'The Sports Advisors' Podcast Debuts with LIV Golf Deep Dive

There is no shortage of sports business podcasts. 

However, most tend to fall into one of two buckets. They’re either interview-driven (see: Big Business on Campus or JaneWallStreet Presents: At The Table) or a conversation between two journalists.

What hasn’t existed up until now is a roundtable for decision-makers hosted by peers breaking down the stories that actually matter and their second-order effects. Actionable intelligence from senior operators who have actually built, bought, sold, programmed, monetized, and scaled sports businesses.

So, that’s the void The Sports Advisors podcast will fill.

While the cast will vary slightly from episode to episode, all participants will be JohnWallStreet Advisory advisors. The core group includes:

• Former Carolina Panthers CEO, former Verizon VP of Sponsorship, and current Encore Sports & Entertainment CEO Nick Kelly.
• Former Washington Commanders Chief Strategy Officer, former Shop Your Way Chief Digital Officer, and current Next League Chief AI & Innovation Officer Shripal Shah.
• Former Learfield CRO, former WWE Global Head of Sales & Partnerships and Head of International, and current DIRIGO Advisory, LLC Founder John Brody.
• Former Fox Sports SVP of Programming, Research and Content Strategy, and current Crakes Media President Patrick Crakes.

You can connect with a member of the JohnWallStreet Advisory team by reaching out to info@JohnWallStreet.com. 

In the debut episode, The Sports Advisors focus on the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s decision to stop funding LIV Golf at the conclusion of the 2026 season. We cover the unique experimentation opportunity that now exists, the value of veteran leadership within an emerging sports property, and the red-hot experiential economy.

Misreading the Green

LIV Golf misread the opportunity that existed when it debuted in 2022. Leadership positioned the league as a direct challenger to the PGA Tour. It would have been better served entering the market as an additive product within a broader golf ecosystem.

“The attitude was ‘replacement’, regardless of what they said. And it is very hard to replace United States-based near monopolistic tier one league champions. You can't do it,” Crakes said. “It should have been presented as a complementary league built upon the experiential economy… Going to events is more important than buying assets for people. They want to buy experiences.”

Relationships Still Matter

Challenger properties require more than a vision to break through. They need experienced operators with the deep industry relationships necessary to secure meaningful distribution.

“If you are a tier two startup league or an early-stage sports property, you need executives running the business who have years of experience 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,” Brody said. “You put Scott O’Neil and Chris Heck in the room and give them a little time to cook… They have a real chance to make a compelling case to get into some of these broadcast windows.”

Sport as a Sandbox

LIV’s greatest value to partners right now is that it exists as a low-risk environment for experimentation.

Broadcasters “can lean into something like LIV to test cameras and different graphic packages,”Kelly said.“Even some club manufacturers and ball manufacturers, they don't want to roll out to the Masters with a new ball or club. But these guys can use the LIV tour almost like their Triple-A of golf to start pushing this stuff.”

Shah argued the challenger property should embrace experimentation and aggressively pursue monetization opportunities that more established leagues would never touch.

“If there is no next year, why not let it all go,” Shah asked. “Go all in on data…Go to the players and say, "do you want to get paid a couple hundred million dollars next year? You need to wear an Oura Ring and we're going to actually publish the data it captures. And actually just have an honest conversation about value creation, because there is money being spent.”

📺Watch the full episode on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube page.
🎧Listen on Spotify.

New episodes will be released bi-weekly across beginning Wednesday, May 20.

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