Webinar: NBA Valuations 2021 by Sportico

You don't have permission to view this recording. Please log in or use your personalized link.

About This Webinar

SporticoLive is proud to announce NBA Valuations 2021, featuring NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and several of the league's owners and executives. Industry experts will join NBA and National Basketball Players Association leaders for an engaging discussion on the Association and its franchises' current and future state.
This exclusive event, is the second offering in Sportico's highly regarded valuations franchise following the NFL Valuations event in 2020. A can't miss for the sports business industry!

Presenters

Adam Silver

Commissioner, NBA

Adam Silver was unanimously elected NBA Commissioner on Feb. 1, 2014, by the NBA Board of Governors.

Silver presides over a global sports and media business built around four professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, Women’s National Basketball Association, NBA G League and NBA 2K League. He is dedicated to growing basketball around the world, embracing innovation and new technologies, increasing transparency and using basketball to bring people together and promote health and fitness.

Prior to becoming commissioner, Silver served as NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer for eight years. He has been instrumental to many of the league’s signature achievements, including the negotiation of three collective bargaining agreements with the National Basketball Players Association; the development of the WNBA, NBA G League, NBA 2K League and the Basketball Africa League; the partnership with Turner Broadcasting to manage the NBA’s digital assets; and the creation of NBA China.

Before joining the NBA, Silver was a litigation associate at the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he concentrated on media and antitrust cases. He also served as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Kimba Wood in New York City. Silver graduated from Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School.

Michele Roberts

Executive Director, National Basketball Players Association

Notably, Michele Roberts is the first woman to head a major professional sports union in North America. In her role as Executive Director, Ms. Roberts serves as
the primary advocate for all players, ensuring the protection of the organization and its membership, including serving as the lead negotiator in all collective bargaining activities.

Prior to this selection, Ms. Roberts was a renowned trial lawyer and
member of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s Litigation Group.
Ms. Roberts is a frequent lecturer and presenter to both the bench and bar on a variety of topics related to litigation and trial practice.

Steve Ballmer

Chairman, LA Clippers

Steve Ballmer is the chairman of the LA Clippers, founder of USAFacts, and co-founder of the Ballmer Group. He is the former CEO of Microsoft.

Entering his seventh year as chairman, the Clippers hold a 299-183 (.620) record, making the NBA Playoffs six of the seven seasons, during his tenure. Ballmer passionately believes in leading the Clippers forward with a focus on on-court success, a fan-first philosophy, and consistent improvements in all aspects of team business, positively impacting the communities we touch.

Ballmer is leading the development of the Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Complex (IBEC), the future home of the Clippers that includes a campus featuring an 18,000-seat arena, the Clippers’ corporate offices and practice facility, a sports medicine clinic, and an outdoor plaza with community, retail and restaurant uses. The world-class facility, which will reimagine the live event experience, will open for the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.

Along with his wife Connie, Ballmer serves as Co-founder of Ballmer Group, which supports efforts to improve economic mobility for children and families across the United States who are disproportionately likely to remain in poverty. They focus this philanthropic work deeply in Los Angeles, Washington state, and southeast Michigan where Steve grew up.

Ballmer is the Founder of the non-partisan and non-profit USAFacts.org civic initiative, the most comprehensive, understandable, single-view online source of American government data. USAFacts provides a well-visualized look at data and trends in US spending, revenue, demographics, and policy outcomes – aimed at helping Americans ground our debates in facts. He has taught at Stanford University on this topic as well as on business leadership.

Wyc Grousbeck

Lead Owner, Boston Celtics

Wyc Grousbeck has been Lead Owner and Governor of the Boston Celtics since he conceived of, and led, the purchase of the team in 2002. He named his group "Banner 17 LLC" to signify his primary goal, the Celtics winning a 17th World Championship. That goal was achieved in 2008.

Wyc and his wife Emilia Fazzalari co-founded Cincoro Tequila with Jeanie Buss (LA Lakers), Wes Edens (Milwaukee Bucks), and Michael Jordan (Charlotte Hornets). Cincoro launched nationally in the fall of 2019, and has won over a dozen gold medals in national spirits competitions.

Wyc co-founded Causeway Media Partners, a private equity firm managing over $400 million, focusing on sports and technology investments. Causeway’s investments include Omaze, SeatGeek, Zwift Formula E Holdings and Athlon Acquisition.

Wyc is the former Chair of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a world leader in fighting blindness and deafness. He launched a capital campaign to seek cures for blindness and deafness, which has raised in excess of $250 million.

Wyc and Emilia are involved in a number of charities including the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, Boston Children’s Hospital, Mass. Eye and Ear, Camp Jabberwocky, Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, National Braille Press, Make-a-Wish Foundation, USA Rowing, Robin Hood, and the Lovelane Special Needs Riding Program.

Marc Lasry

Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Avenue Capital Group and Co-Owner, Milwaukee Bucks

Marc Lasry is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Avenue Capital Group, a global alternative investment manager focused on distressed and undervalued debt and equity opportunities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In 1995, Mr. Lasry formed Avenue with his sister, Sonia Gardner, with less than $10 million in capital from friends and family. Today, Avenue is one of the largest distressed debt investors globally, managing assets of approximately $10.6 billion, with headquarters in New York City, and offices in London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Silicon Valley and five offices throughout Asia.

Mr. Lasry is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he has served and will continue to serve on various other boards of advisors/directors of both for-profit and not-for-profit private and public companies. He is also co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team.
Mr. Lasry received a B.A. in History from Clark University (1981) and a J.D. from New York Law School (1984).

Ted Leonsis

Founder, Chairman & CEO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Principal Owner, Washington Wizards

Ted Leonsis is founder, chairman, principal owner and chief executive officer of Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), one of the largest integrated sports and entertainment companies in the country with one of the most diverse partnership groups in all of sports. MSE owns and operates the 2020 NBA 2K League Champion Wizards District Gaming, the 2019 WNBA Champion Washington Mystics, the NHL’s 2018 Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go, and Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C. The partnership operates MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the Washington Capitals’ training facility and front office headquarters, and George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena. MSE is also co-owner of aXiomatic, which has controlling interest in global esports franchise Team Liquid. Mr. Leonsis is co-executive chairman of aXiomatic.

The company also owns Monumental Sports Network, a first-of-its-kind regional sports network for digital, mobile and over-the-top platforms that allows users to access content whenever and wherever they want.

Mr. Leonsis serves on the Board of Governors for the NBA and NHL as well as on the Executive Committee of the NHL. He is also chairman of the NBA Media Committee.

Lyle Ayes

Founder & CEO, Verance Capital

Lyle Ayes is the founder and CEO of Verance Capital, an investment firm focused on early and growth stage investment opportunities in the sports, media and live entertainment sectors.

Prior to launching Verance Capital, Lyle was an Operating Partner at RedBird Capital Partners, where he focused on deals in the sports and media sectors. Lyle previously served as Head of Sports Advisory for LionTree Advisors, a TMT-focused merchant bank. Earlier in his career, Lyle was a Managing Director of Evercore’s corporate advisory business and co-head of the firm’s Sports practice, as well as an Executive Director of Morgan Stanley’s Mergers & Acquisitions Department.

Lyle has received recognition as one of the Sports Business Journal's 2016 Power Players: Advisory, as well as the Sports Business Journal’s 2015 Forty Under 40 award, which recognizes top sports executives. Lyle has also been a Forbes 30 Under 30 judge, and a featured panelist at the Bloomberg Sports Summit and MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

Lyle received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado where he graduated summa cum laude, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School where he graduated cum laude.

K. Don Cornwell

Partner, PJT Partners

K. Don Cornwell is a Partner at PJT Partners, based in New York. Mr. Cornwell joined PJT Partners in February of 2015 following an 18-year career at Morgan Stanley. At Morgan Stanley, Mr. Cornwell was in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group, and established a particularly focused area of expertise in media and entertainment, specifically in sports and gaming. Prior to leaving Morgan Stanley he served as Head of Global Sports Investment Banking. Mr. Cornwell also specialized in retail and apparel.

Mr. Cornwell has worked on some of the largest and most complex sports and entertainment deals in the industry, including the sale of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the sale of the Buffalo Bills, the sale of IMG to William Morris Endeavor, the sale of Access/DAZN owned Perform Group to Vista owned STATS Inc., a recapitalization of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the formation of Major League Baseball Advanced Media. In addition, he has served as a strategic advisor to the National Football League and the National Basketball Association on numerous occasions.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Cornwell worked at McKinsey & Co. as a management consultant and in corporate development for the National Football League. He sits on the Board of Trustees of the East Harlem Tutorial Program, an after school program for children in East Harlem; the Board of Directors of New York Cares, New York City’s largest volunteer organization and the Management Board of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr. Cornwell received an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and an AB in government from Harvard College. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York and attended the Trinity
School for high school.

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.

Peter J. Schwartz

Senior Sports Valuations and Legal Reporter, Sportico

Peter J. Schwartz is the senior sports valuations and legal reporter at Sportico. Previously, he worked as a reporter focusing on sports business—compiling team, brand, and sports media valuations—at Bloomberg News and Forbes. He also has covered billionaires, mutual funds, private equity, and stocks and bonds. Peter is co-author of “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game,” a New York Times bestselling book, and it's follow up, “The Law of Baseball: Judges as Umpires” (coming soon). He also has served in writing capacities for former U.S. President Bill Clinton and New York City’s bid for the Olympic Games; and he has been a business valuation, expert testimony, and commercial litigation consultant.

Scott Soshnick

Editor-in-Chief, Sportico

Scott Soshnick joined Sportico in April of 2020 as its Editor-In-Chief and head of content, bringing decades of editorial experience to Penske Media’s sports business platform.

Prior to joining Sportico, Scott spent 27 years at Bloomberg News, spearheading the global news service’s sports business coverage across a variety of platforms. Scott also founded and co-hosted Bloomberg’s Business of Sports podcast, while creating and hosting a variety of live events with leading industry executives.

Scott graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in broadcast journalism. He resides in Glen Ridge, NJ, with his wife and son, who aspires to be an NHL goaltender. As such, Scott spends an inordinate amount of time in hockey rinks.