The Big Deal - Australian Sports Business Podcast DM Podcasts

AFL legend Anthony Koutoufides was the prototype ‘modern’ footballer. More than an incredible athlete, Kouta became a superstar brand in the 90s and changed the game for the players that followed.

Joining Carlton on a contract worth about $8000 a year, he went on to become arguably the AFL’s first million dollar man.

Kouta played 278 games for Carlton between 1992 and 2007. He’s a two-time All-Australian, he captained the Blues for three years and was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2014, and more importantly, he’s a Carlton premiership player.

Kouta had a personal sponsorship with Adidas in 1997 which his club tried to force him out of, after doing a team deal with Nike. Kouta and his management fought back and won, in a move that would open up new commercial opportunities for every AFL footballer going forward.

Kouta joins Tredders and Dion to talk about this and much more, including the pressures of being one of the AFL’s biggest stars, being a victim of Carlton’s salary cap saga, what he’s learned from the highs and lows of his career and what Kouta's future looks like in health and fitness with his brand, Kouta Fit.

Got a question for the next Talkback With Tredders episode? Just reply or comment to our The Big Deal emails, or send a voice note to thebigdeal@apiromarketing.com to be included in the show!

About The Big Deal

The Big Deal reveals the dollars, details and drama behind the business of sport, in Australia and around the world. 

Subscribe to the weekly podcast on your favourite podcast player, and join our community and get a weekly wrap of sports deals, breaking sports business news and much more at: www.thebigdeal.au

The team

Warren Tredrea is an AFL hall of famer, premiership captain, 4 x All-Australian and media commentator. Show creator Andrew Montesi is an injury prone marketer and former TV sports reporter, while producer Dion Hayman is a sun sensitive sports media veteran of 30+ years.

The Big Deal podcast is brought to you by Apiro Marketing and Apiro Media, and part of the DM Media network.

For business enquiries contact Antony: antony@dm.org.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our first Talkback With Tredders episode, AFL great Warren Tredrea has called for leading Australian sports organisations to drop their partnerships with betting companies. 

Tredders took questions from The Big Deal audience which included tackling the big issue of betting sponsorships in sport.

In the wake of the AFL’s Brownlow Medal betting saga, Tredders challenged Australia’s major leagues to show leadership and pull the pin on gambling partnerships and in-game betting ads. 

He said organisations like the AFL don’t need the revenue, and believes the social issue of gambling addiction is so important that if players had to take a pay cut to cover the shortfall, so be it. 

Tredders and The Big Deal team unpacked the potential ramifications of such a move.

They also took on questions about sports integrity and the influence of government and big business on sport, challenges for sport’s business model, as well as footy topics including the future of Jason Horne-Francis, long-term deals and more. 

Got a question for the next Talkback With Tredders episode? Just reply or comment to our The Big Deal emails, or send a voice note to thebigdeal@apiromarketing.com to be included in the show!

About The Big Deal

The Big Deal reveals the dollars, details and drama behind the business of sport, in Australia and around the world. 

Subscribe to the weekly podcast on your favourite podcast player, and join our community and get a weekly wrap of sports deals, breaking sports business news and much more at: www.thebigdeal.au

The team

Warren Tredrea is an AFL hall of famer, premiership captain, 4 x All-Australian and media commentator. Show creator Andrew Montesi is an injury prone marketer and former TV sports reporter, while producer Dion Hayman is a sun sensitive sports media veteran of 30+ years.

The Big Deal podcast is brought to you by Apiro Marketing and Apiro Media, and part of the DM Media network.

For business enquiries contact Antony: antony@dm.org.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With a career in sports media that has spanned four decades, including playing a key role in setting the foundations for the NBA and ESPN media empires, John Kosner is a true pioneer in sports business.

Based in New York, John is an investor and advisor in sports tech startups and president of digital media and sports consultancy, Kosner Media.

John created Micromanagement Ventures with the late legendary NBA commissioner David Stern, and continues to advise its portfolio companies including WHOOP, WSC Sports and Overtime. He’s also an adviser to 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, Apple News, the NCAA, the Big East, Sportradar and many others. 

John was head of broadcasting at the NBA in the Dream Team era, before joining ESPN to build it into the world’s leading destination for sport online over his 21 year tenure. 

In this fascinating interview, John talks about:


Pioneering broadcasting as Michael Jordan transformed the NBA
Building and growing ESPN’s online sports platform 
Lessons learned from sports business icon David Stern
The evolution of media rights, and what it means for rights holders, sports organisations and fans
The biggest investment opportunities in sports
Challenges facing the sports industry and a looming ‘reset’
What it takes to build a successful career in the industry

And much more.

About The Big Deal

The Big Deal reveals the dollars, details and drama behind the business of sport, in Australia and around the world. 

Subscribe to the weekly podcast on your favourite podcast player, and join our community and get a weekly wrap of sports deals, breaking sports business news and much more at: www.thebigdeal.au

The team

Warren Tredrea is an AFL hall of famer, premiership captain, 4 x All-Australian and media commentator. Show creator Andrew Montesi is an injury prone marketer and former TV sports reporter, while producer Dion Hayman is a sun sensitive sports media veteran of 30+ years.

The Big Deal podcast is brought to you by Apiro Marketing and Apiro Media, and part of the DM Media network.

For business enquiries contact Antony: antony@dm.org.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason Cripps is one of the most respected and successful list managers in the AFL.

He’s spent more than a decade in the role at Port Adelaide after a stint as assistant coach under Mark Williams and Matthew Primus and an injury-plagued playing career with St Kilda.

He’s fresh off securing the AFL’s 2021 number one draft pick, Jason Horne-Francis, in a bumper trade for the Power after just one season with North Melbourne.

In this week’s podcast, Jason talks about the mechanics of that deal and how recruiting teams avoid what he describes as the “busts” - a top 10 draft pick that fails to realise his potential.

You’ll be surprised at how many there are and how damaging they are to a team’s prospects.

He talks about the modern trend of recruiting free agents to avoid “bottoming out” and discusses whether clubs should be allowed to trade players against their will.

You’ll be surprised what the day to day life of list managers and recruiters look like.

Jason’s balancing one of the game’s most demanding schedules while keeping one eye on his health, just seven years after being incredibly fortunate to survive a serious heart attack.

About The Big Deal

The Big Deal reveals the dollars, details and drama behind the business of sport, in Australia and around the world. 

Subscribe to the weekly podcast on your favourite podcast player, and join our community and get a weekly wrap of sports deals, breaking sports business news and much more at: www.thebigdeal.au

The team

Warren Tredrea is an AFL hall of famer, premiership captain, 4 x All-Australian and media commentator. Show creator Andrew Montesi is an injury prone marketer and former TV sports reporter, while producer Dion Hayman is a sun sensitive sports media veteran of 30+ years.

The Big Deal podcast is brought to you by Apiro Marketing and Apiro Media, and part of the DM Media network.

For business enquiries contact Antony: antony@dm.org.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian sport is at the crossroads, as the industry seeks investment to grow while juggling ethical concerns and a volatile market. Jaimie Fuller knows this better than anyone. 

The founder of eo and former Executive Chairman of SKINS personally led several campaigns that raised the profile of major ethics issues in international sport.

Jaimie was pioneering at the time, but today the relationship between sport, money and ethics is centre stage. Just days after our interview with Jaimie, billionaire Gina Rinehart pulled her multi-million dollar investment into Netball Australia, bringing tensions to a boiling point. 

As a prominent activist, but also a founder trying to raise investment in a brutal market, Jaimie talks about the challenge of walking this tightrope. 

He admits he’s finding it tough as global markets crash and investors tighten purse strings. 

If he can navigate the choppy waters, Jaimie says the market opportunity for eo in the sports science and performance space is worth “f***ing billions”.

But it’s not just about the money. Integrity issues remain, he says “sports marketing is a joke” and Jaimie wants to use his company, and platform, to change the game.

Jaimie covers the big issues, where eo is at, his learning from the rise and fall of SKINS and much more.

About The Big Deal

The Big Deal reveals the dollars, details and drama behind the business of sport, in Australia and around the world. 

Subscribe to the weekly podcast on your favourite podcast player, and join our community and get a weekly wrap of sports deals, breaking sports business news and much more at: www.thebigdeal.au

The team

Warren Tredrea is an AFL hall of famer, premiership captain, 4 x All-Australian and media commentator. Show creator Andrew Montesi is an injury prone marketer and former TV sports reporter, while producer Dion Hayman is a sun sensitive sports media veteran of 30+ years.

The Big Deal podcast is brought to you by Apiro Marketing and Apiro Media, and part of the DM Media network.

For business enquiries contact Antony: antony@dm.org.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the back of coaching success stories like Paul Roos, AFL senior coaching jobs are coveted by many. But in reality it is a brutal, high pressure gig. 

In recent months we’ve seen Brett Ratten, David Noble and Ben Rutten sacked, and Alistair Clarkson and Chris Fagan pulled up before an AFL inquiry.

When the board or fans demands change, contracts don’t mean much. 

So what does it take to lead a high performing team to success, while under the immense scrutiny of the public and media? 

To talk about this and much more, Paul Roos joins The Big Deal Podcast. He’s an AFL legend, one of the league’s greatest coaches, a media commentator and founder of leadership consultancy, Performance By Design. 

Roos played 356 AFL games, mostly for Fitzroy before finishing his career in Sydney. He was Fitzroy captain for six years, won the best and fairest five times, a seven-time All-Australian, Victorian captain and Australian football hall of famer.

As a coach, he led the Swans to break a 72-year premiership drought in 2005 before setting the leadership foundations at Melbourne that would see them become premiers in 2021.

Through Performance By Design, Roos now brings his incredible insights and experiences to transform culture, leadership and teams in both sport and corporate environments.

In this fascinating interview, Roos talks about:


Keys to coaching success and the realities of coaching careers
Creating a high performance culture
“Make believe”, “zero accountability” and other problems with sports media
AFL in the USA

And much more.

About The Big Deal

The Big Deal reveals the dollars, details and drama behind the business of sport, in Australia and around the world. 

Subscribe to the weekly podcast on your favourite podcast player, and join our community and get a weekly wrap of sports deals, breaking sports business news and much more at: www.thebigdeal.au

The team

Warren Tredrea is an AFL hall of famer, premiership captain, 4 x All-Australian and media commentator. Show creator Andrew Montesi is an injury prone marketer and former TV sports reporter, while producer Dion Hayman is a sun sensitive sports media veteran of 30+ years.

The Big Deal podcast is brought to you by Apiro Marketing and Apiro Media, and part of the DM Media network.

For business enquiries contact Antony: antony@dm.org.au 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.