2019 RSN Summit

Keynotes

Chris Bevilacqua, Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures (BHV), Co-Founder

Chris Bevilacqua is a co-founder of Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures (BHV), a New York based sports and media advisory and investment firm. Over the past 30 years, Chris Bevilacqua has established himself as a leader in the sports, media, and technology business.

In the early 2000’s, Bevilacqua founded College Sports Television (CSTV), the first-ever 24-hour cable TV network dedicated to college and amateur sports. CSTV was acquired by CBS Corporation in early 2006 for $325 million and is now known as the CBS Sports Network.

Additionally, in 2006 as part of CSTV’s efforts, Bevilacqua created the first-ever 24-hour collegiate conference sports network, the MountainWest Sports Network, which served as a precursor model for the subsequent, highly successful Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Networks, SEC Network, and soon to be launched ACC Network.

Following CBS’ acquisition of CSTV, Bevilacqua brought his experience to the media advisory business. Beginning in 2008, Bevilacqua served as chairman and CEO of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Sports Media Ventures. CAA Sports Media Ventures served as a media rights advisor for a variety of sports and entertainment entities including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Tennis Channel, Big East Conference, Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, National Hockey League, Pittsburgh Penguins, and ION Television Network.

During an 18-month period in 2010-11, Bevilacqua led a slew of critical sports properties into agreements that broke conventional wisdom. First, the record breaking Texas Rangers deal with Fox Sports; second came the San Diego Padres and their new RSN with Fox Sports; and third, Bevilacqua was the architect of the Pac-12 Conference media strategy, including the Fox/ESPN media rights agreements, as well as the groundbreaking Pac-12 Network agreements with Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Brighthouse.

At BHV, Bevilacqua, along with his partner, Adam Helfant, continues to advise many premier sports and entertainment properties, including the IOC, WWE, NCAA, Rose Bowl, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, Big East Conference, American Athletic Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, USA Track & Field, IndyCar, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Houston Rockets, University of Notre Dame, University of Texas, University of Washington, University of Miami, and University of Pittsburgh.

During the early 2000’s Bevilacqua was an early investor and advisor to online ticketing company, StubHub, which was acquired by eBay in 2007 for $310 million. More recently, Bevilacqua has invested in a series of early stage companies, including Viagogo, ActionX (sold to WPP in 2015), ThePostGame, Lyft, AirBnB, SpaceX, and Unscriptd (merged with The Players Tribune in 2018), among others. In April 2018, Bevilacqua co-founded SImpleBet, a New York based sports gambling company, where he also serves as chairman.

Earlier in his career, Bevilacqua worked at Nike as the Director of Global Negotiations and League Affairs and also held key roles at Major League Baseball, The Baseball Network, and NBC Sports, where he won a 1988 Emmy for his role in broadcasting the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Bevilacqua is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University where he was also an NCAA All-American wrestler. In 2012, he was elected into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, OK.

Matt Hutchings, KSE Media Ventures, President and CEO

Matt Hutchings became chief operating officer and EVP of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in October of 2013. Reporting to the President and CEO, Hutchings supports all KSE business and venue operations. KSE owns and operates the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, and Colorado Mammoth professional sports teams, the Pepsi Center, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, and Paramount Theatre sports and entertainment venues, as well as various additional affiliated and related businesses.

In addition to his role as COO of KSE, Hutchings is the president and CEO of KSE Media Ventures. This portfolio includes the Altitude Sports & Entertainment regional television network; four Denver based radio stations: Mix 100FM, Kool 105FM, Altitude Sports 92.5FM, and Altitude Sports Radio 950AM; the Outdoor Sportsman Group which is comprised of three national television networks: The Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, and World Fishing Network; 15 outdoor industry leading publications; as well as My Outdoor TV and Major League Fishing, a partnership with Professional Bass Anglers. Additional businesses under the media group include Skycam and Cablecam, Winnercom Productions, and the KSE Network Operations Center.

In 2003, Hutchings joined Kroenke Sports as chief operating officer and EVP of Altitude Sports & Entertainment, being promoted to president and CEO of Altitude in 2010. In 2012, he was appointed president and GM by Comcast / NBC Sports to launch their new sports network, Comcast Sportsnet – Houston, under a partnership with the Houston Rockets and Houston Astros baseball team. In 2013, Hutchings rejoined Kroenke Sports in his current roles.

From 1997 – 2004, Hutchings was president and CEO of HMG International, a global creative services and advertising firm. Prior to his role with HMGI, Hutchings spent six years overseas with stints in both Hong Kong and Rome, Italy, as an original team member launching and operating both STAR TV in Asia, and Orbit Satellite Television and Radio throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Hutchings graduated from Texas A&M and attended graduate school at the University of Houston.

Scott Shapiro, Sinclair Broadcast Group, VP / Corporate Development

Scott Shapiro is vice president / corporate development for Sinclair Broadcast Group with responsibilities encompassing mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, sports, and emerging networks. He sits on the board of Marquee Sports Network, Stadium, Zypmedia, ScoreStream, and Burst.

Prior to joining Sinclair in 2011, Shapiro spent almost a decade in institutional equity research in New York with Morgan Stanley and Prudential Equity Group covering a variety of industries. He also founded and ran Proprietary Research, LLC, a company that provided custom research services to hedge funds.

Shapiro began his career as a CPA for PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. He holds a B.A. in history from the University of Rochester and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Mark Shuken, Pac-12 Networks, President

Mark Shuken is a widely respected media, sports, and entertainment leader with a track record of driving business results at both major established and emerging sports networks. As president of Pac-12 Networks, Shuken is responsible for leading the country’s first national television network to be wholly owned by institutions of higher education.

Shuken brings to Pac-12 Networks two decades of experience in growing revenue, distribution, and overall value for sports networks. His prior leadership roles include running sports networks for major media companies such as Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Liberty Media, and Fox Sports, including having worked directly with many Pac-12 universities.

At Time Warner Cable Sports Networks, Shuken led the creation of three regional sports networks for the Los Angeles Lakers, the LA Dodgers, and the LA Galaxy from the ground up. He was also responsible for crafting the brand strategy and brand identity of the nation’s first Spanish-language RSN. Additionally, Shuken led the management of TWC’s seven proprietary local sports channels.

As president and CEO of DirecTV Sports Networks, Shuken led branding, content, cross-promotional, and acquisition strategies to increase asset value and subscriber acquisition. Before that, as president and CEO of Liberty Sports Group, he created and led a stand-alone division of regional sports networks for Liberty Media Corporation, where he significantly increased earnings, resulting in a more than 60 percent increase in net asset value when the division was sold.

Prior to that, at Fox Sports Net Northwest, Shuken was responsible for a significant increase in distribution, ratings, and brand presence, including through programming strategies and partnership agreements with both professional and collegiate teams. For several years, he beat income targets by more than 30 percent annually.

Previously, Shuken also served as president of Rivals Networks, a leading digital network of over 600 sports websites, where he increased gross revenues by 400% and entered into distribution deals with major digital media companies.

A graduate of Santa Clara University, Shuken has also shared his expertise as an adjunct professor in communications at the University of Washington and Santa Clara University. Shuken additionally serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations: the Jim Mora Count on Me Foundation and NextStep Fitness.

Password must contain the following:

A lowercase letter

A capital (uppercase) letter

A number

Minimum 8 characters