Why fortos exists

Like other kids, even at an early age it was clear that sports are one of the most universal ways that people connect with each other. Alongside food, travel and music, sports bring us together in a way that is distinctly human. Present, open, real.

I first noticed this on the fields that gathered us to run, and later in living rooms watching players like Pelé, Earl Campbell, Chris Evert, Lynn Swann, and Harold Carmichael — names that felt larger than life at the time, and somehow familiar all the same.

The game draws us in. We are all doing something together. At the same time. For the same reason — to see it unfold and be a part of something larger.

That feeling has stayed with me and resurfaced again and again over the years:

• Sitting at the end of the Duke bench (as a student, at work) in a rafters-packed Pauley Pavilion against UCLA in 1992

• Inside the Rose Bowl in 1999 for the shootout that re-crowned the U.S. Women’s National Team world champions

• In the street on Commonwealth Ave in Boston when the Sox broke the curse in 2004

There are many more. You have yours too. At Wrigley, COTA, the Superdome and Anfield; at Barclays Center and Chase; at SoFi, Allianz, BMO and Camp Nou.

Sports don’t just bring teams together. They now bring millions, sometimes billions, together.

Behind every Rice or Chastain moment is a group of operating leaders doing demanding, mostly invisible work. The league and the brand may be glamorous, but the work is relentless. And generic playbooks don’t apply.

Experiences like these don’t happen by accident. They are painstakingly built.

Whether you lead a team or a league, building a world-class organization happens under strikingly similar conditions: high stakes, public scrutiny, and the sense that you alone must figure it out.

What matters most is also what’s chronically missing — being in the same room with leaders who are doing the same work.

Athletes deserve world-class support, and rightly receive it. But the leaders who operate teams and leagues are often left to do their most important work in isolation.

Fortos exists to give senior leaders running professional teams and leagues a place to connect, learn, and raise the bar together.

We want more people to become fans — to experience that moment when you know we’re all in this together. 

Our mission is to bring together the people who are creating the best experiences in the world.

Not everyone will hear this call. And that’s actually a good thing.

But if you have a growth mindset and believe we’re stronger together, we made this for you.