This Much I Learned: The NFL’s commercial boss on the rise of athlete activism

From working with the British Olympic Association (BOA) on the London 2012 Games to her current role as commercial director for the National Football League (NFL), Michelle Webb’s CV features an impressive selection of sporting names.

Starting out in cricket, a sport she readily admits to knowing next to nothing about at the time, Webb then progressed to the BOA, rising to the role of sponsorship director and overseeing successful partnerships with brands including Adidas, British Airways, Nissan, DFS and Kellogg’s. As well as London 2012, she was also involved with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and Rio 2016 games.

In April 2017, after seven years at the BOA, she then moved on to the NFL. Ad slots for the season-closing Superbowl early next year are already close to selling out and expected to cost a record $6m (£4.3m) for 30 seconds of airtime.

In this podcast Webb discusses the continued popularity of American football in the UK, with the latest round of London fixtures starting this weekend (10 October), the rise of athlete activism on both sides of the Atlantic and the possibilities of a British-based team one day taking part in the NFL.

From opening up about mental health issues to closing the career confidence gap, you can listen to previous episodes of Marketing Week’s This Much I Learned podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify.