SSAC

Investing in Global Sports: Creating Value While Building Dynasties

Gerry Cardinale - Founder and Managing Partner, RedBird Capital Partners
Steve Pagliuca - Senior Advisor, Bain Capital | Managing General Partner and Co-Owner, Boston Celtics
Mitch Lasky - Partner, Benchmark | Co-owner, LAFC
Saj Cherian (moderator) - Chief of Staff and Head of Fanatics Ventures, Fanatics

 

Global investment in sports teams has boomed in recent years across continents, sports, and levels, especially as institutional capital has become an increasing driver of team valuations and the sports landscape writ large. Sports-specific funds are popping up and raising funds of ever-increasing sizes, while more generalist institutional funds have increasingly turned to sports as a key investment pillar. With more money flowing in than ever before, valuations have ballooned despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. The last year has seen record franchise and club sales in the NFL, NBA, Premier League, and Serie A. Listen in as some of the most prominent sports investors and owners dig into the logic behind their investment theses, how they make specific investment decisions, and where investment in global sports is going.

Sharpening Your Edges: The Role of Analytics in Sports Betting and Fantasy Sports

Dejan Mitkovski - VP of Data Analytics, FanDuel
Grant Cloud - Senior Director of Data Strategy, PrizePicks
Meghan Chayka - Co-Founder and CEO, Stathletes
André Snellings - Senior Writer, ESPN
Lisa Kerney (moderator) - FanDuel TV Talent and Events Host, FanDuel

 

As sports betting and fantasy sports continue to expand throughout the US, sports gaming enthusiasts, sportsbooks, and fantasy operators will push each other to become more statistically sophisticated. While not all bettors are leveraging advanced analytics in their strategies, the common consumer now has access to more data and analytical tools than ever before. Therefore, this panel will discuss how consumers are receiving and utilizing this new mass of data, as well as the successful strategies that sportsbooks and fantasy operators are seeing from statistically savvy market participants. Senior data scientists from FanDuel and PrizePicks will provide insights into the modeling that goes into setting lines, while perspectives from ESPN and Stathletes will share how the underlying data is collected and translated to fans and clients. Panelists will also discuss the analytics and real-time decision making that go into new and popular betting and gaming formats, such as live odds (FanDuel), player projections (PrizePicks), and many more.

Start Your Engines: How Data is Fueling NASCAR’s Strategy to Engage an Evolving Customer Base

Steve Phelps - President, NASCAR
Jill Gregory - EVP and General Manager, Sonoma Raceway
Justin Marks - Founder and Owner, Trackhouse Entertainment Group
Joe Pompliano (moderator) - Host of Joe Pomp Show, Entrepreneur, and Investor

 

As a perennial American staple, NASCAR has steadily increased viewership over the last few years, with on average about 3 million viewers watching each race in 2022. In this new sports age, this panel will convene NASCAR leadership, team ownership, and a racetrack executive to discuss how NASCAR is innovating to drive fan satisfaction and creating an enjoyable racetrack experience for attendees. Panelists will discuss how NASCAR's strategy - including changes to the race car, new events like Chicago Street Race, a show on USA Network - has evolved to match the needs and interests of a changing fanbase. The panel will also look to the future on how NASCAR will continue to innovate and tackle key issues such as media rights deals to improve the sport.

Like and Subscribe: Co-Streaming and The Influencer Age of Esports

Karim Fernandes - Content Creator, Counter Logic Gaming
Parth Naidu - CEO, SIDO
Nick Troop - Executive Producer, POSSIBLE
Doug Watson - Director of Esports Strategic Advisory, Riot Games
Greg Kim (moderator) - Head of CLG, Madison Square Garden Sports

 

There is arguably no place in sports that leverages social media, co-streaming, and cutting-edge technology better than esports. Over the past 5 years, esports storytelling has evolved, introduced new personalities, and made it possible for influencers to become bona fide superstars with tens of millions of followers and billions of views across YouTube, Twitch, and other streaming platforms. Fans are no longer content in having a single option for engaging with their favorite team or sport; they want options. Utilizing influencers, alt streams, and other technology, esports is developing strong connections with an extremely loyal fan base, scaling to new audiences, and generating unique integrations for partner brands. Join us to hear content creators, event producers, and sports leagues are using technology to change sports storytelling with new technology, virtual watch parties, and new forms of social engagement. This panel brings together perspectives from Riot Games, POSSIBLE, CLG, and SIDO to discuss the age of influences and co-streaming in esports and what it means for the development of the industry going forward.

The Chess Renaissance: Modern Challenges for an Ancient Game

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!

Raising The Stakes: The Evolution of Poker Strategy

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.

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.