🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tH3eTHUNPeA

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Jack Liechtung is a sports media operator, entertainment attorney, and co-founder/CEO of Canopy Talent, where they build NIL infrastructure for Olympic sports programs nationwide.

Through Canopy, he helps universities and brands unlock new partnership opportunities by activating student-athletes as authentic creators, delivering compliant, team-wide campaigns that drive engagement and incremental revenue.

www.canopytalent.com

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7AiTsAwzXMI

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Will Johnson is the Founder & CEO of CourseCast, the first digital platform built into the golf course. CourseCast’s AI autonomously delivers Tour-quality video and statistics of everyday golf using hidden, solar-powered cameras —transforming any course into a lucrative engagement platform where golfers can watch, learn, and compete like never before. If Toptracer Range digitized practice, CourseCast is digitizing play.

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7qzNordlwE

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/she-shocked-the-tennis-world-at-15-now-shes-a/id1730764733?i=1000748538913

CiCi Bellis leads the firm with a background that uniquely blends professional sports and venture capital. As a former professional tennis player who reached a career-high ranking of WTA #35, CiCi understands the demands and nuances of high-performance sports. After retiring from tennis, she spent four years working at a sports tech-focused venture capital firm, where she managed all deal flow operations, while also completing her MBA. In 2023, she leveraged this expertise to launch Cartan Capital, aiming to drive and shape innovation in sports and health tech.

Bio via Cartan Capital

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/50-9naPS2mU

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts:

P. Ryan Petkoff is a dynamic leader, strategic advisor and consultant who partners with startups and legacy businesses to build solutions that create meaningful value. Ryan’s expertise as an operator and an advisor ranges from strategy development and execution to high-level marketing, communications and storytelling, capital raise and allocation, change management, crisis mitigation and executive coaching.

With a rare combination of skills, Ryan’s “unicorn experience” means organizations can solve a variety of challenges with a single consultant. He excels in environments where he can wear multiple hats, driving impact across various functions, making him a perfect fit for startups or legacy businesses navigating growth, change or transformation.

Most of all, Ryan cares deeply for people and connects well with what matters.

Ryan is passionate about working with entrepreneurs because he thrives on building things. Whether it’s launching a new marketing initiative, managing a capital raise, or guiding a company through a crisis, he is energized by the opportunity to create something meaningful. He works with a select group of clients, prioritizing quality over quantity, where he can build deep and authentic relationships.

Before launching his consulting practice, Ryan spent almost 20 years in the world of professional sports, where he helped transform the Kansas City Chiefs into one of the most successful franchises in global sports. As a top executive at Hunt Sports Group (the parent company of the Lamar Hunt family’s sports franchises), Ryan was “one of the driving leadership forces behind the Chiefs’ ascent to the top of the NFL” (Sports Business Journal). He spearheaded the Chiefs’ first international marketing initiative and led the team’s entry into the NFL’s global marketing program. By 2021, the Chiefs earned marketing rights to both Germany and Mexico, helping the team become one of the fastest-growing sports brands worldwide. He also was the primary advisor to Chiefs Chairman and CEO throughout the construction of the Chiefs dynasty.

Now, Ryan channels his expertise, extensive network, and passion for building into helping innovative companies thrive and scale.

Bio via Petkoff Strategies

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8zHCw2ff4WA

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/college-sports-going-public-parker-graham-founder-ceo/id1730764733?i=1000746374770

Parker Graham is the Founder & CEO of Vestible, a company that enables sports organizations to access global investment capital while allowing investors worldwide to participate in the future of sports. For more on Vestible, visit https://vestible.co/

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYVK9V1zJvQ

🎥 Watch on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4McF8ybLtUC0JVC3PDNC6R

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-athletes-dominate-business-michael-moe-founder/id1730764733?i=1000744851394

Michael Moe is the Founder and CEO of GSV, a growth-focused investment platform. GSV has invested in game-changing businesses such as Facebook, Twitter, Snap, Palantir and Spotify. GSV has several funds focused on the digital learning sector and has invested in Coursera, Chegg, Course Hero, Masterclass, and Guild Education. GSV stands for “Global Silicon Valley,” inspired by the entrepreneurial mindset of Silicon Valley spreading throughout the world.

Michael is also the co-founder of the ASU+GSV Summit, which Forbes called “the Davos of Education.” Additionally, Michael is on the Board of the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame, Center for Education Reform, ClassDojo, Bookclub, Hi Solutions, and is an advisor to Arizona State University.

Before GSV, Michael was the Founder and CEO of ThinkEquity Partners, Head of Global Growth Research at Merrill Lynch, and was voted to be on the Institutional All American Research Team and named "Best on the Street" by the Wall Street Journal.

Michael is the author of three books, “Finding the Next Starbucks”, “the Global Silicon Valley Handbook” and his most recent, “The Mission Corporation.”Michael holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Minnesota and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst). He and his wife Bonnie live in Dallas, Texas where they moved to in 2021 after living in Silicon Valley for twenty-five years.

Bio via ASU GSV Summit

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_Nt2YayUWhs

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Jack Jones is the Co-Founder and Chief of Staff at SūmerSports. With a deep passion for football and a keen eye for business opportunities, Jack has built a career that leverages his analytical skills and industry insights. He worked for the San Francisco 49ers in various roles, gaining valuable experience and demonstrating his dedication to the sport.

Bio via SūmerSports

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/🎥

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IhzV_WHnOJ4

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/investing-in-dude-perfect-the-future-of-media/id1730764733?i=1000741051395

Jason is the General Partner and Co-Founder of Highmount Capital, an investment firm specializing in growth-stage and middle-market opportunities within transformative technology and other high-growth sectors. Previously, he served as Managing Director and founding member of Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT)—the venture and growth investment arm of Koch Industries, the largest privately held company in the U.S. with revenues exceeding $130 billion. During his tenure, Jason played a key role in expanding KDT’s portfolio to billions in assets under management across more than 40 companies.

https://www.highmountcap.com/

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edPKhKmK7GQ&t=450s

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-family-office-sports-investing-brian-kopp-ryan/id1730764733?i=1000739872109

Brian is a Partner at Ryan Sports Ventures and the Founder of Stretch 4 Advisory. Through Stretch 4 Advisory, Brian provides strategic business services to sports technology and data companies including Riddell Sports, Wilson Sporting Goods, Peak Performance Project (P3), and FastModel Sports.

Brian was previously Partner and Group CEO of Phoenix Sports Partners, a sports investment and operating company. Before his role at Phoenix, Brian served as President of North America for Catapult Sports, a global provider of sports analytics and performance products. Prior to Catapult, Brian served as Senior Vice President of Sports Solutions for STATS LLC. At STATS, Brian was responsible for the revolutionary SportVU player tracking technology as well as building innovative analytics solutions for NBA, NFL and NCAA teams. Prior to his career in sports business, Brian worked in investment banking and private equity before transitioning into corporate strategy and M&A roles.

Brian received his BA in Economics from Wabash College, where he played basketball. He also received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Brian resides in the Chicago area with his wife Rita and their five children.

https://www.ryansportsventures.com/

#Underthenumber #sports #venturecapital #vc #investing #startups #entrepreneurship #Tech #leadership #sportsbusiness #familyoffice

🏟️ Get off the sidelines ➡️ https://underthenumber.substack.com/

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A4O6sMc68g

Seth Wickersham is a senior writer at ESPN whose primary focus is long form enterprise and investigative work on the National Football League. His stories have appeared across ESPN platforms.In more than two decades at ESPN, he has profiled the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Bill Belichick, John Elway, Sean McVay, Andrew Luck, Odell Beckham, Jr., Bill Walsh, Jim Harbaugh, Alex Honnold, Gregg Popovich and Y.A. Tittle, among others, and he has written deep dives into strained relationships within the Cleveland Browns, Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Along with senior writer Don Van Natta, Wickersham has written critically acclaimed investigations on the NFL’s handling of the Spygate and Deflategate cheating controversies, the Rams and Raiders franchise relocations, the behind-closed-doors meetings on the inequality protests, the efforts by Jerry Jones to block Roger Goodell’s contract extension, the complicated tenure of NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, the efforts of Donald Trump to interfere with Senator Arlen Specter’s Spygate inquiry, and of Dan Snyder’s attempts to avoid being removed as owner of the Washington Commanders. A 2022 story about Snyder by Wickersham, Van Natta, and Tisha Thompson is widely credited with triggering the push for him to sell the franchise.In 2018, Wickersham was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Reporting, and has been part of a staff that has three times won the NMA for General Excellence. His stories have been anthologized in the Best American Magazine Writing, the Best American Sports Writing, Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists, and in Words Matter: Writing to Make a Difference. He has won awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Pro Football Writers Association. In 2015, he won a Folio Award for Best Single Story – Sports, and received a second-place National Headliner Award in Magazine Feature Writing.In the fall of 2021, Wickersham’s book It’s Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness was released. It was a New York Times bestseller and was named Nonfiction Book of the Year by Sports Illustrated and Sports Book of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.In the fall of 2025, Wickersham’s second book, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, was released. It was a New York Times bestseller.https://www.amazon.com/American-Kings-Quarterback-Seth-Wickersham/dp/1368099181A collection of his ESPN work, Be on That Hill, will be published in the fall of 2026 by Hyperion Avenue.He is credited as playing himself in the 2014 movie Draft Day, though he regrets to inform that the scene was cut before it was shot.Wickersham was born in Denver and raised in Boulder and in Anchorage, Alaska. He attended the Missouri School of Journalism, where he and ESPN writer Wright Thompson covered Super Bowl XXXIV for the Columbia Missourian. He was hired at ESPN The Magazine shortly after graduation in 2000. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

Bio via ESPN

#Underthenumber #sports #leadership #quarterback #football #leadership #sportsbusiness #espn #business