Women’s Sports, Live Event Streaming and More Promise Spirited Discussions at Variety’s Sports and Entertainment Summit

Streaming services are locked in a tightening battle to become go-to destinations for live sports coverage. Women’s sports increasingly rival men’s as a source for fiery debates and runaway ratings. Multi-platform sports commentators are becoming as famous as many of the athletes they cover. And while all eyes turn towards Paris for the start of the Olympics later this month, it’s just four short years until the Games arrive on Hollywood’s doorstep.

As much drama as one can find on courts, fields, rings and tracks, there are just as many high-stakes storylines surging throughout the world of sports media and business. Variety and Sportico will dig into all of the above at the Sports and Entertainment Summit on July 12 in Los Angeles, which brings execs, agents, broadcasters, content creators and, of course, athletes together to discuss the most consequential issues facing the sector.

There are few more dramatic shifts in sports media in recent years than the explosion of viewing options for live sports. With Peacock set as the main hub of NBC’s live Olympics coverage in coming weeks and Amazon Prime Video launching its broadcast partnership with NASCAR, the possibilities for sports to grow a bigger audience have never been more open.

The summit’s first panel, “The Future of Watching Live Sports,” will bring together Amazon’s head of sports partnerships Charlie Neiman, Peacock chief marketing officer Shannon Willett, YouTube’s global head of TV, film and sports partnerships Lori Conkling, Roku’s head of content David Eilenberg, ESPN’s president of content Burke Magnus and Turner Sports exec VP and chief content officer Chris Barry to discuss the brave new world of sports programming.

Live coverage is the most obvious but hardly the only battleground in sports media. Four years after the unprecedented impact of the Michael Jordan docuseries “The Last Dance,” opportunities for sports storytelling are livelier than ever. Veteran sports commentator Jim Rome, NFL Media’s Angela Ellis and Imagine Brands’ Marc Gilbar will be among the panelists for the “Breakthrough Sports Storytelling Across Platforms” panel, while Rich Eisen — whose radio show bearing his name sits perfectly at the intersection of sports and pop culture — will sit down with UTA’s Andrew Thau for a keynote conversation.

The “Women’s Sports Rising” roundtable will offer yet another peek into a major growth area in sports entertainment. Earlier this year, the four-way rivalry between budding basketball superstars Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Juju Watkins and Paige Bueckers buoyed the NCAA Women’s Final Four to higher TV ratings than the men’s championship for the first time ever, and other women’s sports are poised to make similar strides. Featuring speakers including newly crowned NCAA basketball champion Ashlyn Watkins, the Women’s National Basketball Assn.’s head of league operations Bethany Donaphin, and the National Women’s Soccer League’s VP of marketing Michelle Haines, the panel will discuss the vast potential of women’s pro sports, as well as the fight for parity.

Naturally, the most important perspectives in all of these conversations are those of the athletes themselves, and the Sports and Entertainment Summit will feature no shortage of field-level commentary. Bueckers will open the summit, after which three players from the L.A. Rams’ 2023 rookie class — Steve Avila, Puka Nacua and Kobie Turner — will sit down with Sportico deputy editor Eben Novy-Williams to reflect on their whirlwind first year in the NFL. Meanwhile, the “The Athlete and Fan” panel will assemble a variety of sportspersons from multiple disciplines, including track and field Paralympian Ezra Frech, UCLA quarterback Chase Griffin, Washington Commanders running back Austin Ekeler, champion car racing driver Samantha Tan and two-time women’s soccer gold medalist Aly Wagner, to discuss how athletes can best engage with their supporters both on the field and off.