Sports Pundit 2024: That's A Wrap! 🥳 🍾
2024 has been an incredible year for Sports Pundit, where our content was devoured like never before, and our community showed up in full force — online and IRL...
What’s in store for 2025? I’ve created a 15 question survey for you to have your say and influence SPs direction over the next year. I’d be extremely grateful to any of you who take the time do so.
SP WRAPPED
What can I say — 2024 has been a blockbuster year for Sports Pundit. Our content was devoured like never before, and our community showed up in full force — online, in-person, and everywhere in between.
To celebrate the year that was, I’m bringing you Sports Pundit Wrapped, highlighting some of the key numbers, content, and people that made 2024 unforgettable. Thank you to each and every one of you.
Content That Hit Hard 📰
This year, we clocked an incredible 267,733 views across our articles and newsletters.
Your collective reading habits revealed some clear favourites. Topping the charts was “Keeping Score: Why MLS Launched a Venture Fund In-House”, which sparked big conversations and also became our second most-listened-to podcast of the year.
But it wasn’t just Mihir Kumar drawing your attention.
Our article on “Dusseldorf’s Dilemma” told the story of Fortuna Düsseldorf’s ‘Fortuna For All’ campaign, and it ended up being one of the most-read pieces of the year with people gripped by Alex Jobst’s radical fan-first approach.
Our chat with Guinness’ Paddy Carberry also made waves, inspiring the piece “Tapping into New Markets.” That interview struck a chord with many of you curious about Guinness' move into the Premier League and how they go about activating on such a global scale. Meanwhile, “Slam Dunk”, featuring a conversation with Drew Rauso of Playmaker HQ, shined a light on the growing world of athlete-led podcasts. Further proof that athlete media is now a serious opportunity.
On the podcast front, Cherry Beagles’ story about founding The 400 Club was our most popular episode. Her insights into community-building and ambition clearly resonated.
Mike Armstrong at Juventus and Michael Dhulst at Supertri also drew in big audiences, demonstrating how innovative legacy clubs and emerging formats can spark intrigue in equal measure.
This year, we focused on consistency — and it paid off.
Having only started the podcast in November 2023, we grew our presence to be featured in 227 loyal fans’ Top 10 podcasts of the year, with listeners tuning in from an astonishing 31 countries around the world. From London to Lagos, New York to New Delhi, Sports Pundit has gone global 🌍
Community at the Core 🤝
Our Sports Pundit Social Club has been one of the most joyful parts of 2024.
We continued to bring in big numbers in London and what started as a small meetup of 15 people in New York (shoutout to Drew for getting that one going) quickly turned into something much bigger. By August, we’d 10x’ed RSVPs in the Big Apple.
Astonishingly, we have welcomed 1,782 signups for in-person meet-ups across the two cities.
The ambition for 2025? Make these meetups more accessible to more people in more places. We’d love for other members of the community to host them in their own cities (like Drew initially did in NYC). We’ll be looking for venue partners and logistical support to make it happen, so if you’re interested, you know where to find us.
If our in-person meet-ups are the heart of the community, then the WhatsApp group is its beating pulse.
Launched somewhat by chance in March (😅), it has since become a daily go-to for industry insight, connections, and value-driven discussion.
We’ve seen 15,003 messages exchanged — with very little spam (we like to keep it that way). Some of the biggest contributors deserve a shoutout: Rich Johnson, Nathan Kaplan, Windsor Roberts, Craig Santicchia, and Jo Redfern have all played key roles in making the group a trusted space for support, advice, and industry know-how.
Unlike other WhatsApp groups that get bogged down by cold sales messages, Sports Pundit’s group remains a true community — a place for people to help each other, not pitch each other.
Speakers Only 🎤
Our invite-only Speakers Only event at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium might just be the highlight of my year.
Bringing together brilliant minds from our community for intimate, think-tank-style discussions was exactly what I hoped it would be. The conversations were raw, honest, and inspiring — and it left me even more excited about what we can build together in 2025.
Big things are already in the works for next year. I can’t reveal too much right now, but just know that Speakers Only is coming back stronger, sharper, and even more ambitious.
However, more on that later. That’s not what this email is for…
A Moment to Say Thank You 🎉
This email, above all else, is about gratitude 🙏
None of this happens without YOU — the listeners, readers, sponsors, supporters, and friends.
Enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and thank you for being part of this journey.
See you again soon! 🚀
Andy 😃
What’s in store for 2025? I’ve created a 15 question survey for you to have your say and influence SPs direction over the next year. I’d be extremely grateful to any of you who take the time do so.