Hello Niners’ fans! We are in the dog days of summer, patiently – or impatiently – awaiting training camp and the start of the 2015 NFL season. So, this week, 49ersfangirl is going to feature a very cool woman in sports. Kathryn Schloessman is the President of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission (LASEC) and has been for the last 17 years, bringing events such as the Grammys and the NBA All-Star game to Los Angeles. It looks as if LA is this close to getting at least one NFL franchise, so I talked with Schloessman about that, the business of sports, and, well, a lot of other cool things. Enjoy!!
So, how did Schloessman first become a sports fan?
“I grew up watching football. My mother and my father went to USC – Go Trojans! So I grew up on USC football in the days when Pat Haden, JK McKay, and Anthony Davis played together. And the great USC/Notre Dame games. So that’s how I became interested in football…I’m a really passionate football fan. I didn’t really get more interested in other sports until I got this job.”
And what made her decide to take that love and turn it into her career?
“I was in commercial real estate. I was running the downtown LA office for CB Richard Ellis, which is the largest commercial real estate company in the country, and one of our clients, Ed Roski was partnered with Phil Anschutz. They had bought the Kings and were trying to build an arena, which now is STAPLES Center. And they needed some help with the business community to get public support to build an arena downtown. And so, since I was in the real estate business and I saw the value of having an arena and having a rebuild down around STAPLES Center and what it would do to the downtown real estate market, I became an advocate and got interested and involved in what they were doing and through that became interested in sports. But it really started as a business opportunity and why it was good for downtown LA to have an arena to revitalize it.”
We can all agree that sports has changed a lot over the last few decades. How has Schloessman seen sports in Los Angeles change?
“I don’t know if it’s because as you get older and you’re a businessperson your perspective changes…but I feel like sports has really evolved into a business. I mean, it really is about money and revenue sources and how are we going to get more fans so we can have higher sponsorship dollars. It’s a big business now…”
And how about the fans?
“It’s funny, I don’t know if they have changed or we just see more of everybody now through social media…I’m sure a lot of the things we see on social media now were happening before, we just never knew about it. The thing I’m most disappointed about is seeing the activity of some of the fans and how destructive they are… I think a lot of the teams are working really, really hard to change that, but it’s been a problem and it’s a concern. But the fans’ action of not just being a fan and having fun but taking it to a different level – and maybe you have that in everything now – that’s a little disappointing.”
Sports has become much more of both a woman and a man’s world. That being said, I was curious to know if Schloessman has experienced any hurdles as a woman in sports.
“I’ve been very lucky, maybe it was the timing. When I was in commercial real estate, which was my first career, seven or eight percent of the real estate brokers were women so I was a minority in that field. But I actually saw it as an advantage…because there were so few of us that people remembered you. So if you do a good job, you stand out more; conversely, if you don’t, you stand out more. So you’re more visible; so there’s a little more risk but there’s also reward. I chose to look at it as a great opportunity. I think I got some additional opportunities sooner because I was female because they were looking for diversity.”
“In sports today, I don’t see it (bias). I think people that are looking for it will find it. It’s relationships and how you view the world, and I don’t see it as a problem; especially living in Los Angeles where this market is so progressive…It’s a great market. It doesn’t matter where you came from, what color you are, what religion you are, what sex you are, it just really matters that you know what you’re doing and that you have good ideas. I think San Francisco is also very progressive.”
I have read about an awesome event in Los Angeles called NFL All-Access. What exactly does it entail?
“The first year we started it, we did it at a ballroom at Hollywood and Highland, because it was political at the time about where the stadium was going to go and I didn’t want to do something at a place that might show preference to one stadium versus another. One of our original speakers was Bill Walsh…Ronnie Lott spoke twice for us. In subsequent years, Jed York came down and spoke at our event and we had Steve Mariucci. We’ve had 49er royalty.”
“The concept was the first half of the event was experiential – doing activities on the field. After five years, we moved the event to the Coliseum and then we moved it to the Rose Bowl. We had activities on the field where you could do 40-yard dash, accuracy throwing, distance throwing, and get some coaching at these stations. The equipment manager for the Green Bay Packers, Red Batty, flew out and did a presentation in the locker room every year we hosted the event. He had every team’s equipment – the whole uniform, the helmet, the cleats, and you could go to your team locker, put on the uniform, and take pictures. And he explained how they chose different equipment for different players and everything like that. We did experiential activities on the field and then we would do a panel discussion while people were eating dinner. It is a pretty cool event. We took a break from it last year and we’ll probably do it again next year once the stadium situation gets ironed out here in LA.”
And speaking of football teams in Los Angeles, I asked Schloessman if she’s excited at the prospect of a team or teams coming to LA.
“The thing that will be the nicest is when people can quit talking about it and actually see something happen, and have the ongoing drama over. I’ve been in this job for 17 years. We have been without a football team for 20, so…it would be nice to have that finally happen. There are still a lot of hurdles though.”
In her 17 years at the helm of the LASEC, Schloessman has brought a number of high profile, successful events to Los Angeles. What does she see as her biggest successes?
“We have been very lucky in getting almost every event that we wanted to host here. We’ve hosted two NBA All-Star Games during my tenure, four BCS National Championship Games. We’ve had some major, major stuff. We brought back the NCAA Men’s Regional – the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 – which we hosted in 2013 and 2015. We have the Grammy’s here. We also do a lot of entertainment events but I’d say on the sports side, those are the highlights. “
And what does she still want to accomplish?
“One is to get a major golf event and it looks like we’re going to get a major golf tournament here with the U.S. Open in 2023. I’d like to work on a Super Bowl bid, which we’ll be able to do once we have a stadium. We are hoping to host a third NBA All-Star event here, because that’s probably one of the most exciting events I worked on…Just continuing to get these big events because they’re good for the city and a lot of fun to work on.”
This month, the Special Olympics World Games are going to be held all over Los Angeles, with all events but the Opening Ceremonies free to the public. It sounds like an awesome event and Schloessman is particularly excited about it.
“I don’t think people realize how big it is. It’s as big as the ‘Olympics in ’84 in terms of the number of athletes. We’re very excited about that. We have 7,000 athletes coming, 30,000 volunteers. It’s going to take place over nine days in Los Angeles. It’s going to generate about $400 million in economic impact for the city which is huge…The best thing about it, it’s just such a great event…It’s not like…at a football game where you love your team and you hate everybody else. That is what is so refreshing. Everybody roots for everybody and it’s such a feel good event…It goes back to the old days of sports…It’s such a great accomplishment, what these athletes are doing and how hard they work. It just makes you feel good to be there.”
“The Opening Ceremonies take place at the Coliseum on July 25. They’ve got musical talent, Stevie Wonder, Avril Lavigne. That’s very exciting. This is a big event for the city, but more importantly, a big feel good event. ESPN’s televising it every day… People can go to anything, and it would be great if they could go out there and support the athletes. And it’s all over the city. It’s all the way down in Long Beach, it’s at the Convention Center, it’s at USC, UCLA. At USC and UCLA, they’re hosting festivals, so they’ve got music and art festivals going on. It’s not just about going to the event; it’s a whole daylong experience, and everything is free. All the events are free.”
It was really fun talking to Kathryn and getting insight into sports outside the 49ers. But she left me with the below tidbit about our owner Jed York that I found both interesting and encouraging.
“I love Jed York. He’s got a lot of great ideas. I think he’s going to do great things. I know everybody’s a little skeptical right now because of all the off-season stuff that’s happened to your team, but I think he knows what he’s doing and he’s picked good people to surround himself with.”
Well there you go Niners’ fans! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Go Niners!