TOTAL SPORTS ASIA

14/11/2025

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day folks 🎙️🎧

And it is a very special day and podcast - extremely excited to release my 100th Podcast, on 11.11.2025.

Having started my Podcast series with no other than Donald Dell, the Legendary US agent (at the age of 80 at the time), it is very appropriate to host another Legend, Patrick Nally, from the UK, a founding father of our amazing industry with his agency West Nally, for my #100.

Patrick's stories take us back to 60s, 70s and 80s when our industry was at an infant stage, sports associations were pure amateurs, they had no money (even the big ones), hardly any staff (FIFA was 5 ppl, now over 1k) and sports as a communication and marketing tool was just being invented.

Hear how FIFA World Cup sponsorships (it wasn't called that yet) programs started with The Coca-Cola Company funding, how the International Olympic Committee – IOC program was created, how brands engaged with sports, how Horst Dassler (son of Adi Dassler - adidas) "influenced" sports Federations, positioned powerful individuals as President's and shaped the industry far beyond his early death.

Enjoy the stories and let us take you back in time. When you listen to it visualize how the world looked and operated, and than you really appreciate what Patrick and West Nally did at the time.

Kölle Alaaf 🤡.

https://marcusluer.com/podcast/episode-100-with-patrick-nally/

08/03/2025

Thanks for the great discussion Rosamond and Richard.

Always fun to be on the other side as a guest and happy to share my learning and stories as a western sports entrepreneur in Asia the past 30 years.

It all sounds like fun and games in retrospect but it's plenty of hard work, perseverance and some luck that gets you eventually to have fun in our amazing industry.

Excited to briefly share about our new SMRF Capital Fund in the talk. Lots of momentum in the sports investment space with the world finally accepting sports as a proper "asset class", and we are in the thick of it (as always 😂).






https://open.spotify.com/episode/3rlQQ6rejKxIa387eKOUpP?si=0oA92_e5Rj-ajf7SiEmOiA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A3RRiOR4L5BstRHCjUOG5Fu

V for Visionaries · Episode

20/12/2024

Time flies when you are having fun 🙏.

Unbelievable to realize it's been 30 years since I arrived in HK as a rookie, thanks to Seamus O'Brien of World Sport Group.

What a ride it has been, from building Total Sports Asia (TSA) to now involved in so many exciting projects with SMRF Capital.

Huge thank you to everyone who has worked with me and supported me over all those years from our staff to partners and clients 🙏.

I am very excited for all the things to come and very bullish for the future of our industry. So much more still to be done and new capital to bring to sports.

Can't wait for 2025 and starting my fourth decade in the industry. Happy holidays everyone 🙏🥂

18/12/2023

Bringing an F1 team (not a race) to be based in Asia isn't just a "nice" idea, it's inevitable. It will happen as the power shifts East. There will be challenges but it will happen this decade, just a question of time.

Watch this space as we continue to push the boundaries to make it happen. We have the resources and support from the capital markets, governments, automobile associations, sponsors and fans.

Go East 💪👍

I've been involved with Benjamin [Durand, CEO] since the early days of the venture, before it was called LKYSUNZ. I believe in the mission to bring a team to Asia, to connect much deeper with the fans here and to build a completely different following by having a team actually based there.

13/10/2023

Today we are diving deep into the world of trading cards, memobilia and collectibles. We cover everything, how this amazing industry started in the 1800 to the top sports and entertainment trading cards, business models, trading card games, and where it is going in future (physical and digital cards (NFTs?)) .

We have no other than the President Jason Masherah himself of industry leader The Upper Deck Company. Enjoy Jason's own stories, how it started for him as a 13 year old and now is living his dream.

As always enjoy and learn 🙏

Jason Masherah, President of The Upper Deck Company, living his childhood dream, from a young boy trading cards at school to running one of...

13/09/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast (Sun)Day 😎🎙️🎧.

Timing is everything, excited to release my 88th Podcast with Andrew Ryan while the FIBA World Cup is in full swing in my part of the world (Philippines, Indonesia and Japan are co-hosting).

Catch Andrew's stories, coming from a small town in Australia and making it to the big wide world of sports including working with Perform, the IOC to now the Managing Director FIBA Media.

We are having a close look at the FIBA Media structure (JV with DAZN) , its platforms https://lnkd.in/gUTvrwX7, the Men's World Cup and Women's competitions.

Have a great Sunday and enjoy the sporting actions from around the world 🌍🙏

Andrew Ryan, corporate lawyer turned sports executive, currently Managing Director of FIBA Media, from a small town in Australia to the big...

19/08/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day 🎙️🎧

Excited to release this one, just in time for the new season of European Football to kick off.

Great deep dive into my old friend's Guy Laurent Epstein world of European association football and his 20 years with UEFA. From UEFA Champions League, Nations League to EURO 2024 and Women's Football, we cover a lot of ground in detail. A master class on Club and National teams football in Europe.

Get up to speed with new rules, new competitions and lots of great stories around the beautiful game.

Guy-Laurent Epstein a Football Association veteran and senior UEFA Executive for the past 20 years, shaping European football, the commercial...

08/06/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day folks 🎙️🎧⚽🏆

And we have a big one, with no other than Monsieur Jérôme Valcke 👏, former Secretary General of FIFA.

He is back and ready to tell his side of the story after 8 years on the sideline.

Amazing insights into the early days of CANAL+ Group and how Sport+ shaped the pay TV and Media landscape in the 90s.

And then we dive deep into his FIFA career as Marketing Director generating billions of dollars to his rise to Secretary General overseeing the South Africa and Brazil World Cups, to his eventual unceremonial departure in 2015, due to the Mastercard vs Visa dispute.

Tons of fascinating stories and insider details on the inner workings of FIFA and what it meant to be the go between the sports "politicians" and the "workers". Hear about the power of the World Cup way beyond the event itself.

He is finally back, alive and kicking and ready for a new challenge.

Check it out and as always let us know what you think.

Jerome Valcke, a true legend and also tragic figure in our industry. We are going back to his early days at Canal+/Sport+ to his amazing ...

10/05/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day 🎙️🎧

Excited to release our latest episode with Alexander Inglot.

A true Sports/Esports hybrid version in which we talk about Alex's career in sports from Sportradar to the lessons learned as ATP Tour player representative on the Council and how that prepared him for his current role as the Commissioner of the ESL Pro League (owned by ESL FACEIT Group - EFG) in CS:GO (owned by Valve corporation).

We off course discuss the opportunities and challenges currently in Esports and if there is a "winter"?

Lots of great stories and insights as always. Enjoy 🙏

Alex Inglot, the Commissioner of the ESL Pro League (Esports). We discuss his legal background, his various sports roles before he entered ...

08/02/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day 🎙️🎧

Excited to release our latest episode - we are taking a close look into one of the "hottest new sports" PADEL (and comparing it with Pickeball, which is taking the US by storm). We learn about Padel 22 and how Ben Nichols is planning to shape the future of the sport.

Ben takes us on a tour of his career across the world of Sports Communications & PR, working with major global sports properties from Lotus Renault F1, Commonwealth Games to Wada (World Anti Doping Agency), working around the world and helping to get the "message" right. Clearly not an easy tasks working with Wada at the height of the Russian Doping scandal.

As always, fascinating stories, anecdotes and learning from a senior leader in the industry who is embarking on a new journey as an entrepreneur. Hope you enjoy it.

Ben Nichols, a veteran sports communication and public relations expert with decades of experiences across the industry from WADA ...

16/01/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day 🎙️🎧

Excited to release our first one in 2023 👍with no other than Professor Simon Chadwick taking a broad look at the industry and discussing his journey as a highly regarded Sports Academic and consultant across the globe.

Lots of fascinating stories and insights from Simon, how it all started with a paper on the Premier League to teaching/consulting in China, Qatar, Russia, etc.

Come listen, while we take a birds eye view on the business of sports, from interesting research on the brand power of the Premier League in Asia to "Sports washing" .

https://marcusluer.com/podcast/episode-81-with-prof-simon-chadwick/

Great discussion with Professor Simon Chadwick, a highly respected academic in the world of sports, with several books and papers to his name ...

03/01/2023

It's Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast Day 🎙️🎧 just in time for the holidays 🎁🙏

Thrilled to share my 80th Podcast and final for the year featuring no other than the legendary Leigh Steinberg, by many refered to as the Goat of Super Agents in the US and the inspiration for the academy award winning movie "Jerry Maguire" played by superstar Tom Cruise (one of my personal favorite's as you will hear).

Leigh openly shares his experiences from nearly 50 years in the business. He has seen the highest highs and lowest lows over his incredible career as a Sports Entrepreneur and the lessons and stories are invaluable for anyone.

I hope you will enjoy our discussion and wishing everyone a blessed festive season and a happy New Year.

See you all in 2023 for more exciting Sports Entrepreneurs Podcasts. Closing in on the magic 💯

Leigh Steinberg, aka the real life Jerry Maguire, the US Super Agent goat sharing his illustrious career and accomplishments and the trials ..