Our Core Expertise
Partnership Strategy
Define the right role of partnerships, objectives, seek the right assets and the right commercial model.
Strategic Negotiation
Broker and structure high-value, ROI and ROO partnerships between brands and rights holders
Partnership Management
Support ongoing management, activation, optimisation and long-term partnership performance
What we do..
Backline Sports & Entertainment (BSE) is a senior-led sports and entertainment consultancy that helps rights holders, teams / clubs, leagues, brands and organisations connect and create better commercial outcomes.
BSE works at the backline of the deal: shaping strategy, connecting partners, structuring partnerships, leveraging and activating to ensure investments deliver real return on investment (ROI) and return on objectives (ROO).
"Most deals in sport & entertainment are shaped by what both sides know is available, not what’s actually right. That’s where value is often left on the table.
"Backline exists to open up the market, providing a wider range of opportunities, to help shape what’s right"
Why Backline...
Strategic partnership counsel built on executive experience and conflict-free alignment.
Senior Led
Direct access to 25+ years of hands-on experience. No hand-off to juniors.
Independent
We don’t push owned inventory. Advice is shaped by your objectives, not ours.
Commercially rigorous
We focus on fit, value and long-term performance — ROI and ROO
End to end
From strategy to structure to execution, we stay close to the outcome.
THE BACKLINE STORY
The backline reads the play, protects the team, and helps set up attack.
Backline Sports & Entertainment applies that same role commercially — reading the market, protecting our clients’ interests and creating partnership opportunities that are built to perform.
We focus on 4 key things:
1. The right deal
2. The right price
3. The right assets
4. The right activation plan
OUR EXPERIENCE
25 years operating across brand, rights holder and the agency sides of the sports and entertainment industry. Our founder, Paul Malina has helped create strategy, lead teams, broker partnerships, leverage, activate and achieve successful outcomes with and for some of the worlds most iconic brands and right holders, including Red Bull, Asahi (CUB), Woolworths, Apple, Chemist Warehouse, NAB, Telstra, Ampol, AFL, Cricket Australia, AGPC, Supercars and the NRL.
Paul knows that the sports eco-system doesn’t survive without long lasting mutually beneficial partnerships. His years inside the walls of iconic brands and global agencies in Australia and the USA, has shown a proven track record of creating strategy and value though long-lasting partnerships.
Connect with Backline
If you’re investing in sport and entertainment, looking for partners, or reviewing your current approach, we’d welcome a conversation...
STRATEGY • MARKET INTELLIGENCE • NEGOTIATION • MANAGEMENT • GLOBAL REACH • SENIOR LED • RIGHT DEAL • RIGHT PRICE • RIGHT ASSETS •