Revenue Above Replacement

Brian Kopp

Brian Kopp is the founder of Stretch 4 Advisory and provides strategic business services to a variety of sports technology, data and analytics companies. Brian is also partner at Ryan Sports Ventures. Prior to Ryan Sports Ventures, Brian served as Senior Vice President of Sports Solutions for STATS LLC. At STATS, Brian was responsible for the revolutionary SportVU player tracking technology as well as building innovative analytics solutions for NBA, NFL and NCAA teams. As a result of his work with innovative sports technology, Brian was named to the 2016 SBJ Forty Under 40 class as well as a 2013 Idea Innovator by Sports Business Journal. Prior to his career in sports business, Brian worked in investment banking and private equity before transitioning into a variety of corporate strategy and M&A roles. Brian received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his BA in Economics from Wabash College.

Tony Ponturo

Tony Ponturo is the CEO of Ponturo Management Group where he consults in marketing for business and new sports ventures. He is a regular guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight, Fox Business, Bloomberg News, CNBC, and other media outlets.
Tony is also a Managing Partner in the Kirmser Ponturo Group, a company that produces and promotes projects at the crossroads of sports and entertainment.
Tony spent 26 years at Anheuser-Busch serving as Vice-President of Global Media Sports and Entertainment Marketing for 17 of those years. He also served on the Anheuser-Busch Strategy Committee representing the top 15 executives of the company.
Tony was recently named Director of Industry Relations for the NYU Tisch Sports Institute for Sports Management, Media and Business. He is also an NYU Adjunct Professor.
Ponturo serves on the Villanova University Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Bryan Blair

Bryan Blair is the the 14th athletic director in the history of the University of Toledo, is the first African-American to hold the post. When he arrived at Toledo in 2022, he was just 37 years old, the youngest FBS athletic director in the nation at the time. He joined the Rockets after serving as the deputy athletic director and chief operating officer at Washington State University from 2018-22.
Prior to his term at WSU, Bryan was the senior associate athletic director at Rice University from 2014-18, which was his second stint at that school.
He also served at Rice for the first time as a compliance coordinator from 2011-12. While serving as senior associate AD at Rice, he served as a member of the athletics department’s senior leadership team, while overseeing sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, compliance, and seven of the department’s 16 NCAA Division I sports programs.
Bryan holds a law degree from the University of South Carolina and earned his undergraduate degree in history at Wofford College.
Bryan played four seasons as a nose tackle for the Wofford football team from 2003-06. He was a team captain as a senior in 2006 and was named the team’s Defensive Lineman of the Year.

Tyler Webb

Tyler Webb is the co-founder of Uncle Charlie Marketing company where he leads the creative side of the operation. Uncle Charlie focuses on go to market strategy for clients and the implementation of that go to market strategy.
Tyler got his first experience with organic social media while in high school where he built a Twitter theme page that reached over 150,000 followers by the time he graduated from high school.
Prior to starting Uncle Charlie Tyler had roles with Prep network, SocialWorks Digital, and The Backpocket podcast along with extensive freelance work.
Tyler is a natural born creator and outside of his work with Uncle Charlie has amassed his own enormous social media following by creating content around the intersection of sports, business, culture, and society.

Greg Thompson

Greg Thompson s the Global Technology Business Leader for Amazon Web Services with a focus on the sports business space.
In that leadership role with AWS Greg has strategically develop new business with, and solutions for, customers in the sports industries utilizing the AWS cloud. He leads business strategy and performance to quickly innovate at scale.
Prior to his current role Greg was the AWS IoT Worldwide Business Development leader for the Power & Utilities industry vertical.
In that role he was responsible for developing the global AWS IoT strategy for the Power & Utilities industry segment and executing on the vision with global sales teams and partners.
Greg has over 20 years of experience developing and leading SaaS, IoT, and enterprise solutions for utilities, datacenters, smart buildings, automotive, and now the sports industry.

Michael Neuman

Michael Neuman is the co-head Playfly Sports Consulting - a sports media, marketing and technology business centered around the team, league, brand, and network.
Before this newest venture Michael was the Managing Partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment, a Division of Horizon Media.
Prior to joining Horizon, he was co-founder and president of Amplify Sports and Entertainment, a marketing consulting agency created to help brands harness the power of strategic sponsorship and maximize the impact of athlete and celebrity driven campaigns.
Prior to launching Amplify, Michael was Senior Vice President, Group Account Director with STRATEGIC, where he provided strategic consulting services for sports and entertainment partnerships.
Michael previously held senior positions with Paragon Marketing Group, Arnold Communications, and Global Television Sports.
Michael has contributed to publications including Adweek, Brandweek, Sports Business Journal, and The Sports Business Daily, and his work has been recognized by major awards programs, including the PROMO 100, PROMO Top Shops, the Bill Veeck Sports Sponsorship Awards, and the Big Apple PR Awards.
Michael is adjunct professor at Columbia University where he leads courses in sports sponsorship and sales. He was previously an adjunct professor of sports marketing and corporate sponsorship in the undergraduate sports management program at the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University.

Kate Popovec-Goss

Kate Popovec is the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Bradley University, a role she starting in 2022.
Kate began her collegiate coaching career as Director of Women's Basketball Operations at La Salle University for the 2013-14 season. She returned to Northwestern the following season for a 2-year stint as Director of Player Development for the Wildcats.
Northwestern received an at-large selection to the 2015 NCAA Tournament, its first appearance in the Big Dance since 1997. Kate earned her first on-court coaching position at Colgate for the 2016-17 season, before joining the Northwestern bench in 2017.
As a Northwestern student-athlete, Kate earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in each of her two seasons with the Wildcats after starting her career at Pittsburg.
She was chosen as Northwestern's female recipient of the 2013 Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award and she was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar following the 2012-13 season.
Kate is a native of Canfield, Ohio, and she earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern.

Matt Repchak

Matt Repchak is the Chief Marketing Officer of Florida Citrus Sports. Matt joined Florida Citrus Sports in 2005 and is now in his 18th season.
Matt previously served as Senior Director of Marketing & Communications, a role he began in 2013. In his role Matt leads the Integrated Marketing & communications department, including the nonprofit’s public relations, advertising, creative production, digital and social media.
Matt is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and he began his career with Florida Citrus Sports as a seasonal Communications Assistant and advanced through the organization with various roles in the Communications and Marketing departments before stepping into a leadership position at their intersection.

Jacob Pavilack

Jacob Pavilack is the Associate Director of Athletic Communications at Northwestern University. The West Virginia native is the communications contact for Men’s Basketball and Women's Lacrosse at Northwestern, working with both programs during historic seasons in 2023.
He was previously the Assistant Athletic Communications Director at the University of Arkansas, where he worked with Razorback Football and Softball.
Jacob has also stepped into the booth for SEC Network+ and the Kent State Sports Network, broadcasting the Golden Flashes as one of the youngest full-time network announcers in the country.
Jacob is a two-time graduate of Kent State University with a bachelor of science in aviation management (2017) and a master of arts in sport and recreation management (2019).

Excel Sports Management

This week we take a break from the great guests with a conversation between Adam and Brice. The two discuss current events in the sports landscape along with some of the great work that Adam and team have been doing at Excel Sports Management.