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The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, in partnership with Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle, is proud to introduce the inaugural Bay Area Sports Business Impact Awards – a new annual program recognizing the individuals and organizations shaping the future of sport across the region.

Few regions in the country can match the Bay Area's depth and breadth as a sports destination. Home to professional franchises across every major league, a robust collegiate athletics landscape, and a growing infrastructure of emerging and youth sports organizations, the Bay Area has long been one of the country's premier sports markets. This year – having hosted both the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup – its standing as a global stage for sport is clearer than ever. The Bay Area Sports Business Impact Awards are designed to recognize the individuals and organizations who make that ecosystem thrive.

The awards are also built to give back. Rather than a cash prize, each award is tied to a donation – directed either to a charity chosen in the recipient's honor or to a scholarship fund for Leavey's MS in Sports Business program. The recognition matters, but so does what it makes possible for someone else.

“The San Francisco Chronicle is proud to partner with the Leavey School of Business to help recognize all the wonderful innovative and philanthropic work being done by sports leaders in the Bay Area,” said Brian North, senior vice president of strategic brand partnerships at Hearst. “On the heels of the Superbowl and World Cup, this is the perfect time to recognize the individuals and organizations that make this one of the most dynamic sports ecosystems in the world.”   

Five awards make up the inaugural program:

• Sports Innovator of the Year – For an individual or organization that has reimagined what's possible in sports, whether through analytics, fan experience, or technology that opens the game to more people
• John Beam Community Impact Award – Selected by the San Francisco Chronicle in partnership with the Beam family to honor those who have used sport to strengthen Bay Area communities
• Ethical Leadership Award – Honoring executives, coaches, and administrators who lead with integrity and hold the line on principle
• Athlete Game Changer Award – Celebrating competitors whose influence reaches beyond their own statistics to push for meaningful change
• Sports Business Trailblazer – For bold thinkers who have reshaped how the industry operates and cleared a path for those coming up behind them

Finalists and recipients will be identified through a nomination and judging process that includes a distinguished panel of Bay Area sports industry leaders and students from Leavey's MS in Sports Business program. Recipients will be celebrated at a gala this November.

"The Bay Area is one of the most dynamic sports markets in the world, and Leavey has long been committed to preparing the next generation of leaders who will shape it," said Naren Agrawal, Interim Dean of the Leavey School of Business. "Through our Master of Science in Sports Business program and now these awards, we're investing in the people and ideas that will define the future of this industry – right here in our own backyard."

Judges and further information will be announced in the coming weeks.