1) What was the 360 perspective at 180?
We've been busy in London at 180 Studios on The Strand over the last few days, welcoming many of you to Leaders Meet: Innovation. The idea was to bring leaders from across sport together and sprinkle in a host of experts from all sorts of non-sport sectors, with the aim of identifying and sharing some practical transferable lessons. Chatham House Rule was in effect - tricky for newsletter purposes, but important to help cultivate an honest and open environment for sharing and challenging conversation. There's a lot we can't say, but, hey, rules are there to be broken (or at least bent).
• To tee off a sparky and thoughtful discussion on Chair-CEO relations, between Olympic champion-turned-Sport England Chair Chris Boardman and Severn Trent CEO and Two Circles Chair Liv Garfield, we polled - anonymously - the audience to get a handle on current Board-Exec relationships within sport. 54% described the current dynamic within their organisation as 'productive and challenging' but a striking 23% suggested it was unproductive and challenging. 43%, meanwhile, said that if they had the power to change that, they would.
• The polling function was back in action for a practical session on piracy (or, more pertinently, anti-piracy). 68% of the audience agreed that piracy was either a very or extremely severe threat to their sport, but the audience was split down the line on whether they felt there was something they could do to affect the situation. Here's the nub of the issue in 2026. Piracy is a widespread issue, but there's a deep-set resignation about the our combined capability to deal with it. Experts from Nagra and the Premier League were on hand to offer some up-to-date tools for tackling the issue.
• Something often overlooked and not considered, but a thought from one of our female outside of sport leaders on stage worth sharing more widely: to further empower women in business and ultimately grow the number of C-suite women in sport, try giving them P&L responsibility earlier.
2) How do you put a face to an IP address?
Arsenal’s relaunch of its official app as ‘The Arsenal’ is a test case for that top stratum of rights holders that consider themselves to be global brands; modern media studios and fashion houses underpinned by a sports team. The broader objectives for the app don’t seem to have evolved too much. It’s clearly intended as the ultimate destination for Arsenal fans – with ticketing, retail, information, and media all in one place. And the principle digital entry point for consumers entering the Arsenal ecosystem. It’s a bigger, bolder play to build richer fan datasets. The emphasis and the positioning is where things have advanced considerably, with a commitment to a cadence and depth of content formats – including a dating show - not yet seen in Premier League football at least. This analysis from BBC Studio’s Simon Lane is the shrewdest I’ve seen.
3) How do you make money out of Dick’s?
In a data land-grab I can get behind, Dick’s Sporting Goods is offering discounts and cash rewards for exercise achievements. All you have to do is link your Dick’s account to whatever fitness app you use. If you can’t capture the data yourself, why not lean in to wherever it’s already captured.
4) Has Gillian Anderson turned me?
I’ve not known what to think about endorsers – athletes, musicians, celebrities in general – being given executive-ish titles at the companies they’re sponsored by. It pops up every now and then. Rihanna as Creative Director of Puma. DJ Khaled as Sail GP’s Chief Hype Officer. Daniel Ricciardo as Chief Optimism Officer for Optus. Steph Curry as President of the Curry Brand at Under Armour. It’s part BS, part credible, part just-a-bit-of-fun I’m sure. But something twigged for me this week when LinkedIn invited me to connect with Gillian Anderson, and congratulate her on her new role as Chief Compliments Officer at M&S. As the enshittification of social platforms continues, LinkedIn is absolutely the right platform for this type of activation. Sport marketers take note.
5) What’s with AI brand design’s anal fixation?
I’ve been following Zoe Scaman’s LinkedIn and Substack output for a little while now and it’s a steady stream of liquid gold. This week’s gem was the unearthing of a brilliant and brainy piece that I thought was about Jonny Ive and the age of bland homogeneity our design landscape has become, but actually was about AI logos and why they’re all just variations on an anus. It’s fair to say the piece takes you on a journey. Freud would have had a field day.
6) What’s a ‘15-minute happiness circle’?
It’s a fundamental part of China’s new five-year plan for sport, that’s what. The concept is clear: sports resources – gyms, courts, pitches etc - should be ‘visible, accessible and affordable’ – and no more than a 15-minute journey for anyone. Denis Green and Greg Turner both have good insider views on what else the latest governmental diktat means for those operating sports businesses with interests in China.
