Lesa France Kennedy stuck with the family business. Now she's the most powerful woman in sports.
As chief executive of publicly traded
She rose to president in 2003 and to CEO this June. Analysts say she's played a big role in most all of the company's acquisitions and improvement projects dating back to the 1990s. After suffering the personal losses of both her father and husband in 2007, Kennedy kept her profile low for a while until accepting the top post this year.
In Pictures: The Most Powerful Women In Sports
"I want to be more out front, I think that comes with leadership," she told Sporting News last summer. ISC now promotes over 100 races annually, including the Daytona 500. No female sports executive oversees a bigger operation.
That's the Forbes criteria for powerful sports business women: Money, plain and simple. Those whose decisions affect the largest sports-related revenue streams--be they from teams, leagues or corporate sponsors--hold the most sway.
Right after Kennedy's International Speedway Corporation, there's
Others overseeing big sports budgets:
One caveat: Our list is confined to those running enterprises with proven sustained profits. That eliminates league commissioners Donna Orender of the WNBA and Tonya Antonucci of the WPS (Women's Professional Soccer), at least until their leagues turn the corner.
We also omitted those who just recently came into an ownership role through an inheritance, like Detroit Pistons owner Karen Davidson, or those not actively involved in running their clubs, like Nina Bracewell-Smith, part-owner of the English soccer club Arsenal.
As with many men in the sports business, lineage often plays a role. In addition to Kennedy, three of our 10 most powerful sports women succeeded relatives in the family business--NFL owner/execs Virginia McCaskey (daughter of Bears founder George Halas), Rita Benson LeBlanc (daughter of Saints owner Tom Benson) and Denise DeBartolo York (daughter of former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo). There's also Los Angeles Dodgers CEO Jamie McCourt, whose husband Frank bought the club from Rupert Murdoch's
No matter. Nepotism is a fact of life, but that doesn't make its recipients any less knowledgeable or influential. In fact, it's often an asset. Those able to combine a background in the business with current generation marketing know-how tend to bring advantages others don't have. Kennedy, for example, has expanded ISC's business by pushing for a gaming facility at the company's Kansas speedway (approval from the state's gaming authorities is pending) and partnering with competitor
"I don't think these things could have happened with the earlier generations," says Barry Lucas, VP of research at Gabelli & Company, who tracks the company. "She's opportunistic and a little bit more flexible in her outlook." Lucas thinks ISC is generally better positioned that its competitors to capture the fruits of a turnaround in the economy, which currently has racetrack attendance and per-capita spending down from recent years.
LeBlanc, whose father tends to shun the limelight, has largely taken over as the face of the Saints. She represents the club at NFL ownership meetings, and successfully pushed for a 2008 preseason game at London's Wembley Stadium. She used that opportunity to fight for her Katrina-ravaged region by pitching European business leaders on the appeal of New Orleans and Gulf Coast tourism.
And McCourt has used her pull to overhaul Dodger Stadium with new seats and other amenities while also improving the on-field product by OKing the signings of Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez. The family business is what you make of it.
In Pictures: The Most Powerful Women In Sports
