Announcing the Rival Pod Plus Ep #1 Release
Hosted by our CEO, Matt Virtue, The Rival Pod explores how sports leagues, teams, and brands can authentically connect with the next generation of fans.
At Rival, we spend a lot of time in conversations that don’t always make it to the surface.
They happen in partner meetings, late-night calls, conference hallways, and whiteboard sessions with people building at the intersection of sports, fandom, gaming, and brand engagement. The same questions keep coming up:
How do you build real fan engagement today?
What actually drives repeat behavior—not just one-off moments?
And how do leagues, teams, and brands meet the next generation of fans where they already are?
We started The Rival Pod to bring those conversations into the open and we just released our first episode!
Why We’re Doing This
The sports industry doesn’t lack opinions—but it does lack enough honest, operator-level discussion about what’s actually working right now. Too much of the conversation stays high-level, theoretical, or overly polished.
The Rival Pod is designed to be different.
It’s a space for real practitioners—league executives, brand leaders, investors, and builders—to talk candidly about experimentation, tradeoffs, lessons learned, and where they believe fan engagement is heading next. No fluff. No buzzwords for the sake of it. Just thoughtful conversations with people doing the work.
What You’ll Hear on The Rival Pod
Each episode is a focused, 30-minute conversation that dives into one core theme—from building modern fan communities, to gaming-driven engagement, to the evolving role of brands in sports culture.
So far, we’ve had the opportunity to sit down with an incredible group of leaders, including:
Christian Henze, Chief Strategy Officer — PLL
Alex Brooke — NFL
Chris Blivin — MLS
Julian, Verrance Capital
Peter Murphy — COSM
Chris Davis — New Balance
…and we’re just getting started.
Our First Episode Is Live
We’re excited to kick things off with an old friend of Rival—Christian Henze, Chief Strategy Officer of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL).
Christian has been at the forefront of building one of the most forward-thinking leagues in sports, and our conversation explores how the PLL approaches strategy, fan engagement, and long-term growth in a rapidly changing sports landscape.
The full episode drops today, with short-form clips and highlights rolling out soon.
Where to Listen
🎧 Spotify - Link here
Want to Join the Conversation?
If you’re building in sports, gaming, media, or brand engagement—and believe you have a perspective worth sharing—we’d love to hear from you. We’re always looking to feature thoughtful operators who are shaping what comes next.
Reach out to the Rival team if you’re interested in joining a future episode or want to suggest a guest.
More conversations coming soon.