Key Takeaways from One-Zero (Part 1)
Insights from the Indianapolis based SportsTech conference
Introduction
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend the One-Zero SportsTech conference hosted at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. The summit brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders in the SportsTech industry for various panel discussions, networking events, and keynote speakers. It was an incredible experience, and I left Indianapolis more excited than ever about the future of Sports Technology.
After having some time to reflect and review my notes, I wanted to share some of my thoughts. In this post I outline the three biggest takeaways from each panel discussion. In part two, I’ll look more closely at the keynote speakers, and in part three, I’ll discuss the companies that pitched as part of the TechStars Indy SportsTech Accelerator.
Session Insights
Session 1: From Paper to Digital - The Changing Trends in Sports Ticketing
Panelists:
Stephen Glicken (Project Admission)
Robert Beadle (Season Share)
3 Key Takeaways:
With increasing fan engagement and new in-venue monetization opportunities, leagues and teams could experiment with subsidizing the initial ticket cost and focus instead on driving in-stadium revenue. This bodes well for startups in the fan experience and venue development space.
SeasonShare’s Robert Beadle teased the potential for a "class pass-like” product in ticket sales, i.e., a service in which someone could purchase or subscribe to a certain number of credits every month that can be used for entry at various sporting venues nationally. People are interested in seeing live sporting events in different venues and different geographies, regardless of fandom.
Sports teams know more about their ticket purchasers than ever before. Expect to see both external and in-stadium personalization of marketing and promotional efforts.
Session 2: Building the Modern Athlete Brand
Panelists:
Tracy Deforge (The Players Impact)
3 Key Takeaways:
Lebron James has 7X more Instagram followers than the Los Angeles Lakers. Professional rock climber Alex Honnold has more followers than the Boston Red Sox. There is a shift in consumer interest from the teams to the athletes themselves. It's never been more critical for an athlete to develop and capitalize on their brand and for teams to recognize that it’s their players, not their team brand, that are driving interest and engagement.
Based on the above point, expect to see more productions following the "Drive to Survive" model that gives fans access to behind-the-scenes content, show players outside of the game, and brings fans closer to seeing the reality of the day-to-day life of professional athletes. Fans, especially younger fans, are following players, not teams.
Tracy Deforge of The Player’s Impact predicted that the winners of the NIL emerging ecosystem will be the providers of the "pick-and-shovels" similar to the Gold Rush. Companies that can create solutions that enable sponsors to easily connect with athletes and schools, measure impact, and drive return on investment will be the strongest investment opportunities in this new NIL industry.
Session 3: Biggest VC Trends in Sports, Media, and Entertainment
Panelists:
Ami Galani (Elysian Park Ventures)
3 Key Takeaways:
The women's sports space has never been more exciting and will continue to attract venture capital dollars, both emerging leagues and media properties.
Both panelists echoed the same sentiment that they were more interested in existing companies that effectively integrate new generative AI capabilities into their business model compared to pure-play, standalone AI companies (See my thoughts on Generative AI in the Fitness Industry).
Sports Teams and Leagues have been one of the best-performing asset classes over the last decade. As more institutional capital gets involved, we will continue to see appreciation of sports teams values along with the professionalization of old family-owned and operated businesses.
Session 4: How Founders Are Navigating the Down Market
Panelists:
3 Key Takeaways:
"Cut once but cut deep": If you need to lay off employees, make sure you get the amount correct. It will kill morale to have to do multiple rounds of layoffs.
One of the panelists made a prediction that with valuations down across the board in Seed and Series A round companies, there will be an increase in M&A activity as founders are more likely to consider early exit opportunities.
Layoffs in startups are an inevitable aspect of economic cycle.
Session 5: Power of Data in Sports
Panelists:
3 Key Takeaways:
Betting companies are increasingly using the vast amount of data they collect to analyze customer retention rather than exclusively customer acquisition, which has so long been the focus in the fairly commoditized online sports book industry.
Companies should be cognizant of "over-gamification". Something that's already fun to play, such as Sports Betting, doesn’t need a ton of additional gamified elements to be attractive to a consumer.
Online Sports Books are using their data to determine additional services to lay on top of existing platforms. Simplification and ease of use are key.
Session 6: Sports Media Beyond Content
Panelists:
Brandon Spano (All City Network)
Javier Altamirano (Sportradar)
3 Key Takeaways:
The panel discussed the recent Penn-Barstool-ESPN deal and was excited to see how Penn would integrate its betting platform into traditional ESPN properties. They warned of potential difficulty given ESPN’s parent Disney maintaining its family friendly brand that does not lend itself to gambling.
Legalizing and adopting sports betting will drive media rights appreciation in second and third-tier leagues. "If you can bet on it, you'd like to be able to watch it."
Its important to know what media platforms your audience is actually using. 43% of people get their news from TikTok. Social media is not something necessarily distinct from traditional media anymore.
Session 7: How Pro Teams and Leagues Are Innovating
Panelists:
Charlie Shin (Indianapolis Colts)
Andrea Pagnanelli (National Cycling League)
Konrad Von Moltke (Wise Ventures)
3 Key Takeaways:
Charlie Shin from the Colts discussed the segmentation of their fans by their primary driver for attending games: 1. A sense of community, 2. Hometown Hoosiers, those who believe the team is a representation of themselves and their roots. It's essential to know your fans and how to market to them because different segments will want different eperiences.
"Riches in Niches": The National Cycling League is taking a grassroots approach to building interest in their various teams and events—engaging and greating a deep connection with the local community before worrying about reaching a broader audience.
Know your fan.
Session 8: Athlete Investors
Panelists:
Ahron Cohen (Polar Sun Ventures)
3 Key Takeaways:
Relationships are at the core of both Sports and Venture Capital.
Investment firms will continue to want professional athlete to be affiliated with their funds to drive brand awareness and introduce potential partnerships with portfolio companies.
Athlete-led investing in the SportsTech space will continue to gain traction but will in part be dependent on the success of this new generation of athlete-led funds.
Conclusion
If you attended One-Zero, let me know if I missed anything significant. Part two of this post will cover the Keynote speakers for the event. Thanks for reading!