Unofficial Partner 570 Spin Class: Here We Go! Premier League Transfer Window Special Spin Class is our regular series with experts in sports communications, PR and reputation management. Football's transfer window is one of the definitive sports business stories. Its cast of characters include players, agents, managers, club owners and a small number of journalists cum influencers with massive social media followings and the power to impact the market via insider intel and gossip. At the centre of all this is the clubs' PR teams seeking to control the narrative. Context: This summer's transfer window saw Premier League clubs break their all-time summer transfer record with spending reaching £3.49bn, compared to £1.13bn spent by clubs five years ago. A total of £506.5m was spent on deadline day itself, up from £391m last year. The total amount spent during the window considerably dwarfs the and underlines the power top English clubs have to attract talent, according to figures provided to BBC Sport by Paul Macdonald, founder of FootballTransfers.com. Three of the 10 most expensive signings in the history of football have happened this summer – with all of them being Premier League signings. In fact, this summer window featured four of the top flight's five most expensive ever deals. Kate Miller — Chief Communications Officer, Tottenham Hotspur Dan Johnson - former Premier League communications director Neil Daugherty — Senior Managing Director and UK Sports Sector Lead, Teneo This episode is sponsored by Leaders in Sport Women's Sport at Leaders Week Women's sport isn't short on momentum; the bigger question now is what the industry does with it. At Leaders Week London this October, that's where the conversation will go next: how to turn growing audiences, investment and attention into lasting commercial growth. Across the main agenda, the Women in Sport Breakfast and Women's Sport Lounge, you'll hear from the people building what comes next, and get closer to the ideas, partnerships and decisions shaping the market. If women's sport is part of your business, Leaders Week London 2026 is one you'll want to make time for.
Unofficial Partner
Advertising Services
London, LONDON 4,169 followers
Overthinking the sports business for money. The publisher of the Unofficial Partner and Expected Goals podcasts.
About us
Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport, with a stellar reputation for editorial excellence and informed, entertaining conversations on the big subjects. Our podcasts are downloaded thousands of times a week, every week of the year and the Unofficial Partner Newsletter goes to more than 5k subscribers across sport, every Thursday. We sit at the centre of private network of some of the most influential people in global sport.
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https://www.unofficialpartner.com/
External link for Unofficial Partner
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- Advertising Services
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- 2-10 employees
- Headquarters
- London, LONDON
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- Privately Held
- Founded
- 2019
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
What if, the clips are not marketing for the product, they are the product. What does that do to a media rights deal? A conversation with Daniel Kirschner, who founded Greenfly with Shawn Green, and is one of the most insightful people on the sport's digital economy in the industry. Search Unofficial Partner where you get your podcasts.
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
Always a pleasure and a privilege to talk to Richard Gillis on the great Unofficial Partner podcast! Please take a listen and let me know your thoughts. https://lnkd.in/grRw-tyj
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
"Every sport thinks it's in crisis." But as Charlie Boss explains, horse racing has less reason to worry than most, with festivals up and down the country attracting young, vibrant and gender diverse crowds who value a day at the races in the same way they value a gig. And when they leave, they want more of the stories, horses and people behind the sport. Put simply, the audience is already turning up and already asking for more. The opportunity now is to give them an obvious place to continue that journey once the last race is run, turning a brilliant day out into a fan for life. Listen to the full podcast from The Business of Horse Racing, our live event with Unofficial Partner here 🎧 https://lnkd.in/e3C8Hd4m
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
Pitch CEO Henry Chappell features in the latest Spin Class episode from Unofficial Partner - talking everything from Infantino, to LIV golf, to Fury v Joshua’s very public ‘will they or won’t they’ saga. And the one thing they all have in common? We’ll let you work that one out. Listen in on the link below 👇 https://lnkd.in/e_gdtVnm
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
The next cast of team owners will come from the AI model IPOs. Like their forefathers in finance and the dotcom boom, they see sport as something to be optimised for value extraction. ‘Business’ shifted from generator of wealth to appropriator of wealth. From long-term builder to short-term strip-miner. Meanwhile, NGBs and traditional rights holders still argue in the language of stewardship, heritage and the public good: the Ming vase. FinSport hears that language as either a pricing inefficiency to exploit or sentimental cover for lazy incumbent bodies protecting their rents. Is that it, is there nothing between those two poles? From today's Unofficial Partner newsletter
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Unofficial Partner 366 Chat UP: I never want to hear the phrase 'Palantir for Sport' again Chat UP is Unofficial Partner's series on AI in the sports business. Today's guest is Mike Bracken CBE. He built the UK's Government Digital Service, became the country's first Government Chief Data Officer, and now runs the consultancy Public Digital, advising governments and institutions worldwide. Richard Gillis sits him down to test a simple, uncomfortable idea: that most of sport's "AI problem" isn't about AI, isn't even about data, and can't be bought from a vendor. What follows is a masterclass in why change management fails, who really holds the power, and where the genuine prize for sport is hiding. The two questions that come before any tech decision "Why are you asking the question about AI?" The standards argument: airports, not algorithms The Palantir for Sport question It's about power, not technology Open v closed, and the wall of money Why the single customer view is "a marketeer's wet dream" CRM v VRM: the extractive trap The bogus-metrics problem The trick sport is missing Chat UP is made in collaboration with Twenty First Group Labs. TFG Labs is the centre of innovation within the Twenty First Group and is truly the testing ground for groundbreaking sports intelligence. Their team of dedicated AI engineers are using the power of emerging technologies to deliver powerful changes to organisations across the whole sports ecosystem.
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
Beware people selling a 'Palantir for Sport' The new Unofficial Partner podcast is an episode of ChatUP, our series on AI in the sports business made in collaboration with TFG Labs, the technology arm of Twenty First Group. Our special guest is Mike Bracken CBE, co-founder of Public Digital, who founded the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) and became the country’s first Government Chief Data Officer in a thirty year career at the heart of digital transformation across public and private sector, including advising presidents Macron and Obama. What comes out is that many of the issues framed as AI are really data conversations wearing an AI costume. And underneath that, they're not even data problems. They're organisational and power problems that sport keeps trying to solve by buying a piece of technology. It's the same move the NHS made. It's the same move governments make that usually ends the same way: paying more for a service you control less. We get into the Palantir question head-on — what it's really selling, and why "a Palantir for sport" is a phrase Mike would rather never hear again. We talk about the single customer view, the 360 fan, and why he thinks it's a marketeer's fantasy that mostly doesn't survive contact with a messy sport like football. And we end somewhere more hopeful — the one thing sport has that banking, airlines and the NHS don't, and which almost every rights holder is currently leaving on the table.
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
British racing has something few other sports can offer: the space and freedom to move around, meet friends and enjoy the day together 🏇 At The Business of Horse Racing, Josh Apiafi discussed how racing can make more of the space at racecourses, while Charlie Boss, CEO of Bristol Sport, highlighted the fantastic job INVADES have done in turning it into an experience that connects with younger audiences. But one organisation cannot do it alone. If British racing is to grow and keep pace with other racing nations, it needs more initiatives that build on Invades’ success. Listen to the full podcast from The Business of Horse Racing, our live event with Unofficial Partner here 🎧https://lnkd.in/e3C8Hd4m
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Unofficial Partner reposted this
The FIFA Gotcha and the moral arbiter phase of the story. From today’s Unofficial Partner Newsletter. Link in the comments below.
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