Michele Kang is listed among the headliners for Sports: The Next Sports Economy, the inaugural event that Dow Jones and The will host on July 15-16, 2026. The two-day program is built around the economics of major league sports, with Jalen Brunson set to open the Thursday session with Kristin Lemkau.
July 15-16, 2026 gives the event a fixed runway. For league commissioners, team owners, business leaders and executives, that means the schedule is already set around an invite-only forum rather than a broad conference, and the July 16 program is where the commercial agenda turns from theme to execution.
July 15 dinner sets the stage
Wednesday, July 15 opens with a cocktail reception and an intimate seated dinner, a format that keeps the first night focused on smaller-room networking before the full-day program begins. The event will also feature culinary collaborations from Michelin-starred chefs, with Jon Batiste providing headline entertainment and live performances from Tina Guo and Leah Zeger.
Thursday, July 16 shifts the center of gravity to the business side. Senior editors and reporters from The will host a full-day program examining how exploding franchise valuations are reshaping the economics of every major league, along with the market forces shaping investment, dealmaking and growth in the sports industry.
Jalen Brunson opens July 16
Jalen Brunson and Kristin Lemkau will discuss money, leadership and financial empowerment for the next generation of athletes. Brunson, identified in the lineup as a New York Knicks NBA Champion, gives the session a current player’s view while Lemkau, the CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, brings a wealth-management lens to how athletes build and preserve value beyond the box score.
That pairing matters because the program is not treating athlete branding as a side topic. It places athlete brand equity next to institutional value, then ties both to the operational reality of sports icons transitioning into executive roles. For attendees, the practical takeaway is a conference designed around capital, ownership and long-term earnings power, not just on-stage celebrity.
NYSE backs the lineup
The event is supported by presenting sponsors New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, NYU Langone Health, Polymarket and Publicis Sports. That sponsor list reinforces the business framing of the program and helps explain why the agenda leans toward valuation, investment and dealmaking rather than game-day coverage.
Michele Kang’s presence alongside Adam Silver and the rest of the announced lineup pushes the event toward a larger question the program still leaves open: which additional on-stage speakers will join the full schedule beyond the names already in the announcement. The July 16 sessions will answer part of that by moving from broad economics to specific conversations, but the complete speaker roster remains the item most likely to draw the next round of attention.
