Sports Media Report
Rick Horrow, author and editor of the just-published expanded and revised second edition of The Sport Business Handbook: Insights from 100+ Leaders Who Shaped 50 Years of the Industry, is bringing together contributors to the book and other major figures from the sports industry for a special event on Thursday, November 3 at The Gibson Garage in Nashville.
In celebration of the revised and expanded second edition, Horrow has invited key contributors to the book to participate in a panel discussion, “Sports Business @ 50 – Lessons & Leadership from Legends of the Game” from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with a networking cocktail reception and live musical performances to follow.
Horrow will co-host a panel of VIP speakers (and book contributors) including:
- Former Major League Baseball President, Foley & Lardner partner and event co-host Bob DuPuy.
- Olympic Gold Medalist figure skater (and Nashville resident) Scott Hamilton.
- Scott Pranger, Founder & CEO of Nashville-based digital asset/payment leader Staks.
- Former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher & Music City Baseball board member Dave Stewart.
- Mark Williams, Partner at leading sports venue & architecture firm HKS.
- Greg Marino, Foley & Lardner Sports & Entertainment Industry Team special counsel.
- And auto racing industry executive Bryan Sperber.
Executives and board members from Music City Baseball (Nashville Stars) will be in attendance, and additional special guests from Nashville’s sports community are expected.
Special musical guests slated to perform after the panel discussion include Dave Turnbull (Music City Baseball), Randy Montana and former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher Barry Zito.
During the event, Nashville-based Staks, which has partnered with Horrow, will reveal the second in a series of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) the company has created, based on the book’s “Breakthrough Moments” list of 50 of the most significant sports-related events that helped define the industry. This partnership marks another step in Staks’ development as a provider of digital economies that serve key constituents including live music and sports venues, concessions & merchandise sales, teams, athletes, performers, and fans.
This is the second event in a series of national events created by Horrow that debuted September 22 in New York City, and includes future events in Palm Beach, Florida (January 10) celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the undefeated Miami Dolphins season, as well as events around the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Open and Super Bowl LVII in Arizona in mid-February and the NCAA Final Four in late March/early April in Houston.
In his new book, Horrow posits the beginnings of what we’ve come to know as the modern sports industry to 50 years ago, during the time of the 1972 Munich Olympics, the undefeated Miami Dolphins, and the passage of Title IX legislation, among other milestones.
Horrow’s book, published this month by Human Kinetics and now available at Amazon.com and other book sellers, builds on that premise with essays and contributions from over 120 major industry figures.
One of the leaders who created the sports business as it is known today, Horrow’s book is a treatise on the history of the past 50 years of sports business written by the people who built the industry and taking those perspectives to predict what’s ahead for the next 50 years.
As CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures, Horrow has been the architect of more than 100 deals worth more than $20 billion in sports, performing arts, and other urban infrastructure projects. Horrow pioneered the public/private partnership and infrastructure branding concepts that, to date, has enticed more than $4 billion in corporate funding to cities and development projects. Besides developing stadia and arenas, Horrow’s ability to put together multiple urban initiatives into one package for voter approval has resulted in the building of new performing arts and convention centers, schools, libraries, transit projects, and tourist destinations.
