SSAC20: Reinventing a Business:The Future of Sports Business

Published June 28, 2023, 2:20 p.m. by Naomi Charles

similar answers when my team gets asked

when you when you you know I worked for

on location what do you do the first

question out of the mouth is wait a

moment what is on location explain that

to me to that point raise your hand if

you know what on location experience is

is in this audience so that's pretty

good so we got to raise it to the ESPN

Plus level that's our goal but what we

so we're gonna establish a brand whether

it's on location or something else that

you recognize that everyone in this room

says I know exactly what on location

does second is we're gonna develop a

product that is starts with the purchase

and ends with the brag meaning every

element of as soon as you decide to go

somewhere we want to touch you in a way

in bringing you into the event before

you ever leave when you get on site and

then when you get home that product that

we're going to build is going to be

something that you're going to think

about when you think about experiences

and then the third thing is we're going

to be relentless in making sure we're

bringing you in the most premium

experiences you've ever had in your life

across everything that you'd want to do

live so we're in the middle of that

transformation now we've only owned the

business for two months it's really new

however we're making fast inroads in

terms of all the different elements and

you're gonna start seeing the results in

the coming months and for the audience

your biggest assets are obviously we

have the Super Bowl the n-c-double-a

Final Four we've got

all the major golf events all the major

tennis events all the music events

across the country you know that you can

think of we do work with but more

importantly New York Fashion Week freeze

UFC you name it everything that you want

to do we can help bring you to it and we

can create bespoke events too that are

off our grid that you may want to do on

a personal level we can create those as

well your business has always been a

pretty traditionally run business go to

Ticketmaster get tickets go to events

now you've had to change that and you

said the biggest reluctance or the

biggest obstacle is people kind of

resisting change yeah we think about it

that so Jimmy use the word friction

which I think many people would think of

when they think of ticketing the

industry's basically work the same for

decades right so it's ten o'clock and a

Friday you line up and you know big

imbalance between supply and demand race

conditions to try to get those tickets

there's box there's brokers trying to

get them you get the ticket you get an

anonymous barcode you have no you can do

whatever you want with that barcode and

then you enter the menu with a paper

ticket right I mean that's that's kind

of how the industry has worked for for

decades so in the last few years we've

we fundamentally changed that right so

the the presence technology and now this

year with the evolution of safe tix

which really fundamentally changes that

barcode we're solving what we talked

about is the identity problem right so

for years you know who bought the ticket

but you have no idea who is at the venue

right which means if you're an artist or

a sports team or Broadway producer you

really don't know who your fan is so in

solving that identity problem it

fundamentally transforms what we can do

with the fan experience it gives you

know venue operators and content much

greater control to really engage those

consumers in a personalized way so lots

of great opportunity but but it's hard

or change you're changing an industry

that has worked the same way for 20-plus

years and not to flatter present company

but you know I've been in this business

a long time and the the adoption of

change at Ticketmaster at the company

has been well known well discussed and

well received you seem much more open to

the whims not the whims the demands of

your clients and the venues and the

teams to take on some of these

challenges cuz Amy you want to know

everybody who's in that venue and their

behavior

man not a win right yeah arch is a very

semantic climb but a very good one

yeah hundred percent when I have been in

this a long time you were closer to

who's in see 25 years ago Paper Tickets

we had two communications with Berlin's

season ticket-holders

here's your invoice for the season

here's your invoice for the playoffs

right food didn't change drastically the

experience Gideon now I look at the 25

year transition and everything has

changed and the demand for identity is

so important for us so it's important

for us to make sure that we're meeting

the needs of the clients that are coming

in for you know from a sales perspective

if you're looking to profile those

clients to make sure that if you need to

sell tickets so you have those other

clients I mean even just coming into the

building we just invested in six you

know destination dispatch elevators

we're the only arena in the country that

has them that thanks to Ticketmaster

when you scan your ticket it tells you

what elevator to goes who and you're

into the building so we all have a

frictionless goal that we're looking for

and the demand and the experience the

guest services like every single aspect

of this change and you have to change

not only your decision-making process

but we had to change bricks and mortar

like we have to change how that building

right looks and operates and and just

trying to meet the continuing demands

yes some of you in this room don't know

time before social media and we'll get

to it but that has changed how we

actually make decisions and respond you

know what's still male we didn't even

have the email when we when I joined

that group there are some numbers of you

with their professional sports teams

NFL's and the NBA teams right where are

you seeing 95% mobile entry right 95% of

consumers are entering the venue with

their device where 85 right now you're

85 yeah we were we were eight percent

four five years ago that's rapid Wow we

created a special door just if you would

please use your mobile and we and was 8

percent adoption and now it's you know

it's 85 and really probably because we

haven't taken some of our suite clients

and other people and and transition them

to mobile but you've also I mean we've

been forced we collectively as an

industry

been forced to make these changes

because the consumer wants more and it's

far easier to stay at home and really

experience ports through your

programming than it is to go to the live

event sometimes it's really not easy to

go to the live event well I think it's I

would actually twist the language guide

from forests doing to inspired by the

consumer interests because I think the

consumer as you're watching what

consumers are interested in they kind of

like the mobile ticketing they like the

ease of it and also when you give them

those surprised and delights through the

platforms then they think it's a benefit

if it's if it makes their whole

experience easier whether it's ordering

food or getting information or finding

about other things happening in the

venue that they'd want to engage and

that's where our business really comes

in I love and it's I'm excited about the

technology piece of this for two reasons

one is it'll built helped us build a

better product and relationship with our

consumer and two is it's going to better

help us serve our partners you know

we're venue partners we're partners with

people providing events like what

Jimmy's doing and we're ticketing

partners because Amy is a big partner of

ours too and for us to share the

information across all the different

channels that's gonna make all of our

businesses stronger look just to give

you a sense in the last two years for

the NFL alone they've had the between

the league in the clubs they have

identified five million fans and they

didn't know before right so your ability

to get to go and understand who are

those five million fans I've got a VIP

premium consumer I've got somebody who's

buying at the last minute I've seen

somebody that I've never seen before in

my database so how do you start to

develop great products and programs and

use that you know it's not just

ticketing to sell ticket but it's

actually driving your business in other

ways and if I could add it's not just in

the venue like our footprint has grown

right so we just implemented an app that

is for the development that we have out

front the retail space so it's not just

when they enter in your building you're

trying to do the street to see from a

much farther distance than you are just

waiting til somebody goes for your

turnstile so you want to know them in

advance and what is going on and what

they're doing before they come to the

event I will agree with you Paul that

the benefits far away the challenges but

getting people to adopt to mobile can be

a challenge for the franchises and the

team operators I know that but once it

happens

it generally goes personal question and

and here's the thing is that there's

always gonna people that are gonna drag

behind so this is my third industry I've

been in that's been through

transformation I went through I worked

in print and I helped that organization

move from a magazine to a multi-platform

offering I worked in radio where we went

from terrestrial into digital streaming

and on-demand now in this experience

business I'm watching the same thing

happen where there's groups of people

that are going to stay in the in what

was and want to hold on to it then there

are those people like the people sitting

in front of you that are going forward

into what's the future that's what's

gonna change everything and we're gonna

look back and think about it isn't

obvious but at the time you know right

now it's all about connecting those two

points one of the conversations I had

recently was with a high-level executive

and I want to start with Jimmy on this

the need to get younger okay and the

focus on youth one Commissioner I spoke

to is like most of their time is trying

to figure out how to make their product

more relevant to a young audience I mean

I know you're spending a lot of time

yeah so so again top priority for ESPN

and and so if you look if you just take

a step back and you look at the younger

audience right now and and and and

what's happening out there there's

there's a lot of multitasking obviously

there's a move from the bigger screen to

the to the smaller screens there's less

of an appetite to watch nine-inning

baseball games or full games and and so

what we're doing it we're not sitting

idle right you know status quo is a

recipe for disaster or at least a recipe

for irrelevance and so we are very much

looking at an open world where we're not

necessarily taking the approach of if

you build it they will come we're saying

we need to be where the younger

generation is right now so you know I

just a few years ago we may have taken

that approach which is put all of our

resources resources and investment in

are owned and operated properties and

obviously that is still the number one

priority for us but we are also doing a

fantastic job on Instagram

we have a native sports center that's

available on on snap we have a great

presence well over 3 million followers

tik-tok in a very very short amount of

time so there's just this idea of going

where the fans are and then hopefully

this is rising tide concept where we're

able to introduce our content our brands

our products on those platforms and then

have them spend more time on

owned-and-operated so a couple years ago

I was speaking at a sales conference and

we were just starting to really engage

around this topic and-and-and-and and I

made the point that I just made and

afterwards some folks came up to me and

said you know I just want to want you

know I have a couple teenagers and they

were introduced to Sports Center on snap

and as a result now they're watching

SportsCenter on traditional television

so right that that's exactly what we're

going for here but again we're not we're

not looking at these social platforms as

marketing vehicles we are actually and

we're also not just taking what's airing

on traditional television and cutting it

up and throwing it up on Instagram we

are creating native experiences on these

platforms we just hired a guy named Omar

Raja who have created house of

highlights and he's now he's not

responsible for many things but one of

those things is SportsCenter on

Instagram and he's doing a fantastic job

there so just being open I think is

point one point two is how we're

covering the games you know it can't

just be the way we've been covering the

games for the past 30 40 years you know

we need to we need to be innovating and

try new things and not being afraid to

fail and so a couple of examples there

are you know putting mics on players aim

you and I were talking about this

earlier you know for spring training

baseball we've had a lot of success in

terms of giving the younger generation

access to players we hear repeatedly

younger generation wants access and

authenticity so for me I hear that you

hear those words I immediately think

exposure to athletes while they're on

the field are are on the court and so

we're doing that you know we had Kris

Bryant and Anthony Rizzo miked up for a

Cubs game recently and it was gold for

us and I have teenagers I pressure test

this in my own house and you

i watch you know they will not turn away

when players are might you know I grew

up with this with NFL Films they've got

a fantastic job there you know if you

hear Joe Montana at the line of

scrimmage you cannot pretty cool change

the channel and so we're really leaning

into that and then just beyond just

putting mics on players which is just

one little example it's you know what

are we doing in terms of data and

analytics so in focusing on Major League

Baseball for a second we have we have a

product called statcast for the home run

derby and our one wild card game we give

fans an alternative way to view the

broadcast looking through a data lens so

trajectory and and by the way that that

has worked really well for us we've

gotten great feedback from from fans and

from the media and so we're gonna be

doing five more regular season baseball

game to a Hubble Yankees Red Sox game

regular season game this year will will

have an alternative broadcast will have

the primary game on ESPN one but will

have an alternative broadcast on ESPN

two which is really focused on data and

analytics so of examples and so as we

all as a panel as a whole as we look at

the panel topic of the future of sports

business do you see that type of all

players not all but players being might

multiple broadcasts of the same events I

mean in the future of the broadcast

experience do you know a lot of this

depends on the league in players and the

uses exactly you can't just do it though

I know we would never do anything

without partner as closely with with the

league's but yes I believe like if you

look at what we're doing with the WNBA

like we have real-time access for

regular-season games to these women and

it's fantastic feedback has been off the

charts

so yeah fast forward five ten years from

now Abe and I expect this to be much

more commonplace I will say the XFL I

really I like what they've been doing

with a lot of that give the audience a

feel for the future of the fan

experience in a venue what's going to be

entirely different either access ingress

egress food order what do you see being

really difficult I think I'm just

building off of what Jimmy was saying is

that you know the first of all the

athletes they're gonna drive that

decision as well because they are part

of the market and they understand what

it means to have direct connections

because they were fans too and they're

gonna realize what that connections all

about also what consumers have learned

especially Millennials and younger have

said is we expect direct access that's

what Instagram met direct messaging is

all about I can I can direct DM my

favorite athlete and get a response and

they'll actually talk to me yeah so the

building on that expectation is in the

live experience you're gonna expect to

have that relationship as well you're

gonna have that open forum and when you

don't get it it'll feel disappointing

there for the athletes gonna know that

that connection is important for their

business their brand and their future

which is part of their where they're

going the value of the other pieces of

the business beyond what's on the field

for them so we're building on that so

what we're seeing the future is is

helping you immerse yourself into

something that you want to do when

you're on site and to make the fullest

of the experience whether it's day of or

weekend of in the major events like the

Super Bowl that actually starts unlike a

Thursday when we when we do live events

and dinners and private parties and meet

and greets and you're on the field and

you're going into the locker room and

you're going on tours all the way to the

actual game itself you're flying in my

favorite part is if you're let's say the

Eagles fan imagine a moment going to the

your Super Bowl in a long time you drive

into the parking lot you get on a team

plane and then you land in in a venue

and you experience it with the with the

fans the athletes the coaches and then

you come you're on the field to the

celebration and then you come home on

the plane and you're in the parking lot

with Eagles fans that is amazing and

that's what we do well those experience

though be accessible to all they sound

very with all due respect very elitist I

love that and I'm glad you asked that

question because yes because there's all

different tiers of it there's always

going to be that bespoke experience

that's going to feel like that

aspiration and then there's gonna be the

ones that are more accessible the

analogy I keep drawing is it's similar

to an airline jet there's the first

class and then there's coach but these

you're still on the same jet getting

from place to place we are we are

expecting to create the same similar

high-value experience

some bespoke experiences no matter what

your dollar and price point is it's not

just about large dollars it's about the

emphasis on the experience so if you're

not if you can't get the top experience

we want every experience to deliver that

same delight and surprise I go to yeah

go ahead and I was its personalization

right and it's not just for the big

events but it's for every event so when

you know we just created this new

product that it's flexible we said you

know built for the Millennials but

there's no I'm gonna buy this seat and

you're gonna sit in this scene we're

gonna sit here and that's gonna be our

43 game experience right that communal

be able to move around have the food

change every month have different

experiences like people want to say this

is the content I want this is the beer I

want this is the experience I want with

my friends I want to be able to be

flexible I wanted to be able to make my

decisions last minute you know those are

some of the just daily you know there's

the big events and then there's you know

86 home games worth of and 40 events

concerts that people want to be able to

they want what they want and we are

doing our best to try to meet them in

the middle to deliver that and that's

just a continual evolution and it is

from getting into you know I drink this

beer or I have that it's it's it's a

it's a it's a demand I think it'll be

interesting to see this Jay I think you

guys published an article that said

there's this year alone there was eight

and a half billion dollars of capital

that went into new venues are opening

right so v Stadium and in LA in

Hollywood Park is gonna be opening this

summer I heard a stat on if it's true

but somebody said that Hollywood Park is

actually bigger than the original

footprint of Disneyland right so imagine

the it's not just about the actual the

game experience or the concert but how

do you extend that right and

unbelievable entertainment experiences

outside of that so I think the options

are partnering with some of these state

of Ihram venues and to figure out you

know the art of the possible and how we

we really can reimagine that experiences

there's a lot of runway there and so

with Jimmy picaro's boys go to TD Garden

in 2013 to watch the Bruins the biggest

change for their experience will be what

just ultra personalized personalized and

I think fast right that nobody I think

the the idea of like we just spend a

hundred million dollars and we had a

bath

there's no ROI but it wasn't about

bathrooms right it was about making sure

that people could get an out and

increasing the applet and and and you

know we weren't about to open these new

grab and goes and that your experience

is gonna be very quick I'm going to do

my credit card and basically grab my

product so I think it's it's they want

to have that personalization look the

best thing about live sports right now

is that people want to go and they want

to be with people like people and have

that experience that communal experience

so we need to make sure the product that

they're seeing is strong and we don't

control the product so it's all those

other touch points that they get

everything that they you know want to

experience in that time frame and that

they leave with this whether the team

won or lost that they had a good

experience right that they just felt

fabulous about coming in and it was easy

they just it's it's got to be easy for

him because I'm competing with you the

XFL I think it'll be interesting XFL the

PLL premier lacrosse great you see some

of these these newer leagues have an

opportunity to take risks that perhaps

some of the more established leaves so I

think it'll be interesting to see and

learn from them and how they're changing

the experience how does that product

change can you do some of these things

at scale and they're obviously engaging

their their players in a way that that

some of the professional teams does I'm

interested to see how those play out in

particular yeah I think that's exactly

right I think it goes back to almost the

first thing is what you asked us with

the differences it's the changing of

behavior you can't change everyone's

behavior overnight it starts with the

influencers or the first first groups of

people to respond and then it permeates

from there and as long as they get

exactly what they're seeking then

everybody's gonna follow in and learn

how to change behavior you cannot change

every single behavior in one time great

question here that I want to follow up

on because it's relevant I spend more

time in the in traffic than I do in my

seat how do you get me in and out of

venues faster Amy oh you want me to

solve the Boston traffic have twenty

minutes left you stop

what is it must eat less the biggest

complaint you get yeah so traffic is a

huge issue and listen we're fortunate we

are one of two arenas that sit on top a

train station with a with the T and we

have a lot of people that are already

downtown what I'm hoping is that there

you can expand the experience and we

just you know had a billion dollar

investment in this wonderful mixed-use

development which I think you know

everybody is going because you're trying

to you know if we can tracked people a

little bit sooner and have them have

some of those experiences and come in

and and extend that timeframe a little

bit for some that's a possibility but

traffic is a real issue I mean it's

awful in Boston they'll tell you it's a

it's a big challenge so just trying to

be flexible you know changing times

doing whatever we can to make sure that

we can get people in effectively because

you don't the whole idea is not to miss

what they came for they don't want to

miss the first three songs of a concert

they don't want to miss the the tip-off

or they could miss a goal in a hockey

game and that was it Jimmy this one's

for you

eustress ESPN plus is it's it's the goal

to acquire more rights or to currently

develop the assets that you currently

have yes both opportunistic we have the

best programming a rights acquisitions

team on the planet they've been doing

this for a really really long time and

so we're we're being strategic in terms

of what's available you know a lot of

sports rights are not available because

we and our competitors have them already

but when things do come up as we talked

about UFC top ranked boxing etc we're

being opportunistic so but the content

is is is part of the equation as I said

before but also making sure that we're

constantly improving the product so you

know the content you got the user

experience and and and both our

priorities there's a lot of rice coming

up you know in the next three to five

years well Jeff which could be

attractive to Plus correct and you're so

far you're not seeing any properties

reluctant to go on Plus no quite quite

the opposite I mean especially when you

announce 7.6 million subscribers people

understand that this is not a niche

product right there there's their scale

to be had there

good question here from the audience

real quickly if anyone wants to jump in

what are you learning from the XFL said

I think it's still early days but the

demand has been has been great right I

mean the what I love about the XFL is

it's it's more accessible right the

entry point for an XFL ticket is is very

affordable you know they're trying to

change the experience and make sure that

you know the average American can can go

to sports which is fantastic right I

think that's that is one of the

challenges that the sports injury

industry faces is I mean anytime you

have an imbalance between supply and

demand the price of the tickets continue

to go up so I think XFL PLL these are

great opportunities for to broaden

access to to more consumers I look it is

a great place to experiment with the

with the XFL ticket price we haven't

done a deal with them yet but what a

great place for us to really dig deeper

into what the pressure test the the

depths of an experience what we can

actually do and how we can bring a fan

at a lower ticket price into a higher

level of experience it's going to teach

us a lot I would I would just chime in

there and say we have not talked about

this yet which is miracle sports betting

you know if you watch an exit fill game

right now at the bottom you'll see lines

and spreads and over-unders and and I've

actually had fans tell me that that

they're sticking around because they

want to see if the games gonna beat the

you know the over got it and so I'm sure

the league's are paying by the way we're

really only doing that right now with

with the XFL going back to my point

before we would never do that without

without lis consent and partnership but

I'm sure that they're paying attention

to that and for the audience's

edification I would say that we're still

in the middle of the first inning on

sports betting and its incorporation

into the sports industry do you guys

disagree do you have a different point

of view on where we are in sports

betting no it's the top of the first and

in my opinion we're just getting going

here and what an opportunity for

everyone I mean especially as you're

thinking about being more relevant to

the younger generation when you're

talking about expanding your audience

look if we did if we did absolutely

nothing here from an ESPN perspective we

would benefit more people invested in

the game more people watching which

which is good for business but but we

are absolutely not sitting idle here we

are investing heavily in the space

couple questions here still on

coronavirus Amy how with all Amy

Amy how and Amy Latimer a couple of

questions here about with the regulation

saying sits stand six feet away from

someone next to you lack of contact

quality of food how can you think really

and guarantee fan safety I'm not sure

what we can guarantee I think that we

are trying to do the right thing for our

fans and our associates and taking all

the the best practices and it's it's a

learning process I think for all of us

right now but I think putting we're

gonna sit back and wait I think trying

to be proactive and and and putting our

fans in the best place possible with

what we know is is what we can do right

now I agree with I mean listen at the

end of the day we have an obligation to

protect our fans our artists our

employees so that's job number one and I

think similarly we're all working

through this together working closely

with authorities and and making sure

that as we get better and you know more

informed about what's going on that

we're making the right decisions it's

it's early right question here I'm not

sure I fully understand it I think Paul

could be best for you with so many

options available for fans and ticketing

how do you identify a unified fan base

well that's a great Dana data and

analytics right so frankly and you know

that's we we didn't speak about it

really a lot on the panel yet but the

data and analytics underpinning of our

organization is going to be pretty

significant that's a big part of the

build we're doing right now is the

technology the data understanding how we

can apply behavior and information I

mean we're not they

it would be wonderful if our mobile

ticketing or RFID type systems could

help us deliver information that gets

allows us to serve our customers better

to give them opportunities to help them

to discover the opportunities a little

bit more customized you know so we have

a vision for a time where you're gonna

be able to we're gonna be able to

understand enough about you to help you

understand more about us and it's not

not designed to be creepy it's designed

to be frankly better serve and and so

we're that's our aspiration and using

the underpinning to do it

there's a lot of good progress made

right now in terms of understanding how

consumers want to behave and and and

help them understand it you know there's

an old adage that people don't know what

they want till you show it to them and

then once they show it to them they

react and tell you if they want they

still want it and as you go through that

that the level of data and analytics is

going to be significant we're making

huge investments in this space right now

right so there's a lot of discussion

around that how do you get that single

point of view into the fan so if you

know you start without a sell the

insider on ticketing and then your

ability to append that with third-party

data sources so you know you know

there's 300 400 attributes you know

about a consumer all obviously within

appropriate you know data privacy rights

but your ability to take that and

whether it's your sponsorship division

or your consular division or ticketing

how you leverage that platform right -

really - both change the experience but

to you know to drive your business in a

way that you've never made so because

you didn't have that single point pretty

powerful that that's gonna be a huge

addition to this industry right on you

know I would say you know the media

industry the financial industries they

have been deep in on data and analytics

for a long time and they've been

applying it from almost day one this

industry is going very fast into it and

I think our collective investments in

there are pretty insignificant good

question here it's a little broad but is

there one technology out there that

you're particularly excited about and

they mentioned VR AI machine learning is

there anything out there particularly

that you're excited about that you think

could impact sports business I think all

of its gonna impact sports besides

ignition right but the most I think the

most important thing is going to be us

close to the individual the full scope

of the individual whether it's through

RFID or a UI identification everything

else that we can get to understanding a

person and then you applying AI to it is

going to be the next level having the

level of intelligence that innovative

creative thinkers in the technical

engineering space is going to help us

apply and then get machines to help us

make that better that's going to have

significant impact it does start though

with understanding the consumer we have

about 10 minutes left this is where I

told them we would go to rapid fire

quick questions I'm asking for even

quicker answers so I'm gonna start this

one probably won't be real quick but I

do want to start with Jimmy and Bob Iger

the news I'm Bob Iger and if you read

one book this year I would suggest all

you young people read Bob iger's book

what I mean talk about someone who

reinvented a business right you're you

worked with them closely what is the big

that's too hard but learning from Bob

Iger that you can share with the

audience was you look 10 years ago I was

at Yahoo very very happy there and and

and Bob and I met and it was not looking

to leave but you spend five minutes with

Bob and you say to yourself this is

someone I want to work for that's what

happened to me so I joined in in 2010

and I've been working directly for him

ever since and it's been the best ten

years of my professional career by a

mile

bob is calm he's thoughtful he provides

air cover when you need it he's not a

micromanager

and say the things a couple days that

I've learned from Bob that are most

important would be first optimism we've

talked about the challenges you

mentioned them before Abe in our

business but you know no one wants to

work for a pessimist and and so you know

Bob and I speak literally seven days a

week we have for the entire time I've

worked for him and and there's always

this this this atmosphere of optimism

and so I try to make sure that cascades

down throughout our organization yet the

other thing I'd say is is

decisiveness which is a pretty awesome

combination to have from a boss an

optimistic boss who's gonna make

decisions and not just ask for another

meeting and so I'll walk into Bob's

office and I'll say here's the issue and

and we'll talk about it and one of two

things will happen you know you either

say your call I'll support you either

way or he'll say which is very rare

he'll say here's what you need to do but

but usually he and I will align very

quickly so I'd say optimism and

decisiveness that's really good stuff I

want to move on to the but I will say

that book was great it's a great book

you were very lucky to work with him as

long as you have great you've also

worked with Bob a lot to the news Shea

Peck yeah so so we announced a new CEO

and he was the gentleman who was running

the theme parks but in 2014 or 15 I was

running what was called at the time

Disney Interactive which was one of five

segments at the Walt Disney Company and

Bob chihak was moving over to run the

theme parks at the time he was running

consumer products and so he and I got to

know each other really well during that

process because I ended up taking on the

consumer products business that he was

moving away from so we spent a lot of

time together we both sat at Bob's table

Bob iger's table for many years right

next to each other so we have a good

relationship he's a big sports fan he's

very straightforward very direct and I

think we're gonna be in good shape and

about outside of the coronavirus cuz

we've hit on that I do want to ask the

panel a story in sports business you're

watching very closely over the next 12

to 16 months I'll start with you I'm

watching the media rights frankly as we

go forward because the impact on the

league's will be significant and that

that obviously impacts my business

sports betting it's coming in

Massachusetts soon it's already out in a

few states but the legislature and

everybody it seems things are softening

things some people came out really

strict and hard and it seems like

there's some retreat so in a good way

for the fans I think so I think that's

the most important thing for us right

now is it is becoming more and more two

arenas yes yeah the thing is we need to

be ready for what's gonna be nice is I'm

gonna bet on the neck who makes the next

free throw and we need to have the tech

now

Lachie enable to to give to give fans

that ability and that's you know that'll

take some time and that could be 5g into

technologies hard to yeah yeah no

latency Jimmy what story I'm gonna echo

that I'm sorry Maureen but what sports

betting look we're we're invested on the

news and information side but we're

starting to think about how can we to

use the term of the day how can we take

friction out of the process how can we

facilitate things and make it easier for

for folks to be placing bets a me you're

not gonna say sports betting I mean

listen I'm excited to see how the gender

equality and in sports plays out or

anything I think the u.s. women's soccer

team using their voice the progress with

the WNBA and collective bargaining so I

think it's you know women using their

platform to do great things in industry

there's going to be more of that and

candidly I welcome it finish this

sentence for me please Amy how I'll

start with you the sports industry needs

to do a better job of making youth

sports more accessible to everyone Jimmy

are giving fans more and better access

to athletes I'm gonna say diversity of

thought not just gender but just

diversity across other industries just

different people we need to we need to

infuse some other thoughts until I think

our industry yeah I agree

in addition to bringing in diversity of

thought people outside the industry I

also think that the sports industry has

to spend a little bit time looking at

all the other industries and learning

about the the trials and tribulations

they have gone through because that

could be an and probably will be our

future as well

Jessica Gilman I think was telling us

backstage about 40% of the attendees

students I'm sure all of them want to

get a job all of your jobs at one day

the advice Jimmy I'll start with you and

work out what advice do you give the

young people who want to be in the

sports business be curious you know it's

it's very easy to access information

right now so devour as much as you can

and then I'd say be patient you know I'd

say take the job you know you don't have

to hold out for the perfect job take the

job

get in there regardless of where it is

work hard don't let anyone outwork you

and and and then treat people well

people with respect and then be patient

be clear with your manager or managers

in terms of what you want to do what

your passion area is but at the same

time be patient I benefited from that

going back to my first conversation with

Bob Iger ten years ago I told Bob I was

a sports fan and ultimately I got the

opportunity to work for ESPN it's

telling him work that you're sports fan

work for you because sometimes telling

people if you're overly saying you're a

sports fan sometimes that turns off yeah

some people yeah it worked for me yeah

good your advice I say a few things one

is check your ego at the door to embrace

ambiguity you know you're not gonna

always have very clearly defined roles

so stepping into that is a great thing

and then three I think at some point you

have to realize that EQ and our cue

matter as much if not more than our cue

just being the smartest person in the

room sometimes isn't enough very good

Amy Latimer so I'm a big fan of raise

your hand for the job above your head I

believe that so many people are worried

about having exactly on their resume and

their job experience what the job is and

I think if you have 75%

raise your hand go in there make a case

you will learn the rest you will

surround yourself with good people I

agree being good to everyone else around

you is a quality that I think is is so

important and put yourself out there and

I agree also take any job right now just

if you're chosen to get into sports but

take it for the company that you believe

in their culture right because I think

the culture is so important for you to

be successful that how they celebrate

and how they treat their employees is a

really important factor so make sure the

that's for me that the best decision to

make

the advice I got yours when I came into

the the first stage of business had a

college was the advice I would just

stick with which is really simple first

of all be where the money is

so whatever job you take try to be as

close to the money as possible but the

second which is more important is don't

fall in love with a company name or what

the company is today fall in love with a

boss that you're going to work for and

the people that you're going to work

with because those are the

well that will make the company what it

is tomorrow if you fall into the love of

the company that it is today without the

other part of it more than likely you're

not going to be growing as fast as you

could and Paul just elaborate be next to

the money meaning be next to the money

meaning if you're gonna if you're gonna

be working in a company make sure you

know the ideas if whatever you want to

do be as close to why the purpose of

that company matters so if a company you

know with ESPN the company matters in a

specific way and be as close to that as

you possibly can and my company be as

close to the experiences who possibly

can't contribute to the experience be

exactly what the consumer is trying to

buy mine's far less profound but just be

beat early for an interview and be

prepared alright so one word answer hot

sport you're keeping an eye on Amy

Latimer oh the PLL I hope all rebels

yeah I'd love it I love watching it's

awesome interesting Oh XFL XFL Jamie

potaro this is good for you

NFL that's a hot sport for you still

NFL's a lot of growth here we have 8%

growth yes you know I'm with you I think

it's had a great run Amy how other than

my kids youth golf right now um I gotta

go with them XFL on PLL excited to see

how those leagues emerged we are in

Boston Tom Brady plays for which team

next year I will start with Jimmy potaro

easier to Los Angeles around she says

the Rams I like Amy Halley's the team

that he feels most comfortable with

[Laughter]

[Music]

Patriots

absolutely I'm not participating Astros

I guess

my guess is he does not play for the New

England Patriots it's all made us Astro

scandal good or bad for baseball Paul

absolutely horrible new Yankee fan that

was awful and by the way sorry Boston

but it's just horrible as a fan of any

sport you know look there's a reason why

there are rules and sports is because

that's what the definition of how you

can eat as soon as you change and alter

that it's beyond the scenes it's unfair

and that's not what a sport is based on

kind of play by the rules Jimmy will

increase interest in baseball

definitely newsworthy I mean so many

people are paying attention to this and

we're seeing you know we're covering it

across all of our platforms so yes

definitely generating a lot of fan

interest maybe how it's terrible is

listen as a mom it just sets a terrible

precedent for the youth yeah great

session I want to thank the panelists I

want to thank MIT Sloan Jess Gelman

daryl morey but for Paul Amy Jimmy and

Amy we will be around today love to say

hi have a great rest of your day

see everyone

[Applause]

Resources:

Abonnement IPTV IPTV

Recommended for you

Business / Jul 22, 2023

Stu saves the day 😎 #amazonprimevideo #harvey #louislitt #suits #vira…

Business / Jul 22, 2023

"Fr Stu" – Conversation with Mark Wahlberg at the Napa Institute

Business / Jul 22, 2023

Father Stu | Mark Wahlberg | Beyond the Vision | Trailer

Business / Jul 22, 2023

Father Stu movie review

Business / Jul 22, 2023

Sony / Columbia Pictures / Municipal Pictures (Father Stu)

SSAC20: Reinventing a Business:The Future of Sports Business

Resources:

Tags:

Recommended for you

Similar videos

Categories

Tags

Quick Links