A mere decade ago, sports were entertainment; thrilling events we used to watch on our televisions. Today, sports are something we live inside of, evolving from content to an infrastructure. Michael Kassan, founder and CEO, 3C Ventures, and Casey Wasserman, chairman and CEO, and president and chairperson, Wasserman and LA28, discussed how the business of sport is changing at “Redefining the Business of Sport,” part of the Great Minds track at CES.
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For decades, sports were something watched that evoked emotions from fanatical communities. That has all changed. As Wasserman said, sports are predictable and unique in a time where nothing is. People are going to watch.
“What we have lost in the world is common culture,” Wasserman said. He recollected how families and people used to sit around watching television shows like I Love Lucy, MASH, and Friends as a cultural phenomenon that everyone could talk about the next day. That is gone, but sports watching is not… and it is growing at an incremental rate. Per Wasserman, 97 of the 100 most viewed shows in 2025 were sports. Eighty-six of those 97 were NFL games. While winning still matters, Kassan said, it’s no longer enough.
Wasserman pointed to the NFL, a league that can sit back without a need to innovate because it commands money from a dedicated fanbase; however, the NFL continues to shine the light on what sports as a business, can do. It was the first league that let fans stream every game. And that gives people the ability to watch how they want, when they want. Wasserman pointed to his child, who will sit in a room and, despite there being a massive television screen right there, prefers to watch on the phone. Sports leagues are embracing this, and in a few short years, the leagues themselves could very well be their own streamers.
Stadiums are embracing this as well. Las Vegas, home to CES, has undergone a sports renaissance in recent years with a hockey team, WNBA franchise, and the Oakland Raiders’ move to the city. Now, baseball is on the horizon, with an entire mini city encompassing it. Stadiums and sports have become community assets; someone is going to be a fan.
Naturally, the subject of AI came up, and Wasserman explained that the tool can generate content and manage presence but worries that could take away from authenticity. What AI needs to do for talent is accelerate the ability to communicate and engage, and then monetize it. That is what agencies do now. Help athletes monetize opportunities outside of their contracts, because the opportunities, especially with the advent of social media, are larger than ever before.
Wasserman concluded discussing his latest project, LA28. The Olympics are going to redefine sports as the largest peacetime gathering in the history of the world. They expect to sell 15 million tickets for 30 days, the equivalent of five Los Angeles Dodgers seasons. The scale will be on a level never seen before, but if they succeed, the business of sports will be forever redefined.
