1) Go on then; what are the trends pieces I really need to look at?
a) David Cushnan’s alphabet returns for 2026. (Favourite letter: ‘I’ for ‘Incessant noise’)
b) James Kirkham’s 6 cultural shifts for 26. (Favourite line: ‘We overestimate content and underestimate guidance’)
c) Max Reyner’s 12 predictions for luxury, lifestyle and hospitality. (Favourite prediction: ‘Art becomes hospitality’)
d) Simon Pullman’s 6 media and entertainment trends for 26. (Favourite thought: ‘AI kills influencers’)
e) Jo Redfern’s sports media predictions. (Favourite prediction: ‘a sports league will announce a free, ad-supported streaming play to capture the generation opting out entirely’)
f) Matt Stagg’s tech-leaning sports media predictions. (Favourite line: ‘Venues will behave more like media platforms than physical locations’)
g) Harry Bainbridge’s 10 predictions for the marketing and brand world. (Favourite line: ‘This year’s cool sport will be something aggressively elitist and exclusive’)
I’ve also been crunching the numbers from the Worth Knowing newsletter data from last year. There are c.50,000 subscribers to this weekly bulletin, and as you can see it’s more or less a compendium of links. What you, collectively, click on gives us a good view on what the sports industry is and will be interested in. There’ll be more on this anon, but for now, here’s five quick hits on what the data is telling us you’ll want to know more about in 2026:
a) Why and how people get the top jobs in sport, and their approach to leadership when they’re there;
b) Premier League innovation: anything to do with revenue generation, content production and distribution, rights packaging and more;
c) Personal curators and practical guidance: not ‘the best analysis on x or y’ but ‘the best analyst on x or y’;
d) Content formats and distribution methods: new rights buyers, new rights packages, creators, streamers, podcasts, alt-casts, and literally anything to do with Netflix;
e) New funds and how to access them.
2) Speaking of which, any new sports-focused funds available?
Bruin has just announced a new $1 billion sports investment platform, with George Pyne leaning on the support of the likes of Josh Harris and Rich Caputo for a fund raise that includes TJC, and 26North Private Equity. Bruin has successful exits from Deltatre, On Location and Two Circles under its belt, and currently has positions in Box to Box Films, TGI Sport and Full Swing among others. Pyne is locked and loaded and ready to invest again.
3) Is this the end of the Fifa BEST awards?
Or just the beginning of something better than BEST?
4) What does a Harvard Business School professor use to record content?
Since we’re all multi-platform, thought leading, content curators these days, this is useful.
5) Is marketability measurable?
The new NWSL High Impact Player rule has stirred some feelings. Essentially, the league has created a mechanism to make salary cap exemptions for star players. So far, so sensible. The controversial part comes through the league’s filters for defining high impact. The criteria are weighted towards inclusion on various media lists and awards rankings. Of course, it’s possible to compare social media numbers and an idea of general reach and cut-through, but can you really be objective about measuring potential stardom? It’s something David and I agonised with when we were back at SportsPro and kickstarting the Most Marketable Athletes list well over a decade ago. The rankings are now an annual feature and are one of the filters for the NWSL High Impact Player rule. I have no doubt that the process for how they’re compiled has come on leaps and bounds since David and I were licking fingers and holding them to the wind, but it’s true that we regularly debated the merits of including a horse, for example, or a particularly fast car on any given list. Generating discussion was the aim of the game; being definitive was impossible.
6) Do you fancy a new career in a new town?
There’s a bumper crop of appointments and openings (Good people, good places section below), but there are some particularly standout roles that need filling at the moment. First of all Mr Beast – the viral content king – is advertising for a Head of Viral Marketing, which seems to me a daunting job title to go with a fantastic role. Sort of like a partnerships role at an elite rights holder being advertised as a Director of 8-Digit Deals. And then we come to Netflix, who are looking for a Senior Comms Director to work under the formidable Emily Feingold. The salary range - $656k to $1.1m – is very big for a role that isn’t c-suite/a functional lead. And the detail in the job spec includes the following admirable and admirably transparent detail: ‘Our compensation structure consists solely of an annual salary; we do not have bonuses. You choose each year how much of your compensation you want in salary versus stock options.’ More of this sort of thing please.
7) What’s a good name for new podcast recording studio at the Australian Open?
The Pod Laver Arena studio, of course. I’m heading down to Melbourne this year to cover the business behind the AO – and then to Brisbane for our Leaders Meet: Australia event. Give me a shout if I’ll see you there.
8) What are the football pundits podcasters up to?
Gary Neville has sold a majority stake in his podcast-first production company, The Overlap, to Global. And Gary Lineker has picked up Premier League archive rights for his The Rest is Football vehicle. Jo Redfern makes some good points on this deal here. Perhaps it takes an establishment figure like Lineker to make it safe for rights holders to unlock the potential of archive for creators on less traditional platforms.
9) Will you forgive me some broetic licence?
Are you a broet?
And you didn’t know it?
It’s strangely effective
And all over LinkedIn
You’ve probably done it
Or ChatGPT has done it for you
Send me your sonnets; feed me your inspiration
You are Biz Shakespeare
And I am LinkedIn Larkin.
