GSSport24 Speaker

Mike Laflin

Founder & CEO - Global Sustainable Sport

Mike is the founder and CEO of a new digital platform focused on driving sustainability through sport, called Global Sustainable Sport.

He started his professional career in sport in 1989 with the International Amateur Athletic Federations (now World Athletics) and worked as a technology consultant for five international sports federations (Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Sailing and Tennis) until 2007.

In 1991 he launched his own media information company called Sportcal, which became the leading provider of news and commercial information to the global sports industry.

In 2011 he was appointed to act as a technology consultant to the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) to help them develop a sports information system for the Olympic Games which is now managed by the Olympic Channel.

In 2014 he started the Global Sports Impact project which created a holistic framework to measure the broader impacts that major sports events brought to host cities and nations.

He created a reporting framework that created a set of indicators that were broader than just economic impact and media coverage, encouraging sports owners and hosts to think about social and environmental impacts and create a more sustainable future for sport.

Between 2014 and 2018 he produced over 50 major event impact studies including the World Games, various Universiade’s and world championships from a variety of sports.

He also developed the GSI Cities and Nations Index, which identified which cities and nations were the most successful in hosting major global sporting events. Many nations adopted the GSI Nations Index as one of their major KPI’s.

His research in this area was the precursor to a report created by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) called the Common Indicators for Measuring the Impact of Events.

He left Sportcal in February 2019 and now acts as a consultant to a wide variety of organisations. Recent clients include the International Olympic Committee (IOC), The International University Sports Federation (FISU), UNESCO and the West Midlands Growth Agency.

In 2022 he formed a company called Global Sustainable Sport (GSS) to help promote and encourage sports stakeholders to think and act more sustainably.