{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fd877df28-851c-408e-9d8e-2abecf49d8b9","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" title=\"Josh Walker: President, Sports Innovation Lab \u2013 Work In Sports Podcast\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"clipboard-write\" seamless src=\"http://player.captivate.fm/episode/d877df28-851c-408e-9d8e-2abecf49d8b9\"></iframe>","title":"Josh Walker: President, Sports Innovation Lab \u2013 Work In Sports Podcast","description":"Hey everybody, I\u2019m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for <a href=\"http://WorkinSports.com\">WorkInSports.com</a> and this is the Work In Sports podcast.Recovery starts with innovation.\u00a0I read this the other day and thought, this sounds a lot like what my grandmother used to tell me when she\u2019d cobble some new fandangled way of plowing her garden fields with a series of hoes tied on to the back of her 1940\u2019s era tractor.\u00a0Never short for an analogy or cliche she\u2019d look at me and repeat \u201cnecessity is the mother of all invention\u201dThat saying has always stuck in my mind, when there is need there are creative solutions.\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.workinsports.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/e279-josh-walker-episode-artwork.png\"></a>Never before have we faced more need, and never before have innovative minds been more in demand.\u00a0As teams and leagues and organizations look to pivot and change their revenue models and adapt to our new world -- the innovative people in every organization are the ones leading the way to the future.\u00a0That is not hyperbolic or overly dramatic. We need innovation. We need a new way to look at our games, our stadiums, our fans, our revenue streams, our products our marketing -- everything needs a fresh set of eyes.\u00a0I booked today's guest, <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/walker7/\">Josh Walker, President of Sports Innovation Lab</a> because multiple people in my sphere of influence pinged me in April and said \u201cdid you read this article on how the sports industry will recover, it\u2019s fascinating\u201dThe article was pushed at me from multiple angles from people I respect with excitement and fervor I couldn\u2019t deny, so I read it and immediately thought -- who wrote this! I need them for this show!The crazy thing is\u2026 Josh, the scribe responsible for the forward-thinking piece, developed the concept of recovery before there was a need for recovery. See Josh is the kind of futurist we need more of in sports, the ones who can utilize data and research and intuition to see what the industry needs to be, rather than what it is.\u00a0Josh is the President of <a href=\"https://www.sportsilab.com\">Sports innovation Lab</a> who, along with his co-founders, former <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaiahkacyvenski/\">NFL linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski</a> and former olympian and 4-time gold medal winner <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelamruggiero/\">Angela Ruggiero</a> developed a fluid fan concept that sees sports in a way that earns the fans loyalty rather than expects it.\u00a0You\u2019ll see what I mean.. Here\u2019s Josh -- get ready for some incredible, in your face, honest...and some exciting ideas on how to mold our future of sports.Here\u2019s Josh\u2026Questions for Josh Walker, President, Sports Innovation Lab1: There is so much I want to get into regarding your background and sports innovation lab, but let\u2019s start with some of the big stuff.\u00a0You wrote an article on LinkedIn back in April about what recovery may look like for the sports industry \u2013 and it is fascinating.There is a lot to unpack so let\u2019s take it slow.You state early in the article that \u201cThis crisis will fundamentally reshape how the sports industry operates and generates revenue.\u201d\u00a0In a broad way I think we can all see that things will change \u2013 but specifically, how do you see this current situation reshaping the way the sports industry operates?2: We often think of sports as having two main experiential avenues: in person at the event in a stadium, or at home through the broadcast media.\u00a0This runs relatively parallel to the revenue streams\u2026 you\u2019ve got your media deals and you\u2019ve got your tickets, sponsorships etc.But you and your team are embracing a new concept of the \u201cfluid fan\u201d \u2013 can you explain what that is?3: Did you have this fluid fan concept hypothesized and researched prior to COVID, or was this an example of where the situation met opportunity?Follow: So in a way, you saw the changing landscape of the sports industry prior to this current pandemic \u2013 w...","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/ab17db06-a4d9-4166-889e-a34d37f348f1/wispod-cover.png"}