A group of top business execs gathered at SBJ HQ this afternoon to discuss the future of the NBA and how the league and its partners can innovate the game moving forward. Speaking before a crowd of about 150 ahead of the NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte, NBA President of Team Marketing & Business Operations and Chief Innovation Officer Amy Brooks, Monumental Sports & Entertainment Senior VP/Strategic Initiatives & GM Zach Leonsis, MGM Resorts Int’l President of Interactive Gaming Scott Butera and ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Scheduling Burke Magnus were all on hand. Among the topics of discussion were how the industry can personalize viewing experiences for fans, how sports betting will change things going forward and how teams can improve the in-arena experience.
Brooks said the NBA is looking at ways to better understand what fans want when they attend games, and how to cater the experience to fit those desires. “You’re going to see this notion of personalization not just come to the streaming product or a broadcast product, but in arena.” Leonsis said one example that has been discussed by MS&E is adding sports betting capacities to Capital One Arena. “We do imagine one day potentially having a brick-and-mortar sportsbook at our building. … It’s a challenge but it’s not an insurmountable one.”
Magnus said a major priority for ESPN is how to monetize its audiences, primarily through personalization and alternative feeds. “We aren’t precious about how we get people to come, we just want them to come.” Meanwhile, Butera mentioned esports and its “enormous” potential as something the sports industry, MGM included, can learn from. “Even in markets where you don’t have an actual real live money wager in game, you can still make a lot of money. Fortnite is free to play and it makes $1B in revenue, so I think there are applications that we can do that are like that.”
“The Future Of The NBA: A Drive For Innovation”
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