Sports Loft Podcast

How star signing drive fandom, and is short-form content king?

This week on the podcast, Yanni is joined by a trio of industry experts, including Kristen Rodgers, the sports and media partnerships lead at Tagboard, Matt Gentry, 77 Sports Management’s managing director and Andy Selby, Sports Loft’s very own head of strategy.

Our first discussion kicks off with a deep dive into how leagues that sit outside of Europe’s top tier are using star signings to grow their fanbases. Our guests examine the Messi transfer to Inter Miami and the arrivals of Ronaldo, Benzema, and Henderson in the Saudi Pro League, exploring their impact on the league's popularity.

Moving on, we dig into the changing consumption habits in sports media, fueled by the rise of short-form content. With YouTube execs expressing concern that Shorts is cannibalising its core product, Matt, Kristen and Andy discuss what’s driving the shift to bitesize formats and what it means for sports. Plus, they examine the evolving strategies of young athletes, as they navigate the world of content and find themselves becoming influencers and content creators.

Timestamps:

• 07:00 – Messi to Inter Miami
• 09:00 – Athletes as creators 
• 12:45 – Building athlete brands
• 18:00 – Saudi Pro League vs MLS
• 22:00 – Athletes as investors
• 30:00 – Short-form vs long-form content
• 36:00 – How social media is impacting other formats
• 41:00 – Young athletes navigating social media
• 44:00 – The success of the docuseries format 

West River Group: investing in the global innovation economy

In the fourth episode of this summer's Investor's View series, we welcome Anthony Bontrager, managing director of West River Group.

Anthony's 25 years of experience spans founding his own businesses, holding board positions at a number of portfolio companies, and leading the technology investment practice at West River. Tech is just one of the four sectors the 'investment platform' focuses on, with experience (ie. entertainment), decarbonisation, and life sciences being the rest. Sport intersects with those in a number of interesting ways, which is why we had to invite Anthony on the podcast.

Over the course of our conversation Anthony explains what he's looking for when founders approach West River for funding, what he and the group can offer once a deal is done, and how entrepreneurs should be operating in the current economic landscape. It's a fascinating chat with tens of takeaways for those looking to build their own businesses.

Timestamps:

• 02:15 – The West River Group thesis and proposition
• 05:30 – Where sports comes into the equation 
• 10:00 – The power of data in the sports space
• 14:00 – What makes a good founder from the VC perspective?
• 21:00 – Negotiation, valuation and setting terms
• 29:00 – The impact of the interest rate shake-up
• 35:00 – The next geographical tech hubs 
• 40:00 – AI and other areas of interest

The new social media landscape, and the evolution of pre-season tours

This week Yanni is joined by Nick Shaw, managing director of EMEA at Greenfly, and Keegan Pierce, managing director for the UK and Ireland at La Liga, as they dissect the dynamic world of sports social media and global pre-season tours.

In part one, our guests explain how they’re navigating the fast-changing social media landscape. Nick Shaw outlines Greenfly's role in fan engagement and his tips for operating in this period of flux. While Keegan Pierce shares La Liga's innovative social strategies, which involves managing accounts across 20 different social media platforms and has resulted in it being the most followed football league on social media. 

Later in the episode, we delve into how teams and leagues are changing their approaches to pre-season tours – from visiting new territories to trying out new broadcast solutions. Plus, Yanni revisits his Women’s World Cup prediction and takes another bite at the cherry. 

Timestamps

• 02:45 – Favourite sporting moments of the week
• 07:00 – How Greenfly is used by sports organisations
• 10:00 – LaLiga's approach to social media 
• 13:45 – Where social should sit in the organisation 
• 19:45 – LaLiga Tech 
• 26:45 – Democratising content and the power of athlete brands
• 33:30 – Predictions for X, the company formerly known as Twitter
• 37:00 – What are the goals of pre-season tours?
• 41:30 – Making the most of the pre-season 

 

Techstars: accelerating startups across sports and tech

This week Yanni welcomes Jordan Fliegel, managing director of Techstars NYC and Techstars Sports.

Over the course of the conversation, Jordan details how Techstars identifies promising startups, and the ways it works with successful applicants to help their businesses develop. The pair also cover the equity terms and ongoing support offered by the accelerator.

As well as Jordan's search for “the Topgolf of fishing”, the discussion touches on what qualities Techstars looks for in its founders, their teams, and products, plus the sectors and areas that are exciting Jordan in 2023. This leads to the unlikely story of how Jordan became an early investor in Lemon Perfect. Founded by former basketball coach Yanni Hufnagel, the hydration company has since raised more than $70m.

Jordan is a former managing partner at Founders First, an angel fund and syndicate. He was co-founder and CEO of CoachUp, a platform to connect athletes with coaches. Among other ventures, he was co-CEO of Draft.com – a fantasy sports site which sold to Paddy Power Betfair in 2017 for ~$48m.

Timestamps

04:30 – What does an accelerator like Techstars do?

09:30 – How does Techstars attract and vet companies?

14:00 – The decision process of admitting a company

23:00 – What the end goal for each company they bring in?

18:30 – What makes a company too mature for Techstars?

31:15 – Where Jordan expects to find the next big opportunity 38:15 – How the economic landscape has shifted

43:20 – What makes a good founder or team?

56:00 – Lemon Perfect

The Women’s World Cup, and the ‘Netflixication’ of sport

In this week’s Sports Loft Podcast, we explore the broadcast and sponsorship landscape surrounding the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, NWSL and Super League.

To unpick it all, we’ve called upon Jenny Mitton, director and women’s sport lead at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, who’s worked on some of the biggest sports sponsorships of recent times. Joining Jenny and host Yanni Andreopoulos are returning guests Tom Read, chief commercial officer of Spalk, and FEVO’s chief revenue officer, Josh Rose. Our panel assesses the state of play when it comes to broadcast infrastructure, sponsorship activations, commercial opportunities and more. 

And in the second part, we switch gears to explore the fascinating landscape of sports content streaming. As Netflix hints at venturing into live sports, potentially launching a new golf competition, we ponder its implications for the industry and ask whether some sports need Netflix more than Netflix needs sport. Answers on a postcard please.

 

Timestamps

• 02:00 – Favourite sporting moments of the week
• 06:30 – The viral Orange Women’s World Cup ad
• 12:30 – Investment in broadcast production around the women's game
• 17:15 – The opportunities around women's football and other sports
• 25:20 – Does sport need Netflix more than Netflix needs sport?
• 27:50 – The changing landscape of sports distribution
• 30:30 – Which stories should Netflix and others focus on?

 

This episode references:

• The Drum – The Orange Women’s World Cup ad is dividing the internet
  
  

Where Sapphire Sport will invest its second fund

Our most recent episode of ‘An Investor’s View’ features Michael Spirito, a founding partner and lead investor of Sapphire Sport, the $300m venture firm that counts City Football Group, adidas and AEG among its limited partners.

With its first fund, deployed between 2018 and 2021, Sapphire invested in Sports Loft member company FEVO, among others. Now, having raised $180m from many of its original partners, plus some new names, Michael and the team are on the hunt for new opportunities.

Yanni and Michael explore where Sapphire Sport hopes to find its next round of investments, how the firm’s thesis is being employed in the current market, and what advice Sapphire is giving to founders across its portfolio. 

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This episode was recorded in May 2023

Apex Capital: investing with the world’s best athletes

In our new series of ‘An Investor’s View’ podcasts, host Yanni Andreopoulos sits down with Antonio Cacorino, founder and CEO of Apex Capital. In this episode, we explore the opportunities around investing in high-growth tech startups in the sports industry, taking a deep dive into Apex's approach to venture capital – investing with active and former athletes. We ask: what qualities do sports people have that make them good investors?

Among plenty more, Antonio gives us his thoughts on the evolving web3 and gaming sectors, offers us his pick of exciting growth areas, and explains what he looks for in the businesses Apex invests in.

This episode was recorded in April 2023.

How Covatic’s privacy-first approach to advertising can disrupt sport

Join Yanni as he chats with Nick Pinks, CEO and founder of Covatic, the Sports Loft member company that's revolutionising advertising through its private-by-design ad-tech. First up, the pair discuss its applications for sports, allowing Nick to explain how Covatic empowers teams and rights-holders to foster stronger connections with their audiences through targeted content distribution.

The discussion then moves onto the impressive strides clients like Bauer Media Group and Comcast NBC are making by building Covatic into their advertising strategies. Nick opens up about what it's been like to work with such giants of media, and the feedback they've received along the way.

Finally, on the back of its recent Series A, the pair also discuss Covatic's growth strategy, Nick's personal development as a founder, his approach to building up the team, and what the future holds for the business.

Our takeaways from the Sports Loft Showcase 2023

In this week's Sports Loft Podcast, Yanni sits down with our very own Charlie Greenwood, CEO and founder of Sports Loft, plus Andy Selby, our head of strategy. Together, they reflect on the highlights and key themes raised at the Sports Loft Showcase 2023.

After giving a quick recap of the event, we dig into the biggest trend of 2023: the impact of AI. Undoubtedly it will have major repercussions for the sports industry, so it was fascinating to see how AI is already being used to solve problems and create opportunity. In the podcast, we discuss how companies like Move.ai, Satisfi, Greenfly, FEVO, and Spalk are using artificial intelligence to do just that.

Fundraising is another significant topic the tech industry is wrestling with, and our panel addresses misconceptions around the availability of VC funds, highlighting successful fundraising efforts. Finally, the Sports Loft team explores the opportunities for women's sports to benefit from technology, focusing on how innovative solutions can support women's teams and leagues

Making brands playable with Sports Loft’s newest member

“For us, every conversation starts with who are you trying to reach?” These are the words of Erik Londré, CEO and co-founder of Karta – the ‘metaverse studio’ that’s making brands playable by building fan-focused activations inside the most popular virtual worlds. 

Karta boasts an impressive client base that includes Amazon Music, Ronald McDonald House, K-pop group TWICE, and Unilever. And in this week's podcast, Yanni chats with Erik to learn about the process of developing award-winning immersive experiences for these brands and organisations on platforms like Roblox and Fortnite.

Over the course of the episode, Erik introduces Karta and his own background in esports, explains his thinking around how to best engage fans in these spaces, and discusses his vision for how all brands – across the sports and entertainment ecosystem – will soon have a presence in the metaverse.