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 better analytical tools, and the importance of long-term, sustainable relationships between brands and rights holders.

Our guests view these issues as crucial for sponsorship to continue growing as a vital revenue stream for sports organizations.

Guests:

Rob Mills, Global CEO, Gemba

Claire Kelly, Managing Director of Europe and Middle East, Gemba.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

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 business of sports, unraveling the complexities faced by athletes and their transitions post-career. He shares his personal journey through retirement, highlighting the often-overlooked challenges athletes face when leaving the sports arena. Despite a parallel career in law, Moore explains that rugby was more than just a pastime—it was a core part of his identity. The conversation delves into the psychological toll of losing a primary self-concept, underscoring the necessity for structured support and planning for athletes transitioning to life beyond sports.

The podcast also delves into the financial underpinnings of sports, particularly rugby's struggle to balance growing costs with limited income. Moore and host Richard Gillis discuss the unrealistic parallels drawn between football and other sports, emphasizing rugby's unique economic challenges. They explore potential solutions, from restructuring leagues to encouraging private investment, all while considering the implications for the international game.

The podcast offers a comprehensive exploration into how sports intersect with identity, economics, and societal health, providing listeners with a nuanced understanding of the complexities faced by athletes and the broader implications for society. Through candid discussion, Brian Moore illuminates the paths for supporting athletes in their retirement, enhancing the financial viability of sports, and fostering a culture of physical literacy.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Rory Smith recently wrote a think piece in the New York Times titled What is Ronaldo at 40? The article posed some good questions about the nature of sporting celebrity in 2025 and beyond.

So we asked Rory on to the podcast to discuss, with two expert guests from the sports industry, Louise Johnson and Andy Meikle.

Rory Smith joined The Athletic from the New York Times, where he spent eight years as Chief Soccer Correspondent and then Global Sports Correspondent. He has previously worked for The Times of London, The Independent, the Daily Telegraph and ESPN. He is a regular contributor to BBC 5 Live. He is the author of two books on soccer: Mister and Expected Goals.

Louise Johnson is Global CEO of Fuse, Omnicom’s sport and entertainment agency whose clients include many of the biggest organisations in sport including PepsiCo, Google and Vodafone. Louise was chair of judges for the sport category at the Cannes Lions Festival and was named as one of the FT’s women of the year.

Andy Meikle is the founder and CEO of Recast, a fintech company that enables media owners to monetise digital content from £0.01, with payments via RecastPay, a wallet that distributes earnings in real time to multiple parties including affiliates, such as athletes. He was formerly one of the founders of Sportlobster, digital platform which had Cristiano Ronaldo as the company’s brand ambassador

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This is episode two of a four part series called What’s Sport Selling, created in partnership with Redtorch, the research and creative agency that’s been at the heart of Olympic Sport for over 20 years.

This conversation builds on the first episode, with guests Celine Del Genes of Decathlon and Emma Mason Zwiebler of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, in which we discussed the bridge between the elite professional performance side of the industry and the participation pyramid, the absence of a coherent sports lobby in to government and the implications of the global inactivity crisis.

Referenced in this conversation was the work of ASICS.

So we invited today’s guest, Gary Raucher, Global Head of Marketing and Executive Board Member at ASICS, to add to the debate.

ASICS is the fourth largest athletic footwear brand in the world, with a share of the running market that sits above Nike and Adidas.

They were praised by Jonny Murch, CEO of Redtorch, for their brand positioning and creative execution, which has played a major role in their recent financial success. The company has announced record sales and growth in every market.

Listen here to Episode 1 of What's Sport Selling?

Visit https://redtorch.sport/

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This is a special live recording of the podcast created in collaboration with the Strategic Sports Advisory Team at Teneo, at the company's London headquarters. Together we convened a roundtable forum on the topic of India and its relationship with the sports marketplace.

Around the table was group of specially invited guests all of whom have a connection to the country and its sports business.

We were thrilled to be joined by His Excellency the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vikram Doraiswami.

The other guests you’ll hear are as follows:

Will Brass | Premier League
Archie Kalyana | BBC Cricket
Arpit Chaturverdi | Teneo - Geopolitical Risk Analyst

Andrew Umbers | Oakwell Sports
Ishveen Jolly | Open Sponsorship
Sanjay Bhandari | Kick it Out
Simon Hughes | Cricket Author
Navjeet Sira | Change Foundation UK
Mike Herbert | Northridge Law
Kent Christian | Authentic Brands Group

Representing Teneo were Senior Managing Director Neil Daugherty and Nick Greenslade, Co-Lead of the Strategic Sports Advisory team at Teneo Sport.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Will Netflix buy F1 rights in the US? Will TNT buy Six Nations in the UK? Will DAZN back out of their Ligue1 deal in France?

Streamers' January accounts: is anyone not losing money?

Is TGL any good? Do you go to the Super Bowl just for the meetings?

Join Richard Gillis on The Bundle with Yannick Ramcke, General Manager of OTT at OneFootball and Murray Barnett, 26West Sport, formerly World Rugby, F1 and ESPN.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

The Buy Side is our regular series talking with brand side marketers about sport and sponsorship.

Our guest is Richard Deane, who's career includes running sponsorship programmes at Standard Life Investments, Abrdn and Investec across Ryder Cup, British and Irish Lions and many other major sports properties.

The Buy Side is sponsored by the Two Circles intelligence platform KORE. More than 900 brands, venues, and sports organisations trust the Kore platform to manage partnerships and assets and measure their impact with real-time insights. Through Fan Intelligence and Partnerships Intelligence, Two Circle’s Kore platform unites sponsors and properties with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters.

Learn more at twocircles.com.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Other People's Money is our series on the sports investment marketplace with regular co-host Matt Rogan, co-founder of Two Circles.

Bruin Capital, George Pyne's private equity firm, has launched a new international soccer agency called As1, representing more than 300 players and coaches as clients. The list includes Bruno Fernandes, Man United, Moises Cascedo, formerly of Brighton, now Chelsea, and Luis Diaz of Liverpool. The company takes a number of acquisitions, including Nomi Sports, Position Number, and Promoesport and puts them together into one big unit.

So why? What's happening here? What does private equity see in the talent market around European football? And what are the implications for the game, the players, the money and the regulators?

To help us answer these questions, we've invited Daniel Geey to come back onto the Unofficial Partner Podcast.

Daniel is a Partner in the Sheridan Sports Group focused on helping clients in the sports sector, including rights holders, leagues, governing bodies, clubs, agencies, athletes, sports technology companies, broadcasters and financial institutions.

Daniel has significant experience in the football industry and has worked on a variety of club takeovers, high profile transfers, commercial endorsement deals and disputes.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.