SportsPro Podcast SportsPro

This week's guest is Michael Yormark, president of Roc Nation Sports International, the man taking Jay-Z's talent-led vision to the global sports industry. In an in-depth interview with Tom Bassam, Yormark explains how he left the US with a suitcase five years ago before going on to create a global sports agency with the likes of Vinicius Junior and Siya Kolisi on its books.

Talking points:


How Roc Nation signs and serves modern athletes
Yormark's view on the changing landscape of athlete marketing
Reflections on five years of Roc Nation Sports International
The vision for Vinicius Junior

A Hungarian striker primed to sell you power drills, a German defender-cum TV star and a keeper with his own partnerships web page, this is SportsPro’s entirely scientific and deeply researched Euro 2024 most marketable XI.

Hosted by Ed Dixon, alongside Sam Carp, Steve McCaskill and Tom Bassam, this episode was recorded live from Hotel Mundial. Thanks to the kind folks at Footballco for having us.

The Football Ramble is an 'OG' sports podcast in the UK and Luke Moore has seen it grow from a hobby into the centrepiece of a successful, independent production company. Now the chief operating officer of Stak, Luke talks to Tom Bassam about sports podcasting, growing an audience and running a creative media business.

Euro 2024 is here, so to answer all the serious (and less serious) commercial questions ahead of the tournament, SportsPro Podcast host Tom Bassam is joined by features editor Sam Carp and technology editor Steve McCaskill.

Talking points:


Euro 2024 true or false (2:07)
Big tournament trends (19:56)
Predictions (32:58)

The advent of artificial intelligence is the biggest tech innovation since the dawn of the Internet. The sports industry, much like the rest of society, is still figuring out how to use it effectively, but companies like Relative Insight are leading the way. Tom Bassam speaks to Rauri Hadlington, business development director at Relative Insight, to understand more about the sports industry could - and should - be using AI.

Ice Cube is many things: a rapper, a film star, producer and more recently - with the Big3 - a sports mogul. The 'fireball' 3x3 basketball league that Cube co-founded with Jeff Kwatinetz has defied pessimistic projections to survive seven years and nine seasons, selling out arenas while airing on major US network TV. Speaking to Tom Bassam, Cube and Kwatinetz discuss selling Big3 franchises, the league's future and how the rapper's career has influenced his approach to being the CEO of a sports organisation.

Talking points:

- Franchising the Big3 (1:26)

- Getting the right type of owners (8:27)

- Taking risks (21:08)

- What Cube's learned about owning a sports property (25:36)