The CUSP Show

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Bobby Sharma, Founder and Managing Partner of Bluestone Equity Partners, to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of private equity in sports, his remarkable career, and the opportunities and challenges facing investors across the industry. Sharma explains why sports have become an increasingly attractive industry to invest in for institutional capital, while highlighting the complexities of investing in professional franchises, emerging leagues, and international markets. He reflects on his experience helping build the NBA Development League, his work expanding professional sports properties internationally at IMG, and the lessons he learned working alongside industry leaders David Stern, Ted Forstmann, and Ari Emanuel. Sharma also breaks down Bluestone's investment strategy, its $350 million fund, and its portfolio of businesses spanning sports technology, recreational sports, and entertainment, including Selkirk, Volo, and Poolhouse. He closes by sharing his perspective on the attention economy, the importance of continuous learning, and his advice for young professionals looking to build successful careers in sports.Connect with Bobby: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbysharma/Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack | YouTubeThe CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), Juan Carlos Diaz (@jcdiazmurrieta, @jcdiazmurrieta, @jcdiazmurrieta), Ford Leary (@ford.leary), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz, Sydney Cristall, and Julia Jones. 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

Tom Richardson welcomes John Kosner and Ed Desser, two veteran sports media executives and co-authors of the new book “We’re Live!: Inside the BIG Business of Sports Media,” to discuss their decades-long careers and the book they wrote to pass that knowledge on. Kosner and Desser trace the project back to their shared admiration for Mark McCormick’s “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School” and to David Stern, the subject of a chapter titled “Stern Training,” and share stories from their years at the NBA, ESPN, CBS Sports, and beyond. They then dig into how sports fandom itself has changed, unpacking why Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans are discovering sports through gaming, social media, and fragmented interfaces rather than traditional broadcasts, and how leagues are experimenting with rule changes, camera technology, and officiating tools like sensor-equipped basketballs to keep pace. Kosner and Desser also talk through the technology under building sports’ long partnership with innovation, the growing scrutiny around game integrity in a prediction-market era, and the book’s companion curriculum for educators.Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkosner/Connect with Ed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-desser-7b49ab84/John and Ed’s New Book: AmazonSubscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack | YouTubeThe 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

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Ally Corbin, VP of Custom Research at Navigate and a 15-year veteran of the Chicago-based sports marketing and analytics agency, to discuss her career, her research, and her surprising second life as “Tornado Alley,” a retired competitive roller derby player. Corbin explains how a chance invitation to a bout in 2019 led her to the Arizona Derby Dames, where she raced bank-track derby and eventually won a national championship before stepping away from the sport. She then shifts to her work at Navigate, unpacking how the agency designs custom research for brands, leagues, and collegiate athletics, why quantitative methods have overtaken traditional focus groups, and the quality controls her team builds in to guard against bad data. Corbin also digs into Navigate’s “fan friction” research and its “utility is the new visibility” philosophy, and closes with her take on how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are redefining fandom, why ratings data deserves scrutiny, and her advice for job seekers trying to break into sports research.Connect with Ally: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allycorbin/Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack | YouTubeThe 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

Joe Favorito welcomes Mike Breen, ESPN’s voice of the NBA and longtime play-by-play announcer for the New York Knicks, for a special episode recorded live at Columbia University. Breen traces his career from calling women’s basketball games at Fordham radio station WFUV alongside future legends like Bob Papa, Charlie Slowes, and Michael Kay, to parking cars at Winged Foot, reffing fifth-grade basketball games, and eventually landing the Knicks radio job after narrowly missing two positions he desperately wanted. Breen shares what it was like working with Don Imus at WNBC, how calling ski jumping at the 2002 Winter Olympics with zero skiing knowledge made him a better broadcaster, and the unlikely ways his refereeing background shaped his understanding of officiating on the air. He also breaks down the craft of building chemistry with analysts, from Clyde Frazier to Jeff Van Gundy to Doris Burke, explaining why every analyst requires a different approach and why communication before tip-off matters as much as anything that happens during the game. Breen closes with a candid look at the only real downside of his career, the road, and how he and his family found a way to make it work over four decades.Learn more about Mike: https://espnpressroom.com/bio/breen_mike/Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack | YouTubeThe 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

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Jeremy Bloom, two-time Olympian, former NFL wide receiver, and CEO of the X Games, to discuss a career that spans elite athletics, legal battles with the NCAA, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and now the reinvention of one of the most iconic action sports brands in the world. Bloom opens with the story of his 2002 lawsuit against the NCAA, filed at age 19 when the organization told him he had to give up his Olympic skiing endorsements to play college football at Colorado, and explains why Judge Hale’s ruling that student athletes are third party beneficiaries of the NCAA contract became foundational to every significant amateurism case that followed, including the Alston decision. He shares his frank take on the Protect College Sports Act, arguing that college football and basketball are already professional sports and that Congress is the wrong solution to a problem the sport’s own leaders have failed to fix. The conversation then shifts to the X Games, where Bloom has led a dramatic turnaround by launching a team-based league modeled in part on F1’s approach to storytelling and franchise value, complete with a docuseries, international events, and an 80% increase in TV ratings. He also discusses Owl, his AI officiating company co-founded with Google’s Sergei Brin, and Wish of a Lifetime, his foundation that grants wishes to people aged 80, 90, and 100-plus, inspired by his grandfather who taught him to ski at age three.Connect with Jeremy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremybloom11/Learn more about Jeremy: https://www.jeremybloom.com/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

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Sophie Whitesell, founder of The Giving Game, to discuss how a chance encounter with NBA players led a chief nursing officer from Missouri with no sports background to build a podcast platform dedicated to amplifying athlete philanthropy. Whitesell shares how she cold-DM’d 30 athletes with over a million followers, pitched them on telling their charitable stories rather than their sports ones, and had 12 respond almost immediately. She explains the three-step process behind The Giving Game, a one-hour interview, full editing, and a seven-day social campaign for the athlete’s foundation, and why she targets smaller self-funded organizations that rarely get attention over the major celebrity foundations that already have resources. The conversation also covers her expansion into interactive coloring books that translate athletes’ charitable stories for kids, and why she shifted her marketing strategy from sports fans to cause-driven donors. Whitesell reflects on what she has learned navigating the world of athlete handlers and gatekeepers, why female athletes have been harder to reach, and why she believes the sports world is sitting on an underutilized storytelling opportunity that could transform how fans relate to the athletes they follow.Connect with Sophie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-whitesell-98107930b/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

Joe Favorito welcomes Travis Snider, former MLB outfielder and co-founder of 3A Athletics, to discuss his 15-year professional baseball career, the mental and emotional challenges that followed, and the youth sports crisis he is now working to address. Snider traces his path from being a first-round draft pick to the Toronto Blue Jays and making his MLB debut at 20, through years of ups and downs across multiple organizations, to the identity crisis he faced at the end of his playing career. He shares how working with executive life coach Seth Taylor helped him understand how childhood experiences shaped him as a player, husband, and father, and how that led to the founding of 3A Athletics, a platform offering parent education courses and coach certifications designed to bring mental and emotional awareness back to youth sports. The conversation covers the $40 billion youth sports industry and why Snider believes the professionalization of children’s athletics is robbing kids of joy, creating burnout, and building identities too fragile to survive failure.Connect with Travis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-snider23/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

Joe Favorito welcomes Rick Alessandri, Managing Director of Media and Sports Technology at ZRG Turnkey, to discuss a career that spans four decades across some of the most pivotal moments in sports media history. Alessandri traces his path from running the overnight newsroom at Sports Ticker in 1982, to his role as George Bodenheimer’s first-ever chief of staff at ESPN, and his years building new business ventures inside ESPN’s enterprise development group. He shares how a call from a headhunter led him to Univision, where he spent seven years building businesses for the US Hispanic market including a pharmacy discount program that saved 2 million members over $70 million in healthcare costs. Alessandri covers what he has learned in eight years running executive search, including why the two qualities he looks for above all else are curiosity and trust, and how to push back against clients who want to hire the wrong candidate. He also discusses his new children’s book Ricky Stands Tall, and why he gets joy from sharing the story with others.Connect with Rick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickalessandri/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

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Stan Van Gundy, former NBA head coach with 554 career wins who led the Orlando Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals, to discuss leadership, coachability, the state of college athletics, and his transition from the bench to the broadcast booth. Van Gundy shared why he believes college presidents, not players or coaches, are responsible for letting money overwhelm the educational mission of college sports. He also shares candid thoughts on the transfer portal, NIL, and why the best coaches in the country are walking away from college athletics because building a real program is no longer possible. The conversation shifts to the NBA, where Van Gundy argues that professional players are actually more coachable than college athletes, explains what separates the truly elite from the merely talented, and shares the story of working alongside JJ Redick long before anyone imagined he would become a head coach. He also reflects on the WNBA’s moment, praising the quality of play while also calling out the league’s failure to control its own narrative.Learn more about Stan: https://press.amazonmgmstudios.com/us/en/cast/stan-van-gundy/331Subscribe 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

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Jamie Watson, soccer broadcaster and play-by-play announcer, to discuss her unconventional path into sports media, the evolving world of remote broadcasting, and her groundbreaking work in audio descriptive commentary for FIFA and Netflix. Watson shares her journey from Division I soccer player at UMass and college coach at UMBC to becoming a golf teaching pro before pivoting to broadcasting in her 40s, calling nearly 100 games in just the last two years. She breaks down what audio descriptive commentary actually is, how she trained with FIFA’s accessibility partner in Washington DC to call six matches at the Club World Cup for blind and low vision fans, and how she later applied those skills to Netflix’s Field of Dreams game as an overlay commentator. The conversation also covers the state of women’s soccer from the NWSL’s explosive growth to the challenge of elite American players leaving for overseas, the debate over whether star announcers actually move ratings, and what remote broadcasting technology now makes possible for play-by-play talent calling live international events from their home studios.Learn more about Jamie: https://jamiewatsonsports.com/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