With the nicest baseball park in the country, the most Super Bowl wins in the NFL and two of the best players in the NHL, Pittsburgh is definitely a sports city.
That’s why it will be the host of the North American Society of Sports Management (NASSM) Conference - the largest sports business gathering in the world.
Duquesne University organized the conference that aims to show how important business is to sports.
“It’s the sharing of ideas about the business of sports on the professional level, collegiate level,” Steven Greenberg, Chair of Sports Marketing at Duquesne University, said. “Different organizations and practitioners and academics and students all participate.”
About 600 people are expected to attend - the most in the conference’s 29-year history - from all over the United States and 15 countries around the world.
They will have the opportunity to hear Steelers President Art Rooney II, former Steelers Quarterback Charlie Batch, sports historian and author Rob Ruck and Cleveland Cavaliers Chief Executive Officer Len Komoroski.
“We wanted someone who could really welcome them and talk to them a little bit about the city and the county and what we are trying to do here and how sports is such an integral part of the fabric of our community,” Greenberg said.
Attendees will visit all three major sports venues: Heinz Field, CONSOL Energy Center and PNC Park.
“This is seeing the facilities and how facilities generate revenues and the expenses and everything, marketing, so it’s really about the business side of sports,” Greenberg said. “And that’s why we want them to have accessibility to all the facilities and the executives around town.”
Greenberg said he believes the conference has the highest attendance in history because it is in Pittsburgh.
“It is certainly a hub, you know with all our professional teams here and our college teams and amateur sports, so people are very excited, they want to see the facilities at PNC Park, and Heinz Field and CONSOL, and they want to see the city of Pittsburgh,” Greenberg said.
The conference is May 27th to the 31st.
