Well, another birthday has just come and gone. I love summer, but October is a bit more special for so many reasons for me: thrills, chills and football spills. One away from a big one and here I am sizing up my progress report.
Every kid has a dream. My passion was sports and after I hung up the pro playing dreams, I set out to be special off the field and on the business side where my hope was to someday run an organization, player personnel and business operations by making my up the business side. I made the hard transition and some amazing senior ticketing leadership opportunities (like one I had teed up for years with my hometown NFL team) because I wanted to carve my niche out in the more strategic sponsorship side, with expertise in the two key revenue cogs for pro teams.
I passed up a great opportunity with a much-respected industry leader in the S.F. Giants because the role turned from manager to seller when the team won it’s first of three World Series in 6 years. Despite the hankering to be heading west after my study abroad experience in Australia, family proximity, program prestige and a chance to work in football swayed me east.
While pursuing a global MBA in the nation’s capitol, I had to swallow my pride of being an NBA-record ticket seller to start all over as an unpaid sponsorship intern, commuting on my own dime sometimes 6 days, 3 hours in traffic and 40+ hours per week in office for the pro football team who’s advertised claim to fame was being the most profitable team. I was shocked to discover everyone running around in fear, with no CRM or tech systems competing against each other and interns doing it all including managing the salary cap. I finally met the hiring manager and reference my program director connected me with, who was advertising for paid positions and was let go after introducing myself for “going behind the back” of my current direct report. In front of the office in the hall, the owner made fun of me for not having the rally shirt on (as these were cut out for interns).
From there, I was lucky to get on with NFL Players sponsorships to help manage deals involving 5+ players signed on with the Union. Day 2: I’m surrounded by Buckeye grads and we’ve started a friendly rivalry discussion. It was 2010 and my Wolverines were getting owned by the sweater-vested Tresselites of OSU. My only argument was that if you stacked up NFL depth charts at the time, that we had a stronger list of superstars. Scottie Graham, head of player engagement and proud Buckeye and NFL former player and New Yorker, gets involved in the discussion and soon seemingly starts to have steam coming out his ears from getting worked up on the topic (missing the “present day” context, he was bringing up past legends). To add to it all, Eddie George happens to walk in the door and get inserted into the conversation. OSU had just lost a tough one to Wisco, but he just said how big of magnitude The Game had. Class act with some great rivalry jokes that would come up when I later saw him while volunteering to work Player event appearances around the Super Bowl (which Jerry outsold the game and there was no ticket for me through the Players nor one available for the $1k in cash I had in my pocket, tough pill to swallow for a Steelers fan who paid his way down there to schlep event-to-event after a snowstorm and long drives with no salt).
NFL Players only paid a metro card for what would have normally been a full-time coordinator role, but I started learning the ins-and-outs of managing official league partnerships and all the moving pieces (emphasis on paperwork from disparate systems – lots).
I left with incredible stories (ie. approaching the #1 most expensive player on our appearance list, Kurt Warner who gave me the time of day despite it being his wife’s big celeb fashion show fundraiser to spell out why it’s family first unless you’re offering $150k/2 hour appearance). A lockout between the largely-black Players Union and old-boys NFL owner club was on the brink – but the group was very tight-lipped. I then went to help put on, sell and market the inaugural AT&T Nation’s Football classic at “historic” (read: dump) RFK Stadium, a foray into the traditions of HBCU culture – Morehouse College vs Howard University. At one point, it felt like the concrete was giving out in our 3rd floor office and we were marched onto the middle of the field after the 2nd earthquake wave (maybe not the best place with all the concrete facing inward).
I motored through and graduated with 2 separate degrees in 2.5 years total as the fear of my mounting loans were kicking in (both of which were designed individually to take 2 years each). Despite all this, I had my eyes on being on that Sports Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” prestigious list. I still wanted to work in football and here’s a few search highlights:
- I studied the landscape and keyed in on one of the biggest upcoming opportunities in sports – the developing LA NFL situation. While in school, I got an internship interview with Lagardere – leaders in player representation. The assignment was to present a SWOT analysis on that developing landscape. Student life is for the experience and exposure at the sacrifice of your time, skills and ideas – indentured servitude to “pay your dues.”
- Previous collegiate experience in football ops and with an agent friend showed me what an entry-point for football ops was often like. “Runner” agent interns will go to any length for contact info and access – no job security as “sharks never sleep.” Scouts live on the road for years to work their way up for peanuts.
- While volunteering for the MIT Sloan Sport Analytics Conference and rubbing elbows with founders and sportsbiz stars Darryl Morey and Jessica Gelman, I got a surprise call from the Dolphins for an open role I had positioning myself through my Michigan network for months. I could never get back in touch with the hiring manager (who has a similar come-up story in sportstech and later told me he was dealing with some tough family issues at the time).
- After months on end back home in Michigan to save $ applying for various positions and getting no hits, I realized that I had to go on a roadshow to churn up traction. I met a few team business execs at the NFL at conferences, who encouraged me to reach out when in NYC. Along with some other interviews, I informally interviewed at the league office on Draft Day in 2012 for hopes of getting a shot at a few open positions around the league.
- On the tail-end of the NYC/east coast “lightning strike,” I interviewed with Matt DiFebo, the original outsourced ticketing leader who was in the process of signing Pitt athletics by way of a former colleague. We ate Italian and talked about my candidacy for the GM role vs. a local favorite. I dropped Matt off at the airport and completed the days drive spanning from Maine to Michigan.
The very next morning, I was on a flight out to Utah to visit the Maverik Center and Utah Grizzlies, where I was being recruited for an open sponsorship sales role. Long story short, I accepted a sponsorship role before I had another offer – done waiting at that point. I was ready to be full-time employed in sponsorship (and to ski the “major leagues” of ski slopes) but not ready for the culture shock and adjustment to the minor league model. As an AEG arena, I was plugged in and trying to be a visible contributor with key players at the global entertainment group that led the Staples Center / LA Live efforts who were the known favorite for the NFL-to-LA bid.
From there, I took a job for an MLS leader in sponsorship metrics (and pressure) in Real Salt Lake. In a year, I interviewed in-person at Staples Center twice – the appeal of a new progressive tech-driven ownership profile in Steve Ballmer was appealing. I struck out twice, though. I struck out trying to work my way into leadership and ownership via sweat equity and resume after a short stint with the first “Fan Controlled Football Team” where video games meet live arena-style play and ownership democratization.
All of a sudden, I came back from the holidays and found myself abandoned and jobless. I was floored and humbled down to the studs of dignity.
Luckily, I got a chance to build a better workplace/workflow solution realizing project management hadn’t reached sponsorship and filled a big gap left by CRMs. Over almost 8 years, I’ve worked my way from unpaid consultant of Sponsorship Buddy to CRO and a top cofounder and CRO (formerly CMO) of Trak Software – we wisely rebranded.
Before the world fell to its knees during covid at top sponsorship conference IEG in 2019, I met and developed a relationship with “Coach” aka Sean Gannon at the (who resembles Rams Coach Sean McVey, who happened to be in the same building in Washington as I was around the same time working on his own path). Relationships at that same show helped us land a covid lifeline in the Broncos, who took past experience using us with the Memphis Grizzlies – our first paid client and my former Grad Assistant sponsor, to setting a new standard for NFL sponsorship management when it was needed most.
4 years after that internal Rams introduction after a move, stadium, Super Bowl trophy, parades, much due diligence, back-and-forth, reference conversations and an intense legal negotiation, the eagle finally landed in record-fashion for Trak. We are now working with some of the most iconic, innovative NFL groups spanning the 49ers, Patriots, Chiefs and 16 of 32 clubs. On the global football note, we also signed Inter Miami FC just weeks before the biggest sports headline of the year – Leo Messi’s arrival to the club.
In February, I was recognized at the National Sports Forum on the field at SoFi Stadium. Quite a night highlighted by tours, amazing food and being a kid again playing on the field – winning retribution on the 40 yard dash after an epic slip up in my dress shoes.
I learned that no if no one wants to give you the role you believe you deserve – go make it happen yourself. Use your inner “Chip” to prove them wrong.
Yes we’re a vendor but we are valued as a team extension behind the scenes. Game days are great, we can still get those by choice but so is helping people achieve their dreams by making digital transformation dead-simple with technology.
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