Safe to say that the most common expression used to describe the current state of Name-Image-Likeness and college sports is “it’s the Wild West.” Which, in reality, may actually do a disservice to the wild west. There’s no way that period could be as nuts as this one…

Clearly NIL has completely upended college sports. In doing so, it’s produced a fabulously dynamic environment for new businesses that claim to have solutions for this burgeoning marketplace. In that sense, it really is a lot like the wild west and its accompanying Gold Rush.

But what sometimes gets lost in the frenzy to capitalize on NIL is that this entire market is being built on the back of very young adults, the vast majority of whom are away from home for the first time in their lives, and who lack a support network to make sure their interests are protected and their approach to NIL is sound.

Enter Stephen Bienko and 42U. A former college athlete himself, Bienko took a look at what was happening with NIL and recognized the vulnerability of these young athletes. So he launched 42U, which has a goal of giving athletes the tools and support they need to build their brands, recognize their authentic selves, and prepare themselves for life after their playing careers.

In our conversation, Bienko dives into both his athletic background and his entrepreneurial journey. We discuss the launch of 42U, their partnership with the Big 10, and what he believes is missing in the current NIL environment.

The former New Jersey State Trooper will also reveal his most memorable traffic stop.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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Mentioned in this episode:

ADC Partners: Your trusted college sports business partner

ADC Partners

It used to be that sports sponsorships were a "nice to have". They were a way to use up the last part of a marketing budget after all the ad buys were completed. Find out what the CEO’s favorite sport is, buy some signage, get some tickets and call it a day.

Not any more. Sports are one of the last places that capture our extremely fragmented attention, so sponsorships have become far more important to marketers. Rights holders know this, so the cost of partnering with sports has exploded. Take F1: the cost to sponsor a team has doubled in just the last 5 years.

So as the costs have gone up, so has the pressure on marketers. In this data driven world, responding to questions about measuring effectiveness just can’t be met with “well, it’s hard…” Marketers need to have an answer.

And more often than not, that answer can be found with Jay Prasad, the CEO of Relo Metrics.

Relo Metrics is a leader in measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of sports sponsorships. An early adopter of artificial intelligence, Relo has been providing marketers with essential insights into how their sports investments are performing for over a decade.

Jay has been around data analytics and online video since, well, there has been online video. That depth of experience has he and Relo ready to continue their hockey stick growth in the coming years. In our conversation, we talk about his arrival at Relo, what he’s hearing from marketers about sponsorship measurement, his advice on using their data to improve performance, and (perhaps most importantly), what the future holds as generative AI produces an overwhelming new set of capabilities.

The question on every stadium owner’s mind is what to with the thing when no games are scheduled. Think about it. An NFL team has about 8 regular season games, and 3 pre-season games. Other than that, a few concerts? Monster trucks? There’s a lot of days on at calendar where nothing’s happening.

That’s why a mixed use stadium district that pulls people in year round is at the top of every franchise owner’s wish list. And that’s also why David Carlock’s phone is always ringing.

David is the founder and Managing Partner of Machete Group, a leader in developing sports and entertainment districts. His career began at Disney, where he saw first hand how an obsession over the customer experience helped build a lifelong connection. After applying those lessons to his work with the Houston Rockets, Carlock launched Machete Group.

In our conversation, we dive into his thoughts on the next generation of stadium and arena development, what he sees as the essential parts of these new districts, and where the biggest development missteps lie. We cover how he still applies lessons from his days at Disney, what it’s like to build arenas in China, and how Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks reacted when a pipe burst over her dressing room right before a show.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
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• Threads: adc_partners_podcast
• Youtube: @adcpartners
• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

It’s February 2026, and the Winter Olympic games in Italy are in full swing. And if you think the competition on the slopes and on the ice is fierce, it’s got nothing on the sponsors and advertisers trying to get your attention while you’re looking up the latest medal counts.

Unless you’re really close to the Games, you might not realize that athletes are highly restricted in what they can do or say to promote their individual sponsors. It’s all governed by the IOC’s Rule 40, which is designed to protect the Games’ TOP sponsors.

The rise of social media, though, has forced the IOC to re-evaluate how it applies Rule 40, which has created new opportunities for Olympic athletes.

To break down these changes, I had a chance to connect with Dr Andrea Geurin, Professor of Sports Business at NYU’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. Dr Guerin is an expert in marketing the Olympics and the application of Rule 40. In our conversation we break down the original intent behind the rule, how it’s being modified, and what athletes can do to take advantage of relaxed restrictions.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
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• Youtube: @adcpartners
• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

How does sports gambling impact fandom? Which sports are growing the fastest? What’s happening with youth sports participation? What’s behind the explosive growth of women’s sports?

That's a lot of questions! Fortunately, we managed to get Neil Schwartz, the president of SBRNet, to sit still for 30 minutes to provide the answers to these and other burning sports business questions. Neil has been using data and analytics to inform sports business about fans, trends, and opportunities for over 30 years, so there’s no one more qualified to provide insights into what’s going on in the sports business industry.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
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• Threads: adc_partners_podcast
• Youtube: @adcpartners
• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

Imagine driving your car about 65 miles an hour down a freeway. Not that hard to imagine, right? Nothing very special about it. Chance are you might do it every day.

OK, now imagine that you’re sitting on the roof of that car while it’s speeding down an uneven road at 65 miles per hour while someone throws water in your face.

That, my friend, is SailGP, which has about as much in common with traditional sailing as a biplane has in common with a fighter jet.

That excitement it what drew this episode’s guest Mike Buckley to the sport. Already a world champion sailor, Buckley was restless to find his next challenge. After a couple unsuccessful attempts to assemble an America’s Cup syndicate, his future arrived in the form of SailGP.

Mike is now the co-owner of SailGP’s Team USA and competes in races around the world. In our conversation, we go into how the kid from small town Cape Cod fell in love with competitive sailing. We talk about the acquisition the United States team, working with his A-List of celebrity investors, and how he harnesses his competitive instincts on the water and in the boardroom.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
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• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

It’s safe to say that there’s no part of sports business that’s as dynamic as college sports. That’s the polite way of saying it, anyway. There’s a bunch of other expressions that can be applied, and often are.

But think about it: conference realignment, NIL, the transfer portal, the House v NCAA decision, private equity investments… And this has all been in the last 5 years!

Sitting in the eye of this particular hurricane is this episode’s guest, John Cunningham, the Athletics Director for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Since joining the Bearcats in December, 2019, John has quite literally seen it all. COVID. The move to the Big 12. Launching NIL programs. And that’s just scratching the surface.

In our conversation, we talk about John’s journey from being Nebraska Cornhusker fan as a kid to sitting in the big chair at the University of Cincinnati’s athletic department. We also dive into his recent decision to move multimedia rights back in-house, what’s behind the success of that decision, his view of the role of private equity in college sports, the importance of mentorship, and much more.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
• Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
• Threads: adc_partners_podcast
• Youtube: @adcpartners
• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

Mentioned in this episode:

ADC Partners: Your trusted college sports business partner

ADC Partners

There’s a moment in every sports fan’s life where they entertain the idea of buying their team. Most times it’s just a fleeting idea. “Well, if I owned the team, I’d…” And that’s pretty much it. It’s just a fantasy.

But if you’re Spencer Gore, it’s an idea that sticks.

The lifetime soccer fan and founder of the European Medical Journal had spent years watching his local club, Chelmsford City FC struggle to remain solvent. Relegated to the 6th tier of English soccer (honestly, we didn’t even know there was a 6th tier…), evicted from their stadium, and suffering through a string of unfulfilled ownership promises, the Clarets were about as far from the bright lights of the Premier League as you can imagine.

But where most people saw a disaster, Gore saw opportunity. After a couple of attempts to acquire the club, he now sits in Chelmsford City FC’s owner’s box on match day. And once there, he publicly set his audacious goal for the team: securing a spot in the Premier League by 2038.

In our conversation, we talk about what it’ll take for Chelmsford City FC to achieve that monumental goal. We also go into the at times torturous path to acquiring a professional sports club, how he engages with fans to build trust and gain support, and how he prioritizes a long list of to dos all designed to return the Clarets to prominence.