SportsPro Podcast

Edmonton's history as a hotbed for women's basketball dates back more than a century with the all-conquering Edmonton Grads. Now with Fiba 3x3 events and the WNBA coming to the capital of Alberta, that tradition continues. SportsPro's Tom Bassam speaks to Janelle Janis, Executive Director of Business Development and Events with Explore Edmonton and the WNBA chief marketing officer, Phil Cook, to learn more about the city's credentials as an elite sports destination.

SportsPro's Katie Preston talks to Gemma Woor, a member of this year's NEW ERA class and a senior client director at the MKTG agency, about being a female in the sports industry and some of the initiatives she's involved in to improve it for women in the future.

The Women's Super League is under new management and top of the org chart is former Nike executive Nikki Doucet. Speaking to Sam Carp at SportsPro Live 2024 the CEO of NewCo, the commercial entity that is set to take over running the top two tiers of English women's soccer, discusses her vision for the WSL and how the league can forge a new path for women's sports. Talking points:

Last week Premier League ushered out the PSR era and in the dawn of 'squad cost' regulations - meaning the amount clubs can spend on players will be index rated against revenues. The Price of Football's Kieran Maguire joins Tom Bassam to unpack what it all means and provide a look across the financial landscape of English soccer's top flight.

Jon Rahm arrives at Augusta not only as defending champion but also as a member of a different tour to 12 months ago. Tom Bassam is joined by SportsPro technology editor, Steve McCaskill, to discuss the current state of the game, LIV Golf's continued disruption and some of the technology that will be on show during the Masters.

The owners of F1, Liberty Media, will now control the two biggest global motorsport properties after agreeing to pay €3.5bn for 86% of MotoGP's commercial rightsholder, Dorna Sports. The BlackBook Motorsport team of Cian Brittle, Alice Evans and Tom Brown discuss the deal as the SportsPro Podcast taps into the knowledge of Mics Out (1:18). Then, regularly scheduled programming resumes with Tom Bassam, Sam Carp and Arif Islam hitting a few of the biggest stories in the sports industry, right now. Talking points: - Liberty Media's MotoGP takeover (1:18) - The German FA splits up with Adidas (16:19) - Ipswich Town valued at £260m as it gets investment injection (23:15) - A-Rod's deal to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves collapses (30:56) Find all episodes of Mics Out here.

The opening day of the 2024 IPL season brought in 590m video views for JioCinema, showing nothing moves the needle in sports like Indian's Twenty20 franchise cricket behemoth. How far will the tournament's influence grow? Here trying to answer that question are SportsPro's Ed Dixon, Josh Sim and Tom Bassam.

Amid a very publicly announced antitrust lawsuit, FuboTV CEO David Gandler has described the new streaming service from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery as a 'streaming cartel'. With Gandler one of the speakers at SportsPro New York, we took the opportunity to take the temperature of the industry from on the ground at the Marriot Marquis.

The NWSL is back for the 2024 season with an expanded 14 franchises, a new raft of TV deals and growing interest from fans, as well as investors. Here, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman speaks exclusively to Tom Bassam in a broad-ranging interview about the direction of women's football and how the top league in the US is working to grow the game.

4.8 million people tuned in to watch the 2023/24 World Darts Championship final between Luke Littler and Luke Humphries across Sky Sports' channels - a record for a non-football broadcast on the UK pay-TV network. Since then, Premier League Darts' has also seen increased interest and a spike in viewers as fans tune in to see 16-year-old sensation Littler's matches. The man making sure the sport capitalises on this wave in interest is PDC CEO Matt Porter, so we invited him on the podcast to discuss the booming business of darts. Talking points:

In this special NEW ERA podcast, SportsPro's Katie Preston, Yin Khoo and Jatila Blake discuss the true meaning of allyship and the importance of active support to achieve gender equity. Then, in part two (33:20), Elena Kouyoufa is joined by Santo Raggiri, the founder of Fair Play Project, where he shares practical advice and insight to the work that needs to be done to achieve gender equality in sports.

Formula One returns this weekend with the Bahrain Grand Prix and, to mark the start of the new season, BlackBook Motorsport writer Cian Brittle joins the pod to discuss all the major narratives from the paddock. Talking points: - Andretti's rejected bid to join the grid (2:56) - Keeping fans engaged when the competition is lacking (12:50) - New team sponsors and partnership challenges (22:36) - The expansion of F1 Academy (30:21) - Season predictions (37:31)

The second-ever Green Football Weekend was held earlier in February to encourage fans to adopt a more sustainable approach to following their teams. Pledgeball CEO, Katie Cross, and Helen Taylor, the former CEO of Forest Green Rovers, join the podcast to discuss the initiative and how best to tackle football's sustainability challenges. Talking points:

Series five of Drive to Survive was watched for 90.2m hours in the first half of last year - one of Netflix's biggest hits. Box to Box, the creator of the show, is now applying the popular format across a number of different sports. Warren Smith, the production company's head of sport and factual, joins the podcast to give us the inside track on Box To Box's approach to making a hit sports documentary. Talking points:

Series five of Drive to Survive was watched for 90.2m hours in the first half of last year - one of Netflix's biggest hits. Box to Box, the creator of the show, is now applying the popular format across a number of different sports. Warren Smith, the production company's head of sport and factual, joins the podcast to give us the inside track on Box To Box's approach to making a hit sports documentary. Talking points:

SportsPro has published its fifth annual class of sports technology startups worth investing your attention in. To mark the occasion, technology editor Steve McCaskill joins the pod to talk through the list before we hear from Gareth Lippiatt, co-founder and chief executive of one of the companies in this year's class, FanHub. Talking points:

SportsPro has published its fifth annual class of sports technology startups worth investing your attention in. To mark the occasion, technology editor Steve McCaskill joins the pod to talk through the list before we hear from Gareth Lippiatt, co-founder and chief executive of one of the companies in this year's class, FanHub. Talking points:

Danny Townsend, the recently installed CEO of SRJ Sports Investments, has a fun job. Counting the PIF as its sole shareholder, SRJ (pronounced 'surge') has been set up to accelerate the growth of the sports sector in Saudi Arabia by targeting the acquisition of new events IP and commercial rights. Trying to unpick what that actually means is SportsPro's Tom Bassam, who sat down with Townsend to discuss how SRJ plans to spend the kingdom's money.

Since being founded in 2016, UK-based Castore has come from nowhere to establish itself as one of the most eye-catching brands in sportswear. Brothers Tom and Phil Beahon have overseen a rise that has seen the company go from handing out apparel outside gyms to having some of the biggest names in sports wearing Castore kit. Here, Tom Beahon makes a return to the SportsPro Podcast to tell George Breare and Tom Bassam about the next stage for Castore, as well as discuss some of the challenges of growing a £1bn company amid the intense pressure of the sportswear business. Talking points:

Since being founded in 2016, UK-based Castore has come from nowhere to establish itself as one of the most eye-catching brands in sportswear. Brothers Tom and Phil Beahon have overseen a rise that has seen the company go from handing out apparel outside gyms to having some of the biggest names in sports wearing Castore kit. Here, Tom Beahon makes a return to the SportsPro Podcast to tell George Breare and Tom Bassam about the next stage for Castore, as well as discuss some of the challenges of growing a £1bn company amid the intense pressure of the sportswear business. Talking points: