MIT Sloan Sports Business Conference: Panels

Overview

Agenda

Sponsors

Speakers

Press Room

Travel & Logistics

History
2007 Keynotes
2007 Panels

2007 Panels

To see details on one of the panels from the inaugural 2007 MIT Sloan Sports Conference, please click the link below.

Sponsorship
Fan Management
Personnel Decisions
Media Rights
League Management
Minor Leagues
Sports Technology
Basketball Analytics
Career

Panel: Fan Management

DESCRIPTION

Successful recipes for building a solid fan base: Why are some teams and leagues more successful than others? How do you build a brand in the day and age of short attention spans and TiVO? What role do sports loyalty programs play? How do teams determine the optimal ticket pricing strategy? What return on investment criteria are teams utilizing to determine the success of branding programs and fan management initiatives?

PANELISTS

Rich Gotham is the COO of the Boston Celtics. In this role, he is responsible for multiple aspects of the Celtics business operations including sales, marketing and service, communications, corporate partnerships and business development, community and public relations, game entertainment, broadcast partnerships and arena relations. In addition, he works with Celtics ownership, basketball operations, and the NBA on team and league-related issues. From April 2003 through June 2006, Gotham served as Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Corporate Development for the Celtics.

Lou DePaoli is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the Atlanta Hawks (NBA), Atlanta Thrashers (NHL), and Philips Arena. His responsibilities include overseeing marketing, ticket sales, corporate sponsorship, game entertainment, research, communications and community development efforts for all three entities. DePaoli joined the organization in May of 2005 after five seasons with the National Basketball Association (NBA) League Office most recently serving as Vice President of Team Marketing & Business Development.

Kristin Bernert is the Vice President of Team Business Development for the WNBA.

MODERATOR

Darren Rovell is CNBC's Sports Business Reporter. He is responsible for both analyzing and reporting on the sports business world on all of CNBC's programming including "Squawk Box," "Power Lunch," "Closing Bell," and "On the Money." Prior to joining CNBC, Rovell served as sports business writer for ESPN.com and reported on the world of agents, stadium deals, endorsements and contracts on ESPN's flagship, "SportsCenter," its investigative show, "Outside the Lines," and its morning show "Cold Pizza." During his six-year career at ESPN, Rovell interviewed many of the world's greatest athletes including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong, among others. He also sat down with the sporting world's top power brokers ranging from NBA commissioner David Stern to Reebok chairman Paul Fireman.

Rovell is also the author of two business books. First In Thirst: How Gatorade Turned The Science of Sweat Into A Cultural Phenomenon and On the Ball: What You Can Learn About Business From America's Sports Leaders. First In Thirst was named by Soundview Summaries as one of the top 30 business books of the year, while On the Ball, co-written with industry insider David Carter, was named to the Top 25 list of "What Corporate America Is Reading" by the Knight Ridder/Tribune News. In 2004, Rovell was named to Newsbios' "30 under 30," a list of the top 30 national business reporters under the age of 30. He was the first sports reporter in the 17-year history of the awards to be honored. Rovell graduated cum laude from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he is on the advisory board for graduate programs in sports administration.