Maryland Business

By: Liz Farmer

The 15th annual National Sports Forum wrapped up in Baltimore yesterday, and boy did they have an all star cast this year.

Here are just a few of the speakers and panelists that have been imparting their wisdom upon the sports business world: Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, Oriole Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld and Orioles President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail.

Topics covered include social media, the economy, best practices and the blend of sports and entertainment. The Baltimore Ravens, Orioles and concessionaire Aramark are hosting the event.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t read anything about what the speakers said — sorry, folks. The sessions and panels are all off the record so that the panelists can speak freely.

I attended Tuesday’s super panel, “Leadership in the Economy” featuring Plank, Feld, Leonsis, Ripken and moderated by local lawyer and sports agent Ron Shapiro. The room was packed and the audience of about 500 people were hanging on the panelists’ every word.

But here’s something else I noticed — most of the attendees were men. As were most of the speakers. Chris Plonsky, women’s athletic director at the University of Texas at Austin, was a featured panelist this week, as was sports marketing consultant Dockery Clark. But the women participants were few and far between.

I’m not knocking the sports forum organizers — they worked with what they’ve got and who’s available. But looking across the sea of attendees and seeing so many suits and ties made me think that ratio isn’t changing any time soon.

Does anyone care about this? Should this be changed…and how do you do that? What is it about sports that makes it so lopsided toward men? When I think about my girlfriends, I can only think of one or two who will genuinely talk sports with me — most of the people I talk sports with are my guy friends.

So does that mean sports business forever destined to be a man’s profession?