Highlight Reel: Could R360 Have Positive Knock-On Effects for Rugby? 🏉
Plus, Steve Ballmer talks basketball, basketball, basketball and Gatorade leverage a 'Cool' asset for sponsorship activation...
Good morning!
While the football season winds down, the podcast is still going strong - with just over a month left to run 🎙️
This week’s episode with Matthew Jafarian of the Miami HEAT is one of my favourite conversations to date (and it came about thanks to a story I shared in here just two weeks ago, referencing 601 Analytics).
We covered how the franchise has turned cost centres into revenue generators, why they’re investing in internal innovation, and how they’re approaching venture. Well worth a listen if you missed it.
Next week, I’ll be in London on Wednesday for SEG3, interviewing Baller League CEO Felix Starck. If there’s any questions you’d like me to ask him, reply to this email with them 📥
You can also look forward to the first episode of the Sports Pundit Performance Podcast with Rich Buchanan dropping on Monday morning!
Now, on to this week’s stories:
Proposed breakaway global rugby league revealed 🏉
Steve Ballmer talks Basketball, Basketball, Basketball 🏀
Gatorade leverage Cool Asset for Sponsorship Activation 🏟️
Let’s get into it:
LIV IN THE MOMENT
Could R360 Have Positive Knock-On Effects for Rugby? 🏉
R360, a proposed breakaway global rugby league, has been unveiled with former England star Mike Tindall, ex-Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper, and IPL and LIV Golf architect John Loffhagen, among its founding team.
The format follows a “grand prix” model: 12 franchises (8 men’s, 4 women’s) travelling to 16 global venues including the Nou Camp and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The calendar proposes April–June and August–September windows to complement international fixtures and reposition rugby as a summer sport.
Over 300 of the world’s top players are being targeted, with heads of agreement reportedly signed by dozens already, contingent on full funding by September.
The league has drawn franchise interest from team owners across NFL, F1, and global investor groups, and aims to prioritise innovation and gender equity.
Why It Matters:
This won’t necessarily solve all of rugby’s problems overnight, from concussion and load management to calendar congestion and media rights fragmentation.
But as LIV Golf has shown, a bold challenger can catalyse change that incumbents wouldn’t otherwise make.
Whether R360 immediately has all the answers or not, its presence could force the traditional powers in rugby to modernise faster and rethink what the sport could be, especially for younger, global audiences.
OPINION: TAKING A CLIP ON REVENUES
🗣️ Steve Ballmer: It’s About Basketball, Basketball, Basketball 🏀
Speaking on the Acquired podcast, Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO and owner of the LA Clippers, laid out the (refreshing) vision behind the team’s new home:
“Intuit Dome is probably the product for which I had the clearest vision I’ve ever had. I knew what user I wanted to make happy.”
That user wasn’t a luxury suite buyer. It wasn’t a visiting celebrity. It was the hardcore Clippers fan.
“I wanted to make Intuit Dome the best place for the hardcore basketball fan.”
That clarity runs through every design decision:
No compromises for hockey.
No luxury suites on the fan side.
No eclectic food options to browse.
No lounge-first layouts.
Instead there are steep stands, standing sections, frictionless concessions, and a wall of sound with a student section at its core. Even the art is basketball.
“Our major piece of public art is a Clipper ship whose masts are basketball backboards from around the world. Basketball, basketball, basketball.”
Ballmer openly admits he left revenue on the table:
“We could’ve made more revenue… but it’s about basketball. We have a lot of toilets, three times the average, because it’s about basketball. Get out and get back into your seat. Don’t miss the action.”
“I I took some financial hits on this. We have fewer suites [which means] less revenue, and we only charge a thousand bucks for a season ticket that gets you pretty close to the damn floor.”
It’s rare to see someone with the resources to do anything, choose to do less, on purpose, for the sake of a better fan experience.
“We could’ve designed for the contemporary audience. More lounges, more space. But I designed for me. And it turns out, Clipper fans are kind of like me; long-suffering, loyal, and they care about the game.”
Ballmer isn’t chasing prestige. Instead, he’s focused belonging and is thinking as a fan. Forget maximum revenue for a moment and instead aim for maximum resonance.
Or as he put it: Basketball, basketball, basketball!
📚 Further Reading: Football… where everybody knows your name - By Roger Mitchell
🎥 SPONSORED HIGHLIGHT | Brought to you by WSC Sports
The Off-Season is No Time to Unwind 🏖️
While players might be winding down, your content strategy shouldn’t be.
The off-season is when anticipation builds: transfer rumours 🔁, new signings ✍️, first interviews 🎙️, pre-season tours ✈️. Fans are watching, waiting, refreshing. And it’s your job to feed that appetite with the right content, in the right format, at the right time.
WSC Sports makes that easy.
Their AI-powered platform helps clubs identify the moments that matter, from the coach’s off-the-cuff comment to that viral pre-season goal, and turns them into ready-to-go content, fast. 📲
WSC Sports helps you stay relevant, even when the games stop. 🛑
To help you do just that, they’ve put together a quick guide: 5 Ways Clubs Can Drive Fan Engagement During the Off-Season
Give it a read and keep your fans coming back, even when the fixtures don’t.
HIGHLIGHTS
Finance
Broadsword Investment Management has acquired a majority stake in Powerleague, the UK’s largest five-a-side football operator. The deal will drive expansion across new formats and participation-based sport experiences ⚽️
Wrexham AFC is exploring a minority stake sale at a reported £350 million valuation, as the club seeks fresh investment following promotion to the Championship under Reynolds and McElhenney’s ownership 🏴
Chicago White Sox is set for a change in control, with billionaire investor Justin Ishbia agreeing to acquire Jerry Reinsdorf’s majority stake. The deal is expected to close as early as 2029 ⚾️
Rogers Communications has received full approval to acquire Bell’s 37.5% stake in MLSE, giving Rogers greater control of Canada’s top sports and entertainment group, which includes the Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto FC 🍁
Innovation
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds have become co-owners of the Australia SailGP team, now rebranded as the BONDS Flying Roos. The move adds celebrity cachet and commercial momentum to SailGP’s growing global presence 🇦🇺
Starbucks is hiring two full-time coffee content creators — a barista and a digital storyteller — for a global tour documenting coffee culture. It marks a shift in brand strategy: treating creators as in-house culture carriers, not just influencers ☕️
Capgemini has signed a five-year deal to become the Official Technology Partner of the Tour de France and 13 other cycling races, using data and innovation to enhance fan experiences and performance insights in professional cycling 🚴♂️
Marketing
Como 1907 has launched a limited-edition luxury watch with Hublot, blending Lake Como’s elegance with Hublot’s prestige to position the club as a lifestyle brand as well as a football team ⌚️
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed on as a major sponsor of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, deepening ties with global football ahead of the tournament’s June kickoff 🏆
Mercury13 has partnered with Wasserman’s The Collective to land commercial sponsors across its (soon-to-be) growing multi-club ownership model in women’s football, aspiring to offer brand partners flexibility and scale ⚽️
Media
UFC’s next media rights deal is heating up, with ESPN, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Warner Bros. Discovery all reportedly in discussions, according to Puck 📺
Amazon Prime was blocked from airing a key French Open match, after Roland Garros declined its request to stream French player Loïs Boisson’s fourth-round tie in the night session at Court Philippe-Chatrier 🎾
Australia’s Seven Network has secured exclusive rights to broadcast Major League Cricket (MLC), with all 34 T20 matches to be shown live and free on 7plus Sport under a new multi-year deal 🏏
COOL IDEA
Gatorade Gifts the Best View to the Fans with the Worst Seats 🏟️
Gatorade flipped the script on traditional sponsorship activations with its ‘Cool Seats’ activation, turning a decades-long sideline asset into an unforgettable fan experience.
For the first time ever, fans were given the chance to watch games from the sidelines, seated on Gatorade coolers typically reserved for players and coaches.
To find the “best fans with the worst seats,” Gatorade used AI to score social media photos based on visibility and proximity to key plays, identifying the most obstructed views in the stadium.
Winners were upgraded to field-level — a creative use of data, tech, and existing rights.
The campaign reached 62M+ impressions, saw a 45% engagement rate, and drew 15,000+ fan submissions.
Why it matters:
This is smart rights activation, repackaging a long-held asset (the sideline cooler) into a high-emotion, high-shareability moment.
Rather than inventing something new, Gatorade simply opened up what was always there. It’s a great example of how brands can turn passive, unique assets into dynamic platforms that scale with emotion and storytelling.
GROUP CHAT
That’s a wrap for this week - huge thanks to everyone who’s part of our growing community.
A special shoutout to David Allen for his contributions this week, notably for kicking off conversation about R360. This earns him our title of Contributor of the Week 👑🙏
Welcome to all of our new members, too:
Ben Whitman (Sustainable Ventures)
Cameron Aitken
Melissa Soobratty (Professional Squash Association)
Neel Shah (Dream Sports Foundation)
Will Inkster (Cisco)
Jeff Freedman (Grandstand)
Not part of the group yet? What are you waiting for? Apply to join us by filling out a simple form on the website. Feel free to share this link with (your favourite) colleagues.
P.S. You can see a full list of all the current members, here.
ON THE PODCAST
#56 Matthew Jafarian: How the Miami HEAT Empowered Entrepreneurship from Within 🏀🔥
On today’s episode, I’m joined by Matthew Jafarian, Executive Vice President of Business Strategy at the Miami HEAT.
Over the past eight years, Matthew has led one of the most ambitious digital transformations in American sports, overseeing the HEAT’s approach to data, technology, and strategy. But what really sets him apart is the fact that he hasn’t just transformed his own organisation, he’s also helping to reshape the entire industry.
Matthew is also the co-founder of 601 Analytics, a data and analytics platform born inside the HEAT that’s now used by over 20% of the NBA, the league office, and teams across the NFL, NHL, NWSL, MLB, and (soon) MLS. From fan insights to ticketing to food and beverage optimisation, it’s become the operating system behind some of the smartest front offices in sport.
In this conversation, we dig into how the role of data is evolving in sport, why teams need to start acting like the billion-dollar businesses they are, and what it means to build a company within a world-famous organisation.
SPORTS BUSINESS CONFERENCES
What’s Coming up This Month? 🤔 And How to Get a Discount 🎟️
This month has plenty of major conferences, from SXSW, SEG3, and SportAccord
We’ve created a calendar featuring over 125+ industry events across the year that you can access for free here 📆
Even better, we’ve agreed discounts with many of these leading conference organisers if you book via the Sports Pundit website. For example, we’re offering 20% off SEG3 in London! Use the link below to view and book.
JOBS BOARD
We're not a recruitment agent, but we have created a custom search on LinkedIn to help to you to find some the most exciting job opportunities within the sports industry a little bit more easily…`