Master Sports Conflict and Negotiation. Win Everywhere.™

Organizations and teams rarely underperform due to lack of talent alone. Hidden conflicts in culture, governance, and negotiation systems cost organizations millions—impacting performance, reputation, and competitive advantage.

Joshua Gordon—Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arbitrator, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) arbitrator, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) mediator, Major League Baseball salary arbitrator, United States Soccer Federation (USSF) grievance arbitrator, and USATF SafeSport appeals chair—leads the Sports Conflict Institute in transforming destructive conflict into organizational excellence.

As University of Oregon Professor of Practice in Sports Business and Law, Woodard Family Foundation Fellow, and Faculty Athletics Representative (a key governance role combining elements of a “Dean of Athletics” with “Student-Athlete Ombuds”), Gordon bridges elite academic scholarship with world-class practitioner expertise.

Author of Strategic Negotiation and The Sports Playbook, he brings over 30 years of conflict management experience to SCI’s proven solutions. Since 2013, SCI has served as trusted advisor to NCAA, NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, and Olympic organizations worldwide, providing evidence-based strategies for sport’s most complex challenges.

SCI’s evidence-based methodologies include the Negotiation Capability Model (NCM) for building organizational excellence, certified DISC Behavioral Assessments specifically designed for sport, the Sports Playbook Culture Model for sustained performance, external ombuds programs, and elite arbitration/mediation services. Our proactive approach prevents crises before they occur, saving organizations millions in avoided conflicts while building championship cultures.

Conflict in sports isn’t just costly—it’s preventable.

Whether you’re an Athletic Director navigating governance challenges, a league executive building negotiation capability, or a coach creating championship culture, SCI provides confidential, high-integrity solutions backed by world-class expertise.

Ready to transform your organization’s approach to conflict?

Schedule a Consultation → Explore Our Insights →

Published Resources for Organizational Excellence

Universal Principles for Excellence

Clarity → Culture

Build cohesive, resilient organizations and teams with shared direction and expectations.

Conflict → Advantage

Turn tension into insight using tested frameworks and tools.

Strategy → Results

Align negotiation, leadership, and performance for sustainable impact.

The Sports Playbook: Building Teams That Outperform Year After Year (Routledge, 2018), co-authored with Gary Furlong and Ken Pendleton, provides the proven blueprint for creating championship cultures through alignment of talent, character, and clarity.

Strategic Negotiation: Building Organizational Excellence (Routledge, 2023), co-authored with Gary Furlong, revolutionizes how organizations build organizational and individual negotiation capability and, in turn, approach high-stakes negotiations—from sponsorship deals to collective bargaining agreements—with the groundbreaking Negotiation Capability Model (NCM).

Both books feature immediately actionable tools:

Assessment Frameworks to diagnose current capabilities and identify gaps
Prescriptive Models for building organizational capabilities
Advanced Toolbox of instruments designed to optimize human performance inside and outside the lines
Systems for Continuous Improvement and sustainable success in high performance environments
AI-Powered Resources including custom GPTs that bring the books’ concepts to life
Real-world case studies from international and Olympic sport and sports bodies, professional leagues and teams, and intercollegiate athletics