SportsTravel Podcast

World TeamTennis has been around for years and has certainly has had to adapt over that time. But the recently completed 45th season was the most unusual one yet. Instead of playing matches in the league's nine home markets, the league co-founded by Billie Jean King played the entire season at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The end result was a July 12–August 1 tournament that featured the highest television ratings in league history. In this podcast with World TeamTennis CEO Carlos Silva, SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz discusses how the league landed on the resort as host, how it approached testing of its players and how it was able to allow spectators in the stands — a rarity in the pandemic era of professional sports.

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Few commissioners of professional sports have had to undergo the immediate challenges that faced Lisa Baird when she took over the National Women’s Soccer League. While her professional background included a decade as chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and a similar role before that at the National Football League, not much can prepare a leader for a worldwide pandemic. Just two days after Baird began her role on March 10, the league shut down its 2020 season and began crafting a return-to-pay strategy. That process ended up serving as the NWSL Challenge Cup, which concluded July 26 after a monthlong tournament in the Salt Lake City area. In this conversation with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, Baird discusses how the league managed to keep its players virus-free after an initial scare that kept the league’s Orlando team at home, lessons learned from the experience and how the NWSL was able to become the first professional league that returned to play after the pandemic began. We also discuss the league’s expansion plans in Louisville, Kentucky, and Los Angeles, and the importance of Tokyo being able to stage the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games in 2021.

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Lacrosse has been one of the few sports seeing steadily increased participation growth in recent years. But the coronavirus pandemic has had an outsized impact on US Lacrosse, the sport’s national governing body, as it has for many organizations. In this episode of the SportsTravel Podcast with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, longtime president and CEO Steve Stenersen discusses how the NGB has adjusted, why it’s taken a relatively cautious approach to return-to-play and the inherent pressures in getting kids back on the field of play, especially at privately run tournaments. We also delve into issues of systemic racism in the sport and how the NGB is approaching the issue, the sport’s chances in its push for the Olympic program and the status of the organization’s next LaxCon event and the Women’s World Championships scheduled for Maryland in 2021.

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Minneapolis has found itself at the center of attention in a national and now global discussion on issues of systemic racism and police reform in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department. In this episode of the SportsTravel Podcast, SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz sits down with Melvin Tennant, the president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis and the executive director of Sports Minneapolis. We have a frank dialogue about how Floyd's death has been felt in Minneapolis, ways that systemic racism has been reflected in the travel and hospitality community, suggestions for better hiring practices within the industry and how sports can help lead the way in recovery not just on this issue but on the many economic issues facing destinations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

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For decades, two organizations had their hands in the majority of adaptive sports opportunities in the United States: Disabled Sports USA and Adaptive Sports USA. In May, those groups announced a merger to become a new organization called Move United, a major development in the adaptive sports space the beginning of what could produce a centralized effort to advance the cause of recreation and competitive sports for people with disabilities nationwide. And with the 2028 Paralympic Summer Games on the horizon in Los Angeles, interest in adaptive sports programs are expected to rise. In this episode, SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz sits down with Glenn Merry, CEO of Move United and the former CEO of Disabled Sports USA, to discuss the merger, the rebrand, plans for more competitive events in more cities around the country, a new professional wheelchair football league and the opportunities ahead before the Games in Los Angeles. The discussion also goes into what cities and venues can do to tap into the network of organizations serving adaptive sports athletes in their communities.

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Coming off a 2019 NFL Draft that attracted an estimated 600,000 people over three days in Nashville, the professional football league felt confident the 2020 Draft in Las Vegas would be its largest one yet. And then the coronavirus pandemic sent everything in the other direction. No crowds on the Las Vegas Strip. No prospects pulling up in boats along the Bellagio fountains. Instead—four weeks before its start—the event turned virtual, with Commissioner Roger Goodell’s basement serving as the improbable focal point.

How the league shifted from a live event for hundreds of thousands to a remote event with hundreds if not thousands of questions to sort out is a remarkable tale. And in the middle of the decision was Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president for club business and league events, who oversaw the shift. In this podcast with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, O’Reilly spells out the challenges the league faced in pulling off an event that was viewed on television and online by more than 55 million people—which turned out to be a record of its own.

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The halt to sports has had a big impact on the youth market, just as it has at the collegiate and professional levels. Hear from the developers and managers of some of the largest multisport complexes in the United States on what the impact has been so far, what needs to happen next to get events back in business and why they are optimistic that youth sports can help lead the way back for the economies of many destinations.

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Live sports events may be on hold but that doesn’t mean sports salespeople should automatically hit the pause button. In this conversation with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, industry veteran Molly Arbogast, the president and CEO of POV Sports Marketing, outlines what venues, NGBs, sports organizations and brands should be doing now that the sports landscape has shifted. And she discusses what they should be thinking about when it comes to sponsorship even before live events open back up to the public.

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While the entire sports-event industry has attempted to navigate the recent weeks of the coronavirus pandemic and plan for some difficult weeks ahead, Running USA has been helping its members work their way through the very difficult decisions about whether their events should be canceled or rescheduled. In this episode, Running USA CEO Rich Harshbarger talks with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz about why those decisions are so challenging, the choices race directors have when it comes to their events and trends in running participation overall.

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Matt Farrell has one of the most interesting jobs in sports and certainly in the golf industry. As executive director of World Long Drive, Farrell not only oversees the tour and its lively events, he also has the intriguing title of general manager of alternative golf at the Golf Channel, which owns and operates the tour. In this conversation with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, Farrell discusses the concept of alternative golf, how the tour has been dealing with the event cancelations that are affecting the entire sports-event industry, how World Long Drive settles on its venues, and how some of the hottest issues in sports—drug testing, esports and sports betting—are playing a part in his competitions as well.

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