237: Purpose-Driven Sports w/ Alycen McAuley, SVP of the Mystics & Go-Go

Joe and Tom are joined by the Senior Vice President of the WNBA Washington Mystics & NBA G-League Capital City Go-Go, Alycen McAuley, to discuss purpose-driven sports and delivering value to the community.  Alycen leads the business operations efforts for these two Monumental Sports franchises.  For both franchises, but in particular the WNBA Washington Mystics, her team is focused on not only playing championship-level basketball, but also using their platform to champion change in the communities in which they live and serve.  In 2021, they launched The District of Change (a play on The District of Columbia) and announced four pillars where they would focus change efforts: gender equality, racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, and Community Socio-Economic equality (focused on education, healthcare, and economic equity issues).  The Mystics and Go-Go's efforts align with not only organizational values and the values of their athletes, but also with their fans – Purpose-Driven Fans – who look to sports teams and athletes to reflect their priorities.  Enjoy this intriguing discussion about how this notion of a Purpose-Driven Fan and a Purpose-Driven Team come to life.  || @alycenm || The CUSP Show is a production by the faculty of Sports Management at Columbia University. You can get in touch with the program on Twitter @CU_SPS_Sports. Our presenters are Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR). The show is produced by Tom Cerny (@Tom_Cerny19), Taylor DeBernardo '21 (@TDeBernardo33), and Ben Walsh '21, with Cameron Morris '21 (@CameronM0rr1s) managing social media efforts.