
Unofficial Partner Podcast
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.
Episodes
511 episodes
UP511 What Just Happened: P/E for RFL; BBC, golf and Bill Murray; The Ashes of TNT
What Just Happened - Episode SummaryRugby League's Private Equity Play: Super League Seeks InvestmentThe Rugby Football League is in talks with private equity firms, including Lion Cap Global and Oakwell Sports Advisory, about s...
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55:35

UP510 Cause and Effect: The Sponsorship Effectiveness Revolution
We went to the London offices of Sid Lee Sport to host Cause and Effect: Why sponsorship needs an effectiveness revolution. A live recording featuring industry professionals from across the sport sponsorship marketplace, who came to...
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58:28

UP509 Gareth Balch on the State of the Sports Economy in 2025
Today's conversation was recorded at the Two Circles European Summit which took place a few weeks ago at the Institute of Engineering and Technology overlooking the Thames, next to the Savoy. Gareth Balch, founder and CEO of Two Circle...
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38:17

UP508 What's Sport Selling? Hollingsworth on the state of the nation's health, flags, needles, government and the free market
This is the fourth and final episode of our series What's Sport Selling? Created in collaboration with the Redtorch research and creative agency. Today's guest is Tim Hollingsworth, w...
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52:53

UP507 The YouTube Arguments
Guests Jen Topping and Jo Redfern critique the arguments around sport’s relationship with the creator economy, the control v chaos philosophy divide inherent in digital IP monetisation and audience building, and the PR battles being waged for p...
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1:12:44

UP506 Chat_UP: LiveScore, Grok and how AI will disrupt sports betting
Our guest is Sam Sadi, CEO of LiveScore Group, and a regular visitor on Unofficial Partner. Last week he announced a groundbreaking new partnership between the LiveScore sports content and betting platform and xAI, the Elon Musk own...
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54:20

UP505 Inside Edge - T20 Women's World Cup
This is Inside Edge, which is our cricket business podcast. Regular co-host Mike Jakeman is away this week, but our guests are Beth Barrett-Wild and Jen Vile from the ECB. Beth is the Tournament Director at ICC Women's...
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47:54

UP504 What Just Happened: Inside IMG's farmhouse; Peter Thiel's Enhanced Games; Jamie Redknapp's new agency
Three stories from a week in the sports business.James Emmett comes fresh from the IMG-Redbird Summit.David Cushnan on what and who lurks behind The Enhanced Games.Richard on Jamie Redknapp and Richard Thompson's new footba...
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1:00:45

UP503 The Bundle: New season, new YouTube strategy; UFC's PPV exit; Agency collusion; Ligue1's Opening weekend
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 F...
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1:06:11

UP502 What Just Happened: The IOC and Trump's America; PayPal and CEO branded content; UEFA's global decision
The perfect weekend warm up. Richard is joined by Dave Cushnan and James Emmett from Leaders in Sport. Each picks a story of the week and asks, what just happened? Sponsored by:Women’s sport ...
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53:53

UP501 What happens at Sportel, stays at Sportel
SPORTEL Monaco takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco October 20th to 22nd. It's been the world's leading sports content media rights and technology convention for more than 30 years. This episode asks, what will people be talk...
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43:55

UP500 What Just Happened: McLaren's valuation; New Newcastle CEO; Ryder Cup future
Richard is joined by David Cushnan and James Emmett of Leaders. Three stories from this week in the sports business.What happened, why do we care and where's it going?What does McLaren F1's valuation say about F1?<...
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57:27

UP499 TKO, On Location and the World Cup hospitality market
Today's guest Paul Caine is the President of On Location, the premium experiential hospitality division of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO). Under his leadership, OnLocation has become the global leader in sports and entertainment hospitality, ma...
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56:59

UP498 Other People's Money: Does Debt have a Branding Problem?
Today we are talking Other People's Money, this is our regular series on sports finance with regular co-host Matt Rogan, who was of course one of the Co-Founders of Two Circles. Today's guest is a special one is Ed McBride, who is ...
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46:47

UP497 'Buy It or Build It': Simon Denyer on the Billion-Dollar Sports Media Playbook
As co-founder of Perform and DAZN, Simon Denyer has spent the last twenty years at the intersection of sport, media, and technology. Last week he brokered an innovative new relationship between La Liga and Disney+ via his new company PEAK Sport...
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1:14:47

Inside Edge - Peter Hutton on Cricket, India and the rights market
This is an episode of Inside Edge, our series on the cricket business with regular co-host Mike Jakeman. Today's guest is Peter Hutton, and nobody knows more about the relationship between television and cricket than Peter Hutton.Strap ...
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1:05:44

UP495 Joey D'Urso on how football shirts explain the world
Every shirt tells a story. Joey D'Urso, an award-winning journalist from The Times and formerly of The Athletic, joins UP to discuss his new book: More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Pol...
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45:59

UP494 The Bundle - Women's Euromania; F1 and Apple, RTL and Sky Germany; Ligue1 contagion
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 F...
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51:01

UP493 What's Sport Selling? Ridgeon on Ozempic, Ohanian and Athletic Ventures
This is episode three of a four-part series created in collaboration with Redtorch called What's Sport Selling? It's a conversation with John Ridgeon, the chief executive of World Athletics. Previous episodes in the seri...
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45:22

UP492 Wedge Issue Live @ The Open Championship
This is a live episode of Wedge Issues, our golf business series recorded at Callaway Clubhouse at The Open Championship this week at the Royal Portrush Golf Club. Niall Horan: One Direction star and co-founder of Modest Management ...
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43:10

UP491 'Don't use AI to replace thinking'
Arvind Iyengar is chair of Sportz Interactive and CEO of the Sportz Solutions, the global parent company. As such he now oversees a company with 700+ employees working across 40 sports worldwide, with marquee clients including UEFA, The Olympic...
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1:06:10

UP490 Inside Edge - Freddie Wilde on Cricket's Analytics Arms Race
Inside Edge is Unofficial Partner's regular series on the business of cricket, co-hosted by Richard Gillis and Mike Jakeman.Freddie Wilde represents the new generation of cricket analytics professionals who have emerged to play a central...
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59:33

UP489 Expected Goals Live @ SOOO London
A special live episode of our sister publication, Expected Goals, hosted by Maggie Murphy and Matt Cutler.Sponsored by Evelyn Partners. Expected Goals Live - Investment in Women's FootballEvent Summary & Analy...
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44:57

UP488 The Business of Rugby: Lions Inc, R360, CVC calls on Allera, Women's World Cup
Guest: Paul Morgan, Rugby World Editor and Premiership Rugby Comms DirectorRunning List: The Business of Rugby Episode1. British Lions Commercial StrategyTicket pricing controver...
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56:43

UP487 The Big Idea: Cliches, Tumbleweed and the Cost of Boring
Today's guests are Laura Randall, Creative Director, and Jack Kenney-Herbert, Director of Sponsorship at Sid Lee Sport, the agency declaring war on what they call "sponsorship tumbleweed." That's their term for the boring, forgettable activatio...
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52:14
