Don't Forget Your Tickets

Ian Dutton of Sporting Group International on Sponsorships, American Investment & Football's Future

• Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg • Season 8 • Episode 2

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What is the real impact of American investment on English football, and how are clubs adapting to a changing sponsorship landscape? For answers, we turn to a man who has seen it all from the inside: Ian Dutton, UK Managing Director of Sporting Group International.

In this episode, new co-host Clare Kenny sits down with the former Birmingham City FC Managing Director to discuss his 17-year journey at the club, the cultural shifts under new ownership, and his move to the global agency SGI. We dig into the long-term goals of US owners, the future of the independent regulator, and where the real commercial growth opportunities lie for UK and Irish sport.

Highlights from the conversation:

  • The American Wave: Why US investors are drawn to English football and what their long-term objectives are beyond the balance sheet.
  • Cultural Shifts: A firsthand account of the monumental changes in communication, transparency, and fan relations that new ownership can bring.
  • From Club to Agency: The transition from running a club to building global partnerships and what it takes to succeed on both sides of the table.
  • The Power of Relationships: Why old-school, trust-based networking still delivers the biggest commercial wins in a digital-first world.
  • Sponsorship & Storytelling: How to create authentic, meaningful partnerships by acting as a sales extension for rights holders, not just another agency.
  • Ticketing & Fan Experience: The critical importance of the user journey and why simplifying the purchase process is key to engagement.
  • The Independent Regulator: Will it scare off investment or create a more sustainable pyramid? An insider’s perspective on the pros and cons.
  • Future Growth Areas: Identifying the emerging sectors, from AI to fintech, that will define the next wave of sports partnerships.

Tune in for a masterclass in sports commercial strategy, leadership through adversity, and a look at the forces shaping the future of the beautiful game.

Don't Forget Your Tickets is powered by TicketCo and hosted by TicketCo’s CEO, Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg. The podcast was originally named TicketingPodcast.com

SPEAKER_00:

What's the impact of American investment on English football and how are clubs adapting to a changing sponsorship aspect? Welcome to Don't Forget Your Tickets, the podcast exploring the people and ideas shaping the business of sports. I'm Colerick Mobert, and today I'm thrilled to introduce our new co-host, Claire Kenny. In this episode, Claire sits down with Ian Dutton, UK managing director at Sporting Group International, to discuss his journey from Birmingham City FT to global sponsorships, the rights of American ownership, and what's next for football clubs across the tiers. Let us dive in.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to another episode of Don't Forget Your Tickets, the podcast that shines a light on the people shaping, detecting commercial and storytelling landscape in sports. My name is Claire Kenny, and I'm a board member and chief commercial officer at Ticketco, the sponsor and producer of this podcast. I'm also Don't Forget Your Tickets, new co-host, sitting in for our host, Carl Eric Moberg, every now and then. Now I'm joined today by someone who knows the commercial landscape of sports inside out. Ian has held senior roles across the industry, but none as notable as managing director of Birmingham City Football Club. Welcome, Ian.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi Claire, thank you so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to our chat today.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, before we get into SGI and the big issues of the industry, I'd love to start with you as a person. You've built a great career in football and sport. What were the early sparks? What did young Ian look like and how did sports first grab you?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh God, what did young Ian look like? So I've always been a huge sport fan, particularly football growing up. I'm from the Midlands. The Midlands is a huge football footprint. Not huge when it comes to rugby and some of the other sports. So yeah, I was a seasoned tick holder in Birmingham City Football Club ever since I was, I think, three, four years of age, with my dad and my brother. Grew up playing the sport, my school team, local team, etc. So just fell in love with it right from the off, really. I actually fell into sport and I suppose working in sport when I was 18. So I actually went out and worked for a company called Acorn Adventure. They're fundamentally an outdoor adventure company which teach young people how to do lots of different outdoor sports. And I was actually a windsurf instructor, so windsurf instructor and also a sailing boat instructor. And I learned a lot of my qualifications when I was out there on the job itself. And yeah, and I worked out in a place called Narbonne, which is in the south of France, not far from the Pyrenees. Also worked for a short period, place called the Aost Valley, just on the French-Italian border. I did a lot of white water rafting, worked in Hopewille. So I did that for about four years fundamentally. Had a wonderful, wonderful four years. And then the the head office, Acorn, actually, their head office was literally in Birmingham, in a place for Cal Zowing. And I got offered a senior sales role. So that's how I fell into sales. That's how I sort of started my sort of career and journey path when I was around about 21, I think it was at the time. And then, yeah, I was there for a good 18 months, two years, and then I noticed, I think back then, showing my age now, I think back then it was sort of a newspaper article whereby I saw an advert for a commercial sales executive for my beloved Birmingham City football club. Um, it was sort of 2006, back in the day when it was owned by Daniel Sullivan, David Golds, uh Karen Brady was renowned as the first woman of football. She was the managing director there at the time. And yeah, and um went for the job, went through the various different cycles, and that's when I kicked off my journey and the 17-year, 10-year at Birmingham City Football Club. So that's how it all started for me.

SPEAKER_02:

That's brilliant. Now, obviously, you were at Birmingham City for a very long time, and I think how many managers did you have during that time? It was was there like 15, 16, I see.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was. I mean, if you include kind of like interim managers, it was about 15 or 16 altogether, you know. So that averaged out like one every single season. Let's face it, that's pretty shocking me, really, isn't it? Let's face it. So, yeah, it was about 15, 16. It might have even been a couple more, to be fair.

SPEAKER_02:

And so, what did you learn, I suppose, during your time there? Then obviously becoming managing director, rising through the ranks, but in terms of dealing with people and all those personalities, how did you hone those skills? And what was your personal approach to dealing with some of the, I'm sure, very big personalities that you were encountering?

SPEAKER_01:

Most of my sort of tenure at Birmingham City Football Club was commercial director. So I was commercial director for 12 years. And I suppose on one of these, I've got like a lot of new modern day ways and approaches, but I'm very much still from an old school in my approach as well. So I'm all about building relationships. So it doesn't matter who who they are, what background they're from, what level of seniority they are. Like, I just want to build a relationship with these people and really get to know them, allow them to get to know me. So you build that trust and that network. And that's always been my mantra. And especially when you went through, you know, Birmingham City Football Club, it's very different to today's landscape. They're on the crest of the wave at the moment in their current ownership and current form. But, you know, we went through some real battles, we battled through some serious adversity with poor ownership at the time, you know, the leadership from a senior CEO level wasn't great, weren't really getting a huge amount of support. You know, the football on the pitch wasn't exactly going great either. So when you combine all that together, you know, you've got to really kind of stand out from those areas. And I think that's where that relationship with people does come into play, you know, when you can really have that conversation openly and honestly. So yeah, that was kind of my approach, and how I suppose I have handled those big characters is by building those relationships.

SPEAKER_02:

Did you see much of a cultural shift? So obviously, you stayed on for a year after the takeover by the American consortium Shelby Companies Limited.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So there were cultural shift that came with that new ownership, both in terms of fan relations and the day-to-day management of the club?

SPEAKER_01:

Gotcha, like monumentous. We had a great team at Birmingham before Knightshead's capital management took over, you know, really kept the ship alive. And, you know, there's some great people, some of those people still there today as well. But listen, when Knightshead took over, and you've got someone so passionate and so articulate, so experienced and so credible, like Tom Wagner that's leading the ship, he's got the same, which I use quite often actually, which is if you can't say it, you can't do it. And literally, for the past two and a half years since he came in, he's been open, he's been transparent, and everything he's said, he's delivered. And I think that's the same in every single business is that look, no matter how bad things are, or if he's telling people something that they don't necessarily want to hear, you need to just be honest and transparent, and that's exactly what he's done. And I think that's probably the biggest cultural shift for me. You know, from an ownership perspective, previously we were very much a faceless football club, unfortunately, but that's the reality of it. You know, the reason why the fans protest was because they just didn't hear ever from the ownership. It was always kind of like myself, our technical director, Craig Gardner, and the other senior team. But now that shift is the total opposite. Tom Wagner is very much the frontman, alongside the CEO Jeremy Dale. They communicate, they've built an unbelievable relationship with supporters and the staff internally as well. Everyone knows the direction that they're pulling in, everyone knows what part they have to play. And I think that's really important. I think that's the key cultural shift that I see from the 12 months to stay on after, but also even today, you know, working alongside them in a business capacity and still having a great relationship with them and also being a fan, that's the biggest shift that I can see.

SPEAKER_02:

So foreign ownership, as we know, is well established in the Premier League and in EFL. And what's interesting is that we have seen this wave of, I suppose, new American investment across clubs in English football. So, from your perspective, what are the long-term objectives of these new owners from across the pond?

SPEAKER_01:

Look, let's face it, the biggest pull and the biggest attraction is the Premier League and English football in general. You know, unfortunately, you know, there's some massive, massive, huge sports and leagues in America. You've got the NBA, you've got the NFL, you've got the NHL, etc. However, the Premier League eclipses any of them several times over. You know, when you've got 188 territory globally, the best 4 billion people watching Premier League football week in, week out. You know, that's going to attract a huge amount of attention. You know, and you're not just seeing it from really senior key business people getting involved, obviously, in Premier League and English football in general. You know, you've seen a lot of celebrities getting involved now. You know, and I think there's a few reasons here. Number one, you know, is the potential, the business potential. Let's face it, Tom Wagner has not bought Birmingham City Football Club for the fun of it. He's bought it because he sees huge potential in the club, the city, you know, the opportunity. And fundamentally, he knows that he's going to make money out of that opportunity further down the line. I also think that perhaps the Premier League and everything that English football has to offer connects them to the Eastern world, to Asia. You know, Southeast Asia and some of the big, big Asian countries, the people that watch English football and Premier League in particular is humongous. So I suppose selfishly using that as a vehicle to engage and build relationships and build rapport into that part of the world. And I think the other thing is a vanity piece for really, I'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them will use it because it is in the limelight and it is in there and it is in people's faces every day, day in, day out, and it builds their own personal profile and their own personal credibility. So I do see that playing a part as well. But yeah, and you know, it's not just Premier League. I mean, if you look at Ryan Reynolds and Matthew Henny who bought Wrexham, Wrexham were in the fourth tier of English football when they acquired the club, but they saw the potential, and they still see the potential of that club getting to the Premier League and it will be achieved, whether it's this season or next season, or the following seasons, it will be achieved eventually. So yeah, I think they're the main sort of four reasons as to why.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, looking at the future, obviously the independent regulator is sort of looming there, going through the different stages. And obviously, your former boss, Baroness Cameron Brady, has been quite outspoken about it. So thinking about that investment, do you think this regulator is going to make English football more investable? Or are we risking scaring off the very people who fund the game?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think so, personally. You know, I think there's pros and cons around the independent regulator. And I do believe that potentially there are clubs in the Premier League that understandably are probably going to be against the independent regulator because it means that they're perhaps going to be at a financial loss if there is more equal share across the leagues. You know, and equally, if you are in the sort of second, third, fourth team of English football, then you're going to be potentially for it from that perspective. You know, as long as the broadcasters are still pumping money into the biggest league in the world, you know, and there's still the eyeballs that are watching the game across the world, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, then I think there's always going to be that huge attraction when it comes to English football in general. So no, I mean, I understand the reason why they're doing it, and I think that's really important. You know, you saw some big, huge clubs that have either gone to extinction or are very, very near because of ownership that is quite frankly just not capable of running the football club and that shadowing. But, you know, then there are also other reasons um against it as well. So I think there's pros and cons to both, but I don't personally see it having an impact on the game and invest them.

SPEAKER_02:

So let's now talk about your new venture and congratulations on everything you've achieved so far. But for listeners who might not know Sporting Group International, how would you describe the business in a nutshell?

SPEAKER_01:

So fundamentally, we're a sponsorship acquisition company. So we were founded nine years ago, and our group CEO is a guy called Adrian Wright. Adrian was actually the guy that employed me, which I should have mentioned 17 years ago at Burningham City Football Club. So me and him have built a really strong relationship. He'd sat on the board of West Lomage Albion Football Club and the Jeremy Peace and had a hugely, hugely successful career there. But then he said some Best GI nine years ago. And I suppose part of the reason why he said some best GI was when you work in football, you do work alongside a lot of agencies. And there are some unbelievable agencies, some really incredible ones, but there are also some very, very not great ones, if I'm perfectly honest. You know, through his experience, he just wanted to basically build an agency that is professional, credible, stands of a lot of integrity. And that's exactly what we've done. You know, and nine years on now, we are headquartered in Birmingham, so in Birmingham City Centre, which was obviously ideal for my transition from Birmingham City football pool. But we've also got offices now in Spain, we've got two offices in India, one in Mumbai, one in Delhi. We have partners in Southeast Asia. We're doing quite a lot in the UAE, in particular in Saudi Arabia, through our Scorps recruitment division. And touchwood, fingers crossed, our plan is and our strategies to open up in the US in Q4 of next year. So, you know, things have gone leaps and bounds. And we're fundamentally clear to put it in a nutshell, we class ourselves, I never like to say the word agency, I class myself as a sales extension to a commercial team within a rights holder environment. So we're basically an extension to their team trying to find and unlock brands that match the core values and have the ideal objectives to really resonate with a potential opportunity that rights holders offering. So, yeah, we're fundamentally an acquisition company. We bring rights holders and brands together to create some really cool, storytelling, authentic, meaningful partnerships.

SPEAKER_02:

What's the most exciting partnership that you've worked on or are working on at the moment?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh god, I see one, and it is with SGI, and it's just a really cool story, and I'll make it really quick. So, Gary Mubon's a very good friend of mine. You all know Gary, of course, you've all cleared from your background. But I know Gary even to this day, and he introduced me to Barry Hearn, so chairman of the matching store in general. And through that connection, I actually went to the meeting with my boss Adrian down in London. We met at Waldorf Hotel, just got talking, built relationship. This is going back about 12 months ago now. Anyway, through that, talk about relationships again. So built a relationship. We kind of got that bit of connection. He then spreads, I suppose, our network through to the rest of the Matroom Sport team. So we got engaged with the PDC and their commercial director and got called Adam Perfect, connected us to Emily Grazer, the CEO of Matroom Multisport. And anyway, from there, we ended up going through a process of helping and supporting their outreach for sponsorship for the various different events. And one of the events was their World Cup of Darts, which happens in Frankfurt. And anyway, we got the global team on it because it's a global opportunity, various different brands from various different countries. And to cut a long story short, through that whole connection, we ended up doing one of the big, major, major deals with the PDC and matching sport for the World Cup of Darts. You know, and that all stemmed from the fact that Gary Newborn put me in touch with Barry. We had a real sort of informal conversation, and then that whole process went from there, you know. And I think that proves that look, relationships and meeting people face to face and giving people the time will provide the rewards in the end. And I suppose that to me is probably one of those real cool stories and stories that I felt as a big achievement since I've been at SGI for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's fantastic. I met Barry Hearn many years ago at Leighton Orient.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a story for a different podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

A different guy. He's a great guy then. Yeah. He's got some unbelievable stories.

SPEAKER_02:

He definitely has. So let's talk a little bit about ticketing. Obviously, we are a ticketing podcast. Now, actually, today, the day that we're recording, obviously the government announced that basically they're putting a cap on the resale of tickets. So, what's your initial reaction to that? Who do you think wins and loses from that decision?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the resale companies are obviously the ones that are going to lose fundamentally. You know, I think the people that will gain are obviously the consumer because they're not going to be paying overpriced tickets. The only problem that I see is obviously the black market is going to become more rice. You know, I think that's going to be a real challenge now that we're going to have to navigate. So I suppose that's my initial reaction. I know that I still really broke literally this morning on listening to it on Talk Sports. So yeah, that was my initial reaction anyway.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's going to be an interesting one. How do you see the current ticketing landscape in UK sports? So if you're advising a club today, what's the first thing we would advise them to review in terms of their ticketing or pricing model or their fan engagement?

SPEAKER_01:

I think for me is thinking outside the box when it comes to the actual fans experience. You know, some of the biggest challenges that we had around ticketing was actually the user journey, the actual journey that the supporter goes on. Too many clicks to actually buy tickets, just misinformation, all that kind of stuff is a real turn and off for people to purchase tickets. And I think that for me is one of the biggest things, really. Obviously, like when it comes to ticketing fees, again, something that I don't necessarily agree with charging the fan a fee to buy a ticket. Again, you know, ticket pricing nowadays in general, certainly in football, are already overpriced. But I think, you know, when it comes to fees, I think that should be subsidized by the club in some way, shape, or form. But yeah, I think the user journey for me is the big one because that is all part of a fan experience and how that links into other digital means and other digital assets within the actual clubs themselves, that would be the biggest thing to me.

SPEAKER_02:

I totally agree with that. And as we're coming to the end of this conversation, I could speak to you all day, actually. But where do you see the biggest growth opportunities commercially in UK and Irish sport over the next five years?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh God, good question. Biggest opportunities. I think there's some really, really cool emerging sectors that are coming into play. I mean, if you look at the whole new digital landscape, that is opening up so many doors for good and also not so good in a lot of different ways. But I think there are a lot of new emerging sectors that are coming into play. I mean, if you look at everything around AI and some of the technology that's coming into force for both consumers and also for rights holders in various different ways, there are partnerships to be had there in that space. You know, I think if you look at some of the big fintech companies as well, I think again, they're starting to really come into play from a consumer perspective and taking over some of the big boys that have been around for a long time. You know, so for me, I think keep an eye out for those emerging sectors, certainly from a partnership perspective. And I think that's where the growth is in terms of partnership revenue moving forward in the future.

SPEAKER_02:

Ian, thank you so much for joining us. Some amazing perspectives on ticketing, commercial strategy, and the evolving sports landscape. And to everyone listening, we've obviously skimmed over some really quite big subjects today. So if you have any questions for Ian or myself, please message in. But thank you for tuning in. Make sure to follow or subscribe for more discussions on the business of life sports, technology, and fan engagement. I'm Claire Kenny from Ticket Co, and see you next time.

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Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg

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