Sports PR Summit Recap – May 17, 2022 – New York City

Conversation with NASCAR President Steve Phelps

The Sports PR Summit 2022 kicked off with a conversation between Brian Berger, founder of the Sports PR Summit, and NASCAR President Steve Phelps. Phelps spent much time speaking about NASCAR’s evolution in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice movement in summer 2020, a time Phelps considers to be “the second most important moment in time” for NASCAR. 

NASCAR became the first sport to return during the pandemic, largely due to proficient internal and external communications. As president, Phelps puts high priority on making himself as accessible as possible, valuing input from team and track owners, drivers and executive personnel to make decisions. By June 2020, NASCAR returned to a normal schedule, and Phelps’ leadership was again on display through a statement on social justice during a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

Phelps believes that NASCAR’s stance has helped the sport become more relevant over the past two years. Furthermore, an influx of diverse motorsport team owners such as Michael Jordan, Pitbull and Emmitt Smith have refreshed the competitive landscape, and racing a next-gen car at new venues has brought in a younger and diverse audience. Phelps emphasized the importance of innovative ideas and continuing to grow NASCAR’s promising trajectory, saying, “It is not your father’s NASCAR, your grandfather’s, not your uncle’s NASCAR… we’ve got much to do and much more opportunity which is fantastic.”

Conversation with Tom Rinaldi

Journalist, storyteller, author, 16-time Sports Emmy Award winner and seven-time Edward R. Murrow Award winner Tom Rinaldi took part in the second featured conversation at the Sports PR Summit. Currently a reporter for FOX Sports, Rinaldi earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Alongside moderator Ric Bucher of FOX Sports, Rinaldi spoke about his love of storytelling, the most memorable moments of his career and what makes a compelling narrative. To him, great journalism is rooted in connecting with people and providing those involved with the opportunity to tell the world their own story. Rinaldi said, “Visuals will forever be second to sound. What drives story is the voices of subjects and what they are willing to share.” 

Panel: Celebrating 50 years of Title IX

As the sports world celebrates 50 years of Title IX, Erin Kane, Hilary Knight, Haley Rosen and Sandra L. Richards led a discussion about the progress that has been made and the work still to be done in women’s sports. The panel had many quotable lines and important assertions, but a few themes stuck out in the end.

When all is said and done, all four women believe women’s sports are an enormous opportunity for investors, with Rosen emphasizing that there are “a lot of dollars on the table that we [female athletes] should go after. The four panelists also agreed that this money can be brought in by consistent improvements to the promotion and image of women’s sports.

Ultimately, the four panelists concluded that more media coverage being dedicated to women’s sports would provide ample opportunity for growth, adopting an “if you promote it, they will come” approach with fans and investors. While there was a little disagreement over how much men’s sports should play a role in promoting women’s sports, the four women emphasized the importance of women’s sports to continue to grow their own brand in order to continue the push for a brighter, more prosperous future. 

Panel: Name, image and likeness

To kick off the afternoon portion of the 2022 Sports PR Summit, FOX Sports journalist Ric Bucher moderated a discussion focusing on name, image and likeness (NIL). The panel included student-athletes Geo Baker of Rutgers University’s men’s basketball program and Andra Espinoza-Hunter of Seton Hall’s women’s basketball program as well as Eric LeGrand, a Rutgers University alum and the founder of LeGrand Coffee House. 

Their engaging conversation captured NIL from both a student-athlete and a local business owner perspective. The three panelists discussed the evolving opportunities and potential issues NIL presents to athletes, athletic departments and businesses. All three panelists acknowledged opportunities presented by NIL are affecting recruiting and the transfer portal, but Espinoza-Hunter noted she would not have viewed NIL as the determining factor of her own initial recruiting process had she had the ability to pursue deals with brands before the NCAA’s groundbreaking announcement on July 1, 2021. 

NIL presents resources, platforms and opportunities never before available to several generations of athletes, with Espinoza-Hunter emphasizing this to especially be the case for female athletes. “NIL is helping female collegiate-level athletes empower themselves as we females have always been viewed as a step below our counterparts,” Espinoza-Hunter said. “With NIL, we are able to show the world who we are and what we are capable of.” 

Panel: The future of media access

The Determining Media Access discussion of Sports PR Summit 2022 included distinguished speakers from both organizational and media perspectives. Moderated by Kristi Roehm, founder of 8 Degrees PR, Amy Palcic, head of media relations of U.S. Sports at Amazon; Rob Maaddi, AP NFL reporter; and Vanessa Perdono, sports reporter at Bloomberg Quicktake, discussed issues with locker room access and the importance of developing trust. 

Media access has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially locker room access, which Roehm described as a “pain point” as reporters and organizations adapted to a new normal. As a former communications executive for the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, Palcic believes that the media best develops relationships with athletes in the locker room, but that privacy should be respected. Palcic valued the locker room as a private sanctuary to the players, and said it is important for reporters to understand this when conducting interviews. Maaddi offered another angle to improving media access by saying, “Productive access is an issue that the media really needs to work on with individual teams.” He suggested that teams do more to make players comfortable before interviews around their schedule. 

Another talking point was the importance of building trust between players and reporters. Palcic said that cultivating relationships with players, agency representatives and the team’s communications personnel are essential to creating the best scenario for access. Perdono expressed the importance of building relationships to provide a trustworthy platform for athletes to tell their stories. Palcic said, “don’t subscribe to the expose and destroy mentality,” which mirrors Maaddi’s statement, “if you want to be respected, be fair.” 

Conversation with Lifetime Achievement Award winners Vada Manager and Rosa Gatti

To close out the 2022 Sports PR Summit, Rosa Gatti and Vada Manager received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Awards. The Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented by the Newhouse Sports Media Center at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to PR professionals who positively reflect the ideals of the industry. 

Gatti, widely regarded as a pioneer for women in public relations, was the first female sports information director at Villanova and one of only a few women at ESPN during its first year. Her passion for helping people powered her through a successful career that advanced current issues such as diversity and inclusion. Gatti was adamant in accepting the award that, although the tools and environment have changed, the principles of good public relations practice have not. Trust, honesty and relationships remain at the heart of the public relations profession. 

Vada Manager has used great public relations skills and strategies during his career. Today, Manager is CEO of Manager Global Holdings, a consulting corporation that he founded in 2009. His career also highlights twelve years at Nike where he managed crises and implemented corporate social responsibility. During the panel discussion, Manager emphasized the importance of building trusting relationships, speaking to his experience as a black man that it wasn’t always easy but he built the trust necessary to gain many people’s confidence and make a difference.

NOTE: Recaps compiled by students from the Syracuse Newhouse Sports Media Center