GSM Live: Predictions and Provocations for Sport 2021

This event took place on 12/17/2020. For an article recap and access to the full episode, visit here. To stay up to date on upcoming events, sign up for our newsletter.

It's true that no one could have predicted all that this year has been, but what about the next? Sport is a microcosm of our larger world and it has the power to influence those connected to it. As we have seen leagues, players and fans grapple with a pandemic and join demands for racial justice, how will the future of sport influence the world around us?

Taking stock of 2020, Global Sport Matters is bringing back a few of our past guests, as well as some new, to talk business, activism, technology and more as we ask the question: "What's next in 2021 for sport?"

Joining the conversation:

Jessica Luther | Freelance Journalist and Author. Jessica Luther is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Texas Monthly, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and Vice Sports, among others. She is the author of Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape and has written extensively on the intersection of sports and violence off the field.

Kavitha A. Davidson | Sportswriter, Author and Host of The Lead at The Athletic. Kavitha A. Davidson is a sportswriter and host of The Lead, an in-depth daily sports news podcast produced by The Athletic. She is on the board of directors at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. She was a writer with ESPNW and ESPN The Magazine and a sports columnist at Bloomberg covering the intersections of sports and society, culture, politics, race, gender, and business. Her work has also appeared in NBC THINK, the Guardian, and Rolling Stone.

Jessica Luther and Kavitha Davidson new book, Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back

Brian David Johnson | Futurist in Residence, Center for Science and the Imagination and Professor in Practice in the School for the Future of Innovation and Society. Brian David Johnson is a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and a Futurist and Fellow at Frost & Sullivan, a visionary innovation company that’s focused on growth. He also works with governments, militaries, trade organizations, and startups to help them envision their future. He has over 30 patents and is the author of a number of books of fiction and nonfiction, including Science Fiction Prototyping; Screen Future: The Future of Entertainment, Computing and the Devices We Love; Humanity and the Machine: What Comes After Greed?; and Vintage Tomorrows: A Historian and a Futurist Journey through Steampunk into the Future of Technology. His writing has appeared in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and Slate to IEEE Computer and Successful Farming, and he appears regularly on Bloomberg TV, PBS, Fox News, and the Discovery Channel. He has directed two feature films, and is an illustrator and commissioned painter.

Mirna Valerio | Marathon runner, Inclusion activist, and Author, “A Beautiful Work in Progress." Mirna Valerio is a native of Brooklyn, NY, a former educator, cross-country coach, ultramarathoner, and author of the bestselling memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress. After a health scare in 2008, she recommited herself to the sport and started her blog Fatgirlrunning—about her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner endurance athletes— while training for her first marathon. Mirna's athletic story has been featured in the WSJ, Runner’s World, on NBC Nightly News, CNN, Women’s Running Magazine, Self Magazine Online, Outside Online, and Runner's World Magazine as well as the viral REI-produced documentary short, The Mirnavator. In 2018 she was chosen as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and most recently appeared the Kelly Clarkson Show.

Dr. Scott Brooks | Sociologist and Director of Research at Global Sport Institute. As a scholar, Brooks is primarily interested in: youth and sport; inequality in sport, coaching and leadership; and community based sports interventions. He has published in academic journals, edited volumes, and textbooks; been quoted and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Der Speigel, and SLAM magazine; and invited to speak on the topic of sport internationally. His book, Black Men Can’t Shoot (University of Chicago, 2009), tells the importance of exposure, networks, and opportunities towards earning an athletic scholarship. Additionally, Dr. Brooks has consulted the NFL, MLB, college and high school coaches and athletes; and is a senior fellow at the Wharton Sports Business Initiative and Yale Urban Ethnography Project.

Martin Carlsson-Wall | Associate Professor of Accounting at Stockholm School of Economics.In 2015, Carlsson-Wall founded the Center for Sports and Business with Professor Kalle Kraus and in 2016 he took over as the Center Director. The research center has 40 faculty and strategic partnerships with many of the large Swedish sports (i.e. football, hockey, golf, skiing, etc).

Ilhaam Groenewald | Chief Director of Maties Sport at Stellenbosch University. Ilhaam Groenewald has been Chief Director of Maties Sport since 2014 and is a former Independent Executive Council Member of SA Rugby and President of University Sport South Africa. Most recently, Ilhaam was elected to the new South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) board.

Led By:
Andrew Ramsammy | Director of Digital Content for the Global Sport Institute at ASU. Andrew Ramsammy leads the vision for the Global Sport Matters content platform and media enterprise. Before joining GSI, he was the Director of Audience Strategy at Arizona PBS. As a leading media executive, Andrew is a multiple Emmy Award winner with more than 20 years of global experience in creative, content and production.

Photo Credit: Getty Images, 1284954574