December 20, 2023 • 26 mins
Adam Neuman is the Chief of Staff and Special Advisor to the President for the Baltimore Ravens. A Baltimore, MD area native and licensed attorney, Neuman serves as strategic counsel and manages all administrative, operational, financial, and legal activities for the President of the organization. Prior to joining the Ravens in 2023, Neuman served as the Chief of Staff for Strategy and Operations & Deputy General Counsel for the Big Ten Conference. Adam joins Nick to discuss his sports business career path, the important life lessons you can learn from sports, and how to instill better values in youth sports.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
If you can succeed in sports them. When I say succeed,
they don't mean just perform thoughtfully and score a lot
of points. I mean if you can succeed as a
teammate and you're going to figure out how to be
a good teammate in the workplace, you can succeed.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Pick somebody up when they're down.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You're going to probably succeed better as a father when
you've got to pick your kid up. So you know,
these lessons are really critical because I think they're really
ironed out and even full display in sports.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
This is the Reform Sports Project.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I'll podcast about restoring healthy balance and perspective in all
areas of sports through education and advocacy. Hi, this is
Nick Bonacor from the Reform Sports Podcast. Today, I'm speaking
with Adam Newman, the chief of Staff and Special Advisor
to the President from the Baltimore Ravens. Prior to joining
the Ravens in twenty twenty three, Newman served as the
chief of Staff for Strategy and Operations and Deputy council
(00:51):
for the Big Ten Conference. Adam and I discuss his
career path, the important lessons you learn from sports, and
how to instill better values in youth.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That got a freaking awesome guest.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Chief of Staff, Special Advisor to the President of the
Baltimore Ravens, Adam Newman. Adam Man, great to connect. Thanks
for coming on, bro.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Thank you brother. It's good to be here and always
great to talk to friends.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Well, I appreciate you Man, I love your energy. Hey,
oh new gig. You were with the Big Ten, I
mean real quick for the audience, I mean, you got
this wonderful new gig. You're from Maryland, all this going on,
Can you give us a background as to how the
hell you ended up you know with the Ravens in
the world you were in now your previous background with
in the Big Ten and kind of what got you here?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, I think you know, life is about relationships, and
it's about really giving it your all and doing the
right thing. And that's sort of I think been the
story of my career. You know, I'm a lifelong of
Baltimorean at heart. My grandfather was the longest working employee
ever in the history of the state of Maryland, for
over sixty years working bridges, graduating at Johns Hopkins at
(01:54):
like age twenty back when that was possible and then
sort of grinded through that and just stayed in that.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Job and did great work for the state of Maryland.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And that's always been in my blood, always a lifelong
MEMORIALS Ravens fan. My parents are University of Maryland, the Lums,
and always felt close to that connection to that school,
and sports was just really big in my family. And
I certainly was not athletically gifted enough to pursue any
sort of career in athletics, but I always wanted to
be near athletics, and I believe that sports was a
(02:22):
reminder that people could be bigger than themselves, and I
think nowadays you really need that reminder. It's a permission
to dream.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
That's what sports really is.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
It shows you that you can reach deeper, too, and
I wanted to be around that. I wanted to touch that.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And I was.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Blessed to serve as a legal intern for the Minnesota
Vikings and worked my butt off and established a close
relationship with then chief operating officer Kevin Warren, who ended
up becoming the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. And
at the time I was working as a lawyer at
Simpson Thatcher and Capital Markets.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
When you made the call to me.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And it even started prior to that. When I was
at Yeshiva University as an undergrad. I was making twenty
four thousand dollars a year as a fellow, and they
allowed me to sit in some of the board meetings,
and that's a credit to the president of the university.
But that's where I met mister Mark Wilf, who owned
the Vikings and connected me to mister Kevin Warren at
the time, and worked really hard as a legal intern.
(03:16):
Kind of always wanted to be that sticky note if
Kevin Warren ever, moved from the Vikings and said hey,
I need somebody to help, and that's sort of what happened,
and he left to be the commissioner of the Big Ten,
which you might remember was a surprise to a lot
of folks. I think other folks with more collegiate experience,
I think we're sort of the front runners. But Kevin
blew them away, which is not surprising, and met with
(03:36):
those presidents and chancellors and did incredible work at the
Big Ten conference over the last four years and now
finds himself as the president of the Chicago Bears. When
he decided to move I kind of thought, I really
want to break back into professional sports. And this opportunity
came thanks to president Sashi Brown and Eric Tacosta and
incredible owner Steve Bushatti, and the opportunity to return home
(03:59):
where I had of you know, three grandparents living, including
my grandfather who I mentioned, two brothers, my broth, both
my brothers who I love dearly.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And their kids, six nieces and nephews, both my parents.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Tons of friends and family and of course a grade
seven to eleven that I've been patronizing for for many years.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
It's just an incredible opportunity to be back. Man.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I love it, dude, love your energy, and I love
how you brought up the word relationships, because I mean,
that's something we talk about a lot, and quite frankly,
I'm always someone speaking a lot about the doors that
can open as a result of sport participation. And you know,
nowadays it seems like and I don't want to just
say nowadays, because I mean kids dream. I love how
(04:42):
you said that too. Sports gives you the opportunity to dream.
But let's face it, not everyone can plain in the
Big Ten. Certainly, not everyone can play in the NFL. Hell,
not even kids can be Division three athletes like I was,
you know, or you know, junior college like you know.
Sports ends at the highly competitive levels for everybody at
some point. The question is when the doesn't mean you
can't take that experience and find a path in sports
(05:04):
or in anything, and you leverage those relationships to help
you find your passion your career in whatever space that is.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
So you know, what is it about.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Your experience growing up that made you find your passion
in sports and helped you propel to get to where
you are now?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I think it's really the lessons you learn in sports, right,
I mean I was always part of organized sports.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I don't think I have a memory of childhood not
doing something, whether it was a Jewish community center soccer league,
or playing volleyball or newcom during Color War, if that's
still a sport.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
If it is a sport, I apologize. I just don't know, you.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Know, playing flag football, tackle football, basketball tennants. Again I
say playing loosely. Please please don't think of me as
some gazelle running down the field.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's not what it was.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But just you learn so much playing sports. You learn
how to win. What that means, you learn how to
be gracious, You learn how to pick up your teammates,
You learn how to control your fire and your anger
and your passion.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You learn how to get better.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Right, you start saying to yourself, you know what I
want to I want to start dribbling better. So next
thing you know, you're watching the television at nine o'clock
at night and you got two basketballs and you're just
dribbling them as much as you can. So it feels
like it's like on a string for a certain point.
I remember when I started growing and my father wanted
to change my jump shot because I was shooting from
the waist and I needed to elevate that more, you know,
(06:24):
to a more professional jump shot. And I remember the
hours I spent perfecting that and getting better and you know,
becoming a better three point shooter. So there's just so
many pieces of life that when I look at it,
I say, well, when's that time that I really remember feeling.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Out of gas or pushing a little harder than I
thought I could.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Or picking up a teammate, or any of these type
of examples that folks have in sports. And I think
that's what makes it so powerful, and that's what made
me want to be around it, and having that is
the baseline for your subject matter every day. It's just
a it's a huge opportunity to put a smile on
your face when you wake up because you know that
you're working in a where there's growth, where there's potential,
where people like I said, or keep on.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Dreaming, how do we take because everything you're saying, not
only do I agree with. It's one of the reasons
I started the Reform Sports Project because it seems like
we've lost our way. You know, I know things change
with time, there's adaptation, things evolve. Sports has evolved, The
industry has evolved quite frankly, Adam. It's very infrequent now
where kids are playing different sports in different seasons. Every
(07:25):
single sport is year round. It's very unique to have
strong local community leagues like recreation sports. Everything is travel
which is great. There's a lot of advantages and things
that come with that. But as someone who is working
and I mean, let's face it, the premiere, you know
how many kids aspire to go play in the Big ten, right,
the Big ten, the SEC, the ACC the Pack, to
all these major power five quote unquote conferences. Even though
(07:48):
there's conference realignment all the time. You know, there's a
tricka down effect.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Kids want to go play at Ohio State, they want
to go play at you know, whatever the hell it is,
you know, at Clemson. You know, I know it's the ACC,
but they want to go play Michigan. They want to
go play at these big time power schools. They see
kids now getting nil money and that's now happening even
in high school ranks. You know, what is the impact
that you think has transpired with the changes that you're seeing,
(08:13):
particularly at the Big ten or in these major power conferences.
How do you think that maybe impacting youth sports?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Because it's costing so much money, there's so much more
of a chase to to go D one and play
at this level, and the pressure, pressure, pressure, you know,
is there anything that you've seen that as that has
negatively come as a result of the big shining star
that's on major college sports.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I think anytime the emphasis is money and something as
pure as what sports should be at its fundamental piece,
I think you lose something. So the more that that
trickles down to even like you said, like the junior
ranks and everything becomes about you know, winning and losing
and growing.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I think you really you.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Lose some of the purity of the sport, and you
lose some of the love of the sport, of why
people seek to be great. I mean you brought up
travel teams. I'll be totally frank with you. My nephew's
on a travel baseball team. I love him to death.
When I was growing up, he would not have been
on a travel team. There's just no way in hell.
Travel was reserved for almost really elite players. And I
think the marketing now is so funny, like everyone's on
(09:18):
the travel team almost because that's what's so.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Important, is winning.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And I'll be completely straight with you, I could not believe.
I was at one of his games and each of
the players had warm up music, like walking up to
warm up music.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And I was I turned to my brother, I said, dude,
this is wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Man.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I'm just telling you, you're not seeing it. And I'm
telling you there's something that's rubbing me the wrong way
about this. Like I used to play basketball with shirts
and skins, and forgive me if that's inappropriate on this podcast, but.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
That's the way we played at Towson basketball camp. That's
how we played at Loyo with Maryland Basketball.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Camp and my mom picked me up from camp and
I was excited to be there, and I was sweating
through the roof in June in Baltimore, and it just
isn't that way anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And I think that if you destroy act folks from the.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Beauty of the game of just playing for the sake
of playing, I think it does detract from some of
these lessons and what's important. So you know, to your point,
you look at even at the college ranks when you
think about nil and the transfer portal, allowing folks to
just kind of move around as quickly as possible, and
in some ways some would say, you know, avoiding certain
commitments or moving around. And I'm not sure that all
(10:21):
these rules are going to be solved in one day,
and I'm not sure all the fixes and the band
aids are worthwhile. So I think to your point, we
have to just keep reemphasizing that sports for sports, and
if that ends up being Division one in the NFL and.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
All those great things, that's terrific.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
But sports are for everyone, man. I mean, sports are
not just for the one percent. And I mean, dude,
it's really the one percent the NCAA has a great
commercial that you know, ninety nine percent of student athletes
do not become professional athletes. So and I like to add,
and by the way of that one percent, I mean
only like point zero zero zero one percent are going
(10:55):
to the NFL and the NBA.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Some of those other folks are going, you know, two.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Different countries, and not all of those are great for
their families, and not all of those provide great salaries.
So and we talk about the folks that are actually
making money. And then once you're in the NFL, I
don't need to tell you the statistics. I mean, what's
the average you're in the NFL for for a few
years and then you're out. I mean, so you really
need to prepare kids to say sports is a part
of your life, whether it's helping you make money or not.
And if we're not doing that, we're doing a real disservice.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I couldn't agree with you more, dude.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
And you know, there was, you know, a recent situation
that's been all over the news and it's really you know,
and I've been in enough locker rooms to see situations
like this, but you know what's unfortunately, you know, taking
place in the media now with with Northwestern, and it's
certainly not the only case where you know, hazing has
taken on, you know, a life of its own, and
(11:43):
it's really detrimental. But you know, bullying, these things are
are situations where and I know we're talking about major
collegiate sports. Been all over the headlines, you know with Northwestern,
but that stuff happens.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
At all at all ages.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And you know, you mentioned being a great teammate earlier, like,
how are ways in which parents you know, or at
least for instance, when you were in the Big ten
or even now in the professional like, like, what are
ways in which that I guess as leaders, right, as coaches,
as administrators, we can go about trying to put measures
in place to prevent these things from happening beforehand, Like
(12:18):
what's a way to maybe not allow that particularly. I
mean again, people hear these stories and they think it's funny,
and you know, and and you know, when you're younger
to make fun of kids, you know, kids are it
is what it is. I have six of my own
and got almighty five of them are boys, and they're
all over each other all the time. Right, But there's
a line and when do we know when that line
(12:40):
is crossed?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, I think to begin, I would tell you that
I think education starts in the home. You know, so
much of how I think folks turn out as a
result of the folks that they're surrounded with, and primarily
that's their siblings and their parents, and their grandparents and
their relatives. And they need to be taught what respect
looks like at a very very young age, and that
respect needs to be closely watched, and it has to
(13:04):
be clear that you know, a lot of people speculate
and talk about if you want to see how someone
really is, like see how they're playing on the basketball court,
or see how they're playing on the football field, because
sometimes you'll see people who are really kind and generous,
but then suddenly they're on the field and they're suddenly
not violent in a good way. Of course, it's good
to be violent and hit people in the proper way.
But I mean, you know, like you're alluding to like
(13:25):
being a poor teammate and you know, ranking on your
fellow friend and doing things that are sort of crossing
that line. And I think, you know, there's no right answer,
There is no bright line rule.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
So I think what you're speaking.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
About, but I think again, I think it's about educating
people on the way they need to behave and the
way they need to comport themselves on and off the field.
And that's a tall task when emotions are high and
sweat is flowing and sometimes blood is flowing too.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
But it's something we got.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
To rise up to because, as we're talking about very
clearly now, and I'm very serious about this, like sports
are a metaphor for life, man.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I mean, if you.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Can succeed in sports, And when I say succeed, I
don't mean just perform thoughtfully and score a lot of points.
I mean if you can succeed as a teammate, and
you're going to figure out how to be a good
teammate in the workplace. In the workforce, if you can
succeed you know, to pick somebody up when they're down,
you're going to probably succeed better as a father when
you got to pick your kid up. So you know,
these lessons are really really critical because I think they're
(14:20):
really ironed out and are really on full display in sports.
I mean, some of my best memories I wasn't even
there for they're just watching them on TV.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Like I remember there was a softball player and she
I think broke her leg like running through first base,
and the opposing team like picked her up, carried her
and tapped her other foot on each base as she rounded.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Second, third, and home and it cost them the game.
And I'm pretty sure had they not picked her up,
they would have lost the game. So there were serious consequences.
But you can't forget a moment like that. You almost
feel like it's part of you.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
When we returned, Adam and I dive into prioritizing lessons
over performance when it comes.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
To youth sports.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Where we left off, Adam and I were about to
dive into personal responsibility and whose obligation is to instill
better values in youth sports. It starts at home, right,
I mean, you're talking about accountability, and at least that's
what I took away from what you were saying in
that very beginning, their accountability.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
And it's so easy to get lost.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
I love how you keep bringing it back to extract
the lessons, and it's so easy to get lost in
the performance. The wins, like if your kids being a
clown or not being a good teammate, but yet goes
four for four in the baseball game, Like, are we
not going to address the fact that your kid was
a bad teammate, Like that'd be the first thing that
(15:46):
I would be correcting. I don't care how well or
poor my kid performs, that doesn't matter. What matters is
how they treat other people, Like rather than having a
set of glasses on, that's strictly looking at youth sports
from a performance person perspective, like they're in professional ranks
right when we're all being fans cheering for pro sports, Like,
(16:06):
let's let's let's separate the fact that these are professional athletes,
that these are kids. They are learning and like the
NCAA commercial is ninety nine percent of these kids are
going to go professional in something else other than sports,
Like let's remember that the things that they learn along
the way or what are going to serve them through.
It's really hard to keep that on the forefront. Are
there things that are done, you know, in the Big
(16:28):
Ten or even in you know, professional sports from your
standpoint to help people or these athletes or even the parents,
I don't know, like, is there is there education that's
done to help people understand being present, putting things in perspective,
and how to compartmentalize, like, you know, the athletic piece
versus the lesson piece.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I think so for sure. And I think also I'll
start even at the youth level.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I remember my father coached many of my baseball teams.
And again, it's so funny you mentioned this because I
would have never thought about this. I don't even know
who this person is, but there was this award well
with Little League in Baltimore called the Mitchell David Award.
I'm embarrassed to said, I don't know the Mitchell David is.
I'll have to look it up after this podcast. But
the Mitchell David Award on our teams was more important
than who won the MVP.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I mean, the Mitchell David Award was like, I.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Think, if you want the MVP, you might get like
an ice cream call, and if you won the Mitchell
David Award, you were like taking out the dinner.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And the Mitchell David Award was all about sportsmanship.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So that's a coach thoughtfully thinking, yeah, it matters that
we went.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Of course, winning is huge, winning, winning is critically important.
No one's denying that.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I'm a fierce competitor, and I firmly believe that.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
But how you are off the court and.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
How you're doing as a teammate and who you're helping
along the way, and are you cheering on your teammates?
Are you helping teammates with issues? If a new teammate
joins your team, are you helping them around? You know,
I'm a new employee here in Baltimore. You know, there
are so many people here that are going out of
their way to help me do things that are like
jokes to them, like where are the thumbtachs.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I don't know where that is.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
That's a big deal for someone to show you where
that is. You know, that's a Mitchell David type experience.
So that's on the youth level. I think what I've
seen in the Big Ten and certainly at the Ravens,
but I'm really new here is I think very similar
things are valued by the better programs. And I'll say
that even in the Big Ten, I think the best programs,
the best football coaches, the best volleyball coaches, best synchronized
(18:13):
women coaches, they find a way to show value in
ways other than winning, and show you how to win
on and off the field.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
You know, you see the.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
NFL does that obviously with the Walter Payton Man of
the Year and how big a deal that is.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
But I think individually with teams.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
When there are certain rewards that coordinators give or you know,
on the business side, if the president or other folks
on the senior leadership team are awarding folks for performance bonuses,
but they're not just based on how much revenue you
increased for the team. It's not just how many expenditures
you reduced for the team, but it's actually about other qualities,
(18:51):
like how kind you are to people, how inclusive you
are to others. There are ways to put metrics on
those things, and I would encourage everybody to get in
the business putting metrics and putting winning in the hands
of other qualities, not just the precise way, and not
to focus on just the narrow bottom line. I think
the more you do that when that's the only goal,
you find that those teams don't succeed as much.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
So it's interesting because you know, more and more youth
sports is really turning into it's the commercialization, it's the
professionalization of youth sports. Like we mentioned the travel sport thing,
and you know, kids are playing seventy five one hundred
baseball games from a spring and summer, traveling over the country,
getting anil deals really starting to mimic like a college.
You know, we're getting personal trainers, We're taking our kids
(19:34):
to private workouts. We're like I've literally had guests on
that said, yeah, have parents call me and saying, you know,
what's the best way to have my eight year old
train like an eighteen year old? And it's like, you know,
how do I wanted to get a college workout? And
it's like, well, he's eight, you know, like you're not
supposed to, you know, but that's like what people are chasing.
So it's it's almost hard to separate, especially now as
(19:55):
you're seeing more and more athletes compensated and you know
they're still working that out right with nil, what's you know.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
What's the right way to do what's the wrong way
to do it? You know, how do we do so?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Like do administrators do people in charge at the collegiate
ranks need to of these conferences the NC double A,
Do they need to like come out and like literally
say youth sports are not the same, like cut the
ship part of my language, Like we can't be you know,
can't be trying to mimic what we're doing with it,
you know, young adults versus young children. But like, how
do you get that message across to parents and coaches,
(20:25):
particularly the youth coaches. Who are you know, who are
who running these organizations?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I think it's really hard.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You're talking now about like actual values, and when I
talk about values and this is just a personal piece,
I'm like a big personal responsibility person.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I think that sometimes we think too much.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
We ask for whether it's the government or others to
dole out legislation or.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Point out certain things. I don't know that it's on the.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Nc double A or the NFL or any of those
folks to really you know. I mean, yes, they can.
They can be influential because they're they're big people and
know they have influence on the world and on the
world of sports. But I think a lot of it
is again they hate to take it back, is really
going to be on parents, and on communities and on
churches and synagogues and other you know, youth establishments and
(21:14):
other communal folks to get around and say, what are
the values of our family?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
You know what is the responsibility of our family.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I don't think we can just always rely on big
organizations to kick out policy and say, well, it's up
to you to really make sure that youth coaches aren't
as tough or aren't expecting X, Y and Z. I
think we have to personally decide that this is something
that we're not going to stand for at this level.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And that's seven years old.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
You know, I'm not gonna, you know, schlet my kid
to some travel camp because that's the only baseball game
in town. We have to figure out, you know, another place.
And if that means playing on a field that doesn't
have you know, perfect you know, bases everywhere or perfect
lines and the grass is a neatly cut, that's okay,
because that was okay twenty years ago, right, that was
okay fifteen years ago. Now we're talking about how everybody
(21:58):
in needs jerseys with their name on the back. I mean,
I can't even and I know it's cheaper to print,
so I mean, that was another thing I saw on
my nephew's baseball game. I just couldn't believe it, Like
they have names on the back of their journeys for
a ten year old playing baseball.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
That's shocking to me. It's just looking at it just
read to me with warm up.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Music and names on the back that like, what are
we really focusing on right now? Doesn't seem to me
like we're focusing on those right things. But again, I'm
not gonna blame the league. I'm gonna blame my brother.
I'm gonna tell him, heybuddy, like I don't know why
that's a thing, and I don't think that's gonna set
the right example on the right message.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
I love that answer, Like, stop looking for someone to
guide you, stop looking for big business or big leadership.
Like it starts in the home. It starts with making
a decision that is far greater than just you know,
the small time frame your kids are playing a sport,
and really look at it from a vantage point of
how do I want to help shape my child's character?
(22:55):
Like what values do I want to instill in him
or her? And there's no greater influence than a parent
than a guardian if some sort that's who's around the
kid to coaches are impactful, but you know, I don't
know if anyone's is impactful, certainly as as a parent
or guardian so I put putting the onus on on
(23:16):
that I think is such a valid point, you know,
because people nowadays it just seems like, man, we want
to find a scapego want to find a reason why
things are screwed up, And hey, tell me what when
sometimes we got to look in the mirror and just say,
we're not gonna deal with this anymore.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
We're gonna put our foot down.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
We're gonna do what's in the best interests of our
child in our family, because we know at our core values,
you know what this is all about. And and man,
I just think that's a great point that we don't
we don't oftentimes do because it's.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
A lot easier to blame other people.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Well tell me this, Adam, what can we expect from
you going forward now with the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
What are you going to be doing now on your
day to day?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Day to day is really just helping as much as
I can. You know, I'm new.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
When you're new in a job, I think the most
important thing you can do is ask questions. I'm going around.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Meeting as many people as I can, coffees, lunches, whatever
it is that takes.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Just asking people what they do and how I can
help working primarily on the business side, you know, across
different sectors and assisting the president and you know, all
the different various industry points that are critical right now
for the Ravens. And I think ultimately it's a great
football team and a great football town, a great football organization,
a great fan base, great pillars. If I say to myself,
(24:25):
I've always been a Purple fan, and I think historically
and incredibly consistent organization, two Super Bowl since inception, and
pretty much always competitive and a very fierce, tough brand
of football, and anything we can do on the business
side to you know, help the team succeed, not only
again as we've been speaking on the field and winning
(24:45):
games and beating the Steelers and winning the Super Bowl,
but also in addition to helping the community and giving
back to the community, you know, making sure Purple Friday
is special in Baltimore, and ensuring that we're speaking at
local schools and ensuring that our athletes are you know,
professionally speaking at different engagements and giving back to the community.
I mean, that's that's what this town is all about.
(25:05):
That's what drew me back to this town. And I'm
just so excited to keep meeting more people and you know,
helping any way that I can't.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
And so I know you're on social media on Twitter,
where else can people find connect with you and see
what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
You know, I'm on Twitter at Adam J. Newman and
other social media. I guess I'm on LinkedIn. Like LinkedIn,
It's fun to see other people's paths. I always encourage people,
and people say how to break into sports? I say,
do There's a free resource. It's called LinkedIn. You literally
can stalk people and see exactly what they did and
get where they got, and then you can say to yourself,
hey maybe I should go to law school, or hey
(25:38):
maybe I need this master's degree, or hey maybe I
need this type of experience. So I'm a big LinkedIn
fan just for you know, connecting with people. So those
are probably the two primary ones. But I'm always open
to have a conversation. And I'm not a big sleeper.
I preach it, but I don't do it. So I'm
up a lot. So you know, if people shoot me
(25:58):
at a text or you tweet or anything like that,
I'm usually down to catch up and you get to
know people.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Adam Newman I am freaking stoked you came on. I
can't thank enough for sharing. Appreciate the insight, bro. I
wish you nothing but continued success and really appreciate your
chiming in here.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Thank you, brother.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I hope we get to spend more time together soon
and you know, break bread and you know, just keep grinding,
because that's that's.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Really what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Like we said, this is about relationships and just appreciative
of the opportunity to speak and hang.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Out a little bit tonight.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
That's Adam Newman, chief of staff and Special Advisor to
the President of the Baltimore Ravens. Thanks for listening to
the Reform Sports Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, we
would appreciate it if you took a moment to rate
and review our podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
As we work to grow our community.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Of supporters and advocates for more reform sports content, please
subscribe to our newsletter and blog at Reformsports.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Project dot com. You can also follow
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
If you can succeed in sports them. When I say succeed,
they don't mean just perform thoughtfully and score a lot
of points. I mean if you can succeed as a
teammate and you're going to figure out how to be
a good teammate in the workplace, you can succeed.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Pick somebody up when they're down.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You're going to probably succeed better as a father when
you've got to pick your kid up. So you know,
these lessons are really critical because I think they're really
ironed out and even full display in sports.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
This is the Reform Sports Project.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I'll podcast about restoring healthy balance and perspective in all
areas of sports through education and advocacy. Hi, this is
Nick Bonacor from the Reform Sports Podcast. Today, I'm speaking
with Adam Newman, the chief of Staff and Special Advisor
to the President from the Baltimore Ravens. Prior to joining
the Ravens in twenty twenty three, Newman served as the
chief of Staff for Strategy and Operations and Deputy council
(00:51):
for the Big Ten Conference. Adam and I discuss his
career path, the important lessons you learn from sports, and
how to instill better values in youth.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That got a freaking awesome guest.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Chief of Staff, Special Advisor to the President of the
Baltimore Ravens, Adam Newman. Adam Man, great to connect. Thanks
for coming on, bro.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Thank you brother. It's good to be here and always
great to talk to friends.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Well, I appreciate you Man, I love your energy. Hey,
oh new gig. You were with the Big Ten, I
mean real quick for the audience, I mean, you got
this wonderful new gig. You're from Maryland, all this going on,
Can you give us a background as to how the
hell you ended up you know with the Ravens in
the world you were in now your previous background with
in the Big Ten and kind of what got you here?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, I think you know, life is about relationships, and
it's about really giving it your all and doing the
right thing. And that's sort of I think been the
story of my career. You know, I'm a lifelong of
Baltimorean at heart. My grandfather was the longest working employee
ever in the history of the state of Maryland, for
over sixty years working bridges, graduating at Johns Hopkins at
(01:54):
like age twenty back when that was possible and then
sort of grinded through that and just stayed in that.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Job and did great work for the state of Maryland.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And that's always been in my blood, always a lifelong
MEMORIALS Ravens fan. My parents are University of Maryland, the Lums,
and always felt close to that connection to that school,
and sports was just really big in my family. And
I certainly was not athletically gifted enough to pursue any
sort of career in athletics, but I always wanted to
be near athletics, and I believe that sports was a
(02:22):
reminder that people could be bigger than themselves, and I
think nowadays you really need that reminder. It's a permission
to dream.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
That's what sports really is.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
It shows you that you can reach deeper, too, and
I wanted to be around that. I wanted to touch that.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And I was.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Blessed to serve as a legal intern for the Minnesota
Vikings and worked my butt off and established a close
relationship with then chief operating officer Kevin Warren, who ended
up becoming the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. And
at the time I was working as a lawyer at
Simpson Thatcher and Capital Markets.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
When you made the call to me.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And it even started prior to that. When I was
at Yeshiva University as an undergrad. I was making twenty
four thousand dollars a year as a fellow, and they
allowed me to sit in some of the board meetings,
and that's a credit to the president of the university.
But that's where I met mister Mark Wilf, who owned
the Vikings and connected me to mister Kevin Warren at
the time, and worked really hard as a legal intern.
(03:16):
Kind of always wanted to be that sticky note if
Kevin Warren ever, moved from the Vikings and said hey,
I need somebody to help, and that's sort of what happened,
and he left to be the commissioner of the Big Ten,
which you might remember was a surprise to a lot
of folks. I think other folks with more collegiate experience,
I think we're sort of the front runners. But Kevin
blew them away, which is not surprising, and met with
(03:36):
those presidents and chancellors and did incredible work at the
Big Ten conference over the last four years and now
finds himself as the president of the Chicago Bears. When
he decided to move I kind of thought, I really
want to break back into professional sports. And this opportunity
came thanks to president Sashi Brown and Eric Tacosta and
incredible owner Steve Bushatti, and the opportunity to return home
(03:59):
where I had of you know, three grandparents living, including
my grandfather who I mentioned, two brothers, my broth, both
my brothers who I love dearly.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And their kids, six nieces and nephews, both my parents.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Tons of friends and family and of course a grade
seven to eleven that I've been patronizing for for many years.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
It's just an incredible opportunity to be back. Man.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I love it, dude, love your energy, and I love
how you brought up the word relationships, because I mean,
that's something we talk about a lot, and quite frankly,
I'm always someone speaking a lot about the doors that
can open as a result of sport participation. And you know,
nowadays it seems like and I don't want to just
say nowadays, because I mean kids dream. I love how
(04:42):
you said that too. Sports gives you the opportunity to dream.
But let's face it, not everyone can plain in the
Big Ten. Certainly, not everyone can play in the NFL. Hell,
not even kids can be Division three athletes like I was,
you know, or you know, junior college like you know.
Sports ends at the highly competitive levels for everybody at
some point. The question is when the doesn't mean you
can't take that experience and find a path in sports
(05:04):
or in anything, and you leverage those relationships to help
you find your passion your career in whatever space that is.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
So you know, what is it about.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Your experience growing up that made you find your passion
in sports and helped you propel to get to where
you are now?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I think it's really the lessons you learn in sports, right,
I mean I was always part of organized sports.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I don't think I have a memory of childhood not
doing something, whether it was a Jewish community center soccer league,
or playing volleyball or newcom during Color War, if that's
still a sport.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
If it is a sport, I apologize. I just don't know, you.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Know, playing flag football, tackle football, basketball tennants. Again I
say playing loosely. Please please don't think of me as
some gazelle running down the field.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's not what it was.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But just you learn so much playing sports. You learn
how to win. What that means, you learn how to
be gracious, You learn how to pick up your teammates,
You learn how to control your fire and your anger
and your passion.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You learn how to get better.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Right, you start saying to yourself, you know what I
want to I want to start dribbling better. So next
thing you know, you're watching the television at nine o'clock
at night and you got two basketballs and you're just
dribbling them as much as you can. So it feels
like it's like on a string for a certain point.
I remember when I started growing and my father wanted
to change my jump shot because I was shooting from
the waist and I needed to elevate that more, you know,
(06:24):
to a more professional jump shot. And I remember the
hours I spent perfecting that and getting better and you know,
becoming a better three point shooter. So there's just so
many pieces of life that when I look at it,
I say, well, when's that time that I really remember feeling.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Out of gas or pushing a little harder than I
thought I could.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Or picking up a teammate, or any of these type
of examples that folks have in sports. And I think
that's what makes it so powerful, and that's what made
me want to be around it, and having that is
the baseline for your subject matter every day. It's just
a it's a huge opportunity to put a smile on
your face when you wake up because you know that
you're working in a where there's growth, where there's potential,
where people like I said, or keep on.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Dreaming, how do we take because everything you're saying, not
only do I agree with. It's one of the reasons
I started the Reform Sports Project because it seems like
we've lost our way. You know, I know things change
with time, there's adaptation, things evolve. Sports has evolved, The
industry has evolved quite frankly, Adam. It's very infrequent now
where kids are playing different sports in different seasons. Every
(07:25):
single sport is year round. It's very unique to have
strong local community leagues like recreation sports. Everything is travel
which is great. There's a lot of advantages and things
that come with that. But as someone who is working
and I mean, let's face it, the premiere, you know
how many kids aspire to go play in the Big ten, right,
the Big ten, the SEC, the ACC the Pack, to
all these major power five quote unquote conferences. Even though
(07:48):
there's conference realignment all the time. You know, there's a
tricka down effect.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Kids want to go play at Ohio State, they want
to go play at you know, whatever the hell it is,
you know, at Clemson. You know, I know it's the ACC,
but they want to go play Michigan. They want to
go play at these big time power schools. They see
kids now getting nil money and that's now happening even
in high school ranks. You know, what is the impact
that you think has transpired with the changes that you're seeing,
(08:13):
particularly at the Big ten or in these major power conferences.
How do you think that maybe impacting youth sports?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Because it's costing so much money, there's so much more
of a chase to to go D one and play
at this level, and the pressure, pressure, pressure, you know,
is there anything that you've seen that as that has
negatively come as a result of the big shining star
that's on major college sports.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I think anytime the emphasis is money and something as
pure as what sports should be at its fundamental piece,
I think you lose something. So the more that that
trickles down to even like you said, like the junior
ranks and everything becomes about you know, winning and losing
and growing.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I think you really you.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Lose some of the purity of the sport, and you
lose some of the love of the sport, of why
people seek to be great. I mean you brought up
travel teams. I'll be totally frank with you. My nephew's
on a travel baseball team. I love him to death.
When I was growing up, he would not have been
on a travel team. There's just no way in hell.
Travel was reserved for almost really elite players. And I
think the marketing now is so funny, like everyone's on
(09:18):
the travel team almost because that's what's so.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Important, is winning.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And I'll be completely straight with you, I could not believe.
I was at one of his games and each of
the players had warm up music, like walking up to
warm up music.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And I was I turned to my brother, I said, dude,
this is wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Man.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I'm just telling you, you're not seeing it. And I'm
telling you there's something that's rubbing me the wrong way
about this. Like I used to play basketball with shirts
and skins, and forgive me if that's inappropriate on this podcast, but.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
That's the way we played at Towson basketball camp. That's
how we played at Loyo with Maryland Basketball.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Camp and my mom picked me up from camp and
I was excited to be there, and I was sweating
through the roof in June in Baltimore, and it just
isn't that way anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And I think that if you destroy act folks from the.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Beauty of the game of just playing for the sake
of playing, I think it does detract from some of
these lessons and what's important. So you know, to your point,
you look at even at the college ranks when you
think about nil and the transfer portal, allowing folks to
just kind of move around as quickly as possible, and
in some ways some would say, you know, avoiding certain
commitments or moving around. And I'm not sure that all
(10:21):
these rules are going to be solved in one day,
and I'm not sure all the fixes and the band
aids are worthwhile. So I think to your point, we
have to just keep reemphasizing that sports for sports, and
if that ends up being Division one in the NFL and.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
All those great things, that's terrific.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
But sports are for everyone, man. I mean, sports are
not just for the one percent. And I mean, dude,
it's really the one percent the NCAA has a great
commercial that you know, ninety nine percent of student athletes
do not become professional athletes. So and I like to add,
and by the way of that one percent, I mean
only like point zero zero zero one percent are going
(10:55):
to the NFL and the NBA.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Some of those other folks are going, you know, two.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Different countries, and not all of those are great for
their families, and not all of those provide great salaries.
So and we talk about the folks that are actually
making money. And then once you're in the NFL, I
don't need to tell you the statistics. I mean, what's
the average you're in the NFL for for a few
years and then you're out. I mean, so you really
need to prepare kids to say sports is a part
of your life, whether it's helping you make money or not.
And if we're not doing that, we're doing a real disservice.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I couldn't agree with you more, dude.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
And you know, there was, you know, a recent situation
that's been all over the news and it's really you know,
and I've been in enough locker rooms to see situations
like this, but you know what's unfortunately, you know, taking
place in the media now with with Northwestern, and it's
certainly not the only case where you know, hazing has
taken on, you know, a life of its own, and
(11:43):
it's really detrimental. But you know, bullying, these things are
are situations where and I know we're talking about major
collegiate sports. Been all over the headlines, you know with Northwestern,
but that stuff happens.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
At all at all ages.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And you know, you mentioned being a great teammate earlier, like,
how are ways in which parents you know, or at
least for instance, when you were in the Big ten
or even now in the professional like, like, what are
ways in which that I guess as leaders, right, as coaches,
as administrators, we can go about trying to put measures
in place to prevent these things from happening beforehand, Like
(12:18):
what's a way to maybe not allow that particularly. I
mean again, people hear these stories and they think it's funny,
and you know, and and you know, when you're younger
to make fun of kids, you know, kids are it
is what it is. I have six of my own
and got almighty five of them are boys, and they're
all over each other all the time. Right, But there's
a line and when do we know when that line
(12:40):
is crossed?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, I think to begin, I would tell you that
I think education starts in the home. You know, so
much of how I think folks turn out as a
result of the folks that they're surrounded with, and primarily
that's their siblings and their parents, and their grandparents and
their relatives. And they need to be taught what respect
looks like at a very very young age, and that
respect needs to be closely watched, and it has to
(13:04):
be clear that you know, a lot of people speculate
and talk about if you want to see how someone
really is, like see how they're playing on the basketball court,
or see how they're playing on the football field, because
sometimes you'll see people who are really kind and generous,
but then suddenly they're on the field and they're suddenly
not violent in a good way. Of course, it's good
to be violent and hit people in the proper way.
But I mean, you know, like you're alluding to like
(13:25):
being a poor teammate and you know, ranking on your
fellow friend and doing things that are sort of crossing
that line. And I think, you know, there's no right answer,
There is no bright line rule.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
So I think what you're speaking.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
About, but I think again, I think it's about educating
people on the way they need to behave and the
way they need to comport themselves on and off the field.
And that's a tall task when emotions are high and
sweat is flowing and sometimes blood is flowing too.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
But it's something we got.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
To rise up to because, as we're talking about very
clearly now, and I'm very serious about this, like sports
are a metaphor for life, man.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I mean, if you.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Can succeed in sports, And when I say succeed, I
don't mean just perform thoughtfully and score a lot of points.
I mean if you can succeed as a teammate, and
you're going to figure out how to be a good
teammate in the workplace. In the workforce, if you can
succeed you know, to pick somebody up when they're down,
you're going to probably succeed better as a father when
you got to pick your kid up. So you know,
these lessons are really really critical because I think they're
(14:20):
really ironed out and are really on full display in sports.
I mean, some of my best memories I wasn't even
there for they're just watching them on TV.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Like I remember there was a softball player and she
I think broke her leg like running through first base,
and the opposing team like picked her up, carried her
and tapped her other foot on each base as she rounded.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Second, third, and home and it cost them the game.
And I'm pretty sure had they not picked her up,
they would have lost the game. So there were serious consequences.
But you can't forget a moment like that. You almost
feel like it's part of you.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
When we returned, Adam and I dive into prioritizing lessons
over performance when it comes.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
To youth sports.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Where we left off, Adam and I were about to
dive into personal responsibility and whose obligation is to instill
better values in youth sports. It starts at home, right,
I mean, you're talking about accountability, and at least that's
what I took away from what you were saying in
that very beginning, their accountability.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
And it's so easy to get lost.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
I love how you keep bringing it back to extract
the lessons, and it's so easy to get lost in
the performance. The wins, like if your kids being a
clown or not being a good teammate, but yet goes
four for four in the baseball game, Like, are we
not going to address the fact that your kid was
a bad teammate, Like that'd be the first thing that
(15:46):
I would be correcting. I don't care how well or
poor my kid performs, that doesn't matter. What matters is
how they treat other people, Like rather than having a
set of glasses on, that's strictly looking at youth sports
from a performance person perspective, like they're in professional ranks
right when we're all being fans cheering for pro sports, Like,
(16:06):
let's let's let's separate the fact that these are professional athletes,
that these are kids. They are learning and like the
NCAA commercial is ninety nine percent of these kids are
going to go professional in something else other than sports,
Like let's remember that the things that they learn along
the way or what are going to serve them through.
It's really hard to keep that on the forefront. Are
there things that are done, you know, in the Big
(16:28):
Ten or even in you know, professional sports from your
standpoint to help people or these athletes or even the parents,
I don't know, like, is there is there education that's
done to help people understand being present, putting things in perspective,
and how to compartmentalize, like, you know, the athletic piece
versus the lesson piece.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I think so for sure. And I think also I'll
start even at the youth level.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I remember my father coached many of my baseball teams.
And again, it's so funny you mentioned this because I
would have never thought about this. I don't even know
who this person is, but there was this award well
with Little League in Baltimore called the Mitchell David Award.
I'm embarrassed to said, I don't know the Mitchell David is.
I'll have to look it up after this podcast. But
the Mitchell David Award on our teams was more important
than who won the MVP.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I mean, the Mitchell David Award was like, I.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Think, if you want the MVP, you might get like
an ice cream call, and if you won the Mitchell
David Award, you were like taking out the dinner.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And the Mitchell David Award was all about sportsmanship.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So that's a coach thoughtfully thinking, yeah, it matters that
we went.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Of course, winning is huge, winning, winning is critically important.
No one's denying that.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I'm a fierce competitor, and I firmly believe that.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
But how you are off the court and.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
How you're doing as a teammate and who you're helping
along the way, and are you cheering on your teammates?
Are you helping teammates with issues? If a new teammate
joins your team, are you helping them around? You know,
I'm a new employee here in Baltimore. You know, there
are so many people here that are going out of
their way to help me do things that are like
jokes to them, like where are the thumbtachs.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I don't know where that is.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
That's a big deal for someone to show you where
that is. You know, that's a Mitchell David type experience.
So that's on the youth level. I think what I've
seen in the Big Ten and certainly at the Ravens,
but I'm really new here is I think very similar
things are valued by the better programs. And I'll say
that even in the Big Ten, I think the best programs,
the best football coaches, the best volleyball coaches, best synchronized
(18:13):
women coaches, they find a way to show value in
ways other than winning, and show you how to win
on and off the field.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
You know, you see the.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
NFL does that obviously with the Walter Payton Man of
the Year and how big a deal that is.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
But I think individually with teams.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
When there are certain rewards that coordinators give or you know,
on the business side, if the president or other folks
on the senior leadership team are awarding folks for performance bonuses,
but they're not just based on how much revenue you
increased for the team. It's not just how many expenditures
you reduced for the team, but it's actually about other qualities,
(18:51):
like how kind you are to people, how inclusive you
are to others. There are ways to put metrics on
those things, and I would encourage everybody to get in
the business putting metrics and putting winning in the hands
of other qualities, not just the precise way, and not
to focus on just the narrow bottom line. I think
the more you do that when that's the only goal,
you find that those teams don't succeed as much.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
So it's interesting because you know, more and more youth
sports is really turning into it's the commercialization, it's the
professionalization of youth sports. Like we mentioned the travel sport thing,
and you know, kids are playing seventy five one hundred
baseball games from a spring and summer, traveling over the country,
getting anil deals really starting to mimic like a college.
You know, we're getting personal trainers, We're taking our kids
(19:34):
to private workouts. We're like I've literally had guests on
that said, yeah, have parents call me and saying, you know,
what's the best way to have my eight year old
train like an eighteen year old? And it's like, you know,
how do I wanted to get a college workout? And
it's like, well, he's eight, you know, like you're not
supposed to, you know, but that's like what people are chasing.
So it's it's almost hard to separate, especially now as
(19:55):
you're seeing more and more athletes compensated and you know
they're still working that out right with nil, what's you know.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
What's the right way to do what's the wrong way
to do it? You know, how do we do so?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Like do administrators do people in charge at the collegiate
ranks need to of these conferences the NC double A,
Do they need to like come out and like literally
say youth sports are not the same, like cut the
ship part of my language, Like we can't be you know,
can't be trying to mimic what we're doing with it,
you know, young adults versus young children. But like, how
do you get that message across to parents and coaches,
(20:25):
particularly the youth coaches. Who are you know, who are
who running these organizations?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I think it's really hard.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You're talking now about like actual values, and when I
talk about values and this is just a personal piece,
I'm like a big personal responsibility person.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I think that sometimes we think too much.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
We ask for whether it's the government or others to
dole out legislation or.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Point out certain things. I don't know that it's on the.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Nc double A or the NFL or any of those
folks to really you know. I mean, yes, they can.
They can be influential because they're they're big people and
know they have influence on the world and on the
world of sports. But I think a lot of it
is again they hate to take it back, is really
going to be on parents, and on communities and on
churches and synagogues and other you know, youth establishments and
(21:14):
other communal folks to get around and say, what are
the values of our family?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
You know what is the responsibility of our family.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I don't think we can just always rely on big
organizations to kick out policy and say, well, it's up
to you to really make sure that youth coaches aren't
as tough or aren't expecting X, Y and Z. I
think we have to personally decide that this is something
that we're not going to stand for at this level.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And that's seven years old.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
You know, I'm not gonna, you know, schlet my kid
to some travel camp because that's the only baseball game
in town. We have to figure out, you know, another place.
And if that means playing on a field that doesn't
have you know, perfect you know, bases everywhere or perfect
lines and the grass is a neatly cut, that's okay,
because that was okay twenty years ago, right, that was
okay fifteen years ago. Now we're talking about how everybody
(21:58):
in needs jerseys with their name on the back. I mean,
I can't even and I know it's cheaper to print,
so I mean, that was another thing I saw on
my nephew's baseball game. I just couldn't believe it, Like
they have names on the back of their journeys for
a ten year old playing baseball.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
That's shocking to me. It's just looking at it just
read to me with warm up.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Music and names on the back that like, what are
we really focusing on right now? Doesn't seem to me
like we're focusing on those right things. But again, I'm
not gonna blame the league. I'm gonna blame my brother.
I'm gonna tell him, heybuddy, like I don't know why
that's a thing, and I don't think that's gonna set
the right example on the right message.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
I love that answer, Like, stop looking for someone to
guide you, stop looking for big business or big leadership.
Like it starts in the home. It starts with making
a decision that is far greater than just you know,
the small time frame your kids are playing a sport,
and really look at it from a vantage point of
how do I want to help shape my child's character?
(22:55):
Like what values do I want to instill in him
or her? And there's no greater influence than a parent
than a guardian if some sort that's who's around the
kid to coaches are impactful, but you know, I don't
know if anyone's is impactful, certainly as as a parent
or guardian so I put putting the onus on on
(23:16):
that I think is such a valid point, you know,
because people nowadays it just seems like, man, we want
to find a scapego want to find a reason why
things are screwed up, And hey, tell me what when
sometimes we got to look in the mirror and just say,
we're not gonna deal with this anymore.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
We're gonna put our foot down.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
We're gonna do what's in the best interests of our
child in our family, because we know at our core values,
you know what this is all about. And and man,
I just think that's a great point that we don't
we don't oftentimes do because it's.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
A lot easier to blame other people.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Well tell me this, Adam, what can we expect from
you going forward now with the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
What are you going to be doing now on your
day to day?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Day to day is really just helping as much as
I can. You know, I'm new.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
When you're new in a job, I think the most
important thing you can do is ask questions. I'm going around.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Meeting as many people as I can, coffees, lunches, whatever
it is that takes.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Just asking people what they do and how I can
help working primarily on the business side, you know, across
different sectors and assisting the president and you know, all
the different various industry points that are critical right now
for the Ravens. And I think ultimately it's a great
football team and a great football town, a great football organization,
a great fan base, great pillars. If I say to myself,
(24:25):
I've always been a Purple fan, and I think historically
and incredibly consistent organization, two Super Bowl since inception, and
pretty much always competitive and a very fierce, tough brand
of football, and anything we can do on the business
side to you know, help the team succeed, not only
again as we've been speaking on the field and winning
(24:45):
games and beating the Steelers and winning the Super Bowl,
but also in addition to helping the community and giving
back to the community, you know, making sure Purple Friday
is special in Baltimore, and ensuring that we're speaking at
local schools and ensuring that our athletes are you know,
professionally speaking at different engagements and giving back to the community.
I mean, that's that's what this town is all about.
(25:05):
That's what drew me back to this town. And I'm
just so excited to keep meeting more people and you know,
helping any way that I can't.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
And so I know you're on social media on Twitter,
where else can people find connect with you and see
what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
You know, I'm on Twitter at Adam J. Newman and
other social media. I guess I'm on LinkedIn. Like LinkedIn,
It's fun to see other people's paths. I always encourage people,
and people say how to break into sports? I say,
do There's a free resource. It's called LinkedIn. You literally
can stalk people and see exactly what they did and
get where they got, and then you can say to yourself,
hey maybe I should go to law school, or hey
(25:38):
maybe I need this master's degree, or hey maybe I
need this type of experience. So I'm a big LinkedIn
fan just for you know, connecting with people. So those
are probably the two primary ones. But I'm always open
to have a conversation. And I'm not a big sleeper.
I preach it, but I don't do it. So I'm
up a lot. So you know, if people shoot me
(25:58):
at a text or you tweet or anything like that,
I'm usually down to catch up and you get to
know people.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Adam Newman I am freaking stoked you came on. I
can't thank enough for sharing. Appreciate the insight, bro. I
wish you nothing but continued success and really appreciate your
chiming in here.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Thank you, brother.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I hope we get to spend more time together soon
and you know, break bread and you know, just keep grinding,
because that's that's.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Really what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Like we said, this is about relationships and just appreciative
of the opportunity to speak and hang.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Out a little bit tonight.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
That's Adam Newman, chief of staff and Special Advisor to
the President of the Baltimore Ravens. Thanks for listening to
the Reform Sports Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, we
would appreciate it if you took a moment to rate
and review our podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
As we work to grow our community.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Of supporters and advocates for more reform sports content, please
subscribe to our newsletter and blog at Reformsports.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Project dot com. You can also follow
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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