The Michigan Sport Business Conference (“MSBC”)

Great minds think alike… or so the saying goes. While that’s not always the case, we’ve found that great minds seek out other great minds, and there was a lot of that on display at the MSBC. The MSBC had it all: A-list speakers and executives (Dhani Jones, Alex Ohanian, Brandon Graham, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson to name a few), the best in-class business partners and solutions (Trak included), and motivated students who will be the next generation of Leaders and the Best (see what we did there?) in the sports and entertainment industry while being vulnerable about where they came from. Truly the best of the best of the sports industry were in attendance at the MSBC, and the experience and relationships built out of the conference are proof of just that. 

In the rapidly growing and changing world that is sports, the MSBC aims to tie together themes of innovation, partnership, and community: from deep dives into sponsorship and media rights to conversations about strategy, data and the future of sport business. As this year’s theme goes, they look to identify those that are leading the way and “Disrupting the Game”.

Trak’s mission at MSBC

At Trak, our mission goes beyond being the best partnership operations and management platform. We believe in:

• Education and community-building: helping professionals across teams understand how to maximize partnership impact.
  
  
• Cross-department value: showing that sponsorship data isn’t just for marketing or partnerships—HR, recruiting, operations all benefit when data lives in one place.
  
  
• Giving back: supporting student networks, future talent, and bringing insight back into the community. 

MSBC gave us a great opportunity to live that mission:

• Providing value, listening, engaging, and supporting the Michigan network.
• Giving access to MSBC’s student organizers to Trak’s platform in order to sustainably maintain partnership success (akin to experience being shared by 10k sponsorship marketers today)
• Bringing in our Michigan Ross MBA project team for a hands-on experience in the sport business world and in developing sponsorship and partnership relationships.

For more on our MBA project team’s experience - see Stefan's LinkedIn Post here! and Brandon’s LinkedIn Post here!

• Bring in alumni and students alike who are involved in the sports sponsorship industry, and fostering a community feel with events in and around the conference and a commitment to helping others achieve and stand-out.

The MSBC x Trak Experience

The MSBC covered a range of topics, but one thing was clear Sports & Entertainment is THE place to be and is growing at a rapid pace. We found ourselves reaffirmed that our position in the industry was poised to help everyone take advantage of Trak’s platform to maximize their growth. A few of the topics covered, and how Trak was able to help included:

• Sponsorship & Media Rights: MSBC had panels on the importance of managing relationships, growing through partnerships, and making the right deals. Trak excels at helping organizations manage assets, deliverables, data and measure return on partnership in live time. As the sports world grows, the volume of deals and activations will as well, and Trak is ready to help any team make the most impact of their work.
  
  
• Creator Economy & Experiential Marketing: The MSBC also explored how brands and properties are activating beyond the traditional models. For us, this means helping clients turn sponsorships into richer experiences and track their outcomes. Trak strips away much of the time needed for mundane tasks and allows creators and collaborators to shine.
  
  
• Career & Talent Development: MSBC is rooted in educating the next‐gen of sport business professionals. By engaging here, Trak is participating in the growth of the industry—helping ensure that sponsorship operations are seen not just as a “nice-to-have,” but as a business discipline. Trak is also dedicated to the education efforts (as you’re reading here) to make sure that both our clients and our broader community is up to date on the latest industry trends and news when it comes to sports sponsorship and activation.
  
  

• Cross‐functional collaboration: Implicit in the MSBC ethos is the idea of bridging silos—whether strategy, marketing, data or operations. That feeds into one of our key messages: when partnership data is central and visible, everyone’s job gets better.
  
  

What Trak brings to the table

So what can we do for you or your organization today, if not tomorrow?

• Demo our platform and how it creates a single source of truth: Come see how sponsorship workflows can be simplified, and how onboarding becomes easier when everything is in one system! Having assets, deliverables, partner data, ROI metrics all in one place improves visibility, cross‐team alignment, faster onboarding, fewer manual tasks.
• Focus on internal benefits: We’re highlighting how platforms like Trak support HR and recruiting teams — by providing measurable outcomes, demonstrating team impact, and giving new hires clarity from day one. When people understand how their role contributes to partnership success, engagement goes up. When teammates (whether in partnerships, marketing, HR or operations) see how their work contributes to sponsorship success, they feel more invested and fulfilled. That’s good for retention, culture and performance.
• Scalable workflows: As partnerships become more complex (global rights, digital activations, creator integration), having a unified system makes it possible to scale without chaos.
  
  
• Talent attraction: At conferences like MSBC and beyond, organizations that show they have modern systems and clear processes are more attractive to emerging talent. When students see an employer using best‐in‐class tools and thinking holistically about partnerships, they take notice and can also bring the wherewithal to jobs advantageously.
  
  
• Building the Michigan network: Beyond the one‐day conference, our aim is to help build a community of Michigan sports business professionals, so that the relationships formed at MSBC continue to pay dividends.
  
  

What to look for next

• A post‐MSBC community launch: connecting Michigan network professionals who attended or are interested in sponsorship operations, partnership data and cross‐department alignment (follow us on social media @traksoftware for education).
  
  
• A walkthrough/demo offer: For those who want to see how Trak could work in their organization, tailored to how HR, recruiting and operations benefit in addition to partnerships.
  
  
• Insights/spotlights: Content pieces featuring how sports/brands/venues deploy unified sponsorship workflows, measure partner value and integrate across departments.
  
  
• Ongoing engagement: Beyond the conference, we’ll continue to engage via events, webinars or network meetups to keep topics fresh and community active.
  
  

Final thoughts

MSBC is more than a conference—it’s a community and a catalyst for change in sports, entertainment and sponsorship. At Trak, we’re proud to be part of that community, and excited about what’s next. Partner management and sponsorship operations are evolving rapidly—and when organizations bring together data, people and process across departments, the payoff is significant.

If you attended MSBC, or are part of the Michigan sports business network and want to explore how to unify your partnership workflows, improve cross‐team alignment and drive measurable impact—let’s connect.

For the team at Trak, the MSBC reminded us that at Trak Software, we’re really here to help teach the community and rising stars of the next generation in sports business, and have organizations use our platform to be positioned for the astronomical growth we all expect to see in this industry.

But most of importantly, Trak just wants to help you get the most out of your team, your team, your team. 

Go Blue!