Though Los Angeles is a historic sports hub, in recent years the city has seen rapid development in the way of new stadiums and team diversity. Located in the heart of the city, USC has made strides in connecting students and community members with sports professionals. As part of those efforts, the university organized the Next Level Sports Conference to put working professionals in conversation with USC students on issues of sports media and business, among other topics.
Students, journalists and community members convened together at the Intuit Dome for the day-long conference, the first of its kind hosted by USC. The conference was organized around sports in Los Angeles and abroad, with points of emphasis on media, business, tech, fan engagement and culture.
Students networked with sports executives, taking selfies and doing ‘fit checks’ with some of the top names in American sports. They were able to tour the newly constructed Intuit Dome and see some of its more notable features, including an arena-wide display with a jersey from every high school basketball team in California. Some students attended as volunteers, organizing seating and other logistics. No one left empty-handed: there was plenty of food and USC swag to go around.
As the event was jointly hosted by the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism and the Marshall School of Business at USC, Deans Willow Bay and Geoffrey Garrett divvied up emcee duties with help from Bloomberg Chief Correspondent Jason Kelly and Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker. Cross-disciplinary collaboration was a major emphasis at the conference, which invited professionals from a wide range of sport industries.
“If you think about something like the future of sport, we’re at a university that has people in all of those disciplines,” USC President Carol Folt said. “This [conference] was a perfect example of something that couldn’t be done without that kind of cooperation.”
The morning was headlined by three conversational panels, with topics including sports as an asset class, the new media ecosystem and Gen Z consumers and the future of ESPN. During these sessions, moderators asked questions about the panelists’ personal journeys through the world of sports, and connected contributors’ professional experiences to larger themes around the evolving American sport ecosystem.
The morning panels featured guest speakers such as Andre Iguodala, executive director of the NBA Players Association, and Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN.
“I felt like I’ve reached a certain level of access that I never thought I was ever gonna get in my entire life,” USC junior and conference volunteer Kamyar Moradi said. “It’s been wild to learn that I, just like everybody else, belong here. I would like to surround myself with cool people that do cool things, and I think this conference has definitely helped with that.”
Students also had the opportunity to enjoy Lunch with a Leader, where panelists and attendees sat together, ate everything from burgers to California rolls and provided their insights on the topics of the day.
Post-lunch panels saw discussions continue with a roundtable on the future of fandom headed by DraftKings Chief Business and Growth Officer Marie Donoghue, who was joined by Kevin Demoff, the president of team and media operations for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
In another panel, participants talked about bridging the various equity gaps in sports industries. ESPN host and two-time WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike spoke at length about forging a path for oneself and staying the course in unfamiliar spaces.
“We’re battle-tested, and that’s why we’re superwomen,” Ogwumike told Annenberg Media in an exclusive interview. “To be a Black woman [in sports media], it’s not been easy, but changing hearts and minds has been so rewarding, and all I had to do was do my job to do it.”
Ogwumike was joined by Xavier Gutierrez, the chairman and chief executive officer for ImpactX Sports Group, who similarly attested to the importance of identifying cruicial gaps and unfulfilled needs to reach different audiences.
The group panels were rounded out by a conversation on the college sports revolution, featuring some familiar college athletes. Alongside Folt, paralympic gold medalist and freshman Ezra Frech was joined by two of USC’s most formidable ballers for the women’s basketball team: sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and graduate forward Kiki Iriafen, who notably transferred from Stanford earlier this year.
As Los Angeles natives, Iriafen and Watkins were particularly vocal about the city as a sports hub and the growth of women’s sports in the area.
“There’s no time like now to be a women’s college athlete. There’s so much investment, resources and viewership,” Iriafen said in an interview with Annenberg Media. “People are really interested in women’s basketball at USC, so I think the biggest thing for me and why I feel so grateful is that I have all of the resources around me to be great and do whatever I need to do, on the court and off the court.”
“I think it’s important as [representatives of] the West Coast to show what we’re capable of,” Watkins added. “A lot of the time we’re out of that conversation, and I feel like now we are kind of forcing ourselves into that conversation.”
The afternoon discussions culminated in a highly anticipated conversation with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who paid compliments to the conference organizers.
“[The conference is] a validation of what we do. I always say that my predecessor David Stern would be so proud,” Silver said. “Now, we’re a sector of the economy, and there are schools and classes devoted to the sports industry.”
Many of the panelists underscored the importance of connecting professional sports industries with colleges and universities. That was one result of the Next Level Sports Conference: top executives sat with college students and everyone was granted the space to give voice to the triumphs and challenges faced in the sporting world.
“What was really special about this conference is it’s focusing on college athletics, and that’s what we do [at USC],” Folt said. “But, increasingly, college athletics is the fuel for all of those other sports… So we want them to understand what our students need and what is nurturing them.”