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By: Brandon Wimbush, Co-Founder and Chief Athletic Officer.

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The ESPN Black Sports Business Symposium was a very long-awaited program that we needed - specifically for black people in the sports business. The various goals and pillars of BSBS are to accelerate access, drive opportunity, cultivate community, inspire innovation, and celebrate excellence.

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These are the same goals and missions that we aim to achieve at MOGL for all of the athletes, brands, and universities that decide to become a part of the MOGL family. Name, Image, and LIkeness (NIL) for college athletes is a new land of opportunity that wasn’t accessible before the long awaited decision that came on July 1st, 2021. In addition to sourcing various monetization opportunities, the MOGL platform enables all college athletes to gain and work on a variety of professional skills. These skills are exercised from the opportunities the athletes now have to connect with brands and fans for marketing deals. These skills include consistent and effective communication, the ability to meet deadlines, hard work and many more intangibles. All qualities that we as black athletes grow to possess on the field and court, but sometimes lack off due to less exposure to professional opportunities.

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At MOGL and as a former athlete, I truly believe we've successfully positioned ourselves as the most athlete-friendly marketplace for college athletes. This is due to a number of reasons, but most notably because 80% of the MOGL internal team are former college athletes. We’ve lived it. We understand it. And so, we've built a sustainable business model that benefits the athlete, and we love highlighting athletes who are succeeding on MOGL and in their communities.

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MOGLs continued presence at the 2023 BSBS is important to us. I get to hear and listen to some of the most prominent black figures in sports business and take the feedback to implement necessary changes that will bring about change and equality - not just for race but for gender too. Over 60% of men and women competing in NCAA Football and Men & Women's basketball are people of color. This group also has the highest earners within the first 2 years of NIL. It’s important to us that we are deploying sufficient resources for all of our athletes to succeed - regardless of sport, school, or division.

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Last year's program was a massive success not only for MOGL but for all other attendees. Why? Because it was the first time a recognizable entity (ESPN and the Atlanta Falcon's Owner, Arthur Blank) backed an initiative to bring together black people in sports business. There were an incredible amount of new initiatives and learning opportunities, and for us personally, the timing could not have been better to gain access to this education. Some examples that stood out were:

• The shift in the culture of HBCU's and how Coach Deion Sanders was impacting the landscape from his role at Jackson State
• The increase in sponsorship revenue & equity for women's sports as a whole
• The long awaited legislative amendment allowing college athletes to monetize their NIL

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While this year my attendance was solely as a listener, I am energized by my learnings and I can’t wait to put them to practice. Here’s my recap:

A Day at the Black Sports Business Symposium

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