SSAC

The New Age of Golf: Players vs the Game

Alex Baldwin - President, Korn Ferry Tour
Mark Broadie - Carson Family Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
Dan Zelezinski - Chief Commercial Officer, Twenty First Group
Suzy Whaley (moderator) - President, Golf Nation

 

Golf has seen a dramatic transformation in recent years with how players try to gain an advantage. With professional golfers now inundated with data about their games, how do they best cut through the noise and identify the key performance indicators that actually correlate to winning tournaments? How do different course conditions and layout impact performance? What are players focusing on physically to best prepare for peak performance? From the Tour perspective, how can organizations like the Korn Ferry, Epson, and NCAA best prepare players to compete on the PGA and LPGA Tour? Join us for a deep dive into how golfers are gaining a competitive advantage with Alex Baldwin, President of the Korn Ferry Tour, Mark Broadie, golf analytics expert and inventor of strokes gained, and Dan Zelezinski, COO of the Twenty First Group. Learn how influential figures in the golf community see these dynamics playing out in the short and long term.

Pickleball: The Next Chapter for the World’s Fastest Growing Sport

Jessie Irvine - Professional Pickleball Player, PPA Tour & MLP's Florida Smash
Brian Levine - Interim CEO, Major League Pickleball
Connor Pardoe - CEO, Professional Pickleball Association
Dave Fleming (moderator) - Pickleball Broadcaster, Senior Pro Player, Marketer, and Content Creator, Professional Pickleball Association

 

Created in 1965 in Bainbridge Island, Washington, pickleball is now all the rage. It's the fastest-growing sport three years running. With athletes such as Lebron James, Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka, and Patrick Mahomes investing in the sport, pickleball is projected to attract close to 40 million players across the world by 2030. Moderated by PPA Tour broadcaster & pickleball pro, Dave Fleming, this panel brings together a top 10 player in the world (Jessie Irvine) and CEOs from two of the sport's biggest leagues MLP (Brian Levine) and PPA (Connor Pardoe) to discuss why the sport is growing, what's to expect in upcoming years, and how you can get involved.

Revamping America’s Pastime: The Effect of Rule Changes in Baseball

Bill James - Former Senior Baseball Operations Advisor, Boston Red Sox
Morgan Sword - Executive Vice President, Baseball Operations, Major League Baseball (MLB)
Raúl Ibañez - Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations, Major League Baseball (MLB)
Kevin Negandhi (moderator) - Anchor for SportsCenter, Host for ESPN College Football on ABC, ESPN

 

America's Pastime has undergone significant changes over the past several years as it tries to capture younger audiences and develop them into passionate baseball fans like ones from past generations. Chief among these are rule changes meant to increase the pace, excitement, and competitiveness of the game. This panel convenes Bill James and executives from the MLB league office to discuss the rationale behind these rule changes, its effect on team composition, and the tangible impact that the panelists feel it will have on the game moving forward.

Hard Cap Constrains: Roster Construction in the Hard Cap Era of Hockey

Kate Madigan - Assistant General Manager, New Jersey Devils
Brett Peterson - Assistant General Manager, Florida Panthers
Meghan Chayka - Co-Founder and CEO, Stathletes
Dominic Moore (moderator) - NHL Analyst on ESPN, Former NHL Player

 

With the NHL the only true 'hard cap' league of the 4 major sports leagues, front office executives face a unique dilemma. How does the growing salary of top players like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews influence roster construction? Is building a true dynasty even possible anymore with the 'winners tax' that Stanley Cup champions have to pay in order to keep their current roster together? How does the hard cap influence prioritization of salary cap allotment between goalies, forwards and defensemen? This panel brings together front office executives from across the NHL as well as some of the forward-most thinkers in hockey analytics to discuss the best way to build a roster that is well positioned for sustainable, long-term success.

The Future of Sports & Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with Jason Robins and Wyc Grousbeck

Jason Robins - Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board, DraftKings
Wyc Grousbeck - Lead Owner, Boston Celtics
Jessica Gelman (moderator) - CEO, Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR)

 

Jason Robins and Wyc Grousbeck are two of the most prominent builders of sports businesses today who see opportunities before others. As the Co-Founder and CEO of DraftKings, Jason helped revolutionize the ever-growing US sports betting landscape with the advent of daily fantasy games and mobile wagering. As Lead Owner of the Boston Celtics and a venture capitalist, Wyc Grousbeck helped revitalize one of the NBA's most iconic brands and was an early pioneer investing around sports including fast-growing sports entities such as SeatGeek, Zwift, and Formula E. Join Jason and Wyc as they sit down with Jessica Gelman to discuss their sports career paths and the strategies they've deployed to navigate obstacles along the way.

The Future of the Fan: Innovation, Data, and ”Always On” Engagement presented by Ticketmaster

Marie Donoghue - Vice President, Global Sports Video, Amazon
Jessica Gelman - CEO, Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR)
Renie Anderson - Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President, NFL Partnerships, NFL
Valerie Camillo - President & CEO, Spectacor Sports & Entertainment
Shelley Pisarra (moderator) - Executive Vice President of Global Insights and Strategy, Wasserman

 

The Year of the Fan is upon us as leagues, teams, and partners are more connected and more knowledgeable about their consumers than ever before. Sports continues to dominate our mindshare whether that be watching, reading, listening, or playing alongside. Historically, the Holy Grail of Fan Insights was long around who was attending games. With more ways to consume sports, innovation in understanding and serving the fan is rapidly accelerating. Organizations have invested in improving all aspects of the game-day experience and growing connectivity. Simultaneously, as digital marketing, cashless payments, and OTT content provides a deeper perspective about who, how, when, and why fans are engaging, innovation around a 360 degree view of the fan has become the new focus. Listen in as industry leaders who are redefining fan experiences through entertainment/content, experiences, data, and fan connectivity. With new patterns and data on consumer behavior, long-held industry myths have been busted and is driving a more personalized and "always on" fan experience. 

Social Media and Sports: How Consumption and Fanhood is Changing

Tim Clark - Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, NASCAR
Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick - Chief Marketing Officer, LA Rams
Kaitee Daley - Vice President of Social Media, ESPN
Karlis Kezbers (moderator) - Vice President of Global Client Analytics, Ticketmaster

 

More than 50% of fans currently use social media platforms while watching live sports, and that number is only expected to grow. The meteoric rise of short-form video across all social media platforms has shifted viewer attention spans and content preferences. Fans are opting for bite-sized clips over an entire real-time game, or behind-the-scenes clips over live content. In fact, in the next 5 years, the value of short-form video clips in sports is expected to rise faster than live media rights. Join our panelists for a discussion on the evolution of social media and its impact on sports consumption and fanhood. Learn how sports teams are currently using social media to engage their audiences, and their plans to expand beyond those who watch cable broadcasts.

Data For Good: What Sports Can Learn From Other Industries

Corbin Petro - CEO and Co-Founder, Eleanor Health
Corey Thomas - Chair and CEO, Rapid7
Seth Moulton - U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 6th Congressional District
Sanjeev Verma - Founder and Chairman, PreVeil
Andrea Jones-Rooy (moderator) - Social Scientist, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Visiting Associate Professor, NYU Center for Data Science

 

Data is used across industries in innovative ways, raising questions on its use, ownership, and appropriate guardrails. This panel brings together industry experts all focused on using data for the greater good – improved health, safety, security – to share learnings on managing unintended consequences and protect from bad actors. In fact, the sports industry, athletes, leagues, and teams are just learning how to grapple with these issues, as the rise of video footage, AI, and wearable sensors have made it feasible to analyze performance trends in unparalleled detail. Join us as we look to the expertise of panelists across healthcare, government, and cybersecurity industries to better understand what sports can learn from other industries to ensure data is used in the right way by the right people.

Mind, Body, Machine: The Role of AI/ML in the Future of Sports

Patrick Lucey - Chief Scientist, Stats Perform
Daryl Morey - President of Basketball Operations, Philadelphia 76ers
Sherry Marcus - Director, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
S. Matthew Liao - Arthur Zitrin Professor of Bioethics and Director of the Center for Bioethics, New York University
Ethan Strauss (moderator) - Proprietor of the House of Strauss Substack

The recent launches of ChatGPT and Dall-E have put a spotlight on artificial intelligence (AI), making it arguably the most discussed topic in the news right now. While many industries have just started to get their first exposure to the possibilities of AI, it has already started to make an impact in the sports industry. Some reports estimate that the AI in Sports market will reach tens of billions of dollars in the next 10 years. From helping analyze game footage and player data in the NBA and NFL, to identifying trends and patterns that predict future performance in F1, teams and organizations are increasingly relying on AI to help gain an edge. Led by Ethan Strauss and joined by Daryl Morey (76ers), Patrick Lucey (Stats Perform), Sherry Marcus (AWS), and S. Matthew Liao (NYU), this panel will discuss the current state of this cutting edge technology and what the future of AI has in store for the sports industry.

The Play-by-Play of the Future: Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Sports Media

Michael Markovich - Chief Commercial Officer, Sony's Sports Businesses & Managing Director, Pulselive
Russell Wolff - Executive Vice President and GM, ESPN+, ESPN
Tim Clark - Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, NASCAR
Alison Overholt (moderator) - Professor, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism & Founder, Good People LLC

 

This is arguably the most exciting, yet uncertain time in sports media history. Large tech companies are winning sports media rights contracts, many consumers stream games rather than watch on cable, organizations are developing their own direct to consumer networks, social media continues to be the go to medium for younger generations to consume sports, and the rise of esports continually represents a challenge to traditional sports. With representation from major players in the space, this panel will include a range of perspectives across media, technology, and league offices. Topics will include the current state of sports media, the path forward for traditional broadcasters, streaming and digital media, technological innovations to the consumption experience, and league-wide strategies on what it will take to win the fight for viewership.