A weekly survey of sports execs and personalities offering their thoughts on a handful of pressing (and trivial) issues in sports and pop culture. This week, four execs share their most significant event-planning challenges, as well as the sports they believe have the greatest growth potential.
- NFL VP/Events Mary Pat Augenthaler
– Never misses an episode of "Odd Mom Out."
- Yankees Exec Dir of Non-Baseball Events Emily Hamel
– Considers herself a Netflix addict.
- WME-IMG Head of Events Kelly Austing
– Musically challenged, except when it comes to country.
- FanAngel CEO Mickey Stern
– His pop culture experience is "almost entirely unplugged."
| Going Off The Grid | |||||
| First sporting event attended | Biggest event-planning challenge | Most recent vacation | Sport with greatest growth potential | Favorite sports pump-up song | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Augenthaler
|
Islanders game at Nassau Coliseum | The weather! | Martha's Vineyard | Youth football and lacrosse | "Go Big or Go Home" by American Authors |
 Hamel |
Whalers game at the Hartford Civic Center | Planning for the unexpected | North Hero, Vt. | Soccer in the U.S. | "All I Do is Win" by DJ Khaled |
 Austing
|
Bears game at Solider Field | Building an event people will talk about afterward | "Staycation" in L.A. for Thanksgiving | Tennis | "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi |
 Stern |
Cowboys-Redskins at RFK Stadium | Enormous gap between vision and execution | Park City, Utah | NBA | "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC |
Do you want to get your thoughts in the Grid? If so, shoot an email to jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
