Unofficial Partner Podcast

Few people sit closer to the epicentre of the sports digital economy than Daniel Kirschner. As co-founder and CEO of Greenfly, he oversees the connective tissue running between rights holders, athletes and fans; the infrastructure that turns a moment on the pitch into content on your phone within seconds. 
Creator strategy and the platform deals. How rights holders selectively route content to favoured creators (Goldbridge as proxy) and to TikTok/YouTube. Richard presses the FIFA-TikTok/YouTube deals as a "tax" to stop leakage; Kirschner reframes winning as getting the highest-quality version out first.
Clips as crown jewel vs top of funnel. The central tension. Richard argues clips are now the product, not the trailer; Kirschner holds that short-form is top-of-funnel for fandom and complements rather than cannibalises live—but concedes it should be a meaningful revenue pillar, not something dumped on social.
Who pays. If not the broadcaster, then who? Discussion of separate short-form rights deals (NFL–Bleacher Report), YouTube revenue-sharing, and sponsors/brands paying to attach to viral moments (the Messi Smartwater example) with earned-media-value tracking.
US vs Europe market structure. Centralised US leagues vs fragmented European clubs with promotion/relegation instability; more friction means more need for the technology. College sports as the closest US analogue to the European model.
Athlete economics and authenticity. Athletes get content free, aren't paid, yet treat access as a favour. Editorial-versus-commercial distinction, and the authenticity question when agencies get involved.
Measurement, impressions and AI slop. Richard's scepticism about impression numbers and the YouTube view-counting change; Kirschner on transparency of measurement, the coming flood of AI slop, and live sport's authenticity as the hedge against it (Kushner/Lakers).
How the platforms see sport. Whether an eyeball is just an eyeball—Kirschner argues sports content is undervalued because of its emotional resonance and, distinctively, its joy: fans relive wins, not losses, which makes the content more valuable to advertisers.
The SportsPro short-form showcase. Closing plug for the awards recognising ~40 short-form producers, and the broader argument that the craft has shifted from throwaway to a properly valued discipline attracting serious marketing budgets (Unilever's 80% shift toward short-form creators).
This episode is sponsored by Leaders in Sport
The 2026 Leaders Week London agenda is live, and there’s already plenty we’ve got our eye on. Across three stages at Stamford Bridge, Leaders in Sport will bring together senior figures from across the industry to get into the questions, challenges and opportunities shaping where the business of sport goes next. From leadership and commercial growth to creativity and technology, there’s a lot packed into the two days and no shortage of sessions worth making time for. We are looking forward to hearing Gary Lineker talk about The Art of the Story: Pitches, Publishing and Podcasts. 
We’ll be there on 7 and 8 October, hopefully we’ll see you there too. 
Visit leadersinsport.com/UP for more information and use UP15 for 15% off your Summit pass.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 
These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 
Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 
Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 
If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Spin Class is Unofficial Partner's series on sports comms, PR, reputation and crisis management.
Three stories:
A FIFA president everyone's written off who isn't going anywhere. 
A billion-dollar golf breakaway running out of road. 
And a heavyweight fight that keeps getting made and unmade in public. 
What connects them? In every case the sport is almost beside the point — the real contest is the spin. 
This week's guests: Jon Tibbs OBE, JTA and Henry Chappell, Pitch Marketing. 
This episode is sponsored by Leaders Week London
Leaders Week London returns this October with a new home for The Summit: Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC.
On 7 and 8 October, Leaders in Sport will bring together senior figures from across the global sports industry to exchange ideas, build relationships and tackle the biggest opportunities shaping the business of sport.
With the 2026 agenda now live, you can get a first look at the speakers, sessions and themes shaping this year’s Summit.
We’ll be there, and you should join us. 
Visit leadersinsport.com/UP for more information and use UP15 for 15% off your Summit pass.
Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 
These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 
Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 
Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 
If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Chat UP is Unofficial Partner's series on AI in the sports business.
Today's guest is Mike Bracken CBE. He built the UK's Government Digital Service, became the country's first Government Chief Data Officer, and now runs the consultancy Public Digital, advising governments and institutions worldwide. Richard sits him down to test a simple, uncomfortable idea: that most of sport's "AI problem" isn't about AI, isn't even about data, and can't be bought from a vendor. What follows is a masterclass in why change management fails, who really holds the power, and where the genuine prize for sport is hiding.
The two questions that come before any tech decision
"Why are you asking the question about AI?"
The standards argument: airports, not algorithms
The Palantir for Sport question
It's about power, not technology
Open v closed, and the wall of money
Why the single customer view is "a marketeer's wet dream"
CRM v VRM: the extractive trap
The bogus-metrics problem
The trick sport is missing
Chat UP is made in collaboration with TFG Labs. 
⁠⁠TFG Labs is the centre of innovation within the Twenty First Group and is truly the testing ground for groundbreaking sports intelligence. Their team of dedicated AI engineers are using the power of emerging technologies to deliver powerful changes to organisations across the whole sports ecosystem.
Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 
These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 
Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 
Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 
If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

Ben Curtis is Global Brand Vice President of Sure/Rexona at Unilever, and is just back the US where he ran the brand's first-ever Men's World Cup as a FIFA official partner. He came on Unofficial Partner before the tournament to talk about what he was walking into; this is the debrief — what worked, what didn't, and what a global personal-care brand actually gets for the money, from the armpit branding on the fourth official's board (a Rexona first at a World Cup) to the New York activation built around creators rather than TV spots.
Joining him is Mayowa Quadri, head of brand at the football-and-culture publisher Versus, a creator and consultant who worked on Rexona's campaign from the other side of the table. 
What does a global brand actually get for a World Cup sponsorship? Ben breaks down how Rexona measured return in near-real time — from brand mentions, to creator content earning 10x that, to cultural moments running into the millions of engagements — and where the brand ranked against Adidas and Coca-Cola.
Was the fourth-official armpit branding a gimmick or a strategy? The Rexona sign held up at every substitution was a World Cup first. Ben argues it's a durable strategic position rather than a one-off joke; Richard presses on whether the idea has legs beyond its novelty.
How much of the marketing budget now goes to creators rather than TV? Ben's answer is the headline number: a decisive swing away from traditional advertising in the space of a single World Cup cycle.
Has the way we consume a World Cup fundamentally changed? Mayowa on clip culture, the Americanisation of the tournament, and a younger audience watching through creators and streamers rather than buying broadcast packages — and why broadcasters are now behaving like creators themselves.
What makes a brand-creator relationship work, and when does it fail? Both sides on the shift from prescriptive deliverables to briefing intent, the trust a brand has to extend, and the fast route to losing an audience by looking like you've sold out.
Is football still a sport, or is it now a culture? Mayowa's case that the footballer is a human being with interests beyond the 90 minutes — and how brands are buying into fashion, music and identity rather than match results.
What is the media agency actually for now? How Unilever identifies communities and maps creators against them, the rise of nano-creators as word-of-mouth amplifiers, and why the direct brand-to-creator connection still matters.
Can the controversies around FIFA stay 'priced in'? With Infantino in the headlines, whether the noise around the governing body touches the sponsors who fund it — and Mayowa's argument that player power, not sponsor pressure, is the variable that could actually move things.
Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 
These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 
Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 
Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 
If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

A conversation recorded at the recent SportsPro Investment Summit, bringing together two very different investors: Andrea Radrizzani, media entrepreneur and former Leeds United owner, and Alistair Brownlee OBE, double Olympic triathlon champion turned investor. The through-line is what actually makes a sports asset worth owning — and where the value really resides.
Leeds United and the weight of history. Radrizzani reflects on the Bielsa era, the club's identity as the sole footballing focus of a proud Northern city, and the burden of expectation rooted in the 2004 Champions League semi-final side (then the sixth-biggest club in world football on £90m revenue). Brownlee, a lifelong Leeds fan, adds the fan's perspective — pride and connection to the city matter as much as trophies.
Turnaround clubs vs. trophy assets. Radrizzani's core investment lens: the difference between a turnaround play like Leeds (high appreciation, but one relegation can wipe out value) and buying a top club, now the preserve of sovereign wealth funds and private equity. Football as a luxury/brand asset that appreciates like real estate (the PSG example), but where capital cushions mistakes that a smaller club cannot afford. Relegation as a genuine financial cliff-edge.
The new generation of sport and the media-rights problem. Why Super Tri, PTO/T100 and others built on media-rights revenue have pivoted toward mass participation. Only premium rights are growing; the rest is flat or declining. The value of affluent, avid participant communities over passive viewers.
Mass participation economics and the HYROX model. Buying a hardcore, high-spending community; defining who your true fans are and how much more they'll pay. The customer-acquisition-cost vs. lifetime-value case, and the adjacent-business boom (apparel, nutrition, training, sports tourism). The open question: consumers now hop between HYROX, Ironman and marathons rather than staying loyal to one ecosystem — and Ironman's acquisition strategy as a response.
Owning the ecosystem. Radrizzani's thesis that value lies not in any single point but in connecting the dots across a vertical.
Athletes on the cap table. What a famous name is actually worth to a company. Consumer cynicism toward over-endorsing stars (the Neymar/Ronaldo "promiscuity" problem), the premium on authenticity and genuine expertise, and the shift from passive sponsorship fees to equity stakes that drive real ROI. David Beckham cited as the model done well.
Brownlee's path from athlete to investor. The solitary, self-reliant nature of individual-sport careers, and how he built an investment practice alongside competing.
How much athletes should earn. The 55% wage-to-revenue sustainability benchmark (and Leeds' notorious 120%). Salary caps as what makes US leagues attractive asset classes. The IOC's position on not paying athletes directly. Why economic incentives alone fail to lure athletes to new leagues — Olympic qualification and heritage tournaments still outweigh money.
Private equity moving down the value chain. PE consolidating athlete and football agencies to capture player earnings; players themselves becoming more sophisticated investors (the Courtois family-office example).
Concentration, unionisation and league design. "Big get bigger" dynamics, UFC-style overpayment at the top, gig-economy pressures on the athlete pyramid, and the collective-bargaining logic of leagues vs. the pure capitalism of boxing.
LIV Golf's lessons and what's next. LIV as an early iteration of these themes, the surprising strength of the incumbent (PGA Tour) and heritage/"playing for the shirt," and a look ahead to NBA Europe and how it collides with basketball's existing strongholds. Radrizzani closes on nearly buying a London basketball franchise a decade ago — and why football and media remain his real passion.
Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 
These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 
Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 
Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 
If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.