The Commercial Game: Where Sport Meets Business - Roundtable Discussion On The Key Issues Driving Today's Sport Business
When:
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Venue:
Birkbeck Central
What are the new rules and narratives reshaping how sponsorship, marketing and partnerships operate within sport?
Sport has always been about more than what happens on the pitch. Kit deals, naming rights, and the club's identity and branding have an aspect of commercialisation, and the space is being reshaped fast.
For this event, Birkbeck's 2025/2026 Sport Management students have brought together a panel of industry professionals working across the sporting space to have an honest conversation about what is really going on:
- How deals actually get done.
- How brands decide where to put their money.
- How data is changing what partnerships look like.
- And what it takes to build a career in the middle of all of it.
Whether you are looking to break into the industry, already working in it, or just curious about the business behind the sport, this event is for you.
The evening's event is orgnanised into four segments:
- A networking introdution.
- A moderated Birkbeck sport management student-led panel discussion.
- A live audience Q&A.
- A drinks reception.
Panel Members
Joyce Havemeier: Joyce is a senior sports marketing consultant, with over a decade of experience across sport, events, and culture. She has worked with brands such as Science in Sport, Arsenal FC, UFC, ESPN and Manchester United. A specialist in partnership activation, integrated marketing, supporter engagement, and EDI, Joyce is a passionate advocate for inclusive leadership and speaks regularly on equity and representation in football and business.
Beth Hushon: Beth is a Senior Account Manager at Fuse, who's role revolves around elevating brand engagement through strategic sports sponsorships. She has been instrumental in delivering innovative projects, such as the Dare to Defy Series, and advocating for inclusivity in sports, notably within disability and LGBTQ+ communities due to her partnership activation and market research skills. Parallel to her role at Fuse, she is also an academic pursuit as a PhD researcher at Loughborough University London to enriches her professional expertise. Her focuses is on Women’s Football sponsorship, wanting to enhance brand awareness through the synthesis of tangible and intangible assets. This dual-pathway approach to sports business ensures the application of scholarly insights to real-world challenges, furthering the advancement of emerging women's leagues.
Darnelle Morgan-Johnson: Darnelle Morgan-Johnson is a recognised Sport Industry Next Gen Leader working at the intersection of sport, culture, and social impact. She specialises in designing and delivering initiatives that create meaningful opportunities for young people, combining place-based development with culturally relevant sport experiences, particularly through basketball. Central to her approach is co-design ensuring community voices are not just heard, but actively shape the direction, delivery, and success of the work. Holding a degree in Sports Marketing and a Master’s in Sport Management, Darnelle brings both strategic insight and practical expertise to her work. She is known for influencing change across systems, bringing together partners from public, community, and commercial sectors to align investment with purpose and drive more inclusive, sustainable outcomes. Her work builds partnerships that go beyond traditional models, with a strong focus on system change. Darnelle is helping to redefine how sport engages communities, positioning it as a powerful driver of both commercial value and meaningful, long-term social impact.
Meet the Event Organising Team: The Commercial Game
We are a group of MSc Sport Management and Sports Management & Business of Football students at Birkbeck, University of London.
Tosin has spent the past decade building a career across elite sport, events, media and community. What started as a lifelong passion for sport grew into a professional journey spanning grassroots to professional sport. In 2018, she founded Sport Shifts, a community platform delivering networking events and panel discussions specifically for underrepresented voices in sport. Beyond events, Tosin holds a Certificate in Player Care, is a published writer for and opinion contributor at Her Football Hub, covering women's football, representation and the social questions sport raises. Now completing her MSc in Sport Management at Birkbeck, this event is that mission in action. As Event Lead she has owned the vision end to end, from concept to delivery.
Since his earliest memories, sport has always been Jack's biggest passion. While he grew up watching and playing as much as he could, it was after completing his undergraduate degree that he decided to channel that passion into a career; a decision that led him to Birkbeck, where he is now completing his MSc in Sport Management & Business of Football. Drawing on his background in media planning and buying, Jack is hardworking, collaborative, curious and fast-learning. He is actively building towards a career in sport partnerships, sponsorship and marketing, and for this event led all speaker outreach and management, giving him a direct line into the industry he is working towards.
Riccardo Russo: Logistics & Operations
Sport has been part of Ricky's life for as long as he can remember, on and off the pitch. That passion turned into a direction. After graduating in Business and Economics he built hands on experience in sport event management and is now completing his MSc in Sport Management & Business of Football at Birkbeck.
His areas of interest span football finance, football analytics, sport governance and event management. He enjoys working with data as much as he enjoys building experiences for people and for this event he led logistics and operations, making sure everything runs smoothly on the night.
Biel Uguet Bonet: Communication
Football has been Biel's passion his whole life and now he is making it his career. He holds a BBA and brings audit experience from a Big Four firm, combining financial rigour and analytical thinking with a genuine understanding of the game. Now completing his MSc in Sport Management & Business of Football at Birkbeck, he is actively looking to join a club or sport organisation where he can contribute in finance or analytics. For this event Gabriel owns all attendee facing communications and ideas building.
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We all have different backgrounds and interests in sports but we are all here for the same reason. Sport is not just something we love. It is something we are building our careers around.
Contact name: Sean Hamil
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