Sport Business · Asia · Global Startups

I Build Sport Businesses That Last.

I’ve spent 25 years building sport businesses in places most people found too complicated, too far away, or too early. If you’re launching something new — especially in Asia — I’d love to hear about it.

$1B

Company Built

150

Countries

7

Global Offices

ONE Championship

Snow League — Head of APAC, China

ONE Championship

Snow League — Head of APAC, China

Who I Help

Sport startups need someone who's been in the room before.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes building sport businesses across three continents. Those mistakes taught me things you can’t learn any other way — how to walk into a government office in China, how to convince a broadcaster to take a bet on something unproven, how to build a team from scratch in a market where nobody knows your name yet.

If you’re trying to do something genuinely new in sport — a new property, a new market, a new idea — I’m happy to talk through whether I can help.

"Create new value rather than compete for value created by others."

— A principle I've tried to live by

"Arguably the most over-qualified employee in Canadian Football."

— Edmonton Journal

What I Do

Areas where I've been able to add real value

01 Asia Market Entry

Asia is an extraordinary opportunity for sport properties — and a genuinely complex one. The broadcasters, government relationships, visa processes, local hiring, and cultural dynamics are all different from what works in North America or Europe. Having spent more than a decade working on the ground across China, Singapore, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, I can help you navigate it without reinventing the wheel.

02 Sport Startup Strategy

Early-stage sport properties face a specific set of challenges — building credibility without a track record, finding revenue before you’ve proven the concept, and hiring a team with almost nothing to offer them yet. I’ve navigated those challenges more than once, across different sports and different markets. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve probably made most of the mistakes already.

03 Broadcast & Media Rights

Getting your property in front of an audience is the most important thing you can do in the early years. I’ve spent a long time on both sides of broadcast conversations — as a property owner trying to get distribution, and as a media company deciding what to pick up. That perspective tends to be useful when you’re trying to structure a deal that actually works for everyone.

04 Sponsorship & Partnerships

Convincing a brand to invest in something new — before it’s proven — is a very particular kind of conversation. It’s about articulating the vision clearly, understanding what the brand actually needs (which is often different from what they say they need), and building a relationship that makes them feel confident taking the risk. I’ve had a lot of those conversations over the years.

05 Digital & Audience Growth

A sport property’s digital audience has become its most valuable long-term asset — for sponsorship, for broadcast leverage, and for community. Building that audience takes consistency, a clear point of view, and a willingness to experiment. I’ve had the chance to work on this at scale, and I’m happy to share what’s worked and what hasn’t.

06 Advisory & Board Roles

Sometimes the most valuable thing isn’t a project engagement — it’s having someone in your corner who you can call when things get complicated. I’m available for the right advisory, board, or fractional executive roles, and I take those relationships seriously. I’m selective about what I take on, which means the projects I do say yes to get my full attention.

Biography

Selected Work

A few of the projects I've been part of.

ONE Championship

Co-Founder & Founding CEO · 2011 – Present (Shareholder)

Co-founded what became Asia's largest sports media company

I was ONE Championship’s first CEO and one of its original co-founders. Over seven years, a talented team built the business from the ground up — growing to 300+ people across seven offices, securing broadcast distribution across 150 countries, and reaching a valuation of $1 billion. I’m proud of what we built together, and I learned more in those seven years than in all the years before combined.

$1B

Valuation

150

Countries

7

Global Offices

7 yrs

as Founding CEO

"ONE Ranks as Top 5 Global Viewership Among All Sports."

— Nielsen Research

"The man behind the rise of MMA in Asia."

— ctv

"Cui leads MMA taking root in Asia."

— The New York Times

The Snow League

Head of APAC — Inaugural China Event · 2024–2025

Helped Shaun White launch The Snow League in China

Serving as Head of APAC for the inaugural Snow League event in China, I handled the things that tend to make or break an international launch in that market — venue negotiations, government permits and athlete visas, broadcast TV and live-streaming partnerships, and building the local team from scratch. It was a great project to be part of, and a reminder of how much work goes into making something look effortless on event day.

APAC

Head of Region

China

Inaugural Event

TV+Live

Broadcast

Inzdr Corp.

Consultant · 2024 – Present

Working with Mika Häkkinen on an AI athlete licensing platform

Inzdr Corp. is building an AI-driven platform for athlete digital twins and licensing, founded by two-time F1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen. I came on as a consultant to help think through the sport business side — commercial structure, partnership strategy, and how to bring a genuinely interesting technology into the right rooms. Currently in beta with F1 Team McLaren and cycling team Movistar.

AI

Digital Twins

McLaren

F1 Partner

EPIC World Championship

Founding Partner · 2025 – Present

Helping build a global amateur pickleball championship from the ground up

Pickleball’s growth has been remarkable, and EPIC — the Elite Pickleball International Championship — is focused on the amateur player who is the real engine of the sport’s expansion. As a Founding Partner, I’m helping build the commercial and operational foundation, drawing on some of the same lessons from the early ONE Championship days. It’s early, and that’s exactly why it’s interesting.

Global

Expansion

Amateur

Focus

Edmonton Elks — CFL

President & CEO · Jan 2022 – Nov 2023

Went back to help the team that helped me get started

The Edmonton Elks gave me my first university scholarship in 1990. Taking the President and CEO role in 2022 was a chance to give something back to a club and a community that meant a lot to me personally. It was also a useful reminder that the fundamentals of a healthy sport organization — culture, community trust, financial discipline — are the same whether you’re in Edmonton or Singapore.

CFL

League

2022–23

Tenure

ESPN STAR Sports — Asia

Sports Media Consultant · 2005 – 2011

Six years running sport events across 24 Asian markets for ESPN

Before ONE Championship, I spent six years with ESPN STAR Sports across Asia, managing events, sponsorships, and broadcast partnerships in 24 countries. We created several new properties during that time — including X Games Asia in South Korea and China, Martial Combat, and the Guinness 9-Ball World Championship. It was a great education in what works and what doesn’t when you’re launching something unfamiliar in an unfamiliar market.

24

Asian Markets

5

New Properties

$12M+

Annual Budget

Asia Expertise

Asia has been the most formative part of my career.

Asia taught me more about building sport businesses than anything else in my career. It also humbled me regularly. The relationships, the regulatory environments, the cultural dynamics — none of it translates directly from what works in the West.

I’ve been fortunate to work across the region for more than a decade, and I still find it genuinely fascinating. If you’re thinking about Asia as a market, I’m happy to share an honest perspective on what’s realistic.

China

Snow League launch. ONE Championship. Full regulatory experience.

Singapore

Current base. ONE Championship HQ.

South Korea

X Games Asia. Broadcast rights.

Malaysia

Commonwealth Games. ESPN events.

Thailand

ONE Championship events.

Indonesia

ONE Championship expansion.

China

Snow League launch. ONE Championship. Full regulatory experience.

Singapore

Current base. ONE Championship HQ.

South Korea

X Games Asia. Broadcast rights.

Malaysia

Commonwealth Games. ESPN events.

Thailand

ONE Championship events.

Indonesia

ONE Championship expansion.

Relationships across the region

National broadcasters · Government sports ministries · Olympic committees · Federation leadership · Regional brand heads · Venue operators · Digital platforms

Asia Expertise

On building sport businesses in difficult markets.

I try to speak from experience rather than theory — about what it’s actually like to build a sport business in Asia, to launch something nobody’s heard of yet, or to navigate a market where everything you knew needed to be relearned. I find these conversations most useful when there’s a room full of people who are trying to do something genuinely difficult.

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Past Speaking Engagements

In the Press

Some of the coverage along the way.

CTV

Video

"The man behind the rise of MMA in Asia."

Watch Interview →

The New York Times

Article

"Cui leads MMA taking root in Asia."

Read Article →

CNN

Video

"Cui Changing The Game."

Watch Feature →

Edmonton Journal

Article

"Arguably the most over-qualified employee in Canadian football."

Read Article →

Nielsen Research

Report

"ONE Championship ranks as Top 5 global viewership among all sports."

View Report →

→

Let's
Talk
Sport.

I’m always happy to have a conversation — whether you have a specific project in mind or just want to think through a challenge. No pitch required. If there’s a fit, we’ll figure it out.