Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan slip back into the studio to consider the stories of the sports industry week.

As Whisper secures a big contract for host broadcast services at Roland Garros, they reflect on the changes, creativity and innovation in the sports production market - and, as Lionel Messi launches his own studio, when athletes and influencers might join the contest for big live production work.

Then David plays in a couple of conversations from last week’s Two Circles EMEA Client Summit in London. The agency’s Co-Founder and CEO Gareth Balch sets the scene, then Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer Juliet Slot, Two Circles’ Managing Director of Ventures Annie Panter and Zarah Al-Kudcy, who has just started as Chief Revenue Officer at WPLL, the new entity operating the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship on England, sit down to discuss how to scale women’s football.

They explain how fan insights are impacting the stadium experience, getting ticketing strategies and pricing right (and wrong), how to carefully read the new wave of data being collected and how it’s informing approaches to marketing the women’s game.

Welcome to Convergence – a mini-series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast about the launch of new verticals within an existing sports business. It’s a show about strategy, growth, and fitting new products to meet audience demand.

In this series we’ll be looking at sports media, betting, gamification, collectibles, merchandising and more – and it’s being co-hosted by me, James Emmett from Leaders, and Sam Sadi, the CEO of LiveScore, the football scores app-come-betting company that has supercharged its own growth off the back of a converged offering.

Diane Gotua, a strategic business leader with nearly two decades of global leadership experience in strategy, operations and corporate development within sports and finance, is our guest for episode three. Diane currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Strategy at Fanatics, having previously worked at the NBA for 9 years in a variety of leadership and strategy roles.

Welcome to Convergence - a mini-series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast about the launch of new verticals within an existing sports business. It's a show about strategy, growth, and fitting new products to meet audience demand.

In this series we'll be looking at sports media, betting, gamification, collectibles, merchandising and more - and it's being co-hosted by me, James Emmett from Leaders, and Sam Sadi, the CEO of LiveScore, the football scores app-come-betting company that has supercharged its own growth off the back of a converged offering.

DAZN’s CEO of Growth Markets, Pete Oliver – the executive who leads the group’s activities and teams in markets such as the UK, US and Canada – is our guest for episode two.

Dan Rossomondo has spent over 20 years in the sports industry delivering international business strategies to accelerate growth across sponsorship, media, licensing and retail.

He cut his teeth at the NBA where he helped to supercharge the organisation as a sports, entertainment and lifestyle property for over a decade. He's now bringing that experience and track record to MotoGP, where he was appointed as CCO in 2023, and is responsible for leading the media rights, global commercial partnerships and digital business teams.

One year into the role, he joined Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett to reflect on the journey so far, the incredibly exciting time for the sport, and how he's planning to fuel the continued internal growth of MotoGP's profile, audience and revenue.

This episode is part of the Leaders in Focus series, produced in partnership with IMG.

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett popped his wellies on and headed down to Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire this week to join an exclusive gathering of sports, media and entertainment leaders at the IMG x RedBird Summit.

'Raising the Game' was the theme of the event, and much of the conference content was future-focused, aimed at identifying, in RedBird CEO Gerry Cardinale's words, how to 'skate to where the puck is going'.

In amongst the on-stage sessions, the off-stage masterclasses, and the catch-ups across the farm, James sat down with a handful of the guests for a series of low time-high impact conversations.

On the show, you'll hear from:

- RedBird's Gerry Cardinale - on his investment thesis and the opportunity to rejuvenate world class IP at AC Milan, Paramount, and the Telegraph;

- IMG's President of Media Adam Kelly - on his vision for the event, and the current state of play in the sports media rights market;

- PCP Capital Partners CEO Amanda Staveley - on her exit from Newcastle United and the buyer/seller dynamics in elite football ownership;

- Gymshark Chief Brand Officer Noel Mack - on building a British brand with unicorn status;

- IMG EVP Hillary Mandel - on a year of major deal making with the USTA and ESPN, Roland Garros and Warner Brothers Discovery, and the NWSL.

Welcome to Convergence - a mini-series from the Leaders Sport Business Podcast about the launch of new verticals within an existing sports business. It's a show about strategy, growth, and fitting new products to meet audience demand.

In this series we'll be looking at sports media, betting, gamification, collectibles, merchandising and more - and it's being co-hosted by me, James Emmett from Leaders, and Sam Sadi, the CEO of LiveScore, the football scores app-come-betting company that has supercharged its own growth off the back of a converged offering.

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan hit the studio again for a wander through the sports industry stories of the week.

On the eve of the Uefa Champions League draw, they’re joined by Uefa Marketing Director Guy-Laurent Epstein to help explain the revamped competition format and the reasons behind the changes.

Epstein also discusses partner reaction to the new-look tournament; 30 years of Champions League brand finessing; the rise of the Women’s Champions League; North America’s growing interest in football and what that means for organisations like Uefa; what he’s looking for in an agency partner, as a new sales cycle looms; and the approach to innovation in a football market that prizes tradition.

Marina Storti has spent over 20 years in the sports industry delivering strategies to accelerate commercial growth, engage diverse fans and impact positive change.

And she’s been bringing all of that experience and expertise to her new role as CEO of WTA Ventures – the commercial arm of the WTA – having previously earned her sporting stripes at Sky and NOW TV.

One year into the role, she joined David Cushnan and James Emmett to reflect on an incredibly exciting time for women’s professional tennis; the partnerships that she’s overseen during her tenure so far - most notably with Saudi Arabia - and how she’s planning to guide WTA Ventures in an innovative new era of the WTA.

This episode is part of the Leaders in Focus series, produced in partnership with IMG.