Money keeps pouring into sports, much of it chasing the same assets: teams, leagues, and media rights. Drew Sheinman, Founding Partner at Brand Velocity Group, is investing around them instead, with a model that gives 10% of his firm’s carried interest to the employees of the companies it buys.

Drew joins Dave to explain how BVG works as an independent sponsor instead of a traditional fund, raising capital deal by deal from institutions, family offices, and athletes. He draws on a career spent on nearly every side of sports, from team ownership and Madison Square Garden to Coca-Cola, the Breeders’ Cup, and Endeavor.

Drew doesn’t see a bubble forming in sports valuations, and covers the categories he’s watching next, from premium hospitality and live events to wellness and longevity. And, he shares what students trying to break into the industry should do beyond sending out hundreds of résumés.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What makes a deal work for BVG, and why Drew walked away from a billion dollar deal
• Why BVG gives 10% of its carried interest to the employees of the companies it buys
• How Drew responds to criticism that private equity is pricing families out of youth sports
• How RCX Sports’ NFL flag football license could connect youth leagues to the sport’s new professional league
• How a cold call Drew made on Kobe Bryant’s behalf led to the founding of Brand Velocity Group

Resources and Links:

Connect with Drew Sheinman on LinkedIn and learn more about Brand Velocity Group.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

A U.S. Open can bring more than 200,000 fans to a golf course with no permanent network, limited infrastructure, and none of the technology you would expect at a major stadium. Anthony Santora, Managing Director of IT at the USGA, joins Dave to explain how his team turns that into a functioning championship operation.

Anthony walks through what happens months before the first fan arrives, from planning the network and monitoring critical systems to deploying hundreds of access points and televisions during a compressed “advance week.” He also explains why the hardest part of championship technology isn’t always the technology itself.

Anthony also discusses how the USGA is approaching AI, why proprietary data is becoming increasingly important, and how they are thinking about digital experiences across championships, fans, and players.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How the USGA deploys 300 Wi-Fi access points and up to 550 televisions in a single week leading up to a U.S. Open
• What Anthony checks at 4:30 a.m. every championship morning
• How one cybersecurity tool sparked a search for AI use cases, leading to Rules AI
• How a new championship data warehouse could reshape what fans and broadcasters see during future U.S. Opens
• The low-tech fix for keeping gophers from chewing through fiber lines (it involves hot sauce)

Resources and Links:

Connect with Anthony Santora on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

NASCAR has spent years experimenting with new platforms, content formats, race environments, and ways to understand its fans. But one of its biggest lessons has been knowing what NOT to change.

Tim Clark, EVP and Chief Brand Officer at NASCAR, joins Dave to talk about the tension at the center of modern fan engagement: evolving how people discover, experience, and interact with a sport without losing the identity that made its most loyal fans care in the first place. He shares how NASCAR is thinking differently about content distribution, gaming, live events, and the value of knowing who its digital fans actually are.

Tim also explains why YouTube has become such an important part of NASCAR’s strategy for reaching younger audiences, how the “Hell Yeah” campaign emerged from a renewed confidence in the brand’s roots, and why traffic alone is becoming a less meaningful measure of digital success.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why Tim thinks sports organizations are misdiagnosing Gen Z’s “attention span” problem
• NASCAR’s biggest youth acquisition channels and what they are learning about YouTube
• What NASCAR learned from turning a football stadium and an active naval base into race venues
• Why NASCAR is willing to accept less total digital traffic if a larger share of those fans are identifiable
• What happened when NASCAR stopped being embarrassed by tailgating, coolers, and “keg stands”

Resources and Links:

Connect with Tim Clark on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.