The Sports Conference kicked off with featured speaker, Jack Swarbrick, director of Athletics, University of Notre Dame. Swarbrick told attendees when he arrived at Notre Dame, he wanted to articulate its mission and show how different it was from other programs. He wanted to continue the legacy of Notre Dame, making the case that athletics belong in the academic world of the university. A dedicated community leader himself, he encouraged attendees to get involved in their communities. He spoke of how Indianapolis is a great example of community redevelopment with the NCAA, moving their headquarters there and making it the amateur sports capitol, really thus reinventing the downtown area. "Remarkable leaders are those who care about their communities and in doing so will see many other successes."

Thursday's first panel session, "Catching the Foul Barehanded: Dealing with Airline Ancillary Fees," speakers Sandy Clouser, travel manager, Indiana Pacers/Fever; Nikki Watson, assistant director of Business Intelligence and Project Management, NCAA; and Mark Ziegler, corporate travel manager, Atmel Corporation discussed in an interactive session the state of the industry, exploring the issues and solutions available to help sports organizations contend with this fierce competitor to transparent expense management. Ziegler concluded the session by recommending attendees talk to their vendors and keep pushing for data standards to be adopted.

Closing out the morning session was the "All-Stars: View from the Top", moderated by Trip Davis, co-founder and non-executive chairman, TRX, and president of the Darden School Foundation, University of Virginia. The session explored cost-effective travel methods and team safety and security, and included panelists Quinn Buckner, vice president, Communications, Pacers Sports and Entertainment Indiana Pacers; Ed Goble, associate athletic director for Business Operations and chief financial officer, University of Texas at Austin; Jonathan Mariner, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Major League Baseball (MLB); and, Keith Martin, managing director of Finance and Operations, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The panelists discussed their goals for sports business travel, including their unique requirements, success factors, pain points, team safety and security and their outlook for the future. Goble said, "We have high-profile athletes and coaches; we've promised moms and dads all over the country that we'll take care of their kids, so safety and security is a huge concern for us. Team travel is on my mind all the time."

Legendary Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. delivered the luncheon keynote. Ripken talked about perseverance and dedication both on and off the field telling attendees "you have to be able to take risks to make the gain". He entertained and inspired the crowd with funny and poignant memories from his days in professional sports. "You can't accomplish anything from the sidelines-you must have courage and get in the game."

The afternoon began with break-out sessions on hotel sourcing for the professional and collegiate sports levels. The professional level attendees learned how to effectively leverage transient and group hotel spend including data collection and negotiation and contract considerations. The collegiate level attendees discussed a University of Texas at Austin case study where collective bargaining was successfully used in hotel negotiations.

The day concluded with Buyer and Supplier break-out sessions. The Buyer Sessions discussed how program volume and level ensures the most useful comparisons and knowledge sharing and the best approaches to policy, negotiation strategies and future opportunities. The Supplier Sessions hosted travel managers sharing their top 10 list of things they wish their suppliers understood about getting and keeping their business.

Friday's events at the GBTA Sports Conference 2011 will include sessions on travel and sleep considerations for athletes and other breakout sessions. For the latest information on GBTA and the GBTA Sports Conference 2011, visit gbta.org.