Sports at Aspen Ideas
Sports & Society works with the producers of the Aspen Ideas Festivals to develop and moderate sessions that explore sports and values. These sessions feature prominent athletes, authors, team owners and other thought leaders, and reflect the Institute’s founding idea to integrate mind, body and spirit.
Game-Changing Dialogues
Explore the most thought-provoking conversations on the growing role of sports in shaping culture, health, business, and community life. From women breaking barriers on the field to new science on performance and play, discover insights that highlight the power of sports to inspire change and connect us all.
Below is a sampling of related sessions:
2025
When Women Run the Game
Sports investor Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, veteran sports journalist Christine Brennan, ESPN executive Carol Stiff and Aspen Sports & Society executive director Tom Farrey explore how women are redefining sports, from audience engagement and business models to leadership and cultural narratives.
Winning with Humility
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and writer Kelly Corrigan talk leadership, humility and self-reflection, drawing from Kerr’s championship successes to illustrate why admitting failure can be a powerful act.
2024
A League of Your Own: Investing in Pro Sports
Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein, former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez, and sports investor Gregg Lemkau share how passion intersects with capital, detailing their approaches to owning, investing in, and shaping the future of professional sports enterprises.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go: The Power of Play at Any Age
Breakthrough Play coach Gary Ware and science journalist Nicholas St. Fleur advocate for play as essential — not frivolous — at all life stages, emphasizing its role in boosting creativity, cognitive health and emotional resilience.
Why Youth Sports Are Game-Changing
Tom Farrey and David Rubenstein discuss a national push to have 63% of kids playing sports by 2030, unlocking physical, emotional, social and economic benefits on a massive scale.
Women’s Basketball Scores Big
WNBA legend Candace Parker and NBC anchor Lester Holt celebrate a breakthrough year for women’s college basketball and the WNBA, marking a moment of legacy and momentum for women’s sports.
2023
How Female Athletes Excel
Former professional runner Mary Cain, WNBA executive Luria Freeman, New York Liberty co-owner Clara Wu Tsai and women’s health researcher Kathryn Ackerman dig into the evolving landscape for women in sport, highlighting advancements in science, training, opportunity and the persistence of systemic biases.
Politics on the Pitch: Sports in the Geopolitical Arena
U.S. State Department sports diplomacy expert Ashleigh Huffman, journalist Franklin Foer and New York Times sports business reporter Tariq Panja discuss how sports function as instruments of foreign policy and soft power — from Olympic diplomacy to geopolitically charged competitions.
2022
Beyond Fandom: When Sports Build Community
NHL executive Xavier A. Gutierrez, NASCAR president Ray Warren, Tom Farrey and sports entrepreneur Sheila Johnson reflect on sports as more than entertainment, showcasing how it galvanizes civic spirit, fosters inclusion and builds community.
The Law that Remade Sports—and the World
Olympic champion skier Eileen Gu, sports entrepreneur Sheila Johnson and Tom Farrey explore the global impact of Title IX, charting how one law reshaped access to sports, opportunities, pay equity and business for women across the world.
2019
How Sports Solve All the World’s Problems
NBA players Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan, Tom Farrey, ESPN anchor Cari Champion, and DICK’S Sporting Goods CEO Edward W. Stack unpack how sports can drive societal change, from community cohesion to improved health, education, and economic opportunity.
Is 40 the New 20 for Pro Athletes?
Athletes like Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Kevin Love, Utah Jazz sharpshooter Kyle Korver, and ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson, joined by HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel correspondent Jon Frankel, explore how top performers are maintaining elite levels well into their 40s. The discussion dives into the role of evolving training science, lifestyle adaptations, humor, and motivation in defying conventional expectations of athletic aging.
The Science of Endurance and Superhuman Feats
Ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson, HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel correspondent Jon Frankel, professional trail and ultra-runner Megan Roche, endurance athlete Colin O’Brady, and performance psychologist Michael Gervais explore how human endurance defies expectations. They unpack the critical interplay between mind and body, drawing from examples like hundred-mile races and Himalayan expeditions to illustrate how peak performers push beyond perceived physical limits.
AI and the Quest for Olympic Gold
Experts from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, alongside The Atlantic journalists, explore how AI — in psychology, radar, motion capture and more — is impacting athlete performance and preparation for Olympic competition.
Everyone Is Going Through Something
NBA All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love, joined by performance psychologist Michael Gervais, engage candidly about mental health challenges in professional sports — de-stigmatizing anxiety, depression and loneliness through vulnerability.
Tackling Glass Ceilings: Football’s Female Phenoms
NFL assistant coach Katie Sowers, ESPN anchor Cari Champion and former NFL coach Jen Welter discuss breaking gender barriers in football, sharing personal stories of resilience from a field once considered off limits to women.