“Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.”
— Jim Rohn

We have officially moved out of Detroit — A few weeks away with family before my lease, and my new chapter, in Miami starts. Packing is no doubt a pain in the ass — but coming across the keepsakes that make you hold onto them just a few seconds longer has been a nice way to reach into the memory bank these last few days.

With that, I’ve done a ton of rereading highlights that I’ve made in previously finished books. Really fun exercise to see what resonated with me at the time and remembering where I was in life in general.

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a book I’m sure most of you have at least heard of — it’s a very popular “get off the mat” book that has reached tens of millions of people at this point.

The first chapter is all about compounding small habits to make significant changes over time — with the British Cycling team as the message’s focal point. Now I have to be honest… there is clearly some smoke surrounding this team — allegations over the years that insinuate performance enhancement.

This is not some big secret — Clear even added a footnote to Atomic Habits right before print, and has since done a decent amount of back tracking to at least acknowledge some of the grey areas with this team.

So here I am doing the same — and one-off moments notwithstanding… I still find this to be a great message.

Subscribe now

British Cycling Team

The turnaround started in 2003 when British Cycling hired Dave Brailsford as its new performance director. At the time, British riders had one gold medal and zero Tour de France wins in their nearly 100-year history.

Brailsford was notorious for his strategy of “aggregation of marginal gains” — or in his words:

“The idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”
— Dave Brailsford

And so, the small adjustments followed. First in ways you would probably expect from a professional cycling team:

• Redesigned the bike seats to make them more comfortable

• Put rubbing alcohol on the tires for a better grip

• Asked riders to wear electrically heated overshorts to maintain ideal muscle temperature while riding

• Tested various fabrics in a wind tunnel and had their outdoor riders switch to indoor racing suits, providing a lighter and more aerodynamic suit

But also in other unforeseen ways:

• Tested various massage gels to see which one led to faster muscle recovery

• Hired a surgeon to teach riders how to wash their hands to best reduce the chances of catching a cold

• Recommended pillows and mattresses that led to the best night’s sleep for each rider

• Painted the team truck white to better identify dust that could otherwise hurt the performance of the bikes inside

The cliché of “getting 1% better every day” hits you on the head here — but seeing the math visualized makes it land differently.

via jamesclear.com

This chart brings up the larger point that it’s no singular decision or moment that changes things one way or another, but rather the accumulation of moments. There are a fair number of people that fall into these two buckets:

• Extremely ambitious but wind up biting off more than they can chew with goals and markers, leading to burn out in their effort to reach this bar (aka perfectionists)

• Have jolts of ambition, but as other interests or goals arise, others go by the wayside (aka me)

Let’s use the example of trying to get in better shape. Is it the end of the world if you miss a workout day? No, not at all. What about if you miss 4 weeks straight? That is probably a situation where the bell curve starts to go against you.

Conversely, if you are hoping for immediate results after a few good days in the gym, you are going to disappoint yourself and lose steam in your journey far too early. To me, a big part of this is ensuring you are setting manageable goals to start. It’s great to be ambitious, but I’ve found that scratching and clawing to meet ambitious goals can feel a bit defensive.

By setting more manageable goals, you flip the script and put yourself on the attack — allowing yourself to progress without it draining the energy out of you in the process.

I have a ton of ideas and thoughts on where to take my writing, but for now my goal is simple: write every Wednesday for an entire year. There are weeks where I do more, but I know at the very least I have to get that done. Some article ideas marinate for weeks; some are thrown together 24 hours before.

Either way, I’m proud of everything I put out into the world and am over halfway home on my initial goal of writing a real piece every single week — to go along with working full-time in the NBA and all of the other interests that I try to balance simultaneously.

Having a more global scope to your improvements and progress is critical to avoiding burnout, and ensuring that you have the same drive towards a task as you did on day 1.

What are you trying to get 1% better at over time? I would love to hear any tips or tricks that you follow to keep yourself moving in the right direction.

You don’t need to be perfect — you just need discipline, preparation, and the wherewithal to not let a bad day become a bad month. That’s how you cross the finish line.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

You can check out the full interview below!

If you haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel yet — now's a great time. It's free and it helps us bring more conversations like this one. My hope is to sprinkle these interviews throughout the year with other pro sports and sports media figures — so please let me know if anyone is interested in hopping on! I love doing these and learning from people like Corey and Nathan.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

The life monitor is blinking for most college athletic departments in this NIL / revenue sharing era, and thinking outside the box is an understatement for how schools are trying to stay afloat.

In the spring, I wrote about athletic departments that have shifted from traditional nonprofit entities into separate for-profit ones. Around the same time, the NCAA approved uniform patches that can be worn university (and in some cases conference) wide:

“Beginning Aug. 1, Division I teams can place up to two patches of no more than 4 square inches on uniforms for regular-season games. Those are in addition to the logos already allowed for the uniform manufacturers.”
— ESPN (NCAA approves uniform patches, opening up new revenue streams)

Subscribe now

Athletes walking around as human billboards is old news in pro sports, but as colleges continue their uphill climb to operate similarly, this is clearly the next lever for universities to pull.

The brands you’d expect were part of this first wave: financial services, technology, and in general commonly known brands in the area / around the country. The saying “rising tides lifts all boats” is a pretty good illustration for how one deal sets the floor for the others.

The Big 12 conference made headlines in July by finalizing a $20M deal with Monster Energy to make the company the “entitlement partner” for football and men’s and women’s basketball.

“The agreement centers on two marquee assets: a co-branded Big 12/Monster jersey patch that teams will wear in football and men’s and women’s basketball, and co-branded field and court logos that will appear on playing surfaces.”
— Sports Business Journal (Big 12 strikes landmark Monster deal featuring jersey patches, field logos)

Do the simple math, and that’s roughly $1M that will go to each Big 12 school from this deal. While this deal does not preclude individual schools from selling their own patch — that number looks a lot different after seeing what individual schools were able to command on their own.

A few weeks later, my Ohio State Buckeyes announced a corporate partnership with JPMorganChase that includes jersey patches for all 36 OSU teams — and a cool $17M per year (!). When announced, it was believed to be the biggest non-apparel corporate deal in college sports history.

And that honor lasted a whopping 4 hours — as Notre Dame announced shortly after a 6-year deal with SoFi Technologies to put their company logo on every Fighting Irish’s jersey for $18-20M per year.

I love college sports — there’s even pettiness in the jersey patch announcement!

But this is the part that genuinely excites me most about where this is headed.

Patch deals don’t necessarily need to be with billion-dollar companies — they can involve people whose only currency is an audience.

Robert Morris Men’s Basketball x All Hail Cullen

All Hail Cullen is a basketball YouTube channel that has built a following of over 370,000 subscribers by embedding with programs and producing documentary style content.

What makes this deal different from everything above is that it’s less of a traditional paid sponsorship and more of a media partnership. Robert Morris isn’t writing a check — they’re trading access for audience. Cullen gets behind the scenes content that will naturally elevate both his production quality and his following. Robert Morris gets 370,000 eyeballs that their athletic department could never reach on its own.

In today’s digital era, attention can be monetized in ways that were incomprehensible 10 years ago. A local bank on your chest might generate immediate cash. An embedded creator with a loyal / growing audience generates something harder to quantify but ultimately more valuable — cultural relevance and sustained visibility.

I’ll go on record: in the long run this deal will pay off more for Robert Morris than any traditional corporate patch deal they could have signed.

Sam Houston State Football x Snapback Sports

Snapback Sports has done for college football what All Hail Cullen is doing for college basketball.

Snapback Sports founder Jack Settleman made waves in January when he announced on social media that he was looking to “spend $100,000 on a college football jersey patch.” Whether that number is exact or not, the intention was clear — and Sam Houston State answered the call with a one-year football-only jersey patch partnership:

“As part of its tie-up, Snapback will produce at least 50 pieces of content on behalf of Sam Houston across its social channels, including a ‘Snapback Saturdays’ episode that will highlight the campus and its surrounding town, Huntsville, Texas. The company is also standing up a Sam Houston–Snapback message board, where fans can chat throughout the season. Perhaps most notable, though, is the level of access Sam Houston is giving Snapback for content creation purposes; select Snapback talent will travel with the team — on its plane, at its hotel, on its bus, and in its locker room — to a to-be-determined away game, documenting the entire experience.”
— Front Office Sports (Snapback Sports Gets Jersey Patch Deal With Sam Houston State, With Perks)

The blueprint is nearly identical to the Robert Morris deal — access traded for audience, visibility traded for content. The jersey patch isn’t just a sponsorship — it’s a credential.

Of all the shows and programs in my lifetime, College GameDay probably holds the most special place in my heart — I still see that as a mainstay for years to come. That said, the rise of personalities that have a bigger piece of the attention pie without the backing of a major network is staggering.

Bussin’ With The Boys, Josh Pate, Brandon Walker (Barstool) are a few examples of individuals that have built their own following — to the point where they are able to really fight the Goliath media companies for views and attention.

This is also why you see ESPN handing a blank check to someone like Pat McAfee — they can feel their grip loosening on the stranglehold they have on college football fans, and whether they like it or not… leaning into Pat’s personality and on-air presence is more in line with where we are going than where we’ve been in sports media.

It’s an exciting time in this space — individuals who started with just a social page are now cutting deals with universities on a national stage.

And with that — Carloni Studios is open for business lol

See you next week,
Ben

Thank you to ESPN, Sports Business Journal, Front Office Sports, and Joe Pompliano for the reporting that informed this piece.

Subscribe now

Football is Back!

This is always the lull in the sports calendar where I’m itching for any sign that fall sports are around the corner — and episode 1 of Hard Knocks is usually that sign for me.

This year’s season is on the Seattle Seahawks, who won the Super Bowl just six months ago. Normally Hard Knocks features an up-and-coming team — a top draft pick, a new coach, a trendy roster. Getting a look at the defending champs will be a completely different experience.

From afar, I’ve always had an affinity for the Seahawks organization. From their front office to coaching staff, they have been built on longevity and sustained success by doing things the right way. I decided to dive deeper into their head coach, Mike Macdonald, who has had a remarkable rise and was able to win the ultimate prize in just his second year as head coach.

Here’s what I learned:

Subscribe now

Being Psychologically Agile

As a head coach, I can imagine there is mental tug-of-war that takes place knowing when to listen to your players vs. knowing when to lean on your gut. Everything that I’ve gathered from Macdonald — he strikes this balance perfectly. He knows what he wants and makes it very clear, but never to the point where contrarian opinions are dismissed. There is a great clip in Hard Knocks where WR Cooper Kupp essentially uncovered a scheme/idea that was not on Macdonald’s radar.

In interviews / press conferences, Macdonald is very open with his shortcomings as a coach and doesn’t try to pretend that he has it all figured out — allowing players and his staff to really feel ownership in how they plug the holes.

Celebrate The Non-Obvious

Macdonald had a great interview on the Finding Mastery podcast, and he talked about coaching systematically — in other words, connecting the dots between small plays and big plays. This led to a larger point about celebrating the non-obvious moments, whether on the field or in the locker room, that drive winning. He used the example of: a defensive tackle rushing the QB that led to a corner intercepting the pass. It’s easy to celebrate the loud play, but really getting to the crux of how they got to that result in the first place.

This point really resonated with me, because there are individual stats in football (and really any sport) that are thresholds for higher contracts and status amongst their peers/fans. Macdonald’s ability to publicly point out these small moments allows his team to play for a bigger goal and gives individuals peace of mind that their efforts are being noticed.

“Through Not Around”

This is a saying that is mentioned in nearly every interview you listen to with Macdonald. It’s a simple yet effective form of communication that he models in his everyday process. But the next layer of this idea is “having a spirit and tone” behind it that lands with whoever he is conversing with. There is a great example in Hard Knocks where Macdonald is talking to safety Nick Emmanwori who is going through an ankle injury.

What began as straightforward advice on Emmanwori's mindset and recovery quickly became something more personal. Macdonald was able to tie it into his own experiences by physically showing Emmanwori a notecard with a Rex Ryan quote:

It’s clear that Macdonald wanted to get a point across and elicit something out of his star player, but he did it in a way where he showed humility and empathy for what Emmanwori was going through by pulling from his own career struggles.

Student Of The Game

This is probably the least nuanced point, but I included it to unpack Macdonald’s coaching path and give some hope to others reading. This is not a coach with a decorated playing career — in fact… Macdonald jokes that he “retired” from football when he was a junior in high school. Spending your senior year coaching instead of playing is not exactly the glamorous path, but that’s what Macdonald did. It led to being a student assistant / GA at the University of Georgia, which led to an internship with the Baltimore Ravens and climbing the ladder internally from there.

Macdonald gets praised for having a meteoric rise through the NFL ranks, but when you really look at his coaching career starting at 18 years old — it was more of a slow burn and working behind the scenes than he gets credit for. And I write this as motivation for those trying to ascend in sports — read up on Macdonald’s path. He was a true student of the game at every level and treats the Seattle Seahawks with the same passion and curiosity as he did his high school in Boston, MA.

This is the first of what I hope will be many installments across various leaders in sports, entertainment, and society at large. If there are other individuals that you’d like to see a deeper dive on, let me know in the comments!

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

The downtown Detroit skyline began to reveal itself from the foggy haze ahead — I started to get excited. Then I peeked at my dad’s GPS: 40 miles to go.

Where the hell are we going?!

I got to my apartment in Auburn Hills and began a new era as Scouting Coordinator for the Detroit Pistons — making $10 an hour and living in company housing. I could give you the “it felt like heaven” spiel, but it didn’t. I wasn’t totally comfortable yet — I hardly knew anyone on staff, and spent most of my free time contemplating if I made the right decision leaving Atlanta.

8 years later — I can unequivocally say that moving to Detroit was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It changed my life.

Subscribe now

To be clear: I am still working for the Detroit Pistons as a pro scout. But as some of you know, scouts don’t necessarily need to be in-market. In fact, NBA teams have scouts sprinkled all over the world.

As my role changed over the years, it felt like the perfect opportunity personally and professionally to shake things up. While I’m still super eager to continue working for this organization and this group of people, it is no doubt a big life change.

I attribute so much of these relationships to the osmosis of being in the office. The late night whiteboard sessions, hugging each other after a draft pick, and really feeling a part of it together every single day.

I don’t think NBA personnel are proud to say this, but it’s the truth: you spend more time with the people you work with in the NBA than your own family for large portions of the year. It’s what makes these bonds so strong, and the goodbyes so hard.

I will save the REALLY sappy Pistons post for when that day comes, but that day is not happening anytime soon.

There's no doubt this feels like the end of a chapter moving away from a place you’ve called home for eight years of adulthood. In a lot of ways, I feel like I grew up here.

I made best friends, built mentorships with people I dreamed of simply meeting one day, and took on roles / experiences that gave me more than I ever expected from this business. I owe a lot to this city.

As hard as this change is going to be — there are a lot of exciting changes coming my way. For one, Miami is a city that I see myself living in for a long time. The weather, active lifestyle, food scene, and droves of people chasing their own dreams is why I want to be down there.

And like most people, your priorities change the older you get and the more you are exposed to different life experiences. I want to see my family more. I want to be in a college football stadium with my childhood friends every year. And I want to help people in ways outside of the work I do for the NBA.

I can’t wait for this next chapter. Especially since my work with the Pistons will continue. And what a year to scout for this team — we are coming off a 60-win season and the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Everyone in the building is working their ass off to make it an even better season this year.

I never thought I’d live here eight years — and I never thought it would go the way it did. To everyone in Detroit, I’ll see you around — just not as much. Thank you for making this an unforgettable era and I hope to see you before I head out.

If you’re in southern Florida or ever plan to visit in the future — please reach out… I’d love to see you!

See you soon, Miami.

Ben

Subscribe now

In an episode with Andrew Ross Sorkin (New York Times / CNBC), a question was asked:

What are some things that are conventional wisdom that you disagree with?

“People say all the time – you should not take things personally – I think you have to take everything personally. I think the people that I know who are the most successful people in the world take everything personally. And it’s because they care. They care so deeply. And I know that for me, I take it all personally. And it hurts sometimes to take it that personally, but I think that it’s the only way. If you’re not taking it personally, I don’t know what you’re doing”.

Subscribe now

Now — when I first heard this, I couldn’t help but feel as though it was a brash comment to make and didn’t resonate with me all that much. But this concept has come up a few times in my professional life where the more I marinate on it — the more it makes sense.

What Andrew is NOT saying is to be an asshole to everyone that disagrees with you. To me, what he is saying is simply: let the things that don’t go your way — fuel you.

I’ve tried to recite back my feelings after not getting a job I interviewed for, or something in my day-to-day life that I wanted that I didn’t get. And that shit pisses me off — how could it not! And I’ve slipped into bad reactions in the past where I let it deflate me before I let it motivate me.

Seth Rogen — comedian, writer, actor, and someone who has seen the entertainment industry from every angle — puts it about as simply as it gets:

“If you don’t quit, you might make it. And if you quit, you definitely won’t (laughs). Honestly... after all these years, I’ve seen people make it or not make it... the only common denominator is that.”

Not quitting IS taking it personally. If you didn’t care, stopping would be easy.

I always tell people that this business, and really life, is a game of attrition. There’s no guarantee that you will reach the peak of the mountain, but you increase your chances by climbing as high as you can go and letting others bow out in the meantime.

I can’t imagine there are many (if any) stories of athletes, CEOs etc. that had a wire-to-wire success story where every single thing went their way with zero setbacks. Setbacks will happen, and it’s an overused thought of how you respond to them, but maybe taking something personal gives you the work ethic and care that’s required to push through. Maybe you needed this spark to get you on an even straighter path forward.

No one is telling you to burn bridges, in fact no one is telling you to say anything. Someone didn’t hire you? Show them why they messed up in the work. Are you gonna let them win by doubling down on the decision they made? Or will you dust yourself off, and show them it was the biggest mistake they could have made?

And if Seth Rogen and Andrew Ross Sorkin aren’t enough to convince you — Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL commander, boils this entire idea down to one word: Good.

Jocko has become an incredible voice through his writing and speaking engagements following his service — highly recommend if you need a kick in the ass.

A lot of good can come immediately after the lowest points in your personal or professional life. Easier said than done, but if you can rewire your brain to use the letdowns as fuel rather than actual setbacks — you are unstoppable.

The individuals that are steadfast and will die trying after a low point… those are the people I look up to and want to be around.

So… is it okay to take things personally? I would say yes, unequivocally. And in some situations, it may be the only mentality that ultimately gets you where you want to go.

Stay at it — be motivated with the peaks, and even more motivated with the valleys of your journey.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

It’s rare that a movie with sky-high expectations can still manage to outperform, but Christopher Nolan has managed to do so (again) with the release of his new film The Odyssey.

Subscribe now

Despite an incredible catalog of movies to this point, this is in my opinion one of, if not THE greatest accomplishment of Nolan’s career when you consider what it took to make.

For one, Nolan has famously refrained from using CGI or generative AI to assist with his movies. So for a film like The Odyssey, that meant filming in 6 different countries, building ancient artifacts by hand, and recreating scenes in the middle of the ocean.

And in famous Nolan fashion, he was able to masterfully deliver the first movie EVER to be filmed exclusively in IMAX. A camera that must be interchanged every 2-3 minutes, and a device made to suppress the camera noise, Nolan found a way to make it work — and the result is unlike anything you’ve ever seen on screen.

I really have grown to love movies. Maybe not in the sense that I can sit there and enjoy any film from any era, but more so having a deep appreciation for the craft of making movies. And there is no better example than what Nolan did with this movie.

Mind you… this is a director who many argue is already the greatest director of this century. He could have easily cut corners to make the movie for cheaper — to make things easier for him and his cast — but he refused to think that way.

Instead, he continued to push the boundaries of what he is capable of, and in turn what his films are capable of. This mentality is what makes Christopher Nolan the craftsman that he is.

And the craft of the movie resonates with me just as much as the actual content on the screen. I find myself gravitating towards directors like Nolan and looking up to them as mentors — their creativity, their ambition, their calculated risks taken along the way.

One of the many lessons from directing is the work that takes place in the shadows. Everyone would love to be standing in front of film festivals or spending time with their favorite talk show host, but many are not willing to sink their teeth into a project for years, unsure if it even reaches that level of notoriety (and in most cases, it won’t).

The Odyssey is a movie that for Nolan traces back decades from some of his initial ideas — you have to love every detail of the movie-making process if you find yourself tweaking ideas and concepts over the years without those ideas seeing the light of day.

This larger idea can draw parallels to really any other profession — including sports.

Of course, everyone has dreams of calling a draft pick in, or signing off on a blockbuster trade — but are you willing to spend all year working on less glamorous tasks? This mindset separates the good ones from the great ones.

Christopher Nolan's elite standards and work ethic are a masterclass in:

• Taking a massive leap of faith without any roadmap or past precedent

• Having the drive to push yourself to the limit, even when you are at the peak of your profession

• When given a once in a lifetime opportunity, giving it every ounce possible until the job is finished

While there are millions of micro moments in success stories, I have found that several stories hinge on a “tipping point” moment. Sometimes, there is a moment given to you, and how well you handle that moment could write the rest of your story.

There are a lot of you waiting on that moment — and when it does come… you may not have time to get ready for it. Work every day as if you already have the job, or the moment, and then attack it with an energy and effort you didn’t think you were capable of.

Just like Christopher Nolan would do.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

Another NBA summer league is in the books — always a fun few days seeing close friends and eating my body weight in food. This trip is an annual reminder that… working in the NBA is incredible.

Staying in nice hotels, going to top tier restaurants, and running into high caliber people on a daily basis. As great as it is, it can be a trap.

Do you love working in the NBA? Or do you love what COMES with working in the NBA?

Subscribe now

I think there are a lot of individuals who see the glitz and glamor of professional basketball and gravitate towards it, but there’s so much of this job that isn’t glamorous:

-The 10-hour shifts in the gym
-The early mornings and late nights traveling from one city to another
-Working non-stop for most (if not all) of the year

I don’t make this point to throw a pity party for what I do — it’s truly a dream job. But this business has a way of slowly rearranging your priorities over time.

Everyone in this profession has their own prerogative so to each their own… but as I’ve had several conversations this week with prospective NBA employees, it’s a message worth repeating:

You have to be about the work first. Not the glitz and glamour. And if you are scratching and clawing to get into the NBA to make millions and have these exotic experiences, your priorities are not in the right place.

This mentality shows employers that you have a genuine appreciation for the craft and are not worried about what comes from it.

I also think this mentality helps rewire what positions you are open for. I would argue… if you REALLY want to work in basketball, it shouldn’t matter how it looks. I get the “I’ll work for free” or “I’ll move wherever” — the range of positions you’d consider should match these comments.

Obviously, everyone is ambitious and has goals, but what is the difference between working in the G League vs. the NBA if it came down to it? Or being a GA at Ohio State vs. Ohio Wesleyan? It’s all basketball at the end of the day. And with the long game in mind, you might as well start and get the experience vs. waiting for the “perfect situation”.

From the employer side of it, I really find myself gravitating to these types of people. It shows you are authentic and about the right things. And honestly, the most impressive people that I’ve worked with have not dropped off one iota from the day they started from an energy and priorities standpoint.

If you are trying to break into professional basketball, really think critically about why you are so enamored with the job. If it is a pure love for the sport and you don’t care what level it is, that is a great sign that you are pursuing the right thing. And in a way, it alleviates pressure as to what the job looks like. Obviously everyone needs to pay the bills, but if you can make a living with the foundation being basketball, you’re probably most of the way there already.

And if you want the NBA for the lifestyle and the added benefits of wearing the logo, I would strongly encourage you to take that into consideration before pursuing this path.

Great to see everyone and really enjoyed putting a face to a lot of names. It’s a long summer — stay with it.

See you next week,
Ben

Another year of Summer League in Las Vegas — which means another year of the hard-hitting questions amongst my peers:

When did you get out here?
Where are you guys staying?
How long are you here?

In all seriousness, Vegas is always a fun few days to see live basketball again and catch up with some of my favorite people in the business.

I’m writing this for those making the trip that are trying to break into the NBA. These are a few of my thoughts that hopefully can help you best navigate Summer League and make it as worthwhile as possible:

Be Understanding

There are probably several of you reading this that have gotten the “just text me” message in regard to meeting up in person. I promise I’m not trying to be standoffish… as I’m genuinely trying to meet as many of you as I can. That said, this is also a chance for NBA personnel to see old colleagues and in some cases your closest friends in the world. Don't take the vague responses as a bad sign, and I don’t want to speak for everyone — but it’s really in an effort to ensure we have some flexibility to do it all.

Walk the Tightrope

For many of you, you’re spending your own money and stretching yourself thin for a few days — so naturally… there is an eagerness and level of aggression where you want the trip to feel “worth it”. Channeling that aggression, while making sure you are not being “over aggressive” is a balance to really be cognizant of. Obviously you want to meet up with as many people as possible, but the triple reach outs in a row to force your way into a meet up will start to hurt rather than help your relationship.

Stand In Between Thomas & Mack and Cox Pavilion

I am dead serious — this is something that I have found to work for young people to put a face to a name at the very least. A typical day for me in Vegas requires watching 3-5 games going back and forth between the two gyms. And while it is a little difficult to watch during the actual games (more on that below), the few minutes in between can actually be a nice organic touchpoint where you meet in person and it doesn’t pull staff members away from their work.

Find Common Ground

I have had a few people connect me, or in some cases, reconnect me with others that I have spoken to previously. It is a good touch that naturally keeps you top of mind and always attaches you to that mutual connection. And at an event where there are dozens of individuals trying to do the same thing, any little layer that you can add to the connection is helpful to not only create the initial conversation, but give the relationship some legs moving forward.

Be Creative How You Network

Everyone is going to have the same ideas — meet at the gym, reach out on LinkedIn. What can you do to zag? Can you get traction with staff members at team hotels? Are there social gatherings, whether formal or informal, where you can catch people in a more relaxed setting / have a longer window available? I would argue a few conversations with real substance behind them is better than a bunch of fleeting ones.

Don’t Be Upset Leaving Without a Job

I’ve written about this in the past, but if your goal is to job hunt and walk away with a bunch of in person interviews, you will probably be disappointed. I would really try to focus on meeting people and in general experiencing the events. The job is rarely the thing that happens in Vegas — it's the thing that happens because of a conversation you had in Vegas.

Other Do’s and Don’ts

• For the most part, avoid handing out physical documents. If you have something you want to send, via email is perfectly fine. A lot of scouts like myself will be in the gym all day and night, so the odds of those documents making it through the day are slim

• Situations may vary, but watching live games, especially the team they work for, is something I would steer away from. In the end, we have a schedule to follow throughout the week of specific games/players, so even if staff members are cool with it, you are probably not getting the most attentive version of that person. A lot of the time for me… I am half paying attention to both the game and the conversation — it’s just a really tough time personally

• In general, be as accommodating as humanly possible. If you are the one reaching out trying to find time, do as much of the work as possible. You can meet in between games if that’s the best time. You can meet in their hotel lobby if that’s the best place. The more accommodating you are with NBA personnel, the better chance you have of actually meeting up

Happy networking — and please say hi if you see me out in Vegas.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

Hey everyone — quick article this week with free agency in full swing and Summer League coming up. With much-needed down time on the horizon, I am starting to put together my reading list for the next few months — figured this would be a good time to pass along some of my favorites from the past.

Subscribe now

Need Inspiration?

101 true stories of ordinary people doing quietly extraordinary things — proof that the world is kinder than the headlines suggest. A beautifully illustrated reminder that small acts of decency matter more than we think. This is an easy book to pick up anywhere given its short chapters.

BUY HERE

Need a Kick in the Ass?

One of the most brutally honest accounts of what the human mind is capable of when pushed beyond every perceived limit. Goggins argues that most of us are operating at 40% of our potential — and this book is the uncomfortable proof that he's probably right.

BUY HERE

Need a Laugh?

Colin Jost's memoir is exactly what you'd expect from an SNL head writer — self deprecating, genuinely funny, and full of behind the scenes stories you won't find anywhere else. A light and easy summer read that makes you laugh out loud on several occasions.

BUY HERE

Need to Escape?

One of my favorite Sci-fi escapes of recent memory — this book is a collection of eight short stories that combine science fiction and deeply emotional life themes. "Story of Your Life", the most popular story, was adapted into the film Arrival for those of you familiar.

BUY HERE

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

It’s my first undergraduate class at Xavier University. Intro to Sport Management. I chose the major because well… I didn’t know anything else. I grew up in a sports family and can’t recall any stage in my life where I didn’t want to play (and then work) in professional sports.

We started by going around the room with the simple formalities of introducing yourself with your name, hometown, and your dream job in the sports industry.

I was toward the end of the line — so I had time to see how people would answer. Do you shoot for the stars and tell a bunch of strangers a dream job that could elicit a collective eye roll? Do you play it more modestly even if you have bigger aspirations? Do you even have a firm answer to give to these people?

There was still a shred of hope that I could be a walk-on for the Men’s soccer team at Xavier, but those hopes waned as the days went on — I knew I never had a chance to play even if I was lucky enough to eventually make the roster. And why go through all the effort for something so unknown? Soccer was always my best sport, but furthest from my “favorite sport”.

In a perfect world, I am working in basketball — the inverse of how I felt about soccer. Never a sport I did much with on the court — but damn did I love being around it. Growing up watching the glory days of Ohio State basketball and following my favorite NBA players, I was hooked at an early age.

But how on earth am I able to make this happen? I stopped playing at 14 and didn’t know a soul in an ultra-competitive profession. I had read about becoming a student manager, and how student managers have gone on to become assistant coaches and scouts. So maybe I will try to become a student manager and eventually land one of those full-time roles.

Shit — I’m up.

“My name is Ben Carloni, I’m from Columbus, Ohio, and my dream job is to become an NBA Scout”.

The competitor in me always wants to keep growing and pushing myself professionally, but I can’t help but be reflective as I reach this milestone of working my 10^th NBA draft as a front office member.

I am incredibly grateful for the people in my corner — the ones that make my crazy dreams feel less crazy, the mentors that I (unsuccessfully) chase to produce the best version of myself. And hell, even the people who didn’t think I could carve out a career in basketball.

On this long road of life, it is tempting to keep your blinders on and only look forward. That focus can be channeled the right way — but most of the time it becomes an endless trap. Because there is ALWAYS someone in a higher position than you, making more money than you, in a better situation than you.

Are you always going to be upset because there is someone “in front” — or are you able to take a step back and realize how far you’ve travelled on your journey already?

These past few weeks, I have taken my blinders off and looked behind me for the first time in a while. And it feels damn good.

18 year-old-you would be proud. Keep going.

See you next week,
Ben

“I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until, finally, I became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point along the way.” — Cary Grant

Subscribe now

So this is in no way writing as if I have it all figured out — but more so paying it forward as best I can and at the very least sharing what “worked” from my personal experiences. My hope is this is one of several installments in similar subjects for those trying to break in.

Here are some thoughts that come to mind:

Build Depth in Relationships

The beauty of today’s digital reach is: NBA personnel have never been more accessible. In theory, you could reach out to dozens of different staff members every day and begin a relationship with someone with no other barriers of entry other than getting a response back.

But this cuts both ways — the more you’re able to reach out to people, the more inquiries people like myself and others are receiving. And while it is super exciting to get a response from someone, I think you have to look at it as a good start vs. “I am now on their radar”. Because the hiring process for ANY NBA position is rigorous — so there is truthfully no possible way to get on a teams radar from a couple exchanges. Examples of building depth in my NBA pursuit:

Xavier — as a student manager, we were very much “on” during the actual basketball season, but the off-season was also an opportunity to seek other experiences. You could work at other schools, intern with other companies, and in general work to expand your network of people. For better or worse, I tried to spend every second of off time continuing to plant seeds at Xavier. Working summer camps, assisting with recruiting visits, and everything in between. There is no way to prove it, but I really felt as though everyone at Xavier went to bat for me ever so slightly more than maybe they would on paper. And as it turned out, I had better luck with fewer references on my behalf, with the caveat that these references had significantly more depth to them.

Atlanta Hawks — I was introduced to my future bosses with the Hawks sometime around winter break of my senior year. From there, it was 6 months, several different staff members, and over a dozen touch points (virtual and in person) between the first conversation and the moment I knew I was being offered a job. To this day, I still joke with these guys that they were one conversation away from fully breaking me! And another important point… besides the initial conversation where I expressed my interest in working in the NBA someday, it was assumed instead of mentioned going forward. It’s not like every time we connected I was asking “so… are you guys hiring”? I had no idea that they were ever going to hire someone in the moment — I got lucky from that standpoint. I truly took it as: these people are willing to talk to me, and I wanted to build a relationship regardless of what it amounted to.

Be Agile

A lot of networking and job hunting goes like this:

“nothing…nothing…nothing…nothing…SOMETHING…nothing…nothing”

Sometimes there is simply a crack in the doorway that gets you in the room. And there is something to be said for having the awareness and agility to get skinny through the crack before it closes.

So what does that look like? It could be clearing your schedule on the off chance that an NBA staff member calls you. It may be driving 5 hours roundtrip on a whim to get a 30-minute coffee with someone. It may be piling into a two-star hotel with your buddies to be at a major networking event for the night. I missed a day of classes to interview in person for a job with the Hawks and I would have skipped my graduation to do the same — not the cleanest example since it was a formal interview, but it highlights the mentality I had during my pursuit.

Now this no doubt gets into the financial component and not everyone (including myself) had the luxury of physically being at every event. That said, you’d be surprised how much you could accomplish from a networking standpoint. We all live in cities, or in proximity to cities, where teams and sports professionals exist. And I would argue… if you want this bad enough — it is worth sacrificing a few nights out or a few tanks of gas to make these moments come to life.

Don’t Be Fair Weather Networking

It’s a tale as old as time — you connect with someone, they are in the news for a heightened role, and everyone thinks that it becomes a good time to ask THEM for a job. The timing is tough, and it does not come across as genuine because you are spinning someone else’s successes into your own benefit right away. Again, situations may vary depending on how close you are to said person… most situations fall into one of two buckets — you’re close enough that you’ll organically connect in the coming days, genuinely happy for them regardless of how it impacts you. Or the relationship isn’t quite there yet and the timing is genuinely awkward.

Along similar lines, I honestly think there are too many people that ride the wave of career trajectories and letting that dictate who they reach out to and when. I have felt this trend from the other side of it — more people asked me for jobs when I was a G League GM than being a scout — and more people reach out to me working for a winning team vs. a losing team.

There is no way to predict who the next GM or head coach is going to be, or who will be out of the industry in a few years. Isolating each relationship in its purest form, and not what it could lead to personally, is something to really be cognizant of. I have seen it countless times — someone’s name is “hot” and everyone wants to talk to them. Conversely, once someone gets squeezed out of a situation, they become less important to stay in touch with and can be thrown to the side far too quickly.

This is not an exact science I follow, but I really try to check in with people whenever they pop in my head. And it could be as simple as “just checking in – I hope all is well”. It is a simple practice and is a touch point without asking for something in return. Unfortunately, there are people that will reach out and 100% of the time it is to ask for a job or something along those lines. The touchpoints are huge to show genuine support for that individual, and when you do need to reach out for personal reasons, you are a little more comfortable knowing it isn’t always a one way street in terms of what you are extracting from the conversation.

Don’t Ask for Permission

There is always more you can do. I still feel angst reaching out to people and hoping for a response — but putting your hands up and saying ‘that’s all I can do’ is a point that doesn’t resonate with me all that well.

This is a difficult point to hammer home because it is a thin line between staying on the attack and not having blind hope that something is going to happen. In the end, jobs are not going to fall from the sky, so I do think there are in between scenarios where you can keep your foot on the gas but maybe mix up your approach.

I had written about this in previous articles, but I was constantly thinking about Plans B-Z just as much as I was thinking about Plan A. Can’t work in an NBA front office right out of school? Great, I will try to work on the business side first. Can’t do that? No problem… is there a university in an NBA city or with NBA connections I could be a graduate assistant at? I was CONSTANTLY asking myself these questions and even though I was fortunate that Plan A worked, I was more than willing to make my way down the list if not.

I would also say — in today’s digital age… I promise you can do the majority of the work I do in your day-to-day right now. Want to video scout? Watch games on your own and put those videos up on Youtube. Want to write scouting reports? Start a Substack and put your thoughts and opinions out there for feedback and discussion. Curious about analytics and database models? Talk to Claude or Chat for a few hours and see if you can build something yourself. This is also a genuine test of whether you actually love the work — if you’re willing to do it for free in your spare time, that tells you everything.

It also shows great perseverance that you are trying to learn more and pick up new skillsets along the way. This doesn’t guarantee you a job in the NBA, but it shows employers that you have a genuine passion for the craft — and that is worth a ton in today’s landscape where you can potentially stand out amongst the masses.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read — this topic means a lot to me. There is no perfect method to networking, and I never share these points as if they are bulletproof. But they worked tremendously for me, and if one sentence in this post helped someone refine their process, it’s time well spent in my mind.

I’d love to hear your follow-up questions and feedback in the comments — let’s keep the conversation going.

More to come on this subject.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

Conventional wisdom would tell you – if you want to work in a profession, you must have an academic upbringing in that subject field.

So goes the same with making movies. Go to film school, intern at a major studio, climb the corporate ladder in hopes that one day, several years down the line, you may get your chance to put your own ideas to life.

Wrong.

Today’s day and age of digital reach has broken barriers of what it takes to be seen – experienced or not.

While there have been several examples past and present, there is no better example of this than how young directors Curry Barker (Obsession) and Kane Parsons (Backrooms) have burst onto the scene.

Obsession

While Curry Barker (26) did attend film school, it was not his degree that vaulted him into making movies – it was his Youtube page.

Barker directed an $800 found footage horror film Milk & Serial that ended up going up on his Youtube page for free. There was enough virality in this project to get the attention from major talent agencies and production companies.

With the momentum, Barker was able to expand his Youtube ideas into his theatrical debut.

After premiering at TIFF, Obsession quickly became a bidding war between all the major studios that have incredible track records of turning modern horror movies into hits. No one, not even Barker, would have anticipated what happened next.

On a $750,000 budget, Obsession has gone on to gross over $200 MILLION dollars worldwide (and counting). This movie has more or less held week-to-week in terms of box office numbers, something that almost never happens after the first week.

There is no other way around it – this is the hit of all hits, and I imagine studios will be lining up with a blank check to woo Barker with future projects.

Backrooms

Kane Parsons (20) is another wonderkid with a meteoric rise via his Youtube following. Parsons taught himself how to animate – to the point where he was able to develop a single photo posted to a 4chan board into his own digital world.

Backrooms quickly became an internet sensation, as Parsons was able to carve out his own psychological horror that is a far cry from the gore and jump scares that we all associate with the genre.

A24 took a chance on Parsons and gave him creative freedom to direct his first feature film at the ripe age of 18 - with no prior directorial experience. What started as 10 minute short stories on Youtube has become a bolt of lightning for the horror genre and movie-goers.

It took Backrooms all of FOUR days to become the highest grossing film in A24’s history, and only ten days to cross the $200 million + mark (on a $10 million budget).

Parsons has quickly become a household name in Hollywood, and I have all the faith in the world that he will continue to create amazing work for years to come.

The Lessons

There are several reasons that I have been engrossed in these movies. For one, I thought both films were tremendous – and give the genre a much needed facelift compared to stale IP (sorry, Scary Movie).

But the economics and storylines of these directors are just as fascinating to me. The fact that these guys are able to start with a following of zero, produce captivating content, and generate attention from the biggest fish in Hollywood – it’s truly an astonishing time for creatives.

I say that in no way to take away credit from Curry and Kane, because these guys are truly brilliant and should not be compared to your average Youtuber (clearly). But what I will say is – there has never been a better time than today’s society to follow the non-traditional path.

I am living the non-traditional path in my current profession. A 3.0 Sports Management student that barely played high school basketball – and I find myself years later in the room with some of the brightest and most accomplished basketball minds on the entire planet.

I urge all of you to respectfully throw the traditional paths out the window, especially if it helps you ultimately take that leap of faith. I’m not telling you to blindly go into any profession thinking you can do it, but don’t assume you can’t because you weren’t groomed for it in a traditional sense.

Whether it is Youtube, Substack (wink wink), or something else… I promise you can blaze your own path in today’s world. Consistently create authentic and engaging content, and people will start to notice.

What a time for creatives.

What a time for the non-traditional path.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

A young NBA intern, who just ran into a parking garage pole in his company’s shuttle van, proceeds to a Home Depot parking lot in rural Atlanta to try to “un-dent” the van with a $10 plunger.

Again… totally hypothetical.

As an NBA intern, your unofficial job description is “everything”. And when front offices were smaller 10 years ago, I found myself thrust into situations with players, coaches, and executives that I would never be privy to as an intern today. The nerves of these situations, plus the exhaustion from the job and the fact that I was driving a car 3 times the size of my Honda Civic… all played a role into these dumb mistakes. And it felt even worse that it happened multiple times in a relatively short period.

There was never anyone that got hurt, and there was never any foul play other than an honest mistake driving in tight quarters. I still found myself trying to spin the situation to try to deflect the blame and make myself feel better. But I was wrong to do that — and I know my bosses in the end didn’t care about anything other than me being safe and me being honest about the situation.

I also share these self-deprecating stories for other young people in the industry. As an NBA intern, I was so determined to figure out a way to become a full-time employee. But this relentless pursuit came at a serious cost because I was trying to be perfect every day.

And part of trying to be perfect was trying to justify or mend every mistake that I did wind up making. In any situation, the quicker that you can focus on how you respond to a mistake vs. trying to deflect it… the more you will thrive in any professional environment.

I had to learn this the hard way, and while all traits take time to shake, I feel better about the after effects of mistakes than I did 10 years ago.

It shows that your bosses can trust you, that you have a level of humility and self-awareness to admit mistakes to your peers — even when it hurts to articulate.

You can put the band-aid over the wound and maybe get away with deflecting the blame here and there, but you still have a wound that needs healing. It may hurt like hell cleaning out that wound, but it’s the only way to properly move onto the next task with a clear head.

I write this as I am weeks away from working my 10^th NBA draft — I have dozens of these mistakes in my memory bank and I am still standing here. I promise you… you can get through honest mistakes. You just have to handle them the right way.

Watch out for those damn poles.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

Every morning, reports with my name on them land on the phones of every decision-maker in our organization. Every player in the NBA. Every opinion, every assessment — mine.

There is nowhere to hide. The bad takes are easily documented and referenced throughout the year. And with 500+ players to evaluate each year, even the best of the best scouts have severe blemishes when looking back.

And for someone who spent the early part of his career quietly burying his wrong takes and making side calls to justify his own reasoning — that kind of exposure was exactly what I needed.

It is mathematically impossible to bat 1.000 with my job, and I’ll be the first to admit that I ran from that my first couple years scouting. There was always a spin, a justification, and truthfully a bullshit excuse as to why I wasn’t really wrong. And I was far too loud on the moments I was “right” to try to get even in my own head.

It’s such a selfish way to think about things, and it took rewiring my outlook on being wrong. My old boss had a great quote that always stuck with me several years later:

“It is not about being right, it is about getting it right”

I think part of it is certainly the sheer quantity of the job — the more times you’re wrong, the thicker your skin gets in these instances.

But it’s way more than that… being in these tense meetings where we are making hundred-million-dollar decisions, my mindset has totally shifted lately with being wrong and similarly… going against the grain of the group.

Think about it… are you driving a conversation forward by simply agreeing with everyone? Probably not. And I’m not saying to disagree just for the hell of it, but sometimes an educated opinion that is contrary to consensus is the BEST thing that could ever happen to a decision at hand.

Even if I am having my bosses circle back on a concept to ultimately arrive at the same conclusion, I feel good with the fact that I at least drove the group conversation forward and more in depth — even at the expense of my personal opinions.

I cannot sit here and compare my decisions as a G League GM to the same scale as NBA leadership, but this idea is no doubt felt from the other side of the table too.

I thankfully had amazing co-workers that told it to me like it was, and even if I didn’t agree with them or follow their recommendation, these were the type of people I needed around me to ultimately arrive at the best decisions.

So if you are making recommendations, don’t be afraid to be wrong. And if you are in a leadership position, you have to build a culture where people feel comfortable giving contrarian thoughts. No one can do it alone.

Get out there and make mistakes. I promise you it does more good for yourself and the group than you think.

My name still lands on those phones every morning. Wrong takes and all. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

“Would you choose to live forever without love? Or to live with love knowing that it can end? When you can feel the agony of that choice, you have a movie.”
Creativity, Inc.

Subscribe now

The final horn goes off, and our magical season unceremoniously comes to an end. The outcome was known before the horn, but for some reason it took hearing that sound to signal finality in my brain.

Like an alarm waking you up from the most amazing dream.

There were too many special moments to count for the 2025-26 Detroit Pistons. Sixty wins — the third time in franchise history. A number one seed in the Eastern Conference. The first playoff series win since 2008. Two All-Stars. And countless success stories that will stay with me long after the final buzzer.

We simply didn’t have it on Sunday night, and our season ended Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Towards the end of the game, I took my first cursory look outside the lines to see that most of the fans had already headed for the exits.

This is not how tonight was supposed to go.

Two weeks ago, the streets of Woodward Ave were singing after a Game 7 win. Sunday they had nothing to say.

In this business, you learn to hold onto the lows with the same grip as the highs.

Not because they feel good in the moment. Because it gives you perspective.

Perspective that it still means something. I’d rather feel the agony of defeat coursing through my body than nothing at all.

If you’re searching for that feeling personally or professionally… don’t run from the lows. They are the price of admission for anything that is worth it in life. What a beautiful thing to wear these emotions like a badge of honor. What a privilege to work for this proud organization.

What a privilege to feel something.

Back to work,
Ben

From basic cable to streaming services, I have become an expert on reading terms and conditions. And I hear the same complaints from friends and coworkers constantly.

But once you understand it from the league’s perspective — it all makes sense.

SportsBall / NBA.com

What the NBA Actually Pulled Off

In July 2024 the NBA signed an 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon — multiplying its annual national media revenue by roughly 2.6 times compared to its previous deal.

Here’s what that looks like broken down by partner annually:

• Disney/ESPN/ABC: $2.6 billion per year

• NBC/Peacock: $2.5 billion per year

• Amazon Prime Video: $1.8 billion per year

• Total: $6.9 billion per year

Other Leagues Are Noticing (And Scrambling)

Why do these figures matter beyond an ungodly amount of money flowing towards the NBA and its 30 teams?

Because the NBA maximized their leverage in ways other sports properties are now scrambling to replicate.

I was listening to Len Perna — founder of TurnkeyZRG, one of the most respected search firms in sports — break this down on a recent podcast with John Ourand on The Varsity:

College football draws two to three times more viewers than the NBA on any given week during the regular season.

And yet — the NBA generates $3.36 in revenue for every viewer hour.

College football generates $1.12.

The league with fewer viewers is making three times more money per eyeball. Every single hour.

That’s not a typo. That’s leverage.

The reason comes down to one word: structure. College football is fragmented across ten different conferences with no unified negotiating power. The NBA negotiates as one entity, one product. Centralization is leverage. Leverage is money. And the NBA just proved exactly how much money that leverage is worth.

College athletics aren’t the only ones scrambling. The NFL — whose current $111 billion, 11-year media rights deal that runs through 2033 — is already seeking to renegotiate early. Their reasoning is pretty direct: the NFL is leaving money on the table and the NBA deal proved it.

Think about that for a second. The most dominant sports property in American history — a league that dwarfs the NBA in total viewership — is currently sitting with a media rights package in the same ballpark. That gap will almost certainly close (or in this sense widen?) in the coming years. And when it does, you can trace it directly back to what the NBA pulled off in 2024.

The Bigger Picture

Sports media rights aren’t just about which channel your team is on. They’re the financial engine that determines player salaries, franchise values, expansion decisions, and increasingly — which leagues survive and which ones get left behind.

The NBA just rewrote the rules. Everyone else is catching up.

See you next week,
Ben

Stats via Len Perna, Turnkey. NBA deal figures via Associated Press and ESPN.

Subscribe now

Quick article this week — I wanted to share some of my favorite basketball platforms that have helped me over the years. I know there are individuals who aspire to work in the NBA one day that read these each week, so my hope is to build a series that simply tries to help that group of people.

Cleaning The Glass

I can honestly say that I learned how to scout professional basketball through my bosses in Atlanta… and Cleaning The Glass. I treated Ben Falk’s site as an online certificate — making sure that I went through everything this site has to offer.

If you are interested in learning more about scouting and how X’s and O’s work at a high level, I cannot recommend this site enough. In particular, Ben has a vast archive of video articles that show on-court examples of what he is writing about — and all remain pertinent to today’s game several years later.

Dunc’D On

Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux are probably more for die-hard basketball fans, but these guys do a tremendous job of breaking down the NBA from a team standpoint, mixing in advanced metrics and cap jargon that are in line with the modern game. Their patented conference and league overview episodes are a great way to stay current with the NBA if you’re not able to watch as many full games as you’d like.

Thinking Basketball

Ben Taylor, who I’d recommend simply subscribing to on YouTube, is another great resource that uses video examples to back up his points. It’s a granular look at the game and individual players, but Ben has a knack for pointing out things I would never grasp watching on my own. There are also some really unique studies examining past players, biometrics, and trends across the league.

See you next week,
Ben

None of them felt like walking into the Princess of Wales Theatre for the first time.

It’s a September Friday night in Toronto. The lobby is packed—film critics, directors, industry people, fans who flew in from all over the world. Everyone’s buzzing. And I’m about to watch a movie that won’t be released for months.

I drove five hours for this. Solo. No plan beyond “I want to experience a TIFF premiere.”

I had no idea what I was walking into.

What Actually Happens at TIFF

Here's what most people don't know about film festivals: you're not just watching movies. You're watching world premieres—films that won't hit theaters (or streaming services) for months.

And here's the magic: after the credits roll, the directors and actors walk out on stage. Not in a press conference room. Not on a screen. Right there, ten feet from the front row, about to talk about the film they just spent years making.

Over three days at TIFF, I saw three premieres at the Princess of Wales Theatre:

• Christy (3.5/5)

• EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (5/5)

• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (4/5)

And after every single one, I watched directors and actors enlighten the audience.

Cast from Wake Up Dead Man

Two Years for Ninety Minutes

Baz Luhrmann's Elvis documentary hit me the hardest.

During the post-screening Q&A, Baz explained that the concert footage in the film originally had no sound. His team spent two years restoring and syncing audio from separate sources.

Listening to Baz talk about two years of audio restoration reminded me some of my day-to-day in the NBA.

You’ll watch hundreds of hours of film on a prospect. Make a thousand notes. Gather intel from everyone in their circle. All for a player that may or may not play for your organization.

That's what I saw in every director who presented at TIFF. They didn't make these films to win awards or make money. They made them because they felt compelled to.

They obsess over details nobody will notice. They do it because the craft itself is the reward.

Baz Luhrmann feeling good after the showing of EPiC

The Fan Reaction

After the Elvis documentary, the Q&A turned into something else entirely.

People stood up crying. Not because the film was sad—because they felt seen. Many took the mic to tell their own Elvis story, or simply to thank Baz and his team for creating this incredible film.

Baz stood on that stage and listened to every single person. No PR handler rushing him off. No time limit. Just a filmmaker and the people his work moved.

I sat in that theater with 2,000 strangers, and for two hours, we were all transported to the same Elvis concert in 1956.

The Atmosphere That Changes Everything

Here's what blew my mind about TIFF: in a world where everyone's on their phone 24/7, I sat in a packed theater and didn't see a single screen light up for hours straight.

Not one person checking Instagram.
Not one person texting.
Not one candy wrapper rustling.

Just pure, uninterrupted focus on the film.

For all three films, the atmosphere was the same: total silence, total respect, total immersion. No rule breakers. Just people who traveled from around the world to enjoy the film in front of them.

The Drive Home

The drive home was five hours of Elvis albums and reflecting on what I'd just experienced.

If you’ve never been to a film festival, find one near you in 2026. Doesn’t have to be TIFF—Sundance, Tribeca, or even smaller regional festivals.

Go. Sit in silence with strangers. Watch someone present work they spent years creating.

You’ll meet great people. You’ll learn from creators who live and breathe their craft. And you’ll have a damn good time at the movies.

What film festivals have you been to? What did you learn? Drop your experience in the comments—I want to hear your stories.

See you next week,
Ben

Subscribe now

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that college athletes can now profit off their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). The NCAA took this idea a step further by approving the House v. NCAA settlement last summer. The main effects of this settlement include:

1. $2.8 billion in back damages to former student-athletes for denied NIL earnings

2. Schools are now permitted to pay their student-athletes up to $20.5 million annually—a "salary cap" if you will. This revenue-sharing cap will then rise by 4% annually

3. Elimination of sport-specific scholarship limits (only roster limits exist now)

Because of these changes, it has become increasingly more difficult for colleges to stay afloat. In fact, you may be surprised to know: most Division I universities lose money every year.

According to the NCAA's own data, the median Power 5 university loses $15.2M a year (bottom left number). Mind you, these are teams that have the real moneymaker: football. So you can imagine how bad non-football and lower-level universities are faring in this changing landscape.

And this was before revenue sharing kicked in. Add $20M+ in new expenses, and these deficits just got a lot worse.

The Response

Some schools choose to move slowly and risk being left behind competitively. Others are getting ahead of the changes—not just to stay afloat, but to gain a competitive advantage over time.

One trend I've been fascinated by is the restructuring of athletic departments themselves. Universities are now shifting their athletic departments from non-profit entities to for-profit entities. This shifts the focus of athletic departments to act and operate more like professional sports organizations.

In essence, these schools have been leaving money on the table. Now they're reallocating resources to squeeze every penny out of:

• Dynamic ticket pricing

• Corporate sponsorships and in-stadium signage

• Multimedia rights

• Real estate development

• Media and original content

While every school looks a little different in how they implement this, I wanted to briefly cover three new entities that are adapting to the changing times in college athletics.

University of Kentucky – "Champions Blue, LLC"

What they did: Moved the entire athletic department into a new holding company called Champions Blue, LLC. The athletic department now sits in this holding company with a new governance board (university officials + outside business/sports expertise) advising the president and athletic director.

This structure unlocks the ability to pursue public-private partnerships, real estate development, and other revenue-generating ventures that a traditional university department couldn’t pursue. Athletics still reports to the university, but now has the legal flexibility of a separate business entity.

Clemson University – "Clemson Ventures"

What they did: Reorganized existing athletic department operations into a business with five divisions: multimedia rights, content creation, sales/marketing, NIL agency, and business operations.

Clemson already owned their multimedia rights (rare among college programs), so they expanded that infrastructure into a comprehensive revenue-generation machine. They’ve hired a CEO and scaled from 10 employees to 40+, bringing in professional sports executives to run it like a top-tier professional sports organization.

The University of Utah – "Utah Brands & Entertainment"

What they did: Created an entirely new for-profit company and sold partial ownership to outside investors. They transferred all revenue-generating rights—ticketing, sponsorships, licensing, hospitality, trademarks—to this new entity.

Otro Capital, a private equity firm founded by former RedBird Capital executives with deep professional sports experience (Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, Fenway Sports Group), invested nine figures for an estimated 30% equity stake. Utah retained ~60% and major donors got ~10%.

The university still controls all athletic decisions (coaching, scheduling, student-athlete care), but Otro Capital runs the business side.

The Future

Give a lot of credit to these schools for being forward-thinking and innovative with their approach. It's hard to imagine there won't be a bunch of schools following suit in the coming years.

What do you think of these changes and the college landscape in general? Drop your comments below and as always, thanks for reading!

See you next week,
Ben

Thank you to Joe Pompliano and Sports Business Journal for the assist on this information