SportsTravel Podcast

For years, the state of Maine has had a sports commission. And for years, the public face of that organization has been Sheila Brennan Nee. The efforts to get a dedicated sports marketing effort in Maine are similar to the launches in other states. But the glue has been Sheila, who was involved in those early formation efforts and has more or less led the charge to bring sports events to destinations across the state.
Sheila recently announced that she would retire from the position at the end of this year after 11 years guiding the effort. In this conversation, SportsTravel Publisher Jason Gewirtz sits down with her and talk about how that journey began, those initial early wins and what advice she has for the next generation of sports tourism professionals.
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]Andrew Kurka lives by a simple motto: "Work hard, have grit, and don't quit."
That spirit has served him well for years, from his days growing up in Alaska, through the devastating injury that rendered him unable to walk, and ultimately to multiple medals at the Paralympic Games. In Italy last winter, he won a bronze medal in the men's super-G sitting competition and then was elected as a flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
In this episode of the SportsTravel Podcast, SportsTravel Managing Editor Ted Keith talks with Kurka about his remarkable life, including the ways in which he continues to not just inspire people from afar but give hands-on help to others in his situation and how he lives his motto every day.
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You may have noticed that one of the world’s largest sporting events has begun, the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Destinations across the United States, Canada and Mexico have known for years that these weeks are coming, but now that they are finally here, we thought we’d take some time as an editorial team and talk about where we’ve been, what we expect, and maybe even some predictions on how the U.S. team will fare and who may win it all. In this episode, SportsTravel's editors break down our thoughts of which host cities may stand to benefit most, what the legacy of this event may ultimately look like and what the sports events industry should be looking at most closely as the games proceed.
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For decades, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association has been polling Americans on which sports and activities they participate in and how often. The result is the Topline Participation Report, an annual survey that goes into amazing detail on 126 different sports and activities ranging from basketball to birdwatching. By tracking those rates — both those who participate casually and those who participate regularly in a given sport or activity — SFIA has a wealth of data, including which of those sports and activities are on the rise and which are declining. They can also break down those stats by age, gender and demographics, a bevy of information that any sports event organizer or destination should be interested in digesting.
[article_sidebar]Some of the headlines from this year’s report: Americans are moving more than they ever have, some 250 million people reporting at least some level of activity in something, which is a record. And yet, most are still not meeting the minimum recommended threshold of moderate physical activity. And pickleball? It’s rise to the top over the past few years is no joke and continues to position the sport as the fastest-growing in the United States by participation. We’ll get into why that is and what it means for the future, as well as many other aspects of this wide-ranging report with Jenny Karn, the senior director for SFIA who played a key role in this year’s research.
And we’ll also explore SFIA’s new 2034WARD initiative, which aims to take advantage of the mega events headed to North America over the next decade to inspire the next generation to try new sports.
In this episode, Karn will break down SFIA’s take on the report and which sports could be the next to capture the attention of the American public.
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George Washington University sports management professor Lisa Delpy Neirotti has just attended her 23rd consecutive Olympic Games, once again playing a volunteer role at the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina. Along the way, she has become a keen observer of the logistics behind the Games, what works and what doesn’t. In this discussion with SportsTravel Publisher Jason Gewirtz, who was also in Milan and Cortina, she discusses her grades for the Games. We break down the pluses and minuses, including the Opening Ceremony, transportation, signage, volunteers, food and beverage, venues, overall atmosphere and more.
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