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Mike Nicoll: Writer and Director of "The Spoils"
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The other day was movie night here at worldwide HQ, so I thought I’d check out “The Spoils”, Mike Nicoll’s monumental documentary about AAU basketball. I’d juat settled in when the film’s protagonist, Etop Udo-Ema, says the following about AAU hoops:
“It’s a street game. It’s really just one step ahead of the dope game.”
It’s kind of an astounding statement, right? Youth sports being compared to the drug trade? But that line that lands even harder when Mike shares that he used the infamous HBO show The Wire as an inspiration for structuring his movie.
So just what the hell is going on in AAU basketball?
“The Spoils” takes a hard look at the state of amateur basketball in the US, and what it reveals is pretty breathtaking. To make his movie, Mike spent 11 years essentially embedded with the Compton Magic, the preeminent AAU basketball team in the country.
And what it reveals is a system perfectly designed to, in Mike’s words, “anoint and monetize” the next superstars.
In our conversation about his movie, Mike and I talk about the fearsome impact the current state of AAU has had on the sport, how entrenched interests like sneaker companies want to avoid changing the system at all costs, how AAU and players evolved over the decade he was attached to the Compton Magic, and what the ultimate cost is to the young teenage boys who get enmeshed in a system that openly refers to them as "assets" and "commodities".
Please note that this episode contains explicit language.
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The 1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.
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Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.
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