Episodes

The world of football administration, business leaders, celebrities and assorted VIPs are poised to descend on New York this weekend, ahead of the Fifa World Cup final. James Emmett and David Cushnan convene to discuss the who and why, and dig into the success of Michael Rubin’s Fanatics Fest, the four-day celebrity-studded collectibles festival, which is pitching up this week in the city. They also examine who was at the highly-exclusive Sun Valley media and tech gathering this year; who found...

Investor George Pyne, Founder of Bruin Capital, joins the show to share his thesis for sport and his rationale for targeting what he calls 'second level enablers' - the companies a layer below the headline-grabbing team and league properties. In a wide-ranging conversation, he reflects on 12 years of Bruin, the investment firm he set up following a career that including a stint as COO of NASCAR between 1995 and 2006, and then nine years as President of ING. Pyne discusses the particular challe...

PSG Chief Revenue Officer Richard Heaselgrave joins the show to lift the lid on how PSG have built value through an imaginative approach to brand identity and creative partnerships. Heaselgrave joined PSG in May 2025 after stints leading commercial teams at World Rugby, Tennis Australia, the EFL, the NBA, and Uefa. He joins co-hosts James Emmett and Alex Charkham, who runs strategy and consulting for global sports and entertainment marketing agency Fuse, for this third and final episode of the ...

As Sky confirms its £1.6 billion deal to acquire ITV, James Emmett and David Cushnan assemble to consider the possible ripple effect on the UK sports rights market. Are we poised for a new era of creative collaboration and shared production? Elsewhere, there's reflections on this week's conversation with Tony Godsick, Roger Federer's agent, and how working with superstar talent - and the building of stories around them - is changing. And in a troubled week for Fifa and Gianni Infantino, amid s...

Few know the business of tennis as well as Tony Godsick, the long-time agent of Roger Federer and one of the founding fathers of the Laver Cup. As preparations continue for the ninth edition of the North America versus Europe men's team event, at London's O2 Arena in September, he explains the rationale for creating the event, alongside Federer, and how its commercial performance is maturing. Godsick also reveals how his professional relationship with Federer has changed, since the 20-time Gra...

Two Circles CEO and Founder Gareth Balch joins James Emmett and David Cushnan, on location at Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC, to cast an expert eye over the week in global sports business. Under discussion: the latest public uttering and industry chatter on NBA Europe - with work ongoing to sell the franchises, how realistic is the NBA’s suggested October 20207 start date? There’s reaction to the news that FIFA and European Football Clubs (EFC) are coming together to help shape the future...

Marina Logacheva is the Disability Sports Lead at the Matta sports marketing agency. A keen amateur athlete, Marina was training for an Ironman in 2020 when she became a tetraplegic wheelchair user following a traumatic fall. Here in the UK, July is Disability Pride Month, in which Visbility, intersectionality and disabled leadership are all celebrated. Those topics were on the agenda during my chat with Marina too, as well as the huge opportunity that sports participation spaces are missing ...

Fresh from a trip to Cannes, to take in the brands, celebrities and agencies this week at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, James Emmett provides David Cushnan with a postcard of who was there and why. Elsewhere, what does Royal Ascot’s formal dresscode say about the event? And is Ascot’s grandstand facility one of the most underrated in all of sport? Plus as the area around the Leaders studio in Wimbledon gets decked out in its tennis finery, ahead of this year’s Championships, there’s...

The Cannes Debate is a three-part series exploring sport’s growing role at the centre of media, marketing and culture. Hosted by Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Alex Charkham, who runs strategy and consulting for global sports and entertainment marketing agency, Fuse, the series digs into why sport has become one of the most powerful tools in modern brand-building. Recorded live from Cannes Lions (soundtracked, at times, by the unmistakable hum of the Croisette), Episode 2 features...

What's the point of Cannes for the sports industry? As the marketing world prepares to descend on the French Riviera for the annual 'festival of creativity' that is Cannes Lions, sport has becoming increasingly central. Kenny Annan-Jonathan, the newly installed Cannes Lions Sports Director, joins co-hosts James Emmett and Alex Charkham, who runs strategy and consulting for global sports and entertainment marketing agency Fuse, for this first edition of the Cannes Debate. On the agenda: why and...

With the World Cup in full swing, James Emmett and David Cushnan pause and reflect on the hydration breaks, introduced for this year’s tournament, and the new commercial avenue they’ve opened up - and ponder where they might be seen next, as fans and broadcasters, like them or not, get used to the concept. They also reflect on this week’s conversation with Louise Young, F1’s Chief Race Promotion Officer, and explain why the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix might have marked a turning point in F1’s bus...

Louise Young is responsible for the F1 calendar. The Australian lawyer and her team manage the motorsport series' relationships with promotor organisations around the world. They are responsible for bringing in new races onto the calendar; for negotiating contracts with existing race promotors; and for ensuring that host venues meet all the requirements - safety, racing, logistical, commercial, fan experience - that a modern, elite, global racing series has. F1 is having a moment. Propelled by...

As the Fifa World Cup finally kicks off in Mexico City, James Emmett and David Cushnan run the rule over the major business storylines, commercial implications and ever-present politics to keep eyes on in the opening phase of the tournament. Building on the first edition of Scroll Stoppers, our new series on digital content with Ten Toes, they consider who the breakout content stars in and around the tournament could be, from established football pundits to as-yet undiscovered creators. Plus, ...

What does it actually take to win on social at the biggest tournament in sport? In this opening episode of Scroll Stoppers - a new series from the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast exploring how to make an impact with digital content - Henry Breckenridge, Senior Content Manager at Leaders is joined by Ten Toes Founder & CEO Ben Weisfeld to unpack how the industry is gearing up for a World Cup like no other - driven by American culture and relentless competition for attention. From campaigns planne...

In the red afterglow of Arsenal’s Premier League title win and celebratory parade in North London, James Emmett and David Cushnan shine a light on Josh Kroenke’s role in the multi-club, cross-sport success story that is Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. They also reflect on the winners elsewhere across Europe as the club football season ends. Also on the show, reflections on James’ conversation with International Cricket Council Chief Commercial Officer Anurag Dahiya and the development engine...

Anurag Dahiya has been Chief Commercial Officer at the ICC since 2020. He is responsible for all revenue generating activities at cricket's global governing body and looks after a portfolio of events ranging from short format T20 world cups through to newly established World Test Championships. Formerly of Singtel and ESPN Star Sports, Dahiya joined us as a speaker for the latest edition of the Indian Sports Summit, hosted by the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team. Joining us backstage after...

This week, London is the stage for the third edition of World Sevens Football, the pioneering 7-a-side women's football competition, and Co-Founders Jennifer Mackesy and Julie Uhrman broke into preparations to join David Cushnan in the studio to discuss the concept and its creation. Eight WSL clubs will compete at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium for a prize pot of $1.5 million. Mackesy, who has led the investment in World Sevens, which launched with two events last year, is also a minority ...

India’s appetite and readiness to host major global events was one of the main topics at this week’s Indian Sports Summit in Bangalore, and James Emmett is on the ground with the mood and the colour from on and off stage. With the IPL in full swing, there’s the latest on the league’s media rights planning and what its strategy might be in a changing domestic market, and James has the inside line on Royal Challengers Bangalore’s new ownership. Alongside David Cushnan, dialling in this week from...

Ross Hutchins is six months into the role as CEO of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). A former player, Hutchins retired in 2014 and went on to play numerous player-focused roles at the ATP. He replaced Kelly Fairweather in the role as the top executive at the global governing body of tennis in October last year. He joins the show this week on the back of news that Visa has renewed as a partner of the Davis Cup, the men's team tennis competition organised by the ITF and ahead of a majo...

The quest to influence and monetise audiences is the core mission for much of the sports industry, and this week James Emmett and David Cushnan reflect on James’ podcast conversation with Liz Wynn, Chief Supporter Officer, at the Guardian - and in particular how the organisation has used newsletters to build direct, meaningful relationships with readers. It sparks a discussion about whether teams and athletes might be missing a trick. Elsewhere, James reports back from this week’s launch of Ult...

This episode is a masterclass in driving digital revenue through structured and sophisticated commercialization methods, purpose-led campaigns, and behavioural-psychology informed techniques. Liz Wynn is the Chief Supporter Officer at the Guardian Media Group. Having had a varied career in telecoms and broadcast media - working at the likes of Orange, EE, and Sky, she joined the Guardian in 2023 to take full responsibility for digital reader revenue - ie anything that comes from subscriptions o...

On the eve of the Giro d’Italia, the first grand tour of the cycling year, James Emmett and David Cushnan unpack professional cycling’s business model and examine the tensions at the heart of it. Reflecting on James’ conversation with INEOS-Grenadiers CCO Tom Hill, they discuss the dominant role of Tour de France-organiser ASO in the sport, and the efforts the UCI WorldTour teams are making to try and grow their own revenues in a sport where sponsorship is particularly critical. They also consi...

As of the start of the 2026 Giro d’Italia this weekend, the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team will be known as Netcompany-INEOS. Last week, the team - one of the most successful in elite road cycling - announced a new sponsorship deal with Danish tech and AI firm Netcompany. INEOS, team owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s giant chemicals company, had yielded the main naming position for a deal reported as worth €100m over five years. At the centre of deal - one of the biggest in the pro peloton - is Tom Hi...

After a record-shattering London Marathon, James Emmett and David Cushnan take a look at the ways in which marathons are being packaged and commercialised - and why, after 1.1 million applications this year in London, there's such a thirst for participating. They examine plans for next year's London Marathon to become a two-day, two-marathon affair; London Marathon Events' recent acquisition of the Frankfurt Marathon; and World Athletics' recent decision to create a standalone marathon world ch...