#CSBN25 — The Top Canadian Sports Business Accounts to Follow in 2017
Highlighting the top Twitter follows for Canucks in sportsbiz
The Canadian Sport Business Network team is excited to launch the first installment of #CSBN25, a look at the leading Twitter voices on Canadian sports business. Over the years, we have come to rely on Forbes’ Sports Money 50 for broadening our insights on this industry. As we head into 2017, we think it’s time we add to this list with our ever-growing number of influencers right here in Canada.
📚 Academia/Grassroots
Aziz Rajwani (@ThreeDownNation)
— Aziz is a professor at UBC Sauder School of Business, as well as Langara College in Vancouver. While covering articles on sport business, he also covers a wide range of topics facing society in general. A recommended follow if you to learn about sport and sports business from a more academic viewpoint.
Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (@CAAWS)
— CAAWS is the leading voice on on issues affecting girls and women in sport and physical activity. Through national and local partnerships, CAAWS helps to encourage girls and women to get out of the bleachers, off the sidelines and into the locker rooms and board rooms of Canada.
📰 Media/News
Sports Business Canada (@SportsbizCanada)
— One of our go-to resources on news and insight on sports business topics in Canada. They also conduct relevant Q/A posts with notable Canadian sport managers.
Tom Mayenknecht (@TheSportMarket)
— Tom is the host of Syndicated TSN Radio Show, The Sport Market (a must listen to for any aspiring sport marketing executive). Mayenknecht has held management positions at Tennis Canada, Toronto Raptors, Vancouver Grizzles/Vancouver Canucks (under Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment). He has wide-ranging interests as he tends to cover every aspect of sport business.
Excelle Sports (@ExcelleSports)
— The only curated source for all things women’s sports. News, features, profiles, interviews plus much more — you name it, Excelle covers it. While this is the only US-based account on our list, they do an incredible job of covering Canadian athletes as well.
Steve McAllister (@StevieMacSports)
— Steve is one of few Canadian sports writers who has covered the Toronto Blue Jays’ back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993. Throughout his career, he’s held roles with The Globe and Mail, National Hockey League Players Association and Ontario Hockey Association. Since 2009, he has served as the president of Sports Media Canada.
Morgan Campbell (@MorganPCampbell)
— One of Toronto’s leading sports business reporters. Morgan is an award-winning sports writer who’s often featured on sports business conference panels around the country. A must-follow.
📱 Social Media/Marketing
Katrina Galas (@KatrinaGalas)
— A long-time athlete and a seasoned sports business professional. Katrina has a lengthy experience in a variety of verticals within sports. She does a fantastic job of celebrating and developing worthy initiatives, most notably in the sport for development space and women’s sports.
Twitter Sports Canada (@TwitterSportsCA)
— As their description says, they are the official source of the best Canadian Sports Tweets. While the majority of their tweets aren’t necessarily organic, Twitter Sports Canada does a tremendous job in enhancing all sport brands in Canada while simultaneously enhancing its own.
Monika Platek (@MonikaPlatek)
— A multimedia storyteller who has worked numerous roles, most notably with the Toronto Maple Leafs, CBC Olympics, and Hockey Night in Canada. Shares fresh and candid thoughts on social media and branding.
⌚ Sponsorship/Brand Building
Nick Burton (@NF_Burton)
— Nick is a sport business and marketing research consultant with extensive experience in sponsorship management. Tweets often about best-case uses of ambush marketing in amateur and professional sport.
Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada (@SMCC_CCC)
— Although the SMCC covers a variety of sponsorship topics, including sports, they offer exceptional seminars and workshops for people interested in pursuing a career in sponsorship marketing.
Kris Mychasiw (@Mychasiw)
— A Managing Partner at The Surin Group, one of Canada’s leading sports agencies representing track and field athletes — now including ‘beer mile athletes.’ He offers first-hand insights on athlete recruitment, media relations and player contract negotiations.
S&E Sponsorship (@SESponsorship)
— S&E Sponsorship is one of Canada’s leading sponsorship agencies in sports and entertainment. Their S&E Labs insight pieces are excellent reads for insights on the industry. We are grateful to have worked with S&E this past year on their first-ever student blog challenge. Sports business students were encouraged to highlight up-and-coming Canadian athletes from a marketing POV (you can read the winning entry here — and runner up posts: Part 1 & 2).
Sponsorship Space (@SponsorTalk)
— An indispensable resource for sport sponsorship news and trends. Content is curated first-hand by peers working in the industry. Led by Avish Sood, Co-founder of University of Toronto Sports and Business Association & Recipient of Marketing Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Award (2016).
TTG Partnerships (@TTGtweets)
— One of the leading experiential sponsorship and marketing firms in Canada, TTG Partnerships has been committed to the growth of Canadian sport properties and brands since 2010.
Canadian Sponsorship Forum Xperience ( @CdnSponsorForum)
— Offline, CSFX organizes one of the leading sponsorship and experiential marketing conferences that highlights best practices and emerging Canadian trends. Online, they run one of the most comprehensive sponsorship newsletters. Get on it!
💻 Sports Law/Technology
Drew Dorweiler (@DrewDorweiler)
— Drew is currently the CEO of Dartmouth Partners Limited. Based in Montreal, he looks at sports business from a legal perspective. As of lately, he has narrowed his insights on the globalization of sport (mostly focusing on China). Tends to have a more global perspective on sport with a Canadian edge.
Starters Toronto (@StartersTO)
— Starters TO acts as the Toronto chapter of the sports technology community group, Starters, originally based in New York, USA. It boasts a digital community of 500+ innovators involved in sports entrepreneurship. While group’s core focus is to celebrate and engage individuals driving the future of sport, they cover local news, trends and events within the industry.
📑 Resources
Sport Information Resource Centre (@SIRCTweets)
— Established in 1973, SIRC has been the leading and trusted source to learn, share and support Canada’s sport community for over 40 years. The majority, if not all, of sports business related opportunities in Canada are shared on SIRC’s database. It acts as the main job & internship portal for sports marketing companies in Canada.
Craig M & The HR Dept (@MLSEJOBS)
— Jobs, internships, and career advice on how to land a position at MLSE (and in sports, in general) straight from the source.
Sport Canada ( @SportCanada_EN / @SportCanada_Fr)
— Your pulse on all of Canada’s NSOs (National Sporting Organizations). They share relevant research, resources and opportunities on national and international sporting events hosted in Canada.
🌠 Rising Stars in Canadian Sportsbiz
Be on the lookout for these young driven professionals.
Wala Amara (@WalaAmara)
—Currently a journalism student at Concordia University, Wala has been CSBN’s ears on the grounds at sports business conferences. She currently serves as our CSBN Quebec Ambassador and reports on Quebec’s sports business landscape. When she’s not networking at events, you can catch her sharing her thoughts on basketball play-by-plays and sports partnership deals.
Bawe Nsame (@Bawizie_)
— Currently in his final year of study at Brock University’s sport management program, Bawe has a long list of accomplishments to his name in his young career. In 2016, he was part of the team that was awarded the OUA’s top marketing initiative for the #WeAreReady campaign, and played a key role in USports’ digital marketing strategy for the 52nd Vanier Cup.
Alex Maryuen ( @AlexMaryuen)
— An aspiring basketball professional who has already made his mark in the field, hosting events with Canadian sport leaders from the likes of Canada Basketball, Toronto Raptors and MLSE. Tweets often about leadership, sponsorship, branding and social media.
Did we miss anyone? Tweet your suggestions using #CSBN25.
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