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Unofficial Partner Podcast

Unofficial Partner Podcast

By: Unofficial Partner
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Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. Our guests are a who's who of the international sports industry talking about the big issues.© 2025 Unofficial Partner Podcast Economics Management Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • UP497 'Buy It or Build It': Simon Denyer on the Billion-Dollar Sports Media Playbook
    Aug 19 2025

    As co-founder of Perform and DAZN, Simon Denyer has spent the last twenty years at the intersection of sport, media, and technology. Last week he brokered an innovative new relationship between La Liga and Disney+ via his new company PEAK Sports Media.

    This is a conversation about the big picture of sport's relationship with the major digital platforms, from YouTube and Netflix to Amazon and Apple.

    Unmissable.

    Sponsored by Leaders in Sport

    Leaders in Sport connects the most influential people and the most powerful ideas in global sport to catalyse discussion, and drive the industry forward. Through a series of global summits in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, invitation-only memberships and long form content, Leaders in Sport provides professional executives, both on and off the field, with access to a community of peers to share best practice and trends that are shaping the future of sport.

    Their flagship event, Leaders Week London, returns from 29 September to 2 October, with The Summit taking place at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.

    They'll be hosting the most senior executives in sport from 54 countries, including over 100 brands. We'll be there, and you should join us.

    Visit leadersinsport.com/UP for more information and use UP15 for a 15% discount on your Summit passes.

    Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
    To join our community of listeners,
    sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

    We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

    These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

    Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

    Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

    If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.



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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Inside Edge - Peter Hutton on Cricket, India and the rights market
    Aug 12 2025

     This is an episode of Inside Edge, our series on the cricket business with regular co-host Mike Jakeman. Today's guest is Peter Hutton, and nobody knows more about the relationship between television and cricket than Peter Hutton.

    Strap yourselves in, this is a masterclass.

    This episode of the Unofficial Partner podcast is brought to you by Sid Lee Sport.

    Sid Lee Sport believes that sponsorship activation has lost its edge. Same formats. Same ideas. Same old playbook.

    They call it Sponsorship Tumbleweed. Because too much work in the category just exists… its drifts by. Expensively! Not offending anyone, but not making anyone feel… anything.

    They’re here to shake that up.

    They’re a new kind of agency built for sport. That means combining world-class creativity with deep sponsorship know-how, flawless delivery, and real marketing effectiveness - not just good vibes and a lot of chat about fan culture.

    This is the agency that makes brands matter in sport. Culturally, commercially, and creatively.

    If you're tired of the tumbleweed, visit sidleesport.com

    Sid Lee Sport. Where brands become champions.


    Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
    To join our community of listeners,
    sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

    We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

    These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

    Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

    Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

    If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.



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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • UP495 Joey D'Urso on how football shirts explain the world
    Aug 5 2025

    Every shirt tells a story.

    Joey D'Urso, an award-winning journalist from The Times and formerly of The Athletic, joins UP to discuss his new book: More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power.

    • How the Gazprom sponsorship on FC Schalke 04's shirts reflects Russia's geopolitical strategies leading up to the invasion of Ukraine.

    • The criminal ties and money laundering schemes highlighted by clubs like Colombia's Envigado FC.

    • The dark side of the global gambling industry and the rise and fall of cryptocurrency sponsorships, like Football Index, that adorned shirts of clubs such as Nottingham Forest.

    • The use of football as a tool for authoritarian power, exemplified by Newcastle United's Saudi ownership.

    • And the symbolism of the England women's goalkeeper shirt, connecting to the broader story of women's rights and the growing popularity of the women's game.

    Get ready to see the world, and your favorite jerseys, in a whole new light.

    This episode of the Unofficial Partner podcast is brought to you by Sid Lee Sport.

    Sid Lee Sport is a new breed of agency that combines world class creativity with deep sponsorship expertise, flawless operational delivery, and a culture of marketing effectiveness. They have a creative philosophy of producing famous campaigns and activations that build buzz and conversation in a category that too often looks and sounds the same. And they're pioneering a new standard of effectiveness in sports marketing, using econometrics and attribution models to go beyond traditional media ROI.

    So if you're looking for an agency to take your brand to the top, get in touch with the team at Sid Lee Sport, where brands become champions.


    Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
    To join our community of listeners,
    sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

    We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

    These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

    Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

    Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

    If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.



    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
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