The ROAR Podcast: Amina Bulman, Boston Legacy FC

[upbeat music] What does it take to build a sports brand from absolutely nothing? No history, no fan, no stadium of your own, in a city that already lives and breathes its teams. This week, Adam sits down with Amina Bowman, Chief Revenue Officer, Boston Legacy FC. Amina's path into sports wasn't a straight line. It barely looked like a line at all. A lifelong rower who studied political science and economics, she expected to spend her career in and around government. Instead, she went from a public sector consulting practice to the early days of the Obama Foundation to an MBA that finished right as the world shut down in spring of twenty twenty. Then came a phone call that changed everything. A former mentor asked her to help turn around the franchise that had just become the Washington Commanders. Five years and one ninety-year-old re-ran later, she came home to Boston to help launch a club starting from zero. In this conversation, Amina and Adam get into what it really means to build in transition, leading teams when you're not an expert in the room, the difference between information and insight, and why her first season feels like running two races at once across two very different stadiums. And then there's the real estate. Amina makes the case that mixed use is the future of sports venues, from White Stadium, a dual-use home shared with the Boston Public Schools, to The Grove, a three hundred and sixty-five day gathering space designed to keep the lights on long after the final whistle. Women's sports, she says, are on a rocket ship, and she gives her blueprint, keeping it climbing. I'm Bryce Clinton, and this is the ROAR Podcast. [upbeat music]

Welcome to the ROAR Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Grossman. With us today is Amina Bowman. Amina, welcome to the program.

Thanks so much for having me, Adam.

Well, it's great to have you on the show. You and I connected originally at the Sports Business Journal Awards, where we were both judges, so that was very exciting. It was great to meet you and great to talk to you. One of the things that I really found interesting about our conversation is just your background, your experience, how you got to the role today. You've had a really interesting career to date, and that's where we want to start, which is tell us how you got to your role at the Boston Legacy.

Thanks, Adam, and thanks so much for having me on the podcast today. I took a bit of a circuitous path to my role today. It was certainly not where I thought I would be when I was, you know, graduating college and, and putting together my, my, my five, ten, fifteen year plan. None, none of which has, uh [chuckles] none of which has come true. Spoiler alert.

I was gonna-- On a separate podcast, we'll talk about all those plans 'cause I'd love-

Yeah, exactly.

Be interested to hear what those are. [laughs]

[laughs] But I-- So going all the way back just 'cause it's context for how I ended up in this role today. But I grew up in Boston. I'm the oldest of three girls. I was always an athlete. I was a rower through high school and college. And sports have always been just incredibly important to me, both as a fan but also as a participant. I think being