Webinar: Collectibles 2.0 by Sportico

About This Webinar

From the evolution of trading cards to the uncharted worlds of sophisticated auction platforms, sneaker exchanges and the adoption of digital currencies - collectibles are booming!

SporticoLive is proud to present Collectibles 2.0, bringing together the innovators and visionaries who are leading this bull economy.

Presenters

Francis Ngannou

UFC Heavyweight Champion

Francis was born and raised in the village of Batié, Cameroon. He lived in poverty and had little formal education growing up. At 10 years old, Ngannou started working in a sand quarry in Batié because of a lack of funds. As a youngster, he was approached by various gangs in his village to join them. However, Ngannou refused and instead decided to use his father's negative reputation as a street fighter as motivation to do something positive and pursue boxing. It was a life long dream to become a world champion; a dream many around him said he was crazy for believing in.

In his early 20’s, Francis decided to head to Paris, France, to pursue a professional boxing career. However upon reaching Europe, he was jailed for two months in Spain for illegally crossing the border. After living homeless on the streets of Paris, he began training for free in August 2013 under Didier Carmont. Being a fan of Mike Tyson, Ngannou was originally interested in learning how to box until his coach introduced him to the sport of MMA. In record time he would make his way to the largest promotion in the sport, the UFC.

After joining the UFC, Francis quickly became a fan favorite due to his humble demeanor and other worldly knockout power. He has won 9 of his 12 UFC fights by knockout, with the last four occurring within a total time of two and a half minutes. With his victory at UFC 260 on March 27th, Francis not only defeated the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time, but he has also become the first ever African born UFC Heavyweight Champion in history.

Outside of the cage, Francis started to Francis Ngannou Foundation back in his home village to help build out the community and create a structured and safe environment for the children of Batié. On the entertainment side Francis is set to make his feature film debut in May of 2021 with the release of the blockbuster film, FAST AND FURIOUS 9.

Caty Tedman

Head of Partnerships, Dapper Labs

Caty is Head of Partnerships for Dapper Labs where she is responsible for engaging with some of the biggest entertainment, sports, music and gaming brands in the world and getting them excited about the endless consumer engagement and revenue potential that blockchain and cryptocollectibles can bring.

Prior to joining Dapper Labs, Caty was deeply immersed in the sports world, having held social media positions at the NFL and the NHL, as well as ESPN where she was responsible for executing consumer marketing campaigns for the NBA across TV commercials, digital ads, experiential, plus mobile app development.

Caty is currently spearheading a number of marquee projects for Dapper Labs, including NBA Top Shot, a new collectible experience developed in partnership with the NBA and NBPA that gives basketball fans the opportunity to own a piece of the on-court action for the first time, a new collectible experience with the UFC and Endeavor, another with Dr Seuss Enterprises, plus many more. Caty holds an MBA from UBC’s Sauder School of Business.

Darren Rovell

Senior Executive Producer, The Action Network

Darren is a Senior Executive Producer at The Action Network, covering all angles of the the business of betting and risk, from sports betting to trading cards and memorabilia to NFTs. He spent two stints at ESPN, from 2000-06 and 2012-18, he regularly wrote for ESPN.com and contributed to ESPN shows, including SportsCenter and Outside The Lines. He also served as a business correspondent for ABC News, where he made appearances on the network’s flagship shows, including “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight” and “Nightline.” While at CNBC from 2006-2012, Rovell anchored five primetime documentaries, including “Swoosh! Inside Nike,” which was nominated for an Emmy. Rovell also contributed to NBC News, where he earned an Emmy as a correspondent for the network’s Presidential Election coverage.

Dave Rodman

Managing Partner, The Rodman Law Group

Dave Rodman is a Colorado-based attorney whose legal expertise includes blockchain and cryptocurrency, cannabis, FDA, securities, intellectual property, and corporate law. Mr. Rodman and The Rodman Law Group have provided counsel to a wide range of clients including cannabis companies, CBD and hemp ventures, public companies, cryptocurrency projects, blockchain protocols, NFT companies, and private equity funds.

Given the fact that The Rodman Law Group specializes in emergent and high-growth industries, Mr. Rodman has developed deep operational and practical knowledge of his clients’ businesses in addition to the laws and regulations they are subject to. As a result, clients know they can rely on his insightful business advice as well as his top-notch legal representation.

Mr. Rodman and the attorneys at his firm thrive in nuanced and highly regulated industries such as cannabis and cryptocurrency, where their precision, experience, and outside-the-box thinking have distinguished them from their peers.

Mr. Rodman is admitted to the bar in Colorado and Washington State, but represents clients across the globe. He received his JD from the University of Denver and attained his Bachelor of Arts in History from Tufts University.

Greg Bettinelli

Partner, Upfront Ventures

Greg Bettinelli has been a partner at Upfront since 2013, with notable investments in commerce innovators including GOAT, thredUP, Loupe, Rally, inVia Robotics, Happy Returns, and Ring (acquired by Amazon). Before joining Upfront, Greg was the CMO for LA-based HauteLook, a leading online flash-sale retailer (acquired by Nordstrom). Previously, Greg was EVP of Business Development and Strategy at Live Nation, responsible for strategic direction and key business partnerships for Live Nation’s ticketing and digital businesses. Before Live Nation, Greg held a number of leadership positions at eBay, including Sr. Director of Business Development at StubHub; he also led eBay’s acquisition of StubHub in 2007. Greg received a BA in Political Science from the University of San Diego and an MBA from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Henry Lowenfels

Chief Product Officer, OneTeam Partners

Henry Lowenfels serves as Chief Product Officer at OneTeam Partners, where he oversees digital strategy and the games business. Prior to joining OneTeam, Henry was the SVP of Business Development at Scopely, joining as one of the first 25 employees and overseeing corporate development, licensing, and developer partnerships as the company scaled to a multi-billion dollar valuation. Henry started his career as a film producer after graduating from USC's Peter Stark Program with an MFA in Film Producing and Harvard University with a BA in English.

Jack Settleman

Founder and Creator, Snapback Sports

Jack Settleman is the owner and creator of Snapback Sports, the largest sports based Snapchat account in the world. At 24 years old, Jack has built a community and following of over 1.5 million passionate sports fans. Snapback Sports launched in 2018, and since then has generated 500 million views annually and became #1 in Apple Charts with the Snapback Sports Podcast interviewing Mark Cuban, Jay Williams, Gary Vee and more. Jack is based in New York City. Graduated from UT, Austin and is currently a diehard LongHorns fan, Baltimore Ravens fanatic, and long time suffering New York Knicks fan.

Jeff Heckman

Global Director, New Business Ventures, Topps

Jeff has overseen the transformation of Topps.com into a real-time, print on-demand collectibles marketplace that has launched successful initiatives like Topps NOW, The Living Set, and Project 2020. Jeff started his career in the sports industry working as a Fan Development Representative for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2001

Jeremy Levine

Founder / Chairman, Underdog Fantasy

Jeremy Levine is the founder / CEO of Good Spirits Lab (making the worlds cleanest tequila) and the Founder / Chairman of Underdog Fantasy (investors include Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant, The Chainsmokers, SV Angel, LionTree, Adam Schefter and many more). He was the founder and CEO of DRAFT which was acquired in 2017 by Paddy Power Betfair. Jeremy is an active angel startups including Carta, Fight Camp, Ramp, Digits, mParticle, StarStock, Alt, Dibbs, Yotta and more.

Josh Goodstadt

Executive Vice President of Licensing, THINK450

Josh Goodstadt is Executive Vice President of Licensing for THINK450. In this role, Goodstadt manages existing group licensing partnerships on behalf of all players while creating substantive, disruptive business opportunities across all licensing categories. Goodstadt’s passion for sports and entertainment complements his ability to create innovative deals and broker vital relationships.

Most recently, Goodstadt was vice president of global licensing and retail at HBO, the international cable and satellite provider. Over 10 years, Goodstadt oversaw all operations pertaining to licensing and retail of consumer products worldwide. He helmed the development and release of merchandise and new product categories across HBO’s original programming franchises Game of Thrones, True Blood, The Sopranos and Sex and the City. Under his direction, HBO’s top performing consumer product and experience initiatives included the Game of Thrones Live Music Tour, featuring the music of Ramin Djawadi; Game of Thrones Conquest, HBO’s first mobile game; the Sex and the City slot machine, and the True Blood cosmetic and fragrance line. At HBO, his range of licensing categories also included apparel, food and beverage, gaming hard goods and collectibles.

THINK450 is the for-profit licensing and marketing business owned solely and wholly by the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and its members, the players.

Ken Goldin

Executive Chairman and Founder, Goldin Auctions

Ken Goldin is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Goldin Auctions, the leading marketplace for collectibles and trading cards. Ken is one of the most widely recognized leaders in the collectibles industry and has sold more than $1 billion in memorabilia from many of the biggest names in sports, history, and pop culture. Ken founded Goldin Auctions in 2012 and built the company from a start-up grossing $800,000 in its first year to over $100 million in 2020. Already so far in 2021, Goldin Auctions has sold $100 million of collectibles and to date, the company has overseen more than $400 million in sales.

Lloyd Danzig

Founder & Managing Partner, Sharp Alpha Advisors

Lloyd is the Founder & Managing Partner of Sharp Alpha Advisors. He sits on the board of several sports betting startups and functions as a buy-side M&A advisor to private equity groups and gaming operators. He also advises family offices, venture capital funds, professional sports franchises, and media organizations on the innovation trends in sports and entertainment. He currently serves as a mentor at Techstars and leAD Sports.

Lloyd previously managed institutional portfolios for BlackRock, data science initiatives for Samsung, and machine learning engines for Simplebet. He completed his undergraduate studies, in Economics, at The Wharton School of Business and his post-graduate studies, in Computer Science, at Columbia University.

Marquel Martin

Combat Sports Agent, CAA

Marquel Martin was born on April 13, 1987 in San Bernadino, California. In his high school years, he became a stand out football star and move on to the next level, playing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. After earning his masters degree in Sports Marketing and Management, Marquel would go on to work for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, helping to run marketing partnerships for the North American region. He was instrumental in the UFC’s build up of their state of the art Performance Institute as well as the promotion partnering with Xbox, Monster Energy and EA Sports.

After the UFC was purchased by WME, Marquel would move down a different path in the combat sports space; representation. Recruited by the top sports agency in the world, Marquel would move over to Creative Artists Agency to help run their fledgling combat sports division. He would become instrumental in expanding the division to represent some of the top talent in the MMA space and working to create much more innovative and expansive career plans for these fighters; typically seen more among the athletes in the large team sports. Ever the innovator and creative thinking, Marquel has consistently looked to build the best career path for his clients, tailoring to their individual personalities, skills, likes and fan bases; looking to not only help guide these fighters in their fight careers but also plant the seeds for something far greater outside of their sport.

Tonya Evans

Professor, Penn State Dickinson Law School

Tonya M. Evans, Esquire, is Visiting Full Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law School. Prior to Dickinson Law, Professor Evans served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, where she created and directed the school’s Blockchain, Cryptocurrency & Law online professional certificate program and developed its world-class instructor pool and curriculum. She is also the former Chair of the Intellectual Property & Technology Online Programs.

Professor Evans has expertise in the areas of intellectual property, new technologies (including blockchain and distributed ledger technology), entrepreneurship & innovation (including advisor to startups), entertainment law, trusts & estates, and municipal finance. She writes, speaks, and teaches primarily about the intersections of copyright and new technologies, blockchain and the law, and trusts and estates.

Professor Evans is chairperson of the Maker DAO’s Maker Ecosystem Growth Foundation, member of the Consensys Grants Advisory Board, Bermuda Global FinTech Advisory Board, and former member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Focus Group on Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency, and the ITU Focus Group on Application of Distributed Ledger Technology. She also participates as an observing member of the Global Blockchain Business Council. Professor Evans serves on the Intellectual Property Committee of the Advisory Council to the Court of Federal Claims and also received the inaugural Enterprise Blockchain Award in the category of Governance and Policy Leadership during the 2019 Blockchain Revolution Global Conference in Toronto.

Professor Evans is a graduate of Northwestern University (Dean’s List) and Howard University School of Law (cum laude). She also served as the Howard Law Journal editor-in-chief. She is licensed to practice law in PA, NJ, NY and DC.

Jacob Feldman

Sports Business Reporter, Sportico

Jacob Feldman is a sports business reporter with a focus on technology, media and fan experience. He was previously a staff writer at Sports Illustrated, where he wrote multiple cover stories while reporting on the NFL and the media industry. His work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Popular Science. Jacob is a graduate of Harvard University and a co-founder of The Sunday Long Read. He currently lives in Boston.

Eben Novy-Williams

Sports Business Reporter, Sportico

Eben Novy-Williams is a sports business reporter and podcast host at Sportico, a news venture launched earlier this year by Penske Media.

Prior to joining Sportico, Novy-Williams spent nine years covering the intersection of money and sports at Bloomberg News. His writing has appeared online, in Businessweek magazine and in newspapers across the country. He was also co-host of the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast.

Brendan Coffey

Sports Finance Reporter, Sportico

Brendan Coffey is the sports finance reporter at Sportico. Prior to joining Sportico in June 2020, Coffey spent years writing about business, markets and innovative thinkers, during which he called Carl Icahn more times than he can remember, split a bottle of wine with Gordon Getty three times and was cursed at by Leon Cooperman more than once. His prior stints include serving as founding senior reporter for Bloomberg News’ billionaires news team, reporter for Forbes magazine, commodities and bond reporter at Dow Jones and freelancer for Fortune, Esquire, Barron’s, Inc. and The Washington Post Magazine. Coffey graduated from Boston College Phi Beta Kappa with honors. He lives in Newburyport, Mass., and has broken only one finger playing vintage baseball.