Know What Is Next
Want to learn more about the most talked about topics and trends in the sports business industry from the sports business executives who run it?
Join Next League’s CEO David Nugent, a sports technology industry veteran and thought leader with over 20 years experience in the ever-changing technology services business. Tune in every week for insightful and engaging discussions on everything from artificial intelligence and fan engagement to the changing media landscape and the growth of women’s sports with the sports industry’s leading executives.
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Episodes
77 episodes
The $1.3B Stadium Strategy: Personalization, Friction, and Fan Engagement
Bank of America Stadium is undergoing a $1.3 billion renovation, but Tepper Sports & Entertainment isn’t just thinking about new seats. The bigger question is, what will ...
How a College Project Became SBJ's Sports Tech of the Year with Antyush Bollini
A tablet that turns basketball into vibrations sounds like a novelty. Today, roughly half the NBA carries one, and Ticketmaster is footing the bill.In this conversation, OneCourt
From Game Day Utility to Lifelong Fandom: George Scott on the Future of College Sports Apps
Sidearm Sports powers the digital experience for the vast majority of major college athletics programs, but George Scott believes the next challenge is much bigger than publishing scores, sched...
Curling's $11.2M Bet: How Nic Sulsky Bought a Sport to Rebuild It
What happens when an entrepreneur recognizes that one of the world’s most-watched Olympic sports has never been built to maximize its global audience?Nic Sulsky saw an established sport with elite international athletes and a p...
The 'Free Agent Fan' Strategy That Doubled the Nets' Fan Base with Darolyn Pierce
What happens when you stop benchmarking yourself against other teams and start borrowing ideas from Apple, Google, and Netflix instead?Darolyn Pierce leads three distinct functions at Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (consum...
Sports Fans Have Changed. Has Sports? with Alden Mitchell
College athletics, media, and technology are all being forced to reinvent themselves at the same time. Alden Mitchell has spent her career navigating exactly those industry shifts at Disney, MTV, Uber, the Pac-12, Stanford Athletics, and now...
Best Of: Inside Cosm's New Category of Live Sports
The company that invented the first VR headset in 1968 is now powering one of the most talked about venues in sports. In this Best Of episode, we’re revisiting conversations with Cosm Preside...
Best Of: How the USGA Runs 15 Championships Without a Home Venue
From record participation among women and junior golfers to new technology platforms, major investments in player development, and a reimagined fan experience, the USGA is helping shape what the next generation of golf looks like....
How the UFL Built a Live Football Lab for ESPN, Fox, and Tech Startups with Scott Harniman
Most sports technology companies spend years trying to get access to a live game environment. The UFL can put them in front of 600 players, coaches, officials, and broadcast operators in a matter of weeks.As SVP of Innovation a...
SBJ Tech Week: Sports Leaders on Big Ideas, AI Prompts, and What's Next
What patterns start to emerge when you put 10 sports tech leaders in front of a microphone at SBJ Tech Week and ask them what's next?While AI was a common thread, the discussions expanded into operational scale, fan engagement,...
How Flywheel Economics Are Reshaping Sports Businesses with Steve Mitzenmacher
Steve Mitzenmacher spent 25 years inside Apple, Oracle, Google, and Salesforce. Now he's helping sports organizations stop thinking like event businesses and start operating like platforms.Steve and Dave get into the Disney fly...
Why the NFL and PGA Tour Are Betting on TMRW Sports to Build New Fandom
The NFL didn't build the next professional flag football league. The PGA Tour didn't build TGL. They handed those assignments to a startup called TMRW Sports - a signal of how leagues ...
500 Live Events a Month: What Jon Slusser Has Learned About AI, Mixed Reality, & Sports Tech
When The Famous Group was getting started, arenas were buying million-dollar video boards with nothing meaningful to put on them. That gap became a business — and 25 years later, that business now powers more than 500 live sports events a mo...
What It Takes to Turn a Women's Soccer Club Around with Ryan Dillon of Gotham FC
When Ryan Dillon joined Gotham FC as Chief Business Officer 2.5 years ago, he walked into what he describes as a distressed asset. A fully remote workforce, a league starved of investment...
How CAA Sports Navigates Talent Value, Creators, and Streaming Platforms with Matt Kramer
Sports media is becoming defined by the people who keep fans engaged between games: the insiders breaking news, athletes building their own platforms, and creators turning digital audiences into real media businesses.Matt Kramer, Co-...
How the USGA Delivers Championships and Fan Experiences with Amanda Weiner
The USGA operates one of the most complex models in sports, delivering global championships, media, and fan experiences without a fixed venue.Amanda Weiner, Managing Director of Global Media and Ticketing at the USGA, oversees a broa...
Best Of: The Business of Sports Technology
This compilation episode brings together perspectives from senior leaders across leagues, teams, media, and technology, including the NBA, NASCAR, MLB, the USOPC, and emerging platforms like Cosm. Plus, Dave’s book is out ...
The Next Chapter of the New York City Marathon with Juliette Morris
The New York City Marathon is the largest marathon in the world, drawing more than 50,000 runners and millions of spectators annually. As the race approaches its 50th anniversary, it’s evolving into a year-round platform spanning dig...
Inside US Soccer's 300% Growth Ahead of the 2026 World Cup with David Wright
US Soccer is heading into a defining stretch, and David Wright is helping shape what comes next. As Chief Commercial Officer, he sits at the center of it all, from partnerships and media to events, marketing, and business ventures. ...
How the Sports Industry Is Rethinking Its Talent Pipeline with Scott Rosner
Scott Rosner collected hundreds of rejection letters he got trying to break into sports. And it shaped exactly how he thinks about the candidates knocking on Columbia's door today.Private capital has rewritten ownership, NIL and conf...
Why San Diego FC Treats Its Academy Like a Capital Investment
San Diego FC is only a few years old, but COO Bill Miles and his team are already taking an ambitious approach to building a modern soccer club. In this episode, Bill shares why San Diego FC is betting on a long-term, academy-fi...
The New Operating Model for Live Sports with Jeb Terry
Live sports is evolving beyond the traditional broadcast model. New venue formats, new production workflows, and new distribution strategies are reshaping how fans experience games outside the home.The question is no longer how to en...
The Gap Between AI Hype and What Actually Works in Sports with Scott Gutterman
If you’re going to talk about generative AI in sports, don’t start with the tools. Start with the operating model. Are you structured to deploy it at scale?Scott Gutterman is back, drawing on two decades of experience inside one of t...
Inside Barclays Center’s Push to Scale AI and Facial Authentication with Keia Cole
Digital transformation in sports only works when the fan journey is treated as a SYSTEM. And what does it actually look like inside a multi-team, multi-venue sports organization?In this episode, Keia Cole shares how Brooklyn Sports +...
What It Takes to Modernize Youth Sports at Scale with Sameer Ahuja
Youth sports operates at a scale few people realize, with millions of games, volunteer-run teams, and technology that has to work for everyone from coaches to grandparents.GameChanger CEO Sameer Ahuja is here to walk through how the ...