SSAC

Paul Caine - President, Endeavor’s IMG Events and On Location

In the last decade, traditional sponsorships have evolved into broader partnerships with deeper integrations and expectations. The current age of data and digitization has also fundamentally impacted sports partnerships in recent years: we are getting close to the "holy grail" of determining the value behind partnerships. On this panel, we combine holistic perspectives from the PGA of America, Wasserman, Endeavor, and FanDuel to provide insights into how data analytics has revolutionized sports partnerships and allowed both the brands and talent to calculate successes and failures.

Gerry Cardinale - Founder and Managing Partner, RedBird Capital Partners

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.

Dejan Mitkovski - VP of Data Analytics, 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.

Steve Phelps - President, NASCAR

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.

Karim Fernandes - Content Creator, Counter Logic Gaming

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.

Jennifer Shahade - Chess Champion, Professional Poker Player, Author

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!

Nate Silver - Statistician, Author and Founder FiveThirtyEight

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.

Alex Baldwin - President, Korn Ferry Tour

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.

Jessie Irvine - Professional Pickleball Player, PPA Tour & MLP's Florida Smash

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.

Bill James - Former Senior Baseball Operations Advisor, Boston Red Sox

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.