Center for Sports Media

Gala to Inaugurate

Honored Robin Roberts

In September, the Center for Sports Media hosted a gala at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. This event was more than just a fundraiser — it was a way to announce the Center’s intentions to the Seton Hall community and all of our supporters.

With Bob Ley ‘76 as the Center’s founder, Robin Roberts became the first journalist to be honored by the Center. The President, Provost, Deans, Regents and Trustees were invited, which received prominent coverage by news media. Students were invited to cover the event, and others served as ambassadors to the community.

The gala served as a way to announce the Center’s intentions and make a statement about the principles and ethics we look to uphold as an engaged part of the Seton Hall community.

Premier Programming

WNBA player Elizabeth Williams anchored a panel with TJ Quinn and Bob Ley about the detainment of Brittney Griner in Russia and other WNBA issues. Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss were featured in “Equity, Influence and the Next Generation,” which highlighted the tennis stars’ long push for economic equity in women’s sports. Few people have witnessed this history in the same

By the Numbers 750

ATTENDEES AT EVENTS

47.7M TOTAL VIEWERS*

9 HEADLINE EVENTS

30 VOLUNTEERS

43 DONORS way, and King is one of the few sports icons who will, when the sports history books are written, have her own chapter. The event engaged the University community, specifically including participation from the Greater Newark Tennis and Education program, affiliated with the Department of Educational Studies.

Adena Jones, as the social strategy lead for Twitter, spoke in November. As one of the few Black women in that role at a leading company, Jones discussed frankly the experience of being in a room of decision-makers, and how she became comfortable with reframing those conversations based on her experiences and knowledge of different cultural expectations of different online communities.

The Center also hosted a panel discussion called “The NFL: Money, Power, Respect,” featuring former NFL player and two-time Super Bowl champion Damien Woody, NFL Players Association Assistant Executive Director George Atallah, ESPN’s NFL analyst Kimberley Martin and two-time Pulitzer winner Don Van Natta. The panel, moderated by Bob Ley, discussed how football became the definitive American sport, setting national conversation while navigating scandal and interal discord.