Pre-eminent global sporting leaders will again converge on Melbourne in late-March 2023 for the second staging of SportNXT, the international thought-leadership summit designed to shape the future of sport.

Backed by the Victorian Government for a further two years, the conference will feature an unrivalled line-up of global and domestic leaders, providing delegates extraordinary insights from – and access to – the most credentialled voices in world sport and business.

Staged at Melbourne & Olympic Park’s state-of-the-art facility CENTREPIECE, the 2023 event will take place from 28-30 March. The summit’s third day will again be reserved for site visits curated by SportNXT and the Victorian Government that showcase the array of world-class sports infrastructure in and around Melbourne.

SportNXT 2023 will feature more than 50 leading industry executives, both in-person and virtually, with the first announcement confirming the likes of Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm, International Cricket Council Chair Greg Barclay, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby, Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the Victorian Commonwealth Games 2026 Peggy O’Neal AO, Salesforce CEO and Director for Rugby Australia and Rugby World Cup board member Pip Marlow, Seek CEO and Chair of NZ Rugby Commercial Ventures Ian Narev. 

The line-up also features high-profile returning speakers, including renowned broadcast figure David Hill AM, News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller, Australian Sports Commission Chair Josephine Sukkar AM andHead of Sports for Star & Disney India Sanjog Gupta.

SportNXT Chair Eddie McGuire said a series of further speaker announcements are planned in the coming months.

“Building on the success of our inaugural event, our ambition is to create the most formidable sport leadership summit globally, gathering revered international, regional, and domestic c-suite sporting leaders to probe the things that matter to ensure sport is ready for the inevitable change in the years to come,” Mr McGuire said. 

With the vision of highly-respected sports executives in McGuire and Bart Campbell and a brains-trust that includes leading sports futurist Scott Dinsdale, the summit has established an ambitious conference agenda that will appeal to all current and emerging sector leaders.

Headlined by five blockbuster keynote sessions, feature-panels and break-out sessions that will tackle some of the biggest issues, trends and opportunities sport will face in the decades to come, including:

The State of Sport – What’s keeping the industry’s C-suite up at night? A look at the emergent opportunities and challenges in the sport ecosystem.

The Golden Decade – From the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Rugby World Cup, to the Olympics, a look at the effects and opportunities of the Asia-Pacific mega events cycle over the next decade.

ESG – What do E & S actually mean for sport, and how can organisations turn positive intent into tangible impact?

Women & Sport – Accelerating sustainability, commercialisation, and performance of women’s sport.

Leadership and Culture – How do individuals and organisations find their meaning, purpose and culture? How do leading teams and organisations deliver greater performance and outcomes in high pressure environments?

Dedicated Sessions – From the ‘streaming wars’, to social media, to the metaverse. Discrete streams will allow attendees to do a deep dive into key topics on the future of media, sports marketing, technology and commercial rights.

SportNXT Director, Bart Campbell, said: “Melbourne is an internationally recognised leader in the major events industry so it is a natural home for a global sports summit of this magnitude, and is aptly timed to coincide with the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix week.

“We are delighted to confirm that SportNXT will be returning to the city for a further two years after the overwhelmingly successful inaugural event that saw an unprecedented line-up of global thought leaders.

“The event would not be possible without the support of the Victorian Government.”

New for delegates in 2023 is the opportunity to explore topics in greater depth through interactive, concurrent breakout streams. There will also be greater opportunities to network and connect with global and domestic leaders throughout the conference.

“SportNXT 2023 will be a nursery for cutting-edge innovation and sector-shaping ideas,” Mr Campbell added.

“The business to business and business to Government opportunities generated at SportNXT 2022 were huge, with 6,000 business interactions happening across the summit in 2022.

“SportNXT 2022 survey results showed 99 per cent of attendees would recommend SportNXT to colleagues or other businesses. Businesses in our industry can’t afford to miss the best-practice insights, and rare collaboration opportunities on offer, as we corral the brightest minds in sport. There’s no issue too big to tackle or opportunity too far-fetched to realise at SportNXT 2023.”

SportNXT 2023 delegate passes are now on sale with a special pre-Christmas Early bird offer available. With over 1000 delegates expected to attend, delegates are encouraged to take advantage of the special pre-Christmas price to avoid disappointment.

SportNXT looks forward to making further speaker announcements of genuine global significance in the coming weeks. For more information for delegates, partners and stakeholders please visit www.sportnxt.org