THE SPORTS ENTREPRENEURS
PODCAST
Patrick Murphy’s fascinating career path, took him from selling door to door Junk Mail in Dublin to working in Newscorp in Hong Kong, TEAM Marketing in Switzerland and back to Hong Kong to now managing one of the largest Sports IP in Asia, the Asian Football Confederation’s commercial rights through his new partnership (FMA). Great stories and lots of insights into the future of Asian Football.
Key Highlights
- Getting started by selling Junk Mail in Dublin after school (1984-85) – door to door sales
- His decade in the TV world, from ITV in the UK to Star TV in Hong Kong (Newscorp) in the 90s
- Murdoch’s focus on Sports – creating Sports Corp inside a broadcaster (ESPN-Star Sports) – creating IP
- Journey back to Europe, joining TEAM Marketing in Switzerland (exclusive agent of UEFA Champions League)
- UEFA Champions League – billion dollar property – sponsorship & media deals
- UEFA taking a stake in TEAM eventually
- International Champions Cup (ICC) – created in the US by a US real estate billionaire (Stephen Ross)
- Top European Clubs playing against each other in the US and globally instead of the old format of playing local teams during the summer window
- FMA (Football Marketing Asia, previously DDMC Fortis) – the start of a new huge venture, taking over AFC (Asian Football Confederation commercial rights)
- Leveraging his TEAM (UEFA) experiences and confidence that they can pull this off
- Offer to work with AFC on an exclusive basis as one key differentiator & offering top Dollars (knowing that this will win or lose it) and playing the China card right
- DDMC (Listed company in China) background and their reason for entering the partnership (through Super Sports)
- Let’s talk numbers, deal size in the range of US$ 2.4 billion for the next 8 years (accept a premium was paid)
- And how FMA is planning to make it back and reason FMA was willing to pay the premium
- How to deal with the changes in the broadcast landscape and current climate
- Key will be “go local” , develop local heroes and drive up value of local Football rights vs international rights
- Media, Digital, structure of media rights, packaging and marketing it
- Sponsorship, important part, closer to 50% of revenue – leveraging virtual technology
- FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022, Asia Cup in China in 2023, FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/NZ in 2023 – big opportunities to showcase Asian Football to the world
- Hand over from Lagardere Sports and building a team to get started Jan 1, 2021
About
Over 30 years’ experience working in sports media and marketing. Currently a Board Member and Chief Executive Officer at Football Marketing Asia. Patrick previously founded Catalyst Media Group (International Champions Cup) and Synergy Sports (CBF, CONMEBOL) and was formerly Managing Director, TEAM Marketing in Europe responsible for selling media and sponsorship rights for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.
About Football Marketing Asia Limited (formerly DDMC Fortis Limited)
Football Marketing Asia (FMA / 亚洲足球商业开发有限公司), is the exclusive commercial partner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the rights cycles 2021-2024 and 2025-2028. Headquartered in Hong Kong, and with offices in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China, FMA combines unparalleled global
football experience with in-depth Asian know-how and expertise. Formerly known as DDMC Fortis, FMA has quickly become known as Asia’s leading football marketing agency delivering unprecedented value for fans, media partners and sponsors. The focus of the company is on one thing and one thing only: Asian football. It embraces the many obvious and subtle differences and needs in the markets in Asia and delivers tailored solutions for commercial partners and fans of AFC National Team and Club football.
THE VIRTUAL SPORTS ENTREPRENEURS UNIVERSITY
PODCAST
If you are enjoying the Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast (SEP) series, check out our Virtual Sports Entrepreneurs University (SEU) too.
The Sports Entrepreneurs University is a natural extension of the Podcast series. It’s a deep dive into the world of Sports & Esports. Marcus will be sharing his 25 years experience and learning as a Sports Entrepreneur and connecting the dots. It’s a 6 weeks course with an opportunity to join an Affiliate Partnership program after. Check out for more details HERE
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September 28, 2021, 10:29 pm
Hi Marcus, I’m a new fan of your podcast which I just discovered recently. I’ve spent 6 years in this international sports marketing/broadcasting industry and just realized that here in Malaysia it has a great sports marketing agency like TSA! Your podcast…really interesting format, professional execution and valuable contents. Thanks for sharing and keep inspiring! Regards from Kuala Lumpur! Jalilah 🙂