UP316 The Product

Why do we care about some events and not others? Why do some tournaments capture our imagination and interest, while others seem contrived? Will an expanded 48 team FIFA World Cup work in 2026, or will it lead to a boring tournament?Where do you stand on closed leagues?Does the 'Super League' idea of Best v Best work in the real world? Why do we cheer for underdogs, but only in the early rounds? In the tennis Grand Slams, what are the commercial implications of three sets for women and five sets for men?Why does Twenty20 cricket work but Rugby Sevens doesn't?What do the various constituencies around sport - fans, teams, rights holders, media, investors - want from the sporting product? How can data analytics add relevance, jeopardy or commercial value to a league or competition? These just some of the questions we asked in this first episode of The Product, a new series launched in collaboration with Twenty First Group the tech-led sports intelligence company which works across multiple sports, using data to help organisations drive sporting success and unlock commercial value.In the last week, TFG has launched the TFG World Sports Rankings, a first of it's kind collection of multi-sport rankings which rank sports products  - athletes, teams, competitions, leagues and tournaments - by the three core drivers of long-term value in sport: Quality, Jeopardy and Connection.You can interrogate the data by going to TFG's website here.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.