On Jun. 6-7, SportTechie and the San Francisco 49ers will host Horizon Summit at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Horizon Summit is a multi-day conference of sports industry professionals featuring exhibitions from innovative startups, presentations from more than 20 industry thought leaders, and keynote conversations from leading executives.
Attendees will learn from engaging TED-talk style presentations on subjects ranging from ticketing analytics and strategy to machine learning and artificial intelligence. See below for more detail about the educational tracks and speakers for Day One. We’ll publish the schedule for Day Two tomorrow.
Limited tickets for Horizon Summit remain, but we expect the event to reach capacity soon. For more information and to register now, click below:
Horizon Summit – Day One
Opening Keynote Conversation | 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
- Scott O’Neil | CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment
Scott O’Neil is responsible for HBSE’s leadership, strategic vision, operations, and growth, including the pursuit and acquisition of sports, entertainment, and consumer-facing properties. These properties include the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center, Team Dignitas, the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball, the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, the Delaware 87ers, and the Binghamton Devils.
- Al Guido | President of the San Francisco 49ers and CEO of Elevate Sports Ventures
Al Guido oversees all key business initiatives for the San Francisco 49ers. He also concurrently serves as the CEO and co-managing partner of Elevate Sports Ventures, which works to bring comprehensive business solutions to the sports and entertainment industry, identify new revenue opportunities, and bring new, innovative ideas to market.
Track 1 – Building your BSA team | 10:10 – 11:20 a.m.
- Chris Giles | COO, Oakland Athletics | 10:10 – 10:30 a.m.
Chris Giles is entering his second full season as the Chief Operating Officer of the Oakland Athletics. As the club’s first COO, he is responsible for managing all strategy and business operations functions, including sales, corporate partnerships, marketing, PR, technology, finance, and administration. In 2019, the Oakland A’s cancelled the traditional season ticket program and rolled out A’s Access, a first-of-its-kind, access-based membership program. Giles will discuss that program and the market research that led to its development.
- Alex Romano | Manager, Business Intelligence, Indianapolis Colts | 10:35 – 10:55 a.m.
Alex Romano is a self-admitted data nerd who has worked for the Colts over the past three seasons, leading their Business Intelligence efforts. Many teams have had to launch their analytics and data strategies within organizations that had pre-existing cultures and infrastructures, and that were not immediately ready for this shift. Romano’s presentation will share his experience in building the Colts’ analytics strategy and department from the ground up after he joined the organization at the start of 2017.
- Reece Fischer | Director, Club Business & Analytics, NHL | 11:00 – 11:20 a.m.
Reece Fischer serves as a director in the NHL’s Club Business & Analytics department, a group tasked with advising the league’s 31 clubs on revenue maximization across all business verticals. Fischer focuses on the NHL’s secondary market analyses, club sponsorship reporting, and building relationships with the VP’s of business intelligence at each team. He manages the NHL’s internal ticketing data warehouse and has overseen the implementation and launch of the NHL’s Tableau Server. Fischer also consults across a range of league business initiatives including the implementation of a data-driven ticketing strategy around tentpole outdoor games, which he will discuss during his presentation.
Track 2 – Ticketing, CRM, Analytics & Strategy | 11:30 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
- Drew Mehta | Manager, Club Analytics, MLB | 11:30 – 11:50 a.m.
Drew Mehta leads a club-facing team of analysts dedicated to the art of leveraging data and analytics to unlock key insights and craft digital marketing strategies for all 30 clubs and Major League Baseball itself. His presentation will share valuable insights about how his team has standardized and democratized critical data across the league for the teams to use to promote the game of baseball, create better experiences for fans, and ultimately drive more monetization opportunities.
- Justin Burleigh | Chief Product Officer, Ticketmaster | 11:55 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Justin Burleigh serves as the chief product officer for Ticketmaster North America. Burleigh’s team focuses on building innovative products that help clients fuel their business and service their fans. He is a well-known industry expert who has a long history of leading enterprise disruption. He has previously led mobile, emerging technology and security transformation strategies for some of the largest companies in the world. Burleigh will be sharing his insights on identity based ticketing and the challenges and opportunities that stem from truly understanding a “fan journey.”
- Mike Carney | VP, Business Strategy, Washington Nationals | 12:20 – 12:40 p.m.
Mike Carney joined the Nationals in February 2015, as senior director of strategy and currently leads the Business Strategy & Analytics department. In his role, he oversees all aspects of the chief revenue and marketing officer’s agenda, including revenue management, fan experience, analytics, and strategic projects. Carney will be sharing his perspective on the evolution of modern ticketing markets and how teams can leverage positions to diversify their revenue.
Lunch | 12:40 – 1:40 p.m.
Track 3 – Emerging Industries | 1:40 – 2:25 p.m.
- Jonathan Sumers | Sr. Director, Digital Partnerships & Esports Operations, Cleveland Cavaliers | 1:40 – 2:00 p.m.
Sumers leads the strategic planning and implementation of digital and social media elements for team corporate partnerships campaigns across the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Monsters of the AHL, and the Canton Charge of the NBA G League. In May 2018, his role was expanded to lead esports business operations for Cavs Legion GC, the NBA 2K League team of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sumers also oversees the organization’s relationship with 100 Thieves of the NALCS. His presentation will cover the Cavs’ strategy for building their esports franchise from scratch, how that is being incorporated into the greater organization from a fan engagement and revenue perspective, and how the Cavs measure success with this new venture.
- James Ruth | Senior Director, Properties, MLS | 2:05 – 2:25 p.m.
James Ruth is a senior director, of properties at Major League Soccer. He has years of marketing and brand solutions experience with progressive brands such as Adidas, EA Sports, Audi, TAG Heuer, Heineken, and others. He will be sharing how the MLS launched eMLS as a platform and what the organization has learned during this process. eMLS has been a powerful learning experience for MLS to think through fan-first programming and establish the necessary processes and strategies for launching new initiatives that evolve with fan interests.
Break Out Sessions | 3:00 – 4:05 p.m.
- NFLPA
- Eilers & Krejcik Gaming
- KORE Software
- FanThreeSixty
Track 4 – Hollywood and Silicon Valley | 4:15 – 5:05 p.m.
- Mark Lehew | VP & GM, SAP Sports & Entertainment | 4:15 – 4:35 p.m.
Mark Lehew is responsible for SAP’s Sports & Entertainment industry business in North America. He has been part of the team since its inception in 2013. He has worked with SAP’s sports and entertainment customers to help them gain a competitive advantage in the areas of fan engagement, marketing ands sales, venue and business operations, and team performance through the use of SAP solutions. Lehew will be presenting about how SAP has worked with the 49ers to leverage real-time data across the customer’s journey, and how this impacts the fan experience and helps the team better understand its fans.
- Moon Javaid | VP, Strategy & Analytics, 49ers
Moon Javaid is in his sixth season with the 49ers and currently serves as the vice president of strategy & analytics. In his role, Javaid oversees business intelligence, CRM and fan feedback, manages retail, mobile app, and concessionaire relationships, works on bids for large scale non-NFL events, supports the drive for local revenue, and aids other business aspects of the organization with strategic and analytical support.
- Justin Burks | Director, WW Sports Marketing & Strategic Programs, Amazon Web Services | 4:45 – 5:05 p.m.
Justin Burks launched Amazon Web Services Sports Marketing in 2015 with AWS’s landmark partnership with Major League Baseball. Under his leadership the program has grown to include partnerships with Live Nation Entertainment, the National Football League, Formula 1, the Six Nations Rugby Championship, and the LA Clippers. Burks’s presentation will focus on how AWS Sports Marketing has helped implement data visualization opportunities that have helped its partners meaningfully engage fans in new ways. Additionally, he will share how his team is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance the value it brings to sports partners.
Turnkey and MarketCast: Storytelling vs. Storycrafting | 5:10 – 5:30 p.m.
- Chris Rethore | COO, MarketCast Group
- Rich Calabrese | Executive VP, Turnkey Intelligence
Chris Rethore and Rich Calabrese will be presenting their perspectives from MarketCast Group and Turnkey Intelligence, respectively, on how they create and present the most engaging stories for fan bases. This includes a research-driven creative process that turns storytelling into story crafting. Pulling from their experiences in building success in the entertainment industry, they will compare the high stakes parallels of opening day at the box office to opening day at the ballpark, and the value impactful story crafting provides when fan bases are engaged properly.
NFLPA Private Reception Area | 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Dinner Reception at Michael Mina’s Tailgate Club | 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.