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Events and Attractions

IMG World Congress Of Sports: Latest Class Of SBJ/SBD's The Champions Honored

SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily yesterday afternoon honored this year’s class of The Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business. The five recipients -- former WNBA and USA Basketball President Val Ackerman, former PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, IMG Media Exec VP Barry Frank, ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen, and Premier Partnerships Chair Alan Rothenberg -- reflected on their years in sports and how the industry has evolved. Each panelist addressed their many accomplishments, and what made them successful. Beman said, “If you play golf, you know you fail more than you win. ... I was successful because I wasn’t afraid to fail. I wasn’t afraid to advance an idea that might be difficult.” Rasmussen also cited not fearing failure. “I never really accepted no for an answer.” Rasmussen said. “I was never afraid to fail. In fact, ESPN got started because I got fired from my job at the Whalers.” He added, “You really have to trust your instincts, your passion, your energy.” Frank recalled his early days in sports business. “A large part of my success was due to that I wouldn’t quit,” he recalled. “The first big deal I made was for the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, and I knew there was big money there. ... I made about four trips out to Calgary to convince (the IOC) that I could get them more money than they could get themselves.” Rothenberg chimed in, “It’s the ability to seize an opportunity that’s in front of you, then work as energetically. ... You build a reputation over time as a person who can accomplish great things.”

LOOKING FORWARD: In addition to recalling their careers in sports business, the panelists also discussed what is ahead for the industry. Frank and Rasmussen agreed that college sports could experience a rebirth in the coming years. “With production equipment costs coming down, technology improving every hour on the hour, even the smaller colleges are going to figure out how to produce games,” Rasmussen said. Looking at the current sports landscape, the panelists were asked about which league they would like to run today. Beman said, “Everyone would like to run the PGA Tour. ... There are challenges, but not the problems other sports have.” Frank took a different angle on the question, mentioning the biggest league in North America. “There’s only one league to run today if you want to be powerful, and that’s the NFL,” he said. Rasmussen provoked laughter from the audience when he said, “Is Bud Selig retiring soon? I don’t want all the problems he has, but it’s a fun job.” The five did not bite much when asked about regrets and mistakes in their careers, though Ackerman chimed in with what she deemed a smaller issue. “I regret that I don’t speak any language other than English,” she said. “I function now a little in the international world ... and the ability not to be able to converse with people in the downtime -- I try to cough up a few pleasantries -- I regret that.” Beman joked, “I don’t have too many regrets as commissioner. I’m a little upset I didn’t make one more birdie in the U.S. Open in 1969. I might not have had to take the job as commissioner.”

FINAL THOUGHTS: The panelists were asked, “What advice do you give to young people wanting to get into the sports business industry?” Rothenberg said, “Knock on every door. Take the first and best opportunity you’re given. Then do a phenomenal job.” Rasmussen: “Go to the local radio station, go to the local TV station. Make a pest of yourself if you have to, just get yourself in the door.” Frank: “The job you want to take, for your first job, is anything that has upward mobility as a possibility.” Beman: “I agree with Barry. You have to want to be in the sports business bad enough to start at the bottom. Jim Nantz is the perfect example -- he started as a runner.” Ackerman: “You have to pick a specialty. If you want to work in PR, there’s this skill set and this career path. If you want to work in marketing, there’s this skill set and this career path. ... Your attitude has to be: no job is too small.”

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On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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