceroos and the Matildas or keeps an eye on the A league. I'm not in the full, you know, like we talked about before soccer Twitter. And so you filled some of those gaps because you know, Andrew's story has had those mainstream spikes when everyone is following him and knows what's happening. But it's, know, the NSL days and you know, the early Brisbane raw days and those kind of things.

A lot of mainstream sports fans, you know, don't know about, because they only know those peaks around the Socceroos and now following, you know, with Tottenham.

Vince (28:12.193) Yeah, I mean, I'd like to think most people know, or at least remember the 36 match unbeaten streak he had with Brisbane Royal. Like, you know, looking at his whole journey, I was too young to remember anything from South Melbourne. I was in high school slash early university when he was the national youth coach for Australia. So I wasn't really paying attention to what the, with all due respect, Ang, what Australia's under twenties and under 17s were doing at that point. I was, you know, doing teenager things.

But I distinctly and vividly remember his Brisbane raw team. And I remember the 36 match unbeaten streak and just the way that Australian sports slowly were like week by week, like, wow, are they going to, well, they've broken this record. Now can they break this record? And when they got to the Eastern suburbs roosters record, it felt like the entire country was watching him, which is so rare for the A league. So going back there was amazing, but

You're right. There's so many little bits that probably slip between the cracks for most people who only know, as you say, the high peaks. the good thing for me is, you know, I was able to mine that stuff because there's just absolute gold everywhere on his journey, including, you know, his very first coaching job, which was, I don't think has ever really been written about before, which was the Western suburbs soccer club. you know, there's, there's probably a lot more to tell there. I'll probably scratch the surface, but like,

Vince (29:38.111) You know, who would have, nobody knows this stuff. Not even Angie included that bit in his book that he wrote some eight years ago. So yeah, there's just so many great stories to tell all along his career in life.

Sean (29:52.632) And so you sort of talked about Andrew's sort of philosophy and his want for, you know, Australian football to succeed Australian football again, you know, I've spoken to, to people in the, in the U S and we talk about the code wars we have in Australia with, you know, the AFL and the NRL and you know, in soccer and football being part of that, you know, fighting, even just fighting for the word football. it was sort of moving away from the book and looking at football in Australia, like the A league is kind of could be coming up on 20 years. Where do you currently see football in Australia?

Vince (30:27.733) Yeah, it's complicated. I mean, up until recently, the national teams have been in great shape, but the Matildas currently don't have a coach and probably in need of someone who could put them in a new direction and sort of regenerate the team. And the Socceroos are certainly at their lowest ebb since I've been covering the game seriously in terms of losing to Bahrain at home and then drawing with Indonesia.

It's two sort of unacceptable results. So that used to be the thing that at least in football we could say, well, at least the national teams are killing it, but there's some big questions and issues there for football Australia to work through. The A -League is, know, I don't think it's been too much lower as a commercial product, which is interesting to me because as someone who watches most games every week, or at least the men's competition that is.

The product's fine. The product's always been fine, to be honest. The football itself is good and getting better because Australia is producing better young players who are slowly starting to filter through in Europe at higher numbers. And importantly for the clubs in the A league who are struggling financially at the moment, looks like those clubs have figured out how to play the transfer market and turn a talented 17, 18 year old into 500 grand or a million bucks or plus, two, three.

Vince (31:53.473) I still think Australian talent is underrated globally in the transfer market. So if they can continue to do that and achieve a sustainability for the A league just through player sales, I think the A league will be okay. I think also maybe we should probably think about football a little bit differently in Australia, like not so much on the same terms as the other football codes as we always have. always try and compare football to the AFL and the NRL and can we catch up?

I don't think that's ever going to happen. So what we should probably thinking about in football is think about it more like cricket in terms of cricket is hands down, nobody could argue one of our national sports, one of our biggest passions. But no one watches the Sheffield Shield and no one watches the big bash league, certainly at least in terms of the numbers they used to some 10 years ago. And yet we don't think of ourselves as a lesser cricket nation because of those things.

There's other aspects to the sport, which we've seen and recognized as proving that that sport is important to our national character. And I don't think there's anything more Australian really than taking your kid to a game of football on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Or, know, certainly these days, going with your friends to the pub to watch the Matildas or take the Socceroos during the World Cup. Thousands of people cramming into Federation Square at an ungodly hour.

They don't, they're not doing that because they don't care. They're doing it because they care. just need to certainly, and I'm talking almost as a football person on behalf of the people in our sport who we are often debating these things on social media with, you know, maybe we should forget about the A league trying to match the big competitions here and think more holistically about our whole sport. If the A league can just be good and produce players and keep the lights on, that's fine. I think,

Hopefully incrementally it can grow over time as more young Australians, you know, grow up, get their own disposable income and make their own decisions on how they spend on sport consumption. You know, that'll hopefully take care of itself as time goes on. But until then, focus on the fundamentals and also focus on the issues as well. Coming back to what I mentioned before about the national teams.

Vince (34:17.961) I think Football Australia have got a huge challenge in front of them from a more technical standpoint to make sure that the Matildas and the Socceroos are addressing the problems that are occurring on the field. Because if that doesn't happen and firmly, pretty soon the business of Football Australia will suffer as well. So there's a fair bit there, but I just reckon football is, we are a football nation. It just depends on how you think about it. And if your measuring stick is the A -League,

Sean (34:18.093) Yeah.

Vince (34:45.825) That's probably the wrong way of looking at it, but if you look at the millions who play and millions who consume football, just not necessarily the domestic league, I think that's proven.

Sean (34:57.11) I mean, think one of the things I think there is similarities between football and basketball. They've both got big participation bases. They've both got a local league that isn't the top league like the NBA is the top league, the Premier League, the Sierra. Like they're the top leagues. But then there's this ability for you to have thriving national teams. know, having people and I think the NBA has done a great job in revitalizing their product to fans in, you know, making it something that you want to that want to entertain that I think is sitting there for the A -League and the teams.

And there's a bunch of teams that are doing an amazing job and filling stadiums. But I think that's a more like for like comparison because both the AFL and the NRL, their top league is the top league in the world because it's only a sport really played here. So I agree. There is a lot of looking over the fence at what other people are doing. And it's probably something to focus on your own product and the vast fan base and participation base that football has.

Vince (36:00.129) The other thing I'd mentioned, which is an important piece in, in all this is like, you know, there's so many people who watch the premier league in Australia, but don't care about the league, right? Like even if we just converted half of them, the league would be in rude health. they don't have to daily doesn't have to go after fans of the other codes or people who don't like football. There's enough people in Australia who like football for that competition to be sustainable and successful. And I think it will get there. But I think one of the big parts of it is this whole transfer market stuff.

Now, I like I know people use the fact that the best players leave the league as a bit of a stick to beat it with in terms of you can't retain talent. Why would anyone watch? Well, there's like 200 leagues around the world, which are effectively feeder leagues to the top five. And people tend to follow those teams. It's about connection with club and community, in my opinion. And then it's also about creating relevance in the global sphere in terms of player sales.

So the more players like Nestor Irencundo who come out of the A -League and go and play for teams like Bayern Munich and make people in Europe stand up and take notice, the more relevant the A -League will feel in global terms because then people will start to think, hang on, there's something going on down there. Maybe we should keep more of an eye on the A -League because they've produced this player who's gone to this big league and this player who's gone here and the Socceroos are doing this and the Matildas are doing that. So they must be getting something right.

I think that's really important to make people, I think they realize this, but maybe, you know, reinforce it a lot stronger is that the A -League is part of this big thing, global football. And that's good. We should be that and be that to the best we can because that's the way to make people who care about the Premier League care about the A -League, I think.

Sean (37:50.56) And is that something again, I mean, you're pretty much laying it out, but like, is that something you as a storyteller is looking forward to continue? Because again, Australians love seeing Australians do well overseas and following those players as they're rising up the ranks and performing. And like you said, people are still are now cheering on Ange and what he's doing with Tottenham.

Is that connection piece and rather than having the glass half empty, they're leaving our league, it's not worth staying, when we should be celebrating them leaving the league because of, you know, skill development, player development, that's why they're being recruited and sort of, you know, the storyteller in you says, hey, I want to tell more of these stories of these young male and female footballers doing well on the global stage.

Vince (38:44.865) 100%. I think that's, that's the ideal. For me, if you want to map out like, selfishly a journalistic perspective, a perfect career from Australian football for me, when I'm trying to tell people good stories, it's a young kid who's grown up going to watch his local team. Massive fan of them, idolises the players, joins the youth team, graduation to the senior team, stars in the A league, gets sold, brings that club, you know, a few million dollarsBas a sort of repayment for the development and just the loyalty makes one or two steps in Europe makes it to a big league plays for the Socceroos or Matildas at a World Cup and does you know some nice things on the international stage and then come home and bring everything they've learned home.

When that player comes back to Australia, they bring all the stuff they've learned overseas with them. And they come home a hero as well. So that almost becomes a good young, but they always talk about the Irankunda ****types in particular as the sort of Holy Grail. You don't need to spend millions on a marquee player if you can get someone who comes from that area..

Vince (41:07.219) And stars and goes on to the next level. Like in his last season for Adelaide United, Nestor Irankunda was bringing people to games in a way that the marquee does, if not even better. He was a massive talking point in Adelaide. And imagine that player going through their career and then coming back at the end of it and finishing their career at that club. Think about all the stories within that. That's such a rich journey. You know what mean? That's a textbook.

That's what we want our players to do for the benefit of the game and the teams they play for. But it's also, that's beautiful. What a lovely story that is. And every step of the way, there's different things to be able to tell people when and angles of it to bring people. And let's just get as many of those as we possibly can as a game, I think, because the more who go overseas, the more opportunities there are for players beneath them. And we're producing a lot of them. We got like 2 million participants in this country, but only 12 teams in the A league who are Australian 13 now with Auckland FC.

That's not many roster spots. So I'm more of the opinion these days of bring him through, let him shine and get him out of here, bring in the money and then do the next one and just keep pumping them out because the more that are across Europe as well, they'll elevate the national teams and everything they do will elevate our reputation internationally. It's a holistic thing. But that's what we got to do more of in football.

Sean (42:34.092) Well, Vince , I appreciate you coming on and thank you very much for the book. I really enjoyed it. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Vince (42:41.643) Let's go.

I think I do. It would have been either a Grand Prix in Adelaide back in the day when they had it, or I don't know if I actually went, I think I did, but I'm not certain. So the other one would be, and this is a little bit shameful to admit as a passionate Port Adelaide fan, but probably an Adelaide Crows game before 1997, because my family lives in that part of Adelaide and my uncle played Rezzy's in the SA NFL for the Port Magpies.

But we got knocked back in 1990, whatever it was, when we tried to join the VFL or the AFL. And until Port came in, my dad and therefore me followed the Crows for a little bit. But I'll tell you what, showdown number one of 1997, we were back in the black and white, mate. And we were passionately hating the Crows as we do to this day.

Sean (43:37.176) Very, very good, very good. You would have been a lot of sports events in your time and also a lot of media rooms. Do you have a favorite food or a go -to food at a sports event?

Vince (43:49.921) Sort of, not really. The way I thought about this question was the best press box food experience I've ever had was when I was in Saudi Arabia, I think in 2016 or 2017 for a soccer who's away fixture. And this was the pre -match press conference. So not even the match itself, but I've never seen a spread of like incredible, intricate, tiny little desserts, the kind of things you'd expect to receive at a fine dining restaurant for your petit fours or even like a Peter Gilmore dessert type thing.

Just crazy, like a massive table with all this stuff piled up high. And I'm just like, who is this for? There's like 10 of us. Absolutely insane. I've never seen anything like that. But in terms of more regular food at a sporting event, I'm not a big one for eating food at sporting events to be honest, because particularly ones I'm at as a fan, I get quite nervous. I don't like eating in that situation. But the Women's World Cup last year,

And I don't know if they sold this in the stands at a core stadium, but they certainly did in the press area. There was a cheeseburger there that I still think about. Like whenever I talk to people about how good covering the World Cup was, my mind very quickly turns to probably after the France penalty shootout. Yeah, but bloody hell, how good were the burgers at a core? They were unreal. They were so good. Just like nothing fancy about it. Just good ingredients in a foil thing. That's what you want.

Sean (45:15.544) Terrific, terrific. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Vince (45:20.601) Unfortunately, it's Twitter or X. It's just where stuff happens. It's where most people who don't have my contact details try to reach me, which can sometimes happen overnight, particularly, you know, with Europe and the time difference. And it's also just where like, it's like the dashboard for Australian football. Unfortunately, we should probably try and change that. But until then, it is what it is.

Sean (45:44.685) Yeah.

And is there someone that the podcast listeners should follow? It be a fellow author or someone that you follow that they should give a follow to and why.

Vince (45:56.703) Yeah, I want to give a shout out here too. So on X, it's the username is scout underscore Aussie. And on Instagram, it's Aussie scout one one word. So this is I won't reveal their identity because I've been asked not to. But a person who basically keeps track of, you know, good young Australian players. So if anyone's interested in the stuff I just spoke about in terms of following the journeys of your next Irankunda types or whatever.

This is the guy to follow. He's tracking him from when they're playing in youth teams for A -league clubs and youth international football, but also talking about bigger picture stuff around the game and how we play it and the structure and the tactics and the analysis stuff. This has been one of the best sort of recent additions to soccer Twitter in the last couple of years is this Aussie scout guy who remains anonymous, but hopefully one day soon will reveal themselves.

Sean (46:31.799) Okay.

Sean (46:54.288) Trudy, did you find out what Angie's burner accounts were in your research?

Vince (46:59.795) I didn't know. But I am assured at least during the Socceroos days there was one. And I vaguely remember apologising to him under my breath at one press conference after I'd understood this, just saying, yeah, sorry about all the tweets in general sort of thing. I think he had a bit of a chuckle and moved on pretty quickly.

Sean (47:23.082) And lastly, we may have spoiled the result, but I always ask people what social media platform is your MVP? Is it Begrudgingly X or is there another one that is a riser for you?

Vince (47:32.465) begrudgingly X, but there is a rise. I think for me personally, Reddit, you almost can't get a good Google search result these days without putting Reddit in with your search query. And you can't, you shouldn't always trust, you know, the accounts of random individuals on the internet. But it just seems to me, particularly for the kind of stuff that I'm into and, you know,

Vince (47:58.453) Like football, but also like, you know, the shows and movies that I like, I really like, and I like to dive into, you know, everything about them. It looks like there's some good communities building on Reddit. I don't quite understand the upvote downvote thing, but like, just as a person who's reading and trying to get information and sort of, you know, give some good nutrition to my brain to make me think about certainly football things in a different way and branch my horizons, I find Reddit an increasing go -to and hopefully at some point soon it knocks off X because that place is yeah

Sean (48:34.368) I mean, Reddit has definitely replaced all of those clunky bulletin board and fan forums and that collective voice. You can still fall down a really big conspiracy hole or something that's completely wrong that a lot of people get into. But yeah, it is a place for vibrant discussion, especially if get to a subreddit that is really, really active. Lastly, if people are listening to the podcast and…

Vince (48:47.204) yeah.

Sean (49:01.068) want to ask a question about the book or want to reach out, what's the best platform to do so?

Vince (49:07.411) Unfortunately, X, yeah. No, I'm at Vince Rugari there. I think also the same on Instagram. My email is also in my bio on X as well. yeah, I'm happy to, if anyone wants to know more about the book process or literally anything other, anything to do with Australian football, just mention me on Twitter. I usually try and respond and I play nice generally.

Sean (49:37.028) thank you very much for coming on the podcast. All the best with the book. You're out there giving it the promotion. But I think it does a lot of it. You'll get a lot of word of mouth promotion. You will definitely from me. So thanks again for coming on the podcast.

Vince (49:49.717) Nah, my pleasure, mate. Thank you so much for having me. Cheers.

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Vince Rugari on LinkedIn, follow him on X (@VinceRugari) and IG: @vincerugari, let him know you listened to the episode. Grab a copy of Angeball now * Follow Sydney Morning Herald to follow Vince's work. + Twitter – @smh + LinkedIn – @The Sydney Morning Herald + Facebook – @sydneymorningherald + Instagram – @sydneymorningherald * Recommendation + @scout_aussie * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Jane Fernandez – FIFA WWC 2023 + James Johnson – Football Australia + Richard Bayliss – Optus Sport * Throwback episode you may find useful + How media has changed + Importance of grassroots in Sports Podcast highlightsHighlights from this interview with Vince Rugari:

01:30 – Vince Rugari's Journey in Sports Journalism
05:15 – The Changing Landscape of Sports Journalism
08:30 – The Rise of AI in Journalism
12:12 – Navigating Social Media as a Journalist
15:54 – Writing Ange Ball: Challenges and Rewards
28:14 – Andrew's Impact on Australian Football
31:53 – Challenges and Future of Football in Australia
34:51 – Player Development and International Recognition
38:57 – The Potential of the A-League
31:16 – Viewing Football in Australia Holistically
46:50 – The Role of Twitter and Reddit in the Sports Industry

As discussed on the podcastGrab your copy of Angeball now.

Jackson Irvine, Socceroo and Interviewee for the book.

A great pleasure to present a copy of ANGEBALL to one of the blokes who gave me one of the best interviews for it, Jackson Irvine pic.twitter.com/Xb9M8OnI8r

— Vince Rugari (@VinceRugari) September 3, 2024

Feedback from the book from Gerard Whateley

Get inside the mind and heart of footballing pioneer Ange Postecoglou in #Angeball by @VinceRugari.

OUT NOW!

Find out more: https://t.co/KEIqgbJu1G pic.twitter.com/wErNSpOGpr

— Hachette Australia Books (@HachetteAus) September 5, 2024

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Behind the Scenes: Writing Angeball – Vince Rugari appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews J.W. Cannon from episode 132.

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, J.W and Sean discussed Sponsorship and Digital:

• Sponsorships are increasingly focusing on digital and social experiences
• Good content is crucial for leveraging digital and social mediums effectively
• Consumers are spending more time on tablets and phones than on televisions
• Digital advertising spending is growing significantly compared to other areas
• Digital marketing offers intimacy, personalization, and real-time measurability that traditional mediums cannot Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: And so how has the sponsorship game changed over the years in your years in the business?

J.W.: You know, it sounds really cliché, but sponsorships are increasingly focused on the digital social experience for fans. Sponsorships need to move towards developing and bringing more content that is engaging and relevant to our consumers and the consumers of the properties we partner with. People always say social and digital, but those are mediums, and mediums require good content. That's key for me in the industry to continue to move forward.

Consumers are spending much less time in front of their televisions and more time in front of their tablets and phones. Digital spending increased 18% last year, while the overall spend rate increased much less. This means digital is getting a significantly larger portion of the overall advertising spend. Marketers are reducing their advertising budgets in other areas to fund more digital marketing initiatives. There are so many channels available to brands now compared to several years ago. Digital is truly a game-changer for our business as it provides a level of intimacy, personalization, and measurability in real-time that other mediums can't offer. This is something that has been critically missing from our industry.

Sean: Yeah. And that's the thing. Ten years ago, five years ago, teams didn't have these digital departments, this savviness, and the content production that they have now on the digital side. Now, it's a matter of how they weave in their sponsorship message, how they do things that hit the mark, and also make sure they hit the mark with the sponsor's audience. It's one thing to slap a logo on a piece of content that goes out to all of your fans, but if you as UPS or Bank of America want to hit a certain demographic, you have to have the flexibility from a digital team to make sure you're getting those results. Sponsorships are becoming far more results-focused than just “Hey, this is what our brand did. This is what it reached.” It's becoming more tracked and more lead-focused from a sponsorship point of view.

J.W.: Well, digital now is not a passing fling. It's mainstream. The mindset needs to be less about “digital marketing” and more about marketing in a digital world where digital is the default. That's a big change for people to digest. It's influencing how brands approach their investments. I haven't seen any recent campaign of any magnitude that hasn't included a significant digital component.

Sean: And you think also the customer experience and the rise of experiential activations, making sure the customer is at the heart of it and digital is there bridging it. That's where the really smart brands and the smart sponsorship activation, especially around the stadium, are focusing. It's still important to activate at the stadium, making sure the fans can feel and see and touch your brand. Experiential activations are the leading edge of what's happening in sponsorship.

J.W.: It is. I think it's a very important part of it. But you can err too much on the side of too much experiential. The key is defining a balance of getting something inherently physical that fans can participate in and that allows them to generate some of the content for you almost automatically. Experiential on a per-person basis can be really expensive. If it's not done right and doesn't have the right components to amplify that experience, it can be wasteful. While experiential is important, what's more important is getting it right to the point where people are spreading the word about it in a way that provides more value.

Connect with J.W. CannonListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Sponsorship and Digital, J.W. Cannon appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Hannah Warren from Netball Australia.

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Learning sports from the agency and brand side of the business
• Why the We Are Here campaign was a bold change for Netball
• Netball Australia's mission to assert its influence in sports and empower future female athletes
• Importance in telling athlete stories to connect with fans
• Why engaging with grassroots netball communities is essential
• The importance of knowing the phases of fandom Listen to Hannah Warren on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptInterview with Hannah WarrenThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean (00:01.922)
Very happy to welcome Hannah Warren. She's the head of marketing at Netball Australia. Hannah, welcome to the podcast.

Hannah Warren (00:08.305)
Thank you very much. Long time listener, first time appearer. So thanks for having me.

Sean (00:13.878)
Not a problem, I always try to find people's sports biz origin story. What about yourself? How did you find your way into the world of sports?

Hannah Warren (00:22.561)
I found my way into the world of sports probably through the side door, probably not the back door. A very plucky young student went to a uni open day as you do and got some career advice that I was a PR girly. I actually wanted to be a journalist, but the person at the time asked, do you love writing? Like, do you keep a diary? And I was like, no, don't keep a diary as such. And so she very quickly shifted into, well, what are your passions and interests? And I said, well, I love.

I love people, I love stories, I love communicating. And she went, you're PR girl. So I was like, great, I'm a PR girl. So I went away, got the scores that I needed to get into UTS and did a PR and marketing degree and came out of it, bright -eyed and bushy -tailed and got a junior sort of administration, junior role at one of the most prestigious national PR agencies in Australia and spent three years working away only to discover much to my horror that I… absolutely hate PR.

And that's no slight to the industry or any of the incredible professionals that work in that industry. have the utmost respect for all of them, but it's not the gig for me. Luckily, that agency was adjacent to a number of sister and brother agencies that were all focused on sports marketing. It was Dentsu Aegis Network at the time. And one of them was MKTG.

everyone knows very well. I think at the time they were called Team Epic, which is such a hilarious name for an agency. But one was MKTG and the other was an agency called Spark. It no longer exists, but it was one of those great little scrappy agencies that kind of did a bit of everything. And what I noticed most was they seem to work a lot in sports. So they had at the time ANZ, Railbo Direct and Tourism Tasmania as clients.

And they managed respectively the principal partnership of the ANZO Championship, which is the trans -Tasman netball league at the time. Rabo Direct were front of currency for the Rebels and Torres and Tassie, obviously, for the Hawks. And I got in the door and just my mind was completely blown because I grew up as a good old Aussie kid who absolutely adored sport and the idea that I could merge my professional and personal passions and find a away in a space to live and breathe every day in sports.

Hannah Warren (02:31.769)

I was so excited. So I joined that agency. I got stuck in. I've kind of found my niche, which was awesome. And I never looked back back really. I updated my LinkedIn profile very excitedly saying I was a sports marketing person. And luckily I was approached by the team at Bastion. So I went and worked with the Watts boys for quite a number of years and absolutely loved that experience.

Cut my teeth. working on a number of strategies, not only rights holder side, but also brand side. I always say agency is just such a phenomenal training ground. You learn so much so quickly. It's so fast paced. It's so diverse. You've got the opportunity to get such a depth and breadth of experience. So did that. And then it was time to have a think about jumping brand side. So I did that.

Sean (03:21.058)
So yeah, so I want to stop you there because like you did get sort of like that apprenticeship in agency land is we would like to see everything has to be in a land in Australia, you're in agency land or you're a club land. So in agency land, did get that crossover of one, multiple brands that are trying to activate into sport and how are they using sport, but then also doing some rights holder stuff.

Sean (03:45.902)
I think we first crossed paths. with the mini -roos and the Socceroos. And I was working in FFA and you're doing activations with the mini -roos. And so that side of, you know, how to, and it was really that early time too of how to brand start activating with the digital channels of the team. So moving from, we're setting up tents outside of stadiums and getting signups to, hey, how do we leverage Facebook audiences and Instagram audiences and stuff?

So you think that was a bit of a, you know, almost a sports marketing MBA to take your education to the next level of working with multiple brands, multiple audiences, different demographics, you know, on the agency side.

Hannah Warren (04:26.939)
Yeah, it was fantastic and really cool to be a part of that really transformative period. think I was sort of, yeah, literally part of the groups that were starting to merge and evolve contracts from you get two court decals and your logo goes here and your logo on the tent goes here and activations are limited to physical activations. And I think seeing it from a brand perspective and from a rights holder perspective.

Sean (04:45.123)
Yep.

Hannah Warren (04:53.793)
You realize that's so restrictive because physical assets are always going to tap out at some point. You can only stick so many logos on so many tents and you've only got so much resource to be able to do physical activations and physical activations and grassroots engagement, real human connection will always have its place. And I think we've maybe moved a little bit too far the other way, but at the time.

There was just this huge opportunity that was presented by the wave of digital engagement and rights holders starting to understand, hang on a second, there's a huge extended reach we can achieve if we're activating across all of our digital audiences. And then how do brands tap into that in a meaningful and authentic way? Because you can't logo slap a piece of content, you can, but it doesn't really work. So what does that look like? Cool to be a part of that specific industry as it went through that period of really significant change.

Sean (05:49.878)
And so then, you know, like we just said, you're in agency land and then you went sort of product side brand side, you know, in two scenes at both Nissan and Therabody. What were some of the lessons, you know, jumping out of that multifaceted, multiple clients, multiple pieces to a single, you know, a single project, a single, you know, a single product, single purpose. Like what was the, how, did you have to sort of change gears and reframe your thinking?

Hannah Warren (06:16.229)
I really got stuck into brand. think jumping brand side, I really started to learn the value of brand. I think when you're in agency land, you kind of bounce in and out. And so you absolutely try to deeply understand your clients and their purpose and their vision and what they're trying to achieve and their objectives. But you're never going to become deeply immersed in it because you can't, you delivering a project that's got a singular lifespan and really is only one piece of the puzzle.

Jumping brand side, really do get to understand how imperative it is that successful partnerships sit within a broader marketing plan, which sits within a broader business plan. And you get to understand all of the different cogs. And you also get to understand how partnerships have a real depth and breadth of value.

That is not necessarily just limited to marketing. There's all sorts of opportunities you can have aligning as a brand or as a product or as a business with a sporting code. And that could be things like employee engagement. That could be things like CSR opportunities. And you can, once you really get under the skin or under the hood of a brand, listen, under the hood, you can start to understand how you can extrapolate so much more value than just the logo goes on the front of the Guernsey and is on Friday Night Football. So yeah.

Sean (07:37.998)
I mean, it's a really important point because again, whether you are working as an agency or even as the rights holder and you have sold this sports partnership that's most likely comes in some sort of box, it's only, you know, two to 5 % of the total business of the partner that you are working with. so realizing that, you know, and I think that employment engagement piece is one, know, sustainability is risen as a sponsorship asset now once sports have started.

Realize it like that piece of understanding the business, their brand, but also realizing the other opportunities they're trying to achieve that if you just stay inside your little box, you'll always just stay inside your little box. really is limiting, but it's sort of, that's the scope and that's the brief that we get when we're on the sports side of, I've got to help them sell cards or make their brand bigger or sell more widgets or get more people into their store.

And we're trying to do with our fan base, but not realizing what's their, you know, what's their overall objective, you know, how can we help outside, you know, over deliver those kinds of things, but actually might expand the partnership, you know, down the track.

Hannah Warren (08:49.553)
Totally. And I think Therabody is actually a really good example of where there was a really genuine alignment. And I think the brand came very hot out the gates, like incredible growth across the globe in a really, really short period of time. And everybody wanted to work with Therabody, everybody being the biggest sports clubs in the world, Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, the Tottenham Hotspurs.

They are master global sports portfolio that was quite astonishing when I was first approached for the role as part of the APAC team. But what was interesting was I think they forged a lot of those sports marketing partnerships initially because of all of the markers that you would think, like let's sell more stuff, essentially.

But what was interesting was we sort of, think the brand probably did itself a disservice in the early days, forging just a huge number of partnerships without actually recognizing that what they had was a really genuine connection because it was the high performance teams that were driving the desire for these partnerships, not the marketing teams.

The product was that good that physiotherapists and high performance teams wanted these products and they were more than happy to have Therabody onboard as a partner in a very different capacity to their other partners. And I think the brand is just now starting to really… dive into that authenticity and start to sell that story because that's the really powerful story about

Therabody is there are very few brands that the sporting codes themselves go after because they want them. And so you have to make sure that from a consumer and a fan and an audience perspective, they understand that, that this isn't about Therabody going and buying sports sponsorships. This is about a genuine and authentic and purpose -led connection, which is let's help people move better and Therabody enables people and high -performance athletes to do that.

Sean (10:47.384)
So that's your, you know, how you got here, you know, agency product and now your sport. Like you said, it's the side door because a lot, you know, some people will get into sport, you know, at the very, at the lowest of levels, inside sales, you know, operations. Yes, I'll wear the mascot. Yes, I'll set up a tent, you know, yes, I'll hand out flyers and work their way up. And it's, you know, it's quite a valid method to get into sport and work your way up.

But there are now more avenues to come from other parts, whether from agency or product to bring a different view. How do you look back on your experience and say, hey, how has it set you up for the role you've now got in Ebol Australia?

Hannah Warren (11:32.359)
That's a great question. I see so much opportunity with Netball. I really do. I don't drink the Kool -Aid of Netball. I really don't. I actually think that there have been a lot of times where I have been quite frustrated with Netball because I've been on the other side of the fence with Nissan and saying, if I was in the tent, I'd probably do that differently.

And I did actually laugh with my partner when I was offered this role that, well, now I've got no excuse. And he said, no, now you're in the tent. So, you know, I won't hear anything else about this. I was like, okay, cool, pressure's on.

But I think what I'm really keen to make sure Netball starts doing is owning its power and its authority and its unique identity within the sporting landscape. And I think I've from the outside grown quite frustrated with the rising tide of women's sport, which is everybody's favorite topic. And it's a real threat to netball because netball has always had the opportunity to rest on the laurels of we're the number one participation sport for women and girls.

Hannah Warren (12:38.727)
And that's an incredible statement to be able to make and one that takes a huge volume of work, not only from the Netball Australia team, but from our incredible MOs all the way down to the volunteers who keep the grassroots running. It's a phenomenal statement. But at the end of the day, it's what got us to this position is not going to keep us in this position.

And so it's time for Netball to start putting some stakes in the ground and not looking necessarily backwards, standing on the shoulders of giants for sure, but actually starting to be a bit future focused and making sure that we understand that we've got a real job to do and a real responsibility, not only to the participation base that currently plays netball, but also to the future generations to make sure that this code continues to grow.

And we need to keep up with the industry and the times in terms of our commercial offerings, our mark coms offerings, our consumer products, all of these touch points needs to need to absolutely be industry, if not excelling standard.

Sean (13:41.582)
So yeah, you've set it up there, giving a little bit of history of netball. And for international listeners, netball is a phenomenon in this part of the world. Like you said, one of the highest participation sports in Australia. My mom played netball, my sister played netball, my niece just saw on Facebook, has played 50 games for Bungaree. My daughter played netball all the way through school.

it is a phenomenon from a participation point of view. And yeah, we did discuss that at sport next, you know, the rise of women's sports and the fact that women's globally, you know, both here in the U S is, you know, I don't want sound like bill Simmons is having a moment, but it's like, it is definitely in a way, a wave and, know, and the Olympics, both, both performances, and also the viewership, shows that the sports world is and sports fans are willing to watch support women's sports.

And so, like you said, Netball has been in the one position, the leader from a participation and having an elite sport for a long time. when you came into the role as head of marketing and being a little bit of an outside voice, do you think that was something that wasn't one embraced but also needed, like you said, to secure your future?

Hannah Warren (15:08.711)
I think so. when I arrived, looked at Suncorp Supernetball was the first sort of code that we really had to focus in on because I was arriving just on the finish of the 2022 season, 2021. Anyway, our season was finishing and so the lens turns to what are we going to do next year?

And I…remember presenting three core pillars and saying it's time for netball to shake some of the stereotypes because they are becoming problematic, especially as the rise of women's sport and other codes are putting their stake in the ground for what they stand for in terms of I think the AFLW do a phenomenal job of standing on inclusivity and diversity and embracing absolutely everybody and welcoming absolutely everybody.

But there are some really unique and special things about Netball and we don't have to be bashful. I think Netball can often suffer from a stereotype of we are the nice girls with ribbons in our hair that are a little bit exclusive. feels Netball can feel very overly officious. Netball is a phenomenal game and it is.

iconically Australian, but if you're unfamiliar with it, it can feel a little bit exclusionary because there are a lot of rules and there's a lot to understand. And so there's some stereotypes to be broken down. There's also some stereotypes to be broken down in terms of just how elite these athletes are. and so when I arrived, I presented sort of three pillars that I wanted to build the brand strategy of Suncorp Super Netball on, which were, sorry, not sorry.

We're not going to apologize for who we are or how impressive we are as a code or our history or what we stand on. We built this house. We don't stand on the shoulders of a men's code. Like, Nepal is built by women, not necessarily for women, we're expanding, but it is forever and forever will be an incredibly safe space for girls and women. And we're really proud of that. And so…

Hannah Warren (17:08.901)
We built this house. continue to build this house. We don't have a big brother code coming to save us with a checkbook anytime soon. This is absolutely what we are. And you've got to see it to be it. It is absolutely our responsibility and Netball responsibility, Netball's responsibility, I believe, to ensure that we inspire a generation of girls and women to be whatever they want to be. And that doesn't necessarily need to be an elite Netballer.

We have a female CEO, we have a female chairperson, our board is filled with women, our executive is filled with women. There is an incredibly impressive cohort of women that drive Netball Australia. And I love that about Netball as well. And I think Suncorp Super Netball serves as an inspiration piece for everything that you are capable of as a woman, irrespective of what that looks like.

So when I delivered those three pillars, I was really nervous because exactly as you say, Sean, I was an outsider voice and I was pretty open and honest about some of my frustrations or some of my observations. But I mentioned all of those in my interview because I figured you may as well know my perspective and what I'm coming in to do from the get go.

Hannah Warren (18:20.919)
And really pleasingly, they were. unanimously embraced. And when I actually sat down with all of the marketing leads from all of the SSN clubs and we had a real workshop and stopped down and I wanted to hear their perspectives about how they felt the league was positioned, how they felt their club brands and identities were positioned.

There was an absolute quorum of, yes, it is time for us to stand up and to absolutely talk about where we exist and what netball represents in the ecosystem of the Australian sporting landscape.

Sean (18:48.91)
So do you see yourself coming in, I mean, not on purpose, but being that sort of change agent and change catalysts, and sometimes change is really hard. Like people go, this is the way we've done it. This is the position we've always been, but it was something, like you said, you went through the interview process. This is what I want to do. This is where I see the sport or at least the brand and it can lead the sport. Normally that is hard to do, but was it something that…

It just felt both internally, Nepal wanted it, but then also these outside pressures of, cause it was that four or five years of all these other sports were getting all the kudos for women's sport. And there was a little bit of Nepal going, Hey, Hey, Hey, we're over here. We've been here for ages. And so it was that little bit of pent up, Hey, we want to take ours back. And that was sort of the internal like, yeah, we want to get behind you because yeah, we want to, we're in for this fight.

Hannah Warren (19:44.091)
Yeah, there was a lot of emotion around it and a lot of people had a real attitude of, yeah, about time, let's do this. The CEO, Kelly Ryan, at the time when I presented what the campaign, what the external brand expression and campaign was, her only critique was, have we gone hard enough? Which I absolutely loved. And I said, no, I think, I think we've just gone just the right amount. But we'll wait and see how this is received.

Hannah Warren (20:13.677)
And there was, some genuine nervousness when we went live with our We Are Here campaign, which is a riff on that very tried and true, here if you need, which we thought was a real symbol of netball feeling like we're always taking a step back. Like we're always, here, but only if you need. And you would never think that in a male code, you're never going to get a male athlete that's like, but only if you want, like I'm available. It's like, no, no, we're like, no, we're absolutely here.

Hannah Warren (20:43.543)
But there's a line in the, in the manifesto or in the ad that we put together that says, they said you play a game for little girls. So we showed them what little girls can do. And I just think that's, that's the essence. That's the point. It's not beating our chests for the sake of it. And it's not saying, Hey, we're over here. Look at, look at us. It's more about owning what has always authentically been true of our code. We're not.

We're not making up stuff. It's not a lick of paint. It's not spin. We're showing the world what little girls are capable of. They're capable of growing up into the most impressive elite dedicated athletes. That also put on a bloody good show. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that on the… There we go.

Sean (21:27.286)
You're completely allowed to say that. I mean, it's very much on brand, right? And so, you and so you launched the We Are Here campaign and you go through that process of getting buy -in, you launch that initial creative and that, you know, those storytelling threads and you get that big push. Everyone gets behind it at launch and there's a lot of, you know, back slapping and everyone going way to go Hannah and, know, and

And that's what a brand launch is. But then I'm really interested in how do you go from that brand launch every day? That's amazing. Look at the new season two. How do you then keep that brand strategy going after the launch?

Hannah Warren (22:32.593)
Great question. Yes, the big bang and then what have you got? Yeah. That's where sports great because sport will throw curve balls and stories. And that's where you can start leaning into all of the individual athlete stories, the journey that the clubs are about to go on. I certainly, a lot of backslapping for me, but I by no means did this alone. We work with the amazing kids at TLA wildcard. Shout out to them. Absolutely great operators and my team also.

Head of Design, Head of Creative, Justin Bedford and the whole team. Absolutely phenomenal job. firstly, I do have to call out that this was not of my own device completely. Lots and lots and lots of hands went into that. yeah, I think one of the amazing things we've had join the team or a member who's joined the team is Erin Lyons and she's an ex Chief of Staff for News Corp. And Erin understands what a hook is.

And so it's been phenomenal to watch that team really start to drive the editorial of Suncorp Super Netball, which we've never, we hadn't previously focused on well enough, in my opinion. We need to start telling athletes stories and creating our own news engine. And we'd been very good in previous years to tell the story of what happens on court in New South Wales, Swift's beat the West coast fever by.

two points and this shooter had these stats and that all has its place, absolutely. But what are the stories behind all of that? And we all know the sports trends that fans are following athletes far more than they're following clubs.

So we have to start moving with that and telling those stories. And we have to start making sure that if we've set the brand platform, how do all of the touch points for Suncorp Super Netball continue to elevate and speak to that? So that's not just the brand team as well. That's our incredible events and operations team who all took the brief of we are here and said, okay, we get that. How does that roll out across sports pres for the final series? How does that inform what our merch range looks like?

Hannah Warren (24:40.535)
How does that inform, there's so many other pieces of the puzzle that keep it moving and keep it alive after you've had that initial kind of sugar rush of the campaign's here. It's a stake in the ground. This is amazing.

Sean (24:52.259)
And so some of the success of that campaign, you've recently just concluded one of the most successful seasons, the Super Netball, most watched from across Foxtel, biggest opening round, most attended women's sport in Australian history. Like that's an amazing foundation. Like what's next?

Hannah Warren (25:13.759)
Great question. We're continuing to connect the pieces of the puzzle. That's what's next for Netball. Netball is not just Suncorp Super Netball. Netball is Woolworths Net Set Go, our introductory program, and that's got some incredibly exciting evolutions coming down the pipeline. We've got our incredible Origin Australian Diamonds, are world champions, Commonwealth gold champions. Every trophy you can imagine, they've got it in the cabinet.

And we've also got a World Cup on home soil in 2027. whilst the results of Suncorp Super Netball are phenomenal, we don't want to become blinkered to just Suncorp Super Netball because we are Netball Australia. So we have a responsibility to make sure that Suncorp Super Netball is thriving.

But how do we make sure that we don't constantly fall into the trap of just switching from product to product or brand to brand without connecting the pieces of the puzzle, which is the next journey we're about to go on as we look at resetting and what our 2025 strategic plan leading into a World Cup on home soil in 27. Yes, high fives all around amazing, but how do we start better connecting the pieces of the puzzle?

Sean (26:27.395)
And it is, I mean, it is like you said, those, it's tough to call them products, but it is, you know, national team, grassroots, you know, super team and getting all of those pieces working. is, it is relatively unique, I think to the, to the Australian market, you're not just a league and you're not just running participation, like having to, you know, solve that problem, but also connect, know, connect those stories and, you know, getting your team, telling those stories and connecting with fans is a 12 months of the year job.

Hannah Warren (27:04.967)
100 % and netball is a lot of things to a lot of people. It's everything from a first foray into sport into a ticket to a tier one entertainment product in super netball to yeah, to international World Cup territory. And so we have to when we look at our our consumer and our audience audiences.

wanted to say segmentation, but we segment them too much, which is why I deliberately avoided it because we don't want to keep thinking about our consumers as you're a Woolworths Net Setgo consumer or you're an Origin Diamonds consumer. have to, yes, of course, tailored comms are always the greatest advantage, but we want to make sure that we're also, again, sound like a broken record, but connecting the dots because

Hannah Warren (27:55.011)
Netball is a whole ecosystem and we want to start making sure that there's a symbiotic relationship between our products. If you are starting Woolworths Net Set Go, how are we in the right ways introducing you to Suncorp Super Netball and so many other codes do it so well. You look at Woolworths Big Bash, look at Napoz Kick.

The IP of their elite codes is trickled down to make sure that from the moment you strap on that first pair of footy boots or you pick up that bat, you already identify as a member of X club. Netball needs to, and if you don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but watch this space, Netball needs to go on that journey as well.

Sean (28:35.395)
And is that why, know, taking your, you know, we are here to, we start here, starting to make some of those, some of those connections to say, hey, you're at NetSec Go, but yet you could be, you could be a vixen or you could be a Thunderbird down the track.

Hannah Warren (28:51.591)
100%, 100 we want to start connecting the dots and we want to start making sure that people understand that Netball, again, is an ecosystem and making sure even from a business perspective that we are turning grassroots participants into fans and ultimately consumers. That's the business of sport.

Sean (29:12.377)
And it is something that the studies do show you play a sport, you will become a fan of the sport, but it's not something that just goes, cool, you play it. You will. There's still work that needs to be done. And is that something that we talked about? We worked on a project with the Mini -Roos, is soccer's stuff, in doing that piece.

That is something that has continually grown over the past 15 to 20 years of both commercializing your grassroots, but then also getting that fan development and that fan development pathway.

And it is something that is a challenge, you know, in sports around the world, you know, there's lots of kids playing soccer in the US and they're still trying to get them to the MLS or the National Women's Soccer League and those kinds of things. So it's not a new problem, but is that something that you're like really focused on to figure out, hey, I've got all of these players, netball players playing, how do I get them?

How do I get more of them to the games? How do I get more of them out of those tribes? know, sport is all about tribes. Is that something that is on your wish list, on your to -do list or things that keep you up at night or all of the above?

Hannah Warren (30:21.049)
It's the thing, all of the above. It's a great umbrella for that one. Yes, it is all of the above. And it is the opportunity that absolutely anybody in sport can say for netball, which is we absolutely rightly boast that we have over a million participants in Australia. Our broadcast numbers needs to match that and reflect that. And that is the opportunity that absolutely everybody can say. And I think that speaks back to us making sure netball.

us making sure that we don't get so laser focused on Suncorp Super Netball that we forget about what the grassroots landscape looks like. And I think a good example of that at the moment is we're talking about Woolworths Net Set Go and the resources that we provide out to Clubland and communicating with this audience and having a qualitative feedback sessions with groups of actual volunteers who knew you could just go and talk to people. What a thrill. Speaking to them.

Good old fashioned posters next to the canteen on a Saturday are what they want because most of the time to connect with an association is a president at bonbeachfootballnetballclub .com .au. Who knows who that's going to? Who knows if they open it? Goodness knows most of them are still on a big pond, which tells you everything you need to know about the grassroots audience. And, and I joke, but at the same time, if we're going to convert the grassroots, I love when people say, the grassroots, like it's a singular homogenous group.

Hannah Warren (31:49.531)
Like, Nepal is so disparate from Victoria to WA to the NT to Tasmania. They play different seasons. They play different competitions. Loosely, you can group them into formats, but the grassroots is something that takes a lot of time and resource and energy to understand. And then again, that other favorite phrase, engage with the grassroots. What does that look like? And that's really, really different for each code. And I think the trick to actually

Hannah Warren (32:18.243)
Having that conversion or the trick, don't have the answer for full disclosure. But in my opinion, one of the things you need to do is to actually really understand the grassroots and the community you're trying to engage with and understand from their perspective, what are the barriers? What are the blockers? What do they need? What problem are you solving for them to get them to switch on the telly, to watch KO, to watch Foxtel, to buy a ticket? And if you continue to make decisions on their behalf or make assumptions on their behalf,

Sean (32:22.008)
Yeah.

Hannah Warren (32:47.717)
You'll get some stuff right, but ultimately you'll get a lot of wastage in what you do because you weren't grounded in an insight to begin with.

Sean (32:55.437)
Yeah, I mean, it is both the challenge and the opportunity. But then it also comes back to execution for your team, what they're producing and what they're putting out. And really having that, lot of the time, you talked about it with audiences. I always talk to digital teams, like, who are you doing this for? And having that intent of, yes, I'm going to build out this hero building.

Awesome creative, tell the stories of Super Netball, you can do that just for the fans that are always turning up or you can do it for that 15 year old that is playing on a weekend in, you know, in six degree weather in Hungary and still running out and playing netball and realizing that, you want to make sure that, you know, Grace is going to come to a game down, down the track.

And so how do you, you know, I guess, instruct your team when you've got such a wide brief and it's such a wide audience to sort of pull some of those levers to talk to that new audience that you pretty much want to welcome into products like Super Netball or to watch the diamonds.

Hannah Warren (34:06.213)
My team is two things. The first one is my team is super data driven. So we create content that people engage with. And we also create content that new audiences engage with. So exactly the example that you've just given, I asked my team the same thing. I'm more than happy to green light projects, video projects, whatever we're doing, but we have to know who we're talking to. And we all love driving engagement with the audience that absolutely loves us.

Actually Netball's got an incredible available rusted on fanbase that we absolutely adore. But we know the age demographic of that fanbase and I can, it probably won't come as any secret that it doesn't over index in Gen Z.

So we've got a job to do making Netball a little bit cool. And that won't necessarily be content that makes sense to our rusted on loyal fan base. It certainly won't offend them, but they might not absolutely adore it. But that's okay because it wasn't made or designed for them. It was made and designed for the next gen and the future. So that's one piece in the data driven, which is very analytical. And the other one is my team.

Sean (35:07.673)
I mean, it's really, sorry, that's really important because the whole, you know, that audience who might not like it can be very noisy. And so you need someone like yourself to say, that's okay, we're gonna take some of those nips because it's not for them. And because if you end up creating things for everybody, or just the noisy folk, you'll end up, you know, not getting that growth piece. So it's a really important piece that you need, you know.

C level or bosses to understand we are going to take a hit here. But also that audience is not on that platform over there. So we won't tell them about that platform over there.

Hannah Warren (35:47.91)
TikTok is perfect example of that. Don't pay attention to what's happening on TikTok. TikTok is serving, is doing exactly what it needs to do. You don't need to look at it or think about it. I'm being silly. Yeah, it's very much an education piece within the business. And we have the most phenomenal history and traditions committee who keep us very grounded in our roots of all of those that have come before us. But it's a balancing act to make sure that we pay homage to all of those.
You know, my grandmother included who started an association who I'm sure would be saying, Hannah, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I'd like, that's fine, Nan, don't worry about it. I promise. It's for the young gens and it makes sense to them. But always staying true to what Netball is as well. So I don't think we ruffle too many feathers because at the end of the day, we're not going to push it so far that we've lost who we are and what we stand for. We're just going to change the message slightly to appeal to a different audience.

Sean (36:45.891)
So when you say data -driven and sort of instructing both your team when they're either designing something or assessing something that works, what are particular, are there particular tools that are helping you do that or are there particular stats that you're saying this is important to us on what success looks like?

Hannah Warren (37:05.701)
Yep. My social media team live and breathe in meltwater. So there's constant real time reports across everything that we do. And we review them weekly, just as a snapshot. How did we do? What did that do? How did we go? And then we review them. We do a deep dive monthly and work out what are we doing? How do we need to pivot? What have we got in the pipeline?

Erin, who I alluded to earlier essentially has an editorial pitch meeting, which is phenomenal. All of the team come together and say, I think we could do a story here. I think we could do an athlete profile there. I've heard about this amazing piece. So yeah, that meltwater is probably the platform which has been around for eons, but do you what? I couldn't sing its praises highly enough to be honest.

Sean (37:49.463)
I I think both getting visibility of those stats, whatever tool it is, like across the team, is super important. And I love the pitch process because it helps the digital folk refine, hey, why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for?

Sean (38:14.209)
What stats that are causing, or what are the stats that you are chasing? So yeah, it's really important. Other than meltwater, I've been always looking at the marketing technology landscape that continues to grow.

Chief MarTech, they do an infographic 10 years ago, had 1000 tools and now it has 14. thousand tools and it can be tool overwhelmed, but are there, you know, you've already mentioned meltwater. Are there other tools that are in your toolbox that help you do what you do at Netball?

Hannah Warren (38:52.677)
We've absolutely loved the introduction of tradable bits campaigns into a lot of what we've been doing. They're short and sharp, but we've done a huge clean out of our CRM system. When I first started, we're still on an absolute journey as far as our data is concerned, but we did a real clean out and clean up. And one of the major focuses we had was on first party data and tradable bits has been an invaluable tool and lever for us to pull to really quickly.

Really quickly get people into our ecosystem and then continue to learn more about them as well in ways that are really simple and quick. we have at Netball, we've got lots of different experiences and athlete training sessions and signed merchandise. It's quite easy for us to stand up things like that that add value to our, don't, you can never just stand something up for the sake of it. It absolutely adds value to our consumers.

We always try to make sure that they're hyper engaging for our consumers and fun also, but they definitely feed our data set as well, which is great.

Sean (39:55.819)
So I mean, you mentioned earlier about what's next. I feel at least from what you've discussed, you sort of came in as a bit of that change agent and Netball was ready to sort of take on that challenge. Like what are the next steps for both Super Netball, for Netball overall, you say, we're to you in four or five years time, where do you want Netball to be?

Hannah Warren (40:25.145)
I would really like everybody, if you went and asked any consumer on the street or any member of the grassroots, what does Netball really stand for? What does it, what makes Netball special or different versus AFLW or NRLW or the Matildas? I would really like people to be able to give an answer first and foremost. And I would like it to be the answer that we have crafted and, and that we have continually started to represent in market.

At the moment, there's a lot of talk out in the ecosystem about the diamonds with a well cup on home soil, having their Matilda's moment. And I have to say it frustrates the bejesus out of me. I don't want the diamonds to have their Matilda's moment. The sentiment is true. I want mainstream media attention. I want the eyes of the nation and the pride of the nation on our golden girls.

But I don't want them to have a Matilda's moment because we're not football and World Netball is not FIFA. Netball is going to celebrate its centenary in 2027. And so I want Netball to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together. I keep saying that. But from World West Net Set go through to Suncorp Super Netball to the million participants that play it and then to the athletes of the Origin Australian Diamonds for today and tomorrow and the athletes of the Black Swans, our First Nations team.

What is it about all of those quite disparate teams and groups and products and brands? How do they all represent what is intrinsically true and unique and special about netball? And there's a red thread through all of them. And it's more than the set of rules that govern the game and the sport that is played.

There's something bigger and we've got to find that and then articulate that in a way that is that is true to who we are, but also engages not only this generation, but the generations to come.

Sean (42:19.903)
Most definitely, well I look forward to it and I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. You would have been to a lot of sports events in your time and your varied sports career, but do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Hannah Warren (42:34.927)
In what feels like a very full circle moment for me to make this omission, it was Sydney -Swifts, Sydney, not New South Wales, Swifts game. I was six years old and our current chairperson, Liz Ellis, was playing goalkeeper. So, there you go.

Sean (42:53.217)
There you go, very much full circle. And you would have been a lot of sports events, been to different sports events around the world, and also different corporate sports facilities. Is there a favourite food that you've had in sport?

Hannah Warren (43:14.065)
Hot chips, and I won't be convinced otherwise. you're doing it wrong, if you're doing anything else. Unless you're at local football, in which case a steamed dim sim never hurts.

Sean (43:24.542)
Seamed him sin. That's a good one. I haven't had a day seeming seen as an answer for a while Yeah, so that's that's a that's a good one I actually still haven't seen any sports event or a footy netball venue do the Dim sims on the barbecue. That's the that's the game changer. They had a dim sim or a barbecue. I Don't knock it to you try it frozen dim sim cut him in half put him straight on the barbecue

Hannah Warren (43:43.073)
No!

Hannah Warren (43:48.839)
Okay.

Sean (43:53.316)
and then flip them over a couple of times, dip them in the soy sauce. It's like a steamed dim sim and a fried dim sim together.

Hannah Warren (43:53.36)
Okay.

Sean (44:02.746)
It's Christmas game changer for me. That's the only thing I bring on Christmas Day and it's like the entree of actually it's Boxing Day tradition. And it's a Boxing Day tradition and yeah, that's the only thing I have to bring on Boxing Day is a bag of dim sims, keeps our beers cold and everyone starts off the day with an absolutely delicious treat. People in the US can Google that and be further disgusted by Australian eating habits.

Hannah Warren (44:03.025)
You

Hannah Warren (44:07.993)
No.

Hannah Warren (44:12.975)
It's boxing day for sure. Yeah.

Hannah Warren (44:25.265)
Happy days.

Hannah Warren (44:30.577)
Horrified.

Sean (44:33.039)
Hannah, what's the first app you opened in the morning?

Hannah Warren (44:37.297)
teams to work out what meeting I'm late for.

Sean (44:42.37)
Okay. And then is there someone that you follow? might be someone, a colleague, might be someone you follow on social media, might be an author that the listeners should give a follow on why.

Hannah Warren (44:53.275)
I think anything that Bill Neff, who is the VP of marketing for Yeti, I think he's phenomenal. He's ex Under Armour and then has spent many, many years at Yeti. But if as a marketer, you want to listen to someone who really understands the true impact of deeply understanding.

the communities that you're trying to engage with and therefore building a brand that people have a genuine affinity, genuine affinity with. Give him a Google, he's done a whole bunch of talks at a whole bunch of very fancy summits across the globe and he's been a real influence. And he was introduced to me by my old boss, Simon Trainor, who's ex Nike and also an absolute professional and incredible person in this space. So yeah, that's my recommendation.

Sean (45:43.258)
Terrific, Bill Neff, we'll check him out lastly and you can answer this personally, but then you can put your Netball Super Netball hat on. What social media platform is your MVP?

Hannah Warren (45:55.207)
TikTok. I love what TikTok has done. It has changed the game and I will freely admit it has shaken up my millennial, perfectly curated Instagram grid life and made me challenge everything I know about brand guidelines and you you couldn't possibly do that. My favorite TikTok is the one with Emirates. Emirates of all brands and the stupid cat dancing over the top of it and down. And I just thought, okay, wow.

But if you want to be the children of the future, they're going to rule the world. And so you've got to play that game. And we've achieved some phenomenal growth and it's kept our team deliberately agile and very consumer focused because you've got to go with the flow and move with it and stay true to yourself in that swirl. But yeah, I love TikTok. It's great.

Sean (46:54.452)
I mean, it is a real valuable point of, you here you are, talk about brand, the importance of brand, this big campaign, here it is. And like I said, here's our brand guidelines. And you go to TikTok and it's like house on fire. And you're just turning around and going, and it's like, okay, but you've got to, you know, to, and I'm guessing there'll be people nodding that have had a CMO that's like banging down that you've got to use this certain font and pixels have to be aligned. it's like.

Hannah Warren (47:07.771)
TikTok doesn't care.

Sean (47:22.072)
That's not how TikTok works. And yet, and I'm sure there's lots of digifolk that have posted the brand video on TikTok. Yeah, it didn't work well. It's like, yeah, because TikTok don't like that stuff. So it's really refreshing to hear that from someone that is so on brand, you know, talking about brand and the importance of it, but to understand that some platforms, TikTok in particular, need that flexibility.

Hannah Warren (47:43.429)
Yeah, you got to be fit for channel and I think TikTok, it was very easy to say that until a platform that thrives on chaos arrived and it really tested some people's willingness to, can we put that song across? Are we saying, okay, cool. Yeah, all right, no worries.

Sean (47:59.118)
Yeah, and it continues to and that's the thing. And so it's going to keep challenging more folks. So Hannah, I appreciate you taking the time. Good to catch up with you again. Is there a way what's the best way for people who have listened and enjoyed this podcast can reach out to you?

Hannah Warren (48:18.196)
is this like, is this a personal email of shout out?

Sean (48:21.508)
Well, no, they can, but you know, is it LinkedIn for them to connect with you?

Hannah Warren (48:26.053)
LinkedIn. No, find me on LinkedIn is probably the best way to get a hold of me. I love the overly professional world of LinkedIn. So look forward to talking about myself in third person with you on LinkedIn. I'm sorry. I love LinkedIn and it's incredible professional engagement platform. It just sometimes feels a little bit like corporate networking, but in a digital form, but by all means, reach out.

Sean (48:50.746)
But that's also the definition of LinkedIn. And that's how it is used and effectively. yes, after talking about TikTok and then going to LinkedIn, it is a bit of a leap. And thanks for taking the time. I look forward to catching up with you soon, potentially at a netball game sometime soon.

Hannah Warren (49:11.397)
Yes please, Sean. I also note that there is no jumper or dress in the background there so we'll be fixing that sometime soon.

Sean (49:18.392)
No worries, cheers mate.

Hannah Warren (49:20.421)
Thanks Sean.

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Hannah Warren on LinkedIn and follow her on X (@hannahjwarren_), let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow Netball Australia across social media: + Twitter – @NetballAust + LinkedIn – @Netball Australia + Facebook – @Netball Australia + Instagram – @netballaust + YouTube – @NetballAustralia + TikTok – @netballaust * Follow Suncorp Super Netball across social media: + Twitter – @SuperNetball + Facebook – @supernetball + Instagram – @SuperNetball + YouTube – @Super_Netball * Recommendation + Bill Neff – Head of Marketing, YETI * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Catherine Clark – Netball Queensland + Sarah Styles – Victorian Government + Jennie Wyllie – Netball New Zealand * Throwback episode you may have missed + Building a fan base, Colin Kelly Podcast highlightsHighlights from this interview with Hannah Warren.

01:30 – Hannah Warren's Sports Biz Origin Story04:02 – The Value of Brand and Successful Partnerships09:07 – Owning Power and Inspiring the Next Generation25:05 – Telling Athlete Stories and Connecting with Fans29:01 – Netball as an Ecosystem31:37 – Converting Grassroots Players into Fans and Consumers33:48 – Data-Driven Strategies for Engaging Audiences43:14 – The Future of Netball: Connecting All Aspects of the SportAs discussed on the podcastWe Are Here campaign as discussed on the podcast

Most attended Women’s sport in 2024

The 2024 Suncorp Super Netball season was the most attended season of Australian women’s sport, with a final total attendance of 366,222.

https://t.co/1FEQcwW6p0 pic.twitter.com/Sfn4J06EmK

— Suncorp Super Netball (@SuperNetball) August 4, 2024

Fans

Best fans in the world pic.twitter.com/q6JDtSgt0y

— Suncorp Super Netball (@SuperNetball) August 18, 2024

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Connecting Netball Communities – Hannah Warren, Netball Australia appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Colin Kelly from episode 226, who is the SVP, Marketing and Digital at LAFC

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Colin and Sean discussed building a fan base:

• Community Engagement: Colin emphasizes the importance of engaging with the local community to create a strong, loyal fan base
• Content Creation: Developing original and engaging content is crucial. The discussion highlights how LAFC utilised YouTube and other social platforms to share behind-the-scenes content, player stories, and interactive videos to keep fans engaged and invested in the team
• Partnerships: Strategic partnerships can open new opportunities for fan engagement
• Digital Innovation: Leveraging digital platforms to reach fans is essential
• Consistent Interaction: Regular and meaningful interaction with fans helps in maintaining their interest and loyalty Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So you were there, and that sort of brings you to Los Angeles. Time-wise, you arrived a couple of years before the first season, while it was really in its infancy. What were some of the challenges? It's something that I now face with my sports team—starting from the point of “fan zero” as you did with LAFC.

Colin: Yeah, I was here two and a half years before we ever kicked the ball. To have that kind of time was amazing before things got serious. But it’s amazing how quickly it went by. I was the only person in digital for 20 months out of that time. The challenge was, for us, how do we make something out of nothing here?

Sean: It must have been two years ago. You must have been really early in that role. I remember catching up with you at the previous week, not far from Staples Center. We were showing off concepts, including a mockup of the stadium we’re sitting in now, which was just starting to be built. How do you connect with the fans when there are no signings or players yet? It started with the colors and logos. It was really community-focused, hitting up a certain part of Los Angeles and saying this is going to be your team. It was like going back to the older days of social media, doing community management and reaching out one by one. Was that what those early months were like?

Colin: It has now become such a mantra that we’re putting it on merch: “street by street, block by block, one by one.” How do we get down to that one person? If we can make that one fan, we’ve got to get one. So we get that one, and he tells his friend, and he tells another. It became a very grassroots thing.

Sean: Was it something like replying to people’s tweets or commenting on their Instagram and making them feel the buzz of the team behind them?

Colin: Anybody who showed any interest in the club on social media that wasn’t hateful, we would respond to. And then the important thing was taking it offline. We used to do little barbecues in the back, like Friday afternoons, usually with better weather. People would come, and we’d have one of our supporters, who has a catering business, make amazing tacos. Heineken would provide the beer, and we would just sit and talk. We wanted this thing to be from both a fan perspective and a front office perspective. We really wanted to learn about each other and discuss the potential for this club that we were trying to build together.

Connect with Colin KellyListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Building a fan base, Colin Kelly appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Jerome Elenez from FC Dallas

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• What Jerome learned about marketing during his long career at McDonald's and how he applied it to sports.
• Working with Mark Cuban in CMO role at the Mavericks
• How to build brand awareness in a competitive sports market and why drone shows are working for FC Dallas
• Why data-driven marketing plans are essential for making informed decisions
• The role of technology and AI to enhance productivity and efficiency in sports
• The FIFA World Cup 2026 and what it means for the FC Dallas Listen to Jerome Elenez on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptInterview with Jerome ElenezThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean (00:02.028)
Very happy to welcome Jerome Elenez. He's the Vice President of Marketing for FC Dallas. Jerome, welcome to the podcast.

Jerome Elenez (00:10.127)
Thanks, Sean. Thanks for having me.

Sean (00:12.47)
Not a problem at all. I always start off by asking how people got their start in sports. What about yourself? What was your first gig in the of sports?

Jerome Elenez (00:21.773)
Yeah. So I'm going to date myself a little bit. And, when I was, Enrolling in undergrad, it was about the time that Jerry Maguire had come out. and, I knew that I was going to get into business. I was still trying to determine which field or which specialty. but I had a call into marketing and specifically because of that movie, I was inspired by that. so I had played basketball at SMU, walked on.

And really wanted to get involved in that after I graduated. and I did what a lot of people do is, is they left, you know, I left my resume with the athletic director and the head of marketing there, and asked him if they had any opportunities or knew of anybody that was looking to give me a shout. and that worked out about a year later and, came back into the field and.

was an intern for SMU's athletic department and did that for about 18 months and had a fantastic experience, learned a lot. And then because of that, the Cowboys were calling SMU and TCU, the local universities here, looking for entry level salespeople. And so that was my first gig in professional sports. And through that made several connections.

I was selling media for the Cowboys. radio and television network and met with several agencies here in Dallas and across the country. And then that led to my future career with McDonald's Corporation for 19 and a half years.

Sean (02:01.858)
Yeah. So that's, I mean, it's a very common piece of that internship, networking really hard, finding those opportunities and then getting in that door. And a lot of, a lot of folk that I have had had on the podcast do started at sales space. And it's so important. If you can sell, you will find a home in sports. A lot of people will shoot for, want to be in a marketing role or I to run social or I want to run digital. Or it's like, you know, once you're in the organization, you can start, start seeing.

you didn't do that trajectory of working your way up at the Cowboys. went to McDonald's and were there for 19 years. So what were some of the things you learned from a marketing point of view working for McDonald's?

Jerome Elenez (02:45.293)
Yeah. So while I was with the Cowboys, I learned obviously the media side of the equation. but I knew that there was more, and I knew that there was more that I had studied in school, but that I was interested in learning more about the marketing atmosphere. and so when this opportunity came up with McDonald's, I jumped on it just from a long -term personal investment. and so, so I would say, you know, I got my degree in marketing.

But I really got my MBA through McDonald's and really in a general, literal and figurative sense because I did actually get my MBA as an employee for McDonald's and they had a great tuition reimbursement program. But learning about the business and how to manage a P &L and see the P &L through a franchisee's eyes, because every promotion that we would propose

They're looking at it from a different perspective. We're thinking it's going to be great. It's going to drive transactions. It's going to get people to the restaurants. They're looking at it from, well that's great, but how is that going to impact my profitability? Cause I still have these, these stables every day that I have to deal with the labor, food and paper costs and paying a rent and service fee to the corporation. so I've got to manage that. And if you're saying I'm going to have a sizable discount,

How many more hamburgers am I going to sell? How many more soft drinks am I going to sell in order to recuperate that quote unquote loss? So we, we had that conversation, I would say almost every month in my 19 year career with each of the franchisees. And it was such an amazing organization and it still is, but my time there, developing business and personal relationships with the franchisees.

I still have friends that are either part of the organization still today or that have sold their franchise and we get together and play golf still. So that's just the magic of the arches, I would say.

Sean (04:53.494)
And then so going from moving from McDonald's after a long career and working in corporate and again, you know, a lot of people confuse sports where they see big brand and which is, you know, alongside, you know, similar brands like McDonald's, but then sports has, you know, small teams, you know, you don't have the resources. What was it like going from McDonald's to, to, to the CMO of the Mavericks? What was that adjustment like?

Jerome Elenez (05:22.477)
Yeah, no, it was a sizable adjustment, financially speaking, and in terms of the number of resources. when, people see the golden arches, they think it's just a local hamburger restaurant. But there's so many parts and pieces that are involved, everything from the supply chain, which opens so many doors to, you know, where you get your, your bun source, the meat, the pickles, the ketchup packets.

Every little detail that goes into it, there's just so many hundreds of people and organizations that are involved in that. Going to a professional sports team, it's just your team. you know, I've been fortunate enough to work in the NFL, NBA, and now MLS. And sure, you do have support from each of the leagues and each league, I've noticed, handles that support differently.

But you're on your own and you're trying to string together whatever you have as a budget to make sure your ultimate goal is to get butts in seats, right? And I'm sure a number of your guests have talked about that. That's ultimately what you want to do, but you also need to manage that with building the brand and doing the things that you need to do to enhance that brand reputation or enhance that brand image and get people interested in coming and seeing it, seeing a match or a game.

Sean (06:43.694)
So I was lucky enough to have Mark Cuban on the podcast over 10 years ago now. What was it like working for him? What was his focus? Because he was really focused on the fan when he took over. When I spoke to him, it's always been one of the things he was always, yes, he wanted a terrific product on the court, but he wanted the best for the Mavs faithful. So what were some of the things that he was driving you from a marketing point of view at the Mavs?

Jerome Elenez (07:11.545)
Yeah, I learned a lot from Mark and I think, you know, one of his famous quotes is, everybody will get excited about a free t -shirt being tossed in the crowd, right? And so something as minute as that, that creates that energy can be replicated by a number of teams, right? But then also, know, also just his ingenuity and entrepreneurship, Mark is always looking for what is that big splash.

And so a number of things that he did early on in his career as the majority owner were tailored towards that. And I think really just reinvesting and supporting the fans as much as he did, that's what really led to a lot of their success. So I learned a lot from them on that. I will say that I learned just as much now working with the Hunt family. And it's a much more collaborative effort and supportive in terms of some of the ideas that we're bringing to the table, they're embracing and really trying to do things differently.

But I think it's just taking all the bits of information that I've learned throughout my career from working with Jerry Jones and his salesmanship is something that I've carried through my career working at McDonald's, understanding the holistic view of the business and getting multiple departments involved in decisions and how we bring about, you know, the cohesiveness to a, whether it's a marketing campaign or even just a promotional night, making sure that everybody's involved from operations to partnership to, to communications. There's so many people that need to be involved in those discussions early on. And so that's what we have at FC Dallas in it. And that's something that I really appreciate.

Sean (09:02.86)
Yeah, so you've jumped in there about about your role at FC Dallas. And you've got some really good knowledge of the you know, the Dallas sports market, which is a, you know, one of the massive sports markets in the US and working for, you know, what is known as America's team, the Cowboys and then the very successful Mavericks.

You know, what is it like working with FC Dallas in MLS, you know, soccer, as it is known in your in your part of the world or football as it's known globally, what are some of the opportunities and challenges around working in the Dallas market?

Jerome Elenez (09:40.793)
Yeah. So I equate it to, and, and, and my own personal experience. So I'm the youngest of five. And when, when I started with FC Dallas, I would look at my family's as FC Dallas is to the DFW marketplace at the time. But since then we've added the Dallas wings and now Dallas Trinity and women's professional soccer. So the family's growing, right? And we also have a professional cricket league here.

So now that family is grown to eight siblings, so to speak, and we're all screaming for the parents' attention who are the consumers, right, the fans. And ultimately, the older brother is the Dallas Cowboys, right? And it's not just Dallas Cowboys, but it's football. It's high school football, it's college football. That is what defines Texas outside of politics, right? And so that is where a lot of people's attention.

Sean (10:11.32)
Okay.

Jerome Elenez (10:39.073)
automatically goes to right now is pre, know, spring preseason training is kicking off, all the way through the Superbowl. Right. And so, so that's kind of the lead dog. And then you got the Mavs who made it to the NBA finals last year. the Rangers won a world series last year. And then you've got the stars and then us and the stars had a hell of a playoff run as well this past season and in the last two years. So these teams are naturally drawing a bunch of people.

And we've been around since 96. And what I mentioned in my interview with the Hunts when I was coming on board, I said, we have an awareness problem and we've got to address that. And we can't just focus on the soccer purists, even though is, DFW is such a soccer rich environment from the number of youth organizations that we have to our own academy.

I mean, there's so many kids and so many families that are involved in soccer that it is soccer rich. But as I said, youngest of five and now, you know, somewhat the middle child of eight. We've got to make sure that we're screaming for attention, doing things differently in terms of how we expect people to spend their disposable income. Why should you come and watch a soccer match if you're just a quote unquote average sports fan here in Texas, right?

Where you're naturally inclined to tune in for a Cowboys game, Mavs, Rangers, Stars. What makes us different? And that's what we've been trying to do over the last couple of years. And part of that is just really thinking outside the box and leveraging what most would consider a weakness and turn that into a strength. For example, we're an open air stadium and in the dead dogs days of summer,

Like right now it's 110 degrees outside. So trying to get people to buy into that is difficult, right? When you look at the Mavs and Stars play inside, obviously, so do the wings. But then you got the Cowboys and the Rangers have retractable roofs, but they're not opening the roofs right now. So we're flipping that script and we're saying, no, come out and see us because one, you're gonna have a great time. The soccer environment is just nonstop for 90 minutes

Jerome Elenez (13:04.143)
And then we'll have a drone show at the end of, you know, on pretty much on a monthly basis. And we put a lot of effort into these drone shows. The next one that we have coming up is our Star Wars night where we're going to have 750 drones flying, doing amazing formations of based on the Return of the Jedi episode. so and incorporating fireworks and light show into it. And so it's a family event.

And we're just hoping that all of these families that are involved in or playing soccer come to this and be like, you know what? That was a lot of fun. I want to come back. And it is just a great entertainment value that we're trying to get people to buy into.

Sean (13:49.912)
So you presented and you spoke about the drone shows at Seat in Las Vegas. And one of the questions I both said myself and heard from others is like, how does that idea get off the ground? Because it sounds amazing. we're all looking at for what's next in game entertainment and also driving in more casual fans and presenting your product as a sports and entertainment product.

And soon as you put up an IP like Star Wars, all the Star Wars geeks might be going to their first soccer game ever. But I just want to unpack a little bit of how do you get, you sort of said we want to show that point of difference, we want to flip a weakness into a strength, but how does that idea get off the ground and then more importantly, get sign off, become a valuable asset for FC Dallas?

Jerome Elenez (14:49.603)
Yeah. And so it comes back to what I was saying earlier in terms of, Clark and Dan hunt buying into and trusting the ideas that I brought to the table. and really trying to think differently instead of just saying, no, we got to go after the soccer purists and that's who we want in our stadiums. And really just taking a long -term view of like, no, if we can get families and kids involved in this, we can get somebody hooked now. That will be a fan. 18, 20 years from now and hopefully bring their kids, right?

So, but getting it off the ground took a lot of trust. It took some research and we looked at it from every angle, talked to several different drone suppliers, the company that we use, Sky Elements is an amazing partner of ours. And we actually struck a three -year deal with them where we invested some dollars so they could expand their fleet of drones.

And so that's what really helped us. The other thing is we've got the land. So we've got 18 Academy fields just north of our stadium where from an FAA clearance standpoint, that's what they're looking for. Cause you can't fly these drones directly over the stadium. So we have that other benefit of we've got all these land, this, this land north of us. We fence it off. Nobody can walk underneath the drones. And then each of the drones has a built in GPS sensor. it slightly gets out of formation, it comes back to its landing pad.

So there's a number of safety precautions. Sky Elements does a lot of the legwork in terms of getting FAA clearance and city clearance and making sure everything's ready to go. We work with them in terms of, I provide a storyboard with them. We talk about the timing with relation to music, any art that we have up know, we just choreographed the entire night and then they take that information and work with their programmers and they put together each drone. Each drone has a specific job in each formation that they're going to do.

Sean (16:58.88)
And so does that, I mean, you said it happens monthly. that affect Lee, you know, and we've seen a lot of sports to how can we create these tent pole games in our, in our calendar, whether it's a, a specific Jersey, our rivalry round, does that, is that now giving you, you know, once a month, there's a, there's a, there's a tent pole is a destination game. doesn't matter who's, you know, turning up on the park and the opposition. They are, I'm going, yes, I'm going for the football, but

You know, I've been the drone show is amazing. I'm a sales fan. I'm going to this game is as it's sort of given your ticketing, you know, given some, I guess some structure to your ticketing planning.

Jerome Elenez (17:36.345)
That's where, again, it comes back to kind of that partnership and working with other departments. So we don't get our schedule until probably December each year, and we've got to turn around pretty quickly. So I'm already working with my team on theme nights that we're going to look at for next year. And then once we get the schedule in December, I work with our VP of operations for the stadium, as well as our VP of ticketing.

And then we, we map out what games make sense where ticketing is looking at. This is going to be a harder draw. Then we look at probably adjusting and having something like a drone show come in to support that. Right. If we got, LAFC coming in, we might not need as much marketing support or effort and, really let the, the draw be the draw, you know?

And so we look at that strategically. said on a monthly basis, it works out to about you know, four to six weeks, but because we're looking at it very strategically and then really if we do them too close together, it, we're in danger of creating that burnout. Right. And so we want to make sure that they're special. They're intentional. If they make sense against like a rival, then we do it, you know, and we've done that in the past and we'll, actually do some things next year, with some of our rival matches, but we got to see how the schedule plays out. then we, we.

plug and play, so to speak.

Sean (19:05.23)
So one of the things when you are setting the bar high for terrific experiences, like I said, your fans start to expect it. And yeah, you don't want to be expecting a drone show every year because it'll just become a bit, I've seen this, that's okay. So what are some of the other things you're doing at Toyota Stadium to say, this is why you're coming to an FC Dallas game, yes. Success on the pitch is what we want, but also, we want you to turn up whether you're a like you said, a soccer purist or we're welcoming in new fans that go, this is a terrific entertainment option on a Friday or a Saturday night whenever you might have a game.

Jerome Elenez (19:43.183)
Yeah. Yeah. So, DFW is such a transplant city, or Metroplex, I should say. There's so many people that come to this, this market from whether it's another city in Texas or another city in the U S or internationally. Right. And it's thriving. It's growing. the city of Dallas proper over the last 10 years has grown population wise, about eight to 10%. the city of Frisco where we're our stadium is located, which is about 30 minutes north of the city of Dallas proper.

It's grown about 34 to 36 % in that same time period. So we're seeing tremendous growth in the population just continues to diversify. So my job is trying to find where are those new fans that we haven't tapped into in the past, right? So we've always on our organic social media celebrated all of the whether it's black history month, Asian American heritage month, any type of diversity group, we're celebrating that because that is our job as a community partner and a community leader. Right? Well, what we've done this year is we've taken a step further. We've never had, a black history month celebration in stadium because our games and typically start in late February. Well,

We went ahead and did that, even though our home opener was February 24th this year, we made sure that that was going to be kind of, it was a home opener, but it was also black history month. And so we reached out to, the Concord Baptist church in South Dallas and asked them to come and perform and, and do a pregame show as well as a halftime show. They killed it. They loved it.

We had actually had them come back on Juneteenth. had a game on Juneteenth and they did another like. just amazing performance. we've never done anything with the Asian community here at FC Dallas, in stadium. did a, South, Asian American heritage night in May, followed by a South Asian American heritage night, on July 31st. And so having those conversations with the Asian chamber of commerce and talking to them about being fully transparent, we were talking to you, not when we want your

Jerome Elenez (22:06.573)
your community to come and experience a game fully and full transparency. But on the flip side, I'm also talking to them about, Hey, did you know we have a homegrown partner program that is investing in local businesses, minority owned businesses that your people, your constituents within the chamber can easily apply for. They're like, we didn't know that. So it's a, it's a two way street. And, and so we're, trying to really foster those relationships with community leaders and making sure they understand like we're again, we're a younger sibling.

A lot of people have gone to all of these other games and all these other teams and they're amazing organizations. But we're saying, give us a chance, come out and experience what we have to offer and you'll come back, you know, and you'll continue to see what we do in the community that makes even more sense for your constituents to continue to support FC Dallas.

Sean (23:03.116)
I mean, that's a real advantage being like you said, that younger sibling, you know, real that hustle nature of what you have to do when you're a challenger, you know, team in a market with with you sit like said, big bigger brothers, because they can't execute at that community level of grassroots because of this, this scale, both in market and nationally, it gets tougher and tougher to be able to, reach, you know, local communities that potentially price them out of market. So it's something that you can get deeper ties into space.

When you first got to FC Dallas, you're talking about awareness and sort of trying to build out that awareness piece. What have you done to, you you've done the drone shows that sort of give a bit of that sizzle and give a bit of difference in market. What have you done from a brand point of view? You know, we spoke about it at Seat, your Light the Match campaign. What were some of the things you've done from a campaign point of view to try to cut through some of the noise and get some visibility for FC Dallas?

Jerome Elenez (24:03.791)
Yeah. So, we've done a couple of things. One, it started with, with a marketing plan. And this is where my 19 years at McDonald's corporation in marketing helped in terms of the latter part of my career. it helped me understand the importance of making sure it is a thoughtful and data driven plan that is going to make sense to make your customer base, potential customer base react. Right.

So fortunately I've been in DFW on and off for 30 something years. know this marketplace like the back of my hand. and one of the assets that we have in terms of media and traditional forms of media is we are next to Atlanta. The, are the second highest penetration of digital billboards. So I look at that in our drive time in DFW. Sure. There's, other markets that have worse traffic nightmares than we do, but

We're in the top 10 in terms of drive time across the U S you couple that with our digital billboards that we have here. I see that as a post -it note opportunity for us to hit somebody on their daily commute, which is on average 20 to 25 minutes a day. That's, that's what mine is from, from Dallas to Frisco and everybody else coming from Fort Worth to Dallas or Arlington to, to DFW, whatever it may be. and so I'm trying to remind people, or at least educate them.

Hey, there's a professional soccer team here. and so that's where the awareness starts. And we do that in English and Spanish. funny thing we did for, our South Asian American heritage. And I, we actually bought some billboards that were, pretty centrally located to our Indian population up in Frisco. So we had four billboards and we had a rotation of English and Hindi and Urdu, ads running.

So we're, trying different things. We're trying to get, build that connection. Right. Again, just building that awareness. also, and when I got here, my first year, three years ago, we already had a partnership with our CBS or local CBS TV affiliate before we entered into a 10 year agreement with Apple TV, right? Where all of our games are being broadcast. So we had a local media partner that we were working with. And so we had that trade value to be able to get that broadcast by. So.

Jerome Elenez (26:26.541)
We leaned into that where it made sense. We also bought some additional packages and we bought the UEFA package on CBS three years ago and we bought it last year too. And that helped us connect our brand with the soccer purists, right? But we had to use all forms of media. We bought Connect TV and then we started looking down the lower funnel in terms of buying our paid social display and making sure that we're having that low hum

every day throughout the season. And that's something that we didn't have prior to me getting there. It was very, very spotty. was like, ticket sales are a little down. We need to go buy a billboard. And it just, the media landscape does not work that way. And you're not getting the best rate because what you're actually getting is the worst rate. You're getting the rate card rate when you're, making those reactionary media buys. So again, having a thoughtful marketing plan, having a thoughtful media plan that supports it, and then adjusting the creative. So

We have some talented individuals in -house, but together with an outside agency over the last couple of years, we've been able to transform our campaign that we can leverage and really have a unique spin that we traditionally didn't have, right? It was some lights and some smoke that we shot the players in and that was it. Now it's like, it's a high entertainment production value that we're doing. Last year it was light to match watch what happens.

We had an onsite location at a studio warehouse that we shot the guys in. This year we actually, for this year's campaign, we took the players up to Wichita Falls to Shepherd Air Force Base because our campaign this year is kicking the afterburner. So we leaned into that afterburner effect from a jet plane. so a lot of that imagery. people see that now and they're like, wow, what's that all about? versus just players in lights and smoke. it's just like, you know, that's just not going to get people's attention.

Sean (28:30.7)
And is it a little bit of, we're just gonna go stand next to the big brother. Like, you know, here's what the Cowboys do, here's what Mavs do, and you just come along and puff out the chest and show that high production value to sort of have the fans sort of sit up and take notice and go, FC Dallas are doing things.

Jerome Elenez (28:47.715)
Yeah, for sure. For sure. And, know, we've done other things inside the stadium to, just make the experience cool. It's like, you know, we, we had this large stage on the north side of our pitch that, we used to have seating there. We, we, we don't right now. And so it created this chasm and I'm just like, okay, we got to fill that up. And, so we had a local graffiti artists come in and do that back wall and add some.

some decorative vibe to it and then kind of that street vibe. And they also helped us with the tunnel that both teams walk out of. So you're getting that intensity brought to life. Then we added like a 50 foot shield of our logo that we shoot fire at the top of and it lights up every time we score. And, you know, we've got all this pyrotechnics. So it's like a rock concert show now every time we score. And so the stage is being brought to life. And so, yeah, it's like, we want to stand there and be like,

Yeah, we're holding our own and, you know, the kind of results are speaking for itself. You know, the first year I was here, we had seven sellouts. Last year we had 10. This year we've had 13 out of 13 sellouts and we'll likely sell out the rest of the season. So we're getting that momentum and it's exciting.

Sean (30:01.986)
So sort of to look back at your McDonald's career and you sort of, is a sort of similar structure where, know, big corporate and franchisees where MLS is effectively the corporation and all the teams are the franchises and the MLS is on a really good trajectory right now. You know, obviously you've got the Apple deal that's come in and then you've got, you know, players like Messi coming into the league and drawing more eyeballs and more attention to the league.

you know, what's your, you how is FC Dallas sort of taking part and also leveraging some of that, some of that growth of some of the new players and some of the new interests coming into the league.

Jerome Elenez (30:38.051)
Yeah, no, it's amazing. you know, the deal with Apple, I think when that was announced that that just solidified the legitimacy and the long -term plan for the league, right? Prior to that, it was, you didn't feel that. and, it's, you know, you can't go wrong with being partners with one of the best and brightest brands in the world. Right. and so that just gives you that multiplier effect of.

Not only are we now being seen internationally, if there's soccer fans that have, we got a couple of players, well, most of our team is international. So Alan Velascois coming back from an ACL injury. He's an amazing Argentinian soccer player, striker. And he impressed Messi when we played them last year in our leagues cup, which was just an amazing experience on its own.

Alan's play that night really got that respect from Messi so much so that I'm sure he advocated for him to be called up to the national team, right? And so that impact is not only for us, but it's also happening for our players. And then you talk about the viewership. So now it's like the St. Louis fans are watching FC Dallas play in St. Louis because they can.

And it's an easy flip of the switch, right? Especially with this leagues cup too. It's like, you're watching all these other teams that are playing that you probably never would have watched before, but you're watching them because we could potentially match up with them. that it's just, it's creating, it's this energy that's just happening on all cylinders. It's just really great.

Sean (32:26.254)
And then I guess the next step is, you know, what's coming down the pipe, is FIFA World Cup 2026. Dallas is going to be a host city. You know, the world's football fans are going to descend on the US for the games. It's a real opportunity for you to help identify more football purists that potentially in market, but then also, you know, a lot of casuals that will, you know, be swept up in the world of football when it is you know, when it is happening across North America, how are you both preparing for it, but then also preparing to take advantage for that, you know, festival to be in market?

Jerome Elenez (33:07.097)
Right, right. No, so we're excited, you know, in DFW, we're fortunate enough that we're going to host nine matches here for the World Cup, right? All the way up to the semis and that's going to be extremely exciting. We've been able to host, you know, and they'll be held at AT &T Stadium, right? Where the Cowboys play and, you know, we've had a Super Bowl there, an NBA All -Star game and we have the capabilities.

But we're really going to have instead of one Super Bowl, we're to have nine Super Bowls, which is exciting, right? We'll have a bunch of people coming in from out of town, from all over the world. And then for those local fans, and you think about this, you know, leading up to kind of the Apple deal, but you think about the momentum that shows like Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham are doing, you know, it's getting those…watched the World Cup before.

I've heard of soccer matches, but I've never been doing it. And now you've got people that are, you know, tuning in and watching. And for us, like, it could not come at a better time for us in terms of timing. The U .S. has hosted the World Cup before, but this is the chance for us. If we don't catch this wave and ride it like we should, and I know that we can,

And if it doesn't catch on this go around, I don't know what we're gonna do to ever get fans that excited with all this momentum that we have building up to it. to answer your question in terms of what we're gonna do, there's a storyline at least here in DFW and with FC Dallas. Our academy has produced so many players that have come through our system in some form or fashion and that have been called up to the US men's national team.

From Wesley McKinnon to Ricardo Pepi to Jesus Ferreira that's on our squad now, played in the last World Cup. So there's a story that we're going to be weaving in terms of how we present ourselves. And some of the things that I showed at the SEA conference was, you know, putting ourselves in non -traditional areas. you know, our partnership with Lovefield, the local airline, one of the local airports here, for us to have

Jerome Elenez (35:27.809)
Our graphics in one of their parking garages, an entire floor talking about FC Dallas and welcoming FC Dallas fans, that kind of thing. We're going to continue to build on those types of initiatives that are more street and grassroots and blow those up. But then we're also going to use traditional forms of media to really celebrate our kind of contributions to US men's national soccer team.

Sean (35:54.732)
Yeah, I mean, it will be an amazing opportunity to get more fans in market. know, someone that turns up to their first game is the World Cup experience and they want more. We're like, hey, guys, we're just here. Come on, come on down. But then that then that international player that like you said, the Apple deal opens up, you know, all these people come into the US, you know, go, will add MLS to my you know, to my leagues that I watch and it's a

Jerome Elenez (36:06.915)
Yep.

Sean (36:21.646)
I click the button and getting it and getting it on Apple. think it is. I think you're right. And, know, I didn't even think of the Ted Lasso, Rexam effect. Like all the things are there for the MLS and the US football market to US market to really embrace football or soccer. One thing I wanted to touch on before we sort of wrapped up. I've been asking recently, you know, the MarTech stack has grown year on year for the last 15 years. I think I.

Remember sharing infographics 15 years ago, it was like 400 different pieces of tech and now it's like 8 ,000. I wanted to get your perspective of some of the things that you're, some of the tools you're working with and then also comparing it back to, you know, your time at McDonald's and some of the resources that you might've had then. What are some of the tools that you work with on a daily or that are vital for your work at FC Dallas?

Jerome Elenez (37:18.863)
Yeah, it's funny going back to my McDonald's days, like, you know, our media budget back then, I would say it was about 90 % broadcast TV on a national basis. Maybe it was somewhere 85%. And then it, you know, we had a, maybe a 3 % towards internet advertising is probably what we called it back then and, and how, how things have changed. Right. And, and, and

Sean (37:41.037)
Yeah.

Jerome Elenez (37:47.663)
Even before I left McDonald's, we started to see that shift where it was more mobile. It was more paid social and that started to creep into that equation. And now I'm seeing, I would say it's almost flipped where I would say 65 to 70 % of our budget is towards paid social and display ads. And then we lean in on the rest with our traditional forms of media.

You know, but it continues to evolve and it's something that we got to continue to keep an eye on. you know, there's, I would say three years ago, we were able to track exact the, attribution to each ticket sales to, our digital efforts, but with some of the changes in the regulations in terms of, you know, the, information that's allowed to be gathered.

That makes things a little bit difficult for us, but we can still figure out just back of house, how many online ads or tickets that we're selling. So it's not a direct attribution, but we can get pretty darn close. But I think, you know, everybody's talked about AI. I think that's going to continue to play a role in everybody in some capacity,

Whether it's a thought of an idea that you could surface and get a perspective on, to actual copy that's written. Those types of things will continue to get ingrained in sports and specifically sports marketing. But you still gotta have that human element because it's the idea of, right, shooting the players, whatever environment that we're gonna put them in, you still gotta have that ability to edit.

And we got some great Videographers and editors on our squad that know the exact highlight to be able to slide into a moment within a commercial that really makes sense or they create that atmosphere inside the stadium that you're just not going to get from AI generated content, It's just, there's that human element is still going to be involved in that.

Sean (40:03.468)
Yeah, I see AI in a lot of instances, especially that content creation space as a productivity tool. How can you shortcut some pieces? And it's just another tool in your toolkit that can accelerate and, I guess, increase the volume that you're producing. And a smart content team will be able to take those efficiencies to work on other things. But again, you still need the verification and the final touches and picking of the right thing or… realizing where AI hasn't got the pick right. But it is interesting to see how it will be used more advantageously going forward.

Jerome Elenez (40:45.433)
Yeah, for sure.

Sean (40:47.374)
Jerome, I really appreciate you coming on. I want to get to the sports geek closing five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Jerome Elenez (40:57.871)
Yes, Harlem Globetrotters in El Paso, Texas in like 19 something or other. It a little child.

Sean (41:06.094)
I don't need to ask if they won, obviously, but definitely one of the, I guess one of the franchises that really did focus on that entertainment piece, Groundbreakers in an instance. So everyone sort of moved into that direction. You would have been to a lot of sports events in your time. Do you have a favorite food memory or a go -to food at a sports event?

Jerome Elenez (41:20.367)
See you soon.

Jerome Elenez (41:32.087)
so, and we just went to Texas Rangers game, Monday night. It was actually a FC Dallas, Texas Rangers game. but I remember, their hot dogs. and, and I've been to Dodger stadium and had a Dodger dog and I was blown away by that. but the Rangers have a, a bratwurst that is unbelievable. And so that was the one that I remember going to in my, when I was in my early twenties.

And I went and sought that out. was the first thing we hit when we got to the stadium on Monday.

Sean (42:06.811)
Yeah, an absolute staple at a ballpark. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Jerome Elenez (42:10.511)
Thanks.

Jerome Elenez (42:13.996)
The first app.

Sean (42:15.415)
Yeah.

Jerome Elenez (42:18.031)
so it, know, unfortunately it is Facebook. and then, I do carve out some time. I have a faith app that I pop in and I listened to and on my, my drive to work every, every morning.

Sean (42:34.094)
Terrific. Is there someone that you follow? It might be someone you follow on social media, an author that the listeners should give a follow to and why?

Jerome Elenez (42:47.585)
media, somebody I follow on social media or just.

Sean (42:50.902)
Or someone you follow could be a colleague, it could be an author, someone that you follow for either inspiration or information.

Jerome Elenez (43:00.267)
No, well, I mean, when I guess I got the thought on social media, there's a guy that Manolo teaches golf that is very entertaining. And I'm a golfer. so I just get a kick out of some of his quips and whatnot. it's and he actually gives great tips too. But he does it in a very funny and enlightening way.

Sean (43:07.83)
Okay.

Sean (43:26.766)
Absolutely terrific. Lastly, what social media platform is your MVP? And you can answer this personally, but then also from an FC Dallas perspective.

Jerome Elenez (43:39.469)
Yeah, now for sure. It's definitely in meta right now professionally in terms of what we put our dollars against. It helps that we've got access to Instagram, which is a younger user versus Facebook. So that's where I'm falling in that older group. But I'm turning that on to see if our ads are being delivered. That's why it's one of the first ads that I or apps that I opened up in the morning.

But yeah, I would say meta is definitely top. X, we don't really advertise, we, utilize our social media team does utilize utilize X a lot. and, but those would be kind of the top three.

Sean (44:21.742)
Well, Jerome, really appreciate you taking the time. there are people that have listened and enjoyed the episode, which is as well as I have, what's the best way for them to reach out to you and say thanks or ask for some advice?

Jerome Elenez (44:38.905)
Yeah, on LinkedIn for sure. I'm happy to connect and provide any additional texture or answers and answer any questions and help any way I can. Happy to.

Sean (44:52.934)
I appreciate it. I will keep an eye out for some shots of the next drone show, the Star Wars one. You know, I'm a Star Wars fan from way back. So I'll definitely be, that would be one that I would tune in for or attend. Yeah, thank you very much for taking the time and hopefully I'll catch up with you soon.

Jerome Elenez (45:06.531)
you

Jerome Elenez (45:12.003)
Yeah, sure thing. Thanks, Sean. Appreciate it.

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Jerome Elenez on LinkedIn and follow on Twitter (@jromee11), let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow FC Dallas across social media: + Twitter – @FCDallas + LinkedIn – @FC Dallas + Facebook – @FC Dallas + Instagram – @fcdallas + YouTube – @FCDallas + TikTok – @fcdofficial * Recommendation + Manolo teaches golf * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Mark Cuban – Dallas Mavericks + Chris Schlosser – MLS + Drew Bentley – DC United * Throwback episode you may have missed + Targeting fans from different generations, Steve Conley Podcast highlightsHighlights from this interview with Jerome Elenez.

01:30 – Introduction and Getting Started in Sports Marketing04:00 – Lessons from McDonald's and Transitioning to FC Dallas08:13 – Working with Mark Cuban and the Mavericks11:00 – Opportunities and Challenges in the Dallas Sports Market15:19 – Using Drone Shows to Create a Point of Difference18:56 – Creating Tentpole Games and Strategic Marketing21:04 – Enhancing the FC Dallas Game Experience24:33 – Engaging with Diverse Communities and Building Relationships31:57 – Leveraging the Growth of MLS and the FIFA World Cup 202638:49 – The Evolution of Marketing Tools and Technology42:07 – The MVP Social Media Platform for JeromeAs discussed on the podcastDrone Show 2022

Mark your calendars for the FIFA World Cup 2026

48 Nations. 9 matches. 1 Metroplex.

We are exactly two years away from @FIFAWorldCup 26 #WeAre26 l #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/QDxmunbMM2

— FIFA World Cup 26 Dallas (@FWC26Dallas) June 11, 2024

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Steve Conley from episode 171, who was at Boston Red Sox when the episode was recorede.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Steve and Sean discussed targeting different types of fans:

• Adaptation to Consumer Trends: Steve emphasises the need for continuous innovation and adaptation to stay relevant with evolving consumer behaviors
• Broadcasting Rights Evolution: The discussion touches on how changing broadcasting rights and digital platforms are influencing fan engagement, making it crucial for teams to stay ahead of these trends
• Generational Shifts: The challenge of engaging a new generation of fans while maintaining the loyalty of older season ticket holders is explored
• New Product Development: Steve suggests the potential for new products that combine digital and live experiences, such as digital season tickets
• Historical Parallels: The conversation draws parallels between past and present media transitions, highlighting how sports have historically adapted to new mediums. Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: And they consume it completely differently. You know, whereas your dad and my dad would sit down and watch a whole game, and that's what I would do every time their favorite team would play. Our generation would still understand the whole season ticket thing. But now, we're moving to a point where my son is a fan of the same sports I am, but he just goes to the game, and that's how he consumes it. Or he'll consume the content differently. The consumer behavior in how they consume, purchase, and show their fandom is changing. That's the piece that sports need to evolve. I think tech plays a significant role in bringing that all together, but it's still something that a lot of sports are looking into, especially in the ticketing piece. How do we get the cheeks in the seats? How do we get people there? That's still the primary goal. A lot of the work you're doing in the data side is to ensure that you still get those people turning up and continuing to solve that problem.

Steve: Right. And you know, where I'm lucky is where we are. We're blessed. I have this conversation with Wade at the Twins a lot. We came up with the term “first world problems.” Exactly. If I complain about too much data, too much this, too much that, you know, how do you manage this kind of stuff? I can't deal with all this extra interest, and other clubs are like, “I'm just trying to sell out.” They're dealing with it on a different level, so I don't want to come across as like, “We're blessed where we are.” We realize it, but it doesn't mean that you don't want to get better.

Sean: And that's it. You don't want to rest on your laurels because the easiest thing to do is to go, “We are the Red Sox. We have super support in Boston.” Yet, you could still go back to the days when you started, where you just rolled out baseball, and people would turn up. But if you're not moving with the consumer and moving to where they are going, at some point, those consumers just won't turn up. You've got always to be looking to innovate, engage the customer, keep them involved, and do the things that keep them as passionate as your current fan base. A lot of sports these days have that older season ticket base of a different generation. As they get older, they won't want to be there. So what does the next generation of fans look like? It won't be exactly the same. The mix of different packages of single games, how the secondary market plays out, especially in the US, that's pretty much what the next five to ten years will look like, especially on the ticketing side.

Steve: Yeah, and the other thing that's going to be, and this is way above my pay grade, but it's something I like keeping an eye on, is what's happening with broadcasting rights and things like that. I don't think the interest is down. I think it's how people consume. A big factor is that streaming has become a bigger play. There are other things that are better at this moment.

Sean: There are so many more entertainment options available now.

Connect with Steve ConleyListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Targeting fans from different generations, Steve Conley appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Ben Hirschfeld from Cricket New South Wales.

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Importance of government partnerships in sports and how to make them work
• Problem-solving and accountability are key traits for success in the commercial space
• Why digital and commercial teams need to collaborate closely
• Ben's experience with The Pick Test and why it is a special event
• Importance of voluntary experience and a willingness to do what it takes can help break into the sports industry Listen to Ben Hirschfeld on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptInterview with Ben HirschfeldThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean (00:01.41)
Very happy to welcome Ben Hirschfeld. He's the Chief Commercial Officer at Cricket NSW. Ben, welcome to the podcast.

Ben (00:08.916)
Thanks, Sean. Good to see you. Been a few years, but thanks for having me

Sean (00:14.094)
It has and we'll get into that how our paths have crossed. I always open asking people how they got their start in the world of sports business. What about yourself? How did you get your first gig in sports?

Ben (00:28.448)
Sean, I managed to do a job that I didn't love straight out of uni. And after a few years of doing that, I was determined to never feel that way about my job again. back in 2004, I did a bit more study and made my way into Football Federation Australia as it was known at the time. Took a bit of a step back and kind of loved it from day one and kind of that's how that was the start of my journey.

Sean (01:02.594)
So it's an interesting point as someone that's transitioned from a different, different area. was a Coda developer for many years and enjoyed it for a while. And that same sort of had that calling of, like sport. want a bit more purpose in what I do. What was that job and skill set and how were you able to transfer? Cause there's a lot of people who have really great skill sets in different sectors or completely different industries that could be applied to sport.

What were some of the things that were crucial for you to go, I've done this job for a fair while, but I actually want to work in sport. Were there any transferable skills in that space?

Ben (01:38.196)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, out of uni and we're talking in the UK at the time, I found myself in a sales role, IT recruitment sales role, where I was actually finding IT people in the UK to go and work in Australia. it's, yeah, on the face of it, it sounds quite purposeful, but it's target sales. It's an intense cutthroat environment. And initially I…

I kind of, I loved it. It brought me out to Australia, but I guess the lack of the lack of purpose really started to kind of weigh on me as thinking is this, is this my life for the for the next 20 years or so. And it really, it really gave me the motivation to get into sport

Australia at the time, we're talking 2004, just a land of opportunity. And it felt more so than where I'd grown up in the UK, that everything was obtainable. So yeah, knocked on a few doors, I managed to get an internship at the time. And I guess the…

The hardcore sales aspect that I was used to, whilst I wanted to establish more deeper connections, better relationships, be more solution mindset, I guess there's a skill of being proactive that stood me in good stead.

Sean (03:20.962)
And definitely moving into a role, into a sponsorship and a commercial role at FFA, I mean, that sales skill is always transferable. Like I'm always telling people, hey, what skills should I have? And I'm like, well, if you can sell, whether it's sell tickets, sell sponsorship, sell hospitality, you'll always find a home in sport. That must have been a skill of that persistence that you have to have in sales.

Ben (03:45.726)
Yeah, absolutely. And don't get me wrong, I went more down the sort of servicing and marketing partnership route for a period of time. yeah, as my career progressed, those were skills that I could absolutely recognize were essential and a kind of a building block for me. yeah, at the time, I remember sitting in meetings at Football Federation Australia, just with a smile on my face, and I can't believe I'm in a meeting.

talking about a football match. was just mind blowing to me and I just loved it from day

Sean (04:23.638)
And so you had a variety of roles, like you said, in the account servicing, the hospitality, and getting into pitches and bringing sponsors on board. For the FFA at that time, for the people who don't know, were running the A -League and the Matildas and the Socceroos. It was an exciting time to be at the FFA.

Ben (04:44.608)
Yeah, well, I'm showing my age a bit, Sean, because there was no A -League at this time. It was sort of 12 months away from when I joined. you know, the organization was very much lined up around three objectives, which was launch the A -League, get the Socceroos to a World Cup after 32 years, and break out of the Oceania Federation and be part of the global conversation as part of Asia.

So at the time there was two sponsors, I think the sports commission and, and Nike and then Qantas, T, national Australia bank, Sony Westfield, others just, just came on board and it was, it was just a wonderful time to be involved.

Sean (05:31.502)
And so you're at the FFA for nearly 10 years. What was your next step in your career after

Ben (05:41.482)
So post FFA, I took a bit of a turn and I worked in the sort of more traditional not for profit sector. And when I worked at the McGrath Foundation with incredible people like Glenn McGrath and Tracy Bevan and really understanding what true purpose kind of looked like in terms of supporting families going through a traumatic kind breast cancer journey and the role that a fundraising charity can play to support them through the provision of nurses. bit of a turn, but there was still this sport link through that cricket connection. So, yeah, very, very special time.

Sean (06:31.478)
And I guess it's sort of effectively, you you have really connected things to be now, you know, the last five years at, at cricket, New South Wales, you know, in that, in that, in that commercial role, what does, what's in that, what's in your remit when we're talking about cricket, New South Wales, because the cricket landscape, you know, has changed cricket, New South Wales is one of our, you know, early clients at the, at the start of the big bash and the generation of the, of the two big bash teams, the Sydney Thunder and the, and the Sydney Sixes. What does, what does New South Wales, I guess, remit look like right

Ben (07:05.856)
Yeah, well, Cricket New South Wales is the state body of cricket in New South Wales, obviously. And I guess the original remit, kind of 150 years ago, was administer competitions and produce rep teams. So we still do that, but we have a huge focus on developing the game through increasing participation. And then over the last 15 years, we've become a marketing organization.

With the advent of the Big Bash. So Cricket New South Wales run both the Sydney Sixers and the Sydney Thunder in the BBL and the WBBL. And that's our fan facing teams. That's what drives the passion. And it's those clubs that we are linking back into the grassroots to get families and kids interested in the game.

Sean (08:04.236)
And so it is pretty unique. mean, it's only really, you know, cricket, Victoria, similar in that you're actually managing to, I will say, four entities with the men's and the women's, but two effectively teams under the one banner. Most people are in a chief commercial role, whether they be the Sydney Swans or the, or the GWS giants or the rabbit. they're just managing that one, one entity in that one brand. What is it? What's some of the, yeah.

How is it managing effectively two entities in the same market?

Ben (08:35.824)
Yeah, it's got its huge pluses and it comes with some challenges. So states with one BBL team have, they're able to organize their people kind of more easily around their one brand. Cricket New South Wales has had an evolution over time essentially operating two separate clubs.

Then sort of migrated to more of a kind of Formula One model where, you know, one team with two cars on the track. But I guess there's headwinds in cricket and there were challenges with that kind of shared service model. And we've very much over the last couple of years migrating back to this kind.

These clubs really showing up as individual clubs and that includes internal structures here at Cricket NSW. So we have some great leaders leading those clubs and they are separate entities with some, they lean on some shared service capability within Cricket NSW such as sort of consumer business expertise and sponsorship expertise and that kind of

Sean (10:01.75)
And then, you know, then you have got Big Bash and we've had guests on like Alistair Dobson talking about the Big Bash that continues to evolve year on year. What does the product that you're taking to market, you know, when you're going out to a partner, what does a partner, what are partners looking for and getting from Cricket, New South Wales and both of the Big Bash franchises?

Ben (10:26.688)
The the Big Bash is in a is in a good position that it has very high broadcast audiences in Australia. So through Channel 7, particularly, but also increasingly through through Foxtel and KO, there's a significant amount of reach that our partners can achieve through being associated with with our with our teams. So that's kind of mass market reach, I guess, more more locally, if you look at the profile of our fans in the stadiums.

It's very much about a family night out. it's parents and their kids choosing to come to one of our stadiums as opposed to staying home and watching TV or going to the movies. we, in terms of kind of a value proposition for our partners, it's very much kind of key grocery buy type segment.

So the brands that you'd see advertise through The Voice and kind of primetime TV, they're the kind of brands that want to be involved in our clubs. And I don't need to sell sponsorship to you, Sean, but I will. There's the opportunity for a more meaningful connection than simply billboards or spots and dots advertising.

Sean (11:50.848)
And is that how have you seen, I guess, I guess that sponsorship product change over, you know, over your journey, but, now with, you know, fan experience both in stadium and at home, how do you, how do you, you know, activate in the stadium? How do you, how do you use the digital channels? How have you seen that, that mix and that offer that's going to your, to your partners change over the journey?

Ben (12:17.3)
Yeah, that's a really interesting question, Sean, actually, because I think the core proposition of connection to the game and brand awareness stays true. there's moments in time and trends where we need to find more attributable sales channels with our partnerships or create lead generation or have a heavy focus on promoting brands through our digital assets.

And we do all that and we do that as meaningfully as possible. But the underlying premise of helping a fan enjoy the experience and most of our experiences are live. If a brand can connect to that authentically and be seen doing it,

I think that's the core proposition that still holds very true throughout kind of trends and moments in time and social media changes. So yeah, that is a core proposition that endures. Obviously the media market has fragmented. And so there is the need to show up on more channels and be more sophisticated in that regard.

So you know, the likes of there's the live audience, which is still driving a huge amount of value. But there's snackable content, how we show up on social media. We need to be mindful of the core proposition of connection, helping our fans enjoy the game and help that show up in these different forms of media.

Sean (14:04.278)
And have partners been better at making those asks in that space rather than just saying, you know, we want our logo here or we want to take over this piece without actually, you know, having a deeper understanding of your fans.

Ben (14:21.534)
Yeah, like our partners are constantly looking to us to help them both justify the partnership and innovate as well. the partners generally have their own form of metrics. So their own mass market research is this moving the dial on awareness to consideration or consideration to purchase intent?

But they definitely look to us in order to, I guess, be their shop window for, I guess, more innovative ways to connect with with fans. They're not necessarily saying, hey, we need to do this on TikTok. They're asking us how we're connecting with our fans and how they can be part of

Sean (15:13.262)
One thing is I'm always interested in, you know, in talking to commercial folk like you, because I'm working a lot of the times with the digital folk and we've got a digital to dollars process to help bridge that gap between digital and commercial. How have you worked with your digital team to one, best integrate digital assets that actually work on the platforms that are working well for the audiences that are working well, but then also get that to work with the partners? How has your process evolved

understanding what your team can deliver and also making sure it's delivering for the partner.

Ben (15:48.51)
Well, I feel like I'm kind of poacher turned gamekeeper in that regard. you know, I spent a lot of my career on the sponsorship side, working with kind of marketing teams and digital teams, asking them to do, give us more, more, more, just to sort of shamelessly promote brands because we're feeling the pressure, I guess, you know, to deliver a return on objectives.

In my role and where I'm at now with Cricket New South Wales, I also have responsibility for the engagement of those channels. And the underlying premise of a commercial proposition to a brand is that you have an engaged audience. And if you don't have an engaged audience, the value of what you can offer is seriously diminished. there's, I'm kind of overseeing,

I'm on both sides of that equation at the moment, but some of the ways that we tackle it, better planning, being less susceptible to a unproductive piece of content. So we educate our partners that success looks like an engaged, high quality fan base. And that means having a sophisticated and fan led piece of content. And that also extends

I guess the volume of retail messaging versus content and fan first messaging. So I'm not going to say that we've got a perfect solution there, but our teams are very mindful of that balance. And we also understand the commercial team of which the marketing and the Big Bash team sits.

Also understand that our role is to generate revenue, but through an engaged fan base. So it's not one or the other. A couple of other things that we're doing on the digital space is, firstly, really bolstering our content capability. So we really view that channel as key. The Big Bash is a relatively short season versus other codes. So we need to have more meaningful ways to engage fans outside of stadiums

Ben (18:12.28)

A couple of other things. Well, another thing we do is we're evolving from a state where sponsors had quantified number of social posts or EDMs. Evolving that to more of a rate card. So a sponsor will be granted X amount of value. This is what a post is worth. This is what an EDM is worth. But let's work with you on your objectives and find the right mix rather than being tied into something that was negotiated 18 months

Sean (18:45.558)
Yeah, it's really, really important. You can't they can be contractual handcuffs. If you say he's he's all the posts that are going to happen. And then you're really just fighting against that that piece before it's like, well, we need to keep our engagement up. So having those tough conversations either with your partner to say, this is why we need to do it this way. But then also with your with your digital team, your content team to say, well, we need to do these kind of things to to bring in revenue.

You know, finding that balance is tough, you've got to have those conversations. Otherwise you just end up, you know, ticking the box, putting out the content. No one ends up happy. And then it just becomes a tougher proposition for new around renewal

Ben (19:25.374)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Sean (19:27.882)
I want to talk about a couple of partners you do have. You have a few government initiatives as partners with New South Wales government with Towards Zero and Reclaim the Game. They're very different partners than other verticals that are, know, either FNB or financial that are looking for something transactional. What are some of the keys to success for government partnerships?

Ben (19:52.084)
The reason why those type of government agencies want to align with sport is that we have role models who can deliver a message that has a greater chance of being heard than a politician in a press conference. Particularly post COVID, people don't really want to be told what to do or how to behave. So it's what sports can offer.

is influence from sports and role models that people want hear from. So our attitude towards those government partners is to really elevate the level of engagement internally to cause level. So we talk about reclaim the game, that's reducing the prominence of sports betting advertising. in our games, that's a cause that we believe in.

Towards zero, there's been horrific numbers of fatalities, particularly in New South Wales over the last couple of years. So it's more than just a sponsorship. Our attitude is that we get behind that as a message and we influence directly through our channels and we also influence the cricket community.

that we support and by taking that position with those partnerships, I believe that we're delivering for the government on the premise which is help proliferating those messages.

Sean (21:36.076)
And then going forward, like the measurement and I guess the metrics around commercial have become more advanced and more sophisticated, you know, your journey in the space. Are there particular things that you're focused on as key success factors for you with Crooked NSW?

Ben (21:58.591)
Yep, there's in terms of the partnership space, we do, we report on return on objectives. We still report on media value, although that is becoming sort of increasingly kind of page 20 of the report rather than page one. We talk about the size of the fan base.

We talk about the level of product messaging we've been able to integrate. But really key for us, it kind of falls down unless you've really established some sound objectives at the front of a campaign to be able to report back on. Other things that we do is really measure the engagement of our partners. So we've established an engagement score that looks like,

Do we have those objectives in place? Do we have multi -tiered relationships, kind of CEO down to day -to -day contact? What is the state of the long -term contract? Are they investing the right amount of leverage funds? So we score that and then we monitor our teams on how to lift the level of engagement.

Sean (23:21.761)
And then from your product's point of view, one of the key assets you have is your audience, both who is watching on TV, but then who you're owning your CRM and what you know about your fans. How important is that data point and getting depth of data of your fan base to know them better, being critical in securing deals?

Ben (23:49.318)
Look, if you can't, if you don't know your audience, you're just shooting for the sky really. So, yeah, we have various kind of profiles. We have broader panel data, we have ticket buying data, we have attendee match surveys, we have social media profiles, and we put all that together with the size of them.

And that's how we present ourselves to market.

Sean (24:22.354)
And one of the big things in the calendar that is the Sydney test, of effectively known as the pink test now, you you've you've previously, you know, said you worked at McGrath Foundation. I just want to get your insights on, you know, what that means to to to Sydney and New South Wales and what it's like on day three when when the stadium is full and frankly, a wash with it's an incredible day

Ben (24:48.926)
It's an incredible test match actually. it's really born out of a genuine authenticity of the Sydney sixers and test match attendees really understanding the journey that Glenn McGrath went on. So there's a genuine kind of love and connection. that still holds many years on and it's spilled out into this expression of meaningful support.

So the day is, it can be quite overwhelming if you're, depending on the level of personal experience with any form of cancer or involvement in cricket or the McGraw Foundation because just the outpouring of support is, yeah, it's a sight to behold.

Yeah, very, very special event.

Sean (25:49.064)
And, you know, we spoke earlier about your transition from a from a IT recruitment role into into the world of sport. Do you have any advice for listeners that, you know, I know I've got listeners who listen to the podcast almost vicariously because they want to get into the world of sport. Yeah, what advice do you have for them to say, hey, if you want to work in sport, what would you

Ben (26:12.692)
Well, give it a red -hot go firstly. Have a lot of conversations with people and be willing to do what it takes. So, you know, when I meet people looking to get into the industry, I'm so impressed by CVs that have accumulated a volume of voluntary experience or trips overseas.

or kind of doing what it takes. So even if you're relatively young and you haven't had a lot of years in the workforce, you can still accumulate a body of work and kind of worldly experience. Then I guess, yeah, once you get those opportunities, being humble and being willing to solve problems and be motivated and accountable, don't wait to be asked. So we really…

We really look for people that attitude, a humble attitude and a willingness to do what it takes. And I think if you can combine all that and you knock on enough doors, the opportunities will come.

Sean (27:19.422)
And definitely like you spoke before about the cricket as well, this is the state body looking after cricket. There's a lots of roles in that grassroots ecosystem, whether it be helping run clubs, putting your hand up for committees, helping to get sponsors for your local cricket club. They're all skills that eventually can become transferable. And it is a matter of putting your hand

Ben (27:50.206)
Yeah, absolutely. It also just talks to the attitude. You know, it's very hard through an interview process to really know the substance of an individual, but those kind of things really show that there's an intrinsic motivation. So I definitely look for that, particularly with people that can't rely on pointing to actual experience.

Sean (28:10.988)
And so when staff come, you know, start working with you, either they're in, you know, those early roles like you were in account servicing and partnership activation or, you know, cutting their teeth, helping sales, what's your advice for them to have success in that commercial space? Because in the end, you are selling and servicing and trying to bring success to partners.

Ben (28:35.444)
I think your really key is just a willingness to solve problems and not do it, not do it all on your own. So you don't have to tackle a problem, solve it by yourself and then say, Hey, how did I do? But it's this proactive, it's on me. And you're going to seek the advice that you need and you're going to follow through on that advice and you're going to report back on that advice. So it's that, it's that level of accountability.

the when I see that in young people it separates them from everyone else so that would be the know the major piece of advice.

Sean (29:13.182)
And we're not far away from the summer of cricket upon us. What's exciting you for the summer of cricket ahead?

Ben (29:24.5)
Well, both the Sixers and the Thunder have got a fantastic opportunity this summer. Amazing playing lists, some of whom are yet to be announced, but watch this space for some really exciting announcements. And a schedule that allows for big TV.

But one of the challenges with the Big Bash has been seven o ‘clock starts. That means if you've got young kids, they're on both shoulders asleep walking out. But this year we've got some earlier start times that will essentially increase our attendance as well as sort of having those traditional TV time slots. So you're really looking forward to the season.

Sean (30:18.862)
Terrific, terrific. Before I wrap up, want to get to the, really appreciate you taking the time, Ben. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Ben (30:34.588)
I do, do. I was seven or eight years old and it was in Brighton in the UK and my dad took me along to Brighton and Hove Albion v Everton. I won't tell you the decade but it was a while ago.

Sean (30:54.382)
Terrific. And you would have been to a lot of different sports events in your time. Do you have a favorite food or a favorite food memory at a sports event?

Ben (31:05.592)
My go -to is the hot dog with lashings of American mustard. They did put me off going to a Yankees game and they tell you how many calories that is so I prefer not to know that but that would be my go -to every

Sean (31:20.812)
No, it's part of the experience. They shouldn't have dietary information on hot dogs at a ballpark anywhere. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Ben (31:23.584)
That's right.

Ben (31:33.868)
BBC sport is my go -to.

Sean (31:37.358)
Just catch up on the on everything

Ben (31:41.182)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. With a nod to football. But it covers American sports and cricket. So it's got what I

Sean (31:52.238)
What is there someone that you follow might be on a social channel or it might be an author that the podcast listeners should give a follow to and

Ben (32:04.574)
Well, I could indirectly, indirectly shamelessly plug the, the sixer and the, and the thunder. They're a good follow, but the one that I go to every time is, is out of the UK. It's called cheeky golf club. And it's a guy that's trying to, trying to improve his golf game and he's playing every day. And, you might not be into golf, but as an industry, professional, what I love about it is it's authentic authenticity and the repeatable format.

just gets me going back every

Sean (32:36.59)
Yeah, that, I guess that seems to be a current trend of the minute of how I'm going to do this series. I'm going to do it for, for 30 days or, you know, in instance, it be golf. One that I've been following recently is a Kiwi guy called Tim Naki playing blackjack every day. And every day he's, you know, he started by doing it, betting 10 cents for every follower. And so everyone would follow more. So he was betting more every day. So that series format,

is something that content creators are doing well. It's not something that I've actually seen moved into teams and those kind of things, but it might be something that teams pick up in an off season, it is a good recommendation. Lastly, what social media platform is your MVP? So you can answer this personally and then maybe also from the team perspective.

Ben (33:31.306)
Personally, it's Instagram. From a team perspective, probably TikTok. But my worst part of the week is my phone telling me how much time I've spent on it. I'm avoiding getting into TikTok. So yeah, Instagram for me.

Sean (33:50.67)
It does have that effect. even if you try to put those time limiters on it, you still dismiss them or extend it for a little bit longer. So yeah, it is something that we're all trying to manage. Ben, for those who have listened to this episode and would like to reach out to you, what's the best way for listeners to reach out to

Ben (34:15.924)
Yeah, thanks, Sean. LinkedIn is the way. yeah, Ben Hirschfeld, you'll find me. There's not too many of us with that name. And yeah, please reach out. I'll happily respond.

Sean (34:29.538)
Well, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast. All the best for the summer cricket ahead for the Thunder and the Big Bash and we'll talk

Ben (34:39.604)
Great, thanks for having me, Sean.

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Ben Hirschfeld on LinkedIn and follow on X (@BenHirschfeld), let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow Cricket NSW across social media: + Twitter – @CricketNSW + LinkedIn – @Cricket NSW + Facebook – @CricketNSW + Instagram – @cricketnsw + YouTube –@CricketNSW * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Recommendation + Cheeky Golf Club * Episodes you should listen to + Alistair Dobson -Big Bash League + Christina Matthews – WA Cricket Association + Stephanie Beltrame – Cricket Australia * Throwback episodes you may have missed + How media has changed, Marina Go Podcast highlightsHighlights from this interview with Ben Hirschfeld.

01:30 – Introduction and Background04:50 – Transitioning to a Career in Sports09:34 – Managing Multiple Entities in the Same Market11:31 – Partnerships and the Value Proposition in Cricket13:47 – Integrating Digital Assets and Working with Partners20:22 – Government Partnerships and Influencing Through Sports22:29 – Measuring Success in Partnerships and Commercial Deals25:19 – The Importance of Data and Understanding the Audience26:13 – Advice for Breaking into the Sports Industry30:54 – Looking Forward to the Summer of CricketAs discussed on the podcast2024 Pink Test

We visited the @scg today to officially launch our 2024 Virtual Pink Seats ahead of the @nrmaisnurance #PinkTest! A huge thank you to our incredible friends at @cricketaus and @scg for uniting in pink with us and helping to ensure no one misses out on care. #McGrathFoundation pic.twitter.com/3xnl43WvDi

— Mcgrathfdn (@McGrathFdn) January 1, 2024

Volunteering is key in Sports

CNSW took big steps to providing a unique opportunity for the cricket volunteer community by launching its Volunteer Certification Program, with the presentation of the first certificates on July 25 at Cricket Central

Read the article https://t.co/0ej3X55PHX pic.twitter.com/T1XOIPfOWC

— Cricket NSW (@CricketNSW) July 31, 2024

Exciting Summer of cricket

SCHEDULE RELEASE: It’s a summer line-up like no other!

Register now for priority access to tickets for when England, India, Pakistan and New Zealand hit our shores in the summer of 2024-25 - https://t.co/eoz38ZyhId pic.twitter.com/d1oSUq3d1m

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) March 26, 2024

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Marina Go from episode 254, who was at the Netball Australia.

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Marina and Sean discussed changes in media landscape.

• Evolution of Media Consumption: The shift from traditional to digital media has transformed how fans consume sports content
• Content Creation: There is a growing need for more content to engage audiences and keep them invested in the sport
• Monetisation Strategies: Sports organisations must explore new revenue streams, including digital platforms and social media
• Fan Engagement: Understanding and leveraging fan insights can lead to better content and more meaningful interactions
• Future Trends: The discussion touches on potential future developments in media and how sports can adapt to remain relevant Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So one thing I wanted to ask again from your media background, how has the consumer of content and media changed in the last 15, 20 years, from print and magazine, and you're making sure when people were waiting to pick it up to now being always on, on demand, that kind of thing. How has that challenge and opportunity been tackled both in the traditional media sense, but even in sport or what's your take on how the consumer is changing?

Marina: I think the product development that changed everything in terms of consumer behavior is a smartphone. In the past, we relied on consumers to come to us. They found us, you could publish a magazine or a newspaper, you put it on sale somewhere, the consumer had to go there to buy it. Same with television, it was a platform. Basically by appointment. So you know what's on where you couldn't watch it at any other time. Maybe you could tape it. So now we've moved to a world where I can access anything I want any time of the day, no matter where I am in the world, via my smartphone. And that's transformed everything, which is why we're seeing in sport. With Super Netball this year, the netball live numbers just increased significantly. If it's an inconvenient time to watch television, it's never inconvenient to look at your phone. So you can be anywhere. We had lots of stories about people being at weddings on Saturday afternoons, they couldn't actually get to television or the game. So they were sitting in the church or reception watching things on their phone. That has transformed everything. It just means that we have to ensure that the product is good enough that a consumer will want to turn it on. Because we know that they can access it anywhere and they can, but we're competing with everything now, not just another newspaper or another magazine. When you're looking at competitive products and which Bauer and Pacific are about to go through that, it will no longer be a conversation about, is Woman's Day a new idea and competition because that's not their only competition. That's been the real game changer for media and for consumers.

Sean: And to me it's also just the myths being busted. Talking about Netball Live, as little as three years ago, people were saying, people aren't going to watch a game of sport on their phone. And, yes, they are. We were so wedded to the big screen TV. We all got bigger screen TVs and it's like, yes, but the convenience and now it's becoming the first port of call. I was talking to a grade one teacher who was doing stuff with some kids on a PC. They couldn't figure out how to use the mouse and the keyboard because, and they went, Oh, Oh, these keys are like my iPad. Their first port of call, their first device and their go to device is, is the phone and the swipe and the pinch and all that kind of stuff. So they just expect to be able to go, you know, Oh, I just click here and it's on.

Marina: And look, I think the interesting thing too, which I think nobody anticipated, certainly from the media's point of view, that everybody knew that the next generation, Gen Y, Z. Whatever is after that, that reaching them any other way except via the smartphone would be difficult. But if you speak to parents now, my parents are in their seventies and my dad rings me and he'll say, Oh, I just watched the netball. We were at something, but he watched it on his phone. So I think now it's actually infiltrated every generation. There may be a few that still hold out and don't like it. And eyesight can be part of that, but it is much more widespread. The uptake is enormous and we're seeing enormous gains from one year to the next, just in that particular medium.

Sean: And we are seeing the lawyers and the media rights negotiators catching up to that. We previously had rights deals where 12 inches were mentioned because that's how big the mobile tablet could be and you couldn't stream it. But now customer demand either via the products they've got, whether it's Netflix and Stan, they go, Oh, I hit the button. I hit this button, and then I hit that button. It's on my big screen. They're expecting the same in the sports space, which is going to change what the media rights deals look like, we're seeing more of them bundled together. The TV operators are saying, well, we want the digital piece. We want the mobile piece. And so it is changing the way the whole negotiations are happening. Gone are the days of, well, not quite in all markets, but, Oh, you can watch it here, but you can't cast it to your TV and that kind of stuff, because that's what people want.

Marina: Oh, no, absolutely.

Connect with Marina Go Listen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post How media has changed, Marina Go appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Patrick Hooper from San Jose Sharks

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• The evolution of digital experiences at the Sharks
• How the Sharks integrate social media, web, email and app channels to enhance fan experience
• The use of vertical video content and opportunities technology like AR and XR
• Why telling athlete stories drives fandom
• The importance of adaptability and openness to diverse roles in the sports industry
• Why personalised marketing is a holy grail in sports Listen to Patrick Hooper on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptInterview with Patrick HooperThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean (00:01.515)
Very happy to welcome Patrick Hooper. He's the Director of Digital Experiences, Integrated Marketing at the San Jose Sharks. Patrick, welcome to the podcast.

Patrick Hooper (00:10.242)
Yeah, hi Sean, thanks for having me

Sean (00:12.607)
Not a problem at all. I always start off the podcast asking people how they got their start in sports. What about yourself? How did you get your first break in the world of sports business?

Patrick Hooper (00:21.816)
Yeah. You know, everyone's got those fun history stories and everyone seems to come about it through all walks of life in different angles. Mine was, you know, sports has been a passion of mine my whole life. You know, I transitioned from thinking one day I was going to be a professional athlete to one day thinking, hey, maybe I'll be like a sports journalist and writing in sports for a career. I went through grad school right around, or undergrad school right around that time when maybe…

print journalism and online media was transitioning and quickly discovered this space that was a hybrid of marketing and content and online media and dabbled a little bit of it at school at my university before I was able to graduate and eventually apply for internships, which is quite a traditional way for people to get there, put in the door and was able to get a role with the San Francisco 49ers, which brought me out to California for my first time ever. it was a marketing internship with them for, for just training camp. know, as the story goes with those intern roles, you come in, show up on time and press work hard. they tend to find a way for those types of people to stick around. And that's kind of what I did. I toured around and did three or four different internships with the Niners, found some opportunities down the road at the San Jose sharks, my current employer

That's kind how I was able to kind of move laterally across the board there. And eventually a full -time opportunity opened up in a digital marketing space, know, one that certainly evolved over the last decade plus, but that was my first real -time pro gig handed to me. And, you know, I kind of took the keys and ran with it from

Sean (02:02.295)
And so, yeah, so you've been at the Sharks over 12 years now. How has that, you know, from that initial role, how has that role changed in both scope and what you were tackling?

Patrick Hooper (02:16.492)
Yeah, totally. mean, it's been fun. It's been a great journey because I feel like as I've matured in my career and had my hands in different roles of the business and supporting in different areas, so too have I seen how it's evolved across the social landscape. That first gig I had was really one that interested me to be the one publishing content on the social handles, me and another counterpart. And we were really given some direction on strategy and we're really interested to kind of run with it grow with it.

A lot of fun memories from those early days, a lot of trial and exploration. you know, over time we found kind of our niche and the ways that it worked for us and worked for our fans and our customers. And over time the digital space grew. You know, I think at the time we were hired, there was maybe a staff of two people doing it. you know, over the years we were able to add resources and it's been fantastic to see where there's now like a carved out full production team producing video content, photo content, graphic design.

And on my side, on the digital side, we've been able to grow to have more content producers on the social space. We've added resources to support us across all of our digital experiences, whether it be the mobile app or the websites. It's really evolved and been certainly at times, especially recent times, a signature component of how we engage and communicate with our fans and customers. So it's been great that we've been able to add resources as we go.

Sean (03:43.775)
And so one of the things I wanted to ask you, because you've got a pretty common trajectory of that early time of that early social, I remember talking to Dewayne Hankins ****, infamously tweeting as the Kings and that banter and that early social when over Twitter and banter was popping off to moving into content production, app development, and sort of that natural progression. And now your title, which I find

It's pretty unique, asking people what their title is of digital experiences in integrated marketing. What does that title mean? the bit that I was focusing on was that experiences piece. I don't see that in many titles. I know a lot of people are tackling it. What does the title mean? And why is it important for you at the Sharks?

Patrick Hooper (04:33.09)
Yeah, I think it's an exclamation point on what matters to us in our business. The experience of our fans and customers needs to be at the forefront, even if it's just reminders internally of how we want to put customers first, make sure that a lot of our decisions and strategy is rooted within customer centric approaches. I think it also is inspiring to me to be in this role and have that as part of my title

Because I feel like there's a lot journey and leeway for what that means in terms of my own career growth and opportunity going forward. it kind of serves a multi -purpose, you know, it's a name and it's a title. And I think the roles you do in the organization sometimes supersede the title, but it's, important to have that in there. And, and maybe just again, echoes where, you know, we as, as Sharks Force Entertainment want to make sure that, Hey, it's not just deploying a social strategy or building, you know, a great app experience. It's, or sorry, a great mobile app.

It's how did these platforms and technologies work to provide the experience that would be deemed necessary for our fans and guests and customers?

Sean (05:38.527)
And like you said, it sort of does give you that scope and leeway, you know, not having to go, don't make me tap the sign that says my job title was like, hey, if we want to, you know, improve the app experience or improve things, like, it's in the it's in the title, whereas sometimes, you know, you hear people internally fighting that they want to improve something, it's sort of, you know, if this is the mantra of the organization, it's something that you really want to be able to, you know, keep doubling down

Patrick Hooper (05:45.29)
Yeah

Patrick Hooper (06:05.036)
Yeah, totally. I think something that is kind of common as a plague across probably all business, but, my history is with sports is this, this term of, you know, internal silos and siloed departments. And, and, and we were, you know, certainly victim to it and it still isn't completely conquered internally, but, know, prior to the pandemic period, and then certainly accelerated by that.

We fought really hard internally to try to break down those barriers and make sure that everybody had better scope and access and transparency across roles. And I think it allowed for people to start to, again, not stay in your lane so much, be a little bit more aware of what other people's objectives were and how they were contributing to the benefit of the whole organization.

And it allowed for kind of freedom and leeway to maybe get involved in a lot of different projects and tasks. And, you know, just because I'm the director of digital experiences doesn't mean this is mine, right? It's just, I'm the steward to help lead it for the organization. But many of my colleagues have stakeholdership within the, you know, the platforms that I help manage and I need to make sure that it's serving across the whole business. So that's, that's kind of the philosophical perspective we try to have on it all. and again,

I think I'm biased, but I think that's a great way that people should want to be in the roles. That way they don't feel really cut off from the rest of organization.

Sean (07:30.599)
Definitely, I mean, it leads into to me talking about, you know, a couple of your colleagues that have been on the podcast in Neta, you know, looking after all things from a data and analytics point of view. And then, you know, the passion of Stacey in that customer experience and bringing joy. And yeah, you're you're you're a big part of, you know, delivering that. So how have you how have you like, tried to, you know, break down those silos, but realize the opportunities that come, you know, working with colleagues like

Patrick Hooper (07:59.692)
Yeah, I again, I don't want to sound like we've solved it all, but I think we've seen some success where it is trying to develop some strong processes internally that allow for great declaration, documented declaration of what you're trying to solve and then good sharing and transparency of how you're trying to get there. It seems so easy to point out the faults of the past where you could see misalignment even kind of some ways competitive nature when these goals and objectives weren't shared.

So we do some things through the strategic planning phases and maybe even just person to person like Stacey and I or Neda and I, where we're actually collectively and collaboratively writing down our objectives so that each of ours match each other and we can see we're working towards it. But I think it's just about how you wanna make sure that the organization is.

It's fairly flat and has access to each other and knows kind of how to, how to gain the knowledge they need to, move fast and move at a, at a, at a confident pace. you know, I, Neda and her world in the business and top intelligence side, and they've got a data that flows through the organization is just such a monster to conquer. So there's always going to be, you know, next items on the agenda and priorities there.

So it's fairly obvious our digital platforms serve a pretty critical role there and how it can support that effort or where her team can actually enable us to have some pretty good success in terms of the experiences we create. And Stacey's, I couldn't get on a big enough soapbox to profess like how having someone dedicated to customer experience within the organization is such a critical role to have where she has good knowledge of how things work and can be that perspective to compliment any conversation.

You know having really good people in the right roles, then having good processes to allow for those people to collaborate is pretty key there. And you mentioned two good ones

Sean (09:58.015)
I wanted to talk about one of the key pieces of the puzzle for you in solving it. Is the app and mobile and how that has evolved in your time? Because know, social was doing a lot of that heavy lifting early on. And then it sort of went to that Oprah phase, you get an app, you get an app, you get an app, everyone had to have an app. And then there's that aggregation of all the apps starting to be similar because the platforms are being provided. Where is it now for you? In what function do you want the sharks at to do overall.

Patrick Hooper (10:35.308)
Yeah. Yeah. I've had a fun history with our mobile app. you asked kind of back when I got my career started in sports, never would have imagined I would have been this deeply entrenched in tech and producing a mobile app experience. But, you know, now looking back on it, it feels so befitting on kind of where some of the crossover is. You know, when we kind of first started on this, we're going to develop our own mobile app that's central to our business route. We made so with lot of conviction

You know, we wanted to have, we as the sharks wanted to have autonomy and building an experience that was best fitting for our fans and customers. And, we knew how to provide that, know, you, you, you've seen maybe other leagues or other teams kind of had some rolled up experiences where it's like league controlled or league owned. And we knew pretty strongly that, you know, we knew our customers in our, in our demographic best and, and started out on that journey. And

It's a challenge, Because you're trying to solve a lot of different needs in one experience, just because you're a Sharks fan or you may come to the SAP center to enjoy entertainment, whether it be hockey or some other concert or show, there's a lot you're trying to solve for in this one experience. And, you know, we had some early trials and tribulation where, you you kind of like, push and pull over this, is it a content app or is it a utility app?

What are you actually best trying to lean into? And at different periods, we've maybe had a heavier effort than other, but I think the one that's won out over time is that like first and foremost, it has to be something that provides some value to our fans or customers on a reliable basis. And we found that with like maybe just the strongholds of digital ticketing.

Now a pretty formidable digital wallet experience that allows people to have kind of full commerce throughout our venues. Those utility based products seem to be pretty core for what we found to be kind of like the primary use case of the app and those people who are currently using it. And then we were able to come through and layer on content that I think is a little bit more befitting for someone who would be using that app and that experience. We advertise it and try

Patrick Hooper (12:46.734)
put it as a solution for all of our businesses here at Sharksports Entertainment, which is again more than just the San Jose Sharks, but we have the SAP Center, which is the venue that we operate where the Sharks play, also tons of concerts and shows come through. And then we have the San Jose Barracuda, who are the American Hockey League affiliate of the Sharks. They play just down the road at Tech City Arena. So that's a very kind of comparable.

Sports team and venue. And then we also have three barrier ice skating facilities all under the shark size umbrella. And so a lot of different customers and fans interacting with our businesses and this app experience that we're still on the journey of really perfecting for all those different use cases is meant to be this portal to the relationship between our customers, our fans and us as the business.

So trying to have touch points is, is, is pretty key there. you know, you look at maybe the primary use case, which is you're coming to a shark's game at SAP center. That's where we see the majority of people engage in the app. And we kind of build it as like, Hey, can this be like essentially a remote control for your game to experience? Right. Can you from, from, know, sunup to sundown interact with this app to help improve your experience all the way, whether it is understanding about parking, getting into digital ticketing.

Coming in and leveraging your, your sharks 365 membership benefits with the digital wallets while you're in bowl interacting with the game day experience by participating in games on the video board, being able to check some of the stats that you you're wanting to pair with the visuals that are in front of you. That's kind of that overarching philosophy that we have and kind of guides us through that, you know, earlier debate of content and utility and how, you know, what's the right play

Sean (14:32.095)
I think that utility piece, which on that early app development, wasn't there. And then obviously the quick adoption for a certain reason around digital ticketing helped give those apps the stickiness they needed. I mean, it also should be noted that you're in the heart of Silicon Valley. So there is a real high bar of the users there because they're all beta users of everything that they've got. They've all got some tech bent. So it must set the bar high for what is expected for people in San

Patrick Hooper (15:08.236)
Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, we've received quite a bit of good, solid feedback. And it's a luxury as much as it is pressure to be able to have kind of different types of audience who have experience around these applications and technologies and their demand for it to have a pretty high experience. So we're happy with that challenge.

Sean (15:29.823)
And as part of that challenge also, you know, a lot of the times experience is talking about experience at the stadium and you've spoken about it, you know, how is it, how is it getting there, parking, getting in, but then also we were all, you know, looking at what does the fan experience looks like outside the stadium, the person that's not going and how do you talk to that audience? Is that something that you're, you know, always working on and always tweaking both from an app and then, you know, from a social perspective to be able to talk to those two audiences in stadium and out of stadium.

Patrick Hooper (16:00.46)
Yeah, a hundred percent you nailed it. Maybe a benefit of the way we are structured and the way we group everything under digital experiences is that I oversee, I collaborate with our content strategy with our SJS productions group and that content is most often distributed across our social channels, our web channels and our app channels. So we're pretty deeply ingrained in figuring out workflows and what is brand content strategy and the storytelling that we want to communicate across all these platforms.

And just from a resource perspective, as much as we can figure out how do we, if we're developing a really strong piece of content for social, how can we make it work in the right ways for the app and elsewhere? So deeply ingrained in all those conversations, but you're right on the mobile experience, the one that I think is clearly best positioned for us to understand who that customer is, who that user is, and how they want to interact with our brand and business.

It's making sure that we're servicing the diehard Sharks fan in Toronto or New Jersey, as much as our 365 members who are coming to the game to make sure that their experience is great. how do we enable both of those touch points so that one doesn't feel alienated or cut off? And that's where you get into a little bit, okay, clearly that Sharks fan abroad or removed from the Bay Area without the ability to come to games needs to be able listen live to the game and follow on the action, participate in some of those live digital engagement opportunities.

Certainly content needs to be more accessible to them and starting to be able to turn the page on identifying who those fans and customers are and surfacing content that's more relevant to them that they appreciate as part of the strategy.

Sean (17:48.179)
And as part of it, and you would have sort of been in that transition of working in the social teams and you talked about silos, sometimes you even had those silos in digital where the social team just want the content to live on social because it's great for their KPIs and they want to drive it. And as your app and your platforms has matured and become more stable and easy to track and a better experience, you sort of start going, well, we just want to tease it on social. We want to drive people into our app or we want to drive people onto our site.

You would have had some robust discussions internally around those things. As your products have matured and you've got a better base and a better experience, that something you've, know, slow, you know, and also the instability of certain platforms that we might, you know, talk about that, you know, we don't know what they are. Is that something that you sort of, that strategy has changed from a, you know, social first to hey, driving back into our site, this is the best experience.

Patrick Hooper (18:41.388)
Yeah, and I think maybe the consistent kind of toehold there seems to be the mobile hardware, right? And how most of our fans and customers are engaging with our content, however we send it, email, social, mobile app, however you.

And so, you know, quite recently we made a big introduction of a form of content in our app that is more of the vertical short form video content style that we're very excited about because I think it's opened up an opportunity of both kind of like improved workflows for just kind of speed efficiency and even distribution. But it allows us to, like you stated before, like take what we consider to be maybe the strongest storytelling and narrative content that we can produce and get it in front of, you know, the people we want to get in front of on a platform that we manage and operate.

Maybe have better control over and can control the safety of it and all those fun things. So that's been pretty critical and important to us. And thankfully it has maybe improved efficiency of workflows more than created like, now here's this 15th or 16th different version of a video that I need you to cut. it's helped maybe consolidate the message a bit there.

Finding the successes of what works really well on social because it is such this vast playground of creativity and conversation. But then, know, taking that and getting it in front of, you know, our fans and customers in a more isolated environment has been great to be able to break through in that

Sean (20:18.517)
I mean, it makes sense. We've been watching, you know, meta who have far more data than us, you know, looking at, hey, look at what Snapchat doing. we're going to pull that into our Instagram feature. And now we've got, you know, stories and, and now you're seeing more league and club apps, you know, pulling vertical video into their apps, because again, that's easy to consume. It's full screen, all of the advantages. It makes sense. You know, I say still with pride a lot. It's good to see, you know, league and club apps starting to do what the social networks are doing. So well, and you're right from

Patrick Hooper (20:23.968)
No.

Sean (20:48.623)
content production team point of view, you're getting dedicated video people. And yes, it's great, works great on TikTok and Instagram, but it also makes sense for it to live in breathe in your platforms.

Patrick Hooper (21:02.444)
Yeah. And, and, it, you know, I think for those sharks fans who want to be able to find our content more frequently, gives it a better like repository for that instead of just hoping it falls on you with the algorithms social, right. amid the chaos. And, it really, really accentuates the point of like, you know, big reach, kind of throw it out there and see what happens versus more personalized, dedicated, you know, here, here's, here's all the sharks content you want.

And, and, and maybe what we're trying and inspiring to get to is really kind of on that same utility and content and use cases of, let's give our Sharks fans a reason to open up this app on a daily occasion instead of just when they're coming to the SAP center, the Shark Tank to access the game. Let's give them something new and refreshed. And that's a way to do

Sean (21:50.519)
So what you're talking about is inspiration there. Where do you look for inspiration in uplifting digital experiences?

Patrick Hooper (22:01.58)
Yeah, good, good question. you know, I, think maybe because my background is rooted in social, it's still very near and dear to my heart. There's just so much creativity and conversation and innovation with the style of content and then the platforms themselves, the way they're constantly competing, that it, kind of rises some of these like zeitgeist themes to the top. And, you know, so far a lot of like, whether it's the style of content or, or the narratives, right.

It's kind of dictated the pace. I, I don't think 10 years ago we were talking about, you know, nearly at the rate, this, short form content, way we were where everything had to be, you know, 16 by nine and five minutes sit down interviews. And, and that's the way we get things done to where now if we're trying to get even something pretty key to the business, which is like, Hey, we've signed a new player and we'd love to get kind of a personalized message of this player to our members to say how excited, you know, he is for the season.

You know, we're going. vertical 15 seconds selfie format. like that's what resonates and that's what we're leaning into. So in terms of inspiration, that's, that's kind of how we are steering it. Again, it helps, right? Because then resources are a little bit better aligned instead of asking for something so against the grain.

Sean (23:15.913)
I want to talk about technology. We're always bombarded in a real hotbed of where new technology comes out. Is there technology, whether it is new and exciting or boring and terribly efficient, that excites you? Because both are, the new and exciting sometimes gets more publicity, but sometimes the boring and efficient ones are the ones that actually give you the big wins. there something that either you're playing with or something that excites

Patrick Hooper (23:45.942)
Yeah. you know, think we're, you're right. You're always, whether it's driven by another, the business, you know, someone sees something that works at some organizations, Hey, can we try this? That, sometimes that comes to you or there's something you see that that's worth trying. You know, we've, we've done some recent campaigns that have been fun, whether it be, you know, know, still dabbling and how do you actually play in this AR XR world where you're actually trying to find ways to be more engaged and more immersive, but our recent attempts have been instead of just kind of like the full Snapchat filter approach is like, it be more storytelling and narrative driven?

We did something last year that paired the release of our new uniform that we call Cali Fin, which had a lot of backstory and a lot of meaning behind it as you often see with a lot of Jersey and uniform releases these days. And we're able to compliment this kind of like full avatar experience where you get to try on the Jersey.

It helped, it helped, more than just wow factor of, here's this fun AR thing to throw yourself on on this environment. To us, it helped drive a storytelling component, one of the complement that that, you know, was beyond just what we were sending an email or social. So that that's always fun to be able to explore. You know, I think

Sean (25:00.791)
And was that on that was that input was that storytelling piece? Because again, there is that case of bright and shiny, let's just roll out the fans will love it. But the fact that it did help tell the story help move it along. Did that give it more stickiness? And you think that you know, because it's, like the brief, hey, Patrick, make it go viral. It's like, just because it's bright and shiny, and he's gonna have that isn't gonna happen.

But making that connection to the story and, you know, the other piece of content that were coming out, because it wasn't a one -shot wonder, do you think that piece of connecting it is what was the important piece?

Patrick Hooper (25:35.682)
Yeah. Well, what it saw for us is, is, is added a level of depth and detail that helped us, really have some sustained engagement time. Right. So whether or not it actually converted, you know, X percentage of Jersey sales, which sure, I would have been loved to drop some, well, stat with you right now, but like it was complimentary to that. Right. It's like, Hey, we could actually see when people are entering this experience, they're spending quite a long time with much longer than 15 seconds of viewing the video on social.

So it's just another touch point to then pair with like an overall campaign. And then even in a more holistic view, the more we can continue to offer our fans who arrive in the app, which is this level of depth, exploration and detail and things to check out, it's helping the overall goal again of why does someone need to have this? Why should they volunteer to open it up amongst you know, tens or hundreds of other apps on their phone on a daily basis. And how are we kind of creating that trust to drive them there?

That's, kind of the overarching goal that I think that's, that's serving whether or not it's actually improving your bottom line sales. Sure. We, we may be aware of it, a self, a few more jerseys, but you know, it's not that not the only ROI and, and, and KPI that you're applying to

Sean (26:51.255)
And one of the things I'm sure if we dove into the stats of what's driving people into the app and what's performing well is when you get to feature your athletes and tell the stories and build the heroes of your athletes, what have been some of your keys to success with working with Sharks players?

Patrick Hooper (27:10.102)
Yeah, I mean, that's where I tend to geek out a little bit too is because I have my hands on the content side and maybe even where my background was rooted is in this thought that I would be a part of some kind of storytelling, you know, effort or role in my future is, hey, we are helping to broadcast these stories and really kind of serve the brand storytelling effort of the organization.

And our athletes are some of the best examples of trying to showcase that. They're one component of it. We try to look at it more than just athletes, but look at our broadcast talent, our employees, our fans. We do a lot of fan storytelling and all of these components make up what it is to be a part of this like shark's family that we have. But it helps when you have exciting personalities on the athlete side.

Hockey players in general are funny. They're a little bit more of a humble and reserved group. So sometimes you're finding yourself kind of pulling that personality out versus it being volunteered. But I think some of the ways we've had success at propping them up is again, kind of the asks and what we're trying to do where it's like, hey, we're not gonna make you look silly.

We're gonna try to highlight some of these fun. off ice stuff that our fans actually kind of gravitate towards more so than the glossy highlights that you can put up on the ice and really kind of showcase who you are. Again, some of the athletes, it's a little bit more pulling teeth than others, but it's important for them too to feel like they have a digital voice and a digital brand. And we work with them and we have some tools and technology that allows us to make sure we're not just asking for content.

From them to post on our channels, but maybe even creating content for them to post on their channels. You you talked about inspiration before. I maybe one space I look to none other is if you look across at the North American college market and what some of these college programs are doing for their athletes and how they have to compete for that kind of athlete branding. It's really inspiring stuff that is kind of the race there. So there's been a lot of cool tools and technologies developed to serve that need that worked just as well with us that make

Patrick Hooper (29:27.508)
super easy on a player and an athlete's day to day life where, you know, if we need some content created by them, we can kind of guide them along it. They open up their app, they press a few buttons and they're producing the content that we need versus needing to be in the same space in the same room with them and take up a lot of their time in a pretty valuable schedule that they maintain on a daily basis.

Sean (29:49.311)
And you think as these athletes and I agree, you know, the college athletes that are going through the nil process, you know, naming image likeness and, and, know, getting paid and being a bit more active in social will mean they will come into the league and be even, you know, more digital natives than, know, when you first started your role, you know, working with, with hockey players, I I don't want to be on this social platform. This looks silly to having these younger sort of molding that, you know, as they come in as rookies and befriending them

How do you go about building that trust with players to know that, we're here to help you. We'll help build your brand. The fans want to see your personality. We're not expecting you to be a comedian. We just want you to be you and sort of building that piece

Patrick Hooper (30:34.742)
Yeah, it's relationships. And it doesn't necessarily matter who in the organization best have it because that's what you want is a relationship from the business to the athlete or player so that they have someone they trust and know what's happening. we have the benefit of having, again, video producers or media relations staff.

Social team who is you know amongst them and in the locker room on a daily basis they're on the road traveling that's so important if you have the resources and availability to do it because that's when you're going to get some of those pockets of downtime when you can actually have an open and honest conversation with these athletes. We try to make a pretty concerted effort each year in training camp which is coming up for us where we do try to find some time to sit down with them and understand their interests and it's across the whole business right it's not

Hey, do you want help growing your following on Instagram, which, which you hit the nail on the head, some of these, these new guys coming in, that is a need for them. But it's like, what, what nonprofit or charity efforts are you interested in? you know, what's, if you're asked to be involved, you appreciate, you know, being on camera more, would you want to do audio stuff? And it's just understanding kind of where their comfort levels are. And then we can kind of steer it from there. it kind of helps, right? Because oftentimes you'll have a need for a.

An athlete voice in a scenario to solve something within the business. you're sometimes trying to identify in the roster who's best for it, So to have that knowledge, have that relationship that you can call on, you're going to have a little bit of a higher success rate. And thankfully, we do have that now with, we've got a young team, right? Some of these kids will be on the ice for the Sharks in opening day roster, 18 years old. So they know social as much, if not better than many of the staff. So speaking that common language is going to help where it was. 10 years ago and you're like, having to explain what online media is to some of the guys.

Sean (32:29.375)
And on the other side, you know, you probably remember yourself being an intern and being in a professional hockey environment for the first time. How daunting that is. What? How do you go about preparing staff to go, we just want to go and you know, can you go please introduce, you know, interview that superstar and having them understand that they're no longer a fan. They're, know, they're holding a camera, like what what, you know, how to be professional in that environment, not to be over or what's some of the advice that you give staff as they enter?

Patrick Hooper (33:01.238)
Yeah, it's a good question. I think there's got to be some inherent soft skills that can play in there. And then I think, you know, from my own personal experience, it is about exposure and slowly being introduced to that. You know, you probably triggered something in me. I think it was one of my intern days with the 49ers being in the locker room and just being thrown to the Wolfs, interviewing a player for the first time and being kind of shaky.

But with any, anything in life, more, more repetition, more experience, you're going to get more comfortable at it and better with it. The nice thing again, is that, you we do have the benefit of, of we've got a locker room of, of some really nice guys, humble guys who, who are, you know, even if, if you're asking them to do something that they're a little bit against or asking awkward question, they usually find a way to improve it and give you a solid answer, which is always helpful when you can even identify them to spot. and then it's, you know, it's about support fights. So you

You have media relations staff who's with them on a daily basis. You have video production staff who's maybe in the locker room on a more routine occasion. So if you're asking one of your social producers to go in for the first time and they're fairly new, it's relying on the more experienced to really kind of guide them and even showcase and model kind how that can go. And we've had pretty good success

Sean (34:19.669)
And advice for people that want to get into sport or into a role similar to yours and sort of work in that space, what's your advice for people trying to break into sports? It's a very competitive area. But there has been more roles, teams have grown, new roles continue to be invented. Even three years ago, vertical video editors weren't a thing and they're now a role. Have you got advice for people who want to get into the world of sport?

Patrick Hooper (34:51.148)
Yeah. I think some of the obvious stuff, which is, is not so tied to the role is some of the more important things early on. spoke to before about just maybe it's so obvious, but like reliability, being able to kind of deliver on what you say, being adaptable and learning

That's important because it's stuff that I still try to work at even with my amount of experience because you can look through my background and many others. Your roles and responsibilities are going to change. You're going to have opportunities that open up vertically and laterally. And as much as you want to try to stick it in with a career in sports, those opportunities will open up.

Let's say you're dead set on wanting to work in social for a sports team going forward. that you should be open to coming in and stepping into the organization and doing ticket sales or marketing or something else because those skills translate and on a daily basis, we're working with those counterparts. So to have that firsthand knowledge of how they operate, their way of thinking, that's only gonna aid you. And again, to make another obvious point, like coming in and being impressive in one area, it's a tightly networking world.

I kind of often share the story of when I was applying for different jobs. I think I was wrapping up an internship with the 49ers and applied for one with the Sharks. At the same time, I was asking my boss at the 49ers if she knew anybody at the Sharks to kind of maybe put a good word in for me. The Sharks were calling counterparts at the 49ers and asking, hey, who is this kid? What does he represent? So that word of mouth, translation of someone being kind of a good fit is going to go far.

Maybe to summarize that is not to be so, you know, determined or even deflated if things don't go exactly your way early on on thinking this is the one path to do it. There's a lot of different ways to kind of get to where you want to

Sean (36:54.391)
Yeah, most definitely. had many conversations with people that have said they've set up tents outside of stadiums. They've, in some cases, put on mascot uniforms to hand out flyers. And now they're at sea level executives. But the opportunities will open up if you show that initiative and deliver. mean, that's the key thing. People want people who can actually do the job. I wanted to touch on your…

Patrick Hooper (37:21.858)
Yeah,

As I said, never did the tent route, it reminded me one of the best pieces of advice I got when I was starting to, especially again, if you're young and new in your role is, and again, assuming that is a role where you are reporting to an office on a regular occasion, like make sure you get to know the people who can help you out beyond like your department.

Like the reception and greeter areas, the person working in the mail room, like those types of people knowing their names, knowing kind of the processes how to help them may ultimately save you and make you shine going forward. So maybe not so obvious people in the network with, but they're there first and they're there last. So they know everybody and they know how the heartbeat of the organization works.

Sean (38:09.783)
Most definitely. I wanted to touch on one of the sessions you did at SEAT in Las Vegas with the very heavy title of delivering on the personalization promise. I really did enjoy it with a bunch of different colleagues. What does that piece mean for you, delivering on that personalization promise? Because it is sort of the next trend. We went through the big data phase where everyone was looking for big data or figuring out what big data was, but now we're, what does

personalisation, how can we better personalise what we're doing? What does it mean for you at The Sharks?

Patrick Hooper (38:44.94)
Yeah, that's why I'm so high on our mobile app and people's effort in the mobile app space to have something owned that you can build and construct for your business is because it's a space where you're most readily available to deliver on that promise. It makes a ton of sense for a business, right? You're gonna get better ROI, greater efficiency if you can deliver the right content for the right audience at the right time.

With less wasted effort, better than what you cannot really achieve on other platforms. It's being data -driven with everything you do, and there's an immense amount of data, and sometimes that's hard to connect the dots on all, but with deeper analysis, you're going to be able to learn more about the behavior. And the customer experience is as paramount as we try to achieve, and that's a promise that we try to make in front of our fans and customers.

It's really a brand promise as much as anything is that, you know, saying you matter to us and how we interact with you on a daily basis should convey that, right? So if we know who you are, we know why you're interacting with us, we can better solve your needs. We can even kind of volunteer the right information that you may be seeking in advance. That's delivering on that brand promise for us. So that's why we hold it at a pretty high level and it's by no means achieved, right?

Pointed out this is maybe a lot is going to be focused on this going forward. I fully agree. But that's why we're trying to be as responsible as we can with how we vet technology that we're bringing in, making sure that it stacks the right way, making sure that we're up to the right standard with privacy, accessibility concerns, all of the legal side of it, but then ultimately deliver just an exceptional experience. That's the goal.

Sean (40:37.695)
And again, it's sort of following the trends of main consumption. You your Netflix is your Netflix. Every social platform now has a for you, you know, algorithm. So everyone is expecting their version. So yeah, kudos to you. I did want to touch on your tech stack. What are some of the tools that are in your tech stack that you're either using regularly, you in your role or even just for personal productivity that you find pretty vital?

Patrick Hooper (41:04.034)
Yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of different ways you can go about it. And sometimes that adds zeros at the end of the final budget there. our strategy has been to work with on the app side, an app developer and fan reach that is very much a platform developer. So they're really great.

Especially with working with sports clients at building kind of the framework and the skeleton of an app that can really serve the fundamentals of the business. Again, thinking about that content and utility aspect that all sports teams have. And then what they do is they allow us to kind of plug in more of these niche products across the obviousness of, you know, we're a ticket master business that manages all of our ticketing products. So that's an SDK in the app. And then other, you know, various technologies that allow us to deploy, you know, our digital wallets.

which is operated by Venuetize, which is really critical for us because that's where all of our membership benefits are contained. And that's where we're making a promise to our members, hey, you what you signed up for in terms of your benefits that can all be easily accessed in this mobile experience. So to get it right and to get it reliable is critical. We work with a partner in Rover who really in terms of personalization propels us and our ability to do just that, allow us to build these, highly custom experiences that frankly our team has had a ton of fun with this off season.

I don't know for those who haven't followed the Sharks as closely, we had a less than ideal performance on the ice the year before where we finished dead last, but we paid for it and earned it by grabbing the number one overall draft pick and using it on Macklin Celebrini who is gonna come in as our first ever first overall draft pick to join the organization. what was a pretty disappointing into the year has turned into a lot of excitement and engagement in an off season when sports teams who finish last don't traditionally get that.

So we've had to pull a lot of levers and kind of empty the barrel, so to speak, and everything that we can produce to capitalize on this excitement, engage our fans and customers during an off season where they're maybe not as typically engaged. So to create these really robust experiences around the NHL draft and development camp and the lottery.

Patrick Hooper (43:21.878)
And free agency, that's how we get all these technologies to work together. Maybe in a more simplified way to describe it is, we want you to open up the app and it be contextual with the time and place, putting the right information in front of you at the right time and that's enabled us to do

Sean (43:41.299)
Absolutely terrific. Pat, you're really happy and thankfully you join me. I want to get to the SportsGeek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Patrick Hooper (43:53.506)
There have been a lot, thankfully. I've been a part of sports my whole life. The one that comes to mind first is maybe this combination of pure trauma and just my first interaction. We talked about locker rooms, right? So this was my first real locker room experience. I was a kid, maybe five or six years old.

There was something to do with someone that my mom had worked used to be a former AAA player for the Texas Rangers and somehow my dad and I got access to the Texas Rangers locker room. And this was in the early nineties. So their heyday era of like just home runs after home runs and a lot of big names there. And so I had my little, you know, baseball and I was meant to go around the locker room and get my autographs and I got everybody Jose Canseco, Juan Gonzalez, Rodriguez.

Sean (44:32.555)
Yeah.

Patrick Hooper (44:45.418)
All these big names and maybe the biggest one and the one I actually knew most at that age was Noah Ryan. He was the last one to get and I looked down to where his locker was and he was standing there ready and available should I want to go up and ask him but he was just head to toe naked. So I was immediately struck in fear and balked at the opportunity and missed my chance because I was, I was, you know, a little five or six year old who didn't want to interact that way.

So I've got this awesome baseball assigned by, you know, the great Texas Rangers team of the early nineties and it's, it's missing Nolan Ryan. So that was my first real crossover of being a fan and being in the locker room. And this is weird. And, and, lo and behold, I, I came to, you know, have a career in this, in this space where I'm in more locker rooms. I'll give you a bonus one too, because Australia is, is near and to my heart. my first footy game was at the Subiaco Oval, seeing the West Coast Eagles take on the Fremantle Dockers, and that's when I was introduced to AFL rules football and fell in love with it there.

Sean (45:49.751)
terrific, terrific. Yeah, I'm sure that that baseball has obviously that that mental image that now all the now all the podcast listeners also have so. And you would have been to a lot of sports events in your time. Do you have a have a favorite food memory or a go to food at a sports event?

Patrick Hooper (45:57.423)
Yeah, it's scarred. It's scarred.

Patrick Hooper (46:10.518)
Yeah, maybe not the most exciting answer here. I'm a big fan of popcorn. So anytime I go anywhere, I'm probably going to try popcorn. I don't go for the fancy stuff. know, some of these these venues try the honey drizzle and chocolate covered with jalapenos and all these combinations. I just like that, you know, the pure movie style. So somewhat controversial, not a big fan of churros. I know that's a lot of people's favorites. The best if you do make

Make your way to the SAP Center for a Sharks game or a concert or whatever. I recommend Hula Truck. It's kind of this Pacific Island food flavor, but they wrap it up in a burrito most of time. It's quite good. That's my escape, even though I'm maybe not enjoying as many games as a fan. If I can run up and grab one and take it back down to the desk while I'm working, that's my go

Sean (46:56.663)
Awesome, awesome. What's the first app you open in the

Patrick Hooper (47:03.15)
I'd probably like it to be Peloton or something worthwhile with my health, but it's, it's honestly Twitter X, you know, it's, it's, it's my go -to quick kind of scroll, see, see some quick news and, and, know, can in a, short span of five or 10 minutes, pretty much get caught up on a few things, kind of make an active effort to not let it be outlook, but, given in the space we work in, sometimes that team's message is top on the priority notification list.

Sean (47:32.915)
I'll ask you, where do you think X is right

Patrick Hooper (47:38.668)
Yeah, it's spicy debate, right? I still quite enjoy it. I mean, if you asked me to show you my screen time, it's up there at the top, if not number one in terms of amount of time I'm spending and on. Maybe it's just with my history with it. It's been a platform that I've probably most kind of also operated from a professional side. I still think it is a fantastic kind of platform that is unique from what the others can offer in terms of offering.

news, kind of breaking trend conversation on things that are kind of very topical. And I find it somewhat useful to jump around between professional topics I want to see, of movies and culture and fun stuff I want to see. So it kind of serves that, but it's a little dicer to jump into the comments these days.

Sean (48:28.863)
Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. It is one like I still find it, you know, I'm still mainly on my following. So people who I'm following and I'm choosing the for you is a little bit more of an adventure and it's something that you don't, you know, you don't, it's a bit of a choose your own adventure. It's not, you're not actually choosing the adventure is probably the best way to describe it. is there, is there, someone that you follow, they might, it might be on X or it might be, on other platforms, or it might be an author or something that the podcast listeners should check

Patrick Hooper (49:04.716)
Yeah, I don't know if you've had her as a guest. You may have. The one that comes front of mind straight away is Jess Smith, War Jess Eagle on Twitter. Definitely a thought leader that what she's commenting on and speaking on matches a lot of across social and storytelling and content on a daily basis. She's a great writer with clarity and broad perspective.

So definitely plugging her blog and social for anybody who's looking for that type of inspiration. You know, I'm often times trying to look outside of sports too. Kind of a random one that's popping up right now to mind is like something like the National Park Service. I mean, they kind of sit themselves kind of all alone in this space where it's not maybe overrun with a lot of similar accounts. And they do just such a great job of having a consistent voice and personality.

And again, have this niche of like content that I've not normally seen. So when I'm scrolling through the Twitter of this, right. And it stops my scroll. It's kind of fun to see. Maybe just a couple more, you know, we spoke about athletes and obviously their voice, whether guided by themselves or a complimentary organization is always strong. A few that I've enjoyed where they are now is someone like Matt liner, who obviously was a big name when he was a quarterback at USC, winning the Heisman and whatnot.

I don't remember ever following him during those days, but his content and his personal life now is just kind of a fun kind of insight to athlete life right now. And he does a great job of showing that along with his wife and his kids at home. That's fun. And I say that as a Notre Dame fan and not a USC fan. So it's funny how I've kind of gravitated back toward that.

What? So last one, Matt Leinart, he's a quarterback who kind of got a brief moment in it. Yeah. Yeah. We've got a brief moment in NFL, but he's, he's fascinating to me because he's hugely immersed in video games and game culture right now. And he does this awesome thing of how he takes kind of like his, his mind as a former athlete, and then he's playing games and showing that insight to you. And I just find that so fascinating to see how that translates.

Sean (50:56.055)
Former QB quarterback for the Packers, yeah.

Patrick Hooper (51:19.872)
Under that lens of inspiration for where athletes can take their voice outside of sport or kind of just show off this personality that's not so cliche, those are some ones that come to

Sean (51:30.335)
Yeah, so I spoke with I spoke with Kurt not on the podcast, but sort of the work we do with the NFL, like at the start of last year, when he just come out of, you know, effectively his career and decided, well, I'm not going to continue being a backup. Like he was a backup to Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love and Green Bay. And then to him to lean into, I can play Madden and I'm playing Madden as a QB. And I know what the playbook looks like. I'll teach people how to play Madden. But he's also teaching people how to,

I guess, learn more of the X and of football in the same way that think, you know, JJ Reddick did in podcasting and having an educated experience for the fan and not just, you know, the highlights and the gloss. And so being able to go a little bit deeper, but also being that educational mode. Yeah, he's found a really good, a really good space and, you know, build out YouTube and TikTok and that kind of stuff. And, yeah, I mean, both following his journey and really interested to see how it goes.

Patrick Hooper (52:07.756)
Yeah, totally.

Patrick Hooper (52:29.538)
Yeah, yeah, it just seems to stand out as a unique approach from kind of the way you're used to seeing that sour content. So agree wholeheartedly on all those fronts.

Sean (52:41.163)
Lastly, I always ask people what social media platform is your MVP? And you can answer this both personally and then from a shark's point of view. I'm a real stickler for this. I really don't like people giving out gold, silver, bronze. This isn't the Olympics. We just want one. But what about for yourself?

Patrick Hooper (53:00.822)
Okay. All right. Under those stickler rules. So I am going to continue to roll with X and Twitter, despite maybe, you know, where, where it sits and, some uncertainty over where it goes. just can, and this is maybe a little bit more personal for my own personal inspiration and kind of my following, continues to give me the avenue for news and trends and, even some, you know, fun, creative creativity on creative writing and creative responses to stuff. I find that entertaining.

Performance wise, know, think Instagram, slight edge over over TikTok, just because right Instagram reels and TikTok, you're kind of seeing the same content anyways. it, allows us to do so much in terms of taking our storytelling needs and presenting it through,

You know, two or three different formats and getting it done through posts and reels and stories and then we're just repurposing some of the good content. So I think that's where we're finding some success. I'll stick with my gold medalist there without giving you silver and bronze.

Sean (54:08.607)
No, no problems. Patrick, I really do appreciate you taking the time. If people have listened to this episode and want to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to do

Patrick Hooper (54:18.582)
Yeah, yeah. contacting me on social, on Twitter at Johnny Hoop, J -O -H -N -I -E -H -O -O -P is an option. LinkedIn is also good too. If you'd prefer to kind of go that professional route, looking me up on Patrick Cooper, shouldn't be, ain't hard to find as Dion says. So, you know, reach out to those ways or Sean, if you need to connect us, that works

Sean (54:44.872)
Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate catching up. They're always good to catch up in person or online and look forward to catching up sometime

Patrick Hooper (54:54.976)
Likewise, appreciate the conversation, Sean.

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Resources from the podcast* Connect with Patrick Hooper connect with him on Linkedin, and follow him on X (@johnniehoop) * Follow San Jose Sharks across social media: + Twitter – @SanJoseSharks + LinkedIn –San Jose Sharks + Facebook –@San Jose Sharks + Instagram – @sanjosesharks + TikTok – @sanjosesharks * Recommendations + Jess Smith – Stewart-Haas Racing + Matt Leinart – Former USC QB * Episodes you should listen to + Dewayne Hankins – Portland Trailblazers + Matt Gardner – St Louis Blues + G.M. Ciallella – Anaheim Ducks Podcast highlightsHighlights from this interview with Patrick Hooper.

01:30 – Patrick's #sportsbiz Origin Story03:32 – Evolution of Role at the Sharks09:00 – Breaking Down Silos for Collaboration11:28 – The Importance of the Mobile App15:38 – Driving Engagement and Integration20:11 – Social First to App-Driven Strategy22:18 – Exciting Technologies and Innovations25:15 – Exploring AR and XR28:40 – Telling Stories with Athletes30:27 – Athlete Branding and Inspiration36:21 – Adapting and Growing in the Sports Industry40:44 – Delivering Personalized Experiences48:33 – The Power of Twitter and InstagramAs discussed on the podcastSEAT – Delivering on the personalisation promise

Revolutionising the fan engagement

Exciting season ahead

Sharks hockey starts in 32 days!!

Check out our Rookie Faceoff schedule now.

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) August 12, 2024

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Brad Mayne from episode 63, who was at the MetLife Stadium when the ep was recorded now recently retired.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Brad and Sean discussed technology demand on stadiums

• Integration of Technology: MetLife Stadium uses over 2100 monitors, large video boards, and ribbon boards to create an immersive fan experience
• Dynamic Branding: The stadium can switch branding elements electronically to cater to the New York Jets and New York Giants, although some manual changes are still required
• Traffic Management: There are ongoing efforts to improve traffic flow around the stadium using real-time electronic signage and social media updates
• Team Operations: Advanced technology supports team operations, including communication tools for coaches and medical updates via tablets on the sidelines
• Media Adaptation: The transition from film to digital has changed how media professionals work, with immediate digital transmission of photos and stories Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: There was a lot of preparation to be ready for the Super Bowl and to upgrade the infrastructure of the stadium from a Wi-Fi and cellular infrastructure point of view. I spoke to Michelle McKenna-Doyle at SEAT, and she spoke about analyzing how much data was being used at the Super Bowl. I think it was 3.2 terabytes of data sent by fans from their phones at the game. Obviously, people wanted to make sure they sent out a photo and a tweet to brag that they were at the Super Bowl. What was it like running that project and getting that infrastructure in place, so getting hacked in Mark Cuban's point of letting the fans use the technology when they want to, but they really want to be part of the game? How was it to run that project and get the stadium up to scratch?

Brad: Yeah, it was a benefit for us long-term because we had to upgrade the system. And one year prior, we began using consultants and different contractors to give us some guidance and direction. Of course, we had information on how much the IT became a part of the games for prior seasons, prior Super Bowls, and each year the amount of technology that was being used at the games was growing exponentially. So we just extrapolated out what had happened three years prior, where we thought we needed to be, and fortunately, we were able to take advantage of installing everything here and making it permanent. Actually, it's been a blessing for us going forward. It's interesting that we more than quadrupled the amount of capacity we have for Wi-Fi and cellular to take care of the Super Bowl.

When you get off from a pipeline that was about 200Mb to up to 1 Terabyte for your pipeline coming in and out, and then all of the additional infrastructure that allows for the downstreaming and upstreaming, the inbounds, the outbounds, it was an amazing experience. What's interesting is we've proven now with gathering the data that we had prior to the Super Bowl, we had some guests who were underserved because we didn't have enough capacity to take care of everything they wanted to do. And now today we do. We follow that very closely with each one of our games. The scary thing is that with the new phones that were coming out, going from G to the N band, they use up a lot more of the Wi-Fi capacities than the old phones did.

And with everybody upgrading and updating their phones, what's interesting is, one of the pieces of data that we found is as people come to our events, their phones have been doing updates to their phones, but haven't really fully updated until it arrives here with the capacity of such that it allows the phones to then do an enormous amount of inbound data to their phones that otherwise they're not getting. And I don't know that they actually understood that that's what's happening with their smartphones. So it's really worked out quite well for us.

Sean: Yes, I've spoken to John Branson at Extreme, and some of the stuff that the analytics they've done with their partnership with the NFL showed that a lot of fans don't connect to Wi-Fi that often. So when they turned up to a stadium, a big chunk of the data that's been downloaded is people updating their apps and updating their operating systems. So I think the sophistication of how the pipeline is offered to fans and blocking that kind of thing would be sort of the next phase. I think the other thing that's different if we listen to what Mark was saying about what he wants the fans to use their smartphones for; it doesn't fit for basketball because it is so action-packed. There are no breaks in the action to pick out your phone and look at it, whereas the NFL with all the breaks in play, all the TV spots. It really does fit itself to pulling out your phone, checking in on red zone on another game, because you're not missing anything at a game. So it's a different type of smartphone use that's in an NFL game that would lend itself to want more Wi-Fi.

Brad: Yeah, that's true.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Stephanie Rogers from Vegas Golden Knights

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Stephanie’s early days in sports in golf, working for the PGA Tour
• What makes the Vegas Golden Knights fans special
• The Vegas Golden Knights brand story and why it's important
• Why Las Vegas is an amazing sports city
• The Foley Entertainment Group's international expansion with the Auckland Black Knights in New Zealand Listen to Stephanie Rogers on Sports GeekHighlights from this interview with Stephanie Rogers.

01:30 – Sports Business Origin Story03:12 – Content Production and Social Media at the PGA Tour06:12 – Leveraging Social Media for Tournament Marketing08:15 – Creating a Unique Fan Experience14:30 – Connecting with the Local Fan Base19:13 – Passionate Fans and Immersive Experiences22:50 – Data-Driven Marketing in Las Vegas26:16 – Community Engagement: A Core Value for the Golden Knights30:00 – Technology and Fan Engagement: Utilizing Tools for Immersive Experiences38:26 – Expanding Internationally: The Foley Entertainment Group and the Auckland Black Knights41:48 – Applying Strategic Principles: Community Involvement and Brand Building for the Black KnightsCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Interview TranscriptThis transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean (00:01.484)
Very happy to welcome Stephanie Rogers. She's the VP of marketing for the Vegas Golden Knights. Stephanie, welcome to the podcast.

Stephanie Rogers (00:09.132)
Thank you. It's wonderful to be here. Thanks for having me.

Sean (00:12.884)
Not a problem at all. I always start my podcast by trying to find out the sports business origin story for people and how they got their start in the world of sports. What about yourself? How did you break into the world of sports?

Stephanie Rogers (00:25.606)
Yeah, my career goes all the way back to when I first started university. I started in their athletic department in their sports information office, writing press releases and doing game notes and media guides and all of those kind of core sports media things that the communications folks usually handle. So that was really my first entree. I covered a lot of different sports that I hadn't really followed before like tennis and soccer and field hockey.

But I also got to cover a lot of the classics, or at least American classics, and football and wrestling, which is really big in Iowa, and women's basketball. yeah, my days of working in sports go way back.

Sean (01:04.77)
And so coming out of University of and being in that space, what was your first, I guess, job out of university?

Stephanie Rogers (01:13.924)
Yeah, I did a few internships with women's basketball and junior golf. then that really the junior golf internship spearheaded my, you know, first professional or I should say full time role in the golf world for a junior golf organization and then ultimately continued on that pathway and landed at the PGA Tour where I was for about eight years and got the pleasure of spending some time down under with all of you guys and with you. And yeah, I was in primarily

communications roles until really I got to the PGA tour and then started focusing a lot on content, content production, social, digital, email, kind all of the other things that like an in -house marketing agency would cover. And our team grew very quickly as it related to that because that was really a time when content and social channels were starting to be used as a business tool and nobody really kind of knew the roadmap. And of course everybody had plenty of things to do. So they sort of handed it off to us and to me and said figure this out and we had a really wonderful team that was motivated and excited to figure it out with us. So yeah, we grew very quickly on the tournament marketing front. And then I ended up in Vegas about two years ago.

Sean (02:21.73)
And it was, I mean, yeah. Yeah. And it was an exciting time on that PGA tour. Like we crossed paths when the President's Cup was down here in Melbourne, you know, some of the greatest courses in the world down here in Melbourne. But, you you're working at PGA tour at the same time that all the, you know, the big four, the NBA, the NFL, were all building out their own digital capacity, really taking advantage of, of, of social and building out your own platforms. And when you was that sort of the time you're at PGA tour where

You're leveraging social and driving into social. remember catching up with Laurenti when she was in Melbourne one time, who you would have worked with, but building out that team. And like you said, it was like, we're now adding this to your portfolio. You're both doing content and then you're doing amplification. Then you're rolling out ads and ticketing. Was it something that was sort of every year, something that keep getting added to your portfolio, but also the team kept growing?

Stephanie Rogers (03:19.548)
Yeah, that's exactly what it was. And I was over all of the tournaments that the PGA Tour owns and operates. And that's a collection of tournaments called Championship Management. that's exactly it. I mean, you're going to age me. But I started working in social when it was, you know, 140 characters and no photos on then called Twitter. But really, when I had gotten to the PGA Tour was when they started rolling out the analytics. And they didn't have advertising quite yet, but they had a lot of analytics. So we were really digging into that.

Yeah, I mean the pace of how quickly those platforms evolved and changed and became absolute powerhouses as it relates to an overall strategy and a core business function was so quick. I mean, it was like every month something was changing because they were just pumping, the platforms themselves were pumping a bunch of resource into, you know, evolving their businesses and practices and getting smarter. And so with that, we continue to keep pace.

And thankfully, our content was really performing very strongly and we were able to showcase not only the value to our partners and we were able to start selling social content in a really thoughtful way. We then parlayed that into our ticketing and our sponsorship strategy. So a lot of people sell tickets across all of the various digital platforms. We were also helping to seed a lot of that high level sponsorship discussion. just, know, originally I was listening to something the other day and

You know, the United Airlines CMO said it used to just be like fan feedback or customer feedback, right? My flight is delayed. And for us, it was like, I can't find my parking. And now it's just so much more. mean, it is the most approachable and conversational piece of a brand oftentimes, but it's also a powerhouse of a sales brand. And so we were really at the forefront of when that started happening and were able to keep pace with it and take advantage of it as it grew.

Sean (05:12.982)
I mean, the thing that I find interesting, especially in the golf market and like, you know, when the president's cup came to town, it's not like a traditional sport, you know, stick and ball or park as we will talk about hockey, where you've got your own venue and you've got a cadence of this is when the team is playing every single tournament was in a different location in a different market. And what it presented different challenges from a how do we sell out these different tournaments? How was that sort of trying to figure that out? You know, figure out that

piece of that puzzle and then applying these new platforms and new channels to be able to sell tickets.

Stephanie Rogers (05:48.036)
Yeah, it's a really good question. So my very first president's cup was actually in South Korea and ancient city, which is out there at the Jack Nicholas golf club. and the approach there at that point in time was really education on not only the sport, but what the event is and what the PGA tour is. when we came to Melbourne, thankfully they're golf rabbit down there. And to your point, they have some of the most incredible golf in the entire world with that sand belt region. I mean, it's, it's truly special.

to get to see it and they understand the sport. And so for us at that point, it was really around the just the bigness of the event, right? It's a massive global event. We were very, very lucky. We had Ernie Els and Tiger Woods as our captains. mean, come on, you can't pick a better storyline than that. And so as it related to, we only had six days or seven days that we were selling for, we had to engage everybody for two years and get them excited, right? We were in a sales cycle of two years and

It's a really hard thing to sell tickets that far in advance for a venue that, you know, most people think is no capacity. We did have a capacity and we sold out actually on a couple of our days when we were in Melbourne, thanks to all those incredible Aussie fans that were down there and many others that traveled from South Africa and even Canada and the United States as well. But yeah, for us, it's figuring out the cadence, right, of like when you're going to really need to hit that punch of people got to be in the door or through the gates.

putting your entire strategy up to leading to that. then, you know, likewise, it's just because you had really good success in Australia once doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have that great success the next time. You've got to stay engaged with the consumer and with the fan base and with the city really.

Sean (07:32.398)
I mean, your role at the PGA is a lot a lot of listeners will remember. I remember Twitter when it was 140 and all the pictures were on TwitPick those days. But you've also then migrated a lot like what we do in that digital to dollar space to go, here's what we're doing from a digital point of view, but here's how we can commercialize it. And I want to just touch on your last role at the PGA, which was corporate partnership strategy and innovation.

What was the scope of that role? again, it's sort of looking at what are the different ways you can bring in your partners. And the bit that I was interested in is that innovation piece. So was that something that sort of started to open up some of the opportunities that you could do with your partners?

Stephanie Rogers (08:20.462)
Yeah, absolutely. So I was very lucky to have a lot of different experiences with the events that we had. They were literally all over the world and in many different types of markets. It wasn't just like major markets like New York City and Melbourne and Mexico City. They were in mid markets and, know, southern markets and, you know, things like that. So when I ended up moving over to the corporate partnerships team and the business development team, it was really because they had been selling the PGA tour at the at the entity level. In a very similar way for many, many years. And certainly, I mean, the sales team was really wonderful. So this is no knock at all on the work that they were doing. They were incredible. But they started realizing people are asking more questions about these more innovative topics, right? What's sustainability look like for the PGA Tour? What's DE &I look like for the PGA Tour? What are you doing in the community from a charitable perspective? What are you doing to impact the growth of the game at the youth level or at the female level or things like that? And so…

Because I was so deeply involved in many, many of those initiatives at the tournament level, they actually had me come over to the business development team and help revision and revamp the entire storytelling behind how we should be selling the PGA Tour. That was supplemental and complimentary to, yeah, we have great ratings and we have a lot of people that come out and watch this and a lot of people spend money here. It's a great business opportunity.

I was really just kind of coming in to fill in the gaps a little bit and make our story a little bit more whole, especially in terms of how our brand was actually coming to life, right? It was so much more than just, you know, the guys between the ropes and the corporate hospitality. And there was so much more happening in the community and around the events that we really needed to tell. So that's kind of where that innovation piece came in. And then separately, there was, you know, sometimes where it was like, OK, we have this partner that's here. They have all of these different goals.

Sean (10:02.797)
Yep.

Stephanie Rogers (10:10.906)
Like what do we think that we could create that the tournaments really need? Cause that's the other piece of it, right? You sell at the PGA tour level, but ultimately the tournaments have to execute it. And so you want to make sure you're not handing them something that's going to be difficult to execute. cause that doesn't help anybody at the end of the day. And so I was really involved in the processes of figuring out what are some of these new ideas that we can bring to partners that would elevate both their message and the tournament experience for the fan and for whomever else it was intended to elevate it for.

Sean (10:39.628)
I mean, it's really important that you do get that voice of the people have to execute. Again, you know, I constantly is the joke of being the digital divorce counselor, you know, something goes and gets sold and you have to go and bring in the digital team or the operations team to actually execute it. But if you had that lens of, here's the landscape that we've got, or, know, here's the, you know, here's the footprint that we've got in a tournament that we can do something with, or, you know, here's what we can do on this digital platform. It does open up the eyes of commercial because they're, like you said, they're killing it in selling what they've got.

They don't know what they can't sell if they're not brought in. things like sustainability as a commercial asset has something that has grown in the last 10 years. it is something where you've got to try to work on working with your commercial team so they know the things that they can sell. And then obviously now you're at the Vegas Golden Knights. What attracted you to the role? You joined in July, 2022.

Stephanie Rogers (11:38.544)
Yeah, so when I was in the business development role, I learned an immense amount about corporate sales and it was really, really a cool position to be in. But in my heart and soul, I just really missed that engagement with the fans. I just really determined that I was a marketer at heart and I wanted to impact fans on a daily basis. I wanted to have the storytelling and see their faces and have the conversations right with them out on the plaza or whatever.

I had seen the Vegas Golden Knights brand represented all over social media and actually my sister went to school out here and so a bunch of her friends were always posting about it and I just thought, wow, what an incredible brand that really prioritizes and puts the resource into engaging with the fan. And so I blindly applied. I didn't really know anybody out here and you know, destiny is destiny. And I ended up getting the offer a couple months later and moving across the country from the

Swamp to the Desert, as I like to say. yeah, it's been everything. This is a brand that's really sure of itself, but also not so proud that it's not willing to get better. We love having fun here. We love innovating. We always sit down to brainstorm, and we're like, no self -editing until it's done. And so it's just a very, very creative space. And it cultivates just really wonderful ideas that have high impact, both from the brand perspective.

You can't miss us. Sean, you were just out here a few months ago. You drive around, you see our license plates all over the place. You see the logo all over the place. not only is it a really powerful visual brand, it's a really powerful emotive brand in terms of how people associate their feelings with us, both from our game day experience, which is totally unique in sport. I'll put it up against anything in the world. It's really incredible. We do a great job with it. But also what we mean in the community and how people feel about that representation and that service to the community from the Golden Knights brand.

Sean (13:34.592)
I mean, you did you did present with with Eric Tosi at Seat, you know, the Golden Standard and talked about the the fan experience that he got for the Golden Knights fans. And, know, that was sort of you coming back to your core. Tell us a little bit about that that fan experience and a little bit more about the Golden Knights fans and what makes them special.

Stephanie Rogers (13:56.346)
Yeah, so the fan experience, always like to share this because I just think it helps contextualize for everybody that knows about Vegas, right? It's this wild, insane, crazy, over the top, you know, stimulation overload type place. And everybody knows that the entire world knows that. And our owner said, we want to have the best entertainment product on the Vegas strip. And when you think about that, it's like, holy smokes, that bar is set really high. And, you know, so every single day we're charging trying to figure out

How do we execute at that level? And so for us, the experience is really intended to be so much of Vegas that you can't miss it, but also the pinnacle of sport as well. So it's not only the pinnacle of entertainment, it's the pinnacle of sport. And we're really proud of the fact that we've helped solidify. And honestly, we were helping to pioneer Vegas as one of the sports capitals, if not the sports capital of the world. And it's certainly the sports and entertainment capital of the world. So that's kind of how we approach the experience on game day.

There's a lot of different things that we do as we talked about at Seat that utilize the playground that is this city of media. So there's massive video boards all over town and massive hotel properties and just different kind of high impact installation type executions that we can use. Thankfully, lot of these businesses are our partners. And thankfully, a lot of the executives at these businesses are just fans, not even our partners, but they're fans.

And so they're always open to thinking about cool ideas. We just did something with our team dog, Maverick, our canine. He's our president of our canine club and he did, you know, a very important pup, VG, VIP, a day through Vegas. And so he got like spa treatment and he got to go in the boat at the Venetian and all sorts of stuff. we really feed off of the creativity and innovation of this city as the Vegas Golden Ice, but we also try to feed into it as well, right? It's this kind of.

collective effort there. And I guess the second question is about the fan base. And it's something that we're so proud of. We really are the locals team. And that was a goal for us from the beginning. There are 40 to 50 million tourists through the city every single year. That's wonderful. We love them. Thanks for coming to town. We want you to come to a Vegas school the nights game and check us out and fall in love with our team. But for us, the most important piece of our brand was being the locals team.

Stephanie Rogers (16:21.572)
and representing the community of Vegas. you know, Eric always does a really nice job explaining just the vibrancy of Vegas and everybody knows the wild, world renowned Vegas strip, but outside of that, the community is really incredible. It's one of the most diverse communities, you know, out here. It's got incredible food. It's got incredible parks and different outdoor activities. And so there's just a lot more here that makes this a really rich culture in Vegas outside of what everybody knows us for. So for us, we wanted to be representative and one in the same with those people that make Vegas such an incredible community.

Sean (17:01.88)
Cause it would be, I guess, a misconception for those outside of Vegas that, you know, like come in, either go to a conference like I did, or come in for a couple of days for some recreation to think that that's everybody in Vegas. But it's really, you know, really important for you. And, you know, you've come in and now consider yourself a local and being in market, you know, so important for you to be connecting with those local fans. They're your base. They're the…

Sean (17:28.984)
They're the ones that are coming to all the games. They're the ones that end up getting, you know, large back tattoos of your logo and those kinds of things that really, you know, is a measure of fandom. It's really important for you to connect with that local fan base.

Stephanie Rogers (17:44.782)
Yeah, absolutely. The tattoos really are a real thing. mean, we during the playoffs, we have a history of setting up. We actually partner with Revolt Tattoos, which is the one guy is on the TV show, Ink Masters and has won it a few times, I think. But they come out and they literally for free will tattoo our logo onto you prior to you going into the game. And Sean, I kid you not, every single game, there are hundreds of people lined up for hours before we even start.

It's really amazing. Like I we laugh about it. I think the fans laugh about it, but it's just so powerful, right? And it just speaks to the way that the people feel about our brand. And yeah, on any given night, if you're in if you're in T -Mobile Arena at the fortress with us when we're playing, 80 % of the people that are in that building are locals. And that's the way we want to keep it. We want it to be the team that has the best home ice advantage. We've been voted the best home ice advantage by the players in the actual National Hockey League for

several times, including just last year. They think it's the hardest place to play. And that's because we have such passionate local fans that have learned the sport in a very rapid amount of time. I would say most of them didn't follow the sport of hockey at all, let alone at a level of knowing the ins and outs of the rules and the pace of the game just seven years ago when we got here. And so it's been really fun to see the evolution. And again, I've only been here for two years. And even in that two years, it's been just a really humbling experience to get to be a part of it. I'm very fortunate.

Sean (19:16.502)
And you talked about Vegas being a sports and entertainment capital. You walk down the strip and your senses are bombarded in all directions. But Vegas is also a beast when it comes to data and marketing. The casinos are leading the way in getting data, understanding loyalty, what CRM is, putting out offers. It sets the bar really high. What have you learned in your time coming to Vegas and being in that environment and seeing the way that the rest of the city and the strip, I guess, activate.

Stephanie Rogers (19:54.574)
Yeah, it's a really funny media environment. haven't been here. I haven't been in a space quite like this before. Honestly, Melbourne is probably the closest media market that I've ever navigated from an advertising standpoint because out of home is still so important here. And previously, when I was, you know, kind of all over the world, you really didn't do a lot of out of home. But in Melbourne, we did these massive murals and we did some bus stop takeovers. We had a great agency in Melbourne. We absolutely loved working with them. They were wonderful.

But we did really innovative things like chat bots. And that was back in 2017, 2018, when chat bots were like kind of niche still, to be honest with you, like they're sort of picking up again. But at that point in time, they were like, nope, we got to do chat bots. So you're doing, you know, an artistic mural and a chat bot. And I think that's the exact same way that we're handling it here. There's so much information about how people consume in Vegas and consume everything, how they plan their travel, how they plan what they do when they get here.

The types of people that are coming in at all different types of the year. There are hundreds of conventions, probably thousands of conventions that are in this town every single year. And so there's a lot of information around that, right? And so it's this big puzzle that we're constantly trying to fit together, but that visual presence of the out of home, whether it's the license plates that, you know, the cars are driving around or the static billboards or, you know, any of these other visuals, it's still so important because it is such a visually overcoming space out here in Vegas with so many things in your face at all times. I'll tell you a funny story. When I was first coming out here and Eric was asking me how I felt about billboards. And this is one of those moments where you learn not to say too much, like think before you talk. Cause I was like, who does billboards? Like such a waste of money. You can't track it. You can't retarget these people.

Digital first, right? And, and then I'm driving around and I'm like, okay, I get it. I get that everybody has billboards now. And this year we were talking about the paid media plan and he's like, how do you, think we really needed a billboard? And I'm like, yeah, we need the billboard. you serious? It's awesome. And so, you know, it just goes to show that the market is such a unique place out here in Vegas, that you really do need to have that, that constant reminder because everybody's being inundated at all times, but you have to have that innovative tech to really get people through the funnel as efficiently as you want them to get through the funnel. Stephanie Rogers (22:19.526)

Sean (22:24.91)
So Vegas is an old school entertainment town, but still relatively new as a sports city. The Golden Knights broke some ground and busted some myths as an expansion team to sort of take over the market. And now the Raiders have moved to town. have the F1 circus come to town. What's it like being in this effectively growth sports, the sports city in Vegas.

Stephanie Rogers (22:58.97)
Yeah, I I think it's super exciting, right? Like the more that Vegas is known as a sports town, the better for all of us that are in the sports industry. It's been a very rapid escalation of all the brands that are here. The two time WNBA world champions, the Las Vegas Aces are also here. Rugby is here. The Aussie Rugby League is out here and I think they're coming again and that's a massive thing. We have an indoor football team. So literally everything is here.

or coming and for us it's really exciting. We hope again to continue to maintain our connection with the community through that local sports fan. But yeah, the more and more that everybody knows of Vegas as the sports capital of the world, the better for the Vegas Golden Knights is our take. We would love to introduce however many billion of people in the world to the Vegas Golden Knights brand. So come on through town and check us out.

It's been really interesting. I think, you know, the Golden Knights really, Bill Foley had the vision, right? And the I think the commissioner on the night that we won the cup called it the audacity. I don't think that I would call it that. But those are the commissioner's words. But to really believe in and this being a sports town. mean, when Mr. Foley was trying to trying to get the expansion team.

He was set, he knew that this town could be a thriving sports town and he knew that hockey could work here against all odds. There were so many doubters. Everybody was a doubter except for the people that were in his corner. to his credit, he's really changed the landscape out here. And we're thankful to have been obviously the first chip to fall, if you will, on that one. But yeah, I mean, it's really all due to his vision and his tenacity and his persistency of making it acceptable, making it approved.

Because there was a lot of doubt, right? I mean, this is a gambling town and there was a lot of doubt about the integrity of being able to have professional sports in this town. look, it's totally fair. And I think I'm just thankful that we were the ones that led the way in terms of debunking that and showing that it can be everything that Vegas is and is known for, but it also can be a world -class sports town as well.

Sean (25:16.62)
Yeah, you talk about your, your owner and his his vision for the Golden Knights. How do you, how do you, I guess, leave that and also push that through both with the brand and everything you're trying to do with the team.

Stephanie Rogers (25:33.83)
Yeah, I love that question because it really leads into our brand triangle, which I know we shared at the Seek conference. But for us, the entirety of our brand comes down to three things. And Bill Foley is at the top of it, right? So he was a service member with the US military. He went to West Point. He's been in finance for a long time. He's a philanthropist. He gives a lot of money to different causes around the country.

but he's also an entrepreneur. And so he's just got this entire mentality of always advance, never retreat. It's actually in the collar of our hockey jerseys, but it's also in the collar of our English Premier League kits. And it's represented all over our business. So this mentality of always advance, never retreat. And then the second piece of that brand triangle is the Knight, right? The Golden Knight is what our brand is named after. And the Knight is the epitome of the Warrior class. is

literally exists to serve the community and to protect the people that can't protect themselves and to be prideful doing it, right? And to be, know, no ego approach is another one that we always kind of talk about. And it's just meant to showcase like whatever it takes, you know, you will go to battle, you will go to battle for the people next to you, go to battle for the people that can't battle for themselves, and you'll go to battle for the right thing. And that's, know, another piece of our brand triangle. And that really that right thing piece is important as well, because

You know, Bill is very adamant that the people that are connected to his organization are good people. And that goes all the way down into the people that are on the ice as well in professional sports. It's a really unique place to be when your ownership is equally as focused on the quality of human in their team as they are on, you know, the wins. Thankfully, we've gotten to experience both of those, but I think that they I think that they feed each other. Truthfully, I don't think that you can have the success.

of a team with having a tough locker room. And so, yeah, that's another piece that comes to life through our night version of our, or night corner of our brand triangle. And then the last piece of the triangle is Vegas, right? It's this glitz, it's this glamour, it's the vibrant community that exists outside of the strip, it's the locals, it's the passion. And so bringing all of those together, they feel like there's no way that they could possibly fit, but they do, they blend wonderfully and they fit together in our Vegas Golden Knights brand.

Stephanie Rogers (27:57.148)
And we were the first team here. so part of that original brand was Vegas born. That was our first campaign ever is that we were an expansion team. We didn't move here from another city. We are literally a team that was born here in Vegas. And that Vegas born mentality really supported that idea that the locals are maybe not looked at the way that they think or the way that they should be looked at. Everybody, when you say that you live in Vegas, there's this stigma like, do you just like sit on the blackjack table all day long? Well, like, no, there's

know, medical and there's teachers and there's all sorts of other and there's universities and there's all sorts of other life here. And so that idea of being very proudly Vegas born really ended up transcending into the community beautifully, like absolutely beautifully from a brand campaign and from that community. I like to say that we expedited generational fandom with that and with that first season of special performance on the ice. So.

Yeah, that's how we kind of bring it all together in this like magic, you know, eight ball that we that we mix up and then turn into the fortress and build the realm with.

Sean (29:00.184)
also you talked before, it also pervades the culture of the team internally in that, you know, when you said before, hey, we're throwing out ideas, marketing, there's no self editing, we're taking on board everyone's feedback, does that collaborative nature that sort of lends into that night, you know, serving piece really help your team be a high performing team?

Stephanie Rogers (29:22.67)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It all goes back to that, you know, no ego, right? And always advance and serve. It's all of it is really how it comes to life. And it sounds like cliche marketing speak, but like genuinely, we use these terms and we talk about these terms out loud every single day. They're part of our daily vernacular, but they're also they carry a weight and people understand what they mean in action.

Right. It's one thing to be like, always advance, never retreat in theory. But like, what does that mean in your day to day business life? And so for us, it means innovation. means never being too proud to get better, beating an idea. You might have a great idea, bring it to the group. Let's beat it up and let's make it better. Iron sharpens iron kind of mentality. Right. And so there's a lot, like I said, there's a lot of this kind of terminology that we use. But in the business office, everybody understands how to action against that or how to action with that in mind.

which makes the business office a really good place to be and it makes us, it holds us accountable to driving the business forward.

Sean (30:28.62)
I said before that, know, Vegas as a city is a beast when it comes to, you know, that martech stack and understanding the customers and those kinds of things. What are some of the key tools in your toolkit that you're using, you know, on a daily basis to better serve the Golden Knights fans?

Stephanie Rogers (30:51.974)
Yeah, we actually great timing because we just hung up looking through our kind of media plan for this year and we have a lot of new tools in that toolkit this year that we're excited to use. So just the entire concept of contextual advertising and the ways that you can now integrate your advertising into various television shows or various websites with, you know, just totally high impact, not only videos, but like coming out of the screen, right? So like one of our characters is a golden knight. And so he can come out of the screen and like bang the shield and you can

you can start hearing the go nights go. So it's just totally immersive advertising. And people are used to it now. When I first got into advertising, people were so anti like getting an ad served to them that it was just like so hard to break through. And now not only is the technology of advertising substantially better where you're actually delivering it to people that want and need to see it. The creative ability of advertising is night and day. It allows it to be an experience.

that actually is brand forward versus just a static graphic or something that's not as engaging. And then, know, when you're thinking about when you're watching television and a commercial comes on, we have so many devices that there's all these studies out there about, you know, second screen and third screen and all these other things. I know in our house, when sports are on, we have at least two TVs, if not three and a couple, so a couple of phones. So, you know, amongst my husband and I each having a couple. So it's hard to keep that attention. And now you can actually

you know, somebody's drinking, you know, a, a beer on TV, you can actually like funnel in your beer ad, like within the TV. so for us, if somebody's watching sports, we can actually have, you know, Mark Stone or William Carlson skate across their screen with a little tickets bug that, you know, will, encourage them to buy tickets. And so just, think the innovation as it relates to how you're able to deliver these is so much better, not only for the brand, of course, that's my selfish perspective, but

Also as the consumer, it's fun. It's fun to actually get these kind of cool advertising now. So that's what we're really looking at as it relates to the tech stock. mean, there's a million examples of, or a million options out there for almost every single thing that you want to do from apps to, you know, SMS partners to chat bots to, I mean, you email, right? Like you name it, it's out there. Frankly, they're all, you know, respectfully to everybody that's doing the hard work of standing those up, like,

Stephanie Rogers (33:20.144)
They all have their pros and cons, and none of them that I have found to this point are perfect. And so for us, it's figuring out the usability of them and making sure that the ones that we have all integrate into one CDP where we can then segment, you know, we can segment who's got this, you know, texting, who signed up for our LMK VGK texting platform, who has our app, who's also following us on email and who's

bought tickets in the last 30 days. That's really what's important for us is in terms of a tech stack is making sure it all funnels into one CDP where we're able to very easily segment and serve that very cool advertising that we're creating.

Sean (34:00.022)
It is. Yeah, but it is really important when you do look at that, that tool set and you know, and it is something that is growing, you know, year on year, there's always new things is, is that execution piece like, what do you know, who is who is actually going to run it? It's it's a tool like, how's it going to be run? Is it going to make my life easier or harder? And then that integration piece is vital because each extra integration step or manual or otherwise, you know, complicates things so

It is always a really big part of the equation when you say, I really want look at that tool. What's the cost of integrating it? And then what's the cost of someone managing it, implementing it, rolling it out, using it on a daily basis? It's always one of the lenses you have to put on from what tools you have to pick.

Stephanie Rogers (34:50.808)
Yeah, and I would add to that, Sean, too. And you were kind of going there. And I think it's really important to talk about all of these tools are nothing without a very smart, motivated person to manage them. We are really lucky. We have an amazing business insights leader, and he's working very closely with our digital marketing manager every single day on all of the platforms we have because these things are costly and they only

the cost is only worth it if you can return X number of dollars back, right? Like we're not doing anything from a tech stack standpoint that we're not able to point to and say, this piece of software or this integration is returning at least three, four, five X. Like we have very high return on investment and return on ad spend goals and benchmarks, to be honest with you. And so we have to have the smart people.

that are able to utilize these tools. These tools make it easier for them to do that and push us forward on that return and making sure that our fans are getting pertinent information that's actually meaningful to them. But those tools are also nothing if you don't have somebody that's willing to dig into the data and see something that's nuanced and be like, and they have this inherent curiosity to say, I'm going look into that, or I'm going to A test that, or I'm going to try and replicate that because it seems like it's a one -off.

And so yeah, we're really lucky in having David and Kiana on our team who are very curious. They're very internally motivated and they work very well together from an insights and a marketing perspective to drive those tools and really put us our best foot forward in that front.

Sean (36:25.942)
I mean, that advice of being curious, but also getting deep into the weeds of either the tech of a tool or a tech of a platform to go and finding those solutions. It's great advice for anyone that is trying to go, how can I work in the world of sports? Well, if you know those platforms really well and you can unpack some of the complexity and be a problem solver, it's a great skill to have.

Stephanie Rogers (36:55.737)
Yeah, absolutely. Solution oriented, attitude and curiosity is going to get you a long way. So that's for sure.

Sean (37:04.512)
I wanted to ask you, to go to the other side of the world, because of an exciting project and exciting team that's, is the Auckland Black Knights new to the A -League here down under in New Zealand and part of the Foley Entertainment Group? What's it like helping start a franchise on the other side of the world?

Stephanie Rogers (37:26.968)
Yeah, it's so exciting. It's I mean, the down under crowd is close to my heart. Some of my favorite memories ever were spent in Melbourne and the broader Australia area. for me, it's really exciting to just be a part of a global expansion. I've always wanted to work in international sport. And so getting to literally do international sport from my seat in Vegas with a powerhouse brand like the Golden Knights is really cool for me.

personal perspective, but as it relates to the Foley Entertainment Group, it's a really exciting thing for us too. The Foley Wine and Spirits Group actually has a lot of wineries down in the New Zealand area. We have a few restaurants down in Auckland. have Kaikoura, which is a resort property that's in New Zealand as well. So that's all within the Foley Entertainment Group. So this is really just a perfect addition to that presence in that area with the sports team addition.

the fourth team of our international football portfolio. So we have an English Premier League team, AFC Bournemouth, and then we have a team in France and a team in Scotland that we're involved with. And now this expansion team with the A -Leagues is really exciting. And the people of Auckland have been incredible so far. There's been a lot of engagement. The social team is working hard down there. So hopefully all of your listeners will follow along with them. And we've got tickets on sale. We've got memberships going. The brand is really powerful.

And yeah, we're looking forward to kicking off the season here in a couple months and really getting going. They've got a couple preseason games, I think, that are coming up here and just a lot of different community events. So the expansion side of it is really interesting. Not only do you got to get the team stood up, right, on like the competitive side of things, but you really got to find a way to ingratiate yourself within the community as well and find that fan base and drive that passion. so.

The business office is trying to figure out how to put the business together while engaging the fans while driving corporate sales. the competition side, they're actually signing players almost every day. If you follow along, there's a new player coming through. So it's a lot of work. It's high volume as we like to say. But it's really, really gratifying and fulfilling when you get done with it and get to see that first game, that first game kicking off. So I'm really proud of the team that's down there. We have a few people from our

Stephanie Rogers (39:51.085)
headquarters up here that have moved and made the transition down to support that team and they're doing a great job and you know everything that we've heard is that the fans are excited and I'm just waiting on my call up to get to get that invite to Auckland. I've never been to New Zealand so I'm hoping to get down there at some point.

Sean (40:08.29)
I mean, we've worked with teams in in different markets and you know, know the differences, some of the difference between the Australian, New Zealand and, the US markets. But there are some things, I guess, strategically that apply, you know, overall, like you said, that local connection, you know, how do we connect with those local fans, you know, Auckland and Vegas are very different markets, when you're looking at them that way. But is there some of those, I guess, strategic tenants that you are still applying that, you know, again, looking back at the

Vegas Gold Knights expansion very successful and some of the things you did there from a local community as some of those strategies being applied for the Black Knights.

Stephanie Rogers (40:48.644)
Yeah, absolutely. Maybe not as like tactically as here's the actual playbook, right? But certainly at a high level, like the fully entertainment group kind of core values and fundamentals are all the same. It's community, getting involved in the community in a very genuine way, right? Like not just, you know, not just saying that you're a part of the community, but like being out there and helping to…

support whoever needs to be supported again, it comes back to that Knights mentality and they're the Black Knights, right? And so they have the same, mean, frankly, if you wanted to look at the brand triangle, you could still use the exact same brand triangle and you could swap out Auckland for Vegas and you'd still be trying to accomplish the same things. But youth sports development, the women's team development, all of those things are really important to the Foley Entertainment Group sports arm and sports vertical.

representing and being one with the community, being out in the community is another core value of the entire fully entertainment group, regardless of vertical. We might be in sports, we might be in wine, we might be in hospitality, but all of those, we might be in restaurants and foundations, all of those require whatever and whomever to be genuinely connected to the community. yeah, there's not exactly like, it's certainly not.

copy and paste to your point that would feel very disingenuous and the fan bases are very different, the communities are very different. But there are some of those underlying core values that transcend the entire fully entertainment group and certainly live within the entertainment group sports vertical that we're trying to bring to life in Auckland because we know that they matter, right? And they resonate.

Sean (42:30.008)
Well, look forward to seeing the Black Knights in action on the pitch when they make their debut. Stephanie, I really appreciate you taking the time. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Stephanie Rogers (42:46.212)
Yeah, so my dad actually played three on three basketball in a league that was just with his buddies. It certainly wasn't like a professional or, I mean, it was organized, right? But I just, that's literally the first sports event that I remember going to. think that's probably where my love for the game of basketball came from. And we'd be out there with our snacks cheering dad on and from my very, very young days. so it's fun to reminisce on that.

Sean (43:16.246)
terrific. You would have been to lot of food events and the food scene has changed over the years, but do you have a favourite food memory or a go -to food at a sports event?

Stephanie Rogers (43:28.986)
Yeah, I'm a sucker for popcorn, like salty, buttery popcorn at the sports. You know, if you're in an arena, I love that. If you're out walking around at the golf course or something like that, I also really love a good hot dog or a brat. That's like a classic American sports food at the baseball games and whatnot. I did fancy quite a few meat pies when I was down in Australia, but I'm a big sucker for those kind of classic arena or stadium foods.

Sean (43:56.75)
It does seem to be the divide. If I talk into an Australian guest, they go, I'll meet pie with sauce. And then I'm talking to an American guest, it is a hot dog. It sort of just shows the cultural differences from a sports food point of view. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Stephanie Rogers (44:15.118)
Yeah, so living on the West Coast, I'm an early morning person, but living on the West Coast, I feel like I'm totally behind. During the day, like when I wake up in the morning, everybody's already been awake for hours. So usually the first thing I open is my text to try and catch up on all the group chats. But after that, it's certainly Instagram. That's my go to kind of see what's going on, not only from a new standpoint, but just from a visual, get my creative brain started in the morning when my coffee's sitting in.

Sean (44:40.814)
Terrific. What is there someone that you follow? It might be someone on social or an author that the podcast listeners should give a follow on why.

Stephanie Rogers (44:53.572)
Yeah, I am. I'm a big sports business nerd and I'm a big marketing nerd and I say those, you know, very lovingly. So Jim Stengel, he actually has a podcast as well. called the CMO podcast and he has a wonderful lineup of people that come on and talk about all different types of things. I follow him pretty closely and have learned a great amount about being a marketer at the world -class level, just outside of the sports industry in general and people that are kind of involved in various ways. So

He's one from a marketing perspective that I would offer anybody to or encourage anybody to check out. And from a sports perspective, it's obviously you.

Sean (45:33.306)
Thank you very much. We'll check it out. And the word nerd and geek, it's a safe space here, obviously. And lastly, what social media platform is your MVP? And so you can answer this personally and then potentially put your golden knight's hat on as well.

Stephanie Rogers (45:41.2)
Yeah, exactly.

Stephanie Rogers (45:52.858)
Yeah, so again, personally, I'm to age myself here, but Instagram is my go -to. I can't get locked into TikTok. It's just too much. I got to kind of hone in. I took a break from X for a while because it was too, so know, Instagram is my spot. from a business perspective, I really do think Instagram and YouTube are powerhouses from an engagement and an advertising place. Just the amount of video that you can put out there, the way that people can interact, I think they're really great.

apps to utilize and then have been diving into WhatsApp a lot more. That's something that's very international in nature, but in the States, not a lot of people use it. But as we've started to expand the brand out into the various international markets, we've really started to put together a strategy as it relates to WhatsApp. So excited to see where that one comes to, because my last foray into WhatsApp was when I was in Korea with the President's Cup. So it's been a minute, but looking forward to that.

Sean (46:45.997)
Yep.

It is funny. WhatsApp is the messaging platform of Europe. I just came from Italy and it is pretty much everyone outside of the US is using WhatsApp and it's still trying to figure out where it is as a platform and how it's being used. But it is interesting to see where it might land. Stephanie, I really do appreciate you coming to the podcast. It was great to catch up with you in Vegas for Seat and I hope to make my way back potentially for a Golden Knights game sometime soon.

Stephanie Rogers (47:19.758)
Yeah, thank you, Sean. It was so wonderful to chat with you. We're going to need to get you a sports geek Golden Knights and Black Knights jersey for your wall there. So be on the lookout for those ones. But I look forward to having you in Vegas again soon and seeing you the game. Thanks for having me.

Sean (47:33.752)
Thank you.

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Stephanie Rogers on LinkedIn and follow her on X (@sjdrogers), let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow Vegas Golden Knights across social media: + Twitter – @GoldenKnights + LinkedIn – @Vegas Golden Knights + Facebook – @Vegas Golden Knights + Instagram – @vegasgoldenknights + YouTube – @vegasgoldenknights_ + TikTok – @vegasgoldenknights * Recommendation + Jim Stengel – The CMO Podcast * Check out the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Matt Kamienski – The President's Cup + Stacy McGranor – San Jose Sharks + Xavier Gutierrez – Arizona Coyotes + Dan LaTorraca – Carolina Hurricanes * Throwback episode you may have missed + Importance of the first 10 seconds in videos, James Royer As discussed on the podcastMore Golden Knight tattoos

Our friends at @revolttattoos are back on the plaza giving out FREE GOLDEN KNIGHTS TATTOOS pic.twitter.com/seWn9JJKrH

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 14, 2024

Big season ahead

it's beginning to look a lot like hockey season pic.twitter.com/8OpMd6VKJv

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) August 12, 2024

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews James Royer from episode 177, who was at the KC Chiefs, and now Founder of Standard 54

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, James and Sean discussed the importance of first 10 seconds in videos:

• A strategic approach to video content can dramatically increase user engagement and prolong the watch time
• The NFL has guidelines around video usage which varies from platform to platform
• The storytelling in videos should be developed for digital platforms first before considering for broadcast
• The audience demographic varies depending on the length of the video they watch. Understanding these differences can aid in creating targeted content
• Video content has undergone significant changes since 2013, adapting to these changes can help in reaching a wider audience Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: So, from an individual pieces perspective, are you always testing different types like square images or images that have a little bit of flair? For example, the graphics that have a slight twist to make them look like movies. They're working well on Facebook and they also catch the eye to stop people scrolling. What things are you doing that you're saying are working? What do you look for to say, yes that did work, we're going to try it again and try to double down on it or then try it on a different platform? How does that process work for you guys?

James: Yes, I think we'll start with video. Just one thing we learned was that now the NFL has guidelines around video usage and what we can do from platform to platform. So on Twitter we can utilize the highlights within Snap to Whistle within Snappy TV, whereas on Facebook we take a different approach. But, what we found out was that if we put video highlights within the first three seconds of the video, it captured attention and our engagement rate increased dramatically. Those who watched the video engaged longer and watched the video for longer. Whether it's a sit-down interview or whatever it might be with a player or coach, just mixing that first little bit was a very strategic move. We really analyzed it and said, hey, that was something that really resounded. We also did this because there's been a shift. Video has undergone a lot of big changes in the social space since 2013. We see that video views per fan were fourth for the NFL and that's pretty significant. We have a really great team here who just has some phenomenal storytelling and a production unit. We won a lot of Emmys every year and we do television shows. But when we started, we shifted from putting stuff on broadcast and then on digital, to developing the best stuff for digital first. And then we may put that in broadcast. That made a big difference as well.

Sean: Yeah, that is a focus. The thing is that the first 10 seconds is so important. We all know that Facebook counts a view in three seconds. But more advertisers and brand people are asking what the 10-second view is. And if you're looking at it, you really should be diving in to look at what's the average view time. It's really important what that first 10 seconds is because it will actually extend it. Because if it's a warm up and people are scrolling, you've got to stop them. So, I think it's really important. When I'm talking to video creators, I tell them to get into the mentality of diving into those stats. Whether it's looking at the individual video stats to see how it's played out and then looking at the differences of the audience demographics of who has watched. What does the audience demographic look like that watched 10 seconds? What does the audience demographic look like that watched 95 percent? Because that's really important. If they're just doing a certain video for a certain audience all the time, it's really hard to get that real breadth of audience and depth of audience which you want with your video.

Connect with James RoyerListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Importance of the first 10 seconds in videos, James Royer appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Dani Brown from the Oklahoma City Thunder

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Why Dani has a passion for data
• Email marketing remains a powerful tool for reaching and engaging your fans
• Mobile optimisation and tracking are essential for effective email campaigns
• The importance of refreshing customer journeys
• How Dani adjusts campaigns based on on-court performance and demand
• How networking helped Dani land her job and why she continues to focus on it at conferences like SEAT
• How Dani is supporting women in sports Listen to Dani Brown on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Dani Brown on LinkedIn, let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow Oklahoma City Thunder across social media: + Twitter – @okcthunder + LinkedIn – @Oklahoma City Thunder + Facebook – @okcthunder + Instagram – @okcthunder + YouTube – @okcthunder + TikTok –@okcthunder * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Michael Johnstone – Hoops Capital + Jacob Rosen – Memphis Grizzlies + Jen Fusci – Dallas Wings * Throwback episodes you may have missed + Importance of data for partners and sponsors + Managing a team with a global fan base As discussed on the podcastDani at SEAT Las Vegas 2024

Big things ahead for next season

pic.twitter.com/kqxpJdw71d

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 19, 2024

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews David Barton-Ginger from episode 261, who was at the NZ Rugby and now at Hubspot.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, David and Sean discussed managing a team with a global fan base:

• The importance of making fans feel ‘on the shoulder' of the team, offering a level of access and intimacy not provided by traditional media outlets
• The use of digital tools like WhatsApp and Edit Mate for efficient and high-quality content sharing amongst the team, ensuring timely and engaging posts
• The value of closely collaborating with athletes, leveraging their individual brand power for mutual benefit
• The strategic approach of focusing on athletes' passions outside of sport, creating unique and engaging content that sets up athletes for opportunities beyond their sports career
• The concept of ‘unfair advantage', utilising the unique access to the team to deliver distinctive content that sets them apart from competitors Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So how do you manage a team in multiple locations, multiple countries with the motto of, “Hey, we've got to get it out fast and be fit to be first.” And we still want to hit our brand marks, those kinds of things that we've set up. How do you manage that team?

David: We have a couple of mottos, really. The first one is that we want to be on the shoulder or we want the fan to feel like they're on the shoulder of the team. The other thing is really about using our unfair advantage. That means it's really our access to the team that sets us apart from media organisations. It's about capturing those moments where if anyone comes into any of our social channels or onto our website, they feel like they're almost getting a story of what's going on each day of being with the All Blacks. Whether it's on game day or any day during the week. We certainly get great feedback from our fans if we're doing a good job at that.

Sean: So from a team collaboration point of view, how do you coordinate it?

David: It's a lot easier now than what it was. What we tend to do now is use WhatsApp. Instead of our people on the ground having to capture and edit it, we have an editing team back in the office. Those people who are capturing it can just WhatsApp that content straight back to the office and they're the ones there that can just put it straight up onto our social media channels. That makes things a lot quicker and a lot more coordinated. We also use Edit Mate, which allows us to get a whole bunch of content or user generated content to come in, and for us to edit it here. The bonus of that is unlike WhatsApp, with Editmate, you don't lose any of the quality, so you still get a HD quality video that you can pretty much use on any platform that you want.

Sean: So it's about coordination to effectively set those roles of you're someone that's capturing the content. We just want you to capture it.

David: Yes. In between, say 8am and 10pm New Zealand time, they would do that. Outside of those hours, they would know that they need to do that themselves.

Sean: Part of that piece is your focus of having access to the team. One of the things that has grown since the advent of social media is the rise of players as brands themselves, especially in the digital space. We've seen the rise of player driven media and players being media channels in their own right. How do you manage that as a problem and opportunity on how you manage and make the players part of the digital story?

David: It's really something that's coming to the fore now. It hasn't been around for very long. The approach that we are going to take is about working a lot closer with our athletes. While they have got big followings, none of them match what we've got. I think where we can have a relationship where we can work together and it benefits us and the athlete, that's a really good healthy relationship to have. I'm a big fan of helping athletes set themselves up for life after being in all black. So what we tend to try and do is work on the ideas around, right, outside of being a rugby player, what are your passions? We try and work on those and let's tell a story about it. One of the players might be a hunter or a fisherman in his spare time. Let's do some episodes or episodic content around those. After they're in all black, they're setting themselves up to be picked up by a fishing show on TV or something like that. We've done it with a couple of our guys who have come, gone on to be presenters on Sky TV, purely because of what they've done on allblacks.com.

Connect with David-Barton-GingerListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Managing a team with a global fan base, David Barton-Ginger appeared first on Sports Geek.

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We're getting back on track after travels, so there won't be a new episode this week. However, don't miss out on our replay with Matt Scriven, CEO of Basketball Australia. Meanwhile, the Boomers and Opals are making waves at the Paris Olympics, heading into the quarter-finals.

Good listen for SportsBiz leaders, those working in the media space and grassroots level. Don’t forget to check ALL CEO series episodes.

If you know colleagues or friends from other teams who would make great guests, feel free to nominate.

Listen to the episode replayConnect with Matt ScrivenListen to more podcasts from CEO series @seancallanan2024-07-30T16:12:07+10:00Always Open to Growth Opportunities, – David Stevenson, NBL @seancallanan2024-07-17T17:21:59+10:00Building a winner with competence and warmth – Christine Finnegan, Tasmania JackJumpers @seancallanan2024-07-17T17:27:32+10:00The Science of Hydration – Andrew Perry, PREPD @seancallanan2024-07-17T17:44:21+10:00Innovation and Evolution in Stadium Experiences – Nick Sautner, Eden Park @seancallanan2024-02-12T18:16:42+10:00From Youth to Pros: Perfect Game's Impact on the Baseball Pathway, Rob Ponger @seancallanan2024-03-08T12:33:47+10:00Leading with Authentic Connections – Jen Watt, North Melbourne FC @seancallanan2024-01-23T11:16:54+10:00Community Engagement: Giving Back and Making a Difference – Avan Lee, Hurricanes Rugby @seancallanan2024-02-12T18:17:22+10:00South East Melbourne Phoenix, a Rising Force – Tommy Greer @seancallanan2024-03-08T12:33:58+10:00Unleashing Creativity to Drive Fandom – Jennifer van Dijk, SUPERPLASTIC @seancallanan2023-10-18T10:29:08+10:00Creating a club that truly matters – Stu Taggart, Illawarra HawksCheck out ALL CEO SERIES EPISODESNeed a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Replay – From grassroots to Boomers & Opals, Matt Scriven appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Jesper Søegaard from episode 228, who was at the Dansk Boldspil-Union, and now at Lobyco

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?
Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Jesper and Sean discussed the importance of data for partners and sponsors:

• Recognising the need for a strong data foundation for effective decision-making and strategic planning.
• Understanding the shift in the sponsorship market from exposure to return on investment, emphasising the value of data
• The role of data in optimising ticket sales and fan engagement
• The necessity of an educational process within organizations to ensure all departments understand and can utilize data effectively
• The different data requirements and uses for different types of sponsors, from those seeking brand exposure to those focused on customer acquisition Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: And so once you start, once you get that view, you can then start looking at it from that 30,000-foot view of what the data is telling us and what opportunities are in that space. Is that where the role of the digital commercial manager started to develop because you started having that strong foundation of what your data was?

Jesper: That's exactly the way that everything's developed. As soon as we got the general overview, we could pretty easily identify areas with potential like low hanging fruits. My role at that point got split up. We hired a ticketing manager that also handles the fan club now and we hired a marketing coordinator to do like the more day to day work on setting up campaigns. I was free to do more strategic things around, leading the company in the right direction. From a business case standpoint, you're looking at, okay, we could optimize our ticket sales by doing this so I could create a CRM strategy. We can optimize our engagement work by doing this. I can do an engagement strategy. So, leading the company in the right direction but always based on the foundation of data.

Sean: And was there a re-education process required because knowing when you go from those that siloed data with that hasn't been brought together and have a single view, you'll have commercial relationships that use terms like email blasts and things like that. Was there a re-education process for the commercial folk or the partners that you'd worked with in the past that have said I'll call you would you send out an email realizing that it didn't work? That was the terms that they were using, where you were saying no it's actually going to be better if we send this email just to these 30,000 people. It's half as many as we usually send out but it's more effective. How did you go with that education process?

Jesper: Yeah, actually I think that's a great point because it's a whole another mindset that needs to be implemented in pretty much all school organizations. I think this whole development in '14 came at a great time with DBU because the years leading up to this, we've had some two main challenges from a commercial standpoint. Ticket sales were dropping, we were having issues with selling tickets for home games. We were having huge issues with loyalty. We had quite a lot of left customers. The second challenge was selling mean partnerships. Sponsorship deals surrounding the national team because as everybody knows, the sponsorship market has developed from some like sure exposure to a much more return on investment focus from the partners. So that was like the mental challenges that this whole mindset change. Going back to your initial question, we actually did quite a lot of education internally in DBU. I presented slides for the entire organization visualizing how we now collect, we gather data pools in one single customer view so be really specific on how each department can use this to create value. And at the same time for the sales team getting me involved in the impetus for potential partners so I can go to meetings and talk to Carlsberg or other big partners on how we can use this in order to create value in their partnership. So we actually needed education from bottom up so all departments can take on it. And also, I was going through to departments telling them about this.

Sean: Yeah, I mean and that's a vital piece because you do all the work back of house and don't tell the sales team and don't tell your partners nothing changes. It's like you've done all this great work. And I'm guessing you're finding as you're going to more and more of these pitch meetings and meeting with partners that data is becoming more and more in focus especially as you said moving more to a partnership rather than just pure impressions and that kind of thing is that what's leading the conversation they're saying tell us about your data, who've got that kind of thing. That's where it starts?

Jesper: Actually in the sport, no enterprise sponsorship world, that's different companies get different takes on how they see value in partnerships. Still a lot of it, there's still few values in the whole image thing getting their brand connected to the image of the DBU especially when we've got the world when you think of. But especially a couple of the last couple of years, they've been focused very much on the data and that's been leading the conversation especially with companies that sell directly to consumers. Carlsberg is a big customer, but they don't do like direct sales for consumers, they're more bars and stores and forecasting the data maybe doesn't make that much sense to them. But we got a false bargain as well. They are extremely interested in this because they are focusing on generating traffic to the customers all with their marks all we can do segmented campaigns in specific areas for specific each group with specific income that's extremely interesting for a company like that.

Sean: And that's the thing I think that's the danger for first sports marketers and commercial folk if they don't realize the difference between those two types of sponsors because you're right there's still the Carlsberg zone out of the world that's still just want the logo on the chest and want to be still seen as number one and it is an awareness piece. But if you don't understand that the customer acquisition piece and you those types of sponsors for a lot of people getting it at a very cheap price because it's not being valued appropriately whether it's trying to sell electricity or telcos or those kinds of things that are very much in the analytics and CRM space for far longer than sports and so they know the value of their customer. And I think that's where that's where I think that the game will be levels up a little bit as sports lifts its game in that space.

Connect with Jesper SøegaardListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Importance of data for partners and sponsors, Jesper Søegaard appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with David Stevenson from the National Basketball League.

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• David’s long career at Nike and how it helps him transition to the world of global sport
• Why should take on big career challenges
• Exciting opportunity at the NBL
• How the NBL & NBA partnership continues to flourish
• The Hoops fest and how it will help unify Basketball in Australia
• Strategic plans for WNBL development
• How solving complex problems can help your team grow Listen to David Stevenson on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with David Stevenson on Linkedin, let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow the NBL and WNBL across social media: + NBL - Twitter – @NBL - LinkedIn – @National Basketball League (NBL) - Facebook – @TheNBL - Instagram – @nbl - YouTube – @nbl - TikTok – @nbl + WNBL - Twitter – @WNBL - Facebook – @TheWNBL - LinkedIn – @WNBL - Instagram – @thewnbl - YouTube – @WNBL - TikTok – @thewnbl * Secure your tickets for the Hoops Fest this coming September * Recommendation + Kevin Carroll – Author * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Matt Scriven – Basketball Australia + Michael Johnstone – Hoops Capital + Stu Taggart – Illawarra Hawks + Vince Crivelli- Melbourne United * Throwback episode you may have missed + Communication and segmentation in membership, Tanya Gallina As discussed on the podcastHoopsfest is coming

Hoopsfest is coming

Tickets are selling fast get yours now at https://t.co/YjTVJVbyCe #WeAreWNBL pic.twitter.com/h2zbDabTtN

— WNBL (@WNBL) July 15, 2024

NBA Summer League

@NBASummerLeague

Pete Hooley is on the ground in Las Vegas to bring you all the NBL action happening at the NBA Summer League pic.twitter.com/aclJWs3Zcr

— NBL (@NBL) July 13, 2024

The strength of the NBL on show in Paris

Our stars on the biggest stage

Get all #Paris2024 updates via the NBL app and website pic.twitter.com/Pz8JSkZY5M

— NBL (@NBL) July 27, 2024

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Always Open to Growth Opportunities, – David Stevenson, NBL appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Tanya Gallina from episode 191, who was at the Hawthorn FC when the episode was recorded, and now at MCG.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Tanya and Sean discussed Communication and segmentation in membership.:

• The significance of understanding a membership database for effective communication and devising retention strategies is highlighted
• Segmentation is underscored as a crucial strategy in balancing long-term fan base development with immediate KPIs and membership targets
• The global trend of ticket buyers not attending games is discussed, prompting a need for innovative solutions
• Ongoing efforts to understand member game attendance habits to maximize the use of available seats are shared
• The challenge of introducing new concepts, such as ticket trading, to traditionally-minded football fans is also highlighted Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: So what you're saying is, those kids are growing up and there, as is the way in Melbourne, you have a child and you just tell them who they're going to barrack for. So, you have this longer-term strategy of developing a fanbase from the 80s and in Tasmania. But we've also got the 2018 KPIs and membership targets to hit. How do you balance that long-term strategy and keep them engaged?

Tanya: For us, it's about segmentation. We understand our database really well. We've also got to consider that we've just won three premierships in a row. So we're sitting in my chair for 20 years and hopefully, they're seeing the fruits of this success. It's really about communication and segmentation. We very much understand who our clickers are, who our kids that have received fan development packs are, and who our loyal members are in terms of retention strategies, so that's critical.

Sean: So how is that data piece internally in the club? How's that being developed over the last seven or eight years because it's sort of been the last piece of the puzzle that's happening in AFL land. It's gone from that broad one-product membership to more segmentation and is becoming more the data geeks that are working on the business.

Tanya: I feel like we've been at it for quite some time in terms of segmenting our database. And then there's the database piece and then there's the actual membership product piece that continues to evolve. What you are seeing, or what we are all seeing in AFL, is that there's a lot of no shows.

Sean: That's a global trend. So it's not just AFL. It is happening. The people buying tickets are not turning up.

Tanya: So, from an AFL membership perspective for anyone that's listening overseas, we have an 11-game membership which lots of clubs like ours also have a three-game membership. We're continuously trying to understand if you've got an 11-game membership and you're only coming to maybe five or six games. Then your seat's vacant for those games. How do we resell that seat? How do we incentivise people to return that seat back so we can then resell it? How do we get people to games instead of sitting on the couch? It's a continued journey at the moment.

Sean: And at a venue like MCG is a blessing and a curse because it's a tremendous venue but it holds 95000 people so there's never a is never a capacity issue like you can always turn up and get a seat which is why there hasn't really been a strong resale market. So they develop in Australia. And so so that education process of you know whether it's trading back your ticket or those kind of things that's part of that comms customer service piece as you start introducing because football games are very traditional. They know what they want. They don't like change they like doing things the same way and trying to introduce these type of new concepts can freak some people out.

Connect with Tanya GallinaListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Communication and segmentation in membership, Tanya Gallina appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Sarah Styles from Victorian Government in the Office for Women in Sports & Recreation

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Sarah's career switch from investment banker to sports
• Sarah's key work with Cricket Australia during the ICC T20 World Cup 2020
• Why the Office for Women in Sports & Recreation exists in Victoria
• Growth and sponsorship opportunities across women's sport
• The Change Our Game initiative and how can the sports industry support it Listen to Sarah Styles on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Sarah Styles on LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter/X (@SarahStylesAU), let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow the Change Our Game initiative: + Change Our Game - Twitter – @ChangeOurGame - Facebook – @changeourgame - Instagram – @changeourgame * Recommendations + Abbie – HER WAY + Ted Lasso + Sarah Loh – CEO of Softball Australia + Catherine Clark – CEO of Paralympics Australia + Rebecca Hamilton – CEO of Judo Australia * Check out the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Jessica Smith – Angel City FC + Marilou McFarlane – Women in Sports Tech + Catherine Clark – Netball Queensland * Throwback episodes you may have miss + The role of digital in fan experience, Craig Neeb As discussed on the podcastWomen in sports media program

The 2024-25 #ChangeOurGame Women in Sports Media Program - Advancing Career Round is NOW OPEN for applicationsDelivered by @MakingCall, the program is designed for individuals seeking to take their skills in sports media to the next level!

Learn more https://t.co/RloTlYb2SB pic.twitter.com/2n7EgsQArG

— ChangeOurGame (@ChangeOurGame) July 8, 2024

What is Change Our Game?

Change Our Game? The Office for Women in Sport and Recreation?

If you've been wondering who we are and what we do, this is for you.

Join our community of game changers today!

https://t.co/LEKOOsj2am pic.twitter.com/RE8vYun86Q

— ChangeOurGame (@ChangeOurGame) July 5, 2024

Research Funding

NEW RESEARCH confirms the benefit of gender balanced sports and active recreation boards.

Funded through the #ChangeOurGame Research Grants Program and delivered by @Deakin, you can read the full research summary here https://t.co/4o96zYSyCp pic.twitter.com/1OdWwO7raC

— ChangeOurGame (@ChangeOurGame) June 20, 2024

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Participation, Leadership and Visibility – Sarah Styles, Victorian Government appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Craig Neeb from episode 211, who was at the NASCAR when the episode was recorded.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Craig and Sean discussed the role of digital in fan experience:

• The necessity of balancing the goals and objectives of individual stakeholders in the digital transformation process
• The importance of a single, multifunctional mobile app that caters to both event attendees and fans at home, enhancing the overall fan experience
• The difficulty in conveying the live event experience digitally and the need to tease fans with elements unique to the live event
• The potential of social experiences and fan testimonials in promoting event attendance
• The value of digital in connecting with fans and locking them into the live experience Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: So how do you adjust that balance? Because you know your strategy and digital is a part of that for a track. So two years ago when you were looking at things from an ISC point of view it would have been customer service at the track. How do we engage fans on the track? How do we get more people to the event? That kind of focus to then also be saying well we actually want to make sure that we're talking to the fans that can't be at Daytona this week and making sure that they're engaged for the next race. How do you balance what would be traditional tracks point of view to sort of have them have the wider rising tide lifts all boats type approach to have the overall sport and NASCAR overall best interests at heart?

Craig: It's a great question. It's a fine line that I've been learning to balance in the last nine months that I've been in this role. It's really something that there's a sensitivity to the goals and objectives of the individual stakeholders to make sure that you don't make a decision that compromises their ability. So you really got to find where you can make the two add up to something more than what had been then. It's individual pieces and so I would say we haven't done a lot yet. We're really still mapping that out but we are finding some really interesting areas. I think you can find areas that compliment each other and still provide the angle and objective for each of the individual stakeholders.

Sean: We've seen in Major League Baseball with BAM and you know what the NBA is doing from a league point of view in its digital space especially pushing really hard into social where there's that fit from a NASCAR point of view to better connect with the fans that aren't in the sense of what have been some of the initiatives that NASCAR is looking to do in that space in a pure digital space.

Craig: Sure. So for example, I think the BAM example is a really good one. So all the mobile apps that we've developed over the years at ISC have been really focused around the event experience itself. So you'd need to use the maps, you use the schedules, use all those things that are relevant. But at the end of the day we want fans to be NASCAR fans when they leave the event. And so how do you transfer or what that in line event experience that was over to the NASCAR car mobile app and vice versa. How do you get somebody who's on the NASCAR mobile app who happens to live in Daytona Beach Florida to remind them that hey by the way the Daytona 500 is coming in February you might want to go out there. So we're looking at how ultimately can you have one app that can transform itself depending on where you are or just a little bit of information we can garner from you to know that you are attending the Daytona 500 so you're going to get all these set of features within the app. Now to enhance your experience at the venue. And then if you're not at the venue, we still know you're a fan because you came to an event. How do we make sure you leverage the NASCAR car model app so that when you're not there you're getting updates on the race. You're playing fantasy things like that. So that's where we are. That's one of the big plans we're working on right now is that being able to have that ability within a single app to have that transformation experience depending on what you are really experiencing.

Sean: Yeah, I mean it does start giving that connectedness to the fan. Well, this is a live experience which really does lock in the fan. Digital is great but the experience in real life. You know, the hearing, the listening, and the noise that the cars generate and you know the experience of being with 100,000 people when they going down the straight like that, it's really hard to replicate in digital. But if you can then get people to your tracks it starts locking them in so having that connect the experience and on the digital side definitely helps try to lock in those fans.

Craig: No, absolutely it is very difficult to convey that in the digital world. But you know again if there's enough things that you can tease people where you create you know why it's different to come to the event versus you know stay at home and watch it. You know I think one of things that really differentiates NASCAR is it's not a single event that kicks off at noon and ends at 3:00. It's a multi day event. I mean it's a sequence of things that are occurring on a Friday Saturday and Sunday in most cases. And a lot of that is the whole social part of it. There's a bunch of social experiences different ways to consume it and sharing those experiences digitally. So it's not necessarily just cars going around a track but it's this, it's the infield camping experience you know it's the autograph sessions it's the access on pit road that you get that you see on TV it's those things sharing those nuggets of experiences digitally and then obviously using social and that space too because there is no better credibility and authenticity than fans telling fans what a great time it is and why they're doing it and then incorporate that into the story is really with some of the things that we definitely focus to create that energy and excitement.

Connect with Craig NeebListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post The role of digital in fan experience, Craig Neeb appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Scott Fitzgerald from Marvel Stadium

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Scott’s journey into sports from clubland to league
• Why Marvel Stadium is an asset for the AFL
• Focus of fan experience in the recent stadium redevelopment
• How technology can reduce fan pain points
• Why Scott is always looking for new content to maximise revenue Listen to Scott Fitzgerald on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Scott Fitzgerald on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter /X (@ScottFitzG). let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow AFL & Marvel Stadium across social media: + AFL - Twitter – @AFL - LinkedIn – @AFL – Australian Football League - Facebook – @AFL - Instagram – @afl - YouTube – @AFL - TikTok – @afl + Marvel Stadium - Twitter – @marvelstadiumau - LinkedIn – @Marvel Stadium - Facebook – @marvelstadium.au - Instagram – @marvelstadium.au * Recommendation(s) + Simon Sinek – Author and inspirational speaker + The Sounding Board podcast * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to + Kristen Eckhardt – Port Adelaide FC + Costa Kladianos – San Francisco 49ers + Craig Hutchison – SEN + Nick Sautner – Eden Park * Throwback episodes you may have missed + Importance of grassroots in Sports, Dino DiPierdomenico As discussed on the podcastSir Doug Nicholls round at Marvel Stadium

  View this post on Instagram      A post shared by Marvel Stadium (@marvelstadium.au)

Who doesn't love a stadium transition time lapse?

  View this post on Instagram      A post shared by Marvel Stadium (@marvelstadium.au)

Stadium Golf

Due to popular demand, Stadium Golf is now SOLD OUT! Join the waitlist now for updates on future releases.

Select your ideal tee-time, and leave your details: https://t.co/AnF9VfLLdX

: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos. pic.twitter.com/WxLcOf1hOD

— Marvel Stadium (@marvelstadiumau) June 22, 2023

Bobby Hill's insane mark as discussed on the podcast

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Dino DiPierdomenico from episode 255, Owner of DMC Sport

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?
Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Dino and Sean discussed the importance of kids playing sports and how teams can commercialise grassroots programs.

• The critical role of data in building a commercial asset around grassroots programs
• The potential for sponsors to contribute to these programs due to the extensive reach they offer
• The overlooked opportunity of commercialising participation in sports
• The importance of keeping investments in the sport to encourage more kids to play
• The long-term benefits to the health of the sport from increasing participation at the grassroots level Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: Yes, and that's back to your initial point about data, right? You're building out, what you’ve said, a commercial asset around this piece to make it easier, an easier way for the sponsors to get into this grassroots program. Because you've got the data of the people who are playing, who are the active centers, and you've also got this device of the product, the welcome packs that say, “Oh, we are sending out 80,000 backpacks. Do you want these golden arches on this backpack?”

Dino: That's exactly right. Commercial people realize after a while that this program is actually a really big asset. When major sports are selling everything they possibly can, a lot of them haven't even looked at their participation. It's always around supplying a partnership with a major brand, then they'd do that. But there's a world out there where you can generate revenue and keep it in the sport. So, we kept that stuff in the sport. Kids at the ages of five to ten years old, brands aren't a huge thing for them. When they get to ten and they're watching TV or consuming different media, that's in their face and they will go to that. But at that entry level, they weren't in that, which meant that there was also another opportunity to provide a product which wasn't branded and licensed, which meant it was 30 percent cheaper. At the end of the day, the logic works out that if you've got 30 percent more to spend, then you can use that money to get more kids to play. The more kids play, the better the sport will be in the long run.

Sean: Yes, it serves the purpose of the health of the sport. It's a key plank, those early years of getting kids playing, getting those systems right. Because if that system falls down, fewer kids are playing, fewer kids are being introduced at that young age, fewer kids are coming. And so, you've got the double whammy of building out this commercial asset, but getting participation right. It's critical for each and every sport and it is a challenge for a CEO of any sport, anywhere in the world.

Connect with Dino DiPierdomenicoListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Importance of grassroots in Sports, Dino DiPierdomenico appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Charlotte Offord from NFL

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Charlotte's foray in sports from New Zealand to UK via ticketing
• Starting at the NFL helping build an audience in UK
• What the NFL fan data says about Australia
• Why NFL Flag is booming in Australia and New Zealand
• NFL Academy opening up player pathways
• Importance of different voices in digital for international fanbase Listen to Charlotte Offord on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Charlotte Offord on LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter/X (@CharlotteOfford), let her know you listened to the episode * Follow NFL and NFLAUNZ across social media: + NFL - Twitter – @NFL - LinkedIn –@National Football League (NFL) - Facebook – @NFL - Instagram – @nfl - YouTube – @NFL - TikTok – @nfl + NFLAUNZ (Full Disclosure – Sports Geek manages social media channels for NFLAUNZ) - Twitter –@NFLAUNZ - Instagram – @nflaunz - TikTok – @nflaunz * Episodes you should listen to * + Nilay Shah – New York Giants + Charlie Shin – Indianapolis Colts + Super Bowl LVIII Recap * Throwback episode you may have missed + Netball NZ’s future strategy, Jennie Wyllie As discussed on the podcastJordan Mailata announces draft pick from Down Under, as captured and produced by Sports Geek producer Dylan Parkes.

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Shepmates announce NFL Draft Pick (and get booed by 300,000 Lions fans)

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Sean (as @NFLAUNZ host) going rogue on the NFL Draft Red Carpet.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Jennie Wyllie from episode 277, CEO of Netball NZ

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Jennie and Sean discussed Netball NZ's future strategy and how it aims to keep the sport relevant and thriving amidst shifting landscapes and challenges:

• The importance of adapting to change while maintaining core strengths
• The role of community in keeping a sport alive and vibrant
• The potential of new formats and platforms in delivering the game
• The need for sporting organisations to work together in the face of adversity
• The obligation of national sporting organisations to provide participation opportunities that fit people's changing lifestyles Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: How sports were changing and things were accelerating and sports have been trying to figure out what the funding model is, how do we better connect with grassroots, that's something that you have been tackling and talking with your partners to say.

You know, here's where our strength is. With our grassroots, we need to connect you with the silver ferns, but we need to keep you with the thousands of girls and boys playing netball as well. Is that an ongoing conversation with your partners?

Jennie: Oh, absolutely. And I guess the world has shifted on its axis since we wrote that, but you're right. It holds true. And it's about just re-imagining it with a new frame now. And so where I get quite a lot of energy and excitement from is we've got the mandate. Our members have looked at that plan and said, we love it. We want to be part of this. And I think that's so timely because we're going to need that going forward.

Jennie: However, how we do it now will be different to what potentially we could have envisaged under that plan. But the whole purpose behind a plan, I am not a fan of big documents that lay out five, ten years in a really prescriptive way, because it is not true. It will not move quickly enough. It will not allow you scope to experiment and transform.

So the intention of this is to hold it lightly. And what I mean by that is take the principles, but apply it to exactly what you see in front of you. Particularly in our environment, we're going to have to have a massive rethink about what does the future hold for sport and how do we keep delivering to our communities because it won't be the same as what we envisaged six months ago.

Yeah, definitely. And, like at the moment, New Zealand is starting to ease out and doing a really good job in flattening the curve. What does your obviously having meetings around what does return to sport look like? How do you get people back on courts? Where are you right now in that process?

Yeah, so we are obviously taking our guidance from the government, but we would like to see professional sport get out there. We think it's aspirational and there's a lot of a great argument for that. And for our communities, I think what we are starting to shape up is how do we still deliver, and it might not deliver netball in the same way as you always saw it.

So I think digital is going to come in a massive way, and I think our communities are more ready for it. We've given them six, eight weeks of practice and here we are, how we interact with people is going to shift. There will always be an adjustment and we will come back to some of our old norms, but.

What we've embraced during this time will remain. So how do we ensure that we are relevant in that new scenario? Because we were shifting there anyway, I think it's just accelerated. I think the forms of game that we can deliver, I think we launched Netfit in partnership with an Australian organization and we stood that up in New Zealand really quickly.

Because that was a way of ensuring we were still relevant. Able to create a presence, deliver netball. It didn't, it's not netball as in play with your mates, but it's still a form of the game, interacting with our amazing netballers, and embracing those people to make sure that when the time is right, they can come back to the game.

Sean: Because they're super important. You don't want to have this lockdown period and lose, and you don't want to lose players to the game because they find something else or they don't come back. And so drawing them in, things like Netfit and the connectivity, like you said before, of being at your club and the camaraderie and learning teamwork, it's so important to the fabric of New Zealand and definitely the same here in Australia.

Connect with Jennie WyllieListen to full episodeListen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Netball NZ’s future strategy, Jennie Wyllie appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Jason Sourasis from Western United FC

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Bidding process for WUFC in joining the A-Leagues in 2018
• Why Western United partnered with City of Wyndham
• How Western United are integrating diverse communities into their stadium
• Lessons learned with a private stadium build. Listen to Jason Sourasis on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Jason Sourasis on LinkedIn, let him know you listened to the episode * Follow Western United FC across social media + Twitter – @wufcofficial + LinkedIn – Western United Football Club + Facebook – @Western United FC + Instagram – @westernutdfc + TikTok –@westernutdfc + Youtube – @WesternUnitedFootballClub * Recommendation + Scott Pendlebury – Athlete Collingwood FC * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Episodes you should listen to * + Colin Kelly – LAFC + Eray Saban – ASM Jacksonville + Chloe Alsop – Western United FC * Throwback episodes you may have missed + Catherine Clark on Vertical Leadership + Stadium connectivity and Fan Experience, Greg Sleigh As discussed on the podcastFans

Thank you green and black family pic.twitter.com/hukVDXf5ZT

— Western United FC (@wufcofficial) April 28, 2024

BIG things happening in the West

There are big things happening in the West pic.twitter.com/gf4jb8S3C8

— Western United FC (@wufcofficial) June 14, 2024

Ironbark Fields

We can't wait to host the Multicultural Youth Cup at Ironbark Fields on Monday 1 July, in conjunction with @WyndhamCouncil

Find out how you can register your team to compete below, or just head on down to Ironbark and enjoy the day https://t.co/QxVJAd24Jv

— Western United FC (@wufcofficial) June 26, 2024

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Greg Sleigh from episode 159, who was at the ANZ Stadium when the episode was recorded, and now General Manager, Commercial at Optus Stadium.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Greg and Sean discussed connectivity of stadium and how it plays its part in the event experience

• Connectivity in stadiums has improved significantly with technological advancements
• The introduction of Wi-Fi in stadiums has transformed the fan experience, enabling real-time engagement
• Besides Wi-Fi, fans also utilise 3G and 4G networks to engage and share their experiences
• The implementation of these technologies has created a truly connected stadium, catering to diverse needs of the audience
• Stadium connectivity has become an integral part of the event experience, with hirers leveraging it for various purposes Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean : So you do him at connecting the stadiums and the technology or any kind activity. Again, you know, 2000 it was read to this and me when I first told you guys around social and what we could do and it was it was common around Strier from a you get too many people and networks start stop bursting at the seams those kind of things. How has the technological solutions of the connectivity in stadiums developed in your time?

Greg Sleigh: Yeah, we're fortunate here we started our journey with Telstra about five years ago on the wifi scenario and we were fortunate enough to put in the Telstra technology in 2012. It's the world of difference to us because people can actually engage in real time here and not only are they doing it on the wifi networks. If they felt that way inclined but it's also the people who are less inclined to be on the phone at work to actually play on 3G 4G. We're finding that we do have a truly connected stadium. Different people have different needs through that process and they're able to do it in whatever manner. I feel more comfortable and I think that's been a massive challenge for us over the course of the last two years as that found network has found it’s happy place and each of our hirers uses it entirely differently. On a night like Arsenal, we were able to use some social activities for the screens and actually engage a little bit more because slightly bigger budget, slightly bigger event presentation and a one-off event without any sanction commitments so we could have a little bit more fun through those platforms.

Greg Sleigh: It's absolutely a part of the advance experience here in Sydney and all about hirers are starting to really engage and know that they're learning every day on how I might do it a little bit differently.

Sean: And it is very much the way of how the hirers have the clubs that the promoters want to use it because it is different for different venues. You might have a concert you know or went to Jerry Seinfeld up last night and “he's like no phones no cameras no nothing”. You're even seeing some technology going the other way with a dampening mobile phone technology or putting them into bags. But it's now fans are getting to use how they want it.

Sean : All the networks are allowed to breathe a little bit, but everyone wants to take that “Hey I’m at the game” or that’s a great try or I’m watching Arsenal for the first time and they were able to share it whereas you know they couldn't. And now it's available. How do you manage the there's so much take now that's being thrown into the stadium spice of going to have these. We're going to have these. How do you stop balancing? How much is too much and how much is it improving the fan experience or is it a slight incremental and is that slight incremental really important?

Greg Sleigh: I think three years ago there are different players in the space unfortunately and the stadiums probably provide a platform for other people to be clever and maybe for three or four years ago there was a little bit of an arm wrestle between the codes and the hirers and the broadcasters and the stadiums who all knew that there was an aspiration to do something in this space. But there is a tendency to fall on yourselves unless you can actually find space between all these different groups. So I think as a stadium have taken a step back. We know that we've got a very important role to provide a platform. It's then incumbent upon our harbors who are all come from different kinds to work out what that digital experience needs to look like. We've got a role to supply healing. We had a ticketing operation we wanted food and beverage operation we need to be able to add value to that process for hirers. But I think we've got to the point where where we know that it's not our job. The person who owns the space is the hirer they need to do that with a broadcaster and with a code, do on that digital of an experience that we need to supplement it as and when appropriate.

Sean: And I think the whole the WIFI as a utility of this stadium again you know if you go back a bit further it was like “When is the wifi coming in? Who pays for it?” That's the platform. You know wifi is seen as a utility the same as bathrooms and food and transport as long as that's sorted. You know that what you were just saying there but the platform the things that could be added onto it whether it's you know have it how they wrap works and are and how it connects in those kind of things. That's something that you've got the platform that the technology can see on top of that. It can be you know you can innovate on top of that.

Greg Sleigh: I think our role is to be the enabler rather than to set the scene as far as what that looks like because again in dealing with 70 different cards at so many different points of the digital journey it's pointless us having a policy that takes them down a direction because they've all got their own objectives and they're all entirely differently sophisticated as far as how they are being implemented.

Connect with Greg SleighListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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We’re currently at SEAT in Las Vegas, so there’s no new episode this week. In the meantime, enjoy our replay with David Michael from last year’s SEAT in Salt Lake City. Don’t forget to check ALL episodes from the SEAT community.

Good listen for those working in Venue Tech & Security, Data & Business Intelligence, Digital, Sponsorship, Ticketing, and Fan Experience space.

If you have a colleague who is a star in your team, feel free to nominate.

Listen to the episode replayConnect with David MichaelListen to more podcasts from SEAT community @seancallanan2024-06-12T09:24:59+10:00NZR+ building a global All-Blacks fan base – Andy Burt, New Zealand Rugby @seancallanan2024-04-04T12:52:55+10:00SEAT in Las Vegas: Driving Revenue through Technology, Josh Barney @seancallanan2024-06-07T10:58:49+10:00Improving the Fan Experience: A Data-Driven Approach – Jacob Rosen, Memphis Grizzlies @seancallanan2024-06-07T10:59:35+10:00Drive revenue from digital marketing – G.M. Ciallella, Anaheim Ducks @seancallanan2024-06-07T11:00:03+10:00Delivering a World-Class Games Experience – David Michael, LA28 @seancallanan2024-06-07T11:00:37+10:00Amplifying the joy of sports – Stacy McGranor, San Jose Sharks @seancallanan2024-06-07T11:01:03+10:00Stadium technology enhancing the fan experience – Costa Kladianos, San Francisco 49ers @seancallanan2024-06-07T11:01:40+10:00SEAT rebooting in 2023 in Salt Lake City – Josh Barney, SEAT Conference @seancallanan2024-03-08T12:37:25+10:00Importance of Sustainability in Sports – Aileen McManamon – 5T Sports @seancallanan2023-03-28T09:11:17+10:00Big game technology demand in college sports – David Payne – University of OklahomaCheck out ALL SEAT Guest EPISODESNeed a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Catherine Clark from episode 284. Catherine Clark was the CEO of Netball Queensland, and now CEO of Paralympics Australia.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Catherine and Sean discussed Vertical leadership and why it’s important:

• Vertical leadership emphasises adaptability and the ability to shift leadership styles based on circumstances
• This leadership style is particularly beneficial in unpredictable or rapidly changing environments
• It encourages leaders to be versatile and versatile in their approach, rather than sticking to a single leadership style
• Vertical Leadership is about responding appropriately and effectively to various situations
• It promotes an environment of growth, adaptability, and resilience in the face of challenges Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So, change takes leadership. I was looking at your LinkedIn earlier today. You were talking about vertical leadership and how much you want to do that as yourself, but also with your exec team. Do you want to explain some of the concepts and why that's important to you?

Catherine: Yeah, it's funny. Vertical leadership, we highly recommend it to people. It's a bit of a different way of looking at leadership growth. They focus on heat experiences. You can look at your own journey and you probably get your biggest growth trajectories out of either stuff that goes wrong or taking a big leap of faith. So for me, at 20, going to the other side of the world, I'd never been out of Australia and I moved to Amsterdam.

Sean: Yep.

Catherine: That was pretty significant. I don't know how my mom dealt with it firstly, because I've become a mother now and I just don't know how she did it. But I had to coach everyone from six-year-olds through 35-year-old men. And I was 20. You have to rise. And if you've got that growth mindset, The heat experience that medical leadership Nick Petrie talks about. That's where your fortitude comes from.

Those are the moments that make you lift and you find that you've got capacity or capability that you didn't even know you had. COVID is one of those where, you know, I was thinking, I'm a believer that CEOs particularly should not overstay their welcome because you become the problem.

and five years, loads of change. And literally my job's just changed with getting a venue, but COVID, the environment. Leading a bunch of people through huge uncertainty where literally on a daily basis you have four or five changes to the things that you're making decisions based on.

It's brought everything in and the pressure, are we having a season? Are we not? Are we having an SSN season? Are we not? How do we financially get through this? What are the mental health tolls? How do we decentralise our workforce and maintain productivity? For us, that's where moving to Agile a while ago has been, I've just proven that this transformation journey we're onto is absolutely critical.

It set us up for success and in that way, this is one big heat experience and if we can encourage our people to look at crisis as an opportunity to go back to your core business. To focus on what's really important to grow and seek out the opportunities like digital being one of those, you're going to have the biggest growth out of those moments versus when we're sitting in a conference or in a moment of comfort.

I think for us, it's about embracing it. Not being overwhelmed by it, but trying to really focus on the heat being a way of growth and stimulating growth.

Connect with Catherine ClarkListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Eray Saban from ASM Jacksonville

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Eray's career across multiple stadiums in Melbourne, Hong Kong & Jacksonville
• How stadium experiences has evolved
• Comparison of U.S and Australian sports industry
• Embracing digitalisation to enhance fan experiences
• Impact of drone technology on open-air stadiums Listen to Eray Saban on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Eray Saban on LinkedIn and let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow ASM Global & EverBank Stadium across social media: + Twitter – @ASMGlobalLive + LinkedIn – @ASM Global + Facebook – @ASMGlobalLive + Instagram – @asmgloballive * EverBank Stadium + Twitter – @EverBankStadium + LinkedIn – @EverBank + Facebook – @everbankstadium + Instagram – @everbankstadium * Recommendation + King Ryan – American professional boxer * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Travel plans + 23-26 June Las Vegas (SEAT) + 17 July – 3 August Italy * Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Costa Kladianos – San Francisco 49ers + Nick Sautner – Eden Park + Lewis O’Flynn – MCC * Throwback episode you may have missed + Knowing your audience, Peter Holtermann As discussed on the podcastGeorge Strait x Chris Tableton x Little big town

Jacksonville was "Here For A Good Time" when @GeorgeStrait, @ChrisStapleton & @LittleBigTown came to EverBank Stadium!

: Josianne Keenan pic.twitter.com/KnT7XfmQ0t

— EverBank Stadium (@EverBankStadium) May 20, 2024

Luke Combs

A huge thank you to @LukeCombs for two beautiful, crazy nights at EverBank Stadium! Here's to the memories made and the songs that'll be on repeat for weeks to come!

: Chris Condon pic.twitter.com/JkG01gqa8d

— EverBank Stadium (@EverBankStadium) May 6, 2024

Florida-Georgia annual College football game ‘Event of the Year'

The Florida-Georgia annual rivalry game at EverBank Stadium is an #SBA24 Finalist for 'Event of the Year' at The @stadiumbusiness Awards! Thank you to our dedicated teams for making this major event such a success every year since it first came to Jacksonville in 1933! pic.twitter.com/DFK2jVnyvR

— EverBank Stadium (@EverBankStadium) April 18, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Peter Holtermann from episode 109. He is the President of HolterMedia

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Peter and Sean discussed knowing your audience and why you engaged with them

• The importance of geotagging in catered messaging for local versus global audiences
• Utilizing social media to advertise and show off events
• The shift from content creation and engagement to ticket sales strategies
• The greater return on investment for targeted digital advertising over traditional advertising
• The significance of follow-ups and customised communication with potential ticket buyers Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: Yes, and it's very important what you just said there. You know, defining your different audiences for your different tennis tournaments. So Cincinnati has that global appeal. It's an important date on the calendar. Players are going there to defend points, among other things.

People have to attend. And so it has a different audience and you have to cater for those two audiences. You have the tennis fan and the local fan. Whereas, Houston is more focused on the local audience and almost in an educating mode. You want to get someone to their first tennis tournament. That's how you go about doing it.

Peter: And that's actually where we go back to Facebook and the fact that you can geotag things. You can cater a message specific to that Cincinnati ticket buyer versus doing something that's more broad. So if there's something going on in Cincinnati, and we really want to push our community involvement, we can do that and localize it, rather than having to do that for the global audience.

Sean: Yes, and that's the thing, you can do that now, either just by targeting, or by pushing it from an advertising point of view. So in your time, starting out in tennis, it would have been, “Hey, let's get the message out, let's build awareness.”

How much is that moving from that engagement piece and getting the content out to getting ticket buyers, whether it's a 3,500 stadium or, like here at the Rod Laver with 15,000 and, 60,000 to 70,000 turning up every single day.

What part of the advice and the strategy you're giving tournaments is in that ticketing component?

Peter: We're doing a lot to use social media to really advertise and show off the tournament. Here's what's happening and, yes. Tennis is a unique sport because it's a day-long event. You know, it's not coming out for a basketball game or Big Bash League or NFL.

It's not a three-hour investment. You're there all day, which gives us a whole lot in the social tool chest because we can talk about all the food we have. There are fashion shows going on. There's all that other event around the actual tournament that you can really push and use that to attract the audience.

So, socially, you want to show that off as much as you can. And, I had a conversation a few years ago. Somebody was talking about, “Well, we could get a billboard in Times Square.” I said, you could. It's pretty expensive and you have no metrics.

Sean: Yes, or we could send something out to mothers of teenagers that we know play tennis, and actually get them to see it, and we can tell you exactly how many saw it and how many clicked through. And it's a fraction of the cost.

Peter: And we can follow up and say, “Hey, we saw you open the email, but you haven't purchased yet. What can we do?” You know, you can then take it to the next level, follow up email, get on the phone, and really push the sales that way, because you're going to know exactly who's looked at it.

Sean: Yes.

Connect with Peter HoltermannListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Andrew Burt from New Zealand Rugby

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Andrew's journey from films, government and comms
• How NZR+ as a streaming platform is taking New Zealand Rugby global
• Collaborating with content creators like Dude Perfect to reach new audiences
• How the All-Blacks athletes are helping grow the audience for NZ Rugby
• Andy's takeaways from attending SEAT 2023 in Salt Lake City
• Understanding your fan journey and how we apply the Digital To Dollars process Listen to Andy Burt on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Andrew Burt on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter/X (@AndyBurt2012), let him know you listened to the episode. * Check out NZR+, free to sign up * Follow New Zealand Rugby across social media: + Twitter – @NZRugby + LinkedIn – @New Zealand Rugby + Facebook – @nzrugbyofficial + Instagram – @nzrugbyofficial + YouTube – @AllBlacks + TikTok – @nzrugby * Recommendation + Ardie Savea – New Zealand Rugby Player * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Travel plans + 23-26 June Las Vegas (SEAT) + 17 July – 3 August Italy * Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + David Barton-Ginger – New Zealand Rugby + Avan Lee – Hurricanes Rugby + Andrew Pragnell – New Zealand Football * Throwback episodes you may have missed + Funnels of fan acquisition, Ryan Kaveney As discussed on the podcastDude Perfect's adventure Down Under as discussed on the podcast.

More Dude Perfect content on All Blacks YouTube

All Blacks In Their Own Words now on YouTube and NSR+

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Ryan Kaveney from episode 201, who was at the GWS Giants when the episode was recorded and now CFO at Sonder.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Ryan and Sean discussed funnels of fan acquisition

• The importance of geographical location and culture in attracting new fans
• The steady growth of fan engagement through participation
• The significance of genuine community involvement reflecting the values of Western Sydney
• The strategy of using existing fans as promoters
• The ongoing efforts to devise new techniques to reach ‘everyone else' Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: The AFL has reached everybody. All the fans are aware of us, they see us on TV. So, where are the new fans? Part of it is geographical, being the growth corridor that Western Sydney is. But then part of it is also about where people come from. People that aren't native to Australia, that don't know the game, that are new. And then, kids that aren't being introduced in the traditional way. I was told by my dad to support Collingwood because my great granddad played for Collingwood. I didn't get a choice. My son didn't get a choice. How do you then get to those new fans? And that's where all of the programs and everything you're doing now is like you said, it's both seeding things for now, but also for 10, 15 years from now, what the club might be.

Ryan: Yeah. And we really think that we can become a big club because of the growth and the population that is in Western Sydney. If I was to call out, the three funnels of fan acquisition that we look at, we discussed about one, which is participation and we work really closely with the league on that. All the people that are technically AFL employees, they wear Giants branded stuff out in the communities in Western Sydney. So, they're pushing our brand and that's a really successful funnel, but it's a steady funnel. You can't accelerate it. You can't supercharge it. It's a pretty steady growth over the next 10, 15 years. The second one would be the community. What are we doing there? Are we being genuine? Are we really living the values of Western Sydney? We've got a fantastic community team that has been one of the major successes from day one of the club. They've really done good work in genuine work and really identified what was important to that community and been out there both in Canberra and Western Sydney. And then the third one is everyone else. It is a constant battle of trying different things, different techniques.

Sean: So, how do you give that brief to your digital team? The easiest thing to do is to hit up your digital cheer squad, the people who are always in. Yes, you want to keep those people engaged and keep growing them. But you're also saying we want to make sure that there's this content that gets these people who have never heard of us. Whether it's quirky content that drives the personalities of the players or silly trick shots, how do you give that brief to say, well, we're serving multiple masters here.

Ryan: It's a great question. There's no silver bullet. It's about trying and learning. Certainly, it's about connecting the emotional side of us as a footy club. Sydney's got the most competitive sports market per capita with professional teams. We need to differentiate ourselves. What do we stand for? So that person that may not have a real knowledge of AFL, but also isn't necessarily an entertainment seeker, we need to connect with them on some sort of emotional level. Whether that's a brand exercise or unique content that we get out there. Luckily, our fans are 20,000 strong. They're pretty rusted on. They love the club already. And so we really feel like we can use them as promoters. We feel like we've got to continue to try and do different things. But we're also looking outward and seeing what's working in other places. It's a constant AB test. And we're looking for continuous growth every year and not trying to solve all the issues of the world in the next 12 months.

Connect with Ryan KaveneyListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Kristen Eckhardt from Port Adelaide FC

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Insights on marketing for arts and sports audiences
• The importance of customer experience and brand integration
• Why the Port Adelaide game-day experience is so important
• How to Port Adelaide embraces it's history in branding and activations
• Why team culture is crucial for long-term success
• Sports Geek Classic – Have you applied the Spice Girl Strategy? Listen to Kristen Eckhardt on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Kristen Eckhardt on LinkedIn and let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow Port Adelaide Football Club across social media: + Twitter – @PAFC + LinkedIn – @Port Adelaide FC + Facebook – @PortAdelaideFC + Instagram – @pafc + YouTube – @portadelaidefc + TikTok – @pafc * People mentioned by Kristen + Matthew Richardson – CEO of Port Adelaide Football Club + Kara Fantasia – Head of Game Day & Events * Recommendation + Saul Eslake | Economist + Mick Herron slow horses series – Audible * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Travel plans + 23-26 June Las Vegas (SEAT) + 17 July – 3 August Italy * Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Tim Silvers – Adelaide Crows + Loretta Johns – Sydney Swans + Will Hartnell – Geelong Cats * Throwback episodes you may have missed + Melbourne is major events, Damien de Bohun + Importance of community connection, Morgan Todd As discussed on the podcastNever Tear us Apart

excited for this one pic.twitter.com/zhevXUlWFv

— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) May 30, 2024

Not so Little Amal

Port Adelaide supporters will have the opportunity to march to Round 1 this Sunday with a global symbol of human rights, Little Amal

More info https://t.co/Nx6hgXTZ4x pic.twitter.com/Hnysf6mc4m

— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) March 15, 2024

Fan Engagement

things we always appreciate: pre-game love pic.twitter.com/PxkUUQplml

— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) May 30, 2024

Met Fashion Thread discussed on the podcast

it's fashion, look it up pic.twitter.com/Eb7buoEHir

— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) May 14, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed The post Building an experience that drives growth – Kristen Eckhardt, Port Adelaide FC appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Morgan Todd – Director, Commercial Strategy at MLSE from episode 288.

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Morgan and Sean discussed Importance of connection to community for fans and partners

• • The significance of agility and flexibility in responding to unforeseen circumstances
  • The importance of providing fans with meaningful engagement experiences even in a digital space
  • The value of creating cross-collaborative processes within the organization to ensure smooth content creation and approval
  • The opportunity to reach fans in unique ways through digital platforms and interactive experiences
  • The role of MLSE's partners in supporting and contributing to their initiatives Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: It does attract potentially more partners. But it is a balancing act because you can't guarantee a win and you're not like a player. You don't have performance bonuses on championships. You've got to try to smooth it out. So it's a terrific opportunity and a lot of work, making hay while the sun shines type of thing. But also, what is the broader piece? What are the broader pillars of what you're selling, which is our fan base, how well we know them, their affinity and how much they're tied to us. Then this other part, which you were just mentioning there, the corporate social responsibility and why partners become partners. The community work and Black Lives Matter and the support of the community in COVID, has been a big part of what's happened this year. You know, the pivot; obviously you can't do stadium activations, but you really had to lean on that pillar and that part of all the work that you've been doing across all the different teams. Your partners pretty much, they realize they want to be giving back and supporting the community. So become that vehicle for them to do that.

Morgan: Yeah. It's a really interesting landscape. We've had COVID hitting and social justice issues hitting the forefront very similar in timing. Our partners, we thought, pivoted very quickly. We connect with all sorts of different people from other franchises across North America and in Europe, and we're constantly asking them, what are your partners saying? What are your partners looking for? What are they doing? And we've seen everything from some markets where nothing has changed whatsoever and you have regular sales, new partners coming on board, sort of status quo. And on the other side, you've got markets where everything just stopped and there were no new owners that were interested in investing. The current partner roster wasn't comfortable with using up any of the value that they had invested within their partnership. So, it's really interesting. It's all over the place. We've been very lucky that our partners are very strategic in a lot of sense. They're very sophisticated in the Toronto market. So, when we bring new opportunities, new digital ways of reaching our fans, we always say fandom doesn't turn off. When the season stops, when the game ends, fans are still engaged. They're engaged 24/7, 365. So, just because our seasons aren't on right now, our fans are still open and engaged and they're still checking their Instagram every day. So, it's really about what we are doing to get their attention and keep them engaged, in a way that's very purposeful and we're listening to what they want to talk about. It would be a little bit naive of us to be continuously putting out sports stats when COVID originally hit and people were panicking to think about their own health and their own family and how to stay engaged and what they were going to do at home. So, we pivoted quickly and we said, we're going to scrap. We had pieces that were already filmed and ready to go out that week when everything shut down and we said let's stop for a second but let's start to think about how we're going to create content that's going to lean into all of these themes. So we've been very lucky in that sense.

Sean: And that was that like you're able to lean into community initiatives you're already doing like your Real Food Rescue with Hellman's. It's like oh we're already doing that and it was sort of like you know further down the list of oh these are things we're doing for the community, but now they're super relevant, and super needed and there are people in desperate needs. And so it was a matter of one, we'll amplify that as a campaign, but do more like, you know, the Bring Toronto Back campaigns that you brought out as well.

Morgan: Yeah, exactly. That's in those first couple of days, we decided that the arena probably wouldn't be open for a while. And we have so much fresh fruit and vegetables and meats and all sorts of food coming in on a daily basis. So we had already acquired a lot of it. And without those games, there was supposed to be a Leafs game the night that everything shut down. So what do we do with this? And exactly like you said, we learned from the Real Food Rescue that we did with Hellman's, which collects all food that would be wasted within our arena every single game day and donates it back to the community. We took that and we made an even bigger program because we had an understanding that there was a strong need in the Toronto community for food that would be able to support local shelters, our frontline heroes, all sorts of people. It was a really interesting program that was built cross collaboratively across MLSE. It's definitely not a partner first initiative. It was so many minds at the table, but when it was first ideated upon, we thought it was such a great story that we had built this all over Zoom and we had connected remotely. Now look where we are a couple months later. Well, this is how everything is built. But you know, we built it first and then we rallied our partners and took it to them and asked if they would like to get involved. And across the board, we saw so many partners come into the mix and provide food and monetary donations and resources and volunteer hours. And we were able to rescue so many meals, that we were able to give out into the community. And even today you go and you've run into a nurse on the street who may happen to work for a local children's hospital. They're so thankful for those meals that came when they were in their most stressful moments.

Connect with Morgan ToddListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Importance of community connection, Morgan Todd appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Michael Johnstone of Hoops Capital

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Michael’s foray into sports and early days of membership marketing at the NRL
• Balancing membership and high yielding ticket sales
• Importance fan development to find and recruit new fans
• Why Hoops Capital invests in the Kings & Flames gameday experience
• Why Facebook is significant for ticket sales for the Sydney Kings
• What we do at Sports Geek, more than podcasting, we can help your team Listen to Michael Johnstone on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with on Michael Johnstone on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter/X (@michaeljnrl). Let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow Sydney Kings & Sydney Flames across social media: + Sydney Kings - Twitter – @SydneyKings - LinkedIn – @Sydney Kings - Facebook – @Sydney Kings - Instagram –@sydneykings - YouTube – @SydneyKingsTV - TikTok – @sydneykings + Sydney Flames - Twitter – @TheSydneyFlames - Facebook – @Sydney Flames - Instagram – @sydneyflames - YouTube – @SydneyFlames - TikTok – @sydneyflames * Recommendation + Dave Wakeman * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Christine Finnegan – Tasmania JackJumpers + Tommy Greer – South East Melbourne Phoenix + Stu Taggart – Illawarra Hawks + Dallas Mavs owner – Mark Cuban As discussed on the podcastCongrats MJ on the Club Person Award

Absolute honour to now be on the list of people who have previously won this award. Particularly named after the legend that is Laurie Watterson. https://t.co/mar6vayJVb

— Michael Johnstone (@michaeljnrl) April 8, 2024

Grab your tix

Limited Gold, Platinum & Diamond full-season memberships for the #NBL25 season are now on sale!

Starting at $385 for adults & $995 for families, these 13-game memberships sold out in #NBL24 & will sell fast.

: https://t.co/fCEXFDQGKK
: https://t.co/zSJaCTmCKP#WeTheKings pic.twitter.com/eVYdcg3uqm

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) May 20, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Growing crowds and revenue in ticketing – Michael Johnstone, Hoops Capital appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Damien de Bohun from episode 219, who was at the Visit Victoria when the episode was recorded and is now General Manager, Clubs and Facilities at Golf Australia

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Damien and Sean discussed Melbourne as a successful major sports events city.

• • Melbourne's infrastructure, with multiple venues situated in close proximity, allows for efficient hosting of large scale events
  • The city's continual growth and expansion of event spaces, such as the Australian Open, creates a dynamic and evolving event landscape
  • Melbourne's commitment to understanding the market and strategically engaging in events resonates with the next generation of event-goers
  • The role of technology, such as ticketing systems, in enhancing the fan experience at events
  • The importance of leveraging social media platforms like Instagram for event promotion and engagement Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: And so, as a proud Victorian, that spiel is a spiel that I do give when I'm overseas when they say, “What is Melbourne like?”

I, you know, there's all these football games and there's major events and yeah, it does get, uh, I have had arguments with Rich Clark. He argues that it's London and I'm like, no, I think we've got you covered. So from a government point of view, is it part engaging the community here and then also the tourism play, as far as Visit Victoria is concerned?

Damien: So to give you a context of scale, we are involved in a 27 billion industry. So this is not just a nice thing to do on the side, in and around Melbourne. Our job is to absolutely make sure that people from both overseas and interstate regularly come to Melbourne and consume all that Melbourne and the region or the state of Victoria has to offer.

And obviously to make sure that people who live in and around Melbourne have that opportunity. So I would say for anyone growing up in Melbourne or listening to this in Melbourne, it is without question on a global scale, a real privilege. And I get the chance and the opportunity to travel extensively around the world.

We presented recently at a conference in Denmark, in Aarhus. And it was fascinating for me to see how the cities that you would think are well advanced in global cities, cities like Paris, like Los Angeles, both of them applying for the Olympic Games, London, New York, Berlin. Munich, you know, they all wanted to spend time with us to understand how on earth we have such an incredibly strong major events program.

And equally, and very interestingly, why it is that our facilities, both sporting and cultural facilities, are so close and in such close proximity to the centre of the city. And that is unique globally and really sets us apart.

Sean: Yeah. Again, the Olympic Park, Melbourne Olympic Park precinct with the MCG and the tennis being close and Amy Park being there.

You know, again, when I'm talking to people in Richmond, I say it's a six pub walk and I'm at any of all of those venues. It's great being in the inner city, but it is unique having sports from an events point of view. But then when you talk to people, like Biden at the rebels and Dave Donner here at the storm and Collingwood, they're just, you've got all these high performance teams that are working in the same operating space that there's so much learning and stuff happening across there.

Damien: Well, one of the pieces of research that I did going back to my time running the A League was to get a sense of, you know, looking back then at league expansion and where you would put teams. What emerged is that Melbourne has more teams, not per capita, just more professional sporting franchises than any other city in the world.

Now, people don't quite understand that. Of course, the AFL has the group that they have, but then when you start to include rugby union, rugby league, football, cricket, netball, basketball. When you go through the list, the franchise, from memory, it was 27 or 28 professional teams in a city of 4 or 5 million people.

Yeah, when there's maybe 10 in New York.

Sean: Correct. So, it is, there's no doubt it's, we're spoilt for choice, which also means in the role that we perform that we have to be incredibly discerning in terms of the events or the activities that we bring to Melbourne because people are so spoiled here that if it's not the best of the best, they sniff it out a mile away.

And a great example of that was, one of the first contracts or events, if you like, that we brought here. My tenure was Brazil versus Argentina at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And of course, 97,000 people came and the game was sold out in no time. And that's the level that we're at. That's the level that we expect.

And that's the level that our public expects here.

Connect with Damien de BohunListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Melbourne is major events, Damien de Bohun appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek CEO series episode, Sean Callanan chats with Christine Finnegan of Tasmania JackJumpers

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Community engagement and partnerships are crucial for the success of clubs
• Success in sports requires both on-court performance and off-court sustainability
• Importance of high-touch engagements and unique fan experience in building a brand
• Collaboration between different sports codes benefits everyone
• How Tassie rallied behind the JackJumpers inaugural NBL Championship win Listen to Christine Finnegan on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Christine Finnegan on LinkedIn and let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow the JackJumpers across social media: + Twitter – @JackJumpers + LinkedIn – @Tasmania JackJumpers + Facebook – @TasmaniaJackJumpers + Instagram – @jackjumpers + YouTube – @TasmaniaJackJumpers + TikTok – @tasjackjumpers * Recommendation + JACK, MHA – Mental Health Advocacy * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Tommy Greer – South East Melbourne Phoenix + Stu Taggart – Illawarra Hawks + Jeremy Loeliger – NBL * Throwback episodes you may have missed + Importance of keeping the local community engaged in Vegas, Steve Pastorino + Storytelling and creating more hero profiles, Zarah Al-Kudcy + Importance of sponsorship activations, Kim Skildum-Reid As discussed on the podcastIsland Defended, Congrats to the JackJumpers

Island Defended

We were blown away with all the entries showing us how you Defend the Island. Thank you to everyone who painted their workplace, home, or school green or sent in a message of support throughout the Finals Series.

Congratulations to our winners pic.twitter.com/bAekrIlWsI

— Tasmania JackJumpers (@JackJumpers) April 15, 2024

Community Support

The moment we won the Championship & made history

Thank you Ant Army, you truly are the best! pic.twitter.com/4xXHgmMrsC

— Tasmania JackJumpers (@JackJumpers) May 5, 2024

Legend Scott Roth

Over the last few weeks Head Coach Scott Roth head North to visit schools in the North & North West

Many of these schools have been involved in our Huon Schools Program or entered the Defend the Island competition through out the Finals Series. pic.twitter.com/As9aAmuQQK

— Tasmania JackJumpers (@JackJumpers) April 19, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Building a winner with competence and warmth – Christine Finnegan, Tasmania JackJumpers appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Kim Skildum-Reid, Managing Director of Power Sponsorship from episode 278.

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Kim and Sean discussed importance of sponsorship activations.

• • Understanding the audience is crucial for effective sponsorship activations.
  • Sponsorship is measurable in a multi-faceted and textured way.
  • Organizations need to adapt to the increasing sophistication of sponsors.
  • The future of sponsorships points to fewer but larger and better-measured sponsorships.
  • Sponsorships provide an avenue for brands to connect with their audience authentically. Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: I guess moving away, is there a way to better collaborate? Like when I talk to the sponsors and they give the traditional stuff, you know, uh, signage at the stadium or signage on a jersey, those kinds of things. And then they say, but of course you can activate and whether that's included in their proposal to say, we could do these cool digital campaigns and in-stadium pieces.

Kim: I'm not really a huge fan of turnkey sponsorships. I'm not. I think that the sponsor, if they're going to do this, they should just commit because integrating it across everything that they do is really where they're going to get the most value. So going, oh, we can do this digital activation and all that.

That's basically saying we can do these, you know, guaranteed mentions with some cute promotion around it. It's not nearly meaty enough. So they need to actually get the sponsor engaged and intrinsically involved with that. But yeah, I mean, I think that the focus on activations by rights holders has hurt everybody. You know, as you said, they sort of sell what they know.

And so, used to be, you know, 10 years ago or so, activation and leverage meant exactly the same thing, but then people, you know, like a team or whatever would say, and then you get an activation space and an activation space is basically defined as it's a space at a stadium or some venue or whatever, where they can do something with the in-person fans.

You know, I mean, you got people spending ridiculous amounts of money to put 200 people through a virtual reality thing, or, you know, um, how high can you jump into basketball and all that kind of stuff. All that is activation spaces. And then, and so you ended up with this hyper focus on what is a sponsor going to do on site.

And these things tend to be high touch, low reach and expensive. They need a lot of people. They're only going to reach a certain proportion of the people that are bums on seats. And they do tend to be expensive. Whereas if you think about leverage, I always talk about how activation is like a component of leverage.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm not saying doing stuff on site is a bad thing at all, but you're leaving out all of these remote fans. You're leaving out the customers of the sponsor and their consumers, their potential consumers and their staff all are left out of that.

Whereas leverage does something on site maybe, and also does all this digital stuff and does staff programs. And it launches new products and does market research and all this ton, tons of other stuff. So I think that if coming out of this, that we end up with both sponsors and rights holders talking about activation as being that thing that happens on site as part of a larger leverage program that is multifaceted and comes together in a really interesting, strategic way for each of those sponsors, that'll be a real big win for our industry.

That will be huge.

Sean: And so one of the things that sometimes, uh, from the rights holder side, they struggle with is understanding what to put a value on that space. Um, like they have got, you know, they've got their history of, we know what we're going to value that space, that four by four spot in the stadium.

And that's what they sell it for, but they've had trouble in going, what is the value of our million, you know, a hundred thousand fans or a million digital fans? What does that look like?. How have you seen that push pull on both sides to try to figure out what that value is?

Kim: That whole valuation thing is just a total giant furphy.

Sean: Yeah.

Kim: I mean, I just think it's ridiculous. There's an industry that's grown up around it that says it's legitimate, but it's not. Because what you're actually doing is a rights holder. If you're selling a sponsorship is you're selling something that is bespoke and it's purpose-built for that sponsor. And it's going to have, even those same complements of benefits are going to have different values for different sponsors.

Like for instance, let's say that you're a world-beating, giant basketball team in America. Right. So you can sell the same benefits to the one location, big, the best sports sporting goods store in town, one location, family-owned, one location.

Right. And you can give them a set of benefits that is going to give them amazing digital. They're going to do so much with it. You know, I mean, it's going to be just amazing. Right. But then if you turned around and sold that same thing to Dick's Sporting Goods or somebody else that has a big regional or national footprint, it is potentially leverageable across a much larger footprint of people.

So the same benefits are worth completely different amounts of money. So trying to put a value on a specific benefit, like, you know, here's our three by three meters space that you can have a four by four or whatever it is unless you would normally sell that a la carte, like tickets, tickets have a value, the value is on the front and, or, or a hospitality suite, for instance, where you don't have to be a sponsor to have a hospitality suite.

Aside from those things, as a component of a larger sponsorship, a sponsorship is always going to be worth more than the sum of the parts if it's actually put together well and in a strategic way. So going, how much is that thing worth? You know, how much is the whole sponsorship worth?

Don't try to break those things out. It's making a rod for your own back.

Sean: Yeah. And I do think

Kim: frankly, don't care that much. It just wants something that

Sean: works. But it is a real pain point or a worry point. They're like, Oh, we need to know what, you know, and I've done it, you know, Oh, we need to know what that Facebook post is worth and that Twitter post is worth.

And it's like, I understand that. I understand it. And I, and I can tell you like, Oh, that post is worth a thousand dollars and you do a, you know, 10, a hundred of them. It made us with a hundred thousand dollars. Would you pay a hundred thousand dollars? They go, no. So it's like, why did we do the exercise?

We do something completely different than that. Yeah.

Sean: So, I mean, but really you're, uh, focusing on what the sponsor wants and what's going to work for them.

Connect with Kim Skildum-ReidListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Importance of sponsorship activations, Kim Skildum-Reid appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek CEO series episode, Sean Callanan chats with Andrew Perry of PREPD

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Understanding the science of dehydration and it's impact on performance
• The role of authenticity in PREPD partnerships
• How word of mouth grow the customer and fan base for PREPD
• Why the science translates outside sports with solutions for Mining and School Children
• PREPD's growth strategy and capital raise on Birchal
• Why disrupting the sports hydration market is needed
• Why Sean invested in PREPD vis Birchal Listen to Andrew Perry on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcastFind out more about the PREPD Birchal raise, closes soon.

• Connect with Andrew Perry on LinkedIn, let him know you listened to the episode.
• Follow PREPD across social media and
  • Twitter – @prepdhydration
  • LinkedIn – @PREPD
  • Facebook – @prepdhydration
  • Instagram – @prepdhydration
  • YouTube – @prepd
  • TikTok – @prepdhydration
• Recommendations by Andrew
  • Travis Head – @travishead34
  • Everyday Ultra Podcast – by @joecorcione
  • Strava
• Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2
• Conference dates
  • SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024
• Episodes you should listen to
  • Tim Silvers – Adelaide Crows
  • Christina Matthews – WA Cricket Association
  • Jennifer van Dijk – SUPERPLASTIC

Full Disclosure: Sean Callanan has invested in PREPD, please seek your own financial advice should you seek to invest.

As discussed on the podcastCrowdfunding raise

PREPD Ambassadors

Safe to Work Magazine feature

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Zarah Al-Kudcy from episode 193, who was at the F1 when the episode was recorded, and is now Commercial Director at Chelsea Football Club.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Zarah and Sean discussed the narrative strategy adopted by Formula 1, with a concentrated focus on continuous storytelling and the creation of more ‘hero profiles.'

• Zarah discusses the importance of storytelling in the context of sports
• The concept of ‘hero profiles' is underscored as a vital component in the narrative strategy of F1
• Zarah explains how these narrative techniques contribute to the overall fan experience and engagement.
• The potential benefits of this approach for the growth and popularity of the sport
• The conversation also touches upon the potential impact of this strategy on the marketing and promotional aspects Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: And F1 has always been you know that you have had that driver focus and we're seeing other sports you know the NBA in particular like really pushing the athlete driven story. You know people follow the stars and the drivers definitely are the stars in F1 so it is a bit of that balance to be promoting the stars the drivers they are the story. But then there's so many stories behind them they can get told that the fans that are deeper in want to hear.

Zarah: Yeah and I think one of the things that we're looking to do because it's all fan focused. F1 is telling more stories and building more hero profiles I should say the NBA did a brilliant job with it. And actually I find it fascinating because the sort of player trades in the NBA happen so much they don't have as much of a tribal nature as maybe you do in soccer. And yes I mean yes okay LeBron got his jersey back when he left Cleveland but was forgiven when he came back and won a title.

Zarah: But at the same time it's less it is I find interesting how you know a lot of players can switch quite a lot and I think we're seeing even in Premier League so much of a one team player anymore and people are moving around.

Sean: Well but but but I think what's happening in the NBA and I think a little bit in football as well is that people are following both their team but then they're also saying I follow that player. So that's why they're tuning in. And you know if you take a look at the NBA in the NFL one of the things or you know baseball to a lesser extent like a lot of people say you know I follow the NFL but I don't get to see their face because they're underneath the helmet all the time. Where NBA players are always visible. But one thing I think F1does well even though the drivers are always underneath when they're driving you know they're very recognizable and they're promoted and then you know there were inches of articles this week just on Sebastian Vettel's haircut. Yeah it's the kind of thing so there is a good job in actually doing those hero pieces.

Zarah: So you're right to point out the helmet issue as well I mean I don't know if you saw the graphics change this weekend. And you have seen the driving test on the side we've now included the faces of the drivers. Yes well not just the names and the opening sequence again is all about heroing the drivers and building those profiles as well.

Zarah: So yeah helmets are a challenge sometimes.

Connect with Zarah Al-KudcyListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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Due to recent travel and scheduling issues we don’t have a new episode. However I was very fortunate to connect with Richard Clarke early in my podcasting journey with some great advice and then he shared great insights from his role at Arsenal, many which I have shared on stage and with clients over the years.

Good listen for those working in digital space and looking to engage their fans all over the world.

If you have a SportsBiz CEO or a colleague who's Rockstar in your team, feel free to nominate.

Listen to the episode replayConnect with Richard ClarkeNeed a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Steve Pastorino from episode 229, who was at the Las Vegas Lights FC and is now Director, Business Development at Blackhawk Network

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Steve and Sean discussed the compelling theme of keeping the local community engaged and the early days of Las Vegas's transformation into a sports town.

• The impact of community engagement for sports teams and events
• The role of innovation in creating captivating experiences for fans
• The unique challenges and opportunities of building sports culture in Las Vegas
• The importance of multilingual communication in diverse communities
• The advent of sports betting and its impact on the sports industry Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AISean: What do you think is a bit of myth busting involved because you ever thought as a tourist destination and headed people in. How do you get rusted on fans and season ticket holders and cheeks on the seats. What have you found so far that's been counted to that. How much has been the local community getting behind the teams and have you tapped into that tourist market?

Steve: Sure. Well as contrary to what many of my colleagues believe I do not live in a penthouse in the Bellagio or you know in Caesar's Palace. Yet we have subdivisions and neighborhoods and communities here and the lights are hyper focused on being the team for those of us that live work and play here in Las Vegas one hundred percent it's a locals play. We don't spend a penny trying to convince somebody on a Saturday night that a Lights' game is a better alternative than Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, Elton John or whoever is in residence here. The strip when everybody first thinks of Las Vegas can be a very expensive place to buy a ticket and be a very expensive place to park your car can be a very expensive place to buy a beer or a cocktail. And so with soccer we felt that with a 20 dollar average ticket price a six dollar beer price and five dollars to park we would have something that the families here who don't necessarily spend every waking moment at the craps table or you know attending one of these shows knew we'd have something for locals and one hundred percent we appeal to the two point three million people that live here in the Las Vegas Valley. And if there's a soccer purist who has seen our jersey, heard about our coach players dispensary partnership it doesn't matter that finds us. We love having them and we've had fans from around the globe visit us at Cashman Field and downtown Las Vegas. But we we can't compete against the Strip. So we don't even try.

Sean: And you did talk about that before bet that Vegas is transforming into a sports town. The Knights – the big success story there and the writers on the why do you think there's enough room for everybody to coexist in Las Vegas.

Steve: Absolutely. The Golden Knights for all of their success they have also developed a better reputation than on any given night 25, 30, 40 percent of the fanbase may be from out of town. And believe me if I lived in Edmonton, Canada and in February the Oilers were going to be playing in Las Vegas. I would take a long weekend and come down here. Fans are finding a year ago it was cheaper to fly from Toronto to Las Vegas stay two nights in a hotel and buy tickets on the secondary market than it was to buy two tickets for Toronto Maple Leafs game in the height of the season demand is so high for tickets particularly in some northern markets that historically performed very well in the NHL Minnesota, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto,etc. So there's plenty of room and when the Raiders come to town I think the same is going to apply to every American football fan who wants to see their team play in the latest billion dollar stadium that happens to be across the street from the strip in Las Vegas. So I've firmly held and said if anyone is asked and I think the Raiders are going to be a massive success because they only have to sell 10 events a year and they will have a 60000 person building to fill on an average weekend in Las Vegas every four days. Five hundred thousand tourists or business people come through the airport. Five hundred thousand people new people every Wednesday and every Saturday whatever the days of the week are. And you know this is like a you know this is the population of a midsized Midwestern city that is turning over every three days here in Las Vegas. So it's expensive to compete in the tourist industry. But there's plenty of business.

Steve: I think there's 25000 hotel rooms under construction right now in Las Vegas. That's more than a lot of cities have. That'll bring the base of the hotel rooms in this town to close to 200 thousand hotels or hotel rooms. So there's plenty of room. And again coming back to what we do at the Lights we're all about the folks that live here and can afford to and choose to bring their family out for entertainment soccer being the most popular game in the world makes it very easy to sell the product.

Connect with Steve PastorinoListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek CEO series episode, Sean Callanan chats with Nick Sautner of Eden Park

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• How stadium landscape has evolved and the future of stadium experiences
• Impact of sporting events and concerts at Eden Park
• Why stadiums should continually adapt for sustainability and innovation
• Nick’s main takeaways from the SportNXT conference
• Why you want to board the KFC Gravy Train Listen to Nick Sautner on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Nick Sautner on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter/X (@NickSautner), let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow Eden Park across social media: + Twitter – @edenparknz + LinkedIn – @Eden Park, New Zealand + Facebook – @Eden Park + Instagram – @edenparknz + YouTube – @Eden Park * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Upcoming Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Andrew Pragnell – New Zealand Football + Jen Watt – North Melbourne FC + Jane Fernandez – FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 + Lewis O’Flynn – MCC As discussed on the podcastFIFAWWC magical opening night at Eden Park

The ninth @FIFAWWC is here

A wonderful opening ceremony at Eden Park ahead of the first match of the tournament! pic.twitter.com/oXKZCfcVjp

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) July 20, 2023

Art x Football

Honoured to receive the special present – frame pictures of the first @FIFAWWC goal scored by @HannahWilkinso1 from @edenparknz CEO @NickSautner tonight. Thank you and your brilliant team for all the hard work to make this tournament so memorable .#BeyondGreatness pic.twitter.com/nUkPceToCi

— Fatma Samoura (@fatma_samoura) August 11, 2023

PINK concert

Live Nation is bringing P!NK’s Summer Carnival tour to Eden Park!

Three-time Grammy Award-winning international pop icon @pink will perform at Eden Park on 8 March 2024.

Tickets on sale next Fri 17 Feb at 10am. Visit https://t.co/Lw8GPfy4cu for more info #Pink #edenparknz pic.twitter.com/EPWtoyhPWL

— Eden Park, Auckland (@edenparknz) February 8, 2023

Stadium Economic

An impact evaluation report released by the New Zealand government has revealed that this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup delivered a net economic benefit of NZ$109.5m for the country. https://t.co/U6JxBdn5PR via @stadiumbusiness

— Eden Park, Auckland (@edenparknz) December 19, 2023

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Jeff Reibel, CEO of North Queensland Cowboys from episode 308,

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Jeff and Sean discussed unique proposition of partnerships.

• • Insights on how partnerships in the sports industry can be leveraged for mutual benefit
  • Challenges and opportunities in creating and managing partnerships
  • Strategies for forging successful partnerships and the key factors for maintaining these relationships
  • Exploring how these partnerships can contribute to the overall success of a sports organization Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: How do you address the challenges and opportunities of being remote in the North, away from the hustle of Sydney, yet having a large presence? How do you promote Townsville both locally, leveraging the social outreach opportunity, and nationally, through TV and digital mediums, compared to the ease of being in Sydney? What are the unique challenges and opportunities Townsville presents?

Jeff: Attracting people to North Queensland was challenging initially. However, our brand's growing recognition has drawn in larger companies. Next year marks our 20th year as North Queensland Toyota Cowboys, a partnership we're proud of. Toyota's ten local dealerships play a vital role, allowing us to engage with the community.

We have partners with over 20 years of loyalty who have remained with us through ups and downs. Our club structure prioritizes relationships; we have three account executives taking care of our partners. We're the second largest commercial program in the NRL with arguably the longest longevity, which is a testament to our strong relationships.

Once people experience North Queensland, they appreciate the support structure we offer, which is even more important for players moving here from far away. When a player relocates here, they're not just changing teams, they're moving their entire life. We therefore ensure a tight-knit community supports them. We can engage with both local and national interests, demonstrating that we can hold our own and punch above our weight.

Connect with Jeff ReibelListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Shelly Wilkes, EVP – Marketing & Social Responsibility at the Orlando Magic

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Shelley's foray into sports and key lessons from her career journey
• Importance of embracing the journey over focusing on what your ideal job is
• Preparedness to seize opportunities in sports, stepping up at Lakeland Magic
• The broad scope of skills you can learn and develop at developmental leagues like the NBA's G-League
• Insights on game-day presentation, marketing, and community engagement at the Orlando Magic
• Strategic planning behind the Orlando Magic's 35th year and Shaq's jersey retirement Listen to Shelly Wilkes on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Shelly Wilkes on LinkedIn and let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow Orlando Magic across social media: + Twitter – @OrlandoMagic + LinkedIn – @Orlando Magic + Facebook – @Orlando Magic + Instagram – @orlandomagic + TikTok – @orlandomagic + YouTube – @Orlando Magic * Recommendations + IG – @togethxr + The Old Man and the Three Podcast * Checkout the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Upcoming Conference we can meet + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Jen Fusci – Dallas Wings + Jentry Mullins – Brooklyn Nets + Jacob Rosen – Memphis Grizzlies + Jay Riola – Orlando Magic As discussed on the podcastPlayoffs clinched (soon after we recorded the interview)

STAMPED pic.twitter.com/y8paTfRLRK

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) April 14, 2024

Tune in for the Magic's theme song

OFFICIAL: Orlando Magic theme song w lyrics

LISTEN https://t.co/9DrWSCVg4I pic.twitter.com/FFc1TMUxx5

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) April 14, 2024

35th Anniversary and Shaq retirement Jersey

In celebration of our 35th anniversary this season, we will officially retire jersey #32 in honor of Shaquille O’Neal during a postgame ceremony on Tuesday, February 13.

O’Neal becomes the first player in franchise history to have his number retired pic.twitter.com/i5zk1b6IR9

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) January 5, 2024

Shaq’s speech ICYMI

Shaquille O'Neal's full speech during his jersey retirement night in Orlando pic.twitter.com/hHPp1lv6kq

— NBA (@NBA) February 14, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Paul Rogers from episode 189, who was at AS Roma and now Investment Analyst at Raptor Group.

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Paul and Sean discussed the strategies and challenges involved in localising content for international fanbase.

• Importance of understanding and respecting the cultural nuances of different regions.
• The use of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter in crafting a global communication strategy.
• The role of humor and engaging content in attracting and retaining fans.
• The balance between maintaining a traditional appeal for hardcore fans and innovating for the new audience.
• The significance of feedback and constant evolution in the content strategy. Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: Going back to your point about the internet, that early time, again, it was like the community, like you were, you'd post something and you'd be responding because you, the audience was still relatively small, but growing and you had that community feel, how did you go from like, you roll it out and you're starting to put your content and you're testing what's working to then this audience and this, the numbers just skyrocket. You know, there were a few levers that were pulled around, what was happening with Twitter and that caused growth.

And then, you know, Facebook with pages and stuff like that, that really caused a big spike. How did you go through that exceptional growth period that a lot of the clubs went through?

Paul: I think it was like, well, obviously that was just like, everyone was just getting on it and at the same time, football clubs were getting on it. The general public was getting on it. So like, and then it made sense. And then people started following different, you'd follow more than one club. It was a different audience. You know, I always knew it was, it was a little bit sort of problematic that you knew that you're building this on someone else's platform.

And I always knew that. And we had this sort of website competing with it. So you own the website, it's what, you know, those metrics are probably better for you. People are selling onto that platform. And, and, you know, and we were traditional journalists, you know, metamorphosing into social media people.

But, you know, I always knew, let's not go all in on social media and Arsenal. I remember Arsenal went all in on, and Arsenal and Liverpool used to share stats on website stats. We were quite close in terms of that. And we always had like higher website traffic than them. But then they all went in on social media.

A lot heavier than Liverpool sort of did. And then their website traffic went right down, but their social media traffic went up, and their social media followers went up. And we would look at it and sort of like, you know, is it the right thing to do? Is it the wrong thing? And I don't think there was any right or wrong.

I think time's proved, you know, not that you would ever change what you did. But the risks that we knew there was a risk, we knew that Facebook at any point could just change the, you know, I always thought it wouldn't be so much they would cut reach or organic or the algorithms, I actually thought at some point they could charge, they could charge by followers, you know, they could say to the big brands, hang on, why are we doing this?

It's like the yellow pages or something, you know, and, um, And I always thought that could happen. So it was sort of like, it was sort of arm's length a bit. We were like first on, but it wasn't like, let's give them everything. You know, we've still got to keep a website afloat and stuff. I think the big game changer for us, Liverpool, was I was looking at our metrics around our website and our website traffic would have been, if I looked at the top 10 countries, it was, I think, 7 or 8 of the top 10 countries on Liverpool's website, in terms of traffic were English speaking. So it would have been, it actually was, um, the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia, um, Malaysia, Singapore.

You know, and maybe Denmark or somewhere would have been in there or Norway certainly would have been in there, but generally English speaking countries. When I started to look at Facebook in great detail, our number one country was the UK and then it was Indonesia, then it was Thailand, then it was Malaysia, India would have been somewhere in there, but basically Mexico, Colombia.

Basically, I worked out something like seven or eight of the top 10 countries on Facebook for Liverpool were foreign speaking, foreign language. But on the website, it was all English. So I thought, well, instead of just launching new websites in all these languages, everyone's on social media. Why don't we launch international local language social media and do it localized rather than translation?

Sean: And that was the key thing. And so that's when you did that, that split of setting up regional based social media. Produce content for that market, in that language, in that tone. And so it was a different, you know, a different approach, but that, that's what worked and connected with those markets. Like we set up, we were quick to set up social media accounts for the club when we decided to go down the international route.

Yeah, we were basically very quick again with that. We knew there was an audience because the audience was there on Facebook following the club, they just weren't consuming the content because they couldn't understand it. So we had to localize content. Generally it was about language. Um, the language was a barrier.

In some cases, like when we did with India, it was about, just more about localisation. It was more about personalising and giving a different sort of feel to those fans. And then that, did that feed into, you know, the international tours and that kind of stuff? Because, you know, if you're saying, hey, we're gonna Tour in this part of the world, you go put that on the standard Liverpool channels, they become more and more cluttered.

And so it gave you a little bit of that segmentation. You know, people in, people in London don't want to really know a lot about the Australian tour, but everyone in Australia wants to know everything about it. And if it gives, did it give you a bit of, I guess, a bit of flexibility?

Paul: Yeah, I think, I think the fans want to know everything that's happening about the club, but what it meant was that we could actually just deliver content in potentially a different way.

If it's a language issue. Um, then it, then, then we're obviously, we're breaking down the barrier of language, but, but one thing we were finding with Australia was, you know, even though it's English language, we were posting at the wrong time. So, you know, and it was a very different, um, it was a very different experience for those fans to be able to, to get content out their time.

And you can, yeah, you can just schedule the content. And again, this is, you know. We're not just talking Facebook specifically because, some have algorithms and it would still pop up, but if you're posting at 4am in the morning and your fans aren't seeing it, like it's a big thing

Connect with Paul RogersListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Dean Madders, GM – Marketing & Consumer of Gold Coast Titans

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Engaging local fans to promote stadium and community development
• The crucial role of data automation in sports and its evolution
• Diversifying the game day experience beyond the win or loss outcome
• Adapting to changes in the consumption of sports and entertainment
• Leveraging digital to engage fans and enhance brand promotion
• Flexibility on Digital to Dollars workshop Listen to Dean Madders on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Dean Madders on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter (@deanmadders), let him know you listened to the episode. * Follow Gold Coast Titans across social media: + Twitter – @GCTitans + LinkedIn – Gold Coast Titans + Facebook – @GCTitans + Instagram – @gctitans + YouTube – Gold Coast Titans + TikTok – @gctitans * Recommendation + Jess Smith – Stewart-Haas Racing * Check out the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Have you listened to this Throwback episodes? + Evolution of social media – Jessica Ivers + Brand campaigns and the role of digital – Kevin Kinghorn + Technology advancements in Golf – Kevin Bain * Upcoming Travel + Detroit – NFL Draft April 23-28 + Los Angeles – April 28-30 + Ping Sean to catch up * Upcoming Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Steve Mitchell – Gold Coast Titans + Glenn Critchley – One NZ Warriors + Jeff Reibel – North Queensland Cowboys As discussed on the podcastCommunity Development

School holiday fun

Full Gallery: https://t.co/f5BsQLFihW pic.twitter.com/mmTVSDjzZz

— Gold Coast Titans (@GCTitans) April 9, 2024

Fan Engagement

Member Alert: Townsville and Canberra 'meet the team' opportunities incoming.https://t.co/mfZGVhkGoO

— Gold Coast Titans (@GCTitans) April 3, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Kevin Bain from episode 225, who was at the R&A when the episode was recorded, and now Technical Product Manager | Product Lead at Arsenal F.C

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Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Kevin and Sean discusses the challenges of rolling out new technology advancements on golf courses. A look into the intersection of sports and technology, focusing on the unique challenges faced when introducing digital innovation into a traditional sport like golf.

• The role of mobile phones and WiFi in changing the infrastructure requirements at golf events.
• The challenges of implementing digital advancements in the traditional setting of a golf course.
• The importance of understanding the tech needs of golf fans to improve their experience.
• The process of redeveloping apps and digital platforms to better serve the golf community.
• The future of golf, through the lens of digital transformation and technology integration. Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So what kind of challenges are involved when rolling out a network over a large expanse of a golf course and links course, especially considering the fan's growing appetite for data?

Kevin: The main one is ensuring that the golf course isn't affected. When hosting the Open, a golf course looks very different compared to its year-round appearance. We have a number of temporary infrastructures like grandstands and media centers. We must ensure that when we leave, the members and visitors who come back to play the golf courses are not affected.

So we have to work about two years out. We're doing planning now for St. George's in 2020 and St. Andrew's in 2021 to install the fiber ring that goes under the golf course. If we need to run a stretch of that over a fairway, we need to allow the gatekeepers time for the course to recover.

A lot of planning is required to ensure not just the network, but the water, waste, and electricity needs are met for all these areas. It's quite a skill to see an empty golf course and plan where the TV studios and grandstands will go, and therefore where the exit points for all the node boxes need to be.

Sean: It's definitely a utility, just like toilets and things like that. Especially in your case, you have to plan and ensure that you can get all the cabling and everything that's needed, just like for waste. It's not the same as in a stadium where you can just hide it under seats or string it along the roof. You physically have to integrate it with the environment.

Kevin: Yes, absolutely. It's something we've been doing since the first public Wi-Fi we had available at Muirfield in 2013. And since then it's just grown. The network capacity has grown, the requirements on it have grown. It's a skill that the guys in the championships team have, and it's great to be able to work with them, learn from them and ultimately ensure that even small things, like running cabling for a camera by a green side bunker, are planned for.

Sean: And you've got the expanding requirements of broadcasters who want more capacity, but they also want terrific shots where they don't see lots of cables. They want everything hidden. They want the magic of it without being able to see any of it when they have the high def shot of the green or the pass across the fairway.

Kevin: Yes, absolutely. So a couple of years ago, we took the production of the main world feed of the broadcast in-house to allow us to have a bit more control over the pictures. Most of our primary broadcasters will still bring some additional cameras, and they've done some really cool stuff. But it's a big challenge for links golf from a golfer's perspective. It's the way the course plays, the undulations, the weather, etc. We really need to make sure that people can appreciate all the bumps and undulations and runs that occur on links courses, which often means shooting from lower down, which brings challenges.

Connect with Kevin BainListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Technology advancements in Golf, Kevin Bain appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, we replay a panel discussion from SportNXT titled “Amplifying Big Wins”, featuring Nadine Rabah from Collingwood FC, Spencer Retallack from Netball Australia, and Peter Filopoulos of Football Australia.

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• Challenges and opportunities of extending brand campaigns
• Building a cohesive culture for a digital team that works
• Building trust with your high-performance teams, fans and media partners
• The significance of authentic storytelling in sports
• Understanding digital platforms and investing in growth
• How to claim your 50% off Pick My Brain offer if you've attended SportNXT Listen to SportNXT panel replay on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast Connect with SportNXT panels on LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter. Let them know you listened to the episode: + Nadine Rabah from Collingwood – Linkedin, Twitter (@NadineRabah25) + Spencer Retallack from Netball Australia – LinkedIn + Peter Filopoulos (former podcast guest) from Football Australia – LinkedIn, Twitter (@peterfilopoulos) * If you did attend, you have until APRIL 19 to book in your 50% off Pick My Brain offer – email Sean for the booking link* * Follow SportNXT across social media: + Twitter – @sportnxtau + LinkedIn – SportNXT + Instagram – @sportnxtau * Check out the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Travel update + Detroit – NFL Draft April 23-28 + Los Angeles – April 28-30 + Ping Sean to catch up or, even better, let's plan a workshop * Upcoming Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 24-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Jen Watt – North Melbourne FC + Andrew Ryan – FIBA Media + Episode 252 – Peter Filopoulos Clips from the panel discussionCollingwood – Julie McCreery Mother's Day Rev Up

Matildas – Til It's Done

Super Netball – We Are Here

Socials from SportNXTAmplifying Big Wins

Collingwood's Nadine Rabah underscores the significance of trust with partners and accessibility through diverse media. Spencer Rettalack of Super Netball discusses bridging the gap between athletes and grassroots, aiming for inclusivity and legacy showcasing. pic.twitter.com/1jRYKc9NLP

— SportNXT (@sportnxtau) March 19, 2024

Fun and Insightful discussion

A lot of fun, thanks @NadineRabah25 @peterfilopoulos & Spencer Retallack #sportnxt24 https://t.co/yPbFVkCxic

— Sean Callanan (@seancallanan) March 19, 2024

Panel feedback

Great time at @sportnxtau with @seancallanan, @NadineRabah25 & Spencer Rettalack discussing the power of amplifying big wins! Shared how we’ve grown the @Matildas brand with authentic storytelling & digital strategies. The #TilItsDone campaign’s viral success is just the… pic.twitter.com/uolBouwq6W

— Peter Filopoulos (@peterfilopoulos) March 20, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Amplifying Big Wins – SportNXT panel replay appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Kevin Kinghorn from episode 140, who was at the Vancouver Canucks when the episode was recorded, and now EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at the Portland Trail Blazers

Can't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?Key TakeawaysIn this Sports Geek Throwback, Kevin and Sean delve into the evolving landscape of brand campaigns and the increasingly significant role digital plays in these strategies:

• The importance of understanding what a sponsor truly wants and tailoring strategies accordingly.
• The value of developing a catalogue of case studies, both successful and unsuccessful, to inform future campaigns.
• The emphasis on fan engagement and experience, rather than chasing vanity metrics.
• The power of Facebook as a tool for identifying and interacting with fans.
• The need to keep things simple and efficient for fans, avoiding unnecessary complications in campaigns. Throwback TranscriptThis transcript has been lightly edited by AI

Sean: So, your role now is that you've got the content team that is keeping the fan engagement, ensuring Canucks fans are getting the information they're not getting from traditional media. Your team is really focused on the business outcomes from digital, whether it be ticket sales and brand partnerships and partnerships with your sponsors. Is that right?

Kevin: Yes, it is. A little bit bigger than that in the sense that any engagement with the fan through a digital channel is what we focus on. How are we building that relationship with the fan? How are we moving them down the funnel? We're creating a better experience for them with our organization, whether it's through the website, social media, a mobile app or even in person.

Sean: It's a unique transition to come from a journalistic background into the pure digital marketing space. So, how has your brand marketing and brand campaigns changed over the past five years and where does digital now fit?

Kevin: Yes, that's a great question. So, traditionally, we've gone out in August, our season starts in September, but we've gone for more of a traditional campaign. We were trying to get people with outdoor or TV or radio and that ran a little bit in a vacuum. Then we launched our sales campaign and again, we used some traditional channels but just to give you an idea, I think four or five years ago we spent five figures on digital advertising and now 90% of our budget's put against digital.

Connect with Kevin KinghornListen to full episodeSee you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Brand campaigns and the role of digital, Kevin Kinghorn appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Jen Fusci – Vice President, Ticket Sales & Service at Dallas Wings & Panther City Lacrosse
On this podcast, you'll learn about:

• The role of digital marketing and community efforts in ticketing
• Value of cross-department collaboration
• Jen's insights on key pillars of ticketing success
• Importance of understanding your audience and providing flexibility
• Benefits of inventory management and pricing analysis
• Athlete education & crisis prevention what we can learn from Brisbane Lions WhatsApp issues Listen to Jen Fusci on Sports GeekCan't see podcast player? Click here to listen

Pick my brainWant some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Resources from the podcast* Connect with Jen Fusci on LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter/X (@Fusci28), let her know you listened to the episode. * Follow Dallas Wings + Twitter – @DallasWings + LinkedIn – Dallas Wings + Facebook – @Dallas Wings + Instagram – @dallaswings + TikTok – @dallaswings + YouTube – @WNBADallasWings * Follow Panther City Lacrosse Club + Twitter – @PantherCityLax + LinkedIn – Panther City Lacrosse Club + Facebook – @Panther City Lacrosse Club + Instagram – @panthercitylax + TikTok – @panthercitylax + YouTube – @Panther City Lacrosse Club * Recommendation + Front Office Sports * Check out the Sports Geek Amplify Season 2 * Upcoming Travel + Detroit – NFL Draft April 23-28 + Los Angeles – April 28-30 + Ping Sean to catch up or, even better, let's plan a workshop * Upcoming Conference dates + SEAT in Las Vegas – June 23-26, 2024 * Episodes you should listen to + Jentry Mullins – Brooklyn Nets + Andrew Ryan – FIBA Media + Drew Bentley – DC United As discussed on the podcastCommunity efforts

Inspiring the next generation pic.twitter.com/luKiYDLUsD

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) March 7, 2024

Fans are everything

Our fans showed out @AUProSports pic.twitter.com/A8rCxXW1ig

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) March 3, 2024

See you at SEAT in Las VegasJoin Sean at SEAT Las Vegas in June. All attendees will have the option to claim a discounted Pick My Brain session.

Listen to Sports Geek* Apple Podcasts * Spotify * SEN app * Google Podcasts * Pocket Casts * YouTube * TuneIn * RSS feed Check out Sports Geek AmplifyThe post Understanding Your Audience: A Ticketing Perspective – Jen Fusci, Dallas Wings & Panther City Lacrosse appeared first on Sports Geek.

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In this episode of Sports Geek, Sean Callanan interviews Queens Gaming Collective's Justin Giangrande: On this podcast you'll learn about: Justin's agency background working with athletes Why Justin set up The Network Advisory How Queens Gaming Collective came together How brand activations are changing to cater for talented creators and gaming audiences Promoting makeup [...]

The post Justin Giangrande – Influencers meets Gaming appeared first on Sports Geek.

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