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Sports Business Journal unveils Champions Class of 2023

Sports Business Journal announces this year’s class of Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business. The honorees include a broad mix of sports industry veterans who have made their mark both on and off the playing court, and have driven change and innovation in their respective fields. Profiles of our honorees will start appearing in March.

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Bob Bowlsby

Bowlsby distinguished himself over nearly 45 years in college athletics as an athlete and administrator, the last decade of which was spent serving the Big 12 Conference as its commissioner. The former athletic director at Northern Iowa, Iowa and Stanford became one of the most influential figures in college athletics during the last five decades, elevating the Big 12’s stature and subsequently helping it recover from the loss of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC.

 

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Micky Lawler

Lawler is the ultimate tennis insider, having worked in the sport for nearly 37 years, including the last eight as president of the WTA. She was the only female agent in men’s tennis in the late 1980s, when she worked at Octagon, and she’s continued that trailblazing spirit at the WTA, helping the tour land its lucrative WTA Finals deal with Shenzhen, China, and, in the last two years, working closer than ever with the ATP Tour.

 

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Al Michaels

When you hear Michaels calling the action, you know it’s a major sports event. Michaels has worked in sports broadcasting since 1968 and is one of the most respected announcers in the business. While known mostly in recent years for his extensive time in the booth calling NFL games, Michaels has captured some of the biggest moments throughout sports. That includes the thrill of the Miracle on Ice in 1980 (“Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”) and keeping the nation glued to their TV sets when the San Francisco earthquakes struck during the 1989 World Series.

 

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Dick Pound

Pound is a former Olympian, representing Canada at the 1960 Rome Games, and over the last five decades established himself as one of the most influential figures in global sports. He’s served as president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, the first chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and chairman of Olympic Broadcasting Services. That’s in addition to two stints as vice president of the International Olympic Committee, from which the 80-year-old Pound retired last year after 44 years as an IOC member.

 

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C. Vivian Stringer

Stringer is one of the most decorated coaches in sports, retiring last year after a 50-year career coaching women’s basketball. She served a quarter century as coach at Rutgers, which named its arena playing court in her honor. She finished with an amazing 1,055 wins and four Final Four appearances (the first coach to do so with three different teams), and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Off the court, she has championed racial and gender equity in sports, and mentored countless athletes on reaching their goals and making a difference in society.

 

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Jerry West

The NBA’s evolution cannot be chronicled without illuminating the impact of West, whose second act following a 14-year Hall of Fame playing career cemented his place on the Mount Rushmore of basketball executives. After becoming Los Angeles Lakers general manager in 1982, West helped build a dynasty that captured five NBA titles over a nine-year period, revolutionizing the sport with “Showtime” basketball and elevating the league’s stature.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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