Like in all forms of business, sports management has always played host to groundbreaking innovation. Revenue sharing in the NFL is an excellent example of this, given the altruistic benefits it's created for the league as a whole. Furthermore, the minds that have stayed on the edge of development tend to be the ones who dominate their sport. In the last two decades especially, this trend has become even more prominent. Across a multitude of sports, older, outmoded ways of thinking have increasingly been replaced with fresher, more innovative ideas.
Jonathan Kraft, the President of the Kraft Group (familiar to New Englanders as the group that owns the Patriots and New England Revolution) is a representative of this trend. Spearheaded by his father, Robert, the Kraft Group bought the struggling Patriots in 1994 for an NFL record price (at the time). They foresaw the coming wave of growth, and have watched their supposedly overvalued 1994 bid of $175 million rise to $1.8 billion. It seems appropriate therefore that Kraft will be a speaker at BostInno's 2014 State of Innovation on June 12.
Joining Kraft, and serving as moderator for "The State of Innovation in Sports Management" panel will be writer, legal analyst and professor of law, Michael McCann. Like Kraft, McCann has been around many of the innovative sports developments over the past decade. He taught the first sports law class in Yale Law School's history, and served as counsel to former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett in a historic case of Clarett v. NFL. McCann has also authored over 200 articles for Sports Illustrated, keeping fans informed on sports related legal cases.
Both Kraft and McCann are on the forefront of sports innovation, whether in implementing it (in Kraft's case) or covering it (as McCann does on a daily basis). If this sounds like a topic you want to hear more about, come listen to their intimate, candid discussion at BostInno's State of Innovation Forum, starting at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, June 12th. Here's a look at a few of the topics they'll be discussing:
- Television revenue and how traditional advertising's uncertain future will alter it.
- Leveraging ever-increasing mobile technology possibilities to improve the fans' experience.
- Smart cities, and their ability to attract sports franchises.
- The increased collaboration of Boston's world leading sports franchises with its world leading innovation entrepreneurs.
It's an opportunity you're not likely to find elsewhere. We hope to see you there.
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