Why Super Bowl Week Matters Beyond the Game

This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

seancallanan (00:01.646)
G'day I'm Sean Callanan and welcome to episode 467 of Sports Geek. I'm recording this episode in San Francisco post Super Bowl 60 and what I want to do is to take you behind the scenes and tell you why Super Bowl week matters beyond the game. For me, you know there's a lot of people that came into San Francisco and into the Bay Area to watch the Pats and the Seahawks.

But for me, it was always about the conversions of tech, sports, innovation, connections, meeting up with people that I know, meeting up with new people, flying in from Australia, from Melbourne, from my hometown. Lucky enough to reconnect with people who've been on the podcast that I think it was a record this year, 16 podcast alumni that I connected with in San Francisco and made heaps more.

Don't want to get technical but heaps more connections. I've got some really great podcast guests coming up in the upcoming episodes after meeting some cool people and a lot of those people. I did meet and did reconnect with at the Innovation Summit, which was hosted by the Bay Area Organising Committee. I want to dive into that, the calibre of the content and the conversations around that event.

were amazing but first of all I want to sort of dive into the Super Bowl week and the ecosystem and the events that create the real value. They obviously create real value for the NFL, for the partners of the NFL, for the international markets. As the NFL continue to grow the game they announced that there's going to be nine games, international games next season including my hometown. Melbourne will dive in on that a little bit later. everything

for the NFL, but then also for all of their partners. And those partners include their sponsors, their players, their media partners. It's a really terrific way to connect and really grow the game, both domestically and internationally. And for me, my Super Bowl week journey always starts with Pro Bowl games. This year in San Francisco, they moved the Pro Bowl games into

seancallanan (02:23.98)
and integrated into Super Bowl week. What did that mean? Previously it was on the Sunday before Super Bowl, the last two. We're at Orlando, the one before that was in Las Vegas. I've been lucky enough to attend those. They're always a great opportunity to connect with the absolute stars of the game. And that's why when we're capturing content for the NFL, AU and Zed channels, it's been a really good opportunity. If you've seen my George Kittle content with the green and the cork hats.

That was content that was filmed over three years and building up a relationship with the players of the Pro Bowl games. So this year, the Pro Bowl games is on a Tuesday night. It's very much a made for TV event. But again, a great way to connect with the stars of the NFL. And, you know, I'm talking personally, but I'm sure there's other people from a logistics and travel point of view didn't miss the extra travel of going to a separate city and then doubling back to come to Super Bowl week. I'm sure the players are the same, most of them.

come to Super Bowl week to do appearances, sponsor appearances, turn up to parties or run their own parties. Bringing the Puyball games to Super Bowl week made the Super Bowl week even busier, but I think it was a good addition. And then a real key part of Super Bowl week is radio row and the convergence of media. The who's who of media attend the Super Bowl, but they attend the radio row. So it opens up on a Monday morning.

radio shows set up for weekly, daily shows, TV shows set up for spots, news reporters are there getting their grabs for their local news outlets. And then some of big sports media properties and football properties have their own built-in sets, whether they be Kay Adams, Pat McAfee, NBC, Sirius Radio, all of the big players, Fox Sports, we're all there and in attendance. Radio Row.

is an amazing event. real, it's control chaos, I guess is the best way to put it. A couple of things I wanted to recap on Thursday on Radio Row. We were lucky enough to be assisting behind the scenes in Robert Irwin appearing on Radio Row and George Malata. So two huge stars, both in Australia and in the US, Robert Irwin.

seancallanan (04:50.59)
A massive star, been on Jimmy Fallon since he was about six years old and a recent winner of Dancing with the Stars. The American fans absolutely love him and I think he might be just as beloved in Australia and the US. And so they were both in attendance in Radio Row. Robert Erwin was kind enough to bring a snake which kept everyone on their toes. And then he was on Pat McAfee to announce a massive announcement for the Australian market that the 49ers

San Francisco 49ers will be the team that will be playing the Rams at the MCG. So that was a chaotic day, capturing the scenes, getting the announcements out. Kudos to the NFL team in pulling that off logistically and keeping the news under wraps. It was a great effort to get it out and getting it released on a show like Pat McAfee's, an amazing achievement with the reach that he has. And then it was really the buzz.

of Radio Row after that. couple of other quick notes of Radio Row. I did record a bunch of videos. I'm trying some short form series because I have trouble trying to get, do a podcast in a manic environment like a conference or a Super Bowl week. So I've done some short videos. I was lucky enough to catch a few minutes with Gary Vaynerchuk. I've been a long time admirer of Gary and met him previously when he was in Sydney. So.

Good to see him there in Radio Row and another shout out would be to Adam Toohey from Outback to Endzone. I've never seen someone hustle so hard their way to both get to to San Francisco and get to Super Bowl. Really the embodiment of the hustle that's required on Radio Row. So Adam, great job and congrats on getting that ticket to the Super Bowl.

If you keep hustling like that, I think you'll do really well in the industry. The other thing of Super Bowl week is all the shoulder events that become events in their own right, whether it be opening night, which was hosted down in San Jose, which is a really great event for all the content creators and I guess the new and digital media. Everyone's trying to do their bit, their bit of comedy or get their grab.

seancallanan (07:12.814)
I did like the bold nature of asking Mike Vrabel, is this a must-win game? So everyone's trying to get a grab for the internet. Some them might go viral, some of them might go well on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube blogging. Opening night's always a great way to get content with the right people, whether they be some of the stars that are on the podiums or…

some of the players on the sidelines, because I think about eight players have a podium, and the rest of the entire squad are just wandering the floor. So we were lucky enough to get some time with Australian punter Michael Dixon, who was lucky enough, following the Sunday, to actually win with the Seahawks. So congrats to Michael Dixon. But for me, and the other thing was, the absolute growth of international media in that space.

Australia's obviously growing. I met up with Rob Scott from Channel 7 who was there getting grabs on opening night as were the guys from ESPN and Channel 7. But then also what I do like is making some of those local media connections. So a shout out to Aaron Tolentino. I met him on opening night and he was kind enough to give me some awesome restaurant recommendations. And it's one of my things at events like this and conferences is

is to be really open and meeting and being meeting people. If you listen back to my interview with David Homan, I really tried much harder or harder than normal to make true connections and find out what people were really doing. I really do appreciate Aaron for connecting me up with some terrific recommendations. And then you get to the actual game itself. The game itself.

For me, the music was an absolute standout. The Bad Bunny halftime show was amazing from a visual perspective. There was so many people dancing around the section I was in. I also loved Green Day's opening performance. Having seen Green Day at the Madden party a few years ago in Las Vegas, they were terrific and it really got the energy up at the start.

seancallanan (09:31.872)
And I thought Charlie Puth's national anthem was absolutely outstanding. If you haven't seen it, cue it up on YouTube. And also logistically, Super Bowl week is all about getting logistics right. To get the fly by over Charlie Puth as he hit the final notes was really a mic drop moment. But one thing I did want to focus on for this podcast was talking about the Innovation Summit that was hosted by the Bay Area Organising Committee.

It's the first time that the NFL has pulled all their tech partners and people from different parts of the tech industry and the sports tech industry together. If you listened to my podcast last year, I was lucky enough to get into the All-Star Tech Summit. That's a summit I think has been going for 15 years. might be wrong, could be even longer. So was great to see the NFL, I guess, step into this and do their version.

I want to say first of all a big thank you to Zaileen Janmohamed who was the president of the Bay Area Organising Committee and Mitch Germann for helping organising me to get access really to appreciate it. At the opening of the event we had Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL talking about the advances in helmet technology but the fact that that journey has not stopped. They're now looking at technology for the face mask and the chin strap.

that goes along with with the helmet as well. The first three sessions were hosted by the co-hosts of Acquired. If you haven't listened to the Acquired podcast, I highly recommend. What they do is deep dive narrative, investigative, history based podcasts on some of the best businesses that have ever been created. So there's this, I think there's a six hour podcast on the NFL. They do a deep dive on Facebook and Meta. They've done a deep dive on Google.

and the same on Novo Nordisk that make a Zempic. If you really like the business and behind the scenes of business and how they've grown, please check out acquired. So Ben Gilbert and David Rosenhall were moderating the first couple of sessions. They kicked off with YouTube CEO Neil Mohan, who really doubled down on the consent and I guess the theme that he had at the All-Star Tech Summit last year on

seancallanan (11:58.466)
their creator economy is the new sports media future. So a lot of the stuff that they've done both with their creators, whether it be MrBeast or K Adams or minor ones that have now become major ones, YouTube is the number one streaming platform in the US. It is the go-to platform for that younger generation, but it's becoming more more accessible.

and access by more more demographics, especially via the TV. It is really helping teams and leagues rethink their content strategy, how they go about using YouTube, and how they make their sport more accessible. The NFL have grown their YouTube channel and continue to put more content on YouTube, whether it be mini highlights, game highlights, their own shows, sometimes in full and in clips.

and it's really helped grow the game. So I always enjoy hearing from Neil. He's on my podcast bucket list. So if you can connect with Neil, I'd love to chat to him about YouTube. It's something that I'm trying to grow and something I'm trying to leverage a little bit more. But yeah, was always, it was definitely a great opening. And then they had a Fangio CEO, Howe, talking about the growth.

of FanDuel, but also how to do innovation with regulation. Obviously they're in the sports gambling space. What does personalisation look like? Or what does responsibility look like? Sort of seeing gambling as a fan engagement tool and a fan engagement platform, but also understanding, I guess, the regulatory roadmap that is ahead of them. As someone who comes from a mature sports gambling market, I think there's a few

few hurdles and a few obstacles to come for the sports gambling market in the US, which is still relatively new as gets added, things get added state by state. But I do think there's a lot of opportunity both to engage fans and draw fans in to your sport via tools and products that companies like Fandil offer. And then the last presentation of that morning was the Meta CEO

seancallanan (14:24.174)
Boz talking about Quest Horizon Meta AI glasses, the collabs they're doing with Oakley and also trying to find what those practical applications for sports orgs are both from a fan point of view but then also from the people I work with in the digital and content space. There was a lot of people wearing Meta glasses, they weren't as in-your-face as I guess the early generation of

of the Snapchat glasses that I got in South by Southwest always felt awkward wearing them. I think they're becoming a little bit more integrated. I still think there's a little bit of work to do for them to be, I guess, a definite thing that you require from your content creator bundle or if you're capturing. But if you check the NFL channels, they were capturing some content at Pro Bowl and Super Bowl via meta glasses.

I think it's something that we'll start seeing new points of view and I guess new ways to capture the content. And then I wanted to sort shout out just two of the breakout sessions I did attend at the Innovation Summit. The first one was the evolution of live and how experiential events are redefining sports but they're giving big impact for brands and athletes in cities.

Zaileen or Z as she's known was hosting that panel with Alexis O'Hanian, co-founder of Reddit and investor in many companies, as well as NFL executive Peter O'Reilly who oversees all things international and events and the mayor of San Francisco, Daniel Lurie. A couple of my key takeaways, Peter was actually talking about the announcement of the nine international games and then talking about Melbourne and

because was the day after talking about Melbourne with the Rams and the 49ers playing at the MCG and I guess the expansion of the NFL and taking the game to the people. this event and bringing all the different events to the Bay Area, there was definite discussion on the panel of live and getting experience is still a thing that everyone wants. And so bringing the…

seancallanan (16:49.294)
bringing the product to the people is super important. And when talking about the travel, Alexis brought up a really great point about the expansion of MLB, Major League Baseball. He said it really didn't expand from the East Coast of the US until commercial flights were available to the West Coast. And so once those commercial flights were available, it really did expand the game across America. And then he did the drop the mic moment when he started talking about boom.

Boom is a supersonic jet startup that he is invested in that is effectively bringing back supersonic travel and that potentially, and I'm very happy to hear this as an Australian, that it potentially could halve the travel between Melbourne and San Francisco. So instead of a 14-hour flight, a 7-hour flight. Now, that is an absolute game changer. That will definitely make the world smaller.

that will make, you know, they're already talking to the NFL, that will make travel and flight requirements for international games much easier, much shorter. So Alexis, the faster and the quicker you can deliver that, I'll be one of the first passengers. And then the other one was hosted, or another panel, which did have Jess Smith, who's now president of the Valkyries.

was talking about the power and equity of women's sports. And my brief conversations with Jess, you know, successfully not built out that one, but two women's sports teams with Angel City FC did a remarkable job in helping launch them and being the employee number three there. And now she's president of the Valkyries. The growth, the engagement, the fandom of women's sports continues to grow. I know we've got a lot of

allies in women's sports, me being one of them, but one of the ones that comes to mind is Amir Zonozi at Zoomph who says the data does not lie. The data is there from the engagement across socials and digital, but then also attendance. I really do think we'll be seeing actually less and less of these, I guess, women's sports focus panels and we'll just be talking.

seancallanan (19:11.104)
about the success of sports and we will have someone from a women's sports league or women's sports team sitting alongside a men's sports team. And I think that that session moderated by Kay Adams sort of really proved it both from a growth of the game, growth of the engagement of the athletes, but then also the fans. So I really enjoyed year one of the Innovation Summit. I hope to be back for year two. Again, congrats to the…

Bay Area organizing committee, Z, Al Guido, Jess, on the committee for really lifting the bar. It's now over to LA to have another innovation summit, show something different, to build that, make it a must attend event as part of Super Bowl week. I think it's really important to get the sports technology people together. Being a sports geek myself, I love it when we get together.

and the conversations that were happening, buzzing around both the morning break and the lunch break. Unfortunately, I had another event to go to, so I didn't get to go to the networking after the event. Yeah, I'm looking forward to attending it again, but also I hope to bring you some of those conversations with some of the guests that were there in a podcast later on. And I guess what I really want to do is just, I guess, wrap up this

podcasts, I guess really talking about the connections that matter. And the reason I do get on a flight for 14 hours, that I do make the effort to meet people and try my best to make that connections. Absolutely amazing. And I'm so grateful that, you know, I got to meet up with 16 podcast guests this week. It's like Christmas for me. I love catching up, finding out what they're doing, whether it's someone like Daniel Brusilovsky.

who's been a long time friend, long time friend when he was at the Warriors and now he is CTO at the Denver Broncos, know, working with Damani Leach at the Broncos and hearing him having the success that he's having and betting himself down at the Broncos, but also connecting with other podcast guests that are in the same sphere like Kostra from the 49ers. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing to…

seancallanan (21:35.63)
reconnect with them, find them doing new things and doing amazing things in the space. There's a reason that I invite them on the podcast. They're quality people, super talented and always great to reconnect with them at an event. And for me, like I try my best to make connections from a digital point of view, whether it be LinkedIn or Instagram, but it is really that in real life moment.

I tried my best to get photos and some interviews with everyone. I don't think I accomplished, I did better than I'd done previously. I really do cherish the 45 seconds that I had with Russell Scibetti at EA Madden. Russell, we really should try to organise a longer catch up next time, always great. But then also there's the part of me connecting with people that I know, which is great, you know, being able to walk into a pub.

after the Super Bowl and see someone like Dave Ray who was on the podcast many years ago and is working with the Seahawks. That's great. But what I also really value is making some of those new connections and meeting people in real life that I've maybe been connected with online and sort of run in the same circle. So I want to say a big shout out to Shripal Shah from Next League for inviting me to an AI meetup. You know, I've met some really cool people doing awesome things in the AI space.

I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with them, diving in, sharing and swapping stories. As you know, I've sort been dragged back into the content, into the developer game via AI. You can check out what we're doing at sportsgeek.ai. You know, so was great to meet Shivaas and Daniel. They're doing some great things. Jeff from Just.ai, Pearson from Jellypod. Yeah, so I'll be catching up with them. I know I'm just now.

Mentioning names, but it's more the connections That I made and I will bring these connections to you on the podcast Because there's been a bunch of people that I've caught up with that will be podcast guests in the future And then it's also just the case of I guess meeting different people Finding out what they're doing with technology what they're doing across sports and technology And where they're doing it whether it be

seancallanan (23:59.34)
Jesus, my good friend from Mexico, or Gabby, the NFL Brazil flag ambassador. They're doing different things, growing the game in different areas. It's always fun to find out how international markets are different, whether it be from a sports point of view, an NFL point of view, or emerging social media. And then, yeah, so for me, yes, credentials help and get you…

into places and into parties, but for me it's all about the relationships. And having those relationships with these people have been why I, you know, are a big reason behind my success and behind the success of Sportsgeek and opened up my eyes to different areas of the business, but also different opportunities that potentially our skill set and what we are able to do can do.

So from a takeaways point of view, yeah, access is awesome, but it's also, it's always about the relationships. And those relationships are the ones that get me into places like the Innovation Summit. They get me into maybe one or two parties or one or two hospitality suites that I probably shouldn't be in. But.

But I actually, like now I'm gonna actually think it, I actually should be in those rooms. Because I wanna continue to bring value to those people. And just a huge, for me, a huge kudos to the NFL and what the Super Bowl week, I guess, has become. is the template for a major event. Both in the game day presentation itself, whether it's Bad Bunny.

halftime performance which engaged the stadium but engaged a whole different part of the world that would probably never watched a Super Bowl to all the events around it. I went to as many events that I could get an invite to that I knew were going on but then I also had one of the best nights after leaving leaving Jim Caruso at Elevate at their event and going out for a Chinese meal at the House of Nanking.

seancallanan (26:21.806)
If you're ever in San Francisco, I highly recommend it where we just met up with some random people and had the absolute had the absolute best night with Jacob and all his friends so it is very much a if you've heard listen to the podcast before you've heard that I'm a I Love my improv. I'm very much a yes, and That's how you got to tackle these weeks. It's a yes, and now my sleep scores don't like that Probably getting four hours a night sleep both with jet lag and like late nights

But you don't get these opportunities that much. And if you do get the opportunity to be involved, to be connected, to be adjacent to events like this, and I think this applies for a Super Bowl week, an AFL Grand Final week, an Australian Open, a Formula One Grand Prix, grab it with both hands. And you just never know where those conversations may lead. For me,

I think there's going to be some absolutely amazing podcasts come out of it. I think there's going to be some amazing content collaborations on the horizon with some sports technology companies that want to talk to you, the sports geek audience. I'm really excited about that. I'm also excited about trying this new LinkedIn short videos. Those videos will be cut up and be trying different platforms, but LinkedIn is going to be the primary place. And so go to my LinkedIn. You can check out a conversation with.

Adam White, Matt Wolfe, Jeremiah Smith that are already out. I'd love your feedback on them. I'm still refining how I go about delivering them. And yeah, you'll be able to find me either online at Sean Cullinan on most platforms. I'm sharing stuff on my Instagram story, sharing stuff on my LinkedIn. I'm really looking forward to meeting a lot of the people again at Seat 2026 in Charlotte and some other conferences that are coming up.

So as I said at the start of this podcast, the game is amazing and congratulations again to the Seattle Seahawks, to Chip Subtles and Kenton Olsen who are sports geek alumni. Congratulations on getting Super Bowl ring number two and congratulations to Michael Dixon being another Australian with the Super Bowl ring making it two Aussies to play and win in a Super Bowl.

seancallanan (28:47.64)
The game is amazing, but for me in sports business it's all built on relationships, curiosity and showing up. And so I hope to see you at an event soon. But until next time, my name is Sean Callanan and you've been listening to Sports Geek.