Day 1 of the 2019 National Sports Forum

Hosted by the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, attendees will get the chance for behind-the-scenes tours of T-Mobile Arena along with hearing from our keynote speaker, Kerry Bubolz, President and COO of the Vegas Golden Knights!

SESSION LEADER

Kerry Bubolz

President & COO

Vegas Golden Knights

Losers, located in the MGM Grand Hotel will serve as the official bar of the 2019 NSF!

Day 2 of the 2019 National Sports Forum

Abe Madkour opens up the NSF with a one-on-one with Lawrence Epstein, of UFC. Epstein serves as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Zuffa, LLC, which operates as UFC. Due to Epstein’s efforts, UFC has become one of the fastest growing sports brands in the world hosting events, broadcasting and delivering content to over 160 countries and territories, to nearly 1.1 billion television households. Join us on Monday morning to hear an in-depth discussion on some of the exciting things Epstein and UFC have in store for this upcoming year!

MODERATOR

Abe Madkour

Executive Editor

Sport Business Journal/SBD

PANELISTS

Lawrence Epstein

Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

UFC

The first set of breakout sessions on Monday, February 11, 2019

Welcome to the ‘Partnership Revolution’, where relevant brand integration is table stakes, and campaigns that are rooted in the brand’s strategy, with creative tactics, and measurable performance indicators, are required to unlock significant marketing investments.
We will use this session to explore how Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, & the Toronto Argonauts), have disrupted the marketing landscape in Canada via creation of an internal Strategy Team within their partnerships group. Join us to learn how we’ve evolved to dig deeper into client needs, develop strategic insights that reach and engage fans in unprecedented ways, and drive business results that set new global standards for some of the world’s largest and most influential organizations, such as: Google, Unilever, GoDaddy, and McDonald’s.

SESSION LEADER

Aalum Jaffer

Manager, Global Partnerships

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

You’re sitting at home on your couch, drinking your favorite beverage and scrolling through all the information your smartphone can provide. But something’s missing. The in-person atmosphere isn’t surrounding you. You’re only receiving the glow from your rectangle-shaped television. In this session, we’ll discuss how entertainment and event venues can make the most of the in-person experience, and what others are already incorporating. Together, we can entice audiences to show up and experience the event firsthand.

SESSION LEADER

Trisha Schuver

Creative Services Manager

Daktronics

PANELISTS

Ira Akers

Co-Founder & VP Sales

CUE Audio

Chuck Johnson

General Manager / VP Sales & Marketing

Las Vegas Aviators

Jonny Greco

VP, Entertainment Production

Vegas Golden Knights

Communicating with your fan base is crucial for increasing engagement and revenue. Today’s audience expects a conversational message at the right time and through the right channel. Learn about the current state of communication, the best practices for connecting with your audience, and how to effectively and compliantly implement tactics to help your ticketing team improve sales & retention. Don’t just contact your fans, connect with them.

SESSION LEADER

Ken Richard

Senior EVP, General Counsel

Ytel

Charlie Boeckenheur

Manager Season Ticket Sales

Minnesota Vikings

Karlis Kezbers

Director, Business Intelligence & Ticket Strategy

Oklahoma City Thunder

A panel of industry leaders on the frontlines of building stadiums and arenas around the country. Topics will include current trends, go-to-market strategy, developing engaging and multi-purpose experiences, staffing, amongst others. We’ll share the good, the bad and the ugly.

SESSION LEADER

Molly Wurdack-Folt

Director, Marketing Strategy

Detroit Red Wings/Olympia Entertainment

PANELISTS

Greg Kish

VP, Ticket Sales and Service

LA Stadium & Entertainment District At Hollywood Park Project - Legends

Todd Pollock

Vice President, Ticketing & Suites

Las Vegas Golden Knights

Dustin Vicari

VP, Sales & Service

Las Vegas Stadium

Join Lance Tyson as he discusses the Future of Sales Leadership in 2020. This session will take us inside the trends of some of the most high-powered sales teams in professional sports. Topics will include what metrics are important to keep top of mind and the traits required to lead a successful sales team into the future.

SESSION LEADER

Lance Tyson

Founder & CEO

Tyson Group

Las Vegas is The Entertainment Capital of The World and is an extremely competitive market for consumers’ sports and entertainment dollars. This session will focus on how properties and venues in Las Vegas work to maximize revenues each year as sponsorship and premium products shift in a highly competitive market.

SESSION LEADER

Mark Faber

Sr. Vice President of Global Partnerships

AEG/T-Mobile Arena

PANELISTS

Sally Bae

Director of Sales

AEG/T-Mobile Arena

Kevin Camper

SVP Sales & Marketing

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Dan Dolby

General Manager

Learfield/UNLV Sports Properties

Jim Frevola

SVP & Chief Sales Officer

Vegas Golden Knights

Christine Monjer

Assistant General Manager

Las Vegas Aces

Fans want to be a part of the experience, which demands the latest in technology. However, the current methods in advertising are static, expensive and have limited engagement. Even with high stadium foot traffic, ROI is difficult to quantify. With multiple mobile platforms, endless social media channels, and the average attention span down to 8 seconds, the customer journey is fragmented and less predictable. Sports venues, teams and partners are designing innovative in-game experiences to cater to this demand. Ashley Crowder, CEO and Co-Founder of VNTANA, a leading mixed reality company will discuss new ways to interact with fans. She will discuss how to unify the fan’s journey using Mixed Reality to create real value for the consumer, guiding attendees through situational cases including details on technology solutions that offer not only engagement, but data. Additionally, she will discuss the benefits of user generated content.

SESSION LEADER

Ashley Crowder

CEO, Co-Founder

VNTANA

This session takes a deep dive into what it takes to operate a special events business at an NFL Stadium. We’ll review operational challenges, get inside the books, and discuss the impact it makes across the organization.

SESSION LEADER

Lynnette Camacho

Special Events Sales Director

Philadelphia Eagles

The second set of breakout sessions on Monday, February 11, 2019

– Which brands are receiving the most value from their sponsored properties
– Best Practices for getting more value from sponsorships
– Performance-based sponsorships
– Campaign optimization
– Leveraging influencers

SESSION LEADER

Scott Tilton

CEO & Founder

Hookit

PANELISTS

Ryan Lauder

Director of Consumer Engagement | Marketing

Taylor Made

Matt Sharkey

Global Sports Marketing Director

The North Face

The sports industry has become a proving ground for fan engagement on mobile devices, whether in-venue or via telecast. Sports teams, leagues, brands, and fans are now set to produce and share more photos, videos, and textual content than ever, and new tools and experiences will enable sports brands to own their content and audiences, with greater incentivization than ever before. User-generated content (UGC) will become a much larger part of the sports world, and automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) all blend into a mix of powerful technologies that will help power new monetization opportunities for teams and fans alike. As mobile content becomes more ubiquitous, the UGC sports environment will become a more lucrative and engaging content landscape. This panel will explore the opportunities for producing new UGC experiences through enhanced fan engagement.

SESSION LEADER

Chris Pfaff

CEO

Chris Pfaff Tech/Media, LLC

PANELISTS

Patrick Hooper

Director, Digital

San Jose Sharks

Dante Simpson

Chief Marketing Officer

ESPAT Media

Sean Callanan

Founder

SportsGeek

This session will explore the modern day workforce and emerging best practices as it relates to sales recruiting, engagement and culture. We will look at some of the trends coming from recent workforce surveys and how this matches up to some of the traditional sports sales processes that have been at the foundation of so many successful franchises. In addition, this session will examine how changes to compensation, daily metrics and work week schedules could be a win/win for both the organization and the sales staff.

SESSION LEADER

Jake Vernon

VP, Ticket Sales & Service

Minnesota Timberwolves/Lynx

The business of athletics attracts talented and driven professionals. However, this can often lead to organizations with an unhealthy amount of internal competition causing a lack of communication and collaboration. This powerful presentation features a unique look at how the top coaches/performers in sports – and leaders in business – create positive and successful environments that bring out the very best in other people. Audience members are introduced to time-tested models of performance and leadership which produce championship results for individuals and teams in business – and life. Whether you lead others or are called upon to be a top producer of your organization, this “Be a Fan of Others” mindset and culture leads to success for you and your team.

SESSION LEADER

D.J. Allen

President

Xs & Os of Success

TBA

SESSION LEADER

Ron Seaver

President

National Sports Forum

Story Is King. In this session you will hear from the VP of Entertainment Production from the Vegas Golden Knights, Jonny Greco. Jonny will discuss the process of building a foundation to help establish a creative culture ready for anything, including the most successful inaugural season in major professional sports history… in the Entertainment Capital of the World!

SESSION LEADER

Jonny Greco

VP, Entertainment Production

Vegas Golden Knights

Esports is one of the fastest growing segments of sports, media and entertainment, reaching one of the most sought after demographics: millennials and Gen Zers. Despite its exponential growth and undeniable popularity in mainstream media, many are quick to pinpoint the differences between traditional sports and esports, rather than the obvious overlap between the two industries. Whether its building leagues from amateur to professional, distributing streaming rights or forming brand partnerships and promoting their unique onsite activations, both the esports and traditional sports industries are more similar than you’d think, though the process and execution may not be identical. Craig Levine, Global Chief Strategy Officer at ESL and pioneer in the esports industry, will explore the similarities between the two spaces, offering brands, marketers, fans, and more a glimpse into how to best adapt traditional sports behaviors to better navigate the esports industry.

Craig Levine, Global Chief Strategy Officer at ESL and pioneer in the esports industry, will explore the similarities between the two spaces, offering brands, marketers, fans, and more a glimpse into how to best adapt traditional sports behaviors to better navigate the esports industry.

SESSION LEADER

Craig Levine

Global Chief Strategy Officer

ESL

In this highly interactive 60-minute session, we will cover the importance of synergy between all departments within a sports organization. Leading the panel, will be well-rounded industry professionals from different sides of the business: Special Events, Sponsorship, Suite / Ticket Sales and Operations. At the end of the day, we all touch the same clients and have one mission in common: Provide extraordinary service to our clients from beginning to end that in return builds a lasting relationship to our professional teams and to the organization as a whole. Whether it be a Fortune 500 company hosting a private event, securing a naming rights sponsorship deal, or simply leasing a suite and operating their service, we can all work together to make the magic happen and ensure that experience is seamless, professional, and memorable. New Sports Venues seem to be opening almost annually, and it is vital to understand how to overcome obstacles from common to challenging. In this session, we will discuss the power and the importance of working together, overcoming objections and obstacles, as well as gaining a better understanding of the views across other departments. We’re going to check our egos at the door and learn to work together to deliver a best-in-class experience to all of our clients!

SESSION LEADER

Sara Bodzy

Vickie Eiges

Manager, Special Events Sales Team

San Francisco 49ers

Brian Gainor will lead an all-star panel in a discussion about upcoming trends and hot topics during the “What’s Next” Super Panel. In a rapidly growing sports industry, new technologies and trends are constantly emerging allowing organizations to become more innovative with their campaigns and advertising. This Super Panel will include several organizations who continue to capitalize on these opportunities and are eager to share their insights on what we expect to see in 2019 and the direction they see the sports industry heading.

MODERATOR

Brian Gainor

Vice President, Innovation

4Front

PANELISTS

Mark Shearer

Chief Revenue Officer

Oakland Raiders

Scott Butera

President of Interactive Gaming

MGM Resorts International

Dinner and drinks will be served while you learn about some of the hot new technologies within the sports industry