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2007 Keynotes 2007 Panels
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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: League Management What are the latest issues facing American professional sports leagues? How can quantitative analysis help? What strategies used in each league to manage against the salary cap? Is league parity a good thing? Which techniques (e.g. revenue sharing, hard salary cap, luxury tax) do the numbers indicate work or don’t work? Will we see expansion again?
 
Randy Vataha is president of Game Plan LLC, a firm
providing consulting and investment banking services to the sports and
entertainment industry. The company's primary function is to represent
professional sports teams or potential owners of professional teams in
their acquisition, sale, financing and/or capitalization. Some of Game
Plan’s transactions include the purchase of the Boston Celtics in 2002,
the sale of the Ottawa Senators in September of 2003, the purchase of
the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004 and the sale of the St. Louis Blues in
June of 2006. Game Plan has also been very active in Minor League
Baseball including raising $40 million of new capital for Mandalay
Baseball Holdings which owns five Minor League Baseball franchises.
Vataha is probably the only person in the United States who has been a
professional player, sports union negotiator, team president and owner,
sports agent and sports investment banker.
After attending Stanford, Vataha played wide receiver professionally for the New England Patriots for six years, finishing his career with the Green Bay Packers in 1977. In 1974 Vataha was elected the Player Representative for the New England Patriots to the NFL Players Association. He became a leader in the Association and served on the Executive Committee for Collective Bargaining. Vataha entered the world of business in 1977 when he started the Playoff Sports and Fitness Clubs, and expanded the company to ten facilities by 1981, all located in New England and New York. In 1981, Vataha helped start the USFL and became co-owner of the Boston Breakers Football Club (later the New Orleans Breakers). After returning to Boston in late 1984, Vataha became a partner and vice president in the world's largest executive search firm at the time, Korn-Ferry International, before becoming CEO of Bob Woolf Associates Inc. in March of 1986. John Abbamondi is Director of Salary & Contract Administration with Major League Baseball. John joined Major League Baseball in August, 2004. He recently served as a member of Baseball’s Basic Agreement negotiating team and in October, 2006 helped forge an historic, five-year labor contract with the Major League Baseball Players Association, ensuring that play can continue uninterrupted through the 2011 season. John’s responsibilities during the negotiations included the analysis and design of various revenue sharing systems, including the enhanced system ultimately adopted in the new Basic Agreement. In addition, John leads a small staff of internal consultants to MLB’s 30 clubs, advising team executives in matters such as salary arbitration, contract negotiations, industry economics and Basic Agreement/Major League Rules interpretations. He and his colleagues are also responsible for the daily administration and enforcement of various Basic Agreement provisions, including MLB’s competitive balance tax and its rules on debt servicing and deferred player compensation. John also serves as a member of the search committee for MLB’s Executive Development Program, and is an instructor at NYU’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. Prior to joining Major League Baseball, John spent nine years as a naval flight officer, and was a mission commander in the EA-6B Prowler with over forty combat missions and 300+ aircraft carrier landings. He holds a BS in Political Science from MIT and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Mark Waller is Senior Vice President of International for the NFL. Born in Kenya, Mark Waller attended Monmouth Grammar School before graduating with honors from Durham University (England) with a BA degree in Spanish and Italian. Immediately after graduation he embarked on an international business career that now spans more than 22 years with global companies and includes positions overseas in the United Kingdom, Spain, the Canary Islands, Greece and the United States. He joined the NFL on February 1, 2006. He began his business career with Gallaher Ltd, the UK tobacco manufacturer of market-leading brands Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut, in 1983. After five years in Gallaher’s International Division, working in Spain and the Canary Islands, Mark joined Guinness in 1988 as Regional Director for Guinness Export. With the acquisition of Distillers PLC, Mark joined the Guinness subsidiary of United Distillers, and moved to Spain, initially as Marketing Director and then General Manager. Following successful assignments as General Manager of United Distillers Greece, Mark moved to the USA in 1996, initially as VP Marketing for Scheffelin & Somerset, with overall responsibility for the marketing of Johnnie Walker, Dewars and Tanqueray brands. With the merger of Guinness/Grand Metropolitan, Mark led the business integration in the Midwest as President-Central Region, before joining Diageo North America as executive vice president for consumer strategy & marketing. In this role Mark led the design and execution of strategies to grow the popularity of spirits with the U.S. consumer using integrated innovation and marketing programs. Mark also spearheaded the development of legislative and consumer access initiatives to broaden the availability of the spirits within the United States. In his current capacity with the NFL, Mark oversees all NFL international activities, which are managed by 11 offices in six countries. He is responsible for developing the NFL’s long-term international strategy and serves on the league’s Business Ventures senior management team. Mark is married with two children and lives in Darien, CT. George Postolos is President and CEO of The Postolos Group LP, an investment firm specializing in sports and entertainment properties including major league sports teams and emerging leagues. Postolos has previously worked on both sides of the aisle. He spent two years at the NBA league office as special assistant to Commissioner David Stern. He spent eight seasons as the top business executive for the Houston Rockets. As President and CEO of the Rockets, Postolos led the development of Toyota Center and the media rights partnership between the Rockets and the Houston Astros that contributed to the tripling of franchise value during his tenure.
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