NFL Cornerback Jonathan Jones Supports Youth Coding Challenge, Forms $20000 STEM Scholarship – SportTechie

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Veteran digital technology exec and serial entrepreneur David Nugent has co-founded his fifth services company in sports, Next League, branding its core offering as “thought leadership as a service.”

N.Y.-based Next League is taking a “for us, by us” approach to its membership in which clients will not simply consume but also participate in newsletters, podcasts, events and white papers that the company is producing. Initial clients include NASCAR and several more to be announced in the coming weeks. With 20+ employees to start, the idea is to curate thought leadership that can benefit the broader sports, media, entertainment and wellness industries.

“What we found over the years is, as we’ve run client summits and other events where they get to be with each other, they gain the most from hearing from each other,” said Nugent, who is serving as Next League’s CEO.

The opportunity, Nugent said, is in guiding teams and leagues through the digital transformation presented by Web3. Blockchain, NFTs, cryptocurrencies and the metaverse are proliferating the industry, and Next League hopes to be a consultancy that can provide the right context and strategy for implementation of those as well as other growing sectors such as sports betting.

“I’ve lived through Web 1 and Web 2, and now we’re going into Web 3, which is infinitely more confusing, if nothing else, at least at this point,” he said. Nugent: “We’re not selling a product or a platform, it’s really more about, ‘How do we help them think through those processes and then assemble the best technologies for them in order to achieve whatever goals they have?’”

Nugent most helped lead Omnigon Communications in ’08, with a focus on shaping digital content, building an audience and then retaining it. Infront acquired that business in ’16 and rebranded the digital sports marketing company as iX.co, where Nugent worked as chief commercial officer until April. During a hiatus last summer, Nugent began reflecting on building successful services organizations and turned those notes into a book, emphasizing leadership and culture. His partner at Omnigon and iX.co, Mike Grushin, had created his own project on youth development called Fearless+.

Nugent: “As we were talking about where those two things overlap, we realized, ‘Wow, if we created a culture that was based on mentorship and thought leadership and ethics and trust and also could provide the kinds of results that we have decades of experience providing, we might not only be able to attract a bunch of …….

Source: https://www.sporttechie.com/nfl-cornerback-jonathan-jones-supports-youth-coding-challenge-forms-20000-stem-scholarship