Thursday’s Next Level Sports conference at the Intuit Dome wasn’t just an opportunity for industry professionals to network and learn from one another – it was the perfect encapsulation of the kind of educational experience USC has to offer its students.
It was a successful second year for the conference, which highlighted speakers like Paralympic gold medalist and USC student Ezra Frech and NBA commissioner Adam Silver at last year’s inaugural event. For the second straight year, student journalists and volunteers formed the backbone of the conference (the “secret sauce,” USC Marshall dean Geoffrey Garrett joked), which featured panels from a slew of sports industry professionals. First on the docket came a conversation with USC Annenberg dean Willow Bay and 12x NBA All-Star Chris Paul.
That discussion was followed by a panel on sports as an asset class featuring Formula 1 Chief Commercial Officer Emily Prazer and Golden State Valkyries President Jess Smith. Prazer and Smith both have the unique responsibility of cultivating organizational identity within already established global brands.
“The only thing that you have is your own reputation, so if you know that something should be done well and done a certain way, make sure you’re taking the power to do that,” Smith advised in an interview with Annenberg Media. “That pays off and also creates a culture that does the same.”
While many USC students spent the day working the event, they also had the chance to listen to panel discussions and meet some of the guest speakers.
“Probably Jess Smith with the Valkyries,” USC graduate student journalist Jessica Silva said when asked who she was most excited to see speak at the conference. “They’re my WNBA team. I’m from the Bay Area, so it’s really great to see that representation here, especially in women’s sports.”
Bloomberg Chief Correspondent Jason Kelly kept the morning slate rolling with a dialogue with tennis legend Maria Sharapova. Sharapova’s panel centered on ownership and building a personal brand, but her insights about gender, performance and sport captivated listeners. She also shared insights on finding balance and grace in tough moments.
“The journey is a process,” Sharapova said to student journalists. “It’s hard to accept those truths, but you will get knocked down. That’s the reality … you have to lean into when things are tough. I honestly think that’s when we do some of our best work.”
A panel on AI, tech and the future of sports followed. Garrett and Kelly were joined by Head of Fanatics Ventures Saj Cherian, co-CEO and co-founder of Founderz Anna Cejudo and ESPN VP of Multi-Platform Video Celia Bouza.
“There’s a huge focus right now [in AI] on cost reduction and productivity, and that’s where a lot of the discussion is going,” Cherian said. “I’m hoping that we’re going to get to a point where we’re talking more about revenue growth and new business models… I think we can raise the ceiling on what sports organizations and fans can really achieve with AI, not just lower the floor on costs.”
For lunch, students were invited to eat and network with industry leaders. Here, the collaborative nature of the conference really shone – executives sat with USC students enjoying burgers and sushi burritos while talking about everything from the panel discussions to their favorite sports teams.
“The whole point of USC Next Level Sports is to look ahead at the intersection of all of these disciplines,” Bay said. “We know that sports intersects with media, with technology, with business, with innovation, with entrepreneurship, with culture. And we tried to touch on all of that today across all of these conversations.”
After lunch, Bay was joined by LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman for a discussion on the path toward the 2028 Olympics. Wasserman talked through the challenges of balancing competing interests in the staging of LA28 and his plans for transforming the city’s sporting venues to meet the Olympic standard.
In maybe the most popular panel of the day, ESPN commentator and founder of HighlightHER Ari Chambers was joined by 2x WNBA All-Star and ESPN host Chiney Ogwumike and SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan for an onstage taping of Vibe Check. The woman-led sports studio show began airing in June and features some of the preeminent female voices in sports media.
During the taping, the hosts brought on 4x Olympic gold medalist and LA28 Chief Athlete Officer Janet Evans and Angel City Football Club defender Ali Riley. Riley was Angel City’s first official captain and announced her retirement at the end of the 2025 season. Her emotional tribute to her time at the helm of the club was a standout moment of the day.
The conference ended with a networking reception, but not before Bay sat down with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in one of the day’s most highly anticipated events. Goodell discussed the league’s international expansion plans (with the caveat that any football played at less than NFL quality will be “hard to sell”), evolving policies on player activism and his singular focus from a young age on heading up the world’s most profitable sporting league.
“We like to say football brings people together,” Goodell said in an interview with Annenberg Media. “Ultimately I think sports do in general to a large extent, and have impacts on communities and the world that are far beyond what a normal business can do… As the NFL, that’s what we’re focusing on: How do we continue to engage people in a way that I don’t think anybody else can do?”
“As a business, you need to be global,” he continued. “You need to be able to use the technology that’s out there. I think AI will change us just like it changes everything else.”
Despite the prominence of big names in its programming, the Next Level Sports conference couldn’t have happened without intensive student collaboration. USC students from across schools and programs had their hands in both the planning and execution of the event.
“It’s a great opportunity for students and the general public and community to come together, celebrate sports and get a chance to network with one another,” Silva said.
And network they did. Throughout the day, students chatted and exchanged info with agents, executives and media personalities. It was without a doubt one of the premier sporting industry events of the year – and USC students were at the core of it. Their next (level) challenge will be finding ways to leverage the connections they made at the conference into future relationships and opportunities.
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