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Austin FC Director of Business Insights and Analytics Nick Makarov joins the Sports Geek podcast to discuss several topics, including the importance of data visualization and storytelling in making analytics accessible to different departments, innovative approaches to offseason planning and fan engagement, insights on data warehousing in sports and its impact on business decisions and more. Here are the key takeaways…

➤ Makarov explains technical chops matter, but clear communication and honesty are what make business intelligence useful. “You could be a Ph.D. in statistics but if you cannot explain your work, it is all for moot. My pitch was I am going to bombard you with very complex code and mathematical models and here is my explanation of it in thirty seconds as if we were having beers and I just wanted to let you know what I found and what I thought.” 

➤ He adds: “There is a temptation for non-technical folks to believe whatever the numbers nerds say. I try to humanize the data a little bit. If a particular dataset was extra tricky, I call that out at the onset so it is not apples-to-apples. Even just letting people know that I struggled with the analysis is a good level-setting exercise.” 

➤ In adopting practical AI for business intelligence purposes, Makarov notes teams were skeptical early on, but the first real value is appearing in visualization, fast iteration, mobile dashboards, and support tools. “A year or two ago, AI vendors felt like your computer getting a virus because you downloaded LimeWire. It was nonstop windows popping up. We said let us take a deep breath and the use cases will present themselves. … I am bullish on AI in the visualization space. Every stakeholder wants something different. It is tough to build a dashboard with the exact right filters for everybody. AI helps make simple mobile dashboards that leadership can check quickly and make real-time decisions.” 

➤ Makarov on balancing analytics with veteran sports operators: “As an analyst, you have to respect the stripes. Even if my analysis says one thing and somebody who has been in sports for twenty years disagrees, that is a conversation to be had rather than yes you are right or no you are wrong. It is blending art and science.” 

➤ Full podcast. (link)

Marketing Dive’s Christopher Doering reports snack foods conglomerate Mondelēz has invested more than $40M to build AIDA, a proprietary generative-AI platform designed to dramatically increase content output and personalize advertising for brands like Oreo, Ritz and Chips Ahoy! The company expects AIDA to ultimately cut marketing-content costs by up to 50%, though executives emphasize the tool is an “enabler,” not a replacement for human creative and legal review. Mondelēz leaders say the system is still being tuned across brands and product categories, and VP Jennifer Mennes notes the team continually stress-tests the system: “Like on Oreo, we only trained it on the black and white sandwich cookie, the original, our teams can get golden Oreos out of the system without having to train [the AI system.] They’re pushing the system to see how far we can – honestly, I call it, break it until we can make it – how far can they push the system to drive as much value out as we can.” VP Tina Vaswani: “The one thing that we’re learning in real time is that AI has a lot of great promise, but we have a big responsibility to stay true to our brand and to the quality of the imagery that our consumers are accustomed to.” (link)

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FIFA is facing mounting criticism as dynamic pricing and legalized U.S. ticket resales have sent 2026 World Cup ticket costs soaring, with official resale prices for the final ranging from $8K to $57K. The Times’ Martyn Ziegler adds that some category-one seats for the U.S. opener at SoFi Stadium are listed as high as $99,513. Fans’ groups argue FIFA is effectively acting as a scalper by allowing resale at many multiples of face value while taking a 15% fee from both buyer and seller, meaning FIFA earns $300 on every $1,000 ticket transaction. Consumer groups say FIFA is prioritizing revenue over access while providing little transparency, noting that while FIFA previously claimed the cheapest tickets would start at $60, the lowest-priced category-four seats for major matches have instead launched at $560. Fan groups Football Supporters Europe and Euroconsumers reject that justification, arguing in a formal letter that “dynamic or variable pricing…has no place in football” and warning the current strategy will leave ordinary fans “excluded and exploited.” FIFA has subsequently noted it will not use dynamic pricing for the next public sales phase or for tickets allocated to national associations, though those tickets can still be resold at inflated prices. (link)

Fanatics has won the deal to sell merchandise at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, cementing its push into soccer ahead of the sport’s flagship event. Bloomberg’s Randall Williams reports Fanatics “declined to comment on the financials of the deal. Andrew Low Ah Kee, Chief Executive Officer of Fanatics Commerce, said that Fanatics will be combining its event physical retail operations with rapid production in order to meet fan demand. The partnership will see Fanatics in more than 2,000 points-of-sale across stadium retail and fan festival outlets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.” (link)

The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics have signed more than $2B in sponsorship and licensing deals, surpassing the 2024 Paris games more than two years before the opening ceremonies. According to Bloomberg’s Josh Gittelsohn, the “LA games inked almost $1B worth of deals in 2025 with brands including Honda, Uber, Intuit, Google and Starbucks, and there are a couple more ‘big names’ coming early next year with each valued at more than $100M. … LA28’s goal is to raise $2.5B from sponsorships and licensing agreements, making them the games’ largest revenue source.” (link)

The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mick Akers shares a video of the erstwhile Oakland Athletics’ Las Vegas ballpark experience center at UnCommons. Check out how the A’s are using a big wooden elephant and a baseball card wall to sell tickets & premium spaces for the new venue. (link)

AdAge’s Jon Springer profiles ESPN Music Director Kevin Wilson, who has spent nearly 32 years shaping the network’s sonic identity, from Fall Out Boy’s “Centuries” becoming a college football anthem to Saweetie curating “Monday Night Football.” Wilson’s unlikely path began as a Bristol deli delivery worker who dropped off a résumé and wound up filling cue sheets, then clearing songs and forging relationships with artists. His team now licenses thousands of tracks annually, builds custom “music toolboxes” for every sport and brokers collaborations that double as cultural signals for the brand. Wilson describes his job as eliciting emotion and ensuring ESPN “sounds like ESPN,” not a generic sports soundtrack. He avoids songs that feel too obvious, looks for lyric-driven storytelling, and aims for distinct identities across sports. More: “If you partner with the right song…and if that artist is also really passionate about what your content is, there’s a lot of fun ways to lift each other that doesn’t feel fake to the fans.” ESPN VP of Sports Marketing Curtis Friends adds: “Music sets a tone for everything we do. When we’re at our best, you hear a song on a ‘Monday Night Football’ commercial for the first time, and now you’re equating that with ESPN.” (link)

The Dallas Stars set a new NHL single-game merchandise sales record at last Friday’s home game following the debut of their black-and-green alternate jersey, generating the highest after-tax merchandise revenue for any regular-season or playoff game held in a team’s home arena. SBJ’s Alex Silverman notes the throwback sweaters, which were modeled on the club’s 1999 Stanley Cup look and updated with “victory green,” the original crest, a redesigned Texas shoulder patch and an interior “3OT 1999” tribute, sold nearly 25% more inventory than any prior regular-season release and more than 10% above any postseason day, per the league. Legends Global oversees Stars merchandise operations. (link)

If you’re looking for some creative inspiration, AdAge’s Tim Nudd and Brandon Doerrer share a look at the latest creative ad campaigns from Allegro, L.L. Bean, MUG Root Beer, Smartbox, Spotify, Keurig, the NBA and Los Angeles Clippers, among others. On the NBA x Clippers: “The league and team mark the 75-day countdown to NBA All-Star 2026 with All-Star Homecourt Hoops, a community program offering families across Los Angeles a chance to receive a free outdoor hoop by sharing how basketball shapes their lives. The effort extends the organizations’ long-running court-refurbishment and youth-development work, responding to declining sports participation and limited access to safe play spaces—barriers that hit many neighborhoods, and girls in particular, the hardest.” Have a look. (link) 

The Information’s Martin Peers observes that Bending Spoons’ $500M cash acquisition of Eventbrite – a company that went public in 2018 at a $1.7B valuation – is further proof that many venture-backed tech firms are too niche to survive as public companies. Eventbrite went public at $23-per-share and is being bought for $4.50-per-share (shares were at $2.50 on Monday). The underlying problem, according to Peers, is that ticketing for small and midsize events is a structurally weak business, dependent on event calendars companies don’t control. Wall Street has little faith in the entire ticketing category, Peers continues, pointing to StubHub trading near half its IPO price as another example. Eventbrite, he adds, hasn't grown in seven years, as the platform sold fewer fee-generating tickets in 2024 (83.8M) than in 2018, and its revenue today (~$291M) is roughly unchanged since IPO. (link)