Andy Burnham and the big UK sports jobs; what next for the Commonwealth Games?

0:03Hello and welcome to the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast, the sports industry show from leaders where we talk about what's worth knowing in the business of sport this week. I'm Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett.

0:15David Cushnan:And I'm Content Director David Cushnan on the show this week. Andy Burnham and UK Sport. Big jobs, big future. Wrapping up the greatest sporting cultural and social event in humanity. And what on earth to do with the Commonwealth Games? This is Leaders Worth Knowing. James, how are you? And indeed, where are you? David, I'm well, thank you. How are you? I am in Jersey. It's a stilted start. I'm also well, thanks ever so much. You're on an island and in so many ways. um how's your week been what's going on uh well lots of building work going on in jersey actually i don't know whether you can maybe hear that through the microphone everybody increasing the value of their assets out here in the channel islands um yeah just doing a little bit of remote work uh this week it's been a busy old time in the sports industry we've been hither and thither

1:17James Emmett:and now we're approaching summer holiday season aren't we yes we are um although don't worry

1:23David Cushnan:listener we're going to keep you i think pretty well furnished with uh podcasts uh throughout the summer uh the summer shutdown um james did you catch any of the world cup final i watched a little bit yeah um well i just i always think it's important not to spoil the

1:42James Emmett:results if you haven't seen it um yes no i i watched i actually watched the last sort of 10 minutes or so of regular time and then into extra time. I didn't catch the halftime show, although I am enjoying the way that that halftime show is completely splitting opinion. In general, the Europeans are down on the halftime show and the purpose and execution of it, and the Americans are up on it. What a nice idea. Wasn't it great? And just internally, a little bit of internal leaders group insight. We're obviously in a group with our sister company, Sports Business Journal. I've found it interesting how on the team's chats, David, we're getting a little insight into our American colleagues, how they really greatly enjoyed the halftime show.

2:41So, yeah, it's more or less a 50-50 split on that front, isn't it? Don't think we've seen the last of them, though.

2:49David Cushnan:at showpiece our american colleagues or halftime show well both but halftime shows in particular um i think they might be here to stay at the big showpiece occasions certainly if fifa have got anything to do with it um yeah it was um i i almost think the the strangest piece of the whole pre-show halftime show was um did you catch any of tom cruise's monologue No, sadly not Pre-game, literally seconds before the start of the game Tom Cruise wanders out and delivers What can only be described as a sort of A piece to camera Corporately written rallying cry For football and for the World Cup Which is just remarkable for how long it went on for I think somebody timed it about a minute and 52 seconds But yeah perhaps that is something that we will not see at the next men's world cup in 2030 um but yeah it's all over it's come and gone almost as quickly as uh it arrived um what was it sort of six seven weeks of uh the biggest world cup or what actually what was it that uh we said at the start that Gianni Infantino called it the greatest sporting cultural and social event in humanity discuss

4:13James Emmett:us well janny's um well and truly uh been sipping the kool-aid hasn't he and he's drunk it all down and then he's had another bottle of it um and i think he believed i think he believes that doesn't he although i was thinking about this i mean what is the greatest sporting culture or the social

4:33David Cushnan:event in humanity if it wasn't the 2026 feet for men's world cup i mean you're ticking a lot you're you're creating a lot of circles in the Venn diagram there, aren't you,

4:44James Emmett:to position yourself sort of within. But yeah, yeah, potentially. Yeah. Potentially.

4:49David Cushnan:Yeah. Elsewhere, James. Now, we were on a boat, weren't we, last week? We went on a boat. Yeah, we were fortunate enough to be invited along to the, I think it's a now annual cruise along the River Thames by the folks at Spectacle, the reputation agency, Scott Bowers and Richard Conway. Really lovely summery evening in the company of plenty of folks from across the UK sports industry scene. Shout out to Jonty Hill, who was there telling us that he, I'm not sure he actually praised us, David, but he certainly said that he listened to us.

5:39James Emmett:So shout out to John T there. Noticeable that standing next to him for the entirety of the evening was Tom Hill, who has been on this show, who did not say that he listened to it. So shout out to John T, not Tom. Yeah, some really interesting conversations were had there. I had a nice chat with Sally Bolton, days away from her final moments as chief executive of Wimbledon. We were talking about a little snippet that I had done on Instagram the week before, I think, when we were both at Wimbledon. I was talking about Sally Bolton and what her legacy might be. And I was running it through with her on the boat last week.

6:29James Emmett:And she added one. So basically, broadly, I was talking about Sally Bolton's legacy as response to COVID, response to Russia, bringing in Sunday at Wimbledon, which is a sort of inside baseball thing that did a lot to revolutionize what the Wimbledon offering is. um not messing it up which is a big thing at Wimbledon sort of maintaining the history and heritage of the place while adding aspects here and there um not being tempted to bring in the Gianni Infantino then Infantino style halftime show um musical elements that all the other Grand Slams are bringing in um doing it all in lockstep with Debbie Jevons um the chair uh at Wimbledon and Sally um added but also obviously the um the Wimbledon Park uh slow political um expansion and Sally said yeah one more thing that she would add which is the upgrade across the board of the experience at Wimbledon and I hadn't realized it escaped my noticed but sally actually brought in disney experiences at some stage or folks from disney to consult with the various teams at wimbledon on how to offer best in class experiences at every level of access there and was it you david saying yeah well that basically is is just teaching people to smile and hide the bins.

8:09James Emmett:But that is important.

8:11David Cushnan:That was me. I think that was an off-the-record comment, James. Just revealing your true cynic inside. Yes, it was a very good time. Thank you to the folks at Spectacle for inviting us and allowing us on board. And the beauty of being on a boat bobbing up and down the Thames is that captive audience, A lot of good folks around absolutely with nothing else to do but gossip away. And there was a lot of talk and conversation about various big jobs, I guess, that are available in and around the upper echelons of British sport at the moment. You have Sally Bolton's successor as the CEO of Wimbledon, which is one of the plum jobs in world sport, as we've touched on in previous podcasts.

9:04David Cushnan:You also will have a key role running Arsenal's commercial operation. Now, following last week's news that Juliette Slott, the chief commercial officer at Arsenal, is going to be stepping down from that role. So Premier League champions looking for somebody to run their commercial division. And of course, Juliette in amongst a raft of expanded and new commercial deals as Arsenal have ascended to the top of English and indeed pretty much European football. She's also been a real driving force for Arsenal's women's team. So I think fascinating to see whether her role actually splits a little bit into a couple of roles or whether Arsenal will be looking for a, to use football parlance, like for like replacement.

9:56David Cushnan:But that's a key job. And there are some other big ones either available, James, or potentially will exist in the not too distant future that the top people will certainly be having an eye on. Yeah, we understand that the chief executive role at British Cycling has now been filled.

10:19James Emmett:We're awaiting an announcement. There's an interim CEO in position there. the theory is that there will be a very significant role coming in likely in london with the nba nba europe commissioner or chief executive or something like that to be filled the nba in the middle of a bit of a reorganization a reshuffle there are a round of redundancies around about a month ago with the promise of hundreds of new jobs, I think, across Europe to service this new entity, MBA Europe, which is still slated to begin next year in just over a year's time. Looking a bit further ahead, is it England or is it the UK in general set to be anointed the host of the 2035 Women's World Cup.

11:20David Cushnan:Yeah, it's the UK and the UK is the sole bidder for the 2035 tournament. So I think, as you say, formal awarding of that tournament will happen. I think it's in November this year. FIFA will dot the I's and cross the T's on that. And I think shortly after that, if not before, that is going to need a leader, a front person to move that forward and really start building out what will effectively be a local organizing committee of sorts. I think it will be interesting to see whether FIFA continues to build on this model that it had for the Men's World Cup by taking more of the organization of World Cups under its own control rather than sort of farming out in the previous model to a local organizing committee that is a bit more independent.

12:19David Cushnan:But nonetheless, I think you are going to need that. That is going to be a really big event in all sorts of ways. And I think you will need a leader who not only is able to work very closely with FIFA, but also all of UK football's various stakeholders, but also politicians, government at the highest level, because it will, of course, be the first football World Cup to take place in the UK since 1966. Further down the line, and we are, you know, we are preempting several hurdles that still need to be jumped or

13:05David Cushnan:what am I trying to say? Hurdles, loops to be jumped through? Hoops to be jumped through. Hoops to be jumped through. Talking of which, the 2040 Olympics is something that is just starting to get a bit of momentum. It's a couple of, funnily enough, a couple of people on the boat talking about it last week. But also, I have talked to a couple of people over the last few weeks who have been telling me just a little bit about the kind of work that is going on. And it's being, this is very early stage. We're nowhere near even permission or, you know, the formal decision to bid. But this is an initial strategic assessment that is being undertaken by UK Sport in the first instance to scope out the feasibility of the north of England putting together some kind of regional bid, which presumably would incorporate not just Manchester, but perhaps, you know, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle.

14:01David Cushnan:who knows but a north of england focused bid for the 2040 summer olympics and paralympics still a way off but it is the kind of um the kind of project that as we know from the whole london 2012 experience uh will require absolute um leadership uh from potentially a group of people but certainly um if it does turn into something more substantial than an idea a uh you know you are going to need a bid leader who has substantial experience in putting together these kind of major events. And I think luckily the UK is blessed given London 2012 and all that has followed in terms of major events in having quite a few people who would probably quite fancy that sort of project if indeed it comes to pass.

14:51David Cushnan:And James, linked to that, I suppose, we also have, I don't know if you've seen over in Jersey, we also have another new prime minister this week. and this guy comes from the north of England.

15:03James Emmett:Indeed, yeah. I'm not quite sure what the jurisdiction of the British Prime Minister is over Jersey. They've got their own quaint little system over here. But I don't want to wade into that too deeply. Yeah, Andy Burnham, born in Liverpool, I believe. He is a sports fan, although Keir Starmer, his predecessor, also a sports fan. but Andy Burnham has some sort of authentic history in sport he's an Everton fan he's also a fan of rugby league as any true northerner should be he's just assembled his new cabinet over here in the UK and I think tellingly one of the two cabinet ministers who have remained exactly where they are in post is Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary who also has a mandate for sport, who people in and around the sports industry have spoken relatively positively about, which isn't always, in fact, it's very rarely the case about culture and sports ministers.

16:22James Emmett:um yeah hopefully sport uh is somewhere near the top of the burnham agenda yes indeed uh we'll wait

16:35David Cushnan:to see he's got a few other priorities probably in his first uh few weeks in charge um over the

16:41James Emmett:i did i did i did note though david in the sort of flurry of media activity that um andy burnham undertook as he was taking office. One of the outlets that he went to was the Sidemen. Did you see that?

16:58David Cushnan:No.

16:59James Emmett:Hmm. Which is intriguing and a sort of way into youth culture.

17:07David Cushnan:I saw he was also on that career ladder thing. Is it a TikTok thing? That's part of the Sidemen. Oh, is it? Sorry. I think so. I'm way out of the loop on that stuff. Across the Atlantic, James, we should make note of the end game in sight for another big job. Talking of World Cup as we were, Major League Soccer was really the legacy of the last time the United States hosted a men's World Cup back in 1994. This time around, the World Cup is going to conclude just before the successor is found for Don Garber, the longtime commissioner of MLS. And it looks as though we have a final two. It was briefly a final three in contention.

18:03David Cushnan:So we have LAFC co-owner Larry Berg, who has a private equity background. or the former Fox executive and a man with much more of a media background in David Nathanson, seem to be the two candidates who are moving to the very final stage of the process, the long and very methodical process to find Don Garber's successor, which has been well trailed and well publicized over recent months. And this after Parag Marat withdrew from the process over the weekend, the San Francisco 49ers executive. And this is, in the aftermath of the World Cup, James, going to be, I mean, frankly, the most powerful job in US soccer at a time when there is absolutely momentum now to be maintained and built upon.

18:57James Emmett:Absolutely, yeah. Certainly the most important job in US soccer. The MLS, Major League Soccer, of course, founded, catalyzed by the previous World Cup in North America in the United States in 1994. for the expectation, the hope in the football industry is that this World Cup has a similar catalyzing effect and catapults that league into another, a new stratosphere of importance, global gravity. And it will be incumbent on a new commissioner to do that. two very different profiles in the final two candidates as you mentioned Larry Berg private equity guy David Nathanson a media guy I would suggest that in the last few years Major League Soccer has done very well at proving out and maintaining and growing franchise valuations and getting the private equity people excited about being involved in major league soccer may be less successful in the media product obviously they took a big bet going to apple exclusively a few years ago did very well to bring apple into sport with that deal, but I'm sure that the league will have hoped for better audience figures from that deal.

20:37James Emmett:So yeah, decisions to be made and directions to be chosen between Berg and Nathanson.

20:43David Cushnan:Yeah. And it probably is a touch simplistic to describe it as the private equity guy against the media. One's good at money, one's good at media. Exactly. Exactly. They're both obviously very experienced. And it's worth saying that And whilst Larry Berg has an ownership interest in LAFC, David Nathanson has been involved as a co-owner of the Seattle Sounders, I think, and also was an investor in Angel City on the NWSL side. So he has they both have skin in the game in terms of ownership positions that I think they would have to dispense with should they take the top job. And also, I think the actual timing of transition with Don Garber is still very much, well, I think there will be a transition period.

21:34David Cushnan:Don Garber's contract, I think, runs through 2027. So there's clearly going to be a period of perhaps a little bit of co-commissionership as one takes up the baton from, as I say, the longstanding and I think highly acclaimed Don Garber, who will actually be with us at Leaders Week London in October this year. so we can talk to him about all of that. And I think if the evidence of our business of soccer event in Atlanta back in March is any guide, a sort of valedictory lap for Don Garber, of which the World Cup, I'm sure, was a huge highlight because he's been a very significant force and I'm sure will continue to be an influence, perhaps in an official or unofficial advisory role as he steps away, because there's a lot of knowledge banked up there.

22:28David Cushnan:Shall we have a quick rattle through, James, some of the big stories, the big signings of the week? Yeah, let's do that before we reflect on a few further thoughts on the World Cup. So what's been going on? Deutsche Telekom's Magenta TV has secured German rights to the 2030 FIFA Men's World Cup. Chinese car manufacturer BYD has become a new partner of Paris Saint-Germain. And tech firm ClickHouse is Fulham FC's new shirt sponsor. The DP World Tour, PGA Tour and Asian Tour have concluded a new tripartite arrangement, which includes co-sanctioned events and player development pathways. UC3, UEFA's joint venture with European Football Clubs, has confirmed a deal with Telemundo for Spanish language rights to UEFA club competitions in the US for the three seasons from 2027-28.

23:27David Cushnan:And Brendan Donoghue from Elevates has been hired by Tomorrow Sports to be the first president of flag football. This is the new league being developed by the NFL and Tomorrow. Gabby Alexin has joined the Cadillac Formula One team as brand experience director. Harry James is Huell's new head of US marketing and Chris Pollard has joined JD Sports as Global Head of Marketing Effectiveness. Very good, and congratulations to one and all. Now, we mentioned the half... Didn't, sorry, didn't Brendan Donoghue run Elevate Talent? Correct, yeah. So, a big name, big hire and another big job.

24:10James Emmett:A headhunter has hunted himself a nice head role.

24:15David Cushnan:The poacher has turned poacher or whatever. Right. Just to wrap up the World Cup, because it feels like we've talked endlessly about it for, well, frankly, years. We talked briefly about hydration breaks. We talked about the halftime show. Any other final thoughts at the end of it all?

24:40Yeah, I mean, the incredible success of it, really. by forget about what anyone in traditional football heartlands