How sports can tackle the loneliness crisis

TEDxChicagoTEDx Editor's Pickawe agency Featured

Oct 6

Written By Dustin Huibregtse

Talk given at TEDxChicago 2023 and selected for TEDx Editor’s Pick

Chicago, October 6th, 2023

AJ Maestas

Sports & Entertainment Industry Strategist

About the Talk

At a time when we’re at our most divided, maybe the surprising answer to bringing us all together can be found through sports. In the midst of a loneliness epidemic, AJ Maestas, the Founder of Navigate, explores his own relationship with sports and how it made him a part of something greater than he could have expected when he left Fairbanks, Alaska at age 18. Whether you love football (in the American or global sense), baseball, Taylor Swift, or even if you don’t consider yourself a sports or entertainment fan at all, this talk offers an emotional and engaging look at why the fans in your life act the way they do. Our fundamental need for belonging drives us to find community and shared passion for sports, music, or the many other reasons we gather.

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About AJ

AJ Maestas is the founder of Navigate, a data-driven consulting firm specializing in sports and entertainment. Over the past 20 years he has established himself as a trusted advisor to Anheuser-Busch, ESPN, the NFL, the Chicago Cubs, and numerous other clients on all sides of the industry. AJ is a Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 winner, a frequent speaker at conferences and events, and host of the Navigating Sports Business podcast, which has featured commissioners, coaches, and CEOs.

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TEDxChicago 2023

There comes a time in every generation when the hazy view of tomorrow challenges us, as a human collective, to chart a path forward. Some step back, allowing doubt to bridle their hope. Others leap, sewing the fiber of the years ahead. In these moments we find success in togetherness as we share ideas, provoke new thoughts, and bond over a common enemy: idleness.

This year, TEDxChicago is celebrating the courage that ignites us and the community which propels us as we hurdle into the world’s most paramount topics. With a rich history of championing togetherness and embracing creativity in times of change, Chicago is poised for this challenge. In 2023, to take the stage means there’s no going back. We dare. Do you?

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