Alex Tunbridge, CEO @ Cambridge Utd: Football’s Biggest Dilemma? Leading an EFL Revolution | Ep.44
Business of Sport 
This week we are joined by Cambridge United CEO Alex Tunbridge. Last week, Cambridge was in the news for happenings off the pitch, as they unveiled a full rebrand of the club, most notably revealing a new crest to create a more modern and digital feel to the branding of Cambridge, while importantly maintaining the heritage and culture so valuable to its historic identity.
Some of you may start to think we’ve got a bit of thing for League One clubs, and you may not be wrong. But when it comes to the business of football, they are some of the most intriguing organisations in the game. You face the constant challenge of chasing the gold in the Championship and Premier League, but also trying not to overstretch yourself financially and drop out of the league. How do you justify a pound spent away from the pitch? It’s our new favourite theme.
Alex and Cambridge have been one of the most ambitious when it comes to value creation away from the pitch. New training facilities, club rebrands, stadium developments, matchday experience; all of these indirectly create a value in the club to position it for long-term success. But can success off the pitch be replicated on it? This is a conflict in ideology we love to talk about, and we love what Cambridge are doing.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:04) About Rebranding of Cambridge Utd
(04:27) How Is Being a CEO of Premiership Club Different from a League One Club?
(06:03) Lessons from Being CEO of Newport FC at 29
(07:45) Signing the Players
(11:28) How Do You Manage a Club During Operational Chaos?
(13:16) How Media Rights Works
(17:51) How Does Cambridge Utd Compete Against Cash-Rich Clubs?
(19:42) What Has Changed in The Club Since Alex’s Arrival?
(21:53) Budgeting & Spendings
(29:27) How Important Are Player Sales for Revenue?
(32:04) How Alex Manages Crowd Pressure in Decision-Making
(34:42) Recruitment at Cambridge
(41:22) Sponsorship
(47:45) For Commercial Deals, Is Fan Demographics or Quantity More Important?
(49:49) Relationship with Umbro
(53:32) Should Lower-Level Clubs Operate Differently from the Premier League?
(58:59) What’s the Next Step for Cambridge to Elevate Further?
(01:01:58) Quick-Fire Round
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In today’s show we discuss:
1. Spending away from the pitch:
– How a full rebrand of Cambridge United came about, and why it is so important to make sure your visual identity is fit for the modern age.
– Why was it so important to build a new £3.5m training complex and how do you justify significant spend on infrastructure when the money could be spent on improving the team?
– Spending on non-performance shows long term strategy. How do you get fans onside and bring the fans on the journey with you?
– How difficult is it to build value into a club while operating on budgets of less than £10m?
2. The role of a CEO:
– How did Alex become CEO of Newport County at the age of 29?
– What are the hardest jobs you have to take on when leading a football club?
– ‘Working in football is not a job. It’s a way of life’; the need for a top executive to be all in and commit fully to the development of the club as a business and elite sports performance entity.
– The story of bringing the iconic Burger King deal to Stevenage and the value of new age digitalised commercial inventory.
3. The business of the football league:
– ‘The Premier League is the best league in the world, but our football pyramid is the best pyramid in the world’. How do we protect the pyramid?
– How much do Championship, League One and League Two clubs get from the current media rights deal?
– Where do the biggest challenges lie from a business perspective when running a football club in 2024?
– How can we protect the competitive balance of the leagues but also encourage teams to continue development and push boundaries to improve the product?
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About The Author
Up the U’s
Fantastic podcast!
Let's modernise the game for the better
3:09 this are very interesting points. The CU in particular has this been explained to the fans as wasn’t shown in the promotional video with Dion Dublin would of been good to highlight this!
Very interesting. I'd love to see you get Tom Lawrence at Southend United on to talk about rebuilding a club that was hours away from extinction.
As a cambridge fan Alex really comes across with true principles.