Ryan Spoon
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- Milken Institute39 min
Game Changers: Innovation and Evolution in Sports | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024
Heather Brooks Karatz, Michele Kang, Marc Lasry, Candace Parker, Ryan Spoon, Masai Ujiri
Candice Parker, Michelle Kwan, and Masai Ujiri joined Mark Lautner and Ryan Smith to analyze the shifting sports investment landscape, highlighting Parker's transition into ownership and Kwan's multi-club valuation strategy for women's leagues. The panel identified a critical capital shortage in team acquisitions while forecasting a 400% valuation surge in women's sports driven by undervaluation and a global demographic shift toward Africa. These speakers outlined a five to ten-year roadmap for capturing subsequent media deal cycles and expanding digital engagement, positioning ownership expertise as the essential differentiator for future market success.
- a16z25 min
a16z Podcast | When Fantasy Football and Crowdfunding Collide
Michael Copeland, James Beshara, Ryan Spoon
ESPN and Tilt formalized a strategic partnership to integrate a co-branded crowdfunding solution, ESPN.tilt.com, that enables 15 million fantasy football users to fund leagues and events directly within the platform. Launched in July to coincide with the pre-season draft calendar, this collaboration replaced internal development risks with Tilt's PCI Level 1 compliant infrastructure, resulting in one of the highest adoption upticks in the company's history. The integration exemplifies a broader shift toward a logged-in, mobile-first model where personalized, data-driven content drives engagement while maintaining strict boundaries on user data sharing.