Interview with MSA Faculty Director Brice Clinton on TEDSports
When Brice Clinton, faculty director of Northwestern’s MA in Sports Administration (MSA) program, attended the inaugural TEDSports conference in Indianapolis, he found it unlike any other industry event, calling it “head and shoulders above any sports conference I’ve ever attended in my life.” With polished TED-style talks, immersive breakout sessions across the city, and insights from leaders throughout sports, the conference offered a fresh, in-depth look at the industry’s future, including the rising impact of women’s athletics and developments in collegiate and youth sports.
We sat down with Brice to hear his reflections and what it all means for the MA in Sports Administration program.
Q: What drew you to attend the inaugural TEDSports conference?
A personal reason I wanted to go was that I live locally here in Indianapolis. I grew up in Indiana and played sports throughout high school. I come from family where several people played college sports all in Indiana so there was some nostalgia for Indiana sports that piqued my interest. While I greatly miss living in the city of Chicago, Indianapolis is an outstanding sports city, and I wanted to see that on display. I see why they would want to host it here from a sporting perspective.
From the MSA program perspective, we are constantly working to stay ahead of trends in sports and ensure we are preparing students for what they will face post program. I wanted to pressure-test that, understand what others in the sports industry see as the most relevant issues, how things are evolving, and where the focus should be. Along with that, I was also looking to connect with potential instructors and guest speakers who could contribute to the program.
Every five years we do a curriculum review with an outside advisory board, so cultivating those relationships is important. And lastly, in addition to the coursework in the program, we also host a sports administration podcast, Revenue Above Replacement, as part of the program with me and another instructor, Adam Grossman. After all the conversations at the conference, I think we have enough guests lined up for the next two or three seasons.
Q: What themes and trends emerged strongly from the conference?
The part I found most encouraging was the focus on women’s sports, which I’ve seen a little here living in Indianapolis because of the well-deserved hype around Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever, and the WNBA. The theme was really about women’s sports being here, having arrived, and that it is time to stop gatekeeping sports.
Tamika Catchings, a WNBA Hall-of-Famer, four-time Olympic gold medalist, and former Indiana Fever player, made an amazing point: when women started playing sports, the games were retrofitted from men’s sports. “It was, okay, these are men’s sports, do you want to play? Okay, you can come and play,” she said, and the facilities were never really designed for women and girls.
It’s fascinating to see how far it’s come even since I played, yet how far there is still to go. The encouraging thing is that people know that now, and there’s attention not only from fans but also from leaders in the sports industry. Tamika noted the economic opportunity: women drive much of the fandom and disposable income, and if teams or leagues focus on this demographic, there’s only upside.
Another key theme throughout the conference was the outcomes when you get to play sports, not only as a young person but as an adult, and the small changes that could be made at the youth sports level to provide more inclusiveness and opportunities. Yes, sports is an enormous business, and many make their living from it. But that’s not all. Sports can be for enjoyment, exercise, and boosting self-esteem.
Q: How do the ideas shared at TEDSports connect with what the MSA program teaches?
What’s encouraging is that we work really hard to stay ahead of these trends. Take the advancement of AI in the sports workplace. Many people see it as primarily benefiting player personnel and statistics, which is true, but the biggest impact will be on sports business, behind-the-scenes operations, and fan engagement, creating customized experiences for fans and understanding them deeply. Across our courses, whether my technology course, the front office operations course, or the business of sports courses, we make sure to address how these AI tools, as they continue to advance, will shape what we call the “workplace of sports.”
One thing I learned from our College Sports Management specialization is that while it’s great we have that focus, everyone is still figuring out how college sports will continue to shift and evolve. Even the NCAA president Charlie Baker noted the need to be nimble, adapting to legislation and university-level changes, which is critical. We’ve built a solid framework to address this, but it’s up to us to stay on top of these changes and prepare students for what comes next. Many of our students are former or current college athletes; they understand the landscape and also have the skills to evolve with it.
If we can keep this pace along with the focus on students, I think we’ll do a great job preparing those students and placing them in key roles that shape the future of college sports.
Q: How can students and alumni position themselves to be a part of those shifts in the sports industry?
The biggest part is staying open-minded to the evolution of sports. It’s easy to look at sports and say, well, this is how it has always been done. Troy Vincent from the NFL talked about how football is 105 years old, and only in the last two or three years have women had the first opportunity to play football in any way, shape, or form through the NFL FLAG Football initiatives.
The best thing our students, or anyone in the ecosystem, can do is be open-minded to the shifts and changes in sports. It’s going to create more opportunities for people. And with those opportunities comes more access. That leads to more jobs and more economic opportunities for everybody involved. Seeing change not as the destruction of sports but as part of their evolution is the most important thing any of us can do.
Q: Where do you see the biggest opportunities and innovations in sports administration over the next couple of years?
Back to the college sports component: continuing to stay educated, stay ahead, and shape how that evolves. The College Sports Management specialization is one of the few programs in the country that focuses on this area, and it prepares our students to be leaders not only through the program itself but also through the historical knowledge they gain.
The other area is women’s sports: being on the front edge of that seismic shift. It’s not just the play, but the consumption, marketing, and fandom. Women’s sports aren’t going anywhere, and the trajectory is only moving up. Being part of that is good for the program and for students—and that’s exciting.
That’s another point we emphasize in the MSA program. We’re not splitting the atom here. Sports is a huge business, and people take it very seriously, but at the end of the day it’s a game. It’s meant to be fun, meant to entertain. If we lose sight of that, we lose the core ethos of what sports is designed to promote.
Q: Is there any collaboration you see in the future between TEDSports and Northwestern’s MA in Sports Administration program?
I would love to. It was an incredible opportunity to attend this event. I had the chance to meet many of the organizers, and the hope is to continue following up and fostering those relationships. Having our MSA students involved would be enormously impactful. I’m 43, I’ve been to hundreds of conferences, and this one blew me away. To give young people that experience would be incredible, and I’d love to make it happen.
From a program perspective, it was encouraging. While we certainly have areas to grow and continue to evolve, we’re on the right track in preparing our students—not only from a business and economic perspective, but as human beings within the sports ecosystem.
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