Sports Pundit’s Post

Last week we launched WolvesDEN - a paradigm shifting 6-day event at GDC. The achieve success meant:  @WolvesDAO members had an improved GDC Sponsors were thrilled Guests were too Admin/Volunteers felt honored and appreciated It was a viable business I want to think we achieved all of these, but it’ll take a post mortem to know for sure. What I do know is: Shrapnel is the best sponsor you can find in web3. Anything you enjoyed this week was made possible because of Mark Long - the team he’s built with Tony at the helm of marketing is second to none in web3. The Wolves community will be special no matter where you put them. I could’ve rented a storage container with a case of capri suns and as long as we had each other they would all still think it was the best week of their lives. (and I love them for it) The trust that over 20 founders gave us on Alpha Night was UNREAL. To come in front of a jury of your peers and divulge the unannounced core elements of your roadmap is something web2 founders would never do. We can’t abuse this trust. I will hold it sacred over everything. You must put people in position to succeed, and get out of their way. @SinjinDavidJung  was so in his element on KBBQ and Karaoke night, and he absolutely stole the show. @AllBrianDoes  was such an incredible event coordinator, literally predicting what the house needed before it needed it, all week. @iceyyy_gaming  is the content king. Give this man a camera and an idea and watch it come into reality. @Philsh  is an unstoppable object - when he has an edit he’s laser focused with an incredible attitude. When you give people a clearly defined role that they enjoy, it’s amazing what they can do. I’m blown away and incredibly appreciative of you guys. Web3 gaming is getting insanely good, insanely fast. I had a blast playing Providence, BloodLoop, Shrapnel, Wilder World, Star Atlas, Battle Plan, and more this week. We are no longer “a year away from being a year away” It’s “any day now” And it’s inevitable.

Action Network - A part of Better Collective expert Maria Marino highlighting the rise of the WNBA! The WNBA Finals are in full swing and the league continues to shatter viewership records. The league has more fans than ever and thanks to its growing popularity, has reached new, diverse audiences. WNBA coverage has been increasing all over sports media, including at Action Network, where Maria provides analysis on the Buckets WNBA podcast and Green Dot Daily throughout the season. She recently spoke with Digiday to discuss how fans care deeply about the players and teams, as well as the brands that support the league. Read more about the WNBA’s growth and Maria’s thoughts in the article inserted in the comments section!

Just because you missed the launch event, doesn't mean you need to miss the mission! This time last week we announced our brand new community Mission Visible. I personally have seen what becoming more visible has done for me personally and professionally and I am excited to help you get the same results for yourself and your business. We have had so many people experiencing FOMO and wanting to understand what our community is all about, that I have decided to run a special condensed 1 hour zoom on Friday 6th from 6pm-7pm to get all the stragglers on the band wagon. We close our community doors on the 15th December and I don't want to leave anyone behind! This is for you if... 🎤 You know you need to be more visible than you currently are 🎤 You know you need a push to put yourself out there 🎤 You avoid being filmed & hate being on camera 🎤 You have been told your knowledge is valuable and should be shared 🎤 You dislike posting on social media & perhaps don't see the point 🎤 You don't have think you have the time to create content 🎤 You don't know where to begin to grow your visibility If you resonated with any of the statements above you need to join our online session by registering here: wkf.ms/3B4qVpZ It is a complimentary online session so I can help you see the way forward and explain how joining our new community is the answer to get you moving towards growing your visibility. I look forward to seeing you online next week and please tag people in the comments below who really need to get on the visibility bandwagon. Remember, if you're not visible, you're invisible! #missionvisible #personalbranding #dubaiceo #onlineevent

🌍 How do you measure the true impact of your sports programs? Sport Impacx helps sports organizations track and maximize their social impact, using data-driven research to showcase how they’re changing communities for the better. 🏅 *Recent Success: We partnered with a national youth sports organization to measure the long-term effects of their after-school programs. Through our research, they discovered a **20% increase in self-esteem* and a *15% improvement in problem-focused coping skills*—valuable data they now can use to secure new sponsorships and funding. Want to demonstrate your organization’s impact and attract more supporters? Let us help you measure what truly matters. 👉 *Connect with us today* for a free consultation on how to quantify the difference your programs make! #sportsimpact #socialchange #consulting #impactmeasurement #communitybuilding #research

GREAT INSIGHT from an extensive collection of quotes in Sports Business Journal from honorees in their New Voices Under 30 for 2024. Here are just a few, you can read all of them in SBJ (link in comments). Some key takeaways are evident: - The live experience and social media consumption and engagement. are increasingly commingled. It's not either/or, it's both - Many relate to sports via athletes and creators, so developing these engagement opportunities is vital - They're constantly leaned in, attention spans are short so if they're not watching the game closely they're multi-tasking on other screens - Fans are accustomed to viewing sports via clips and highlights, so they're predisposed to watch live games through a lens of identifying viral moments Lots more in the full piece. We love speaking with our customers and parnters about the challenges and opportunities ahead as fan experiences and behaviors evolve in sports, entertainment, and beyond!

🚀 Podcast Recommendation for Youth Sports Professionals 🚀 I recently enjoyed listening to an incredibly inspiring episode from the podcast Created Equal titled "Kids Need Free Play More Than Ever." Tom Farrey of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Project Play was featured in the episode. Tom delves deeply into the critical importance of free play in the development of our young athletes and non-athletes alike. Free play is often pushed aside in a world filled with digital distractions and tightly scheduled routines. Yet, Tom illustrates why it's more crucial now than ever. He highlights how free play enhances physical health and is fundamental in nurturing creativity, independence, and problem-solving skills. It encourages children to manage emotions and build essential social skills away from structured environments such as classrooms or organized sports. This episode resonated with me profoundly as someone deeply involved in youth sports management. It reinforced my commitment to addressing the core issue within the youth sports industry—the dire need for children to have more opportunities to simply play and enjoy. Over the past decade, I have focused on creating more inclusive environments within the organizations I run or consult. For instance: - We've partnered with local parks and recreation departments to organize and sponsor a youth league with over 1000 participants, providing materials, training, and staff. - We've restructured our internal organization model to emphasize local programs with less travel. - I have personally reduced fees in our travel program to a third of the original cost, sponsoring teams myself. I am determined to eventually offer these programs for free, leveraging creative approaches to connect with sponsors and influencers who can spotlight the talents of our young athletes. These initiatives are more than business strategies; they pledge to ensure our young people can thrive in environments that celebrate and support their natural urge to play. I cannot recommend this episode enough for all youth sports professionals. It's a call to action for us all to keep pushing for change and innovation in managing and structuring youth sports. Let's continue making a difference, one play at a time! 🌟 #YouthSports #FreePlay #Leadership #Innovation #PodcastRecommendation

A digital platform designed for LESS screen time and MORE human-to-human social interaction exists 👇 I'm super proud and excited to be a part of River Platform Company where we are building a tech platform for all the right reasons: 1. Less screen time and more social time in real life 2. Building community around shared interests and values 3. Connection of human capital at scale, globally 4. Activating creators and their audiences through in-person experiences River is going to change the way we think about tech platforms, instead of sucking us in to digital addiction to a screen it will empower us to go find and connect with other humans that share our same interests. I believe that we will view digital addiction the same way we view smoking and alcohol addiction today - extremely harmful to our health and wellness. Tons of studies showing that "it's the phones". Teenagers having less friends and social interactions in person. Depression and suicide on the rise amongst all groups but particularly younger generations. If you're building a community online why wouldn't you also build it in person? Not only will it make it stronger and more connected but it will evangelize your brand and message in a much more powerful way. If this is resonating - let me know why and how we can keep building in the right way.

Next week's schedule: 🔍 Monday: Scouting out venues for the first The Marketing Meetup conference. Scary and exciting. ❤️ Tuesday: Webinar with Joy Talbot, speaking attribution and MMM in 2024. We've averaged over 1,014 sign ups weekly for our webinars this year. Then run TMM IRL in Cambridge in the evening. 🎤 Wednesday: Interviewing the Head of Europe Marketing for Canva, Amanda Zafiris in person. Yes, we'll ask about the rap :) 👓 Thursday: Interview Seth Godin for The Marketing Meetup Podcast. A dream since day one. 🏊♂️ Friday: Swimming lessons with kiddos. Things are busy, but I'll never stop being grateful for our community for making it all possible. I just hope in return we're doing things that help you. I don't do this often, but there is so much momentum behind TMM right now: if your company is looking to get behind 50,000+ marketers running 150+ events this year - get in touch. We're doing some things :)

Absolutely buzzing to share some exciting news about a project that's been close to my heart over the past few months. It’s been a pretty busy week for us.  We've recently partnered with a founder who's come up with something special… A new app made just for grassroots football. When they said… “I’ve got the rocket, but I need you to be the fuel”.... We knew it was a perfect match. We've jumped in as their marketing and launch team, and it’s been a rewarding journey. This one's personal for me. My son plays for a local team, so I’ve seen: — The passion — The struggles — And the triumphs… That comes with grassroots football. I know how much it means to the players, parents, and coaches who give their all every week. That’s why helping to launch this app feels more like a mission than just another project. We’re gearing up for a big launch on December 1st… And there’s plenty of exciting stuff happening, including some days of filming to look forward to. To bring the football community together, we’ve also kicked off a monthly competition called “Grassroots Goals.” Each month, teams from across the country submit their best goals, and a panel of kids picks the finalists. It’s all about celebrating the passion for the game and giving young players a chance to shine. Here’s a short clip from the podcast series Grassroots Goals. Enjoy!! 👇 __ If grassroots football is your thing, check out @GrassrootsGoal on Instagram. You’ll see some incredible goals from September’s competition and find out who took home the prizes. October’s contest is already underway, and November's isn’t far behind—don’t miss out! More updates on this project soon—stay tuned! #football #podcast #business

quick report from in between the commits, as we attacked couple low hanging fruits recently - product velocity is still #1 but paying off the tech debt at regular intervals is important too we just bumped one of our most visited pages > 90 real experience score (it's a combination of FCP, LCP and so on) without making any investments into infrastructure what's the easy win? - if run your web app on top of React make sure to consider React Server Components It might feel challenging at first since you're starting to mix sever and client worlds but that investment will pay off very quickly - you will start leveraging HTTP/2 streaming (db calls results can be streamed to the client browser without additional roundtrips, while it starts processing html and assets - simple but very powerful) and greatly reduce your bundle size