We asked each of the Forty Under 40:
What is the biggest business challenge facing the sports industry in 2017?
Seth Bacon: Identifying ways to market, monetize and — importantly — measure content/consumption across an increasingly fragmented distribution landscape.
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| Photo by: GETTY IMAGES |
Derek Belch: Cord-cutting and continued viewership fragmentation in favor of mobile devices and other social media platforms.
Ilan Ben-Hanan: Keeping fans interested in coming to games.
Jimmy Bruns: Keeping live access to games as affordable as possible while still enhancing the experience.
Lisa Campos: Collegiate athletics is facing a public perception issue and will continue facing a multitude of lawsuits.
Daniel Cherry III: Making each game valuable to fans by creating more entertaining, shareable experiences that build a greater sense of community and local pride.
Jason Cohen: Changing media landscape.
Sakiya Daniel: Harnessing the power and pace at which emerging technology is impacting the way brands interact/engage with fans through sports.
Will Dean: The disruption of traditional broadcast media by live streaming.
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| Photo by: DENNIS MCCOY / SACRAMENTO BUSINESS JOURNAL |
Rob DeAngelis: Continuing to enhance the in-venue experience via innovation, sustainability and high-end hospitality solutions to keep fans in their seats.
Bill Fagan: Fan insights. What do fans really need right now, in this moment and how do we present them with this?
Cole Gahagan: Counterfeiting tickets and merchandise and the continued struggle gaining mind share with millennials.
Rocky Harris: Proactively adapting to the future of the broadcast industry by building and maximizing digital assets.
Jeff Ianello: With the largest revenue stream for most properties being traditional media, it’s continuing to understand how to monetize in a world where viewership is continuing to become more fragmented.
Martin Jarmond: Attracting new and retaining current ticket holders in a saturated market.
Katherine Johnson: Staying in the path and being accountable to change. Linear TV is not where it’s at anymore.
Nick Kelly: Determining where the line is relative to oversaturation.
Elena Klau: The evolving viewing model (decline of traditional TV watching) to new modes and mediums (streaming, Twitch, etc.)
Brandon Lloyd: Knowing our customers.
J.B. Lockhart: Adapting to the media consumption habits of millennials.
Olek Loewenstein: The shift from traditional distribution platforms into new ways of consuming media.
Matthew Nussbaum: The fast-paced evolution of how our products are distributed and consumed.
David Oxfeld: Keeping ticket prices down. Also, specific to what I do on a day-to-day basis, changing budgets and how that affects brands’ plans and talent’s expectations.
Dan Parise: Understanding the esports landscape.
Anthony Perez: Traditional products (like season tickets) staying relevant in an age of short attention spans and on-demand everything.
Ashwin Puri: Specifically to my world, figuring out how to ensure we remain competitive and how we fund new NCAA legislation and reform.
Alex Radetsky: Attracting millennials, and ensuring safety at sport venues.
Ann Rodriguez: Sustaining fan engagement on a continual basis. There are so many activities and sources of content competing for our audience’s time. We have to strive every day to build and sustain our connection with our audience.
Jeffrey Roth: Evolving video/content consumption habits, especially for younger generations.
Connor Schell: Increased competition for everyone’s attention.
Brandon Schneider: Cord cutters and cord nevers.
Vishal Shah: Driving engagement and emotional appeal in key youth demos.
Gretchen Sheirr: The changing landscape of how fans can consume our product. How do we adapt to that access while still keeping it a must-see live experience?
Tobias Sherman: Declining viewership.
Justin Toman: Figuring out the continued fragmentation of media.
Jeremy Walls: Content creation and monetization across all social platforms. Fans now expect great content, and want it delivered in the way they prefer to consume it. Prioritizing our focus and resources is the hard part.
Danny White: The 70-inch flat-screen television in a basement “man cave.” Getting fans to come to games instead of consuming our product on television is going to continue to be a monster challenge.
Chip Wile: Continuing to evolve and grow with the ever-changing technological landscape. Integrating technology into the consumer’s experience will be critical to future growth of sports.
Mike Zabik: Adapting to the rapidly evolving way content is consumed.
Tim Zue: Competition between the in-home and in-person viewing experiences. As the in-home viewing experience continues to improve with new technologies, we need to innovate and create new ways to connect with and engage our fans at live events.
