Episodes
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
The Chess Renaissance: Modern Challenges for an Ancient Game
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Jennifer Shahade - Chess Champion, Professional Poker Player, Author
Hikaru Nakamura - Chess Grandmaster, 5-time U.S. Champion and Popular Chess Streamer
Daryl Morey - President of Basketball Operations, Philadelphia 76ers
Fabiano Caruana - Chess Grandmaster and Founder of C-Squared Podcast
Danny Rensch (moderator) - International Chess Master, Chief Chess Officer, Chess.com
Although Chess has been played for over one-thousand years, it's popularity has attained new heights in the recent years, particularly amongst the younger generation. This is in part due to popular TV shows, like the Queen's Gambit, the ease of streaming matches, and a growing amount of engaging and digestible content tailor-made for social media. Yet, the game has also been rocked by prominent cheating scandals - aided by the very technologies that have helped chess grow more popular. This panel brings together some of the biggest names in the game including Danny Rensch, Jennifer Shahade, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Daryl Morey to discuss the current state of chess, techniques to detect cheating, and how chess can continue to leverage technology to grow the game all while keeping competition fair, fun, and entertaining. There will be a board on stage - so who knows, we might even have a live match break out in the middle of the discussion!
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Raising The Stakes: The Evolution of Poker Strategy
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Nate Silver - Statistician, Author and Founder FiveThirtyEight
Jennifer Shahade - Chess Champion, Professional Poker Player, Author
Maria Ho - Professional Poker Player, Broadcaster
Xuan Liu - Professional Poker Player
Jeff Ma (moderator) - Entrepreneur, Author, Host of "Bet the Process" Podcast
How can analytic decision making in high stakes games of poker be applied to real life decisioning? What can we learn through the analytics of human behavior and how different game strategies can be applied to real world situations? Discover how to identify, analyze and leverage key metrics present in everyday games of poker, blackjack and chess to make more informed decisions in all aspects of your life. Join 538's Nate Silver, professional poker player Jennifer Shahade and Women in Poker Hall of Fame Inductee Maria Ho for a wide ranging conversation on poker's trendiest strategy, whether the rise in analytics in poker has truly evened the playing field, and the potential implications for the future of high stakes poker.
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
The New Age of Golf: Players vs the Game
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
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.
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Pickleball: The Next Chapter for the World’s Fastest Growing Sport
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
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.
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Revamping America’s Pastime: The Effect of Rule Changes in Baseball
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
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.
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Hard Cap Constrains: Roster Construction in the Hard Cap Era of Hockey
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
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.
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
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.
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
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.
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Social Media and Sports: How Consumption and Fanhood is Changing
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
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.
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Data For Good: What Sports Can Learn From Other Industries
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
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.