As we get to year end, we wanted to take a look back at some of the amazing guests we have had on the Columbia University Sports Podcast (the CUSP Show) that we have had in recent weeks. Myself and my cohost Tom Richardson just passed our two year anniversary hosting the show from various and sundry places in and around Manhattan, and have tried to come up with a solid mix of leaders, disruptors, innovators, provocateurs and most importantly smart storytellers from projects bug and small. Here is a summary and sampling compiled by colleague Jesse Leeds Grant, with more to come.
You can see a list and log on to all of the 130 episodes (three more already in the can for 2019), by clicking here. Take a listen, almost all are 45 minutes or even less.
Dan Cohen, Senior Vice President of Octagon’s newly formed Media Rights Consulting Group
Dan speaks about his road to Octagon, the people he has met along the way and the lessons he learned. Learn about the changing space of Media Rights and what he thinks will shape the future of the rights business.
Some key points to listen for…
-Building a direct relationship in the media rights space is key to growth and sustainability. “The only sustainable way a league or a team builds their long term business plan is having a direct relationship with broadcasters”.
-In the current landscape of today’s media rights space, fan engagement and consumption is king. “Octagon has found that through digital distribution that data from fan consumption is measured a lot more around engagement and we are able to return that data to the league or team. The days of conducting media rights deals over 18 holes of golf are done”.
-The average consumers time spent watching content, entertainment, or sports is shrinking. “The snackable consumption of content is growing – highlight package shows, Snapchat stories, Instagram highlights are all the way of the future”.
-The innovative sports league have implemented direct to consumer applications such as NBA Game Pass, MLB.TV. “If the NFL were to go direct to consumer they would have to sell 115 Million subscriptions to their OTT product to replace their TV deal”.
Listen to the whole episode here.
Julia Marino, Olympic slopeskiier
Julia talked about the challenges of the X Game athlete, dealing with injury and the mental side of the game, her life as an adopted daughter, and what it’s like to carry the torch as the first Winter Olympian from the country of Paraguay. 
Some key points to listen for…
“Paraguay had never competed in the Winter Olympics, and that really stuck out to me. They don’t even have an ice rink”.
“Keeping my feet in a bunch of different pools has allowed me as an athlete to be marketable, I wasn’t Lindsey Vonn of the scene but I used experiences and qualities of myself to relate to other people and was able to grow an organic following”.
“Being adopted myself, I connected with the gift of adoption organization, their focus is raising grants for families that want to adopt but can’t afford to. I also have the opportunity to teach English in Nepal, which is will be really rewarding for me”.
“The foundation of my career has been built on ambition and drive, when I have a goal in mind I will stop at nothing to reach it”.
“My lifestyle posts or pictures of me in the gym on social media really resonate with people in Paraguay and has helped me build my brand outside of Skiing”.
The full listen for is here…
TeamWorks Media Cofounder and CEO Jay Sharman
Jay is a leader in digital media property creation and creating content-driven solutions to change the trajectory of a client’s business. He is a regular on the content marketing speaking circuit including recent speeches at American Marketing Association (AMA) Non-Profit Summit, AMA Higher Ed Summit, Portada Sports Marketing Summit and Vistage (Worldwide Peer CEO Network) to name a few.
Jay has had the privilege of working with a wide range of clients at TeamWorks Media, including significant partnerships with ESPN, the Big Ten Conference, MLB, Comcast, Converse, Gatorade, Northwestern University, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Procter & Gamble and more.
He started his career as a sports television producer for Fox Sports Net and won an Emmy for his work covering the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls.
Some key points to listen for…
“The more that the world gets digitally interconnected, we start to lose the human relationship building aspect. We’ve been too technically dependent. Sharing matters now more than ever.”
”It’s not about numbers, followers, or vanity metrics, it’s about how engaged your audience is”.
“Consistent revenue streams and retainer clients are key to growing any business, and really helped TeamWorks Media jumpstart its business and reputation”.
“We created a digital media brand – LiveBIG for the Big Ten Network, we produced original content and assets, essentially creating a digital brand embedded within the network. That was a really big break for us”.
Listen to the full episode here…
Enjoy the listening and the learning…
