Best Of: Alex Teodosi, Chicago Sky

Eleven seasons ago, our guest today walked into Chicago Sky as an intern. Today, he runs every corporate, community, and strategic partnership that the franchise touches. And he's done it during the most consequential decade in WNBA history. On this episode, Adam sits down with Alex Tedosi, Vice President of Corporate, Community, and Strategic Partnerships for the Chicago Sky. Alex had a front row seat. to a league that's gone from a steady growth to a genuine breakout, and a franchise that's staying hard into that moment. This guy and her heading into their 20th season, the WNBA into its 30th, and a brand new practice facility in Bedford Park opens later this summer. When it's complete, it'll be the largest in the league. Adam and Alex also get into what that growth actually looks like from the partnership side. More national brands at the table, longer-term relationships to protect, and a higher bar for the kind of data and storytelling needed to compete with the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball teams for the same dollar. Alex talks candidly about the frustration of working from a single source averages and how moving to a multi-source AI-assisted approach has reshaped the conversations he's having with brands. They also dig into something every sports organization is wrestling with right now, how to make it actually operationally work instead of theoretically, and how to build what Alex calls one source of truth across partnerships, tickets, marketing, and community. It's a candid look inside a franchise navigating real growth and what that growth demands from the people doing the work. I'm Bryce Clinton, and this is The Roar Podcast.

Welcome to the Roar podcast. I'm your host, Adam Grossman. With me today is Alex Teodosi. Alex, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for having me today. I'm happy to be here. Well, it's good to have you. We had a little bit of a false start already, so we're off and running on a good part on the Roar podcast. Alex and I have worked together for a long time now. The Chicago Sky, our clients of Roar, very excited to have Alex on. But we want to start our podcast. We'll get into all the Roar, Chicago Sky, and all the obviously amazing work that we're doing soon, but together soon. But I want to start with you and your background and how you got to the Sky and let our listeners know how you got into the position you're in today.

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm fortunate now I've been with this guy. It's going to be my 11th season. And I started all the way back here as an intern. I was pretty fortunate. I was at DePaul University. I had an opportunity to go spend some time with the San Diego Padres and really start to get to learn the ins and outs of the sports industry and specifically corporate partnerships. And so when I returned from that, I really... that specific area of focal point for me. And that's how I landed with the Chicago Sky. And like I said, I've been fortunate to be there for the past 10 years. I've grown through a few different roles on the partnership side. So starting, like I said, as an internship, taking over the activation side, moving into the sales and needed business component. And then,