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5 days ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
Constance Schwartz-Morini was humorously referred to as “Dr.” when she took the stage with her business partner, Michael Strahan, at SBJ’s 4se conference in New York last month. A few days earlier, the SMAC Entertainment co-founder gave a commencement address and received an honorary doctorate at her alma mater, SUNY Oswego.
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1 week ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
Insight on the deliberations and voting around the Sports Business Awards. THE PROCESS: Sports Business Journal asked more than 45 individuals (see the full list) to serve as judges for 14 of the 16 categories. Athletic Director of the Year and Sports Executive of the Year are decided by SBJ. Judges are given extensive files and supporting information on the nominees to study two weeks out.
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2 weeks ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
Sports Business Journal will present the 18th annual Sports Business Awards this week in New York. The May 21 event will be hosted by Fox’s Curt Menefee, and we will be honoring David Hill with our Lifetime Achievement Award. Hill will be introduced by his former colleagues at Fox, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson, and that should be a lot of fun. It’s a big week for Hill, who will be honored the night before at the Sports Emmys.
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3 weeks ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
This is the final notebook from the CAA World Congress of Sports in Nashville. I hope to see many of you at SBJ’s 4se event and the Sports Business Awards next week in New York City. OVERCOMING FEAR: So many conversations over dinner with friends and colleagues came back to impostor syndrome, where self-doubt leads to fear of being exposed professionally.
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1 month ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
Getting more run on the insightful comments from the CAA World Congress of Sports, and how I interpreted them. FSG’s Sam Kennedy, on working for John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon: “It’s truly a ‘no bad idea’ culture. The difference with them is they are able to execute.
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1 month ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
Personal takeaways from the CAA World Congress of Sports in Nashville:THE BROTHERS HASLAM: Jimmy and Bill Haslam offered a rare, refreshingly self-aware look into their lives during a session led so comfortably by Proskauer’s Joe Leccese. They were funny and candid, and the audience admired their strikingly different styles. Here are a few of their hits.
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1 month ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
As Sports Business Journal prepares to host more than 1,300 at the CAA World Congress of Sports in Nashville this week, we dove into the archives to revisit thoughts and comments at the World Congress from 10, 15 and 20 years ago. TEN YEARS AGO: In April 2015, Walt Disney Chair Bob Iger, who will speak this week, talked about the fragmenting media landscape. At that time, ESPN was in an estimated 94 million homes, down from more than 100 million in 2011. Now, ESPN is in fewer than 70 million homes.
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1 month ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
A successful franchise always starts with ownership. As my good friend Rick Welts would say frequently, it’s all about “ownership, ownership, ownership.” A fun discussion I had recently focused on the attributes that make a good team owner. Here is what I’ve learned from my years in the business, and the consistent themes from those I admire.
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2 months ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
One of the most remarkable business stories in sports is the incredibly impressive ticket sales of the Golden State Valkyries. The team has sold more than 10,000 season tickets for its inaugural 2025 season, becoming the first WNBA team to hit this milestone. Just pause and think about that for a minute: For more than a decade, 10,000 season tickets was the pivotal number for NBA teams.
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2 months ago | 
sportsbusinessjournal.com | Abraham Madkour
Eight stories that caught my attention during the first three months of 2025, and a few more worth mentioning …WHO ARE YOU? I REALLY WANT TO KNOW: The start of the year saw the debut of a number of new leagues, each looking to fill a void and aggregate audiences — especially young fans.
