Team Toledo Partner Summit Spotlights Innovation, Partnerships and the Power of Sports

News, UToday, Alumni By Paul Helgren June 26, 2025 | Athletics

The University of Toledo Athletic Department hosted a first-of-its-kind Team Toledo Partner Summit in Savage Arena on Tuesday, bringing together a cross-section of executives and visionaries from across the sports, business and community landscapes for an impactful day of insight, inspiration and innovation.

The summit featured high-profile speakers and panelists who are shaping the future of sports and business. More than 100 community leaders and innovators attended the event focused on the power of sports to engage communities and generate resources, including topics such as private equity/capital, real estate partnerships, youth sports and innovative revenue generation initiatives.

Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group, which includes the Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Arena, was the event’s keynote speaker. Barlage shared his vision on how sports can be a platform for transformative growth and community engagement.

“The sports industry has a compound annual growth rate that is going to continue to drive value for communities,” Barlage said. “That’s something we all should embrace and wrap our arms around. Therefore, partners are seeing the value of sports in a lot of different ways.

“Athletics is a gateway to show off how great we are. Activation generates life, it generates momentum, it generates vibrancy, it generates community and it build relationships. For a community like this, it’s important that everybody supports everybody, and everybody locks arms together and continues to work to bring people together.”

Former Rocket football student-athletes Andrew Hawkins and Ryan Huzjak were featured on the “Manufactured in the Glass City” panel. Hawkins, who played six seasons in the NFL with Cleveland and Cincinnati, is the co-founder and president of StatusPRO and an ESPN personality. Huzjak is vice president of sales and marketing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hawkins provided his perspective on the potential of Toledo Athletics.

“In the creative process, you build your creativity when your resources are down,” Hawkins said. “If I can see what you can do with less resources than the next person, it tells me that if the playing field is evened, this is what it can be. I believe Toledo Athletics to be in that position.”

Huzjak added that building strong connections with area youth sports is a potential area for growth for Toledo Athletics.

“In this community, there is no better brand to authenticate youth sports than the Toledo Rockets,” said Huzjak, who was an All-MAC quarterback on the undefeated MAC Championship team in 1995. “In youth sports, you have the opportunity to bring people onto this campus and expose it to coaches and young people and connect with the community in a meaningful way.”

The summit also included a “Team Toledo Partner” panel that showcased how corporate and community partners are creating meaningful collaborations through sports. Featured panelists included Albert Atkins of SERVPRO, Jennifer Strauss of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Mike Keedy, chief engagement and enterprise officer for Metroparks Toledo. Their conversation focused on maximizing community impact and connecting with the Rocket brand across Northwest Ohio.

University of Toledo Vice President and Director of Athletics Bryan B. Blair opened the event by highlighting the tremendous recent success of the Rockets, such as three straight Cartwright Awards as the top overall program in the Mid-American Conference, 13 MAC titles over the last three seasons and two top 65 picks in the last two NFL Drafts. But, he added that the bar for Toledo Athletics will be set even higher going forward.

“This is just the starting point,” Blair said. “This is the bottom of the mountain. Next we’ve got to climb that mountain to get to the true peak.”