By TERRY LYONS
NEW YORK – Sports seminars are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.
That might sound familiar to a longtime movie-goers who remember Robert Zemeckis’ “Forrest Gump” in about 1994, as dear Forrest was quoting his mother’s viewpoint on life during a crucial moment of the Academy Award winning film.
The same quote fits with the various sports marketing seminars staged by major media outlets, sports trade outlets (online and magazine form), pro sports leagues, thought-leadership think tanks or even the many colleges and universities of the world with majors or masters degrees in sports management. Those are staged by the some of the finest institutions in the land – from MIT Sloan Business School to Wharton (UPenn) to Columbia University, New York City’s IVY League entry.
In far too many cases, the seminars dance together with one or two day agendas all blending into a sports marketing blur.
Most make the attempt to cover the flavor of the month topics, such as legalized sports gambling in the USA, the NIL crush on collegiate sports, performance enhancing/monitoring wearables, advanced statistics and analysis, and the most recent – being A.I. (for artificial intelligence). They’re all interesting and worthwhile topics in an ever-changing landscape of sports business.
That is good.
Usually, the ‘grand-daddy of them all’ – the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference – blows away the competition with a two-day extravaganza that grew from a relatively small on-campus gathering to a massive and always sold-out monstrous multi-topic, multi-discipline extravaganza at one of Boston’s two large convention centers – usually the Mayor Tom Menino Center at The Seaport.
To a great extent, everyone else plays for the silver medal of sports business seminars, and that includes wonderful and informative efforts by The Sports Business Journal, its parent company (Leaders of London), and more recently Sportico. The SBJ stages the World Congress of Sports (usually in LA), Game-Changers (focusing on women in sports), Deal Makers (a one-day, rather intimate gathering of investment opportunists of sport, Sports Tech focused seminars, New Voices (U-30), the Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, Forty Under Forty, Brand Innovation and a year-ending Sports Business Awards – black tie event to celebrate the very best in sports for each calendar year.
Of course there are others – far too many to list or even try to rank as a top ten.
That said, there is now a solid No. 2 in the ranking and it is the Columbia University School of Professional Studies Sports Management Conference – a one-day event held at Lerner Hall and the Roone Arledge Auditorium on campus at 114th Street & Broadway on the Upper West Side of New York City, also known as Morningside Heights.
The 2026 rendition was held this past Thursday, October 15 from 9am to 5pm and Columbia celebrated its 20th year in the sports management eco system.
Its agenda was wide-ranging and magnificent, to say the least. Topics ranged from “Beyond the Game: Capturing the Cultural Connection” in sports to Deloitte’s Global Sports Industry Outlook to a home grown look at some of the Columbia grads who are shaping the current sports business landscape.
There was an interesting look at the NFL’s endeavor into Flag Football, told from league office to team to participant’s point-of-view. They passed the torch to the USOC & Paralympic committee CEO, Sarah Hirshland, who ran with it, then passed off to Nielsen’s global head of sports execs.
There was a one-on-one with former New York Rangers Stanley Cup champion goalkeepers, Mike Richter, who sat with Maryland and NBA star Len Elmore (now turned TV commentator and part-time sports lawyer Len Elmore.
The final presentation was a panel discussion that, quite frankly, blew us all away as they delved into the crazy and wonderful world of sports memorabilia (as a business). Even SBJ veteran Terry Lefton, the moderator was taken back by some of the valuations of everything from traditional memorabilia such as Trading Cards to authentic and autographed merchandise and game-worn uniforms to the far reaching world of first edition Harry Potter books. It was interesting, to say the least, especially when (Fanatics) Michael Rubin clone, Josh Luber, now the CEO of ghostwrite, reached into his bag of tricks and started tossing memorabilia into the sparse crowd that was smart enough to stick around for the final presentation of the long day.
In true sense of burying the lead, there were two other key sessions.
Columbia U professor and moderator Michael Neuman led a 45-minute panel discussion entitled, The Experience Effect: Turning Moments Into Meaning. Panelists included, Bettina Garibaldi, the recent Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for FIFA World Cup 2026 and their NY/NJ Host Committee, Ed Horne, an industry veteran (a la NFL, NHL), now the Chief Operating Officer of “On Location,” Jackie Riggleman, the impressive senior project manager for Canopy Team – an agency where she recently oversaw the strategy for Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB) efforts at PNC Park in Pitt, along with their Spring Training and Dominican-based facilities. In her spare time, before her time with the Pirates, Riggleman was an instrumental part of the team that opened Monongalia County Ballpark, home of the West Virginia University Mountaineers and West Virginia Black Bears. Batting clean-up was Danny Zausner, the COO of the United States Tennis Association and its National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, Queens, NY.
Neuman held the lofty title as the leader of “most interesting discussion” for all of 20 minutes, and then Columbia University’s head of the sports management program Scott Rosner took the stage to introduce a keynote speaker, Sheikha Asmaa bint Thani A M Al-Thani, ID’d as the Director of Marketing and International Cooperation Sector for the Qatar Olympic Committee.
Everyone stopped in their tracks. It was “you can hear a pin drop” territory as Rosner gradually drew-out the fact Ms. Al Thani is a Qatari mountaineer who is the first Qatari woman to summit Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Manaslu, K2 as well as the first Qatari female to climb Ama Dablam. She is also the first Qatari person to ski to the North Pole. On her ascent of Manaslu, she became the first Arab person to summit an eight-thousander (8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in elevation) without oxygen. She climbed Lhotse for the second time in May 2024, without using supplemental oxygen, becoming the first Arab to climb two 8000ers without supplemental oxygen.
All of the Earth’s eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in the altitude range known as the death zone, where atmospheric oxygen pressure is insufficient to sustain human life for extended periods of time.
Give me a break, right?
It’s not gonna end there.
In 2013, Al Thani found a bucket list she had written several years before, which included the resolution of climbing a mountain. She began training shortly afterwards and in 2014 she was part of a group of climbers who were the first Qatari women to summit Kilimanjaro. In 2018 she became the first Qatari person to ski to the North Pole and she raised her country’s flag there on April 21. She was part of an all-female Euro-Arabian Polar expedition, which was led by Felicity Aston who was the first woman to travel unaided across the Antarctic mainland. As a result she was recognised as “Woman of the Year” by Grazia magazine which is published in Qatar. In 2019, Al Thani became the first Qatari woman to summit Aconcagua.
On November 8, 2021 she became the Qatari first woman to reach the summit of Ama Dablam. Earlier that year, she summited Mount Elbrus in Russia, and Dhaulagiri and the eighth highest mountain, Manaslu in Nepal. As a result of her climb on Manaslu she became the first Arab to reach the summit of one of the highest mountains (an eight-thousander) without the use of oxygen. She became the first Qatari woman to summit Ama Dablam in Nepal, and then climbed Mount Vinson in January 2022.
On May 9, 2022, she became first Arab to climb Kangchenjunga.
Al Thani reached the summit of Everest on May 27, 2022. On that journey, she and her team carried a football created by adidas for the FIFA World Cup Qatar to the summit of Everest.
Named ‘Al Rihla’ which means ‘the journey’, the ball was the World Cup’s first Arabic match’s official ball. She went on to reach the summit of Lhotse on May 28, 2022 and K2 in July 2022. Al Thani climbed Denali, her sixth of the seven summits on 17 June 17, 2022.
Add it up, and it’s 11 of the highest 14 summits in the world.
And, oh, by the way, she is also a member of the ruling family of Qatar, and in meeting her after the panel, she is about as down-to-earth a person as anyone you’ve ever met. Down-to-earth seems a bit of a common phrase for people, because – please remember – for every eight-thousander climbed, she had to get down, as well. She had to come back down to earth.
On one trip, her team leader actually thanked her for her monumental decision to stop and turn back after a couple days or horrendous weather. The team leader would’ve pushed on if it was his client’s wish.
On another, she actually called it quits … as in, she had come to the realization she was so sick and tired that she would need to simply sit down, and by doing so, she would – most likely – end her own life.
She described one harrowing experience.
“After seven days in base camp, we pushed on,” she began. “I had a team with me, a very strong team. We had a rotation, as the weather was not favorable. The weather was providing two days, but my body was not ‘doing well.’ I was very sick, but I still wanted to push to get to that summit.
“As I was going up, our push was taking longer than expected. The rope team decided and turned around, so my team had to help fix the ropes. As we climbed, I was getting sicker and sicker, and the weather was beginning to turn.
“I told my guide, he should turn around, but he said, ‘We need to go,’ and you need to push. We continued to climb, but the sickness was causing (vomit) and stomach pain. About 100 metres from the summit, I sat down. My guide told me, if I sit down, I would begin to lose body function. I told my guide, he needed to go.”
I said, “No, I don’t think I’m going to go and, if you stay here with me, you’re going to die.
“For a moment there, it seemed easier to stay than to continue down that mountain. It was about 19 hours, non-stop. No food. In my head, I figured it was 14 hours down. I didn’t think I had it in me. I will just go here and it will be easier.
“My guide looked at me, and I said to him, ‘I’m tired,’ and he simply said, ‘I’m tired, too.’ At that moment, I realized he’s tired, I’m tired, so we must do this together. I got back up and we continued to go back down the mountain.
“After that time, I did not climb for a year. I asked myself, ‘Why should I push myself beyond my capabilities. Why should I push myself to the extent that I was ready to stay on that mountain?
“Once I realized that, I returned to the point and I was ready to climb again. And, that I needed to do it in the right way. I realized that I was not climbing to get to the summit. I was climbing to get to know who I am.
“I knew I had to get myself in the right physical condition and the right mental condition, but I will not push myself beyond that point.”
Amazing.
Come August 27 to September 12, 2027, Sheikha Asmaa bint Thani A M Al-Thani will be welcoming the USA Basketball senior national team and the other 31 men’s national teams who qualify for the 2027 FIBA World Cup basketball tournament in Qatar. It will be the first FIBA Basketball World Cup to be held in the Arab/Middle East world, and the third straight to be held in Asia as Qatar is under FIBA’s Asian region.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Boston Celtics announced the signing of an extension for their 2024 NBA Champion and 2024-25 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the deal was widely reported as being a two-year extension for $44.2 million. His current, four-year deal was for $30m.
“Payton’s a very good player who has put in the time and added to his game each season that he’s been in Boston,” said President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens. “He’s just a flat-out winner, whose toughness, commitment to team, and work ethic are all elite. We’re thrilled that he’s chosen to extend with the C’s.”
Pritchard, the Celtics’ second-longest-tenured player, is entering his seventh NBA season after averaging career highs of 17.0 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 32.4 minutes per game across 79 appearances (50 starts) during the 2025-26 campaign. The 28-year-old tallied 27 20-point games last season, including six games with 30+ points, while shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 37.7 percent from 3-point range, and 89.0 percent from the free-throw line. Pritchard has appeared in 426 career games (67 starts) across six seasons with the Celtics.
In breaking news, Pope Leo has left the hospital (in Rome) and will be back in action to root on his Villanova Wildcats of the BIG EAST.
SPALKING HEADS: In sports-biz news, Spalk, a cloud-based commentary and technology platform scaling multilingual commentary for teams, leagues and broadcast partners, announced its largest North American sports expansion, adding more non-English global partnerships with the NFL and the NBA as the fall progresses. The NBA expansion will include the first-ever remote broadcasts in seven languages for NBA on Prime, while the NFL expansion now includes live commentary in five additional languages never offered before.
“We have come a long way from launching the business in a New Zealand dorm room in 2015, and there is no better proof of concept than what we are now doing with a growing number of North American leagues, particularly the NFL and the NBA,” said Ben Reynolds oo-founder and CEO at Spalk. “The best way to reach consumers and make them fans on a global level is to give them the excitement of the live event in their own language, and we have refined the technology so that delivery, consistency and professionalism of talent is at a premium. By employing the largest group of multilingual talent literally everywhere in the world, we can assure that the leagues, our growing list of broadcast partners and most importantly the fans, are literally being heard and enjoying real-time multilingual broadcasts every day, with more to come.”
This season, Spalk will provide NBA broadcasts in Greek, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian and Korean using their qualifying list of talent. For NBA on Prime, coverage will cover Friday doubleheaders with 28 different commentators on one night across the two games. Twice this season there will be triple header broadcasts. That will require 42 commentators in one day across three games.
TID-BITS & NUGGETS: Attention all NBA prop people: The NBA will be restricting player props via sportsbook partners such as Draft Kings and Fan Duel. The league-mandated restrictions will include bets on players who will score the first basket of a game and parlays built around statistical unders for players expected to see limited playing time. The player prop prohibitions, which take effect this season, were outlined in a letter to sportsbook operators and a memo to all NBA teams. The restrictions will also apply to the WNBA next season. … The prop that’s more fun in gaming is the “last basket” (FG or 3-point FG – no FTs). … Same goes for “last touchdown,” with credit to receivers not QBs and no field goals or extra point action at all.
NEXT SUNDAY: The famed Spanish soccer matchup El Clásico, featuring Real Madrid vs. F.C. Barcelona will be on next Sunday, October 25th. To their credit, the MLS schedule-maker has home team LA Galaxy vs. LAFC on the very same date (25 October) at 9:00pm (ET/6:00pm (local) at BMO Stadium.. That matchup? El Trafico.
THE NBA POWER RANKINGS: Heading into the NBA regular season openers (this Tuesday, October 20) with (3pm Boston at Detroit), (7pm Philadelphia at New York complete with Ring Ceremony and banner raising pregame at Madison Square Garden), and (9:30pm OKC at San Antonio), there’s a consensus study of media predictions for the best teams in the league. VSiN compiled a bunch for its preseason NBA guide. Here are the results:
NBA Team, Power Ranking #
OKLAHOMA CITY 104.0
SAN ANTONIO 103.5
NEW YORK 103.0
PHILADELPHIA 101.5
BOSTON 101.0
DENVER 101.0
DETROIT 101.0
MINNESOTA 101.0
CLEVELAND 100.5
LA LAKERS 100.5
KEEP AN 👀 ON: The Atlanta Hawks, the return of the Indiana Pacers and the new and improved Utah Jazz.
ON THE COLLEGE FRONT: Longtime readers know, WWYI has gone to the length of picking a full NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket in the preseason. That has become increasingly harder with the fact the vast amount of Top 25 college basketball teams turnover their rosters via the transfer portal, adding veteran international players and – now – rarely landing a great high school prospect. Most coaches prefer the veteran 22-year old over an 18-year old first year, right out of the State high school tournaments and AAU summer ball.
Rather than a full bracket, how about a basic college basketball preseason …
Top 10
- Florida
- Duke
- UConn
- Illinois
- Texas
- Michigan St.
- Arizona
- Miami
- Louisville
- Virginia
Worth watching: Kansas, Houston, St. John’s, Michigan, UCLA, Kentucky, Alabama, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Iowa St.
PEACE OUT: The Nobel Prizes are among the world’s most prestigious honors. There are honors for Laureates in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economics and peace. Why isn’t there a prize for sports? … It would not be a typical community relations or most valuable player type award, as the respective leagues take care of that with all kinds of different honors. … The very first Nobel Prize for Sports might go to:
- Dikembe Mutombo (posthumously)
- Roberto Clemente (posthumously)
- Serena Williams
- Neymar
- David Beckham
- Jordan Spieth
- Pat LaFontaine