My grandfather always told me you have two ears and one mouth, so you listen twice more than you speak. He would be very happy with the continued rise of audio as a medium. From radio to podcasting, audio has not been this popular since the 1950’s, and the rise of podcasting in and around sports and sports business is as popular as ever. Quality series like Seth Everett’s Sports With Friends, Brian Berger’s Sports Business Radio, Doug Doyle’s Sports Jam and Troy Kirby’s Sports Tao, have found an audience, there is much fanfare for The Vertical, and we at Columbia started the Columbia University Sports Podcast this past January and are now 10 episodes in.
The guests have been great, from students in our program like Andrew Hawkins of the Cleveland Browns talking about how he has built his brand and overcame the challenges of being the shortest player in the NFL, to former WNBA player and Olympian Iciss Tillis talking about her love of law and what it was like having her appendix out in a rural Russian hospital, to a young Indian woman named Neha Aggarwal, who was the first female Olympic Table Tennis Player for her country and has been a trailblazer in women’s right to play in India. Then there are the industry guests we have lured to the Upper West Side (we are still figuring out the phone guest opportunities) like Cris Nyari of FC Bayern Munich and Bleacher Report’s Rory Brown among others.
Here are the best ways to listen on Itunes and Blogtalk radio
Even abroad the growth of sports business spoken word has blossomed with the Sportsgeek Podcast in Australia and now Matt Cutler launching his in the UK. Our regular guest Rick Liebling caught up to Matt to talk about his latest venture.
Matt Cutler is the former editor of SportBusiness International and a sports marketing communications professional based in London. This week he launched the SportsBiz (SB) Weekly podcast, featuring insightful interviews with newsmakers and industry heavyweights from the world of sports business. The first episode features Matt speaking with Riccardo Silva, the President of MP & Silva, a leading international media rights company.
I caught up with Matt to find out a little more about the new podcast.
Rick Liebling: Why launch this podcast now?
Matt Cutler: I think the way people consume media is changing faster now than it has done in the whole of history. And when you look at current media platforms delivering news, analysis and entertainment for the sports industry, nothing has really changed to reflect that. Though many people still prefer to read long articles, in print or online, I believe there’s an opportunity to start delivering content in new ways. And a podcast that is short, free, and downloads automatically onto your mobile phone is perfect. That’s why I launched SB Weekly – to create something in response to changing media trends.
I also think that there is a bit of polarisation in the B2B sports media – it’s either breaking news, or it’s quite dry, almost academic-style content about how to ultimately improve the bottom line of a sports organisation. There’s not a great deal that looks at the personalities of the people who work in the industry, and that’s what I want to bring out.
What can we expect to hear?
People who work in the industry talking about their business careers, so we get a better understanding of what makes them tick. How and why they got into the sports industry, and interesting anecdotes from along the way. Plus, of course, how they see trends in the industry developing.
Will there be a UK or Euro focus, or are you looking at global stories?
My intention is to make it as global as possible, however I realise that’s not the easiest thing to do when you’re based in London. Though saying that, London is one of the leading global hubs for the sports industry, so a key focus for me will be trying to grab people when they are passing through. I also don’t want to do interviews on the phone, as because my focus is on personalities, I only think you can really draw that out with some face to face rapport.
If you could have any guest on your show from the world of sports, who would it be?
My number one target at the moment is Tom Fox, CEO of Aston Villa, which is the football team I support. Tom has had quite an interesting background, not only working at football clubs but also in other positions in the sports industry, so he is of interest to me on two levels!
What person, event or technology is going to have the biggest impact on the sports industry in 2016?
Am I allowed to say a country? If so – China. The amount of investment world sport is currently receiving from this new global super power is almost out of this world so how that manifests itself is going to be the biggest story of 2016.
If you’re interested in having a listen, you can check out SB Weekly on a variety of platforms.
Rick Liebling is an independent sports marketing professional. You can follow him on Twitter @RickLiebling.
