The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer
Episodes
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Stephane Schindler, ”Game Changer”
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Stephane Schindler, another French industry veteran who has left his mark across the sports world and in particular with CAA Eleven which changed the face of UEFA’s National Team competitions and commercial structures. Lot’s of great stories and details in our discussion. Enjoy.
Key Highlights
Starting as Intern at EUROSPORT, early days of cable TV in Europe
Next stop Canal+, Head of Sports Acquisition of sports rights, Sport+ and Jerome Valcke connection
Connecting with all the major rights holders during the role – early days of Sportel Monaco
Joining IMG Media in France in 2000, Michael Grach and Michel Masquelier roles
Great six years at IMG from selling rights to dealing with rights holders, lots of learning in the commercialization of sports rights (Golden Age of industry 1990-2010)
Meeting Arnaud Lagardere and starting the agency in 2006, because Lagardere being a big listed company, organic growth wasn’t an option. M&A growth model.
Setting up Lagardere Sports from scratch as first employee and going on big acquisition spree from Sportfive, World Sport Group, IEC in Sports, etc. Building a portfolio of companies.
Total acquisition cost, in the EURO 1 billion range for the above agencies to buy scale in the industry fast
Recently, the group was sold for around Euro 110 million (renamed Sportfive), 90% drop in value – failure in implementation and execution, at peak Euro 60-70 mil in profits
Founding his own agency, Media Sport System, short 1 year as advisor
CAA Eleven, how it all started in 2012 with UEFA looking to centralize the National Team rights - idea driven by M. Platini, G. Infantino, G. Laurent Epstein, etc
UEFA was looking for a similar structure to their successful TEAM Marketing partnership for their National Team rights
Finding the right partner to create a brand new agency which would only focus on UEFA rights, partnering with CAA, big US talent agency
Multiple rounds of bidding, starting with 15 bidders, final rounds against IMG and Lagardere. Advantage of being a start up and brand new company, totally dedicated to the project.
How CAA Eleven won the deal? UEFA wanted to keep full control and have protection through an agency. CAA Eleven’s first block of rights, 2014-18, since then renewed twice, currently till 2028
UEFA Nations League – turning friendly matches into something more meaningful for fans and players – every match counts – going from 700 official matches to 1,500 on offer
Successful both on and off the field (commercially)
UEFA EURO 2020 in 2021 – his experience from the inside. UEFA made an early decision to move up by one year. Renegotiate with everyone from host cities, sponsors, broadcasters, teams, etc
Overall big success and positive feedback from partners – now focused on EURO 2024 in Germany (Football is coming home 😊)
Insights into UEFA’s and CAA Eleven OTT and media strategy and approach
His crystal ball on future growth of media rights for Premium sports properties – live is rare & rare is gold
About Stephane Schindler
Stéphane Schindler started his career in 1996 at Eurosport as Operational Marketing Manager.In 1998, he joined Canal+ and became Head of Sports Acquisitions.In 2000, he became part of IMG as TWI International Vice-President and IMG Head of Business Affairs France.He was in charge of:- the sale of the rights of prestigious sports events (Rugby World Cup, America’s Cup)- the relationships with the French sports governing bodies (24 hours du Mans, French Tennis Open, “Tour de France”, “Ligue de Football Professionnel” (French Football League))Stéphane joined Groupe Lagardère in September 2006 to launch the Sports Division for Arnaud Lagardère and became Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Lagardère Sports, where he managed and supervised:- the strategy, the development and the acquisitions of the whole Lagardère Sports division (SportFive, IEC in Sports, World Sport Group, Upsolut and PR Event)- all the operational activities in Media, Marketing and eventsIn 2011, Stéphane Schindler decided to launch MEDIA SPORT SYSTEM, a consulting firm operating in the Media & Sport business, as well as a worldwide network of independent partners in the fieldStéphane Schindler is graduated in TV and Telecommunications Management (DESS) from the University of Paris IX Dauphine, and in Management and Economics (Master’s degree) from the same University (Paris IX Dauphine)Specialties: Media & Sports business :- Sports media rights management- Sports media production- Media & sports investment strategy (M&A experiences)- Brandtainment in sports
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Saturday Sep 11, 2021
Andrew Croker, ”Mr Chairman”
Saturday Sep 11, 2021
Saturday Sep 11, 2021
Andrew Croker, Chairman of multiple enterprises and one of the most outspoken sports Entrepreneurs hailing from the UK. Fun and colorful deep dive into Andrew’s 40+ years in the industry from his days following his dad around Football club board rooms to successfully launching Perform, the Global Cycling Network and getting Hawk-Eye into Football.
Key Highlights
How it started, back in ancient history in 1973, his father becoming the General Secretary of the English FA
Opening doors and hanging out with his dad in Football club board rooms and socializing with everyone in sports
Joining BSB (later BSkyB) as employee #4-5, drawing up weekly sports schedule
Finders, Binders, Minders and Grinders. He was always a “Finder”
How sitting next to Sir Frank Lowe (Advertising Legend) on the Concorde lead to launching Orbit – sports marketing agency
Next stop, Ian Todd asking him to start IMG Football Division together with Paul Smith
Sportal – massive rise and big crash - missed the big sale by weeks – dotcom boom and bust story of the year 2000
Premier League international TV rights (IMG, Sport+, Fox/Newscorp partnership) – working with new Sportfive as International Board Member and UK CEO
How “Perform” idea was seeded and came together – group in Hamburg looking at Digital Production idea – Oliver Slipper – Premium TV & Inform team
Access Industries (Len Blavatnik) comes into the picture – meeting Robert Louis-Dreyfus – and eventually cutting a deal with Len to merge Premium TV and Inform to form Perform
Going public and taking it back private, from de-coupling Perform’s profitable B2B business from DAZN’s B2C business and the differences in business models and valuations
Next opportunity arrives with Play Sports Group – Claude Ruibal, Global Head of Sports of YouTube at the time providing the “seed money” for the Global Cycling Network on YouTube (Chairman role) – great story from how it started and eventually sold to Eurosport/Discovery Network in 2019
Fascinating Hawk-Eye Football story (South Africa World Cup story and how we ended up in the same stadium in Bloemfontein) and our thoughts on VAR (Video Assistant Referee) in football
Oakwell Sports Advisory – Chairman Advisory Board – intersection between sports world and Private Equity
His views on PE in sports, not mincing his words as usual – and a bit of Consultant bashing to top it off
Final thoughts on why we both love the industry and can’t wait to get back out
About Andrew Croker
Andrew Croker is a very well-known figure in the sports management and media business, with over forty years’ experience. He has worked with many of the biggest rights holders, media owners, agencies and sports brands in the world. Andrew was the first Head of Sport at BSB, the forerunner to Sky Sports, and started and ran IMG’s global football division.
In 2007, as Executive Chairman, he co-founded the digital sports rights agency, Perform Group, now DAZN, the live and on-demand sports streaming service. He remains an adviser to Stats Perform, the leading sports data and streaming service. He also consulted to Hawk-Eye for ten years until 2019, focussing on the introduction of technology into football, and was also Chairman of Play Sports Group, which included the Global Cycling Network - the world’s leading community of cycling fans - until its sale to Discovery Networks in 2019.
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To get in touch, please email us at podcast@marcusluer.com
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