2018 Intercollegiate Athletics Forum: On The Rise

By Abe Madkour and Ross Nethery

If you felt better about the state of college sports after day one of the 2018 Learfield Intercollegiate Athletics Forum – and most of us did – then you were probably ready to double down after day two. From the inspirational opening keynote through our final panel on media rights, the day had a hopeful, positive vibe even as everyone on stage took a clear-eyed view of the problems facing college sports. The message we heard is that communication is better on many fronts, the commitment to the mission of college sports is as strong as ever, and that each of us, on some level, can move the industry forward. If you didn’t leave the Crowne Plaza with a few new things to think about, then you probably weren’t listening.

POWER TO STAND: Chris Norton opened the day with a stirring keynote address that left few eyes dry and ended with a standing ovation. A former Luther College (D-III) defensive back, Norton was paralyzed from the neck down in 2010 when he tried to tackle an opponent on a kickoff. He was given only a 3% chance of ever again moving any part of his body below his neck, but he recovered enough to do an assisted walk across the stage at his college graduation. In the years since his injury, Norton has worked hard not only on his own physical recovery, but to help others overcome their own challenges. He’s an accomplished speaker with great comedic timing who alternately had the audience laughing and crying as he encouraged them to make a difference in someone else’s life.

He’s also a great ambassador for the student-athlete experience. He said of his rehab, “I wanted to give up, but I didn’t. So where does that resilience come from? Honestly, I can’t think of anything other than my experience as a student-athlete. … I’ve had failures and disappointments in the classroom and on the field, but as a student-athlete, you know you have to keep showing up. So although my life was completely flipped upside down, I never lost the student-athlete in me.” Norton’s book on his experience, “The Seven Longest Yards,” is available for pre-order. You can find out more about him here.

TOO MUCH TIME: SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey made some news when he called for college football leaders to reconsider the overtime rule that last month resulted in a record seven-overtime Texas A&M victory over LSU. “They played the equivalent of another half of football,” Sankey said. “If we’re really thinking about the health and well-being of the student athletes, the conversation about ties will come back.”

Sankey was the only one of the Power 5 conference commissioners who didn’t appear on day one, and interviewer Paul Finebaum of ESPN asked Sankey for his reaction to some of what was said the previous day, particularly with regards to the College Football Playoff. On Wednesday, several commissioners seemed to agree that the CFP likely would eventually expand beyond the four-team model. Sankey told Finebaum: “I lived in the FCS world. I've seen the impact on the people, the student athletes, the coaches, the administration, the fans, of just adding layer after layer after layer of football games. We're not talking about basketball or baseball. We're talking about adding football games. We're rightly thoughtful people, believe it or not, at the commissioner's level. But we're rightly going to be cautious before we just agree that expansion resolves a set of issues that it may not in fact resolve.”

Finally, Sankey had some subtle suggestions for schools that don’t like the current structure of the CFP.

WHAT IT TAKES: Too many great, talented people get “left on the sidelines because we just go for what it is easy,” said Katrice Albert, the NCAA’s EVP of inclusion and human resources. Albert said the NCAA is “making significant strides in terms of gender diversity, especially at the AD role, (but) not so much in ethnic diversity.” What it takes for change, she said, is “courageous leadership,” and college coaches, ADs and presidents “all have the hiring power” to make that change. She wants to make sure that when there are openings, university presidents and executive search firms have names available of diverse, qualified candidates. When you’re making a hire, she said, “It can’t just be the five people that your friend is telling you about.”

TALKING IT OUT: Our day two panel on the issues facing college basketball focused a lot on the recommendations by the Rice Commission, and it fit with a lot of comments on the first day from the NCAA’s Mark Emmert and others who said that in the last year, the FBI case and other issues have forced the constituencies in college sports to start working more closely, with better communication, more cooperation and fewer silos. Most sensed that the Commission and the changes enacted by NCAA are a beginning, the start of a long process, a point that was emphasized by Hofstra’s Jeff Hathaway: “There are real things in the commission report that are making an impact on basketball. We all understand it’s not going to turn on a dime.” But while there’s generally a positive feeling about the direction of the sport, the Big East’s Val Ackerman made a good point. She noted that any new charges or scandals could set progress back significantly.

DIGITAL CHANGE IS ALREADY HERE: Top sports media execs believe we are still at the beginning of the digital revolution in the sports industry. Sports Media Advisors’ Doug Perlman said, “Our kids won’t even understand the distinction between TV and streaming platforms, much in the same way today that if we talked about broadcast versus cable, their eyes sort of glaze. To them, it’s all just going to be about content on a screen.” Endeavor’s Karen Brodkin said international markets are “significantly ahead” of the U.S. in terms of digital platforms and OTT services. She said consuming sports digitally is the “norm in a number of markets,” and the U.S. is “just getting caught up.”

SEEN AND HEARD: Sankey spent Wednesday night catching one of the final performances of Springsteen on Broadway, and he raved about Bruce Springsteen’s storytelling during the performance. Sankey knows a good performance when he hears one. He told Finebaum that the number of times he has seen U2 in concert is now in the dozens … Two high school classmates connected in the Green Room, when Gonzaga (DC) alums John Thompson III (class of 1984) and SBJ’s John Ourand (class of 1985) saw each other before the former Georgetown basketball coach took the stage for his panel, "The Changing Face of College Basketball." Their main topic of conversation: Gonzaga's upset win over DeMatha to win the DC Catholic League football title. Gonzaga won the game on a 53-yard Hail Mary as time expired – the number one play on "SportsCenter's" top 10 that night. Also in the room was Hathaway, who just happens to be a Dematha grad and who also was on Thompson's panel. Hathaway visibly recoiled as Thompson and Ourand displayed their Jesuit education and concluded that God is, indeed, purple.

From left, Thompson, Hathaway and Ourand

QUICK HITS:

“There’s been corruption in college basketball since two weeks after Dr. Naismith nailed in the first peach basket.” — Thompson

“We continue to really dominate, across the board, when it comes to athletic excellence.” — Pac 12’s Larry Scott, touting the number of Olympic sports championships won by conference schools.

“We have to be much more courageous in having these conversations. We’ve got to actually become comfortable with the uncomfortable.” — Albert, on imploring companies to hire more diversely.

“Unequivocally, yes.” — Perlman, asked whether digital players like Amazon or Netflix would soon be in the mix for sports rights.

SOCIAL ANIMALS: Thanks to everyone who helped keep the conversation going today. The hashtag #sbjiaf had almost 200 mentions and more than 900,000 impressions. Special thanks to frequent tweeters @ASUSportsLawBiz, @Sportsdigita, @NFFNetwork, @brenden3lee, @NCAAKelsey and @LoisElfman.

Among the tweets that caught our eye:
@msfeliciamarting: What an amazing reminder of why we do what we do.  @sbjsbd All @NCAA student-athletes inspire me!  Thank you

@chrisanorton16: Grateful to be able to share my message and to use my journey to inspire others. Thanks @sbjsbd for having me!

@TheresaHansonAD: An incredible story from an inspiring young man @chrisanorton16. Thank you for inspiring me to be better for @SFUClan student athletes. Thx @sbjsbd for an excellent forum.

@Sportsdigita: We just heard a POWERFUL & INSPIRATIONAL speech by Chris Norton @Learfield @sbjsbd Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. Great quote: “Everyone gets knocked down! What’s most important though is to get back up!”

@SamRenaut: Might be a few tears in the audience, watching Chris bring down the house by rising to his feet.

@RHiggins_TBSC: Insightful conversation with @SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. Looking forward to the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament returning to @AmalieArena in 2022!

Follow all of our social media posts from the conference today from our Twitter handle, @SBJSBD, and using the hashtag #sbjiaf.

LET’S GO TO THE VIDEO: Here were our most-watched videos Thursday on Twitter:

SEC Commissioner @GregSankey shares his thoughts on the expansion of the #CFBPlayoff with @finebaum.

Karen Brodkin of Endeavor talks about changes in consumption and the future of OTT platforms.

Chris Norton (@chrisanorton16) talks about how his mentality of being a student athlete helped him immediately after suffering a spinal cord injury.

We partnered with Grabyo this week to provide video content from the conference that we posted on our social media channels and in Sports Business Daily. You can check out all of the videos by visiting our SBJ YouTube page. Grabyo provides technology that allows us to quickly clip small segments from a panel or presentation and easily post those videos to a variety of channels. You can find out more about Grabyo by clicking here.

STICK A FORK IN US: That puts a wrap on our 2018 conference lineup. We’ll see you next year, starting in April at the 2019 CAA World Congress of Sports.