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b'Craig Thompson has been on the forefront of Sports Marketing across the globe for over 30 years. We are taking a close look into his remarkable career with a deep dive into his role as a Founding Member of TEAM Marketing and the creation of the UEFA Champions League in the early 90s.\\xa0 Amazing stories and lots of great learning as always from a true veteran of the industry.\\n\\xa0\\nKey Highlights\\nFrom professional Beach Volleyball in California to Lausanne, Switzerland with FIVB and not a happy start/ending\\nNext stop FEI (Equestrian) leading him to ISL, working with Peter Sprogis on IAAF events\\nCredits and accolades to Horst Dassler for being one of the true founding father of our industry, unfortunately passed away too young\\nFrom ISL to a founding member of TEAM Marketing with Juergen Lenz and Klaus Hempel\\nThe \\u201cTEAM\\u201d started from ground Zero again, the big opportunity, tendering for the Champions League project (had to raise Swiss France 200 million as part of the deal)\\nTEAM wins the tender and has 8 months to pull off the first Season\\xa0 (1992) \\u2013 create broadcast schedule, sponsorship programs, operations, club manuals, etc\\nFirst time \\u201cmid-week Football matches\\u201d \\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\n8 Teams (two groups of 4 teams)\\nEvery match at 8.30pm CET (appointment TV)\\nCountry by Country Broadcast deals\\nBroadcast Sponsorship inventory from Broadcasters\\nCommercial Advertising Inventory (free spots) sponsors didn\\u2019t know what to do with it\\nBroadcasters had to show a post-match highlights of all the matches (drove exposure for all teams and competition)\\n\\nSuccess formula of TEAM was true TEAM WORK\\nHow to deal with the big teams and the egos in the room\\nChallenges and success stories in the early days, highly successful product now with over US$ 5 billion in annual revenue\\nThe Dutch World War II story\\nTough decision to leave TEAM for personal reasons\\nChampions Hockey League (Ice Hockey) \\u2013 the next project \\u2013 raised EURO 60 million \\u2013 2008/09 recession killed it, revived and still running now\\nNext stop America\\u2019s Cup in San Francisco \\u2013 changing the rules and appeal of the sport for younger audiences \\u2013 racing Catamarans in SF Bay\\nCameras on boats, sailors with mics, and other inventions including America\\u2019s Cup Healthy Ocean campaign (Larry Ellison wasn\\u2019t a big fan)\\nMindspring Capital \\u2013 focus on tech companies getting into sports (looked at over 600 companies the last two years)\\nMindspring Capital is a Team of investors and experts across the world, focused on early stage companies (B2B focus), paid advisor role and investor at the same time\\nTicket size, US$ 250k for 10-25% of company, plus advisory fee back\\nLeadership lessons \\u2013 rallying a small group of professionals, full transparency, listening to the best ideas in the room and getting rid of bad apples fast\\nLove for sports and love for the job and picking your mentors and leaders carefully\\n\\xa0\\nAbout\\nFor more than 30 years, Craig Thompson has been intimately involved in the creation and management of some of the most recognized sporting events across the globe:\\nCEO | 34th America\\u2019s Cup Together with Russell Coutts, CEO of Oracle Racing and four-time winner, Craig created and launched the concept for AC34, which included the use of catamarans, racing next to shore, shorter TV-friendly format and the creation of the AC34 World Series.\\nCEO/Owner | Ovation Sports AG Craig developed the concept and directed the inaugural season for the Champions Hockey League in association with the IIHF in Europe. Also specialized in development and management of sports properties and events for the Juventus Football Club, Spanish Basketball League, and UFL United Arab Emirates National Soccer League.\\nManaging Director | T.E.A.M. Marketing AG In his role with the exclusive worldwide marketing agency of UEFA for the Champions League, Craig was a management board member for 11 years and key member of the 6-person team responsible for initial creation and subsequent development of the Champions League project. The Champions League gene'