Global Games, Global Sounds: Key Takeaways from Leaders Week London

 Matthew Gutknecht, APM Music's Vice President of Sports Entertainment

3,000 senior executives from the global sports business industry and beyond gathered for Leaders Week London, a festival of unforgettable experiences at The Allianz Stadium, Twickenham London, England. It was an array of teams, leagues & associations, brands, tech & service providers, entertainment & broadcasters, investment firms and agencies.

What are the most critical takeaways from this year's event and why? 

Sport is truly global and a unifying force regardless of the current political and economic climate... just like music!

It’s fascinating to see the export of domestic league and team IP/content to the globe. For example, the very recent games with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing a regular-season game in Dublin, Ireland, the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park, and then against the Cleveland Browns in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. 

With the FIFA World Cup coming to North America and then the Olympics coming to Los Angeles come 2028, it’s GAME ON!

Talk about specific panels you attended and what came out of those. 

 Several jumped out: 

1. The Road to 2026: Inside The Preparations For the 2026 World Cup: Victor Montagliani from CONCACAF & FIFA discussed how we’re only 9 months out from the world’s largest tournament setting up camp in North America and what it will mean to the Americas.  

2. In Conversation with the Commissioner: Roger Goodell on the NFL’s powerhouse status: The Commissioner finally let the cat out of the bag that the NFL will sooner rather than later see a 16-game international package/schedule. He also elaborated how important it is to expand the game and giving back to the community. Flag football will be key, especially with the league allowing current NFL players to participate in the Olympics in 2028 in LA. Also, he talked about how sports has turned into an ‘asset class’ and how they will continue to explore private equity involvement and thresholds.   

3. Multi-Team, One Mission: The Haslams on Ownership, Vision and Community: Jimmy and Dee Haslam (who own both the Cleveland Browns and the Columbus Crew) provided insight across leagues/communities, the role of sport in civic pride, social responsibility and building lasting community connections.  

How does music help Sports Entertainment tell powerful/entertaining stories and engage fans? 

How doesn’t it?!?! HA! Where else besides playing sports and live music do a large group of people come together for that truly memorable experience IN THE MOMENT! ‘Did you see that play when….’, ‘I couldn’t believe when INSERT BAND NAME played NAME OF SONG’. 

Sports is the one thing holding together legacy media bundles and driving subscribers to OTT/DTC bundles. Exclusive right to specific sports is a fantastic example of above and it’s all being driven/enhanced by music – live in stadium, watching on tv/stream, listening/watching a podcast discuss the game and elevating clips/highlights on social. Wherever and however you’re consuming sports entertainment content, you’ll feel your consumption enhanced by music.