Here is the latest trio of Columbia University Sports Podcast (the CUSP Show) that we have had in the past few months. We love talking with some of the digital disruptors and first adopters changing the furniture in the room for sports business, media and tech, and these three are a great example.
You can see a list and log on to all of the over 145 episodes by clicking here. Take a listen, almost all are 45 minutes or even less.
Rahat Ahmed, co-founder of Trinity VR
We sit down with Rahat Ahmed to discuss his role in advancing strategy of virtual reality-based sports science. Rahat previously managed assets for Prince Street Capital, an emerging markets hedge fund, where he specialized in understanding the impact of emerging technologies on consumer behavior and corporate profits. He was also the primary strategist at DKMS US, where he helped increase transplant conversion ratios for blood cancer patients in the United States. Founder of B·deshi, an organization geared towards bridging the gaps between the populace of the Bangladeshi diaspora. Loyal to his sports teams: the Tennessee Titans, Arsenal, Houston Rockets, Houston Astros and Texas Longhorns.
Some key points…
“If you sell a ticket to a NBA game, factoring in concessions and merchandise the arena revenue is $100 per person, if you sell a virtual seat at $10 you sell 100,000 seats drastically increasing the revenue per game.”
“It’s inevitable that we are going to have virtual court seats for $100 to sit next to Jack Nicholson.”
“Virtual will never replace the real experience, but if I’m an Arsenal fan I’m not going to fly London to watch the game, but to have the opportunity to watch an Arsenal match in any realistic capacity is worth it to me as a fan.”
Listen to the full episode here..
John Kosner, Longtime Sports Business disruptor and executive
We sit down with long-time media executive John Kosner. In the past, John has built ESPN into the world’s leading digital sports destination over the past 15 years – increasing traffic ten-fold and turning an unprofitable business into ESPN’s fastest growing one. Kosner and his team have a track record of innovation in streaming and video-on-demand, fantasy games, podcasting, online advertising, and third-party partnerships.
Kosner has hired and helped develop many of the top sportswriters of this generation including Wright Thompson, Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe, Ramona Shelburne, Bill Barnwell, and Sambit Bal as well as specialists like Adrian Wojnarowski, Matthew Berry, Henry Abbott, Jayski and Darren Rovell.
A 39-year veteran of sports media, Kosner interned at NBC Sports in 1978 followed by positions at CBS Sports (’82-87), the NBA (’87-94), SI (’94-96) and ESPN (’97-’17). He was graduated with distinction from Stanford University in 1982 with a BA degree in American History.
Some key points to listen to…
“At CBS Sports we had the rights to the NBA, but it wasn’t a priority compared to the NFL, NCAA Tournament, and The Masters.”
“The idea was we were going to have a ESPN and Disney branded phones, and we had some elements of it right, but in order to make the numbers work for investments we had to make the original price over $400.”
“Companies that create products that have a really great user experience and do something that is worthwhile enough to pay for will succeed, I’m talking about Spotify, Netflix.”
Listen to the full episode here
Peter Gourdine, Home Court Capital
We sit down with Peter Gourdine, co-founder of Home Court Capital. We discuss Peter’s transition from working at the NBA to becoming a lawyer to ultimately launching his own startup business identifying athletes willing to have a huge financial payout over the long term. Learn about an exciting new business and how analytics are continuing to drive new ventures.
Some key points to listen for…
“If you have the capability to track, measure, and use biometric data it’s incredibly valuable. There are so many complicated factors around it, like who’s going to get there first and use it, the answers to these questions will change a year from now”.
“We’re not just looking to sign any player that plays in any of the 3 major leagues, we’re looking for a select group of athletes, there’s a natural selection process.”
“We have raised $150 Million in committed capital. That was our dream number and we are very fortunate to hit it.”
“The messaging is critical, our key selling factor is we making investments not loans.”
Listen to the full episode here
