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Forty Under 40

Forty Under 40: What is the biggest challenge facing the sports industry in 2016?

We asked each of this year’s Forty Under 40:

What is the biggest challenge facing the sports industry in 2016?

Ken Babby: Pressure to raise prices. We win in Minor League Baseball by differentiating ourselves with world-class fun, with remarkable food, at the most affordable price.

Kim Beauvais: Keeping up with emerging technologies while being fiscally responsible. It affects all facets of the sports and entertainment industry.

PUTTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO USE
From mobile phones to virtual reality, many of this year’s Forty Under 40 point to offshoots of technology as providing the biggest challenges for the sports industry to address.

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Yu-Han Chang: Figuring out the path forward given the reality of cord cutting.

Aaron Cohen: Making sure that we are thinking about what the sports world will look like in 10 years.

Russ D’Souza: A lack of openness. Teams assign their rights to third parties, which may be short-term lucrative, but there has to be a model where rights are more widely distributed. This issue applies broadly, from TV rights deals to ticketing.

Shannon Dan: The diminishing attention span and fandom of young fans. Mainstream live sports are not yet aligned with the changing media habits of next-generation fans, who expect content to be available anywhere, at any time, at any place — allowing unconventional sports that do allow such access to soon take over. (Hello, e-sports).

Adam Davis: Ensuring the in-stadium/arena experience is better than the one on your couch.

Kevin Demoff: Getting people to stadiums/arenas.

Anthony DiCosmo: Keeping kids interested in sports. They are the future athlete, fan and consumer. There are a lot of options for kids, both in and out of sports. Once you are a fan, you are a fan for life. Everyone has to work harder now to grab that young fan.

Hymie Elhai: The opportunities and complexities surrounding sponsorship integration and digital media.

Jaime Faulkner: Teams figuring out how they’re going to integrate one of the biggest disrupters of our time: the mobile phone; using the phone to make it easier to attend events.

Todd Fischer: The impact of public safety concerns on major global events.

COMING TO THE GAME
Making sure that fans continue to fill their favorite teams’ stadiums and arenas is a subject that’s being watched by our Forty Under 40.

Photo: COURTESY OF THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

David Greenspan: The treatment of college athletes continues to be a disaster. Does anyone not believe that college sports is in desperate need of reform?

Al Guido: The intersection of technology and fan experience: how to balance new tech with classic fan engagement.

Christopher Halpin: Predicting the magnitude and timing of the impact of mobile on live sports consumption and figuring out how to position ourselves for that change. The mobile phone and the tablet have already swallowed the newspaper, the radio, and a host of other technologies. The TV and gaming platforms are likely next. The live linear “programmed” TV model is challenged, and many of the biggest beneficiaries of that model, such as RSNs, are facing fundamental questions about how they will serve fans and generate value-add over the next 10 years. Digital/OTT platforms want live sports content, but they are still scaling their user bases. Advertisers and sponsors want to keep reaching live mass audiences, but there is not a lot of clarity on the best way to do that in the coming years. Everyone in the industry needs to be realizing value today while hedging for an opaque future. It’s not an easy balancing act.

Rob Higgins: Continuing to be creative to maximize attendance at events.

Jamie Horowitz: Finding original voices who are able to stand out in a crowded sports media landscape.

Amy Huchthausen: Legal threats to college athletics. Any significant changes that alter its foundation will have an impact that extends to many areas of the overall sports industry, directly and indirectly.

Charlie Hussey: “To ensure intercollegiate athletics remains anchored to educational endeavors,” as stated by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

Zaileen Janmohamed: The ever-increasing focus on the negative side of sports and the industry — the scandals, all the issues — and trying to still make people understand that there is value here.

Brian Kopp: Addressing the lingering uncertainty about daily fantasy and legalized gambling.

Patrick Kraft: Understanding and adapting to the ever-evolving landscape of college athletics.

Geoff Lester: Lack of innovation — in how we work, how we partner, how we grow.

THE NEXT GENERATION
While keeping an eye on youth participation numbers, this year’s Forty Under 40 also are thinking about how kids want to watch their favorite sports.

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Chris Marinak: Finding the next generation of sports fans in a world of declining sports participation among young kids.

Kevin McSherry: The impact of over-the-top distribution on sports media rights.

Bill Mulvihill: How to further extend and monetize sports content on digital platforms and into untapped international markets.

Colin Neville: Reforming FIFA.

Troup Parkinson: Lack of imagination/flexibility.

Dana Rosenberg: Understanding the diverse ways people now are consuming sports.

Richard Rubano: The rapidly evolving media landscape, particularly with respect to how content owners deliver programming to consumers.

Paul Saville: Bouncing back from corruption scandals that have come to light in the last year.

Connor Schell: The ever-increasing competition for people’s time and attention.

Chris Schlosser: Cutting through the clutter.

Russell Silvers: Staying ahead of the technology curve. It’s such a fast-moving and ever-changing vertical but extremely important to the overall success of our business.

Julie Sobieski: Accelerating the industry culture to fully embrace the business imperative for diversity and inclusion.

Ryan Tollner: Declining ethics in the media. Journalistic integrity is giving way to social media rants that have no standards.

David Weiss: Innovating quickly enough to remain cutting edge to young fans.

Amy Yakola: From the college sports perspective, the continued balance of modernizing the student-athlete experience while staying within the respective institutional missions.

Mike Zavodsky: Continuing to re-create and reimagine the fan experience, in and out of the venue.

Tim Zulawski: Social media. Is it the connection tool everyone thought it was? Are you really engaging your fans, connecting your partners with your fan base, and delivering the results you hoped through social media?

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