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It Started With a Handshake on a Golf Course

Most origin stories in sport involve a stadium, a trophy or a television deal.

This one starts with Arnold Palmer.

In 1960, a young American agent named Mark McCormack signed a golfer and in doing so, quietly rewired how the world thought about sport. He founded International Management Group (IMG), and what followed wasn't just a talent agency. It was the blueprint for an entire industry.

His insight was deceptively simple:

With television expanding rapidly across the globe, McCormack saw what administrators and governing bodies had missed entirely. Fans followed personalities as much as performances. Brands didn't just want advertising space, they also wanted emotional association and connection.

So he built a model that connected the dots:

Performance → Personality → Sponsorship → Global Revenue.

That framework still underpins the sports economy today. Every shirt sponsorship, every image-rights deal, every club rebrand chasing a new international fanbase — it all traces back to that handshake with Palmer.

Modern sports business didn't begin with media rights negotiations or private equity funds. It began the moment someone recognised sport as an intellectual and commercial asset class.

Fast forward to today, and football operates at a scale McCormack probably couldn't have imagined.

We're talking about:

The economics are eye watering. The attention is unprecedented.

However, governance has consistently lagged behind.

From a financial crime and governance perspective, this isn't entirely surprising. Football wasn't built by institutional operators. It evolved through former players, local entrepreneurs, political influence and community custodians. Passion built this game long before professional governance frameworks arrived.

It’s only now with banks, institutional capital, private equity and sovereign wealth all sitting around the table that there’s a genuine need for professionalisation.

The short version: capital entered football faster than governance matured.

And whenever that happens in any industry, risk follows. Every time.

This pattern isn't unique to football.

The same dynamic played out in global commodity markets during the 1970s and 80s. Rapid capital inflows. Underdeveloped regulatory infrastructure. Power structures that operated on relationships, not frameworks. The result was a wave of financial crime, fraud and governance failures that took decades to clean up.

Football is living through a version of that story right now.

The difference is that we can see it coming and the tools, talent and regulatory appetite to respond are all improving.

The Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules, UEFA's Financial Fair Play evolution, the Independent Football Regulator in England. They are the frameworks that should help the industry mature within a controlled environment.

Boards that understand this are positioning governance as a growth strategy, not a compliance burden.

Here's something I've observed working across finance, commodities and sport:

You cannot govern an industry you don't understand culturally.

Many governance failures in football are not technical failures. They're context failures. Understanding incentives, power structures and personalities inside a club is just as important as reading a balance sheet or knowing the rulebook.

Financial crime doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens where culture, pressure and opportunity intersect and football has historically had all three in abundance.

The most effective governance professionals in this space aren't just technically proficient. They can translate regulatory discipline into commercial language that boards and executives actually act on. That's a rarer skill than it sounds.

Football is entering a new phase. The clubs that thrive over the next decade won't just be the best run financially. you’ll see the correlation that they’re also the best governed commercial organisations.

That shift creates a genuine demand for a new type of board-level professional: someone who understands governance, financial risk management and commercial growth. Not a compliance officer buried in a back office. A strategic voice at the table.

The Independent Football Regulator, expanded ownership disclosure requirements and evolving UEFA frameworks are already changing what clubs need from their boards and advisors. That gap between what exists and what's needed is, frankly, where things get interesting.

Governance follows money. Money follows attention.

McCormack understood that in 1960. The clubs and investors who understand it now and build proper governance architecture around it will be the ones that profit big from football in 2030.

For owners, executives and investors entering football:

Are you managing a football club — or stewarding a global attention asset?

The answer shapes every governance decision that follows.

1. Attention remains sport's most valuable currency. McCormack proved it. Digital media has amplified it beyond anything he could have planned for.

2. Capital moved faster than governance and risk filled the gap. This is a structural problem, not an accident. It's also a solvable one.

3. Governance failures in football are often context failures. Technical knowledge alone isn't enough. You need cultural literacy too.

4. A new type of board-level professional is emerging. One who bridges governance, financial crime expertise and commercial strategy and can speak credibly in both the boardroom and the dressing room.

5. Treat governance as a growth strategy. The clubs that do this are already pulling ahead. The ones that don't are accumulating risk they may not see until it's too late.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice in any capacity. The information shared is our thoughts & opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity, or sponsor. The contents of this newsletter also should not be used in any public or private domain without the authors express permission.