Sports brought us together — now let's talk about it. Leaders, athletes, creators, and entrepreneurs in and around sports. Business, media, NIL, culture, youth sports, sports tech, and AI in sports. A SportsE Media production.
What an attorney who reviews NIL deals sees in the contracts, and what college athletes may be signing away. Philip Sheng is an attorney at Venable LLP, a national firm of roughly 900 lawyers, where he works in the intellectual property group and the sports law practice. His focus is college NIL, the right of publicity, and college eligibility: who owns a person’s name, image, and likeness, and…
Rachel Maeng joins Eric Kasimov to talk about NIL, college sports, influencer marketing, athlete brands, and the money changing the system. Rachel is a former Rutgers student-athlete, fractional COO, NIL strategist, and founder who built and sold an influencer agency. She explains why real NIL is different from revenue sharing, why college sports keeps getting more expensive, and why access still…
Brando Babini started Youth 4 Youth FC when he was 16 after realizing his own soccer path was changing. Instead of walking away from the game, he built something for the players coming next. Eric Kasimov talks with Brando about player-led development, college soccer recruiting, pay-to-play, MLS, the World Cup, parents, leadership, and why young players need mentorship from people who have lived…
College sports is changing fast. NIL, social media, transfer rules, donor money, brand deals, and youth sports are now connected in ways that did not exist a few years ago. Eric Kasimov talks with Brent Wall, co-founder and CEO of Student Athlete Score, about athlete branding, NIL data, and why personal brand is becoming part of the athlete journey earlier than ever. Topics covered: What Student…
Youth sports has quietly become a full-time job for parents. Between schedules, travel, apps, training, and expectations, the load has grown far beyond just showing up. Eric Kasimov talks with Dave Yoo, founder of Onsides, a platform built to simplify the youth sports experience for parents, about the pressure and complexity behind it — and where it’s heading. They get into the reality families…
When NIL took off, most of the attention went to deals, collectives, and monetization. Much less attention went to the person behind it all: the athlete, their identity, and whether they are actually being prepared for what comes next. In this episode, Eric talks with Stephen Bienko, co-founder and CEO of 42U, about the gap between athlete value and athlete development. The conversation touches…
Quick Summary Eric and Jared try to make sense of the Cleveland Browns, front office dysfunction across the NFL, and why every fan base believes they suffer more than anyone else. Baker, Stafford, Shadur, the 49ers, Vegas lines, billionaire owners, and the eternal misery of the Vikings all make an appearance. This is a 12-minute sports-only segment clipped from Saviors of the Metaverse — now…
More than one in five college students are using financial aid to gamble on sports. This is money meant for tuition, housing, and books. In this episode, Eric Kasimov examines how this is happening, why it’s growing, and what it reveals about college culture, mental health, and the expanding reach of sports betting. This is an audio edition of the SportsEpreneur article, How College Financial Aid…
The NFL doesn’t need perfect refs — it needs conversation. Every bad call, missed flag, and replay controversy keeps fans talking, networks buzzing, and revenue climbing. In this episode, SportsEpreneur unpacks how the league turned chaos into currency, and why the outrage over NFL “rigging” might actually be part of the plan. This is an audio edition of the SportsEpreneur article “The NFL…
The NCAA just changed its rules. College athletes and staff can now legally bet on professional sports. College games? Still off-limits. In this episode, Eric Kasimov breaks down what the NCAA’s new policy really means, why enforcement is impossible, and how this decision could collide with NIL money, insider access, and college sports culture. It’s not just a rule change — it’s the NCAA quietly…