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May 28-29, 2019
Chicago, Illinois

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Connor Schell

Executive Vice President, Content, ESPN

Connor Schell, executive vice president, content, is responsible for overseeing all aspects of ESPN’s content creation across television, digital and print platforms. Schell was promoted to this role in June 2017 and is based in Bristol and New York.

Schell oversees management of all of ESPN’s event production domestically and internationally including the production of the NBA Finals, the College Football National Championship, Monday Night FootballSunday Night Baseball, Wimbledon and the US Open. He also manages all of ESPN’s studio programming including SportsCenter and ESPN’s News & Information division. Schell oversees digital and print content creation covering ESPN.com, the ESPN App, ESPN the Magazine, The Undefeated and all off-platform ESPN branded content (i.e. SC on Snap). Additionally, Schell is responsible for ESPN Films, ESPN Audio, the company’s Talent Office, and serves as one of the executive producers of 30 for 30.

Schell is the executive producer and co-creator of the Emmy-, Oscar- and Peabody Award-winning 30 for 30 documentary series and the Emmy-winning 30 for 30 Shorts digital series. Schell also served as a producer and executive producer of the company’s first Academy Award-winning film “O.J.: Made in America.”

He earned Emmy Awards in 2015 and 2016, two Emmy Awards in 2014, and a Peabody Award in 2010 – all for the 30 for 30 series. Under Schell’s guidance, 30 for 30 has won awards at the Producers Guild Awards, NAACP Image Awards, IDA Awards, Webby Awards and the prestigious Edward R Murrow Awards. “O.J.: Made in America” was honored as 2016’s best documentary by the National Board of Review, the IDA, the Gotham Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, the NY Film Critic’s Awards, and it won Best Documentary Feature at The 2017 Academy Awards. As a producer of the film, Schell was also a recipient of a DuPont Award for Journalism and his third Peabody Award.

Schell’s purview extends through The Walt Disney Company as an executive producer of the studio film “Million Dollar Arm” and as an executive producer for the first ESPN Films-branded feature film from Disney – “Queen of Katwe.”

He is a Sports Business Journal “Forty Under 40” Hall of Fame inductee having been named to the list in 2012, 2016 and 2017, and he was also named in Multichannel News’ 2012 Class of “40 Under 40.” Schell was inducted into the Cablefax Television Hall of Fame in 2017.

Previously, Schell served as senior vice president, original content; vice president and executive producer of ESPN Films; executive producer of the 30 for 30 series; and senior director, program development, ESPN Original Entertainment. Schell joined ESPN in 2004.

Schell earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Harvard University and a Master in Business Administration with a focus in Media and Entertainment from Columbia University.  He lives in New York with his wife and three children.

Wednesday, May 29

Changing the Content Game

A LOOK INSIDE: Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Venture's "The Boardroom" --A New Sports Business Show for ESPN+

NBA star Kevin Durant has translated his success on the court to a strong business portfolio, including a show about the ins and outs of the sports business itself.

This session will take an in-depth look at Durant's latest venture, "The Boardroom" on ESPN+, and the way it aims to bring fans behind the scenes of the sports business like never before. With perspectives from sports executives, athletes, and tech moguls alike, the conversations uncover what's driving the business of sports and sports culture.

Rich Kleiman, Co-Founder, Thirty Five Ventures
Connor Schell, Executive Vice President, Content, ESPN
Jay Williams, Host, The Boardroom, ESPN+
Moderator
Abraham Madkour, Publisher and Executive Editor, Sports Business Journal