SSAC

On the football field, Calvin Johnson took the world by storm; his nine-year career in Detroit ended with his donning a gold jacket in Canton. But since retirement, Calvin has also stood out in the business world, launching a cannabis company and partnering with Harvard to research its impact on CTE. Join Calvin as he sits down with Bomani Jones for a deep-dive into the world of cannabis and athletes' role in its proliferation; how Calvin's football career helped him succeed in the business world; and a reflection on his Hall of Fame career.

In New York’s first 12 hours of legal online sports betting, the state recorded an estimated 5.8 million transactions. That’s a lot of demand… and data. How are books using this data to set odds, ideate around new products, and reach new fans? Given betting is inherently risky, what does “safe betting” mean and how are companies using data to promote it? Where do analytics come into play as books partner with regulators to monitor the integrity of markets? And what can gamblers learn from the way books and players use data to manage risk? Go behind the scenes with FanDuel, Caesars, and member of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team, Jeff Ma, to understand The Numbers Behind the Books.

NFTs have redefined asset ownership - for the first time, people can rightfully claim their stake in digital assets. Brands have created NFT sneakers for people to collect and trade while on the metaverse platforms like Decentraland and Sandbox, people can buy, sell, and rent virtual plots of land. Games such as Axie Infinity even allow users to earn money from their owned in-game assets. The promise of NFTs already upended many established industries and has set its sights on truly transforming the sports world. This panel brings together leaders from Dapper Labs, Ticketmaster, The National Football League, and the Drone Racing League to discuss the future of NFTs and the impact they will have on the sports world.

Promising greater transparency, improved security, and decentralization, blockchain technology has the potential to fundamentally upend the status quo. Some analysts even predict it will be the next multi-trillion dollar opportunity. While the average sports fan may be familiar with the NBA Top Shot’s of the world, the sports industry continues to be at the cutting edge of innovative blockchain technology applications that extend far beyond NFTs. Headed into 2022, organizations are thinking critically about blockchain in their long-term strategy. How will pro sports leagues continue to embrace this new tech? What new products will consumers start seeing? This panel will bring together leaders shaping the blockchain strategy for some of the biggest players in sports, defining future use cases for the technology across ticketing, sponsorships, fan tokens, and much more.

There’s truly no denying it: sports gambling is big, and it’s here to stay. In just three years since the Supreme Court ruling to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, legal sports betting has quadrupled in the U.S. with nearly half of all U.S. states now live. In New York alone, the state took in over $1.5 billion in bets in its first 23 days. While the sports betting market booms, sportsbooks are intensely focused on taking a bigger piece of the pie. With this shift, gambling companies have been turning over every rock to capitalize on new customers and expand market share. This race has extended into the development of key partnerships, media property acquisition, forays into new technologies, and more. As this race heats up, this panel brings together industry leaders to discuss the current competition to capitalize on market growth and shape the future of the sports gambling space.

As esports rapidly gains popularity, leagues and teams are facing new and exciting challenges engaging their digitally native audiences. The opportunity is huge: 2.5 billion people play online games, generating nearly $1 billion in esports revenue. Leveraging social media, streaming platforms, special in person events, limited merchandise drops, and much more, esports organizations are redefining the approach to fandom. This panel brings together perspectives from CLG, FlyQuest Sports, Riot Games, and OverActive Media to discuss those strategies, what they mean for esports, and the lessons traditional sports can learn to drive better digital fan engagement.

For generations sports have relied on children inheriting their fandom from their parents or from participation in youth sports. For Gen Z, however, that may not be the case. According to a recent study, 23 percent of respondents ages 25 and below said they are passionate sports fans, compared to 42 percent of millennials. Yet, not all hope is lost, as some companies have thrived in reaching this younger demo. As sports compete for Zoomers' screens, successful marketers are turning to behavioral science and analytics to reach the youngest sector of sports fans before it's too late. Learn how leaders from Twitter, Buzzer, NASCAR, and ESPN entice young fans and engage with GenZ.

A sports fan is an enthusiastic devotee with an intense, and occasionally overwhelming, enthusiasm. Sports continue to dominate our mindshare, whether that be watching, reading, listening, or playing. This past year led to some of the most significant disruption of fandom from sports consumption to interactivity via NFTs and gambling to an ever-evolving game-day experience. With more ways to consume sports than ever before, what is the future of the fan? Is it at home with AR/VR, or is it an interactive and high-tech experience at venues? Is it more of a premium offering, or a simple get in the door membership at events? Is the season ticket dead, or will loyalty programs be even more critical moving forward? This panel brings together industry thought leaders who are leading change through entertainment, content, experiences, data, and fan interactivity. What fans want is changing - hear from those changing the game on their behalf.

Michael Rubin - CEO, Fanatics

Gary Vaynerchuk - CEO, VaynerMedia

Jessica Gelman (moderator) - CEO, Kraft Analytics Group

Serial entrepreneurs Michael Rubin and Gary Vaynerchuk are two of the most prolific disruptors in sports and entertainment. From an early embrace of technology and a focus on how customers want to engage with sports, Michael and Gary have rewritten the ecommerce, social media, and now NFT landscape while growing global brands and movements. Their shared drive for embracing the “new” has led both entrepreneurs into the NFT world and to each other with the creation of Candy Digital, a next-generation digital collectible company. Join Michael and Gary as they sit down with Jessica Gelman to discuss how the blueprint for succeeding in business has changed over time and how technological innovations are on the horizon will upend the sports ecosystem.

It may not have been obvious to those watching NHL opening night, but there were more cameras than ever pointed towards the ice. And they weren’t from your local newspaper. Over the offseason, the NHL implemented and outfitted each area with cameras that could track player and puck movement to the millisecond. With this move, the NHL fully ignited a race to find key, meaningful insights like it never had before. With the amount of data available to teams at an all-time high, and as the number of analytical GMs continues to rise, this panel brings together team analysts, analytics experts, and league executives in order to explore the current state of hockey analytics, how puck tracking has already started to shape decisions, and what it will mean even further down the road.