The Journey, Episode 11: Val Ackerman

Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman joins CSA Founder Todd Turner to reflect on their 48 year relationship in the industry and Val's journey as a trailblazer and icon in women's sports as an athlete and sports business leader. Val discusses her early exposure to athletics via her grandfather and father, both of whom served as high school athletic directors, and shares the story of her arrival at Virginia as one of the first women to receive an athletic scholarship. Todd and Val walk through Val's time as an athlete, including the period between graduating from UVA and going to UCLA for law school when Val played basketball in France, and her early days at the NBA under Commissioner David Stern. Val offers insight into the leadership lessons she took from Stern and others at the league office before sharing more about her experience as the first president for the WNBA and how that league formed the foundation and shaped the trajectory of women's professional sports in the country. Val and Todd also discuss the changing landscape for college athletics, including the need to keep academics as a core piece of the experience: "I think the messaging is getting lost a bit as we talk about... the transactional nature of college sports now, at some levels in some sports. Because of that, the economics that have crept in, academics has been pushed to the side in some places."