Jay Monahan
Commissioner, PGA Tour
Golf’s future has never looked more uncertain after the PGA Tour’s seismic decision to pursue a merger with LIV Golf, the upstart circuit bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the Europe-based DP World Tour. Big-name players are defecting, heavyweight investors are circling, commercial partners are uneasy, and an end-of-year deadline for providing at least some clarity on the future direction of the men’s game has been and gone.
Amid a vortex of speculation, rancour and a US Senate subcommittee investigation, it remains unclear where the chips will fall. Yet the man holding many of the cards is Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s commissioner whose gamble to go all-in with the PIF could prove to be the most consequential business decision in golf’s long history.
Where the power resides, who gets what, when and where tournaments are played: all the big choices sit largely with Monahan. At the governance level, the big question is whether the American can keep an increasingly splintered sport intact whilst balancing a complex tangle of competing interests. From a business standpoint, consolidation of multiple assets under what will become PGA Tour Enterprises will, for better or worse, transform how professional golf is packaged and sold for years to come.
Whatever happens, Monahan’s legacy is on the line. But more than that, the fate of an entire sport rests on his shoulders and 2024 will be the year its future finally comes into view.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra
Minister for Sport and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
On the surface, the Paris 2024 Olympics look set to be incident-free compared to recent editions of the world’s largest sporting gathering. But to say this summer’s Games will be smooth sailing would be premature.
The build-up to Paris 2024 has not always been straightforward. The French capital’s ability to stage an event of the size and scale of the Olympics was questioned after the chaotic scenes during the 2022 Uefa Champions League final at the Stade de France. The city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has also admitted that public transport will not be ready in time, while deputy mayor Pierre Rabadan insisted last month that there will be “no safer place in the world” during the Games following a knife and hammer attack near the Eiffel Tower. Still, France can take confidence from its successful staging of last year’s Rugby World Cup, which was the best-attended edition ever.
At the centre of the Olympics will be French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, a prominent figure during the fallout from the aforementioned Champions League final who now has the daunting job of appeasing multiple stakeholders across sport and politics – all while delivering a Games with various ambitious targets. Notably, there are plans to halve the event’s carbon footprint compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016 as part of a ‘new model’ seeking to rethink how the Olympics is organised.
There is a lot riding on Paris 2024. As well as putting France on display to the world, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants a Games where the focus remains on sporting competition.
Despite a testing period, the Olympics remains one of the world’s most revered and influential sporting events. Oudéa-Castéra will play a big part in ensuring that Paris 2024 not only shows the world that the Games is still both of those things, but also tees it up for future success.
Lionel Messi
Professional soccer player
After his career threatened to peter out in France, Lionel Messi entered his renaissance period in late 2022, first leading his country to the Fifa World Cup title before making a shock transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to David Beckham’s Inter Miami in July.
While winning soccer’s flagship international tournament cemented his status as perhaps the greatest to ever play the game, the Argentinian’s decision to join Major League Soccer (MLS) was the move of a savvy athlete-turning-entrepreneur who knows that he still has a lot to contribute to the commercial growth of the sport even as he nears the end of his playing days.
That was also apparent to MLS, its clubs, and partners Apple and Adidas, who reportedly built revenue-sharing agreements into Messi’s unique Inter Miami contract in recognition of the potential impact the presence of the 5’7” forward in America could have on their respective businesses. After seeing the 36-year-old’s arrival drive huge ticket price increases and subscriptions to Apple’s MLS Season Pass, Inter Miami are taking Messi Mania on the road to Asia and the Middle East in January, when he will meet old foe Cristiano Ronaldo in a preseason friendly.
Yet it is the eight-time Ballon d’or winner’s exploits in the US that are likely to hold the biggest consequence. It is hoped he will play a central role in growing soccer fandom in North America as the region gears up to host the men’s World Cup in 2026 – and potentially the women’s equivalent a year later.
Indeed, a lot of powerful people are banking on Messi’s stay in Florida being transformative for both MLS and US soccer. It is a heavy weight for one individual to bear, but there are few better at delivering under pressure than Inter Miami’s new number ten.
Sam Altman
Chief Executive, OpenAI
It was once rare for a technology executive to become a figure of wider interest. But in an era where technology is integral to virtually every facet of everyday life and where many companies are personality-driven, the status of chief executives and founders have risen significantly, as has been the case with Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg.
There’s no denying the considerable influence that Sam Altman wields over his company and the loyalty he commands over its workforce. The OpenAI chief executive’s rising profile owes as much to boardroom dramas and excitement over the technology he is spearheading as it does to any cult of personality.
Sport is just one industry looking to harness the power of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and is already using the tech to create multimedia content, automate marketing plans, enhance digital products, and produce spoken-word commentary in multiple languages.
OpenAI is at the forefront of the development of generative AI and, under Altman, the firm has secured major investment from Microsoft, achieved a US$80 billion valuation, and launched ChatGPT – the product that took the technology mainstream and signed up 100 million users in just two months to become the fastest-growing consumer application in history.
Already one of the most visible figures within the gen AI space and the wider technology industry, the OpenAI board’s controversial decision to remove and then reinstall Altman as chief executive made headlines beyond the confines of the business and technology pages.
The negative reaction of Microsoft and the loyalty of OpenAI’s employees to Altman’s dismissal ultimately led to his return, underlining his status within this burgeoning new field and the role he will play in developing gen AI in 2024 and beyond.
Marina Storti
Chief Executive, WTA Ventures
The Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) 50th anniversary in 2023 was an opportunity to reflect on the history of a trailblazing organisation, but it was also a time to think about the sport’s commercial future after confirmation of a long-rumoured strategic partnership with private equity giant CVC.
Playing a central role in that will be Marina Storti, who has been building her team after being appointed chief executive of WTA Ventures, the commercial entity formed on the back of CVC’s US$150 million investment in the tour.
Joining from Sky and armed with a strong background in media, Storti’s expertise across sports rights, digital, and product development will prove invaluable as she seeks to generate more revenue for women’s tennis. She is also likely to have a say in what happens following the expiry of the WTA’s US$525 million agreement with Perform Group, whose global deal to produce and distribute tournament broadcasts expires in 2024.
More broadly, Storti’s appointment comes at something of an inflection point for the WTA, which is overhauling its leadership structure and exploring other strategic avenues as it attempts to inject fresh life into a circuit that has struggled to recover financially from the impact of the pandemic and its strained relationship with China.
The most prominent rumours have teased a potential merger with the men’s ATP, although reports in September suggested the pair are predominantly discussing the possibility of pooling their broadcast and commercial rights. The WTA’s financial challenges could yet see it become the latest sports organisation to do business with Saudi Arabia, which was linked with hosting last year’s finals before a makeshift event took place in Mexico.
Either way, 2024 looks set to be a year of change for the world’s pioneering women’s tennis organisation, and Storti is poised to be at the heart of it.
Jimmy Pitaro
Chairman, ESPN
Disney bosses have long known the writing is on the wall for the cable bundle and with the number of pay-TV households in the US dwindling, there is a need to adapt to changing consumption habits. ESPN has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the bundle and remains profitable, but any alternative will not be so effortlessly lucrative.
With a billion-dollar venture into betting now confirmed, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro’s year – and the broadcaster’s future – will be largely defined by key rights negotiations. Deals with the NBA, WNBA, UFC, Formula One and various college sports properties are all up for grabs and the outcome of those talks could have profound ramifications for Disney’s wider ambitions in sport.
An attractive rights portfolio will mean it is better equipped to make the transition into streaming, with a full direct-to-consumer (DTC) version of ESPN set to launch in 2025, if not sooner. At the same time, additional investments in technology and marketing will be required to attract and retain subscribers, while the success of ESPN’s wholesale shift from linear to digital will ride on Disney chief executive Bob Iger’s ability to bring in strategic partners to bolster distribution.
Against an economic backdrop coloured by a cost-of-living crisis, subscription fatigue and the escalating cost of sports rights, the onus will be on Pitaro to make ESPN’s business model work. Whatever that model looks like, 2024 promises to be a pivotal year for the self-proclaimed ‘Worldwide Leader in Sports’.
Nikki Doucet
Chief Executive, Women’s Super League NewCo
Nikki Doucet is taking up her role at one of the most important moments in the history of English professional women’s soccer.
Last November saw the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Championship agree to break away from the Football Association (FA), which will see the top two tiers governed by a new, independent body from the 2024/25 season. ‘NewCo’ will oversee plans for all 24 clubs across the two leagues, with teams to act as shareholders under the model.
The decision to form NewCo follows the Lionesses’ triumph at Uefa Women’s Euro 2022, which helped spark record interest in the WSL and further down the domestic pyramid. With the new structure in place, attention now turns to growing what an independent review concluded last summer has the potential to become a billion-pound domestic women’s soccer industry within ten years.
Doucet’s appointment as NewCo’s chief executive was greeted with optimism given her experience across a variety of roles. An eight-year stint at Nike included stints as finance strategy director for North America and general manager of NikeWomen in the UK and Ireland, while she also had spells at Credit Suisse and Citi.
Doucet’s in-tray includes securing the WSL its next domestic media rights deal, with the league’s current pact with Sky Sports and the BBC, worth a reported UK£8 million (US$10.1 million) per season, expiring at the end of 2023/24. Expectations are high for the next contract. Exempting the WSL from the Saturday 3pm broadcast blackout is being considered and private equity investment has also previously been mooted.
English women’s soccer has already made great commercial strides in recent years. Now, Doucet’s leadership is likely to decide whether the domestic game can go to the next level.
Danny Townsend
Chief Executive, SRJ Sports Investments
As well as continuing its lavish sports spending, last year saw Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) launch SRJ Sports Investments, a new company formed with the primary goal of accelerating the growth of the sports sector in the kingdom and wider MENA region.
Heading up SRJ will be Danny Towsend, who was appointed chief executive in October 2023. Having led Australian club soccer’s A-Leagues and Sydney FC in a career that has also included a stint as global managing director of Nielsen Sport, Townsend brings more than 26 years of experience in the sports industry to the role. He will now play a vital role in SRJ’s ambitious growth plans both in the local and global sports investment sectors.
Since its unveiling in August, SRJ has been relatively measured in its activity. The headline deal remains its purchase of a minority stake in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), with the company reportedly agreeing to inject more than US$100 million into the mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation. SRJ is poised to be a key partner for the PFL following its acquisition of rival promoter Bellator as it bids to stand toe-to-toe with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
If 2023 was a steady start for SRJ then expect that to change in the next 12 months. The company has made clear it will focus on creating new sports events IP, acquiring commercial rights of existing competitions and hosting major global events in Saudi Arabia.
Townsend, who has a seemingly endless set of financial resources at his disposal, will be a key figure in an organisation created to help satisfy the Gulf state’s insatiable appetite for sporting influence.
Cathy Engelbert
Commissioner, Women’s National Basketball Association
Patience has been the watchword of Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s time in charge so far.
Despite introducing a new sponsorship programme and overseeing steady revenue growth, the former Deloitte chief executive has been more cautious about expansion, publicly delaying the addition of new franchises on several occasions – even when players have been calling for more teams.
Progress did come at the end of last year, when the WNBA awarded an expansion franchise in the Bay Area to the Golden State Warriors’ ownership group in a US$50 million deal. That is expected to be just the start of the WNBA’s growth and Engelbert’s decision over where to plant the flag next is likely to leave a long list of interested parties disappointed.
The truth is that Engelbert has plenty of leverage as she enters talks over the WNBA’s next national broadcast deal, which is set to be sewn up this year ahead of the current contracts with ESPN and Scripps expiring at the end of the 2025 season. Team valuations and media rights values in women’s sports are on the rise, while the popularity of women’s basketball is soaring – thanks in part to a new wave of college players with huge social media followings, some of whom will soon join the WNBA after driving record interest in March Madness.
Those factors should all form part of Engelbert’s arsenal in the rights sales process. After the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) secured a 40-fold increase for its next domestic broadcast arrangement, she will be expected to emerge from those negotiations with a significant uplift in media revenue for the WNBA.
Whether Engelbert can deliver that while staying true to the league’s expansion timeline could make the next 12 months the most significant of her tenure to date.
Anil Jayaraj
Chief Executive, Viacom18 Sports
Few broadcasters in world sport have been more disruptive than Viacom18, the joint venture between Reliance Industries and Paramount Global, since Anil Jayaraj became chief executive of its sports business back in 2021. Hired from rival Star Sports, Jayaraj was tasked with spearheading Viacom18’s sports strategy in the digital era.
With a population of more than one billion, India represents a huge market for rights holders and broadcasters. However, Indian consumers are reluctant to pay for premium content – fewer than 250 million households have a television, and the addressable pay-TV audience is even smaller.
Viacom18’s answer? Free cricket. In 2022, it attracted global attention when it successfully snatched the domestic streaming rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) away from Disney thanks to a US$3.05 billion bid.
Then, having decided that pay-TV will never be economically viable in India, Viacom18 announced it would stream the tournament for free on mobile devices, believing that advertising would be more profitable than a subscription-based model.
The impact was seismic. Viacom18 was immediately rewarded with huge audiences, including 32 million viewers for the IPL final, and there was a dramatic subscriber exodus from Star India’s streaming platform.
The strategy has proved so successful that Viacom18 made a successful bid for the global digital and television rights to India’s national cricket team fixtures. Disney itself offered free coverage of the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, achieving 59 million viewers for its coverage of the final between India and Australia.
With his colleagues at Viacom18, Jayaraj is helping to reshape the Indian broadcast market and provide a blueprint for similar territories. And, in 2024, he is set to play an even greater role after Disney and Reliance reached a non-binding agreement to merge their Indian broadcast operations – creating a potential sports media behemoth in the world’s most populous country.
Get access to richer content, exclusive reports, unparalleled business intelligence, and community benefits to help you navigate the next frontier of sport and make more informed decisions with a SportsPro+ Premium membership. Discover more here.
