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Q1 Leadership Summit / Navigating Politics in Leadership: When to Expend Political Capital
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM PDT
Category: Events

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Navigating Politics in Leadership: When to Expend Political Capital

January 29, 2026
10am-4pm PST
Hollywood Park - Los Angeles, CA
Co-Chairs: 
Otto Benedict, SVP, Sofi Stadium and Hollywood Park
Maria Camacho, Head of Government Affairs, LA Rams
Crispus Gordon III, VP Government Relations and Strategic Affairs, Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Karen Lorenzo, Chief Legal Officer & Business Operations Officer, LOVB
Roscoe Mapps, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, SF Giants
Amy Phuong, SVP Government Relations, Atlanta Hawks
 

CONFIRM INVITATION

 

During the “Navigating Politics in Leadership: When to Expend Political Capital" Leadership Summit, professional sports’ top leaders open the year by exploring the nuanced art of navigating politics in leadership. Convening in Los Angeles at Hollywood Park, this immersive experience focuses on discerning when and how to use influence effectively while maintaining integrity, trust, and strategic foresight. 

PART 1: Internal Politics - Balancing competing agendas and aligning interests

This segment explores how leaders navigate organizational dynamics where priorities often conflict and influence is distributed. Attendees will learn strategies for aligning cross-functional interests while maintaining clarity, trust, and momentum. We’ll discuss how to anticipate political friction and use it as a catalyst for collaboration and progress.

  • Featuring: The Leadership Wake Workshop: Practical Ways to Maximize Your Leadership Impact with Dr. Matt Dubin, The Venn Collective

In this session, Matt Dubin, PhD will lead an interactive practice for senior leaders shaping their leadership impact through everyday actions and decisions, especially when moving fast and under pressure. Executives will exercise and examine how greater intention helps maximize the impact they have on people, teams, and organizations.

PART 2: Team / League / Union / Venue Dynamics - Influencing stakeholders without a formal relationship or reporting structure

This session examines how to effectively influence key stakeholders in your success matrix when you lack direct authority. What builds and sinks credibility, what fosters and derails alignment, and what drives important results for the good of teams, leagues, unions, and venues. Through real-world examples, we’ll highlight how relational leadership creates impact in the complex pro sports ecosystems.

In this segment, Dr. Michael Butterworth, Director of the Center for Sports Communication & Media, the Governor Ann W. Richards Chair for the Texas Program in Sports and Media, and Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, will share a peek behind the curtain on the 5th annual Politics in Sports Media Report. A timely body of research featuring:
  • Masculine Rhetorical Performances at the 4 Nations Face-Off Hockey Tournament (about US-Canada, nationalism, and masculinity.)
  • Laboring over Labor in the WNBA (about lingering forms of sexism in WNBA CBA negotiations)
  • A Tale of Two Cities at the U.S. Open (about the competing imagery of the US Open's "Be Open" campaign and the appearance of the president at the men's final)
  • Public Diplomacy and the NBA’s Reconciliation with China (about NBA efforts in China years after the Daryl Morey controversy)
  • What’s the Risk? Speculating on the Sports Media Gambling Complex (about the NBA gambling scandal and its implications for all sports)
  • El Conejo Malo at the Fifty-Yard Line (about Bad Bunny's forthcoming appearance at the Super Bowl)

PART 3: Government Relations - Navigating media, policies, and external pressures 

This segment focuses on managing the intersection of public perception, policy developments, and governmental expectations. Leaders will gain insight into how to engage strategically with media and policymakers to advance organizational priorities. We’ll explore how to respond to external pressures with clarity, preparedness, and purpose-driven communication.

In the Summit finale, Ambassador Eric Garcetti, who served as Los Angeles Mayor for almost a decade when the city was awarded the 2026 Men's FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympiad, will provide insights and an invaluable perspective on the intersection of government relations and professional sports from the municipal to the federal and international levels.  

 

The Leadership Summit is produced by PRO members and provides an intimate and interactive experience for those at the VP level (or equivalent) and above at U.S.-based professional sports teams, leagues, unions, and venues, who have increasing influence and impact across the industry.
Important notes:
  • Capacity is limited to 100, with gender, sport, and discipline balance.
  • Registration is complimentary for invited PRO Premier and PRO Organization members. A $50 deposit will be required to confirm your registration. The deposit will be refunded after check-in at the Summit. You will see the upgrade option on the registration form.
  • PRO Plus members may register for $200 and PRO standard members may register for $350 which will upgrade your membership to PRO Premier.

Become a PRO Premier member and enjoy the benefits of membership year-round!

INTEREST FORM

 

At PRO events, professional sports' top leaders and problem-solvers greatly benefit from the opportunity to refine and hone their leadership skills while building relationships across disciplines, geography and structures from which they come (team, league, union, venue). Leadership Summits are co-chaired by active PRO members and provide top leaders with access to experts who provide valuable perspectives on issues that impact all facets of their organization (i.e. infrastructure, finance, employee wellness) to help top leaders with how they think (not telling them what to think) about the challenges faced on their journey from success to significance. Each Summit participant has the opportunity to engage with one another through experiential learning and informed dialogue, building trust based on shared insights and mutual respect. 

By offering a secure, collaborative, think space for Pro Sports Assembly members, the Summits connect the work of participants to generate a lasting impact on professional sports by developing standards that drive value for PRO and the industry. By gaining perspective, refining leadership skills and building new avenues of communication, top pro sports leaders are more connected, accountable, engaged and catalyzed in stewarding the industry forward. Through these new relationships and resources, PRO members gain insights and access to opportunities that allow them to “hack” the traditional pathway to accelerate their impact and influence in the c-suite.

Those invited to Leadership Summits have demonstrated a capacity to build or lead a team, movement or organization. Each Summit is comprised of no more than 100 leaders who represent a range of attributes including professional discipline, gender, geography, race, ideology and political affiliation.

As with all PRO events, members are expected and encouraged to challenge one another’s ideas respectfully, in line with our commitment to engaging a multitude of perspectives. However, expressing hate or intolerance toward others based on their particular ideas or identities will not be tolerated. All PRO events are off the record and follow the Chatham House Rule.

CONFIRM INVITATION


LEARN MORE ABOUT PRO 

 

Pro Sports Assembly (“PRO”) is the industry association for professional sports organizations and business leaders. PRO members future-proof the industry by equipping leaders across tenure, rank and discipline with the relationships and resources necessary to succeed.

 

Become a PRO Member

Contact: [email protected]