The Boardroom Season 2 Offers A Good Look At Sports Intersection With Business And Culture During Hiatus – Forbes

Agent Rich Kleiman (left) and NBA All-Star and two-time champion Kevin Durant are co-founders of ... [+] Thirty Five Ventures. Among other ventures, they produce The Boardroom, which earlier this winter released its Season 2 featuring 5 new episodes.

In recent weeks, sports fans are dining on a variety of alternative programming to live sporting events in order to satisfy their sports fix. From classic games to an assortment of documentaries, we all should be sports historians by the time we arrive on the other side of the current sports hiatus.

One such alternative which provides tremendous content and insights for those seeking a contemporary fusion of the business, cultural, and societal aspects of the sports industry is Season 2 of The Boardroom, produced by NBA star Kevin Durants Thirty Five Ventures and ESPN+, theleading direct-to-consumer sports streaming service.

In recently speaking with both Rich Kleiman (Durants agent and Executive Producer of the show) and Jay Williams (host of the show and an ESPN commentator), they shared general lessons about what theyve learned from being involved in the project, as well as specific insights they gained from select episodes.

Speaking broadly about the overall project, Kleiman noted that Season 2 is more polished and more topical than Season 1. As he noted, beyond ESPNs streaming release of the show during the winter, Thirty Five Ventures continues to build the shows brand through native distribution on our own site, through social, through newsletters, and new verticals were adding in between seasons.

He continued that because the brand is growing, it was important we raise the level of production... and figured out to differentiate between the content for the ESPN show versus what we distribute on a monthly basis through our own distribution.

Williams discussed his recognition of the value The Boardroom can serve to todays athlete. Now that we have our direct-to-consumer platform, we can help athletes realize that they are their own IP, and we can work with them to elevate that. He went on to say that what they are accomplishing with The Boardroom is a huge value-add and how much he enjoyed being part of the Disney/ESPN brand because we are progressive and mindful of what differentiates us.

Jay Williams, former Duke basketball standout and a multi-dimensional contributor to many of ESPN's ... [+] platforms, is the Host for The Boardroom.

Streaming exclusively on ESPN+, three of the episodes focus on (1) women in sports, (2) player interest in fashion, and (3) the evolution of player control over their own brand.

Transforming Womens Sports Four of the most dynamic female athletes in sports today Carli Lloyd, Lisa Leslie, Lindsey Vonn and Tina Charles sit down for a candid conversation about their personal careers, business opportunities, and the elevation of women's sports on a global scale.

Kleiman was struck when World Cup Champion Carli Lloyd said that her teams fight for equality was evergreen. It was sad to hear that...and raised an incredible snapshot of the problem, Kleiman said. But in terms of helping be part of the solution, he said, the idea that we could create a platform for these women to come together and discuss issues common to them was pretty exciting.

Similarly, Williams was incredibly overwhelmed by the womens panel just based on their collective accomplishments. It was amazing witnessing how they all viewed their sports, and how they were all trying to ultimately get to that point where Lindsey was...from a sponsorship and viewership perspective.

Reflecting on how valuable he thought the experience was for all of those panelists, Williams concluded, we need to do more of these where there is a cross-pollination of knowledge between sports so one sport can help another sports athletes recalibrate and maneuver to achieve select financial and cultural goals.

League Fashion Kelly Oubre Jr., Devin Booker and P.J. Tucker discuss the world of NBA fashion, from what goes into creating a "league fit" to the economics of the business and how the fashion and sports industries look to one another for inspiration.

Williams talked about how players are much more strategic about their fashion choices than ever before, using their social media channels as guides. They determine what will be successful based on the social impressions they generate. They realize they are walking billboards for brands.

And not just strategic about what they where, but when they wear it. Williams mentioned how a player like PJ Tucker of the Houston Rockets may reach out to a designer before a high-profile televised game on TNT or ESPN in order to drop a new attire. PJ Tucker has a relationship with every designer possible. He was naming brands I had never heard of before. I had to take notes on what fashion-forward brands were.

And then, there is Kelly Oubre Jr. Oubre took things to a different level, Williams said. He pays attention to womens brands, going to womens shows to learn new stylistic approaches to fashion.

NBA Past, Present and Future From the days of the "Bad Boys" Pistons to the rise of player empowerment, the business of the NBA has grown into a cultural phenomenon. Isiah Thomas, Karl-Anthony Towns and Durant discuss the evolution of the game and address how the league and its players are marketing themselves for the future.

Kleiman reflected that to hear Isiah being so passionate and complementary about the evolution and growth of these star players, their brands, the potential of where it could go, and why it means so much to him (Isiah) because of the challenges and barriers players during Isiahs era faced was quite insightful. Kleiman: To hear Isiah be excited about that, excited about how much farther it could go, and to push Kevin was pretty exciting to hear. And I think Kevin needed to hear that.

Williams was also struck by the gap across generations when it came to capitalizing on personal brands. Isiahs generation of athlete were told that all these ancillary business opportunities were a distraction. Isiah gave the example of the Bad Boys, the moniker given to his championship-winning Detroit Pistons teams of the late 1980s. Williams recalled, They all enjoyed the name, but his dentist was actually the one who trademarked the name. The players initially didnt think about trademarking the name.

And while players like Kevin Durant have certainly leveraged technology to their advantage, Williams really praised Gen Z players like Karl Anthony Towns. Hes taken the relationship with social media to a completely different level. He grew up in technology. He grew up with having a social media account via Twitter...though Twitter is almost dated to a certain degree with the explosion of Instagram and TikTok.

Synopses of the other two episodes are below:

Evolution of the Wide Receiver Is wide receiver bravado good for business? Cris Carter, Victor Cruz and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson embark on a wide-ranging discussion about the evolution of the NFL and its marketing, through the eyes of those who play the game's most provocative position.

Rap or Go to The League 2 Chainz, Victor Oladipo, Rapsody and Steve Stoute break down stereotypes of options for rising to success from minority communities, and discuss what it took for them to "make it, how they've empowered those around them, and the parallels between sports and music industries.

Season 2 of The Boardroom can be found on ESPN+.

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The Boardroom Season 2 Offers A Good Look At Sports Intersection With Business And Culture During Hiatus - Forbes