Every year in mid-November, the American Bar Association
hosts an event tied into a Washington Capitals game. Every year it is held at
the Verizon Center in a theatre located on the top floor. A panel of sports
agents, operations personnel, and player personnel from a variety of sports,
speak about the benefits of having a law degree in the sports industry.
The price for a ticket is $35, which includes listening to
the speaking panel, a brief, meet & greet afterwards, and an upper-bowl
ticket to the Washington Capitals hockey game.
The event ran from 6:00pm to the end of the Capitals game. I
arrived in the main entrance of the Verizon Center and was directed to take the
elevator to the top floor. Signage was present to direct us to the theatre as
it is tucked away out of plain view. Once I reached the top floor, an usher who
immediately after checked my ticket, gave me a nametag, and walked me to my
seat in the theatre greeted me. There was no catering of F&B unfortunately
which I found odd based on the prominence of both organizations involved with
the event and the fact that season seat-holders were invited to attend the
session.
Soon after I was seated the members of the panel came in and
loaded power points and organized handouts they had prepared for the event.
Once Don Fishman, the Assistant General Manager of the Washington Capitals
arrived, the event started. Each person at the front of the stage introduced
themselves and their role and responsibilities for their respective
organizations. The moderator then asked questions that were actually quite
challenging to answer it seemed. However each panellist did a great job
offering their perspective and their mentality based on whichever sport they
worked in.
Once the panel session concluded, we were invited to come to
the front and meet with whomever we desired. I spoke to Jonathan Quick’s player
agent about the drafting process in the NHL respective to other leagues in the
world. This topic was key as his firm represents a lot of players on teams in
Europe.
Overall, the event was insightful but could be tinkered with
to make slight improvements in order to be that much more successful.
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