Sports Business Conversations
ADC Partners
Recent Episodes
The other day I was looking at all the digital photos and video I’ve stored over the years, and was a little overwhelmed. I’ll bet you know what I’m talking about, right? Things stored in different places. Lack of categorization. Frankly, it’s a total mess.
Now, imagine what that’d be like if you were doing it for hundreds of thousands of people...
But that’s what sports teams are dealing with right now. Think about all the photos, videos, and other forms of content that are generated about leagues, teams, and players on a daily basis. It’s staggering, right?
That’s where Mark Keaney and Greenfly come in. Greenfly shows teams not only how to organize all that content, but also how they can use it effectively to connect with and engage their fans.
Using media effectively is nothing new to Mark, who has a long history in the industry. In our conversation, we talk about how the changing role of media in sports, what he’s seeing in terms of best practices for using user generated content, how established teams and leagues are actually looking to the upstarts for advice on using new media and content, , and much more.
I hope you’ll also take time to listen all the way through, because I promise you’ll also be inspired by Mark’s 7AM Project.
Just one other thing. Please note that there is one moment of foul language in this episode, but that’s to be expected when two guys who grew up near Boston get together. It’s just the way it works.
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
The 1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.
FOLLOW US
Here's where you can find us:
- LinkedIn: adc-partners
- Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
- Threads: adc_partners_podcast
- Youtube: @adcpartners
- Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast
YOUR HOST
Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.
Mentioned in this episode:
SponsorCX
SponsorCX helps properties efficiently manage all their sponsorships to improve collaboration with their partners.
The other day was movie night here at worldwide HQ, so I thought I’d check out “The Spoils”, Mike Nicoll’s monumental documentary about AAU basketball. I’d juat settled in when the film’s protagonist, Etop Udo-Ema, says the following about AAU hoops:
“It’s a street game. It’s really just one step ahead of the dope game.”
It’s kind of an astounding statement, right? Youth sports being compared to the drug trade? But that line that lands even harder when Mike shares that he used the infamous HBO show The Wire as an inspiration for structuring his movie.
So just what the hell is going on in AAU basketball?
“The Spoils” takes a hard look at the state of amateur basketball in the US, and what it reveals is pretty breathtaking. To make his movie, Mike spent 11 years essentially embedded with the Compton Magic, the preeminent AAU basketball team in the country.
And what it reveals is a system perfectly designed to, in Mike’s words, “anoint and monetize” the next superstars.
In our conversation about his movie, Mike and I talk about the fearsome impact the current state of AAU has had on the sport, how entrenched interests like sneaker companies want to avoid changing the system at all costs, how AAU and players evolved over the decade he was attached to the Compton Magic, and what the ultimate cost is to the young teenage boys who get enmeshed in a system that openly refers to them as "assets" and "commodities".
Please note that this episode contains explicit language.
FOLLOW US
Here's where you can find us:
- LinkedIn: adc-partners
- Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
- Threads: adc_partners_podcast
- Youtube: @adcpartners
- Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
The 1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.
YOUR HOST
Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.
Mentioned in this episode:
SponsorCX
SponsorCX helps properties efficiently manage all their sponsorships to improve collaboration with their partners.
So tell me: What’s your greatest fear? Spiders? Heights? The mushroom people monsters from that movie you watched on Channel 38’s Creature Double Feature when you stayed up way too late? Oh, right. That one’s mine….
For most people, speaking in public is their greatest fear. It’s something Rose Lanham, the founder for Players for Good, a quickly growing speaker’s bureau for athletes, knows all too well. Because even players who are accustomed to competing in front of tens of thousands of people can get sweaty palms at the idea of speaking before a bunch of Rotarians.
It’s one of the reasons Rose launched Players for Good. The players she works with have amazing stories to tell about overcoming obstacles, surviving injury and illness, and experiencing what it takes to compete and win at the highest levels. Through Players for Good, she helps athletes craft their stories into compelling narratives, and then finds opportunities for them to share those stories.
In our conversation, we talk about how working with folks like Tony Gwynn showed her how athletes can impact a community, the qualities that make for a great speech, and what event producers should consider when featuring an athlete speaker at their events.
All that and the Lightning Round, too.
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
The 1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.
FOLLOW US
Here's where you can find us:
- LinkedIn: adc-partners
- Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
- Threads: adc_partners_podcast
- Youtube: @adcpartners
- Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast
YOUR HOST
Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.
Mentioned in this episode:
SponsorCX
SponsorCX helps properties efficiently manage all their sponsorships to improve collaboration with their partners.
A quick question for you. What does studying the effect of smoking bans on bars have in common with convincing basketball coaches that shooting more threes is the key to winning?
Absolutely nothing, as it turns out. Well, nothing, unless your name is Ben Alamar. If you’re Ben Alamar, those 2 things are linked at the hip.
That’s because when Ben was managing a UCSF smoking study back in the day, he answered a help wanted ad for a fantasy sports company who was looking for someone to help manage their data. That was the first time the economist realized that there was an entire industry that might one day need his expertise in analyzing information.
Safe to say that realization has worked out pretty well for Mr Alamar. Starting with that fantasy sports company, Ben has now worked with a vast number of sports teams and organizations to help transform how they look at and use data. Those experiences serve as the foundation for his industry defining text, "Sports Analytics", which is now in its 2nd printing.
In our conversation, we talk about how integral data analytics is to sports both on the field and in the front office, how having a clear mission for using data is an essential key to success, and where the field is headed in the next few years.
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
The 1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.
FOLLOW US
Here's where you can find us:
- LinkedIn: adc-partners
- Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
- Threads: adc_partners_podcast
- Youtube: @adcpartners
- Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast
YOUR HOST
Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.
Mentioned in this episode:
SponsorCX
SponsorCX helps properties efficiently manage all their sponsorships to improve collaboration with their partners.
Let’s begin this episode with a few questions. First off, do you work in sports? Number 2: would you like to work in sports? Alright, one more: do you know someone who’d like to work in sports?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then this episode is absolutely for you.
My guests on the show are Amy Gutierrez and Celeste Gehring, two long time sports media executives who host the quickly growing “Girl, How’d You Get That Gig?” podcast. In it, they interview female sports business executives to review their career paths, share secrets to their success, and provide advice to others seeking to follow in their steps.
And while their show is nominally for women, the lessons and advice they tease out have value for everyone. Honestly, just the stuff we talk about in this show is enough to get anyone a leg up in their search for a sports business job, or to advance from the one they already have. It’s s really positive discussion, even taking into account some pickleball trash talk toward the end.
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
The 1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.
FOLLOW US
Here's where you can find us:
- LinkedIn: adc-partners
- Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
- Threads: adc_partners_podcast
- Youtube: @adcpartners
- Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast
YOUR HOST
Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.
Mentioned in this episode:
SponsorCX
SponsorCX helps properties efficiently manage all their sponsorships to improve collaboration with their partners.