SportsPro Podcast

In 2025, fans in 160 countries bought tickets to an F1 Grand Prix, a 42 per cent increase from six years ago, according to data from Viagogo.
With the sport enjoying an unprecedented wave of global popularity, Viagogo senses an opportunity to stimulate and serve even greater demand for tickets.
Shaun Stewart, vice president of open distribution at Viagogo, explains how innovative ticketing strategies and global demand are reshaping the way fans interact with F1.

Who are the most marketable athletes in the world? Which sports stars are hot property right now? And who has already reached their commercial ceiling?
 
In this special edition of the SportsPro Podcast, Michael Long and Katie Preston join Sam Carp to unpack the 17th annual list of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes, powered by NorthStar Solutions Group.
 
On the back of 12 months that included the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and a Fifa World Cup, the trio run through the top ten before picking out the biggest storylines from this year’s ranking.
 
And as the concept of athlete marketability continues to evolve, NorthStar founder, president and CEO Chris Collins dials in to explain how the methodology behind the list has developed.
 
Download the expanded top 150 and more from this year’s ranking at: https://www.sportspro.com/projects/50-most-marketable/

Formula One has confirmed a long-awaited return to Africa, with a ten-year deal to stage a race in Rwanda from the early 2030s.

BlackBook Motorsport editor Cian Brittle joins the show to break down what we do and don’t know about the African Grand Prix so far, why the series is so keen to race on the continent, and some of the concerns surrounding the deal.
 
Later in the show, SportsPro editor Steve McCaskill dials in from Sportel Monaco to dig into Netflix's move for Fifa World Cup rights in Spain and Andorra and what it says about the streamer's sporting ambitions. There’s also time to discuss Uefa's decision to hand its national team rights to Relevent, and how the agency is becoming increasingly influential in the commercialisation of European football.

Few people know the business of event hosting quite like Esther Britten. As UK Sport's deputy director and head of major events and external affairs, Britten has overseen more than 100 major international sporting events and plays a key role in deciding which ones the country should bid for. 
 
SportsPro head of editorial Sam Carp sat down with Britten at the SportAccord Forum in Lausanne to discuss how UK Sport's hosting strategy has evolved over the last two decades, and how it now assesses which events are the right fit for the nation. 
 
There was also time for an update on a potential bid to bring the Olympics and Paralympics to the north of England in the 2040s, reflections on the race for the 2029 World Athletics Championships, a look ahead to Euro 2028 and the prospect of hosting the 2035 Fifa Women's World Cup.

Since its launch in 2010, On has grown from a Swiss running startup into one of the world's fastest-growing sportswear brands. The company generates more than CHF 3 billion in revenue, has nearly 100 stores worldwide and recently announced a move into football with France and Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé. 
 
It's impossible to talk about that growth story without mentioning technology. And in this episode of the SportsPro Podcast, Sam Carp sits down with On's CTO Narek Verdian to discuss how his team supports the business, what expanding into football means behind the scenes, and what he learned from working on the brand's Regent Street shop floor. 
 
Recorded at the London Stadium during SportsPro AI + Tech, the pair also cover where AI is making a genuine impact across the business, Verdian's frustration at how the tech is being adopted, and how AI agents helped On complete a project expected to take two years in a fraction of the time.