# Blending Athletics and Revenue: Adidas and the Commercialization of the Olympics | Cold Call Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/blending-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics-cold-call Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/blending-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics-cold-call.md Podcast: [Harvard Business Review](https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387) Published: 2026-06-08T03:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG6201295423.mp3?updated=1778673247 Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG6201295423.mp3?updated=1778673247 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/harvard-business-review-7777387/episodes/blending-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics-cold-call Duration seconds: 1682 ## Resource Mixing Sports and Money: Adidas and the Commercialization of the Olympics | Cold Call 26 Jul 2023 --- Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of Adidas, cultivated relationships with athletes and national associations – with the aim of expanding his family’s sports apparel business. In doing so, he created the first sports sponsorships for the Olympics, and ultimately became a key force behind the commercialization of sports today. Harvard Business School professor Geoffrey Jones explores the pros and cons of the globalization and commercialization of sport in his case, spanning from the 1930s to the 1970s, “Horst Dassler, Adidas, and the Commercialization of Sport.” This episode originally aired on Cold Call on July 27, 2021. You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts: - HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/07/mixing-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mixing-sports-and-money-adidas-and/id1156646189?i=1000530164526 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5LbACgtFVUjfi5ffeWBma1?si=8150df100ced4f67 - Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/cold-call/episode/mixing-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics-85699339 - Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmhhcnZhcmRidXNpbmVzcy5vcmcvaGFydmFyZGJ1c2luZXNzL2NvbGQtY2FsbA/episode/dGFnOmF1ZGlvLmhici5vcmcsMjAxNi0wOS0xNjpjb2xkLWNhbGwuMDE1Mw?sa=X&ved=0CAIQuIEEahcKEwiw4vSE3qqAAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA Series Description: Harvard Business School’s legendary case studies, distilled into podcast form. About Harvard Business Review: Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagshi… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/harvard-business-review-7777387/episodes/blending-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics-cold-call/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/blending-sports-and-money-adidas-and-the-commercialization-of-the-olympics-cold-call.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.