Interview
Raccoon’ s Running Man sprinting for new expo lines
EW catches up with running man Mike Seaman, CEO Raccoon Media Group, and talks ISPO, National Running Show and PadelXpo in this anniverary year for the company
EW: How is the joint approach with Messe München going in preparing for international sporting goods fair ISPO in November at the RAI? Incredibly well. I’ ve been attending ISPO for many years. It as one of those events you simply had to be at. It’ s a brand with more than 50 years of heritage that has helped shape our industry.
When we agreed the joint venture with Messe München it was never about changing ISPO for the sake of it. Quite the opposite. It was about protecting everything that has made it one of the world’ s great sports business events, while evolving it for where our industry is heading.
The way our industry connects has changed enormously over the last decade. Today, it ' s far more global, collaborative and increasingly centred around experiences, relationships and community. We wanted ISPO to reflect that.
We’ ve introduced a dedicated ISPO Leaders Summit, created a more focused two-day exhibition and invested in building a stronger international platform. Moving to Amsterdam has also made the event significantly more accessible internationally.
Our ambition is to build on ISPO ' s incredible heritage and evolve it into the annual meeting place for the
Above: Mike Seaman global sports industry. A place where relationships are built, ideas are shared, business gets done and the future of our industry is shaped.
EW: In transforming the event you are investing together € 3m in a mixture of advocacy support, a hosted buyer programme and content, right? And Raccoon recently launched the ISPO Impact Foundation. What is the thinking behind that? The ISPO Impact Foundation has exceeded our expectations, with around 500 applications from organisations across the sports and outdoor sector. We’ re looking forward to announcing the successful recipients during ISPO in November. Our ambition is that the impact extends far beyond the three days of the exhibition.
Sport and outdoor isn’ t simply a commercial market for us; it’ s a community we’ re genuinely passionate about. If you ' re fortunate enough to help steward a brand with the heritage and influence of ISPO, we believe you also have a responsibility to give something back.
The ISPO Impact Foundation will receive a € 1m donation from ISPO every single year the event takes place.
The show will include a Leaders Summit? We’ ve completely restructured the event. Rather than a traditional three-day trade show, we’ ve created a dedicated one-day Leaders Summit followed by a highly focused two-day exhibition.
Industry feedback suggested that three exhibition days no longer reflected how people wanted to do business.
Equally important, we recognised there wasn’ t a dedicated forum for the senior leaders shaping the future of the sports industry. That’ s why we created the ISPO Leaders Summit.
For us, the exhibition is where business happens. The ISPO Leaders
12 Issue 4 2026 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk