SBJ Behind the Scenes: Industry comes together to honor creative visions

With nearly 1,100 in attendance at the Marriott Marquis Times Square on Wednesday night, this year’s Sports Business Awards highlighted visionary propositions that resonated across the industry, writes SBJ’s Rachel Axon.

The spirit echoed from the first award -- where NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh made a significant statement to the industry in accepting jointly for the 4 Nations Face-Off -- to the last, with USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland being named Executive of the Year as the second woman to win the award. Industry innovations like Cosm and Intuit Dome were also honored.

Some common threads emerged behind each of the winners as the evening went on -- visionary approach and creative execution.

Posted above is a list of SBA winners from the evening. Congrats to everyone!

Fox Sports’ Curt Menefee hosted the SBAs -- a fitting emcee for the evening, with the guest of honor being longtime Fox Sports chief David Hill, who was being feted with SBJ’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

A theme for the evening was efficiency, as Menefee cautioned from the start that things would move along quickly so attendees could try to catch the back half of Game 1 of Pacers-Knicks (the first time the Knicks have been in an Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years). The show clocked in right around two hours (a record pace for the event), with folks getting out and on their way around 9:30pm ET (many of raced to the hotel bar to watch NBA action).

With the USOPC’s Sarah Hirshland taking home Executive of the Year, it marked only the second time someone from the Olympic/Paralympic movement has been honored with the award, with then-USOC CEO Scott Blackmun winning in 2013. “It feels like we’re back at the big kids’ table,” she said.

Some other notable moments:

• Tennessee’s Danny White, who took home Athletic Director of the Year, didn’t hold back when he described college sports as a little bit of “shit show” right now. But he implored a room full of the pro sports industry’s leaders to take action and help. “We have to find a better ground in college sports,” he said. “It’s uniquely American. It’s so important to the Olympic movement, and it’s healthy for pro sports when college sports is healthy.” 
• Around halfway through the show, Menefee took time to relay the “solemn news” about the death of Colts owner Jim Irsay and asked for a moment of silence. 
• Longest speech of the night? It wasn’t even that long, but it came from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, whose Intuit Dome took home Facility of the Year. In true Ballmer fashion, he was enthusiastic onstage, and that continued backstage during photos and interviews. Ballmer gave an impassioned talk to everyone who had a hand in making the venue a success. 
• Hirshland in her acceptance speech focused on the big decade ahead, with Olympics stateside in 2028 and 2034 (with a FIFA World Cup in between). “Let’s not f**k this up,” she said to the room full of industry leaders.  
• Gary Bettman and Marty Walsh accepted the Sports Event of the Year honor onstage together. Bettman attributed the event’s success to its authenticity and said relations between the league and its union, who collaborated on the tournament, “are in a really good place” as they hold CBA talks. 
• Tina Lungren, who chairs the board for Figure Skating In Harlem, noted it has been a “banner year” for her organization. First, a Disney+ docuseries debuted, highlighting the nonprofit. Next, it announced plans to build the world’s first combined academic and skating facility. And Wednesday night, FSH received SBJ’s Celebration of Service Award. 

In accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, David Hill gave a great speech balancing storytelling, humor and giving thanks to those that helped him on his professional journey. He specifically noted five individuals who helped shape his career: Roone Arledge, Paul Tagliabue, Rupert Murdoch, Chase Carey and Stan Honey. He was introduced by two men who he hired, Fox Sports’ Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson.

In accepting the award for Best in Sports Media, NBC Sports’ Jon Miller took time to acknowledge Hill, saying, “I remember when David Hill came to Fox in early 1994 when Fox acquired the NFL rights and Dick Ebersol, who was my boss at the time, said, ‘We have to step up our game.’ As much as we tried, I don’t think we were ever able to achieve what you were able to achieve at Fox. So David, you are quite a remarkable individual, and we still follow in your footsteps every day.”

While there was a healthy contingent of Knicks fans at the Marriott bar cheering on what would be a thrilling overtime Game 1, the presence of Indianapolis-based Gainbridge and some Pacers Sports & Entertainment staff (already jubilant over their win in Brand Activation of the Year) gave some balance to the crowd gathered around the big-screen TVs.

The bar also saw some fun with execs from Modelo/Constellation Brands, who celebrated their win in Sports Sponsor of the Year with some libations out of the recently won trophy (earlier in the evening, based off a win a couple of years ago, the Constellation team noted six 12-ounce Modelo beers can fit in an SBA trophy).

Company after company took in the Red Carpet and did group pictures. To see some of them, click here.

Longtime NFL scheduling exec Howard Katz, now retired, sat next to Lifetime Achievement honoree David Hill. Meanwhile, longtime Fox NFL voices Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long and Curt Menefee were onstage for Hill’s acceptance speech.

The USOPC’s Sarah Hirshland, prior to the event, was spotted at the Marriott Marquis bar with colleagues Katie Bynum Aznavorian, Kate Hartman and Chris McCleary (and a bottle of champagne).

Even though news had broken earlier in the day about her exit from the NWSL, Julie Haddon still came to SBAs and sat at the league’s table next to Commissioner Jessica Berman. Haddon got a big hug upon arrival from Angel City’s Julie Uhrman before talking more with the Athletes Unlimited‘s Kim Ng (who also was there with the Athlete Unlimited‘s Vanessa Tavaras).

The Bulls’ Patrick Sandusky and Bully Pulpit’s Mark Jones -- former colleagues at the USOPC -- also were seen chatting with Berman.

A few entities held post-SBAs parties. The Clippers celebrated with partners at The Edition hotel in Times Square. Execs from Globant, Ticketmaster, AiFi, CAA Icon, AECOM and Turner Construction all made it out to celebrate Intuit Dome’s win in Sports Facility of the Year. Meanwhile, Elevate hosted a soiree at The Knickerbocker Hotel, taking over the St. Cloud Rooftop Bar.

Wasserman’s Danny Nunez was ready for Pacers-Knicks Game 1, wearing a Patrick Ewing jersey under his jacket. Sports media legend Joe Cohen was wearing a Knicks pin and described fandom of the team as a “religion.” Cohen is now chair of Brand Velocity Group Sports and was joined by BVG’s Drew Scheinman and Russell Dubin, who spent some time chatting with Sidley Austin’s Chuck Baker and Eric Geffner. Cohen took in the cocktail hour before heading over to MSG.

On the other side of the NBA matchup, execs from Gainbridge were more than happy to show Pacers gear onstage when the team won for Brand Activation of the Year.

Cosm’s Jeb Terry chatted up TurnkeyZRG’s Rick Alessandri.

Elevate’s Al Guido and Ben Gumpert were seen talking with the Clippers’ Steve Ballmer.

Sixth Street’s Russell Wolff was seen catching up with Dan Levy, CEO of Legends, a Sixth Street portfolio company.

CAA Sports’ Howie Nuchow chatted with Fenway Sports Group’s Sam Kennedy.

WWE’s Chris Legentil was joined by WWE superstar Liv Morgan.

Comcast’s Matt Lederer chatted with GMR’s Jessica Giordano.

Billie Jean King sat at a table with Dodgers owner Mark Walter as the club was once again up for Team of the Year (the tennis legend is a limited partner in the MLB club).

Just off the red carpet, NBC Sports’ Jon Miller caught up with Mike McCarley and Adam Freifeld, former NBC colleagues who are now at TGL.

CAA Sports’ David Abrutyn, Sports Media Advisors’ Doug Perlman and Dan Shevchik and former NBA/Drone Racing League exec Rachel Jacobson were seen chatting.

Also spotted having conversations during the cocktail hour for the SBAs: Longtime CBS Sports boss Sean McManus, former NFL exec Joe Browne, Intersport’s Charlie Besser, former Duke AD Kevin White, Octagon’s John Shea, ESPN’s Hannah Storm, the PLL’s Paul and Mike Rabil, Genesco’s Kit Geis, longtime MLB exec Tim Brosnan, CAA Sports’ Kevin Belbey and David Koonin, Fifth Generation Sports’ Chris Russo, former longtime Crypto.com Arena chief Lee Zeidman, Learfield’s Cory Moss, USA Gymnastics’ Li Li Leung, Underdog’s Megan Hughes Allison, NBC Sports’ NASCAR play-by-play announcer Leigh Diffey and Next League’s David Nugent.

SBAs digital sponsor MikeWorldWide hosted a voting game during the event where attendees voted for who they thought would win each category. The winner of the contest was Cody Gougler from Boise State Athletics, who won two tickets to the 2026 Kentucky Derby after correctly guessing the winners of nine categories. Nice work, Cody!

Several execs and properties took to social media to fete the winners from Wednesday night.

The NHL acknowledged its win in Event of the Year.

The Clippers put out a video for a win in Facility of the Year, while Daktronics did the same (the company worked on the Halo board at Intuit Dome). The Clippers’ Gregory Mak also gave congrats to the team on the win.

Prodigy Search execs were thrilled to be hitting the red carpet.

Gainbridge took time to post about their win in Sports Activation of the Year.

WWE superstar Chelsea Green had her Zara-infused SBAs outfit detailed by the feed Women of Wrestling Fashion. WWE’s Liv Morgan also got the same treatment.

Populous’ Bridget Kaye gave a shoutout to the four projects up for SBAs that her company worked on.

SBJ invited 40 outside judges to study, debate and determine the winners for this year’s awards. SBJ Publisher & Executive Editor Abe Madkour wrote about the judge’s deliberations and the voting process.

Thanks to all the judges who helped us get to Wednesday’s ceremony.

A big thanks to all of the companies that helped sponsor the 2025 SBAs.

We look forward to seeing the industry gather again at our next event, Brand Innovation Summit, from June 11-12 in Chicago at the Ritz-Carlton. Check out details of the event here.