For nearly a decade, the Chicago Sports Summit has been ahead of the game in covering the latest topics in the world of athletics, while supporting orthopedic research at Rush. This year will be no exception, when the event returns Wednesday, Nov. 12, to the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
Hosted by Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush, the 2025 summit will gather sports industry leaders from Chicago and beyond to highlight the business of Formula 1, the demands of youth sports and more.
“The summit is always interesting, always fresh,” said Brian Cole, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Rush and founder of the summit. “The topics are timely. It’s a great breakfast, and the speakers are phenomenal.”
And Chicago is the perfect place for the summit, according to Cole.
“We’re in one of the greatest places in the country for having these conversations,” he said. “We’re an amazing business city. We have incredible sports franchises, and there are exciting advancements underway in orthopedic research that benefit our athletes and everyday patients interested in being their best.”
Formula 1’s expansion, caring for top athletes and redefining how we watch sports
Entrepreneur and sports business influencer Joe Pompliano will headline this year’s event, leading a discussion about Formula 1’s global expansion. Formula 1 has become a worldwide phenomenon that’s captured the public’s interest, in part because of its unique business model.
“Getting behind the scenes on the business of Formula 1 touches sponsorship and marketing of a high-speed sport,” Cole said. “It’s a cool business model for all things sports in a niche area.”
In addition, Cole will moderate a panel about how physicians care for the world’s top athletes, featuring Les Bisson, MD, medical director for the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres; Neal ElAttrache, MD, head team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Rams; and Christopher Ahmad, MD, head team physician for the New York Yankees.
“We’ll talk to three incredible speakers who take care of professional teams,” Cole said. “They’ll cover interesting topics — from the challenges of managing high-risk, high-profile athletes as a physician to the medical-legal perspective and the cost of lost time.”
Another panel will discuss how sports viewing is being redefined in a landscape that goes beyond the broadcast. Pompliano will moderate the panel, which will include Diane Penny, senior vice president and general manager of Marquee Sports Network, and Friday Abernethy, general manager of Monumental Sports Network.
Exploring the demands of youth sports
CBS 2 Chicago sports anchor and reporter Ryan Baker will moderate a panel about the ever-growing demands of youth sports and whether young athletes are being pushed to do too much, too soon.
While parents have always been passionate about the opportunities they see for their children in sports, recent changes in the NCAA’s policy that allow college athletes to profit from their personal brand have altered the financial landscape and added pressure to succeed.
As a result, Cole and sports medicine specialists at Midwest Orthopaedics are seeing more and more sports injuries among youth, including elbow injuries in throwers and anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, tears.
“When kids are getting back to baseball, we will see half a dozen kids on a weekly basis with acute onset elbow or shoulder problems,” Cole said. “Similarly, when football or soccer season starts, I see probably five ACL injuries a week. It has become a virtual epidemic that will have long-term consequences on our youth.”
The panel to discuss those dynamics will feature Andrew Gutman, a defender for the Chicago Fire Football Club; Mark Jackson, athletic director of Northwestern University; and Brian Hagen, director of player personnel for the Chicago Bulls.
Supporting orthopedic research at Rush
Proceeds from the summit support orthopedic research at Rush aimed at helping people live full, active lives. Philanthropic support for musculoskeletal research is vital, especially now.
“Philanthropy is more important than ever,” Cole said. “In an environment where funding has become harder to secure, support from philanthropic partners fuels high-risk, high-reward research and provides opportunities for training the next generation of orthopedic clinician-scientists. Our researchers are studying regenerative medicine, injury prevention, minimizing the incidence of infections and more. All this work has a direct impact on our patients.”
Robert S.D. Higgins, MD, MSHA, president and chief academic officer of Rush University, chief clinical and academic officer and senior vice president of Rush University System for Health, and the James A. Campbell, MD, Presidential Chair, will deliver opening remarks at the summit. He knows, on a personal level, how important orthopedic research is to Rush.
“It is my pleasure to participate in this year’s Chicago Sports Summit not only as someone responsible for the clinical and academic success of our sports medicine program in orthopedics but also as a grateful patient who received extraordinary care for hip and knee replacement at Rush after football-related injuries,” Higgins said. “I learned firsthand that the knowledge and clinical expertise at Rush — supported by innovative research and applied to clinical care — can and will continue to make a huge difference in the well-being of thousands of patients like me who suffered from life-limiting musculoskeletal sports-related injuries.”
