Panelists

John Collins

COO, NHL

John Collins is the NHL’s chief operating officer, providing strategic direction and oversight for the League’s business and media operations, as well as NHL Communications and Club Consulting functions.  Collins reports directly to Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Collins joined the NHL in November 2006, and in May 2007, he assumed the title of NHL Senior Executive Vice President, Business and Media, overseeing the League’s marketing and licensing programs, all business sales, the production and creation of League content across all platforms, and the League’s existing and future traditional and new media relationships.  He was promoted to COO in August 2008.

During Collins’ tenure at the NHL, the League has experienced record breaking seasons in terms of revenue, attendance, television ratings and NHL.com traffic.  In his time at the League, Collins integrated the League’s business and media operations; oversaw the development of new, strategic corporate marketing partnerships with companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Bridgestone and ScotiaBank; spearheaded the creation of the NHL Winter Classic (for which he was named Marketer of the Year by Advertising Age Magazine), oversaw the launch of NHL Network in the United States; and he initiated NHL Network Online, the League’s landmark broadband media experience.

Collins has more than 15 years of experience managing business and media properties in a professional sports league context.  Prior to joining the NHL, Collins was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Browns after being recruited for this position from the National Football League office by new Browns owner Randy Lerner.  During his two seasons with the Browns, Collins oversaw all aspects of the club and worked with Lerner in the development, strategic planning and implementation of organizational goals and initiatives while also representing the Browns in National Football League matters.

Prior to joining the Browns in April 2004, Collins served in a variety of key business roles with the National Football League since 1989. In his last role as NFL Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Collins led all the marketing, programming, corporate sponsorship and advertising sales of the League.  He was a key member of the team that launched the NFL Network.

Collins is credited with leading a renewed brand and consumer focus to the NFL that resulted in that league becoming one of the most visible and successful brands in the world.  During his tenure at the NFL, he developed and negotiated marketing partnerships with corporate America valued in excess of $1.9 billion in rights fees, activation, and advertising commitments and doubled annual corporate sponsorship revenues to over $200 million. These marketing initiatives drove a significant increase in the media and corporate world’s commitment to the NFL. 

Collins began his NFL career with NFL Films where he was responsible for the development, distribution and sales of more than 3,500 hours of annual programming distributed across broadcast and cable television, syndication, home video and DVD platforms. Collins left the NFL in November 1999 for a brief stint with Broadband Sports before being recruited back to NFL headquarters in September 2000.

John McDonough

President, Chicago Blackhawks

John McDonough was named president of the Chicago Blackhawks on November 20, 2007. Under his guidance, in what Forbes Magazine has called the “The Greatest Sports-Business Turnaround Ever,” the Blackhawks have moved quickly to revitalize the team’s profile and re-energize its fan base.
Under McDonough’s leadership, the Blackhawks became one of the biggest sports stories of the year, earning a coveted nomination for SportsBusiness Journal’s 2009 Professional Sports Team of the Year. As of February 3rd 2010 the Blackhawks have entertained 78 consecutive capacity crowds at the United Center and have grown a season ticketholder base from 3,400 to over 14,000 in under a year. For the first time in franchise history, the Blackhawks welcomed over 1,000,000 fans to the United Center during a single season in 2008-09 (1,052,261), while establishing an NHL club record by attracting a league-leading average of 21,783 to their 40 home dates at the United Center.   
McDonough was also instrumental in bringing NHL Winter Classic 2009 to Chicago, a contest which matched up the Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings in front of 40,818 fans at Wrigley Field on Jan. 1, 2009. The game drew an 11.8 overnight rating and a 21 share on NBC in Chicago and over 4.4 million U.S. viewers overall, making it the most-watched NHL game in almost 34 years, according to Nielsen Media Research.
In less than two years since McDonough’s arrival, the Blackhawks jumped from 118th (2007) to 21st (2009) in ESPN The Magazine’s Ultimate Standings. The organization’s ranking in 2009 marked the best among Chicago professional sports teams.
Shortly after his arrival, the club welcomed back Blackhawks legends and Hall of Famers Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito as official team ambassadors and instituted the annual Blackhawks Convention, the first of its kind in the National Hockey League. In addition, in a landmark partnership with Comcast SportsNet and WGN Television, the Blackhawks announced that all 82 regular season games would be televised for the first time in franchise history in 2008-09. The Blackhawks also announced an exciting new radio partnership with arguably the most prominent call letters in North America as “The Voice of Chicago,” News/Talk 720 WGN Radio.
Prior to joining the Blackhawks, McDonough served as president of the Chicago Cubs. During his tenure, the Cubs won the 2007 National League Central Division while setting an all-time franchise attendance record. As the Cubs chief, and in his previous role as senior vice president of marketing and broadcasting, he was widely viewed as a sports marketing and management innovator who played a major role in growing the Cubs’ fan base and attracting sponsorships for one of the most successful pro sports franchises in America.
During his 24 years with the Cubs organization, the club consistently reached record attendance and revenue figures. In addition, McDonough was the architect of the celebrity “guest conductor” 7th inning stretch concept at Wrigley Field and created the annual Cubs Convention, which is now viewed as a prototype for professional team and league fan festivals.
With McDonough’s many achievements have also come several honors and awards, including Major League Baseball’s Marketing Excellence Award; the Chicago Baseball Veterans Committee Man of the Year; Chicago Baseball Executive of the Year; and America’s Top Ten Marketing Executives by Promo Magazine.
He has also been recognized with the St. Mary’s University Alumni Appreciation Award; the Bill Veeck Lifetime Achievement Award; Notre Dame High School’s Hall of Fame; the 2008 Executive of the Year Award by the Chicago chapter of the Public Relations Society of America; and was named to the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
McDonough sits on the Board of Governance at Notre Dame High School, the Advisory board of directors for the Illinois chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the Faculty Advisory Board at Northwestern University for Master of Arts in Sports Administration, the National Hockey League Club Business Advisory Board and the National Hockey League Board of Governors.
A Chicago native, McDonough is a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Niles, Ill., and St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn. He currently resides in the Northwest suburbs with his wife, Karen. They have three children, Colleen, Ryan and Michael.

Rich Gotham

President, Boston Celtics

Rich Gotham currently serves as President of the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics professional basketball team. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of the Celtics business operations including sales, marketing, customer service, communications, corporate partnerships, business development, community and public relations, game entertainment, broadcast partnerships and arena relations. In addition, he works with Celtics Ownership, Basketball Staff, and the NBA on player transactions, as well as team and league related initiatives. He succeeds Arnold “Red” Auerbach as Celtics Team President.

Rich joined the Celtics as the Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Corporate Development in April 2003 and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in June of 2006, prior to be named team President in 2007.

Since joining the Celtics, Rich has been recognized for leading the team to new heights off the court. Under his leadership the team has established new records for ticket sales, television ratings, and sponsorship revenue. In addition, he successfully led negotiations to extend the Celtics lease to play in the TD Banknorth Garden, and was responsible for moving the Celtics radio broadcasts to WEEI, the nations top rated sports radio station. During his tenure with the Celtics, the team has grown revenue by over 50% . 

Rich joined the Celtics after five years with the global internet media company, Lycos, where he served as Vice President of Sales and Business Development and was responsible for generating revenues in excess of $300 million annually. He played an integral role in helping to grow the Lycos Network into the most visited site on the Internet in 2001. While at Lycos, Gotham was part of a senior management team that exceeded Wall Street analyst expectations for revenue and profitability growth for nineteen (19) consecutive quarters. In addition, he sat on the Board of Directors for the Internet Advertising Bureau participating in the creation of multiple internet new media advertising standards.

In addition to his duties with the Celtics, Gotham has served on the Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s Committee for Physical Fitness and Sport and currently serves as a board member for Providence College Varsity Athletics, The Sports Museum of New England, Junior Achievement of MA and the National Sports Marketing Network. He is active in multiple charitable fundraising activities on behalf of the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, and sits on the Board of Visitors for New England Baptist Hospital.

A graduate of Providence College (1986), Rich currently resides in Medfield, MA along with his wife and three children.

Tony Pace

Senior Vice President and CMO, Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust

As Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the SUBWAY® Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust (SFAFT), Tony develops integrated marketing and advertising programs to drive profitable sales in SUBWAY® restaurants around the world. Under his marketing leadership, the SUBWAY® brand has ascended in consumer ratings (Named #1 QSR on Millward Brown’s BrandZ^TM Top 10 List for Brand Momentum. Named #2 overall above brands like APPLE and WAL-MART) and is a top performer in terms of sales and traffic growth. The SUBWAY® chain is now the #2 QSR in total sales in the U.S. behind McDonald’s – moving up from #5 just three years ago - and dominated the category with over 17% growth in 2008, vs. industry average of 2.7%.

 

Tony has been the architect of highly visible and successful SUBWAY® marketing programs including:  $5 FOOTLONGS, SUBWAY FRESH FIT®, Jared’s 10^th Anniversary and SCRABBLE® AT SUBWAY®--now in its third year.  These programs have been ground-breaking in the QSR industry. In fact, Advertising Age magazine noted that the $5 FOOTLONG, which has over 95% consumer awareness, has become the yardstick for fast-food meal deals.  The $5 FOOTLONG is a success that has been imitated, but not yet duplicated, in the QSR category.

 

Since Tony arrived at SFAFT, he has increased national advertising from 33 to 52 weeks a year and added a digital marketing team to help take the brand to a whole new level.  In addition, he orchestrated groundbreaking branded integrations on hit shows like The Biggest Loser and Chuck on NBC.  Thanks to the seamless nature of these integrations, viewers have been left with a more favorable opinion of the SUBWAY® brand.

 

After earning his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame, and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business, Tony began his career at the international advertising firm of Young & Rubicam (Y&R).  He worked on many high-profile accounts including DASH laundry detergent (Proctor & Gamble), TANG (General Foods),  THOMAS’ English Muffins and KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN. He led the campaign to change the company name to KFC in recognition of shifting consumer attitudes towards food and health and using the music of Ray Charles to get consumers to cross the road to KFC.  Tony was also responsible for the firm landing several prestigious accounts including TWA, Union Carbide (PRESTONE, SIMONIZE AND STP), and AMERICAN GREETINGS.  During his 10 years at Y&R, Tony served as   Associate Director of Marketing before he became one of the youngest vice presidents in the company’s history.  He also spent time gaining valuable marketing expertise during his tenure at Y&R subsidiary companies Wunderman, the original direct marketing agency, and the global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller.

 

When Tony joined McCannErickson Worldwide in 1991 he worked on the "Always" campaign for COCA-COLA and helped the firm create an integrated marketing plan for COKE at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He also developed proximity and immediacy marketing programs to drive beverage sales in the QSR industry so he has seen beverage marketing from both sides of the equation.  In addition, Tony was integral to the development of many successful advertising campaigns for the firm including the David Spade "No" campaign (CAPITAL ONE BANK) and "The Whopper Says" (BURGER KING). During his time with McCann, Tony took over the management of McCann Event Marketing Southwest and turned it into Momentum, which is a Top 5 promotion agency today.  Tony orchestrated the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay through the United States and gained Local Agency experience when he won a regional POPEYE’S CHICKEN account.  His experience working with QSRs while on the agency side of the business proved invaluable when Tony joined SFAFT in 2006.

Moderator

Sean McDonough

ESPN

Sean McDonough serves as a play-by-play commentator on ESPN’s college basketball and college football games, primarily calling the network’s Big Monday BIG EAST basketball and Friday Night Primetime college football games. McDonough also has provided play-by-play on the network for Major League Baseball, NHL, tennis, the College World Series and college soccer and hockey. He rejoined ESPN in 2000 after having worked for the network from 1989-95.

McDonough was the television play-by-play announcer for the Boston Red Sox from 1988 to 2004, during which time he was honored four times with the New England Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Play-by-Play.

McDonough has also been a fixture on the network television scene. He spent 10 years at CBS Sports as the network’s lead college football play-by-play announcer from 1997 to 1999. In 1992 and 1993, he and Tim McCarver formed the network’s lead Major League Baseball broadcast team, calling the All-Star Game, the National League Championship Series and the World Series. McDonough has provided commentary for a diverse array of sporting broadcasts, including men’s and women’s college basketball, NFL, golf, and U.S. Open Tennis. He also contributed to CBS’ coverage of the Olympic Winter Games, calling the bobsled and luge competitions in 1992 and 1994 and ice hockey in 1998.

After a decade at CBS, McDonough moved in 2000 to ABC Sports, where he spent three years broadcasting college football.

In May 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Southern Vermont College, in recognition of his career, community service and personal achievements, and was the Commencement Speaker at graduation.

He is the president of the Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation, which distributes grants to children’s charities in Massachusetts. In its first seven years, the foundation has given nearly $2.3 million to 116 children’s charities throughout Massachusetts. For more about the foundation, visit www.seanmcdonoughfoundation.org.  

McDonough graduated cum laude from Syracuse University in 1984. He is the son of the late Will McDonough, Boston Globe sportswriter.