SSAC

Moderator: Warren K. Zola

Panelists: Bill Daly, Marty Walsh, Meghan Chayka

While the Stanley Cup has been contested for over 130 years, professional hockey is currently undergoing its most significant structural and cultural transformation in decades. Guided by an unprecedented era of labor peace, headlined by a CBA extension reached more than a year before expiration, the NHL and NHLPA have established a stable foundation for the league's revenue to surpass $7 billion and the salary cap to climb toward $110 million. This panel explores how hockey is leveraging this stability to modernize the game through data, international competition, and expanded inclusivity. We will examine the strategic return of NHL players to the Olympic stage and the success of the Four Nations tournament as catalysts for global growth. Simultaneously, we analyze how the "team-first" identity of the sport is evolving as the league embraces star-driven media from Amazon's Faceoff to influencers and creators to reach new demographics, including the LGBTQ community and younger, tech-savvy audiences.

Moderator: Joe Lemire

Panelists: Behshad Behzadi, Karol Corcoran, John Jelley, Eric Rimsky

This panel explores how the sports ecosystem is redefining fan engagement through immersive, data-led experiences. Industry leaders will move from vision to execution, detailing how in 2026 AI has become an engine for content discovery, real-time betting, and predictive analytics which are powering next gen fan engagement. Learn how raw video and data are being transformed into insightful storytelling across every screen at scale to deliver hyper-personalized, AI-driven journeys that bring fans closer to the action.

Moderator: Steve Argeris

Panelists: Michelle Wilson, Marc Lasry, Eric Menell, Steve Pagliuca

Over the past 2 decades, sports has evolved from a hobby for owners who are passionate about their teams to transformative business opportunities. Specifically, in the past 2 years we have seen explosive growth across a range of sports. The Celtics sold for $6.1bn before the Lakers sold for $10bn a few months later; the Commanders were sold for a then-record $6bn, but now 3 other NFL teams are valued over $10bn. Even more, women’s sports teams’ values have grown 10x over the same period, solidifying its position as the new hot sports asset class. In addition, new leagues and sports are popping up and developing popularity, from bull riding and sailing to flag football. Come for a riveting conversation on how investors see sports as a winning play and where they see investments going next!

Moderator: Abe Madkour

Panelists: Jessica Gelman, Christine Dorfler, Sam Kennedy

This past year, sports business hit a new level with valuations skyrocketing, new leagues started, and viewership reaching all-time highs.  With this acceleration, new questions around long-term sustainability connected to underlying revenue-generation, fan-centric focus, sponsorship ROI, international growth, and evolving viewing options are brought to the forefront. What are the most meaningful reasons behind sports’ continued growth and expansion? What will make leagues and teams continue to succeed in an increasingly competitive, fragmented market for attention? How are diverse franchises turning their investments into meaningful impact?

Executives who are at the forefront of leading and partnering with the world’s largest, most diversified sporting brands will discuss the current state of the business and what’s driving decisions at the highest levels of sport, including the increasing role of data. Hear what is influencing the sports ecosystem and where the industry is heading.

Moderator: Shelley Pisarra

Panelists: Walker Jacobs, Sam Schwartzstein, Alison Levin, Andrew Hyde

Sports media is shifting from a one-way broadcast to a participatory, multi-stream ecosystem where every fan curates their own experience. Today, media rights are more than just airtime… they are the fuel for interactive overlays, creator-driven feeds, athlete owned channels, and GenAI enabled content. As fans shift from viewers to prosumers, the tension between shared cultural moments and personalized, real-time experiences is building. This panel brings leaders from NBCUniversal, Prime Video, DAZN, and ESPN to discuss the next decade of sports storytelling.

Moderator: Liz Moulton

Panelists: Peter Schoenke, Meridith Cass, Isaiah Kacyvenski, Anna Palmer

What does it take to win as a founder? Founders in sports operate in a uniquely ambiguous environment, where clean datasets are rare and decisions must be made long before the evidence is conclusive. Whether predicting athlete behavior, reading early consumer signals, navigating distribution, driving product adoption, or raising capital, the best founders are experts in decision making. This panel brings together leaders who have repeatedly built with conviction under uncertainty, from creating fantasy sports infrastructure before the industry existed to pioneering hydration analytics, investing in sports as a wedge into massive adjacent markets, and committing nine‑figure capital to women’s sports long before demand was proven. Together, they’ll break down how they distinguished signal from noise, which metrics actually predict durability, and how they built cultures capable of making high‑quality decisions at scale.

Moderator: Katie Hodel 

Panelists: Nick Walton, Zee Siddiqi, Cory Mingelgreen, Mike Shane

Tickets are no longer just entry passes. They are part of a dynamic marketplace where pricing, availability, and fan engagement change in real time. This panel explores the modern ticket economy, showing how teams, leagues, and platforms use data, social media, and analytics to drive demand, optimize pricing, and create personalized fan experiences. Industry leaders will discuss dynamic pricing, secondary market strategies, influencer-driven sales, and one-to-one fan marketing. Attendees will gain a behind-the-scenes look at how the ticket market operates, practical insights for fans navigating it, and a view of the future of live event experiences where every seat, every share, and every decision matters.

Moderator: Lou DePaoli

Panelists: Maggie Schmerin, Kirsten Corio, Elizabeth Lindsey, Carolyn Braff

Sports sponsorships are evolving from static logo placement into dynamic, multi-platform partnerships. Teams and leagues are constantly rethinking how sponsorships are structured, activated, and measured. This panel brings together leaders from brands, teams, leagues, and agencies to examine how sponsorships are becoming long-term platforms rather than one-off assets, and how analytics supports better business outcomes within these partnerships. The conversation will explore how organizational leaders evaluate sponsorships as core drivers of growth and brand strategy. Panelists will discuss the balance between local market relevance and national or global scale, including how partnerships are activated within individual markets while fitting into broader league and brand ecosystems. With a focus on measurement, activation, and decision-making, this session offers a forward-looking view of how modern sports sponsorships are built, scaled, and sustained at both the team and league level.

Moderator: Kevin Negandhi

Panelists: Stephen A. Smith, Jason Robins, Burke Magnus

What happens when sports media and betting collide? Join Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings, Burke Magnus, ESPN’s President of Content, Stephen A. Smith, one of the biggest names in sports media, and Kevin Negandhi, longtime host of SportsCenter, for a timely conversation on how ESPN, DraftKings, and other major players are reshaping fan engagement, content, and the future of sports media.

Moderator: Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Panelists: David J. Adelman, Billy Hogan, Amy Latimer, Amy Brooks

Sports franchises are evolving into real estate and entertainment platforms designed to drive year-round revenue and long-term value creation. At the team level, multipurpose venues anchored within mixed-use districts are reshaping franchise economics, as seen in new arena development joint ventures such as the Philadelphia project involving the 76ers and Flyers, as well as modern venues like UBS Arena in Long Island. At the ownership-group and league level, international expansion - through launching new competitions or acquiring historic clubs - has become a critical growth strategy. How can teams, ownership groups, and leagues design venues that generate diversified revenue streams by integrating real estate development? How can established global leagues successfully enter markets dominated by strong local competitors? And how can ownership groups reinvent historic teams to unlock both sport relevance and commercial upside? Join leaders from Fenway Sports Group, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Oak View Group, and the NBA as they discuss how stadiums, arenas, and international models are shaping the future of global sports.