Blog

Sunday 3 of August, 2025

I suck at blog writing. I did not entirely forget about this project, but I have been absolutely OVERENCUMBERED with work ever since I started working for the bank. It must be a good sign, but the truth is that I have used it as an excuse to put aside other projects that I would like to do and which do require a certain dedication and consistency, such as this.

I fully acknowledge my fault for not keeping this blog up to speed with what has happened. A LOT has happened. However, I want to start focusing on the foreseeable future the The Sports Banker (AKA me) seems to be heading towards.

During my time at the bank, on word has kept popping up time and time again: Pádel. This growing sport has grown at a giant’s pace, but it is still relatively small. And yet, it is clear to me that it will still keep growing and consolidating itself on the world stage of major sports, lest something relatively fatal were to happen. Pádel seems to be everywhere and, although there are countries where it has matured quite a lot, it still seems to be early in its growth curve; there is still space to enter the fray before it becomes saturated.

From a professional perspective, I have guide my professional efforts, after doing all of the due diligence necessary, towards Pádel. I whole heartedly believe that it is a sport that entirely makes sense for our bank, and it is the “new golf”, albeit in an easier to access, and more sociable sense of the category. I truly believe this, and keep receiving proof to corroborate this fact.

From a personal perspective, I want to start documenting the sport. I am thinking about writing a book (or two!) on the history of pádel, the economics of a pádel business… Maybe even some sort of romantic-drama novel (see: Kevin Kwan’s “Sex and Vanity”) based around the concepts of the upper echelons of the mexican society and pádel? I just feel that it is increasingly becoming such an important sport around the world, and the written material on it is still at a bare minimum.

With what I have learnt in school, and am learning at work, I would love to try my hand at writing some books on the subject. If done correctly, I am very sure that something very good could come out of it… The massive challenges, of course, are the “writing” part, and the “doing it correctly” part. I am bearing in mind that a book is a very large challenge, and I haven’t even kept up to date with this blog. But I guess that one must start somewhere, and that the journey of a thousand pages must begin with a single blog post.

I will make a conscious effort to keep writing here (AKA download the wordpress app for ease of writing) and, probably, start using this space as a sounding board for the work that I am doing professionally, but also (and probably – mostly) my pádel related personal endeavours. Let’s hope that it works this time around.

– The Sports Banker

Wednesday, 5th of March, 2025

A lot of very important people seem to have their own blogs, or other sorts of written databases. For example, Sam Altman and Bill Gates have their own blogs. Other examples also come to mind: David Rockefeller had his Rolodex, and Leonardo Da Vinci had his notebooks.

I have heard that it is a good pratice to write down your thoughts and ideas. I believe that I would also like to be a (relatively) important person for the industry that I work in. Therefore, I have decided to start my own blog.

Although it is not yet official -and I REALLY don’t want to jinx it by writing this beforehand- everything seems to indicate that my professional career will be heading towards the banking world. Specifically, towards contributing to the niche of professional sports properties inside the world of banking. This is a very interesting niche, and more so in México. Even though various large and important banks have sports properties throughout the panorama of professional sports in the country, there still seems to be some way to go in terms of exploiting them to their full potential. I might be an idealist, but I would like to change that.

With this aim, I think that “The Sports Banker” is a very fitting name. As a side note, I can’t believe that I got a hold of the TheSportsBanker.com domain. I would have thought that somebody else would have it by now, as I feel that it is a relatively easy name to think of. Could this be a reflection of the relative obscurity of the niche that I am trying to carve out for myself?

“The Sports Banker” seeks to be a written compilation of my thoughts as someone who will be dedicated to improving the relationship of sports within the world of banking. More precisely, banks tend to be major sponsors of sports teams, leagues, players and so on. I guess that a more precise name would have been “The Sports Marketing Banker”, but I think that The Sports Banker sounds better. By being both more concise and broad, I feel that it lets me have the liberty to talk about more topics than just Sports Marketing in Banking. Banks and Sports have a larger relation than just sponsorships.

Anyhow, that is the plan. To write about sports and banks and ideas that I might have to professionalise this relation. They will surely be examples from the past, other industries, and other countries. As Oscar Wilde (allegedly) wrote: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. The plan is to use these writings as a means to improve the bank’s processes in the world of sports business. I don’t know if I will update this blog as regularly as I would like to, or even if I will remember it at all in a few weeks. But I would like to do it as much as possible. Once again, I have read that it is a good practice and everything that helps me to become a better person and professional is more than welcome.

I recently rewatched the “wecrashed” series, which is based on the rise (and fall, I guess?) of Adam Neumann and the business empire that he had created through WeWork. In the final scene of the series, Rebekah, Adam’s wife, answers a call while she is on the beach, that was meant for Adam, while he is loafing around in the sea. The caller is Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank; a businessman who’s company raised billions of dollars in funds from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and, in turn, invested them in WeWork.

In the scene, Masa asks Rebekah the same question that he had asked Adam before during the series: “In a fight, who wins? The smart one or the crazy one?” After Rebekah answers that it is the smart one, Masa answers that it is a trick question, as it is neither of them. It is “the one with all the money”. I believe that this holds as true in the world of sports business as it is in the world of venture capital. In the world of sports business, a bank is among those that have the most money. Therefore, it comes to reason that it should be among those that do the most winning. I aim to strengthen, if possible, that link between the money and the winning.

– Santiago Piedras González