An AI Primer, PBR Branding, and Lessons Learned from a Baseball Phenom…Three January Listens.

As we get deeper into the start of the year, we highlight three recent listens of note from our just completed eighth year of the CUSP Show, which I continue to host with Tom Richardson. You can listen to over 35o episodes here, but these three recent ones cover the growth of sports using Artificial Intelligence, a conversation on expansive and inclusive branding with the PBR, and a conversation with one of our noted students, Mo’ne Davis, reflecting on the lessons she learned by entering the history books as the first girl to pitch in the Little League World Series, as well as where she wants to take her career going forward. We hope you find them engaging and interesting as we move through January.

Conquering, embracing and understanding AI in sports; a primer.

We welcome Shripal Shah, Chief Digital Officer at Shop Your Way, and lecturer at Georgetown School of Continuing Studies. Shripal speaks about his career journey, and his time with the Washington Redskins/Commanders building their business intelligence platform. He also goes into great detail about his current role and gives us perhaps one of the most intelligent and comprehensive looks at how Articial Intelligence can be used as a tool to grow our industry.   Listen here.

From pitcher to pitching, a conversation with Mo’ne Davis

I’m joined by guest Co-Host Mike Schretter’25 to welcome Mo’ne Davis’25, former D1 Athlete, LA Dodgers Intern, Little League World Series Star and Current Full-Time Graduate Student at Columbia. Mo’ne discusses her life journey, the impact of positive coaching, the lessons learned not just from winning but from losing in sports,  competing with and against boys, her relationship on and off the diamond with former teammate and current rising minor league star and Princeton graduate Scott Bandura, and how she used her curiosity and interest to grow her time as a student athlete at Hampton University during the Pandemic. She also discusses the desire to own a women’s soccer or basketball team someday. Lastly, Mo’ne talks about the people and athletes that impacted her, the skills she learned at Hampton and Columbia and believing in herself. Listen here.

No bull…the path from The NFL to the PBR and the lessons learning in growing an immersive brand

We welcome John Sohigian, Vice President of Consumer Products at Professional Bull Riders to discuss licensing and the success of licensing at Professional Bull Riders. John also discusses the difficulty of promoting athletes, lessons learned from his work at the NFL and elsewhere, and the expansion of licensing with AI that has made the PBR a disruptive brand on the rise. Listen here.

Enjoy and learn!