Business of Sport Ep.17: Aron D’Souza, President @ Enhanced Games, ‘This is about enhancing humanity’

Today, we bring you a guest who's sending ripples through the sporting and political landscape. Aron D’Souza is the President of the Enhanced Games, the first pro-choice and pro-science alternative to the Olympics. A lawyer by trade, Aron led Peter Thiel’s infamous litigation against Gawker Media involving wrestler Hulk Hogan, a relationship that has led to the PayPal founder becoming one of the Enhanced Games major backers.

Supported by some of the world’s top venture capitalists, the Enhanced Games describe themselves as the Olympics of the future. The major difference? Athletes are allowed to take performance enhancing drugs.

Now, the ethos of the Games is simple. Provide an environment that allows science in sport to flourish, and pay the athletes fairly in the process. Critique of the Games has focused on the risk to athletes' health and the undermining of integrity and fairness in sporting competition.

In today’s show, we discuss:

The use of performance enhancers:

• Performance enhancing drugs are banned in most sport. While the list of banned substances varies, what are the fundamentals that make this approach better than the current system?
• ‘I think doping should be erased from out language’. What are the issues with terminology used around scientific enhancements and the perceptions they form?
• How prevalent is the use of banned substances in sport today? Is the fact they are being used in the shadows one of the key reasons this proposition can attract ‘clean’ athletes?
• The health issue: this is the primary stick with which to beat this event. How dangerous is a regulated Games compared to what we see in Athletics today. Is it a free for all or will there still be some boundaries athletes have to adhere to?
• How have athletes reacted to this proposition?

Improving athlete pay:

• In the current Olympic/athletics system, athlete remuneration does not allow for many athletes to make a living off their participation.
• Creating a model that pays the athletes in accordance with the value of their talent is a major commitment from the Enhanced Games. Paying athletes ensures they can focus their full time on their sporting career and therefore perform better in competition.
• Offering financial rewards for athletes accomplishing extraordinary things: James Magnussen coming out of retirement to attempt to break the 50m freestyle record for a prize of $1m.
• How backing from leading venture capitalists including Christian Angermayer and PayPal founder Peter Thiel facilitates an ambitious financial approach.
• This is a move we have seen in many sports over recent years, but how does the addition of performance enhancers + big payouts appeal to athletes?

Changes in wider sport:

• This is a privately funded sports event. What does that mean? How does a venture backed sports competition create fandom?
• The current sports governance landscape and the issues with legacy leadership structures in industries that require innovative and transformative development.
• What other sports would benefit most from the ‘Enhanced approach’?
• How this event will deliver batter fan experiences, employ the latest technology, and leverage data to continually improve it’s proposition.
• Enhancements extend careers. Athletes will be able to compete at the highest level for longer periods of time!

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