Unofficial Partner Podcast

Apr 08 2025 469 ep. 49 mins 77
Unofficial Partner Podcast artwork

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. Our guests are a who's who of the international sports industry talking about the big issues.

  Sports  Business
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


UP369 Inside Edge: Overthinking the Business of Cricket

Apr 08 2025 59 mins  
This is the first episode in a new series in which we take the Unofficial Partner sports business conversation and point it at cricket. Richard is joined by co-host Mike Jakeman, who writes about sport for The Economist and worked within The Economist Intelligence Unit, and has written for titles such as The New York Times, Wired magazine and the Times Literary Supplement, and wrot

UP468 States of Play: Miguel Delaney on Sportswashing

Apr 04 2025 48 mins  
Today's guest is Miguel Delaney, Chief Football Writer for The Independent who talks about his book States of Play: How Sports Washing Took Over Football. It's described as a scorching account of how football's very popularity threatens to destroy it, a brave forensic and utterly gripping book' by Tom Holland (The Rest Is History host, not Spider Man). This episode of the Unofficia

UP467 The Man Who Signed Michael Jordan: The reality behind the Air Movie, Nike and Matt Damon

Apr 01 2025 36 mins  
Sonny Vaccaro was the pivotal figure behind Michael Jordan's groundbreaking deal with Nike, which remains one of the most storied contracts in sports business history. So good they made a movie about it, "Air", in which Vaccaro was played by Matt Damon, with Ben Affleck in the Phil Knight role. Vaccaro's book Legends & Soles: Business, Creativity and Basketball – A Memoir of

UP466 Who's watching women's sport? New Sky Sports data challenges the industry's story on where the opportunity lies

Mar 25 2025 69 mins  
The commercial growth of women’s sport is dependent on the audience question: Who is watching? To help frame the answer, we been given an exclusive preview of major new research in to women's sport fandom by Sky Sports which is due to be published in the coming weeks. Sky’s rights portfolio of women’s only sport is unmatched in the media industry, running across football, rug

UP465 The Bundle: The Relevent pitch deck; Bach's NBC farewell; Baller, Sidemen and the next streaming war

Mar 18 2025 62 mins  
Welcome to The Bundle, our regular series on the sports media and streaming marketplace with co-hosts Yannick Ramcke, General Manager of OTT at the streaming service OneFootball and Murray Barnett, founder of 26West Consulting and formerly of F1, World Rugby and ESPN International. Quiz What is UC3, and what significance does Relevent Sports taking over global commercial rights fro

UP464 Other People's Money: How to pitch to a VC

Mar 14 2025 47 mins  
Other People's Money is our regular series on sports investment, with co-host Matt Rogan, co-founder of Two Circles. Our guest today is Gabbie Swycher, Principal at Redrice Ventures, a venture capital firm that provides capital, advice and connections to early stage businesses including several in the sports sector, most notably they were an early backer of Castore. They describe t

UP463 Ticketing is a terrible experience, so who's to blame?

Mar 11 2025 40 mins  
Nobody's ever happy with the process of buying event tickets. Why's it so hard? Join us in an enlightening discussion with David Hornby of SecuTix and Stuart Cain, CEO of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, as we explore the complexities of the ticketing process. Discover the roles of different stakeholders, the evolution of ticketing technology, challenges like bots and secondary ma

The Big Idea: Where we talk about the work

Mar 07 2025 58 mins  
The Big Idea is our series where we dissect and talk about campaigns and ideas and creative in sports marketing, with regular co-host Simon Moore, the award-winning creative director. Today the person choosing the campaigns is Joe Burdon, who is a partner at The Romans, part of the Mother Group. Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertain

UP461 Are You Advising or Selling? Conflict of Interest in the Sponsorship Industry

Mar 04 2025 58 mins  
New research from The Gemba Group suggests a credibility problem for the sports sponsorship industry arising when agencies both advise brands on sponsorship opportunities and sell rights for those same properties, leading to potentially biased recommendations. The discussion highlights the increasing involvement of procurement departments, the need for greater transparency and bett

UP460 Brian Moore For Prime Minister

Feb 28 2025 58 mins  
Our guest today is Brian Moore, former England and British Lions rugby player, lawyer, newspaper columnist, television commentator and author. If it’s informed and insightful opinions you’ve come for, you’re in luck. In a world where the professional sphere of sports intertwines with broader societal issues, Brian Moore dives into themes of identity, retirement, and the busin