The Sports Advisors

The Sports Advisors is a show built for decision-makers — a roundtable of operators breaking down the stories that matter and the second-order effects behind them. Insights from executives who’ve actually built, bought, programmed, monetized & scaled sports businesses. While the cast will vary slightly from episode to episode, all participants will be JohnWallStreet (@HowieLongShort) Advisory advisors. The core group includes: Former Carolina Panthers CEO, former Verizon VP of Sponsorship, and current Encore Sports & Entertainment CEO Nick Kelly (@NickKelly). Former Washington Commanders Chief Strategy Officer, former Shop Your Way Chief Digital Officer, and current Next League Chief AI & Innovation Officer Shripal Shah (@shrip1220). Former Learfield CRO, former WWE Global Head of Sales & Partnerships and Head of International, and current DIRIGO Advisory, LLC Founder John Brody (@johnsbrody). Former Fox Sports SVP of Programming, Research and Content Strategy, and current Crakes Media President Patrick Crakes (@Aquinas82nd). Episode 1 dives into LIV Golf, PIF’s reported exit after 2026, the experimentation opportunity now in front of the league, why veteran leadership matters in emerging properties, and what the experiential economy means for the future of sports. youtube.com/watch?v=Ks8FR6…

Episode 1 of The Sports Advisors ⬇️ youtu.be/Ks8FR6yu-Ig?si…

"LIV Golf shouldn't be a challenger league. It should be a complementary league built upon the experiential economy", says @Aquinas82nd. "I don't feel the true uniqueness of what people talk about who've been to @livgolf_league events ever translated through on the screen. You need these innovations and sales and ways to make yourself different while celebrating the existence of golf. And by the way, @johnsbrody point about the one thing that has happened, the @PGATOUR recognized the value of their players. The real impact of LIV Golf is that the players now are paid more on the PGA Tour!" @HowieLongShort

@shrip1220 For more on JohnWallStreet's Advisory Business. johnwallstreet.com/p/johnwallstre…

JohnWallStreet Advisory AI advisor @shrip1220 questions if LIV Golf should go full tilt on AI. "I look at what's going on in the AI category, right? Google Gemini paid $32 million to the IPL. The Women's Cricket League got the equivalent of $5 million. News Corp got a quarter billion dollars to train models. What if you go all in on the data and literally say, 'We're gonna get an AI provider and we're gonna let them train on everything, the audience, the players.' If you're not gonna be there next year, who cares what you did to your database?" Your move @WHOOP @ouraring @livgolf_league. @HowieLongShort

The Sports Advisors is HERE! youtu.be/Ks8FR6yu-Ig?si…

Had a great time...From my end, the lesson learned here is "If you come for the king, you'd best not miss..." Thanks much to @NickKelly @johnsbrody @JWSAdvisors @HowieLongShort & @shripalshah for carrying me on this one...Give a listen!

Broadcast partners can be hyper-creative with LIV, says former Carolina Panthers CEO @NickKelly. "The broadcast partners can lean into something like a LIV to test cameras and to test different graphic packages and to test all these other things."

More of these types of conversations please! Sport + Geopolitics + Investing + Technology + Marketing + Fanfare 🫡

Or We Are The Champions by Queen youtu.be/zT038Cxpzqk?si…

LIV Golf needs to "lean in on" the IRL experience more, says @shrip1220. "People have a phenomenal time at their events. I've never heard anyone say they had a bad time at a @livgolf_league event. From the concerts to everything that they do. People say it's just a phenomenal experience end-to-end, and I think that has to be the core takeaway, how do you build on that more?" @TheChainsmokers know. @AlexPallNY.

Shripal has a point…especially when they’re playing the @ILLENIUM remix to ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ youtube.com/shorts/tDLOSah…

Catch the full episode on LIV ⬇️ youtu.be/Ks8FR6yu-Ig?si…

Former Fox Sports SVP of Programming, Research & Content Strategy, and current Crakes Media President @Aquinas82nd discusses @livgolf_league approach to breaking in. "There's a lot to like here. The innovation was great, but it's complementary, and I think the attitude was replacement, regardless of what they said. It is very hard to replace United States-based near monopolistic tier one league champions. You can't do it. You have to be complementary and have a different kind of strategy."

Sign up for the JohnWallStreet newsletter ⬇️ johnwallstreet.com/subscribe

Full episode ⬇️ youtu.be/Ks8FR6yu-Ig?si…

John Brody (@johnsbrody) believes in this moment for @livgolf_league. "I think you have a really experienced CEO in @ScottONeil. @chrisheck76 is a really good operator. They have deep relationships. They have a lot of experience. If you are a tier two startup, or an early-stage company, you need executives running the business who have a lot of years of experience and expertise and relationships to get to these media rights holders. Every deal I did with @espn or Fox or @nbc was done with people I'd known for years. You put Scott O'Neil and Chris Heck and some of those people in the room and give them a little time to cook? I think they have a real chance to make a compelling case to get into some of these broadcast windows where there may be other tier two sports."

First things first, 🧢 off to @livgolf_league, says @johnsbrody (former Learfield CRO & WWE Global Head of Sales & Partnerships and Head of International). "They have evolved the game of golf in a positive way. It's better for fans in many ways, because it's a little more hip, a little more cool, a little more relevant, maybe a little less old. And it also caused the PGA Tour to wake up and stop treating the players, the protagonists, like second-class citizens."

Catch the full LIV breakdown ⬇️ youtu.be/Ks8FR6yu-Ig?si…