In this week’s SBJ:
- Danny White arrived in Knoxville four years ago and has steered Tennessee’s athletic department back to prominence, ending “two decades in the wilderness.” Ben Portnoy goes behind the scenes with White to find out how he did it, and explores the Rocky Top renaissance White put in motion that resulted in a new era for the Volunteers and the Athletic Director of the Year award for the main who led the way.
- Sarah Hirshland had to engineer a revival of her own when she took over the USOPC in 2018. The culmination of her six-year quest came in 2024, with Team USA dominating the medal count at the Olympics in Paris and Salt Lake City being awarded the 2034 Winter Games. Rachel Axon talked with Hirshland about the changes she brought to the organization and why she is always ahead of the Games.
- The NBA offseason is underway, with a somewhat unexpected question quickly moving to the forefront of the league’s business agenda: what to do about expansion? Tom Friend examines the case for adding teams domestically, overseas … or not at all.
- Elsewhere in the issue, Bret McCormick reports on how Aramark put the “fast” in fast food when it stood up an F&B operation at Oracle Park in S.F. in less than a month at the start of 2024; Mike Mazzeo checks in on the White Sox, who have rebounded from the worst season in modern MLB history to post a series of wins in June that have given their business staff reasons for optimism; and Kody Timmers provides the lowdown on 10 sports books to check out this summer.
