Gareth Balch: How Fan Data, Audience Growth, and Sports IP Monetization Are Reshaping the Global Sports Industry

Interviewed by Linnéa Jungnelius

Gareth Balch sees sport differently than most. Where others see leagues, schedules, and rights deals, he sees something much more human and valuable.

Sport, he says, is the world’s largest shared belief system. In an era of loneliness, tribalization, and fragmented attention, it has quietly become one of the last universal engines of belonging.

And the numbers prove it:

- 3T hours of sports consumption last year
- 6B sports media consumers
- 4B self-identified fans
- 1.5B annual transactions from those fans

As Co-Founder and CEO of Two Circles, Balch sits on a data foundation unlike anything else in the industry. His company processes nearly two thirds of all sports fan transactions globally and supports more than 900 organizations from the NFL, NBA, and Premier League to ICC and World Rugby.

What he sees from that vantage point is not a business in decline or disruption, but one in a new era of compounding growth powered by attention, shaped by data, and accelerated by sophisticated capital.

Sport as the World's Largest Religion

Balch doesn’t position sport alongside entertainment, digital content, or gaming. He places it above them.

Sports provides a sense of belonging in ways other pursuits struggle.

As he describes it, humans are urgently searching for community, and sports fills that need with intensity, emotion, and ritual. It’s why global consumption of sports video has more than doubled in the last decade, and why the total value of sports IP monetization has grown from $110B to $170B during that same window.

Balch believes this arc is still early. He projects sports IP monetization will reach $260B by 2033, fueled by what he calls the third age of sports monetization:

- Color TV → mass access
- Cable → scaled economics
- Streaming + Data → radical transparency

In this era, the winners are decided by measurable audience attention and affection, and the organizations that understand both will define the next decade of sport.

Audience-Obsessed Growth: From Tribes to Flavors of Sport

Balch's thesis is direct:

Those who grow audiences fastest grow revenues best.

This is true whether you're the NFL or a niche emerging league. In 2023:

- The top 20 leagues captured 44% of global revenue
- Yet 170 'innovating middle' organizations outgrew these giants

The commonality: they build tribes and a cultural identity.

It’s what the NFL achieved by building a tribe called “All Americans,” and it’s what emerging properties like SailGP, The Hundred, and the College Football Playoff are doing as well.

Sometimes you just need thousands or tens of thousands of the right people and value gets created.

"More of the same" = no longer enough

Balch argues that sport’s next chapter will be defined by format diversification, not more fixtures.

- Cricket now spans Test cricket, the ODI, T20, The Hundred
- Golf's Ryder Cup is a completely different emotional experience from weekly tour play
- American football will expand meaningfully through flag football, not cannibalize itself

Sport doesn’t have too much supply, just too much of the same product.

This mirrors consumer behavior: category-leading brands win by adding SKUs to reach more segments. Sport, he believes, will follow the same path.

Monetizing Sports IP: Leakage, Capital, and Exit Clarity

If fandom is exploding, revenue should follow suit, yet Balch warns that value is leaking everywhere.

Leakage is when someone else monetizes attention you generated. Leakage = sport’s biggest threat.

Today, the largest sources are:

- Piracy of live sports rights
- Digital intermediaries capturing monetization opportunities
- Real estate and precinct value captured by third parties

Balch estimates that for the $170B IP owners generate each year, another $170B is captured outside their walls.

The next decade will be defined by pulling that value back in.

Why private capital is "white hot"

Sports is one of the few scaled industries producing 5–10% resilient CAGR over long time horizons, which is why firms like CVC, Apollo, Sixth Street, Arctos, Raine, and others are deploying billions into:

- Teams and leagues
- Commercial structures around governing bodies
- Adjacent technology and data infrastructure

It keeps happening because it's working.

Most of this capital is about cleanup, cap table sophistication, and exit pathway clarity.

The most durable sports organizations are treating sports IP like any other sophisticated asset class by strategically planning returns, not hoping for them.

The Two Circles Operating System: Spirit First, Data Always

Two Circles is now a global company of 1,100 people built through 14 years of growth and eight successful acquisitions. But Balch insists the secret is simple:

We’re a client-centric business, but we’re a people-first business.

Culture as a competitive advantage

The spirit of Two Circles is built deliberately, and Balch likens it to playing on the best sports team of your life: shared values, high standards, deep relationships, honest feedback.

To keep that alive at scale, the company invests in:

- 58 team days per year
- Company-wide festivals
- A coaching model where every employee has an active manager-coach
- A hiring profile rooted in curiosity, athletic mindset, and love for sport

They've also expanded the demographics of who fits that profile:

- 48% female among new hires
- 26% non-white
- No quotas, just a redesigned funnel

Our workforce needs to represent the audiences we're serving.

Leading Like an Athlete

Balch is open about the hardest lesson he’s learned as a leader: “Being kind to myself.”

Former athletes often translate high standards directly into leadership, and Balch is no exception. Over time, he’s built a playbook for personal performance:

Energy > hours

- 36 hours completely off every seven days
- No calls, no structured work
- This rhythm allows him to run at intensity for 12-16 weeks without burning out

Don't suffer twice

A mental cue he uses constantly:

- Suffer once: when something goes wrong.
- Suffer twice: when you relive it unnecessarily.

This is how he breaks doom loops and protects clarity. It’s practical and psychological, and for a CEO operating on a global scale, it’s essential.

Takeaways for Rights Holders, Operators, and Investors

Gareth Balch’s world view offers a blueprint for building the future of sport:

- Sport is infrastructure for belonging, not just content.
- Audience attention + affection = enterprise value.
- Build tribes and diversify formats to expand your TAM.
- Attack leakage as aggressively as you pursue growth.
- Scale culture like a sports team, with deliberate feedback and coaching.
- Lead with energy management, not just output.

In a world where one in two humans is a sports fan, the organizations that will win the next decade are those that know their fans best, and act on that knowledge with discipline and imagination.

Fan-powered value.
Tune in to Episode 30.

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Lightning Round with Gareth Balch

	Purpose is...	belonging.
	Leadership is...	role modeling.
	Success is...	in the journey.
	Brilliant leaders are...	kind, ambitious, and motivating.
	I perform at my best when...	I'm happy.