“Don’t be scared.” That was the advice prolific sports commentator Rich Eisen gave to a room full of students and young professionals at this year’s USC Sports Business Summit last Thursday. It was also a repeated theme throughout the panels and keynote speakers.
The Summit, an annual event hosted by USC’s Sports Business Association, is dedicated to bridging the gap between students and sports business professionals. With a full day of panels, keynote speakers and networking opportunities at the University Park Campus, attendees were eager to network and hear from keynote speakers that SBA students invited.
The SBA partnered with Verizon, ESPN, Fanatics and PeakNIL for the event. Verizon provided special lanyards for attendees with a tap-to-share feature, which could quickly provide their personal information and details to others by tapping lanyards. The event hosted major brands like the Los Angeles Dodgers and CBS LA for students to stop by and network with them. I spoke to one student who was at the event for a short amount of time, as he had to go to work, but said that he did not want to miss out on this opportunity. His overall desire was to network with fellow students.
One of the first segments, “The Business of an Olympic Legacy,” featured Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and her business manager Tom McCarthy. May-Treanor, a three-time gold medalist, retired from professional volleyball after the 2012 Summer Olympics. When asked how she built a brand without social media, she emphasized that being authentic and genuine earned her the trust of her public. “Doing a lot of in-studio interviews. We had to show our personality to the camera,” she said.
She also discussed that in a time when influencers are part of everyone’s lives, there needs to be more mentors.
The next panel, on the art and business of storytelling, featured Gotham Chopra, Connor Schell, Anthony Smith and Phil Bryon. Schell, a film producer and co-founder of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, said in his pitch for this 30 for 30, “sports fans crave authenticity.”
Chopra, an American sports documentarian, spoke about his time working with the legendary Kobe Bryant. Byron and Smith both shared times in their personal lives and in their careers that really meant something big to them and helped change the way they see their field. “I loved film from a young age and since my dad was a military man, we moved around a lot but I quickly realized that sports, pop culture and film were common knowledge no matter where we moved to. I fell in love with that idea” Smith said. Just one of the many conversations that transpired during this panel.
In “The Landscape of Football,” Rams general manager Les Snead sat down with Eisen. Snead spoke about relating to athletes by recognizing their potential. “There is a level of talent that is needed to make the team, but it has to be turned into a useful skill,” Snead said
The event ended on a high note with a raffle giveaway sponsored by CorePower. Attendees also left with plenty of Celsius and full bellies from all the food served.
Overall, the summit gave students a chance to hear stories straight from professionals on how to bridge the gap between school and a career in sports. Students had a chance to network with one another and professionals in a way that felt inviting rather than scary.
Edited by Bennett M. Weinschenk and Sammie Vassallo