WHEN: Today, Tuesday, July 25
WHERE: CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan Summit
Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of the Shifting Dynamics panel that took place today, Tuesday, July 25th, live during the CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan Summit in Los Angeles. The panel featured speakers including: Linda Alvarado, Colorado Rockies Co-Owner; Ashlyn Harris, Gotham FC Global Creative Advisor; Jessica Holtz, CAA Sports Co-Head of Basketball; and Tamika Tremaglio, National Basketball Players Association Executive Director.
Video can be found on CNBC.com
Mandatory credit: CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan Summit.
JESSICA HOLTZ ON BUILDING A BRAND
Really, it’s leaning into who they are and what they’re interested in. Right? I think over time, we’ve seen a change of where it’s okay, I need to be in that Gatorade commercial, I need to have that Nike deal and I need to do these things. And that’s going to be who I am and advertisers are going to have a piece in telling my story for me, a much larger piece. And now with my clients what’s especially fun is what are you passionate about? What interests you? Do you want to do more investments and make a lot of money on the court. Do you want to focus more on building businesses? Do you want to start a perfume line? Okay, that’s something that you’re passionate about. It’s not going to work unless you’re passionate and I think looking at things long term because these things are forever, right? And it’s not just transactional. So for me, you know, what Ashlyn said about really telling stories, I like to think about who my athletes are and how everybody can get to know them, not only obviously to monetize it, but to think about what change you can affect and what drives you off the, off the court and what philanthropically you want. To accomplish to I mean a lot of times as we need to lean into brands and hold them responsible, and they can affect change, too.
TAMIKA TREGMALIO ON BUILDING A BRAND
I think it’s a number of things and I think Jessica hit on one of the points is our players while they are phenomenal basketball players, they are more than that. And to your point around being an influencer, so when we think about them being role models, we do want them to share what is their and. When I first started, I really started saying, we have to look at the whole person. So what’s your and and let’s focus on the ampersand as opposed to just the basketball so we have players that are fathers that are entrepreneurs that are doing amazing things in this world giving back to their communities. For me, it’s important that everybody knows the full story. It also makes it a little more challenging to not be able to relate to them if you understand what their and is.
JESSICA HOLTZ ON TAKING POLITICAL STANCE
And this is how I feel. It’s really important to be very, very well educated and informed, and that’s part of what our responsibility I think all of us on the stage is to do. And so if it’s something they’re passionate about and you understand the cost benefit analysis of it, you know, I’m always going to err on the side of supporting my client and what they want to, what messages they want to get out there, as long as it’s not harmful.
ASHLYN HARRIS ON STATUS OF WOMEN IN SPORTS
Even though we’re making such incredible strides in women’s sports, we’re nowhere near where we need to be and it takes work and it takes investment and it takes really hard stance at times, even taking your employer to court during a World Cup like these things seem big and scary, but the magnitude and how far it pushes us not only in women’s sports, but women in the workplace in general. It’s, it’s a huge deal, and we have to keep doing this and showing and giving space for these younger players, to educate them and have them have a voice as well in these really important decisions because it impacts them for a really long time.
TAMIKA TREGMALIO ON PERSONAL EQUITY
So, I think that in my corporate background, I learned very quickly that it wasn’t as important to be concerned about what you were being paid now, but what the benefit was going to be in the future. And so when I came into this role, I wanted them to focus on equity. I mean, we have seen the value of our teams grow exponentially. Certainly our players have done well, but not at the same time, not at that same level. So for me, it was so important that they understood that yes, while you’re playing, this is what you’re being paid, but you have invested your time, energy, money, effort into building this team, you should be able to actually reap the benefits and rewards and they get that. They’re behind that. And that’s why we made sure it was part of the CBA.
TAMIKA TREGMALIO ON AI AND PRIVACY
We have to be concerned about privacy related issues and what that means. So as a union, obviously that’s a focus. But at the same time, we have one player, and they have millions of followers. So the ability from an AI perspective to make sure that their reach is exponential, so when we talk about fan engagement and how a fan can engage with our player, the fact that we have AI that can engage or interact with an individual, that’s tremendous because our players can only do so much so for them to be able to take advantage of that and we know even with Luka now with his, you know, AI and how he’s been able to utilize it in his foundation and how he’s been able to make sure that he’s engaging with others. That’s huge. That will be a game changer for us as well.
ASHLYN HARRIS ON LONGEVITY OF VOUCHING FOR WOMEN IN SPORTS
This is not going to stop. But the investment has to continue because look at where women’s sports are with such little investment, what we figure out, how we squeeze things out, how we continue to rise and elevate the level. Imagine if we had money like the men, imagine if we had charter flights like the men. Like imagine if we had access to the same things. I mean, we, 10 years ago, so now we’re just chipping away at that and it’s a process and we understand that but it’s nice now that we know people are paying attention, brands are paying attention. And this is just the start. I truly believe it. Women’s sports right now it is the moment and there’s no, we’re not riding any type of wave. We’re just delivering and people finally now see the upside in it
TAMIKA TREGMALIO ON WHAT MEN CAN DO
You can do what our men are doing who play basketball is show up. Every time somebody says to me, why aren’t the women doing this, I’m like go to a game, buy a ticket, become a season ticket holder, like our men are showing up for our women. That’s what you need to do.
JESSICA HOLTZ ON WHAT MEN CAN DO
And so I think looking at us differently as maybe that’s a male dominated role traditionally or are there enough women in the room I think asking those questions and making those seats at the table for us unfortunately you have to be a very active part, men have to be a very active participant for us, and we need you all to make way for us and look at us differently and that’s what you could do.
