On Kiawah Island this week, golf took the backburner as global leaders in sports and top financial minds gathered for an exclusive thought leadership conference.
The seasonal beach community off South Carolina is usually a place to work on your swing, but here looked more like Davos for the owners box crowd. The event welcomed 100 franchise holders, commissioners and other power players for an event from Sportico and Bruin Capital, sources told Variety.
Ryan Reynolds, who moonlights as co-owner of Welsh soccer club Wrexham A.F.C., turned up alongside super-creator Taylor Sheridan (whose own athletics usually involve cattle), NBA investor Mark Cuban and former Obama commerce secretary Penny Prtizker.
Off-the-record sessions and nature walks were on the agenda, we hear, for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, hedge fund leader Ken Griffin, Apollo Global CEO Marc Rowan, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob and Brooklyn Nets owners Joe and Clara Tsai. Jay Penske, media owner of brands including Sportico, and Bruin’s George Pyne hosted the weekend. Also spotted were Eldridge CEO Todd Boehly, Blackstone executive David Blitzer and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid khan
Last November, Sportico hosted an international version of the four-year-old Kiawah event in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Reynolds also attended that gathering, which drew President Barack Obama, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, actor Omary Sy and Ariel Investments Co-CEO Mellody Hobson.
