October 30, 2025 • 27 mins
Mike Nichols has spent nearly two decades proving women’s sports are undervalued—and he’s putting his investments where the returns are. The former LPGA exec turned Chief of Sponsorship Strategy at Group 1001 joins Laura to talk about Gainbridge’s partnerships with the USL Super League, Caitlin Clark, and more. They get into why 40% of his sponsorship dollars go to women’s sports, how $5,000 grants can create outsized impact, and where the opportunity lies for brands willing to get in from grassroots to the ground floor.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
I often use the example of the investment that I
made with the Gamebridge Super League and think if I
knocked on the Yankees door, would they even care?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Right, Like, what does that even get me?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You know? And so might get you, you know, some
right field signage that nobody can see or whatever the
case might be. And again you're in amongst two hundred
brands or whatever, just trying to you know, be somewhat relevant.
So gosh, if whoever just bought that you're watching the
Super Bowl, right, whoever just bought that ten twelve million
dollar ad, if they just gave me three of that,
(00:37):
what I could do for them at the LPGA Tour
and then they could still have the other nine to
go do something else, right, Like I mean, so it
was just always crazy. Is It's like, gosh, I could
give them a tournament in their hometown and create all
the things that we're talking about, like community outreach and
you know, all these different programs that we could do
for you know, a quarter of the of that Super
Bowl ad.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And we are back courtside with Mike Nickel of Gamebridge.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Mike, welcome back to courtside.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Good to be back. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Laura and I say back, because we have the Perseverance
Award for making.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
This show happen.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
We had a record with some technical difficulties, but bonded
over our love of all things New Jersey. And I'm
glad to be back on the mic with you to
talk about all the incredible work you're doing in women's
sports for Game Bridge.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, I hope you didn't just jinx us because we
still don't know that we've accomplished this, but let's see
what we can.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Do amazing well, Mike, before we get into the incredible
work that you are doing in your current position, your
love of sports didn't happen overnight, and I'd love to
just talk about when you first fell in love with playing.
Take us back to your origin story of getting in
and around sports and competition.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I was a soccer player growing up in northern New Jersey,
as we shared over some of our conversations, which most
people don't maybe not appreciate, but we probably believe is
the hotbed of the best soccer players in the country
and has produced a lot of players. Actually from a
town called Asking Ridge, New Jersey, which is where Tobin
Heath is from, and so I grew up playing soccer,
(02:04):
that was always my sport, sort of did the early specialization,
and I really fell in love with it, you know,
quite frankly, as a fan of the New York Cosmos,
so that this is dating myself, but you know, the
New York Cosmos. Those were my heroes, the guys that
played on that team. And for those who aren't familiar
with that team, who look at like, for example, what's
happening in the MLS with Beckham and then MESSI That
(02:26):
New York Cosmos team was Beckham and Messy and Ibermanovitch
and all those players were together on that team. It
was like the greatest players from all over the world.
That was so fun to watch them play. And Giorgio Kanalia,
who was the striker he was, that was my hero
and I was a striker in my early days, and
so that's really where I fell in love with the
(02:48):
idea of playing sports. Never in a million years thinking
that I would work in sports. I probably thought I
wouldn't play for the New York Cosmos more so than
I would ever work in sports. But again, as I'm
sure you appreciate your Betty, you don't even realize there
are people who have a job in sports, right, You
just think the only job in sports is being on
the field. So that was really for me where my
love of sports started, specifically in soccer.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
This one, I don't know if we shared. Did I
share with you that my father in law played for
the Cosmos?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
No?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Who's that?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, Santiago Formoso. He was a left back.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And if you ever want to go deep in the
archives from the first person perspective, I'm glad to get
you guys connected because there's some incredible stories that exist
in that vault.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Absolutely, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Like I said, you know, I was looking at the
in the current Cosmos ended in nineteen eighty five, which
I was sort of thinking about, like sort of my
love and passion for soccer sort of died when the
Cosmos went away.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I sort of.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I didn't realize it until I went back and looked,
but it was sort of like I was now burned
out and I kind of gave up on soccer. I
wasn't as good in high school, you know as I
was in my middle school years, and sort of gave
up on it. But you know, a lot of it
sort of coincided with I don't have anybody to sort
of look up to and so it's sort of been
interesting thing, but love that time.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That was just awesome.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
This will bring us full circle to our passion meeting
our profession. But I grew up in Carne, New Jersey,
which you talk about town or a group of people
who think they are the epicenter and the mecca. Growing up,
you thought the world knew that it was soccer town, USA,
which is where so many of the greats came out
of including on that ninety four US men's national team,
Tonymola tab Remos, John Harks and so here we are
(04:26):
full circle. Two Jersey kids who have found a living
in professional sports. But the women's sports game is not
new to you, youse. Before Gamebridge had a career at
the LPGA, can you talk about what it was like
during your time there to move the game forward?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So I completed a run as the championship director of
the twenty twenty five US Senior Open, and that sort
of that contract came to a close and I actually
had back to back interviews a PGA tour and the
LPGA Tour for those who don't know, PGA tours up
around Jacksonville. LPGA tours here in Daytona Beach, and I
remember I came home from the interview and sat down
(05:02):
my wife and she said, well, you know, tell me
about both of them.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And I sort of went through both of them.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And she said, you know, I can tell you're really
passionate about the LPGA because it seems like you can
come in and make a difference like the PGA Tour,
like all men's sports. It's a huge machine. There's all
sorts of money. Probably would have made more money if
I had done that, but she said, I don't want
you to do a job you're hating for more money.
It sounds you sound you just light up when you
talk about the LPGA.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So you know that's why I married her, because she's
smarter than me.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
But she sort of put me on the road to
saying like just get the lp go do what you
can at the LPGA.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And it was a fantastic time.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I was there for sixteen years, and like I said,
I felt like I was making a difference, Like you
felt like every time you added a sponsor or added
a tournament or whatever it was, You're like, okay, you're
really impacting the.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Lives of these athletes. Like you talked about.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So it was a tremendous time, traveled the world, all
of that kind of fun stuff, but have hopefully you know,
having seen it from this So that was I was
on the sales side. I was always calling on company
trying to get them to sponsor the LPGA tour. So
this is the first time I've been on the brand
side looking at opportunities. But you know, I always felt
like the LPGAs as well as other women's sports, was
(06:11):
super undervalued and if I could just have the right
conversations with the right people and make the case for it,
that we could actually help brands with what we were doing.
I've tried to take my learnings from the LPGA Tour
and apply them to our sports sponsorship portfolio and what
we're doing in the women's sports space.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yes, and now, I remember when we first met, you
talked about those same people that you remember calling then
where you probably couldn't get a call back. Today the
market is wildly different, especially sitting on the other side
of the table. Can you just describe that first person experience,
because I think you hear anecdotes of that lack of return.
Coley Addison, the WNBA was on the show a couple
episodes back talking about the same thing, the same people
(06:51):
that wouldn't pick up or answer an email just two
three years ago. Now our box out from category exclusivity.
Can you talk about that shift?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's really incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
So again, I was with the LPGA Tour for sixteen years,
and I would say that when maybe the exception of
the WTA, those were really the only two major sports
sponsorship properties, Like the WNBA wasn't what it is today,
the NWSL sort of wasn't what is today. And obviously
there was they had starting stops with women's professional soccer
(07:21):
in the and so obviously now the NWSL is a
footholder are on their way, which is great. But you know,
sixteen years ago, it was sort of just the two
of us as the two brands, and you know, brands
would come to us and say, hey, we want to
get into the women's sports space, and we had sort
of almost a monopoly position. Again, with the exception of
the WTA, the landscape has changed so much. It's it's
fantastic that there are these opportunities because you know, if
(07:45):
you look at it from the standpoint of participation, right,
Basketball is a good participation sports. Soccer is a good
participations for tennis and golf or really not two that
you know, you have to have means in most cases,
and both both sports are trying to find a way
to you know, at more participation at the grassroots level,
but you know, being able to create role.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Models, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Anybody can have a basketball and go down to the
park and play, you know, you know, hit shots in
the park or go kick on a soccer bowl in
the in the park. So it's nice to see these
other sports where kids can participate maybe a little bit
more easier rising up. And then you know, commercially, it's
just I can't even compare you know, where it was.
I guess it's nineteen years ago now where the other
(08:26):
women's sports properties are so But to your point, the
one and this is one of the things that made
the Super League attractive to us was the fact that
it was such a brand new property. They had a
very established foothold with being on Peacock That was huge
to us. You know, normally these and that's a perfect
indicator of how much things have changed, right even just
(08:46):
five or ten years ago. The streaming has opened up
all kinds of opportunities because if the Super League came
on and was looking for TV time, it would be bad, right,
It probably would be tape delayed, probably in the middle
of the night because everybody else is looking for it.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But you know, even five years ago, I didn't have Peacock.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
You know, I resisted all of the streaming, and now
all of a sudden, it's like, you can't not have Peacock,
and you can't not have Apple TV and all these things.
So that was a game changer for I think women's
sports in general is the streaming platforms. But that was
again the thing that made the super League so attractive
to us was it was a brand new property. We
didn't have to fight off other brands for the categories
(09:25):
as you mentioned. But then also the fact that it's
on every household. It's very easy to you know, it's
easy to find the games. You know why when it is,
and so it really was a great place for us
to come into the naming rights position with the game
Bird super League.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
So now you're in a role a chief of sponsorship,
Strategy and Activation for Group one thousand and one, which
is the parent company Gamebridge. Right, you're in your third
year at the company and you've racked up quite a
bit of women's sports assets to your portfolio, the USL
super League being the most recent. But before we get
into that, because I really want to dive into the
model and the why. Because you placed a bet outside
(10:14):
of Gamebridge arena, I'm like, what is this company in
the Midwest? Then you go and do a deal with
this emerging star by the name of Caitlin Clark, and
now Gamebridge is front of mind for everyone. Insomuch that
before we even met, before you took on the super
League in which you announced on our stage at Business
Women's Sports on earlier this spring, I had to.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Do my homework on what is Gamebridge? Which is the intent?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
You're talking about participation, sports access, some of the things
that I imagine our core to the value prop of
your business as a B two C brand. Can you
talk about why women's sports, why these assets, and what
the intent was to help create those connection points to
the business?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Well, I mean, first of all, I got to give
credit to our CEO, Dan Towris, who had a bunch
of these sponsorships in place before I even started. So
we were already sponsored the LPGA's Onica Tournament, sort of
the penultimate event of the LPGA tour schedule. You know,
we have the Billy Jean Kincup, which we had signed
on to just before I started, So those those were
already in place. But I think, you know, in talking
(11:13):
to Dan and sort of his philosophy of why we're
doing this, I sort of call it the Midwest values,
right of like, hey, don't want no listen to what
I say, watch what I do. And so when I
look back, there was somebody who actually worked with the LPGA.
Guy have been the name of Bill Sissek. I'll mention
his name so my LPGA colleagues will have a smile.
He passed away, but he had a stone on his
mantle that said do the right thing when nobody is looking.
(11:35):
And so I think that there's there's something about that.
But that's maybe a little bit old school, because now
there's an expectation from perspective current and then perspective employees
current and perspective customers of people wanting to align with
companies who share their values. So it's not you can't
sort of be like, hey, I'm going to go do
(11:56):
support this organization over here, and I'm going to do
it because it's the right thing to do and not
tell everybody you're doing your company a disservice by doing that.
So when Dan sort of looked at the landscape and said,
you know, more than half of our employees are female,
more than half of our customers or female people are
going to genuinely be looking and saying, okay, well, what
are you doing with your money when you have the
(12:16):
opportunity to do this? And so, you know, more than
forty percent of our sports sponsorship is spent in the
women's sports space. And that's really what he's trying to
do is reflect the Hey, these are our values. And
it's not just us sending out a press release saying, hey,
women are important. You know the biggest division within Group
one thousand and one. We just named a female president
(12:36):
to head up that organization. So it's very much Dan's
motto to sort of and it's like a motto on
the wall or anything, but it's just, you know, we
want to live our values as opposed to, you know,
say one thing and do another.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Spending over forty percent of your sponsorship dollars is no
small feet when we still have only six percent a
fortune five hundred spending a women's sports period, So thank
you for that. It's an incredible show of commitment and
propelling that commitment forward. You took a bet on a
relatively early stage business in the USL Super League, who
was sanctioned as a Division IE soccer league here in
(13:12):
the United States to amplify and support more access to
more athletes but also communities, coaches, staff, front office employees.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Can you talk about that process?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Understanding your category specifically, the financial services category is probably,
if not one of the most saturated in women's sports.
What went into that decision making to make a bet
on a relatively unknown league when you're sitting with Billy,
Jean King and Katelynd Clark.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
In your portfolio.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, so, I think a little bit of it was
being sort of a clean category space. I took the
same investment that I had and I went to the
WNBA or the NWSL or the LPGA or whatever and said, hey,
I'm Mike, and I'd like to be in the financial
services category and it would quickly get narrow for the
same amount of money as opposed to or can have
(14:00):
an entire league, and again it's in its second year,
so there's growth. But I think what's fun about it
for me that we've met now with all of the
nine teams and you know, they were saying like, you know,
what's you know, what sort of keeps you up at
night or what keeps you going? And I said, you know,
it's almost cliche, but you know the success or failure
of the leagues and the teams, like Gamebridge is in
(14:21):
lockstep with them in terms of trying to figure out
what we can do to raise the profile of this event.
So we have some things coming out that we're doing,
some smaller, some bigger. We had just had Briana Scurry.
We've signed also as an ambassador to sort of represent
this league and she'll go and visit all of the
nine markets. She just had an event where she hosted
a goalie clinic at the new at the inaugural team
(14:43):
in Jacksonville. In the next day, she helped us host
a business luncheon for the community. So we have assets
like Briana Scurry. Maybe the kids who were at the
academy don't know who Briana Scurry is, but I'm sure
the parents all know who she is. That's right legend exactly,
and attendees of the business launch and knew who she was.
So what we're trying to do is figure out what
(15:04):
we can do in terms of bringing other assets that
we have to elevate the super League. The super League
kicks off on August twenty third, and the week before
that in Richmond, we were sponsor of NASCAR and our
NASCAR was decked out in Gambard. Super League watched the
league on Peacock. Players from eight teams came in. So
we're trying to look at our portfolio and saying, how
(15:25):
can we bring some of these other high profile sponsorship
amenities that we have to elevate the super League. It's early,
but at the same time, you know, to have Peacock
as a platform, it's immediately legitimizing it. Two thirds of
the people who consider themselves fans of the NWSL already
considered themselves fans of the gamebrid Super League. So to
(15:45):
have two thirds of that group already in two years,
so they've done a lot of great work and for
us it's just going to be a fun thing to
work on and grow with them. But back to your
sort of original question on the ROI when it presented
the opportunity to and our CEO, he said, well, tell
me about what's happening at the academy level, because those
parents who have the means to put their kids into
(16:07):
these camps and travel the country and do all this stuff,
those are our prospective customers. So that's sort of some
of the behind the scenes decision making that people won't
necessarily see, because you know, the things that we're going
to do are going to be to support the league
up here, but we're also trying to figure out how
do we impact those academy kids and get in front
of those parents in a meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I think two of the biggest competitive advantages this league
has is not everything is consolidated on one network. It
certainly makes it easier to find, which we know is
an impediment to growth in sports period but certainly exacerbated
in women's sports. But yeah, the youth to pro pipeline,
we're seeing that also with League one volleyball, four hundred
thousand kids playing youth volleyball. That serves as this lifetime
(16:48):
value customer when you start thinking about getting in at
the grassroots and the USL similarly on the women's side,
Youth to pro pathway, something that Amanda Vanderwort, their president,
is adamant about expressing the imp importance of I think
cannot be overlooked when you're a brand making this sort
of investment as a naming rights partner, I want to
pivot to impact because it's something beyond just spending four
(17:10):
x that of your peers in the advertising industry in
terms of your sponsorship investment. But you're also working in
partnership with Parody, which is part of the family, to
drive impact in the space. In twenty twenty three, your
grand cycle reach over five thousand girls and women. Can
you talk about how you're taking those values you spoke
on earlier in the conversation, using women's sport as a
vehicle to participate in the community beyond the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
So, we had a number of philanthropic relationships that kind
of were frankly on the shelf. It was again nice
that we were supporting them, and I'm sure they know
financially and I'm sure they would appreciate it, but it
just felt like there was more that we could do
and utilize our sports sponsorship portfolio to elevate them, and
so a couple of years ago, by happen Chances, I
was mentioning we had our LPGA tournament, the Billaging Cup
(17:55):
tennis tournament, as well as Women in North American Motorsports
event all during the same week, crazy enough, through no
fault of our own, and so we try to figure
out what can we do to sort of elevate these
three events so that they're not fighting each other, And
so we created Parody Week with the idea that we
could promote our sister company, Parody, but also sort of
have one plus one plus one equal five instead of
(18:18):
one plus one plus one equal a half. And so
because they were fighting each other, so we created Parody
Week and to sort of elevate that. And then the
next year we looked and said, well, what can we
do with Parody Week and tie it into our philanthropic portfolio.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So this year we've rebranded it.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
As Gamebridge Assists Powered by Parody, And what we've done,
in homage to Billy Jean King, is we give out
a series of five thousand dollars grants. For those of
you who don't know, Billy Jean started the Women's Sports
Foundation with a five thousand dollars check she won on
a Bob Hope Cavalcade of Stars event or something like that,
is the female Athlete of the Year. So with that
(18:52):
five thousand dollars check, she's now created an organization that
has an impact of over one hundred million dollars through
grants and various metrics of impact, so sort of showing
that that five thousand dollars check can go a long way.
So with Gamebridge Assist, what we've done is said, let's
give out a series of five thousand dollars grants and
figure out how can we sort of make a similar impact.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And so that the five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Was sort of a tribute to Billy Jean and that
initial five thousand dollars. But I would say that also
as we looked at the landscape, and as you can
appreciate always being asked for money, it sometimes seemed like
the people who were asking for three thousand dollars would
benefit more than the person who was asking for two
hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Like sometimes the two hundred.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Thousand dollars just feels like it's going to go into
the machine, and you know, that sort of thing. Whereas
you might have a local Girls on the Run chapter
or a local flag football team who just needs five
thousand dollars to get their program off the ground. And
this year we're going to give out an excess of
two hundred thousand dollars, and we had you know, people
might say, well, really is anybody interested in five thousand
(19:54):
dollars grants? And we had over four hundred organizations who
applied for those five thousand dollars grants, So like it
doesn't always need to be hundreds of thousands of dollars
to really make an impact. Hopefully we'll look back and
similarly we'll have some of these organizations that initial five
thousand dollars in seed money gave them some exposure, allowed
them to get a program off the ground. Then when
we come back in twenty five years, you know, I'm
(20:16):
not certainly saying it's going to have the impact of
the Women's Sports Foundation, but you know, it shows that
with a little money you can make a difference in
how many organizations there are out there that you know,
could just just need a little something to get started,
especially in the women's sports space.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
As you look at the landscape MIC for many of
our industry colleagues, particularly brand marketers, potentially sitting in your position,
going like where do I even begin? What do you
advise them? And then more importantly, what are you looking
towards to continue to iterate and push the bounds on
what's possible.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I certainly don't want to, you know, pass myself off
as sort of an industry expert. I've only been on
this side of the house for three years or so.
But you know, again, with the Super League is made
up of nine teams that are you know, eight of
them are just had their inaugural season. Jacksonville is now
in their inaugural season. So you know, as you're looking
in your brand and you're saying, hey, what here, here's
(21:20):
a perfect opportunity.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It's a brand new league.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
You look at the markets and see if the market's
aligned with where you want to be. But I think
a lot of the times, at least what I saw
with the LPGA or in the women's sports space as
a seller, I think brands historically were sort of reluctant
and it always felt like they were taking some sort
of bold leap to be in the women's sports space.
And as you said, the metrics are all there that support,
(21:43):
you know, getting involved in women's sports. But I think
sometimes you may find more value at the local level
with a smaller team in a smaller market as opposed
to doing a larger deal at the league level. Let's
just say that, you know, sometimes you just get lost
amongst a bunch of other brands or a major team.
What we liked about this was here's nine teams that
(22:04):
are basically brand new that we can kind of come
in and I don't want to say dictate, because we
certainly want to do this in partnership with them, but hey, guys,
let's figure out how we can grow this together. And
I think there's more than enough opportunity to do that
across the women's sports space. You mentioned volleyball is you know,
going crazy right now. There's just so much opportunity, and
I think the one thing I would say that brand
(22:24):
marketers is maybe don't go for the easy, you know,
the easy thing of WNBA, LPGA and Wsl'll sort of
look and say, hey, what's happening with the volleyball or
you know, this alternate.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Just to demensialize it a step further.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
As somebody who is a bit of a media nerd,
you know you look at women's sports landscape generated nearly
seventy five million dollars in sponsorships this past year, which
is up exponentially, So when you do the fast math,
you're actually talking about an annual average sponsorship value of
one hundred and seventy thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Now, Mike, you've been doing this a long time.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
When I think about what a thirty second ad costs
in a primetime sports program on a major network, we
have bought a fraction of that ad. You recognize you
can really buy the whole pie to your point, and
more importantly, not just get in and slap your name
on it, which I know is not what you're doing,
but really be part of the build. And I think
(23:20):
some of the things you alluded to, how do you
support from the grassroots up? How do you think about
leveraging your media dollars from a propotional capacity, making sure
that tune in and discoverability is key, and then putting
your money where your mouth is filmthropically to make sure
that the cycle doesn't just end there and we can
perpetuate the growth.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I often use the example of the investment that I
made with the Gamebird Super League and think if I
knocked on the Yankees door, would they even care?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Right? Like, what does that even get me? You know?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And so might get you, you know, some right field
signage that nobody can see, or whatever the case might be.
And again you're in amongst two hundred brands or whatever,
just trying to you know, be somewhat relevant. So I think,
like you said, used the example of like TV ads
and whatever. When I was at the LPGA, I used
to think, like, gosh, if whoever just bought that you're
(24:07):
watching the super Bowl, right, whoever just bought that ten
twelve million dollar ad, if they just gave me three
of that, what I could do for them at the
LPGA tour and then they could still have the other
nine to go do something else?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Right? So it was just always crazy.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Is It's like, Gosh, I could give them a tournament
in their hometown and create all the things that we're
talking about, like community outreach and you know, all these
different programs that we could do for you know, a
quarter of the of that super Bowl ad, and then
again they could have the rest of that media ad
to go that media spend to go do other things.
So but again I think that looking back on my
(24:42):
time at the LPGA, I think the challenge was that
sometimes I could get somebody excited about the LPGA.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I could get bring Laura out to.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
A tournament, get her excited, and then you had to
carry the message back to the boardroom. And I think
at times that was where it got lost. Somebody was like, well,
why would we do the LPGA if we could do
the PGA Tour And next thing, you know, that money
is spent somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
I think the tide has changed and there's an expectation
of people saying, hey, what are we doing in the
women's sports space, which is what needs to happen. That
receptivity is now in the boardroom, which is the game changer.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, and that example I just share that as specific
to the NWSL. And when you look at the growth
of women's professional soccer in this country and that we're
still only averaging one hundred and seventy thousand dollars per
year per partnership, there's a lot to be desired there.
And I think really, you know, as an industry, sizing
up the opportunity, yes, but also being able to do
(25:37):
that sort of media math comparison to talk about the
value exchange of what you're getting in return. In comparison,
you talk about thirty seconds versus nine plus months, a
much different value proposition.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
So, Mike, thank you so much for all that you
do to grow the game.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Truly, you're such a champion and advocate for women's sports,
and we need more Mike Nichols in the business. So
thank you so much and wishing you all the best
on the Super League season ahead.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Perfect And just to put a bow on this, I
do want to acknowledge that when I was playing soccer
in New Jersey, we recognize as Carney as the center
of the soccer universe because whenever we traveled.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Over there valide Gans, we went over there.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
We got our backsides handed in to us, so I
I validated.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Mike. Thank you so much. We look forward to having
you back on soon.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Thanks Loura.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'm your host Laura Crenti, founder and CEO of Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz,
and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with
associate producers Meredith Barnes and Rachel Zuckerman. Court Side is
an iHeart women's sports production and partnership with Deep Blue
Sports and Entertainment. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
(26:43):
or wherever you get your podcasts. Want more, follow, rate
and review court side wherever you get your podcasts, and
stay in the game by following us on social media
at iHeart Women's Sports. And don't forget to subscribe to
our newsletter. In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll
see you next time, Court said MHM
I often use the example of the investment that I
made with the Gamebridge Super League and think if I
knocked on the Yankees door, would they even care?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Right, Like, what does that even get me?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You know? And so might get you, you know, some
right field signage that nobody can see or whatever the
case might be. And again you're in amongst two hundred
brands or whatever, just trying to you know, be somewhat relevant.
So gosh, if whoever just bought that you're watching the
Super Bowl, right, whoever just bought that ten twelve million
dollar ad, if they just gave me three of that,
(00:37):
what I could do for them at the LPGA Tour
and then they could still have the other nine to
go do something else, right, Like I mean, so it
was just always crazy. Is It's like, gosh, I could
give them a tournament in their hometown and create all
the things that we're talking about, like community outreach and
you know, all these different programs that we could do
for you know, a quarter of the of that Super
Bowl ad.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And we are back courtside with Mike Nickel of Gamebridge.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Mike, welcome back to courtside.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Good to be back. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Laura and I say back, because we have the Perseverance
Award for making.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
This show happen.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
We had a record with some technical difficulties, but bonded
over our love of all things New Jersey. And I'm
glad to be back on the mic with you to
talk about all the incredible work you're doing in women's
sports for Game Bridge.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, I hope you didn't just jinx us because we
still don't know that we've accomplished this, but let's see
what we can.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Do amazing well, Mike, before we get into the incredible
work that you are doing in your current position, your
love of sports didn't happen overnight, and I'd love to
just talk about when you first fell in love with playing.
Take us back to your origin story of getting in
and around sports and competition.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I was a soccer player growing up in northern New Jersey,
as we shared over some of our conversations, which most
people don't maybe not appreciate, but we probably believe is
the hotbed of the best soccer players in the country
and has produced a lot of players. Actually from a
town called Asking Ridge, New Jersey, which is where Tobin
Heath is from, and so I grew up playing soccer,
(02:04):
that was always my sport, sort of did the early specialization,
and I really fell in love with it, you know,
quite frankly, as a fan of the New York Cosmos,
so that this is dating myself, but you know, the
New York Cosmos. Those were my heroes, the guys that
played on that team. And for those who aren't familiar
with that team, who look at like, for example, what's
happening in the MLS with Beckham and then MESSI That
(02:26):
New York Cosmos team was Beckham and Messy and Ibermanovitch
and all those players were together on that team. It
was like the greatest players from all over the world.
That was so fun to watch them play. And Giorgio Kanalia,
who was the striker he was, that was my hero
and I was a striker in my early days, and
so that's really where I fell in love with the
(02:48):
idea of playing sports. Never in a million years thinking
that I would work in sports. I probably thought I
wouldn't play for the New York Cosmos more so than
I would ever work in sports. But again, as I'm
sure you appreciate your Betty, you don't even realize there
are people who have a job in sports, right, You
just think the only job in sports is being on
the field. So that was really for me where my
love of sports started, specifically in soccer.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
This one, I don't know if we shared. Did I
share with you that my father in law played for
the Cosmos?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
No?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Who's that?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, Santiago Formoso. He was a left back.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And if you ever want to go deep in the
archives from the first person perspective, I'm glad to get
you guys connected because there's some incredible stories that exist
in that vault.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Absolutely, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Like I said, you know, I was looking at the
in the current Cosmos ended in nineteen eighty five, which
I was sort of thinking about, like sort of my
love and passion for soccer sort of died when the
Cosmos went away.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I sort of.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I didn't realize it until I went back and looked,
but it was sort of like I was now burned
out and I kind of gave up on soccer. I
wasn't as good in high school, you know as I
was in my middle school years, and sort of gave
up on it. But you know, a lot of it
sort of coincided with I don't have anybody to sort
of look up to and so it's sort of been
interesting thing, but love that time.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That was just awesome.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
This will bring us full circle to our passion meeting
our profession. But I grew up in Carne, New Jersey,
which you talk about town or a group of people
who think they are the epicenter and the mecca. Growing up,
you thought the world knew that it was soccer town, USA,
which is where so many of the greats came out
of including on that ninety four US men's national team,
Tonymola tab Remos, John Harks and so here we are
(04:26):
full circle. Two Jersey kids who have found a living
in professional sports. But the women's sports game is not
new to you, youse. Before Gamebridge had a career at
the LPGA, can you talk about what it was like
during your time there to move the game forward?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So I completed a run as the championship director of
the twenty twenty five US Senior Open, and that sort
of that contract came to a close and I actually
had back to back interviews a PGA tour and the
LPGA Tour for those who don't know, PGA tours up
around Jacksonville. LPGA tours here in Daytona Beach, and I
remember I came home from the interview and sat down
(05:02):
my wife and she said, well, you know, tell me
about both of them.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And I sort of went through both of them.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And she said, you know, I can tell you're really
passionate about the LPGA because it seems like you can
come in and make a difference like the PGA Tour,
like all men's sports. It's a huge machine. There's all
sorts of money. Probably would have made more money if
I had done that, but she said, I don't want
you to do a job you're hating for more money.
It sounds you sound you just light up when you
talk about the LPGA.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So you know that's why I married her, because she's
smarter than me.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
But she sort of put me on the road to
saying like just get the lp go do what you
can at the LPGA.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And it was a fantastic time.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I was there for sixteen years, and like I said,
I felt like I was making a difference, Like you
felt like every time you added a sponsor or added
a tournament or whatever it was, You're like, okay, you're
really impacting the.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Lives of these athletes. Like you talked about.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So it was a tremendous time, traveled the world, all
of that kind of fun stuff, but have hopefully you know,
having seen it from this So that was I was
on the sales side. I was always calling on company
trying to get them to sponsor the LPGA tour. So
this is the first time I've been on the brand
side looking at opportunities. But you know, I always felt
like the LPGAs as well as other women's sports, was
(06:11):
super undervalued and if I could just have the right
conversations with the right people and make the case for it,
that we could actually help brands with what we were doing.
I've tried to take my learnings from the LPGA Tour
and apply them to our sports sponsorship portfolio and what
we're doing in the women's sports space.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yes, and now, I remember when we first met, you
talked about those same people that you remember calling then
where you probably couldn't get a call back. Today the
market is wildly different, especially sitting on the other side
of the table. Can you just describe that first person experience,
because I think you hear anecdotes of that lack of return.
Coley Addison, the WNBA was on the show a couple
episodes back talking about the same thing, the same people
(06:51):
that wouldn't pick up or answer an email just two
three years ago. Now our box out from category exclusivity.
Can you talk about that shift?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's really incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
So again, I was with the LPGA Tour for sixteen years,
and I would say that when maybe the exception of
the WTA, those were really the only two major sports
sponsorship properties, Like the WNBA wasn't what it is today,
the NWSL sort of wasn't what is today. And obviously
there was they had starting stops with women's professional soccer
(07:21):
in the and so obviously now the NWSL is a
footholder are on their way, which is great. But you know,
sixteen years ago, it was sort of just the two
of us as the two brands, and you know, brands
would come to us and say, hey, we want to
get into the women's sports space, and we had sort
of almost a monopoly position. Again, with the exception of
the WTA, the landscape has changed so much. It's it's
fantastic that there are these opportunities because you know, if
(07:45):
you look at it from the standpoint of participation, right,
Basketball is a good participation sports. Soccer is a good
participations for tennis and golf or really not two that
you know, you have to have means in most cases,
and both both sports are trying to find a way
to you know, at more participation at the grassroots level,
but you know, being able to create role.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Models, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Anybody can have a basketball and go down to the
park and play, you know, you know, hit shots in
the park or go kick on a soccer bowl in
the in the park. So it's nice to see these
other sports where kids can participate maybe a little bit
more easier rising up. And then you know, commercially, it's
just I can't even compare you know, where it was.
I guess it's nineteen years ago now where the other
(08:26):
women's sports properties are so But to your point, the
one and this is one of the things that made
the Super League attractive to us was the fact that
it was such a brand new property. They had a
very established foothold with being on Peacock That was huge
to us. You know, normally these and that's a perfect
indicator of how much things have changed, right even just
(08:46):
five or ten years ago. The streaming has opened up
all kinds of opportunities because if the Super League came
on and was looking for TV time, it would be bad, right,
It probably would be tape delayed, probably in the middle
of the night because everybody else is looking for it.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But you know, even five years ago, I didn't have Peacock.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
You know, I resisted all of the streaming, and now
all of a sudden, it's like, you can't not have Peacock,
and you can't not have Apple TV and all these things.
So that was a game changer for I think women's
sports in general is the streaming platforms. But that was
again the thing that made the super League so attractive
to us was it was a brand new property. We
didn't have to fight off other brands for the categories
(09:25):
as you mentioned. But then also the fact that it's
on every household. It's very easy to you know, it's
easy to find the games. You know why when it is,
and so it really was a great place for us
to come into the naming rights position with the game
Bird super League.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
So now you're in a role a chief of sponsorship,
Strategy and Activation for Group one thousand and one, which
is the parent company Gamebridge. Right, you're in your third
year at the company and you've racked up quite a
bit of women's sports assets to your portfolio, the USL
super League being the most recent. But before we get
into that, because I really want to dive into the
model and the why. Because you placed a bet outside
(10:14):
of Gamebridge arena, I'm like, what is this company in
the Midwest? Then you go and do a deal with
this emerging star by the name of Caitlin Clark, and
now Gamebridge is front of mind for everyone. Insomuch that
before we even met, before you took on the super
League in which you announced on our stage at Business
Women's Sports on earlier this spring, I had to.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Do my homework on what is Gamebridge? Which is the intent?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
You're talking about participation, sports access, some of the things
that I imagine our core to the value prop of
your business as a B two C brand. Can you
talk about why women's sports, why these assets, and what
the intent was to help create those connection points to
the business?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Well, I mean, first of all, I got to give
credit to our CEO, Dan Towris, who had a bunch
of these sponsorships in place before I even started. So
we were already sponsored the LPGA's Onica Tournament, sort of
the penultimate event of the LPGA tour schedule. You know,
we have the Billy Jean Kincup, which we had signed
on to just before I started, So those those were
already in place. But I think, you know, in talking
(11:13):
to Dan and sort of his philosophy of why we're
doing this, I sort of call it the Midwest values,
right of like, hey, don't want no listen to what
I say, watch what I do. And so when I
look back, there was somebody who actually worked with the LPGA.
Guy have been the name of Bill Sissek. I'll mention
his name so my LPGA colleagues will have a smile.
He passed away, but he had a stone on his
mantle that said do the right thing when nobody is looking.
(11:35):
And so I think that there's there's something about that.
But that's maybe a little bit old school, because now
there's an expectation from perspective current and then perspective employees
current and perspective customers of people wanting to align with
companies who share their values. So it's not you can't
sort of be like, hey, I'm going to go do
(11:56):
support this organization over here, and I'm going to do
it because it's the right thing to do and not
tell everybody you're doing your company a disservice by doing that.
So when Dan sort of looked at the landscape and said,
you know, more than half of our employees are female,
more than half of our customers or female people are
going to genuinely be looking and saying, okay, well, what
are you doing with your money when you have the
(12:16):
opportunity to do this? And so, you know, more than
forty percent of our sports sponsorship is spent in the
women's sports space. And that's really what he's trying to
do is reflect the Hey, these are our values. And
it's not just us sending out a press release saying, hey,
women are important. You know the biggest division within Group
one thousand and one. We just named a female president
(12:36):
to head up that organization. So it's very much Dan's
motto to sort of and it's like a motto on
the wall or anything, but it's just, you know, we
want to live our values as opposed to, you know,
say one thing and do another.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Spending over forty percent of your sponsorship dollars is no
small feet when we still have only six percent a
fortune five hundred spending a women's sports period, So thank
you for that. It's an incredible show of commitment and
propelling that commitment forward. You took a bet on a
relatively early stage business in the USL Super League, who
was sanctioned as a Division IE soccer league here in
(13:12):
the United States to amplify and support more access to
more athletes but also communities, coaches, staff, front office employees.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Can you talk about that process?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Understanding your category specifically, the financial services category is probably,
if not one of the most saturated in women's sports.
What went into that decision making to make a bet
on a relatively unknown league when you're sitting with Billy,
Jean King and Katelynd Clark.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
In your portfolio.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, so, I think a little bit of it was
being sort of a clean category space. I took the
same investment that I had and I went to the
WNBA or the NWSL or the LPGA or whatever and said, hey,
I'm Mike, and I'd like to be in the financial
services category and it would quickly get narrow for the
same amount of money as opposed to or can have
(14:00):
an entire league, and again it's in its second year,
so there's growth. But I think what's fun about it
for me that we've met now with all of the
nine teams and you know, they were saying like, you know,
what's you know, what sort of keeps you up at
night or what keeps you going? And I said, you know,
it's almost cliche, but you know the success or failure
of the leagues and the teams, like Gamebridge is in
(14:21):
lockstep with them in terms of trying to figure out
what we can do to raise the profile of this event.
So we have some things coming out that we're doing,
some smaller, some bigger. We had just had Briana Scurry.
We've signed also as an ambassador to sort of represent
this league and she'll go and visit all of the
nine markets. She just had an event where she hosted
a goalie clinic at the new at the inaugural team
(14:43):
in Jacksonville. In the next day, she helped us host
a business luncheon for the community. So we have assets
like Briana Scurry. Maybe the kids who were at the
academy don't know who Briana Scurry is, but I'm sure
the parents all know who she is. That's right legend exactly,
and attendees of the business launch and knew who she was.
So what we're trying to do is figure out what
(15:04):
we can do in terms of bringing other assets that
we have to elevate the super League. The super League
kicks off on August twenty third, and the week before
that in Richmond, we were sponsor of NASCAR and our
NASCAR was decked out in Gambard. Super League watched the
league on Peacock. Players from eight teams came in. So
we're trying to look at our portfolio and saying, how
(15:25):
can we bring some of these other high profile sponsorship
amenities that we have to elevate the super League. It's early,
but at the same time, you know, to have Peacock
as a platform, it's immediately legitimizing it. Two thirds of
the people who consider themselves fans of the NWSL already
considered themselves fans of the gamebrid Super League. So to
(15:45):
have two thirds of that group already in two years,
so they've done a lot of great work and for
us it's just going to be a fun thing to
work on and grow with them. But back to your
sort of original question on the ROI when it presented
the opportunity to and our CEO, he said, well, tell
me about what's happening at the academy level, because those
parents who have the means to put their kids into
(16:07):
these camps and travel the country and do all this stuff,
those are our prospective customers. So that's sort of some
of the behind the scenes decision making that people won't
necessarily see, because you know, the things that we're going
to do are going to be to support the league
up here, but we're also trying to figure out how
do we impact those academy kids and get in front
of those parents in a meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I think two of the biggest competitive advantages this league
has is not everything is consolidated on one network. It
certainly makes it easier to find, which we know is
an impediment to growth in sports period but certainly exacerbated
in women's sports. But yeah, the youth to pro pipeline,
we're seeing that also with League one volleyball, four hundred
thousand kids playing youth volleyball. That serves as this lifetime
(16:48):
value customer when you start thinking about getting in at
the grassroots and the USL similarly on the women's side,
Youth to pro pathway, something that Amanda Vanderwort, their president,
is adamant about expressing the imp importance of I think
cannot be overlooked when you're a brand making this sort
of investment as a naming rights partner, I want to
pivot to impact because it's something beyond just spending four
(17:10):
x that of your peers in the advertising industry in
terms of your sponsorship investment. But you're also working in
partnership with Parody, which is part of the family, to
drive impact in the space. In twenty twenty three, your
grand cycle reach over five thousand girls and women. Can
you talk about how you're taking those values you spoke
on earlier in the conversation, using women's sport as a
vehicle to participate in the community beyond the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
So, we had a number of philanthropic relationships that kind
of were frankly on the shelf. It was again nice
that we were supporting them, and I'm sure they know
financially and I'm sure they would appreciate it, but it
just felt like there was more that we could do
and utilize our sports sponsorship portfolio to elevate them, and
so a couple of years ago, by happen Chances, I
was mentioning we had our LPGA tournament, the Billaging Cup
(17:55):
tennis tournament, as well as Women in North American Motorsports
event all during the same week, crazy enough, through no
fault of our own, and so we try to figure
out what can we do to sort of elevate these
three events so that they're not fighting each other, And
so we created Parody Week with the idea that we
could promote our sister company, Parody, but also sort of
have one plus one plus one equal five instead of
(18:18):
one plus one plus one equal a half. And so
because they were fighting each other, so we created Parody
Week and to sort of elevate that. And then the
next year we looked and said, well, what can we
do with Parody Week and tie it into our philanthropic portfolio.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So this year we've rebranded it.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
As Gamebridge Assists Powered by Parody, And what we've done,
in homage to Billy Jean King, is we give out
a series of five thousand dollars grants. For those of
you who don't know, Billy Jean started the Women's Sports
Foundation with a five thousand dollars check she won on
a Bob Hope Cavalcade of Stars event or something like that,
is the female Athlete of the Year. So with that
(18:52):
five thousand dollars check, she's now created an organization that
has an impact of over one hundred million dollars through
grants and various metrics of impact, so sort of showing
that that five thousand dollars check can go a long way.
So with Gamebridge Assist, what we've done is said, let's
give out a series of five thousand dollars grants and
figure out how can we sort of make a similar impact.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And so that the five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Was sort of a tribute to Billy Jean and that
initial five thousand dollars. But I would say that also
as we looked at the landscape, and as you can
appreciate always being asked for money, it sometimes seemed like
the people who were asking for three thousand dollars would
benefit more than the person who was asking for two
hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Like sometimes the two hundred.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Thousand dollars just feels like it's going to go into
the machine, and you know, that sort of thing. Whereas
you might have a local Girls on the Run chapter
or a local flag football team who just needs five
thousand dollars to get their program off the ground. And
this year we're going to give out an excess of
two hundred thousand dollars, and we had you know, people
might say, well, really is anybody interested in five thousand
(19:54):
dollars grants? And we had over four hundred organizations who
applied for those five thousand dollars grants, So like it
doesn't always need to be hundreds of thousands of dollars
to really make an impact. Hopefully we'll look back and
similarly we'll have some of these organizations that initial five
thousand dollars in seed money gave them some exposure, allowed
them to get a program off the ground. Then when
we come back in twenty five years, you know, I'm
(20:16):
not certainly saying it's going to have the impact of
the Women's Sports Foundation, but you know, it shows that
with a little money you can make a difference in
how many organizations there are out there that you know,
could just just need a little something to get started,
especially in the women's sports space.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
As you look at the landscape MIC for many of
our industry colleagues, particularly brand marketers, potentially sitting in your position,
going like where do I even begin? What do you
advise them? And then more importantly, what are you looking
towards to continue to iterate and push the bounds on
what's possible.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I certainly don't want to, you know, pass myself off
as sort of an industry expert. I've only been on
this side of the house for three years or so.
But you know, again, with the Super League is made
up of nine teams that are you know, eight of
them are just had their inaugural season. Jacksonville is now
in their inaugural season. So you know, as you're looking
in your brand and you're saying, hey, what here, here's
(21:20):
a perfect opportunity.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It's a brand new league.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
You look at the markets and see if the market's
aligned with where you want to be. But I think
a lot of the times, at least what I saw
with the LPGA or in the women's sports space as
a seller, I think brands historically were sort of reluctant
and it always felt like they were taking some sort
of bold leap to be in the women's sports space.
And as you said, the metrics are all there that support,
(21:43):
you know, getting involved in women's sports. But I think
sometimes you may find more value at the local level
with a smaller team in a smaller market as opposed
to doing a larger deal at the league level. Let's
just say that, you know, sometimes you just get lost
amongst a bunch of other brands or a major team.
What we liked about this was here's nine teams that
(22:04):
are basically brand new that we can kind of come
in and I don't want to say dictate, because we
certainly want to do this in partnership with them, but hey, guys,
let's figure out how we can grow this together. And
I think there's more than enough opportunity to do that
across the women's sports space. You mentioned volleyball is you know,
going crazy right now. There's just so much opportunity, and
I think the one thing I would say that brand
(22:24):
marketers is maybe don't go for the easy, you know,
the easy thing of WNBA, LPGA and Wsl'll sort of
look and say, hey, what's happening with the volleyball or
you know, this alternate.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Just to demensialize it a step further.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
As somebody who is a bit of a media nerd,
you know you look at women's sports landscape generated nearly
seventy five million dollars in sponsorships this past year, which
is up exponentially, So when you do the fast math,
you're actually talking about an annual average sponsorship value of
one hundred and seventy thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Now, Mike, you've been doing this a long time.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
When I think about what a thirty second ad costs
in a primetime sports program on a major network, we
have bought a fraction of that ad. You recognize you
can really buy the whole pie to your point, and
more importantly, not just get in and slap your name
on it, which I know is not what you're doing,
but really be part of the build. And I think
(23:20):
some of the things you alluded to, how do you
support from the grassroots up? How do you think about
leveraging your media dollars from a propotional capacity, making sure
that tune in and discoverability is key, and then putting
your money where your mouth is filmthropically to make sure
that the cycle doesn't just end there and we can
perpetuate the growth.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I often use the example of the investment that I
made with the Gamebird Super League and think if I
knocked on the Yankees door, would they even care?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Right? Like, what does that even get me? You know?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And so might get you, you know, some right field
signage that nobody can see, or whatever the case might be.
And again you're in amongst two hundred brands or whatever,
just trying to you know, be somewhat relevant. So I think,
like you said, used the example of like TV ads
and whatever. When I was at the LPGA, I used
to think, like, gosh, if whoever just bought that you're
(24:07):
watching the super Bowl, right, whoever just bought that ten
twelve million dollar ad, if they just gave me three
of that, what I could do for them at the
LPGA tour and then they could still have the other
nine to go do something else?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Right? So it was just always crazy.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Is It's like, Gosh, I could give them a tournament
in their hometown and create all the things that we're
talking about, like community outreach and you know, all these
different programs that we could do for you know, a
quarter of the of that super Bowl ad, and then
again they could have the rest of that media ad
to go that media spend to go do other things.
So but again I think that looking back on my
(24:42):
time at the LPGA, I think the challenge was that
sometimes I could get somebody excited about the LPGA.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I could get bring Laura out to.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
A tournament, get her excited, and then you had to
carry the message back to the boardroom. And I think
at times that was where it got lost. Somebody was like, well,
why would we do the LPGA if we could do
the PGA Tour And next thing, you know, that money
is spent somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
I think the tide has changed and there's an expectation
of people saying, hey, what are we doing in the
women's sports space, which is what needs to happen. That
receptivity is now in the boardroom, which is the game changer.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, and that example I just share that as specific
to the NWSL. And when you look at the growth
of women's professional soccer in this country and that we're
still only averaging one hundred and seventy thousand dollars per
year per partnership, there's a lot to be desired there.
And I think really, you know, as an industry, sizing
up the opportunity, yes, but also being able to do
(25:37):
that sort of media math comparison to talk about the
value exchange of what you're getting in return. In comparison,
you talk about thirty seconds versus nine plus months, a
much different value proposition.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
So, Mike, thank you so much for all that you
do to grow the game.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Truly, you're such a champion and advocate for women's sports,
and we need more Mike Nichols in the business. So
thank you so much and wishing you all the best
on the Super League season ahead.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Perfect And just to put a bow on this, I
do want to acknowledge that when I was playing soccer
in New Jersey, we recognize as Carney as the center
of the soccer universe because whenever we traveled.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Over there valide Gans, we went over there.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
We got our backsides handed in to us, so I
I validated.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Mike. Thank you so much. We look forward to having
you back on soon.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Thanks Loura.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'm your host Laura Crenti, founder and CEO of Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz,
and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with
associate producers Meredith Barnes and Rachel Zuckerman. Court Side is
an iHeart women's sports production and partnership with Deep Blue
Sports and Entertainment. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
(26:43):
or wherever you get your podcasts. Want more, follow, rate
and review court side wherever you get your podcasts, and
stay in the game by following us on social media
at iHeart Women's Sports. And don't forget to subscribe to
our newsletter. In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll
see you next time, Court said MHM
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