Office Hours w/ Kelsey Smith (Partner at East Village Sports Group)
What Actually Gets Built (And Funded) in Sports Today
A live conversation on investing, opportunity, and execution across sports, media, and venture.
There’s no shortage of ideas in sports right now - new companies, capital, and opportunities across teams, media, and technology.
But not everything gets built and not everything gets funded.
This session looks at how opportunities are actually evaluated - and how operators, investors, and partners decide where to spend time, capital, and attention.
What we’ll cover:
How investors and executives evaluate opportunities across sports and venture
What actually stands out - and what gets passed on
How executives can engage with startups, capital, and emerging opportunities
Q&A with an operator working across investing and strategy
In conversation with Arena Member:
Kelsey Smith - Partner at East Village Sports Group and an experienced operator across sports, venture, and startups.
Kelsey’s career sits at the intersection of investing and execution. From her early work at SeventySix Capital to now helping lead EVSG, she works closely with teams, brands, and emerging companies shaping the future of sports.
A former Division I athlete, she brings both an operator’s mindset and an investor’s lens to how opportunities are evaluated and built.
This session is most relevant for:
Executives across sports, media, and entertainment
Professionals exploring investment, advisory, or board-level opportunities
Leaders looking to better understand how capital and opportunity are moving across the industry
Why Arena hosts these conversations
Most conversations about what’s actually working happen behind closed doors.
Arena Office Hours brings those perspectives into a smaller, curated setting - led by Arena Members - so you can hear how leaders are thinking and ask the questions you don’t get to ask elsewhere.
→ Register to attend - limited capacity.
About Arena
Arena is a curated member network for leaders across sports, media, and entertainment. Through weekly curated introductions and intimate industry gatherings, Arena helps members build the relationships that lead to new partnerships, investments, and career opportunities. Led by industry insiders from the NFL, NBA, and LinkedIn, Arena is the network where the industry meets. Apply to join at arenatalent.com.