Analytical models in sports have continued to flourish as the importance of Moneyball and its subsequent equational transitions have permeated throughout the sports fan conciousness. Dr. Ben Alamar is in the unique position to both explain analytics growth on the academic level as a former professor as well as on the broadcast side at ESPN, where he helps present digestable coverage for sports viewers worldwide. Alamar presents a very expansive view of where performance estimation is growing, as well as some of the challenges that lie ahead, especially in certification to ensure that all credible research into sports analytics is performed in a peer-review setting. Twitter: @BenAlamar

One of the biggest challenges is fundraising at an FBS directional school, especially when the name-recognition isn't there with the alumni, nor the student body. Eastern Michigan's Associate AD of Development Dan McLean discusses some of the ways that his athletic department meets and exceeds those barriers, as well as the opportunities that are bore out of being able to create an identity where none existed prior. McLean embraces solutions over excuses, and shares his wisdom of how to build the brand, even if it means some of the legacy alumni who don't want to give up a free ride are left behind once the journey requires pay for play. Twitter: @_DanMcLean

The Washington Nationals brand has been able to flourish in the nation's capital, something that could not be said for the two other versions of Major League Baseball which have existed there during the last hundred years prior. David McElwee discusses how The Nationals have maintained supremacy over the summers in D.C., despite the fact that the area's favorite sport of choice is politics. McElwee imparts his wisdom on how to eliminate that divide, especially when there are groups of stark differences who have to be catered to within the ballpark at the same time. McElwee covers some of the things that have made news for The Nationals in recent years, including the ticket restrictions on Phillies fans and outfielder Bryce Harper's Spring Training tweet that ignited thousands of phone calls for a two hour window in March 2013.

Athletic administrators typically don't drop down from FBS Division I to work at two different NCAA Division II institutions as athletic directors, but that's exactly what Tim Duncan has done (no, not THAT Tim Duncan). First at Paine College, now at Clayton State. But Duncan's story is much richer than that, working at two different FBS institutions as part of the senior staff in development, as well as his time in Corporate America, both as a businessman and entrepreneur. Duncan discusses his journey, as well as how he continues to strive to grow each department's revenue opportunities by engaging community members with a business mentality usually unseen by campus administrators. And he discusses why it's okay to have the same name as someone who is much more famous, especially when he lists the alternatives available. Twitter: @TimDuncanAD

The world of NCAA compliance remains a mystery to the majority of the public, with misconceptions about its application running rampant, especially when the NCAA is dealing with the autonomy vote of the Power 5 Conferences. Marshall University's Associate AD of Compliance Andrew Donovan presents his arguments for why rules education matters, and is still relevant in today's world with both coaches and student-athletes. Donovan offers up several examples of why the NCAA's rules may be misunderstood, but also continue to hold an incredible amount of value to each member school.

Athletic fundraising isn't an easy job to master. Vince Volpe has been successful at three different FBS institutions, and shares his knowledge for ensuring that large capital gifts, as well as building the annual fund for an athletic department, are kept in a continuous harmony. Volpe discusses some of the things that attract him to an athletic department's development office, as well as how to build rapport with alumni of each school in order to do the best job for the institution. Twitter: @Vince_Volpe

Ben Zayandehroudi has possibly helped crack one of the best prospecting tools online, LinkedIn, by utilizing various methods that allow a sports sales professional to eliminate the gatekeeper entirely and communicate right with the decision-maker. Zayandehroudi sells tickets and premium seating for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC up in the great white north, but don't let that fool you, what he has to say can drastically improve an R.O.I. for a franchise's sales department. Zayandehroudi provides training to both the Whitecaps and MLS, expanding out to those sports sales professionals who request it. Laying out his ideas for how to expand LinkedIn profiles is one of the more remarkable initiatives ever voiced on the podcast, and could help a sales department increase their prospecting and sales conversion overnight with only a few small, simple changes to their LinkedIn profiles. Twitter: @BZInc

Included in this premium episode are three interviews done for the Yahoo! Sports Radio side of things that include: Tony Iliakostas from Law & Batting Order discussing NFL Black Monday coaches firing picks, as well as the 2014 sports law scene and what to expect in 2015; Fightnomics Reed Kuhn breaking down UFC 182 and some of the different issues surrounding the sport of MMA; Forbes contributor Mark Burns shares his 85+ sourced article on where sports business professionals feel that the industry will be in 2015.

This is brought to you as a thank you by the Tao of Sports for being a premium user. Sure, it's $5 per year, but that's a latte for some people, so I just wanted to say thank you, and state that I may do more of these down the line. You have been with me for over 2 years, in many cases, and deserve a lot more than I usually give. Thank you for helping keep the lights on!

The world of sponsorship for MMA fighters is starting to heat up, and Soul7Nine's Brian Cawley is here to explain what this new territory means. Cawley worked in team sports sponsorship for several years prior to building his own company, Soul7Nine, which focuses on MMA brand building with fighters and promotions. Cawley discusses the recent UFC agreement to unify its brand with Reebok, and how that might help enhance the ability for individual fighters to generate more unique corporate partnerships as a result. Twitter: @Soul7Nine

Social sales in sports is a fairly new practice, and the Portland Thunder are at the front-edge of it, utilizing the opportunity to make bigger sales with a small staff. Joel Manchak discusses why the challenge of maintaining and operating an effective social sales strategy has been crucial to the new Arena Football League team's survival in its second year, and how geo-targeting through social media ads on various digital platforms has built a large amount of revenue growth over the past off-season. Manchak presents the arguments for why social selling components should be in every sports sales department in the coming year, and why that new account rep's salary may be shifted to better use as part of a social media ad budget buy to attract new customers.