The new sports track at SXSW Interactive has something for every sports fan, from how Twitter has revolutionized sports for the common fan to how basketball has impacted lives for the better. Read about my top five sports panels below, and I’m sure you will have difficulty choosing just one to attend.
1. “Sports Media: The Beat Goes Gone?”
When: Sunday, March 11th, 3:30 PM-4:30 PM
Where: Driskill Hotel
If you’re looking to attend a dynamic panel featuring several renowned sports reporters and a social media professional, than this is the panel for you. In this age of social, where everyone is connected instantaneously, sports media has undergone a significant change. No longer does the fan rely solely on the sports beat reporter for breaking news on their favorite team or player, now the players and teams themselves can report directly to fans. Social platforms, like Twitter, have forever altered the role of the sports reporter. So, where do we go from here? Kevin Arnovitz from ESPN’s TrueHoop Blog, Jonathan Abrams sports writer for Grantland, Johnny Ludden, NBA editor for Yahoo! Sports and Kathleen Hessert, Founder and President of BuzzManager, Inc. look to shed some light on the question, “What will the sports beat look like in 10 years?” For additional information on this panel, please read my preview here.
2. “Fantasy Sports: Where Does It Go From Here?”
When: Saturday, March 10th, 3:30 PM-4:30 PM
Where: Driskill Hotel
If you’re like me, you not only enjoy following your favorite team, but you also enjoy creating your own team. Fantasy sports has essentially allowed sports fans to take their love and obsession to a whole new level. This platform enables you to draft your own team of players, compete with fellow fantasy teams, make trades and smack talk with others in your league. The ultimate goal may be to win a championship, but really it is about being able to connect more deeply with sports. While fantasy sports has been around since the 1960s with the first fantasy football league, it really only took off in the mid-1990s with the Internet. The Internet has allowed fantasy sports to become an online social network and now this community is complete with experts offering daily and weekly fantasy opinions. Entire cable programs and satellite TV packages serve the fantasy sports community, and there are fantasy apps and games. With all of these fantasy sports platforms, the question is, “Where will it go next?” Join Bill Squadron, President of Bloomberg Sports, Clay Walker, VP at USA Today Sports, Greg Jennings, All-Pro wide receiver from the Green Bay Packers, Jason Kint, Senior VP of CBS SportsLine and Stephania Bell, on-air and online analyst at ESPN for a look at the future of fantasy sports.
3. “The Positive Power of Sports”
When: Sunday, March 11th, 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
Where: Driskill Hotel
In this unique panel, learn how sports and social responsibility can intertwine to help others around the world. This is especially important, considering the negative image that can haunt an entire sports organization when one of its players or coaches gets into trouble. As fans we often here about negative off-the-court actions, so this will be a nice change of pace for the sports fan. R.C. Buford has been the General Manager of the San Antonio Spurs since 2002. Buford is a board member of PeacePlayers International, which uses basketball to bring children together and teach them the skills necessary to improve their communities. PeacePlayers International currently operates year-round programs in South Africa, Northern Ireland, Israel and the West Bank and Cyprus and has reached over 52,000 participants. Buford has made several trips overseas on behalf of PeacePlayers. You can read his blog detailing his experience in the Middle East. PeacePlayers was founded in 2001 by brothers Sean and Brendan Tuohey with the idea that children who play together can learn to live together. Read more about how they began the organization here. Join Buford, Brendan Tuohey and Anne Buford, Executive Producer of Elevate, a documentary film chronicling a group of Western African basketball players, in this uplifting panel that will detail how basketball has had a positive impact around the world. Watch the official movie trailer for Elevate below…
4. “Has Twitter Made the Sports Reporter Obsolete?”
When: Monday, March 12th, 11 AM-12 PM
Where: Sheraton Austin
Twitter is everywhere and is impacting every form of media, including sports. Twitter has even set up a sports profile, @TwitterSports with nearly 700,000 followers. This Twitter handle is a sort of one-stop-shop, where fans can go for instant information. This panel looks to explore how Twitter has impacted the sports media world and what sports reporters must do to survive. In this day of instant gratification, Twitter has enabled sports fans to hear news about their favorite team or player instantly right from the source. This instant access means that sports reporters must always be on in order to keep up with audience demands. Bruce Feldman, a college football reporter from CBS Sports, Dashiell Bennett, freelance writer at Dashbot Enterprises and Richard Deitsch, a writer/reporter for Sports Illustrated and SI.com look to shed some light on how Twitter has changed the sports media arena, and how reporters must adapt to their audience’s desire for instant coverage.
5. “The Sports Fan in 2015”
When: Saturday, March 10th, 11 AM-12 PM
Where: Driskill Hotel
During the 2012 NBA All-Star weekend Slam Dunk Contest, fans were in complete control of the outcome. In the past, judges determined the winner, but in today’s world of fan and sport interconnectedness, fans were in control and chose the winner via text messaging, Twitter and Facebook. Technology and social innovation is now intertwined with the sports world. As a result, fans have never been so connected to their favorite sports league, teams and players. This panel welcomes Kyle Bunch, Executive Producer of Mobile and Social Platforms at R/GA and Richard Ting, VP and Executive Creative Director of Mobile & Social Platforms at R/GA to explore what the fan might look like in a few years. Given the current interconnectedness between the fans and players and the continual growth of social and tech in the sports media world, it will be interesting as a sports fan to watch this evolution continue to unfold.
With this renowned group of panelists, you will be able to delve deeper into the world of sports media, including the social and tech changes that continue to evolve. So, mark your calendars sports fans and don’t miss out on these insightful sports panels!