Chief Strategy Officer — Sports-Media Business

The mandate

This sports-media business reaches large audiences through live rights, programming and digital coverage. It wants to create deeper, direct relationships around selected sports and personalities through membership, archive access, commerce, events, fantasy, community and partner benefits. Previous initiatives were launched by different functions and use incompatible fan identities, economics and promises. The portfolio has activity but no shared answer to why a fan should register, pay or return beyond watching the event.

The group is creating a Chief Strategy Officer role to define a disciplined franchise monetisation thesis. The CSO will own corporate and portfolio strategy, fan propositions, growth scenarios, strategic partnerships, investment governance and early venture oversight. Commercial and product executives will operate approved propositions; rights and editorial leaders retain their authority. The CSO must identify where the business has a credible right to deepen the relationship and where a league, club, platform or retailer is better placed.

This urgent appointment is not asked to assemble a catalogue of fan features. The board wants a small number of investable journeys grounded in identity, emotion and recurring value. The executive must avoid extracting more from highly committed fans through scarcity or pressure while ignoring the broader community that sustains the franchise.

Scope and operating context

The London-based remit reaches approximately 600 employees and material partners across the United Kingdom and a wider international region. Its perimeter spans strategy, digital and broadcast businesses, subscriptions, advertising, sponsorship, commerce, events, audience data and partnerships. Interfaces with rights holders, clubs, athletes, product, technology, editorial, legal, finance and customer operations are substantial.

Fan relationships differ by sport, age, geography and intensity. A supporter may value live access, analysis, archive, community, travel or merchandise, while another engages casually around major events. Rights can limit clips, data, branding, betting or commercial use. The strategy must avoid assuming that reach under one right creates permission for every adjacent product.

Partner roles are complex. Clubs and leagues may own ticketing and merchandise; platforms own distribution; sponsors bring benefits; data companies enable fantasy; travel operators deliver experiences. The business needs enough control to protect the fan promise without building capabilities better provided by specialists.

First-year agenda

The first ten weeks will create a fan and franchise fact base. The CSO will connect audience, registration, subscription, content use, commerce, events, support, rights and partner data where lawful and technically credible. Research will examine what fans value, what frustrates them and which organisations they trust for different needs. Identity confidence and selection bias will be stated.

The executive will select a limited set of franchise opportunities. Each will have a defined fan cohort, job, emotional and practical value, rights position, operating capability, route to market and economic model. A broad fan marketplace without a coherent reason to return will not qualify. The portfolio may favour one sport or moment where the group holds distinctive content and relationships.

Membership strategy will distinguish registration, paid subscription and loyalty. Free membership must deliver understandable value and a lawful data exchange. Paid tiers need recurring benefits that can be fulfilled throughout the season, not a launch gift and occasional discounts. Status or scarcity mechanics will be tested for fairness and accessibility.

Content will support habit and identity rather than merely increase volume. Archive, analysis, athlete stories, behind-the-scenes access and community formats will be assessed for rights, editorial value, production capacity and member use. Content unavailable during off-season or rights gaps will influence the promise and pricing.

Commerce and experiences will be staged carefully. Merchandise, collectibles, travel, venue experiences and meet-and-greet products carry quality, safety, refund, accessibility and talent obligations. Partners will be assessed for fulfilment and customer service, and the business will retain a clear route to resolve failures bearing its brand.

The CSO will build partnership scenarios for capabilities and rights the portfolio should not own. Structures may include revenue share, referral, white label, joint venture or licence. Each will state customer ownership, data, brand, economics, service, liability and exit. Headline reach will not justify loss of strategic control without compensation.

Pilots will test behaviour, willingness to pay and operating burden. A cohort may receive a membership proposition around one competition or season, with measures for activation, repeat use, support, partner delivery and contribution. Tests must include cancellation and refund. The team will avoid rolling free pilots into unsupported permanent promises.

Fan data use will remain purpose-bound. Identity resolution, recommendation and personalisation can improve relevance but cannot silently combine sensitive behaviour across partners. Minors, location and wagering interests require particular control. The strategy will specify what the business chooses not to infer or monetise.

By year-end, the board expects a clear direct-to-fan thesis, operating pilots in selected franchises, explicit partner choices and evidence for scale or stop. Strategic success may include rejecting attractive adjacencies whose rights or service model cannot support the fan promise.

Leadership responsibilities

The CSO will lead strategy and portfolio governance, advising the group sponsor on rights, capital and partnerships. They will maintain a record of assumptions, evidence and decisions, ensuring that an exciting fan idea does not bypass opportunity cost or operational ownership.

They will build a small team skilled in fan research, economics, scenarios and venture testing. Strategists will spend time in customer operations, events and editorial workflows. Once a proposition is validated, accountable line leadership must take over rather than leaving it in a permanent strategy incubator.

The role will manage senior strategic relationships with rights holders, clubs, platforms and partners. It must protect confidentiality and recognise when a counterparty's direct fan ambition conflicts with the group's own, presenting cooperation or exit options early.

Measures of success

The board will track qualified membership, activation, repeat use, paid conversion, churn, contribution, support demand and partner fulfilment. Metrics will be segmented by cohort and franchise, with acquisition and full benefit cost included. Registrations alone will not constitute value.

Portfolio measures include assumptions tested, pilots advanced or stopped, rights and capability secured, capital released and options preserved. Fan outcomes include trust, complaint, accessibility, refund and whether promised benefits are used. Decision speed and line ownership transfer will also be reviewed.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring 22–28 years in sports media, subscriptions, fan engagement, consumer platforms, entertainment or strategy. They must have created and implemented a direct-customer proposition around intellectual property or community. Experience navigating rights holders and partner economics is essential.

The board will seek examples of narrowing a broad fan-platform idea, rejecting a partnership that surrendered customer control and stopping a benefit whose operating burden outweighed use. Candidates should understand memberships, content, commerce, experiences, identity, rights and stage-gated investment.

The successful CSO will respect fandom and resist treating loyalty as unlimited willingness to pay. They must synthesise emotional and economic evidence, negotiate with powerful rights owners and turn ambiguity into bounded tests.

Compensation and appointment terms

The expected annual base is GBP 250,000–340,000, with annual incentive and long-term participation. Reward will reflect validated franchise value, fan trust, partnership quality, capital discipline and leadership depth. Final terms will consider comparable portfolio responsibility and verified forfeited awards.

Confidentiality

The business remains unnamed because rights positions, fan strategy, partner talks and customer economics are sensitive. Detailed information will follow identity, conflict and confidentiality review. Applicants must not submit fan records, unpublished rights, partnership offers or proprietary strategy materials from another organisation.