520: Dan Mannix on How Underdog Is Disrupting the Sports Marketing Agency Model

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome back Dan Mannix, Founder and Managing Partner of Underdog & Company, to discuss how his sports marketing agency has evolved into a multi-brand platform with investments, acquisitions, and a growing roster of clients across professional sports, college athletics, and experiential marketing. Mannix shares how Underdog’s partnership with NewSpring Capital has fueled a wave of acquisitions, including collegiate consulting firm Altius Sports Partners, experiential agency BeCore, and the launch of 40Love, a venture focused on the Olympics and content creators. The conversation digs into what makes Underdog & Company’s model different from the major holding companies, including its emphasis on senior leadership involvement, solutions-agnostic thinking, and a culture built around diverse perspectives and mentorship. Mannix reflects on working with Major League Baseball, the Clippers, and emerging sports properties, and explains why he believes agencies are more valuable than ever in a sports landscape defined by media fragmentation and NIL complexity. Mannix also shares candid advice for young people breaking into the industry, making the case for smaller agencies over big leagues as the best early career training ground, and why creative persistence beats the one-page resume every time.Connect with Dan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-mannix-4ab0152/’Subscribe to the CUSP Show: SubstackThe CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com