The following post was written by Spencer Gale-Reimer, Mati Pelich, and Brian Mackenzie. They recently attended the John Molson Sports Business Conference in Montreal, Quebec through the CSA Conference and Competitions Program.
The John Molson Sports Business Conference is a sports-oriented conference held annually in Montreal, Quebec. The 23rd annual conference was held this year from November 1st to November 3rd, and put on as always by The Concordia University Business School’s Student Association. This three-day conference primarily revolves around panels, workshops and networking events featuring students from universities around Canada and various individuals from the sports business world, from leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS. This year the Commerce Students Association sent three student delegates; Mati Pelich, Spencer Gale-Reimer and Brian MacKenzie.
The first day of the conference featured two panels, the first of which was MLS-oriented, and focused on the impact of the “designated player” on MLS clubs. The second panel of the night discussed the legal side of sports, such as sponsorships and internal policies. One highlight from the first night was hearing from one of the Councils of the Vegas Golden Knights on how the team name came to be chosen, which was a longer process than one would expect. At the end of the night came a networking event for all delegates in which they were to wear their favourite teams jersey to spark some conversations and connections.
The second day of the conference included two panels and two workshops followed by a “VIP” networking event. A highlight from the second day of the conference was hearing from Neil Lane, the CEO of the hockey analytics firm ‘Stathletes’. Lane spoke in a panel and at a workshop, and discussed various advances in analytics within sports, as well as how they are used, the pushback of using analytics in decisions, and advice to students interested in jobs in sports analytics. One of our delegates attended the “VIP” networking event on this day as well. It was an opportunity to “speed network” with six different professionals in the industry, getting two minutes to speak individually with each of them. This was a great networking opportunity as well as great practice at making a good first impression.
The CSA delegates felt that the biggest highlight of the weekend was being able to hear from the General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Julien Brisebois. In a panel on Saturday, Brisebois discussed his story of how he worked his way up from articling at a Quebec City law firm to one of the most prestigious positions in the NHL. It was fascinating to hear from him, and through his story we were able to learn about the hard work, sacrifice and dedication he put in to get to where he is today.
The conference was filled with seven panels and four workshops as well as many networking opportunities. It was very well organized and although the schedule was packed, it did still allow for some time to explore the city. The John Molson Sports Business conference is a valuable edition to a student’s education because you learn aspects of the sports business world that you would otherwise not learn about in school. The information learned will not only help students in their future careers, but also in their future courses, as they can apply real world knowledge to core concepts. We would definitely recommend this conference to anyone who has an interest in sports and or business.