With the US taking the lion's share of the headlines, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Mexico and Canada are also co-hosting the upcoming Fifa men’s World Cup.

While the US will host 78 of the 104 games, Mexico and Canada will each stage 13 games, in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Vancouver and Toronto.

On the sidelines of March’s Business of Soccer event in Atlanta, David Cushnan sat down with Héctor Gonzalez Iñarritu, COO and President of Business at Club América, and James Johnson, newly installed at Canadian Soccer Media & Entertainment, to hear more about both markets as they make final preparations for the tournament.

Iñarritu runs LigaMX’s most successful club, which plays home games at the newly-refurbished Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, venue for the first game of the World Cup. He shares what international visitors and businesses should expect when they enter the Mexican sports market. And Johnson, new to his post after a stint as CEO of Football Australia, explains the changes he's making to the way Canadian soccer is packaged and sold, and why he believes Canada will be the legacy story of this summer’s tournament.

The first major of the golfing season takes place this weekend. It's a fixture on the global event calendar, the first real harbinger of a major sporting summer, and arguably the finest example of sports marketing strategy in action.

In this episode of the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast, James Emmett is joined by MSQ Sports + Entertainment founding partner Steve Martin to pinpoint why and how the Masters has become the north star for so many sports marketers.

From the look and feel to the sport itself, the TV product and packaging, the secrecy that permeates the membership and the comms policy, the phone ban and the pimento cheese sandwiches, the less-is-more approach and the surety to stick steadfastly to a singular strategic approach, the Augusta National is home to a Masters-class on how to run an iconic global event.

Arthur Blank remains a compelling public speaker, even into his ninth decade.

The Atlanta sports doyen was one of a clutch of US sports owners on stage and wandering the halls at the Business of Soccer event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last week.

David Cushnan was also there, and on his return to the Leaders studio in London, he teams up again with James Emmett to talk about what makes the billionaire class of individuals who own US sports franchises different from their counterparts around the world. Storytelling and status are baked into the proposition.

The pair also discuss plans being made from the myriad brands looking to capitalize on what will no doubt be the most commercial World Cup in history this summer.