The Power of Sports

Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, speaker, and consultant working at the intersection of global sports, communications, and diplomacy. She specializes in Franco-United States relations through sports, is the author of Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA (Bloomsbury, 2023), “Views From the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France, 1914,” (U.S. Department of State, 2014), The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010 (Lexington Books, 2013), and her work on global sports has appeared with outlets like TIME, CNN International, The Athletic, and The New Yorker. She directs the FranceAndUS project and is an Adjunct Instructor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport.  

In this episode, I welcome Dr. Katie Lever, who is a former D-1 athlete and superb editor/freelance sports writer whose work has appeared in Global Sport Matters, Sportico, Extra Points, Forbes, and many other outlets. She is also the award-winning author of Surviving the Second Tier, a dystopian novel about the dark side of the college sports industry, She uses the Twitter and Instagram handle @leverfever. If you’ve been wondering why new episodes of the show aren’t appearing in your feed as often as they once did, it is because I have begun work as a professional coach, helping people change careers, strike a better work life balance, and fight imposter syndrome. One of the things I love about sports is how they help so many people grow, so I began training with the Coactive Training Institute in 2023 and started a company called Amplify Coaching & Consulting, LLC soon thereafter. If you or someone you know could benefit from the time and space to work with someone who can help them evolve into the person they want to be, please reach out. You can email me at [email protected], see testimonials of my coaching impact on my personal LinkedIn page, and follow my LinkedIn business page for insights and inspiration on leadership development, career growth, and much more. I am glad you’re here to listen to Dr. Lever draw on her experiences as a college athlete and college sports researcher, and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this episode, I speak with Jenny Haskel, who is the Knowledge & Insights Lead for Deloitte Sports Business Group, where she works to give organizations a competitive edge in the sports market. Jenny was a standout college soccer player at Northwestern University, and recently moved to the UK to join Deloitte’s Sports Business group in Manchester. At Deloitte, Jenny provides insights into the trends and challenges that underpin activity in all aspects of the business of sports and explores unique opportunities for organizations to proactively target these trends. She is a main contributor to Deloitte’s inaugural ‘Future of Sport’ report as well as the Annual Review of Football Finance. So please listen as I ask Jenny about what her clients are saying about sports and climate change, the rise of women’s sports, recent trends and future directions in sports business, and how businesses can help sustain sport for generations to come. 

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Donna Lopiano, who is one of the greatest softball players of all time, a trailblazing athletic director and a world-renowned advocate for gender equity in sport. She is also the founder of Sport Management Resources and the current President of The Drake Group, which is an organization committed to advancing positive legislative change in college athletics. 

Dr. Lopiano has also been inducted into thirteen halls of fame, has five honorary doctorates, and has garnered the highest praise from the biggest names in sports. As but one example, consider what the late great women’s basketball coach of the University of Tennessee, Pat Summitt, said of Donna, “If people ask who is the most powerful woman in women’s athletics, I would say she stands alone.” So, please listen in as I ask Dr. Lopiano about her tenure as athletic director at the University of Texas, her time leading the Women’s Sports Foundation, and what needs to be done now to further advance equity in sports for all. 

In this episode, our guest is Pat Burda, who is an extremely successful amateur golfer as well as a recovering alcoholic. Pat was born and raised in Modesto, California, played collegiately at Stanislaus State, is a two time Del Rio Country Club Champion and the current Dryden Park Golf Course Club Champion. Pat also serves as captain of the RACDG NorCal Golf Society and has caddied in multiple PGA tour events. Pat candidly admits that his road to golfing success involved a lot of alcohol, and that it is now his focus to play sober and help others do the same. So, please listen in as Pat tells some truly compelling stories about his relationship with his father, mental and physical health on and off the course, why quitting alcohol has helped him move past seeing golf as a pressure-filled roller-coaster, and why he continues to love the sport and the joy it brings him. 

In today’s episode, we speak with Dr. Megan Babkes Stellino, a professor of social psychology of sport and physical activity at the University of Northern Colorado and the founder of Mindful Sport Parenting, to speak about her life in sports and her research on the impact of sports parents on youth. Dr. Babkes Stellino has taken her research, which explores the social influences on youth sport and physical activity, outside the academy and into people’s lives with her community of practice project, Mindful Sport Parenting. Sports can and does have profound influence on personal growth and development, and youth sports parents can gain a ton from being more mindful of their actions, behavior, and even their thoughts. As you’ll hear, Dr. Babkes Stellino encourages parents to prioritize communication and connection….and…..learn to let go, but you’ll want to listen to the end to make sure you hear what she has to say about the power of sports to parents, and to her. You can check out more about her important work here – https://www.instagram.com/mindfulsportparenting/ https://www.facebook.com/mindfulsportparenting

In today’s episode, we speak with Sarbjit “Sab” Singh, who is a Professor and Chairperson with the Sport Management Program at Farmingdale State College (NY), and a regular contributor to Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. Sab also publishes the Sports Doing Good newsletter, a unique publication that highlights the “good” from the world of sport. Before his time at Farmingdale State, Sab spent 12 years as a management consultant, but our conversation today is about the power of sports and particularly the power of sharing good news from the world of sports. So, please listen in as I ask Sab about his journey in sports and what he believes the power of sports is to him today. 

In this episode we speak to Bill Carter, who is a name, image and likeness consultant, analyst, educator, and speaker. Bill runs Student Athlete Insights and is a NIL Columnist for Sports Business Journal. He alsoteaches NIL in College Sports at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business, and he runs MBA courses in NIL, too. So listen in as I ask Bill about his journey to NIL consulting and analysis, what the future holds for college athletes monetizing their names image and likeness, and what the power of sports means to him. 

In this episode, we speak to Kenneth P. Vogel about sports gambling in the US today. Vogel is a reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times, where he covers the intersection of money, influence and politics. He has covered politics and government at all levels, from small-town cop shops and school boards to statehouses, Congress and the presidential campaign trail. He has reported for Politico, various regional newspapers, and The Center for Public Integrity in Washington. He is the author of “Big Money: 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a Pimp — on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich Hijacking American Politics”, which chronicles the characters and motivations behind the explosion of money in American politics after the Supreme Court’s 2010 historic “Citizens United” decision. As Vogel’s reporting on sports gambling shows, since 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down a law that had previously prohibited gambling in all but two American states, we have entered an era of legalized sports betting and as a result, there have been a host of societal changes. So, please join me as we learn from Ken about the state of legalized sports gambling in the US today, the importance of smartphones and geo-location technology in online betting, the impact legalization is having on Native American groups, and even the bizarre behavior of some gamblers on the Staten Island Ferry after New Jersey legalized sports gambling, but New York did not…

In this episode, we speak to Coach Ron Adams, who is an award-winning assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Coach Adams is now in 54th season of coaching and has been with the Warriors since 2014, when he joined the staff of Head Coach Steve Kerr. Since then, the Warriors have built one of the NBA’s most remarkable dynasties, making the playoffs in six of eight seasons and winning four championships. Coach Adams has left a considerable imprint on basketball, having not only made a name for himself as a stellar defensive strategist, but also because he wholeheartedly embraces his role as a seed-planting senior statesmen of the game. So please listen in as I ask Coach Adams about his thoughts on the state of the NBA today, the influence great mentors can have, and the power of sports.