SportsTravel Podcast: Insights and Expert Analysis

Subscribe now using your favorite service:

The SportsTravel Podcast focuses on news, insight, trends and more from some of the top event organizers and destination executives throughout the sports-event industry. With more than 100 episodes over the past three years, the SportsTravel Podcast has become the place to listen to interviews with event organizers of all sizes, destinations ready to host national and international events and many executives within the U.S. Olympic movement.

Ray Allen and Leroy Arrington on Being a Youth Sports Dad, Organizing Events at the ESPN Wide World of Sports and Life After the NBA

Posted: July 3, 2025

Ray Allen played 18 seasons in the NBA and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. Allen was a 10-time NBA All-Star and won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 2000 United States men’s basketball team. In 2021, he was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, having won two NBA championships. Leroy Arrington is General Manager at ESPN Wide World Of Sports In Disney World and leads the operations, strategy and guest experience at one of the largest and most prestigious multi-sport venues in the world. They joined the Podcast for a recording over Memorial Day Weekend about being a sports dad, the youth sports scene, organizing events at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and much more.

Ed McCaffrey: Life as an NFL Player and Parent

Posted: June 5, 2025

Ed McCaffrey has long known success on the football field. From his college days in Stanford to his playing days with the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos from 1991–2003, his career found him as teammates with other legends of the sport and in rare company. His Super Bowl wins with the 49ers and two victories with the Broncos put him in the game’s elite. In this conversation we talk with him about his playing days and what it was like to travel the NFL circuit with his teammates, his approach to getting his kids involved in sports, his background running youth sports camps, the inclusion of flag football at the 2028 Olympic Games and his burgeoning food empire that once featured his own breakfast cereal and now focuses on mustards, horseradish products and protein snacks.

Dan Hunt on Family Legacy, FC Dallas and the 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: April 22, 2025

To say that soccer and enterprise are in Dan Hunt’s blood would be putting it lightly. Son of late American sports icon Lamar Hunt, whose legacy includes founding the American Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs, Major League Soccer and World Championship Tennis, Dan Hunt brought FC Dallas to Frisco, Texas, and made Toyota Stadium a reality. Hunt not only is president of FC Dallas, but he was also chair of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Dallas Bid Committee. In this episode, he discusses the Hunt family legacy, what the World Cup will mean for Dallas and how Frisco has emerged as a sporting destination.

Pickleball, Flag Football, Wrestling and the Sports on the Rise

Posted: March 13, 2025

For decades, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association has been polling Americans about their participation levels in more than 100 sports and activities. The data, released annually in their Topline Participation Report, breaks those numbers down by individual sports and activities, types of sports like water sports, winter sports or racquet sports, and also by gender, age and income levels. The result is an incredibly comprehensive look at who is playing what and what the barriers might be for others based on their gender, age and income levels among other factors. Their latest report, whose research was led by senior director and head of research Alex Kerman — our guest on this episode — is filled with interesting data.

Laura Gainor: The Power of Pickleball Marketing

Posted: February 25, 2025

During her time in marketing at USA Pickleball, Laura Gainor witnessed first-hand how the sport was taking off. As a result, brands are looking to get involved with the sport any way they can and event organizers are searching for ways to activate a pickleball experience around their events as well. Gainor launched Pickleball in the Sun as a way to help brands, event organizers and others navigate the fast-evolving world of pickleball. In this conversation, we discuss how those brands look different today, what you should know about including pickleball as a component of your event, where the sport is going and what, if anything, may slow its momentum.

Travis Murphy: The Need for Sports Diplomacy

Posted: February 3, 2025

Travis Murphy’s work background is a fascinating one, and one that you may not realize is a key component of the sports industry behind the scenes. That background is in sports diplomacy with stints as the head of international government relations with the NBA, and with the Department of State. At his new agency, Jett Global Sports + Entertainment, he is making the case for sports diplomacy as some of the largest sports events in the world head to the United States. Reducing visa wait times, navigating immigration and improving government relations are all on his list of issues he industry should keep front and center in the months to come.