Leaders Sport Business Podcast

Manchester United have remained a market leading force in commercial activity despite a run of challenging seasons for onfield performance and results. Current front-of-shirt partner Snapdragon, a mobile phone chip manufacturing brand within the Qualcomm software empire, is entering the second year of a five-year deal worth a reported $375 million. It's a top-end fee for a position at a club that finished 15th last season. On the show this week, Qualcomm CMO Don McGuire and newly installed Manchester United Chief Business Officer Marc Armstrong join James Emmett to talk about how to make commercial and marketing impact through a challenging era of transition.

Warrington Wolves CEO Karl Fitzpatrick joins the podcast to discuss the ways in which his team and sport are attempting to widen their appeal. In conversation with Leaders' Content Director David Cushnan, he reflects on the realities of running a Super League team in the north west of England, surrounded by four Premier League football clubs; how the club - a mainstay of the Super League since its formation in 1996 - is evolving; and efforts to boost the sport's profile. As a former player, Fitzpatrick is also well-placed to consider IMG's impact on the sport since it signed a 12-year deal with the Rugby Football League and its commercial offshoot RL Commercial three years ago, with a mandate to transform the sport. --- Fitzpatrick was speaking in Manchester at last month's Leaders summer drinks, to mark the launch of the Manchester chapter of Leaders Club, our community for tomorrow's sports industry leaders. For more information on the membership, visit leadersinsport.com.

As The Championships begin, Wimbledon's Marketing and Commercial Director Usama Al-Qassab sets out what's new this year and how he's settled into his role over the past two years.In conversation with Leaders' Content Director, Al-Qassab discusses how the All England Lawn Tennis Club continues to balance history and tradition with innovation and technology; how conversations with brand and broadcast partners are changing; and how he's thinking about AI and its applications in and around The Championships.Plus he discusses the changes for the 2025 tournament, including line judging and the start time of the men's singles finals, plus Wimbledon's digital strategy and what his diary looks like during The Championships

Reigning Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles and four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson sit down with Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett in Cannes to discuss how track and field is being - and should be - disrupted.Lyles, who claimed gold in the blue riband event at Paris 2024, discusses his deliberate approach to personal brand-building, and what he likes and doesn’t like about the current structure of the sport.Then Johnson opens up about the successes and challenges he encountered launching Grand Slam Track, the new series he founded earlier this year, a week after the announcement that season one would end prematurely with one event to go. He also reflects on his own approach to leadership, raising money and team building.

Welcome to the first episode in a new series called The TikTok Gameplan. Over the course of several episodes across the year, we'll be exploring the social giant's approach to sport through the prism of some of its key executives and content creators. In this first episode of the series, we dig into TikTok's Gameplan for magnifying women's sport. To help us do that, we called upon the services of the Queen of TikTok herself, England goalkeeping legend Mary Earps, who announced her retirement from international football in May 2025, having won 53 caps and helped her country to a Euros win and a World Cup Final. She has also found herself central to the battle for mainstream recognition that women's football has been fighting, particularly through the campaign to get Nike to manufacture and sell her replica goalkeeper jerseys for women. Joining Mary and Leaders' Managing Director Laura McQueen were TikTok's North American sports lead Kat Marquez, and former basketball player and coach Chloe Pavlech, who is now Chief Growth Officer of start-up 3x3 women's basketball league Unrivaled.

Katlyn Gao, CEO of LOVB (League One Volleyball) and Alex Bazzell, President and Co-Founder of Unrivaled Basketball join Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett to discuss why women’s sport was top of the agenda in Cannes this year. Gao charts the story so far for LOVB as it builds its own brand – and looks to attract brands - and considers the prominent role of the league’s athletes in its storytelling approach. Bazzell lays out the plan to build 3x3 women’s basketball property Unrivaled into sport’s next billion dollar league franchise. He reviews the first year and reveals where he's looking for inspiration as Unrivaled grows. James also chats to Deirdre Lester, CEO of western sports media and entertainment company Teton Ridge, which is transforming the way cowboy culture and rodeo is packaged up and delivered to consumers.

Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan dust off the mics to discuss what’s worth knowing this week in the global business of sport.They examine some of the sports organisations currently on significant recruitment drives - Relevent Football Partners, Premier League Studios, Glasgow 2026 and the Cadillac F1 team among them - and reflect on a remarkable weekend of Grand Slam tennis at Roland Garros. Plus why Fulham FC’s new Riverside Stand might be the new model for stadium entertainment offerings.There’s also a look ahead to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity - where James will be next week and sport will again be well represented. Stagwell Chief Brand Officer Beth Sidhu drops by to preview this year’s Sport Beach.

Outgoing Meta wearables chief Dan Reed joins the Leaders Sport Business podcast this week. Having announced his departure from the technology giant earlier this month, Reed reflects on 11 years at the helm of various departments at Facebook and then Meta. Hired out of his role as President of the NBA's G League, Reed initially joined Facebook to head up its nascent sports activity as Director of Global Sports Partnerships in 2014. Building out a crack team - which included the likes of Peter Hutton, Joyee Biswas, Ronan Joyce, Jordan Gruber, and Nick Shaw among many others - Reed oversaw the development of Facebook Live as a viable sports streaming platform, 'experimenting' with hundreds of millions of dollars of rights as the company tested different strategic directions in sport. As VP of Global Sports and Media Partnerships, Reed developed the growing content creator ecosystem inside Facebook's portfolio of apps, and tailored new monetization models for all manner of sports-focused entities and individuals. And as COO of Reality Labs, essentially Meta's wearables division, Reed drove a multi-billion dollar business in AI, AR, VR and Mixed Reality products, pioneering what many believe will be the next iteration of mass-adopted connected devices through the Meta Rayban partnership.

Major League Baseball’s CMO and the President of the Harlem Globetrotters join Leaders Content Director David Cushnan in New York on the fringes of 4se, SBJ’s sport-meets-entertainment conference.MLB’s Uzma Rawn Dowler explains how the league’s MLB Life platform is at the heart of its growing activity on fashion, music, gaming, arts and entertainment, and how she’s managing her role as the league’s CMO and SVP, Global Partnerships.Harlem Globetrotters President Keith Dawkins shares how he’s trying to turn the storied organisation, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, from a touring show into a ‘beloved global entertainment brand’.And Daniel Yaw-Miller, who writes about and observes everything going on at the intersection of sport, culture and fashion, reviews what he heard at 4se, including detail of the NFL’s fashion strategy and the growing influence of the league’s Fashion Editor Kyle Smith.

World Snooker Tour CEO Simon Brownell reflects on crowning a Chinese champion, alongside Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan.In a wide-ranging conversation just after WST's debrief of this year's tournament, Brownell discusses the plan to maximise Zhao Xintong's success at the Crucible, in China and beyond; Sheffield's future as host of the World Championships; the sport's Olympic hopes and global ambitions; and how to engage a new generation of fans.