Sessions for the CAA World Congress of Sports are commencing today at the JW Marriott at L.A. Live. The day begins with World Congress Connect, a structured networking and information sharing session. Following this, brunch will be served, and opening remarks will be delivered by SBJ Publisher & Executive Editor Abe Madkour. The first panel of the event will then discuss key industry issues with speakers including Arctos Partners’ TJ Adeshola, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s Kevin Demoff, the Mariners’ Catie Griggs, the Pro Tennis Players Association’s Ahmad Nassar, and NBC Olympics Productions’ Molly Solomon.
Other notable speakers on Day 1 at World Congress include NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Fanatics Chair Michael Rubin, DraftKings’ Jason Robins, and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. The event kicked off on Monday night with a welcome reception for approximately 250 attendees at the JW Marriott hosted by Ticketmaster. Prior to the reception, many attendees were watching the WNBA Draft on ESPN near the bar.
Among the guests at the welcome reception were Proskauer’s Brad Ruskin, the PGA of America’s Jeff Price, USA Gymnastics’ Li Li Leung, Elevate’s Ben Gumpert and Lara Toscani Weems, USL’s Court Jeske, the USTA’s Deanne Pownall, GMR Marketing’s Todd Fischer, and many others. Additionally, DLA Piper held a gathering at Soho Warehouse, and Innovative Partnerships Group hosted cocktails and dinner at San Laurel at the Conrad hotel in downtown.