Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment

John Semcken joined Majestic Realty Co. in February 1996 as Vice President and was responsible for the development of the $400 million Staples Center for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings, Clippers, Sparks and Avengers. He negotiated and was responsible for land acquisition, eminent domain, city ground leases, entitlements and design for the arena and surrounding land which will eventually include a convention Hotel, retail and high rise residential uses.

He is a co-owner and senior development partner for the $60 million redevelopment and renovation of the Pacific Palms Conference Resort. The project entailed renovation of 45,000 square feet of meeting space, renovation of all public spaces, 292 guest rooms, two restaurant outlets, golf club house and two 18 hole golf courses and driving range. In addition, he added a full service spa, fitness facility and repositioned the facility as a state-of-the-art resort.

John is the senior development partner for a 310 acre industrial development totalling greater than 6 million square feet in Riverside, California. The project consists of 26 buildings ranging in size from 25,000 square feet to 1.2 million square feet. John negotiated with the County of Riverside to refinance a severely defaulted bond district, completed an Environmental Impact Report and Specific Plan and will oversee all approvals and construction of the buildings.

John is currently the Senior Development partner responsible for the development of a 600 acre property for a new National Football League Stadium in Los Angeles and an NFL themed entertainment mixed use development containing nearly 2.9 million square feet of team facilities, medical, retail and office uses.

He is also active in identifying new opportunities for Majestic's vast commercial real estate portfolio. He is currently working towards developing Industrial, Retail, and Hospitality projects in Los Angeles, Redlands, San Bernardino, Riverside and Houston, Texas. Overall Semcken’s projects, total more than 15 million square feet.

Prior to Majestic, John's real estate experience centered on office development and leasing with the prominent Los Angeles and National real estate firms Smith & Hricik Urban Development, Inc., Gerald Hines Interest and the Charles Dunn Company. He was responsible for leasing the 950,000 square foot, 52 story Sanwa Bank Plaza for Gerald Hines.

Mr. Semcken is a 1978 graduate of the United States Naval Academy where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering. After graduation from the Academy he attended Naval Flight training and was selected to fly fighters at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego, California. He was selected to attend and graduated from the prestigious Navy Fighter Weapons School "TOPGUN" in June, 1983.

His military career included eight years as a Navy Fighter Pilot, completing more than 250 carrier landings and 1,130 flight hours in the F-14 TOMCAT and other military aircraft. He was selected by the Navy to act as the technical advisor and Navy liaison for the motion picture "Top Gun".

Mr. Semcken is extremely active in community and charitable organizations. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce where he also serves on its Executive Committee, the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Los Angeles Metropolitan YMCA, the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Area Council Boy Scouts of America, the Civic Alliance, and the US Naval Academy Foundation Board of Trustees. He is also the Co-Founder of The Land of the Free Foundation.

John, his wife Mee Hae, and his two sons, Reed and Jack, reside in San Marino, California.

Michael Sepso
Co-founder and Chairman, Major League Gaming

Mike co-founded MLG with Sundance DiGiovanni in 2002 with a vision to create a new sport around competitive video gaming. As chairman of Major League Gaming, Mike’s focus is on strategic media deals and cementing MLG’s position as the largest professional video game league in the world. MLG is now one of the fastest growing youth sports in the world and a pioneer in online broadcasting and global online video game competitions. Prior to co-founding MLG, Mike was co-founder and co-CEO of Gotham Broadband, an early innovator in the broadband content and delivery industry. He managed the broadband strategy for several key clients and media partners including Sprint, Hughes Electronics, DirecTV, Cablevision, and AOL Time Warner in the U.S., and British Telecom, UPC Chello, and KNRW (Deutsche Telekom) in Europe. Before Gotham Broadband, he was a media and entertainment consultant for companies like Pearson Television, Miramax Films, and Apple Computer. Mike has a B.S. in management from Babson College.

Jeff Shell serves as President of Comcast Programming Group, where he oversees the Company’s interests and investments in its national content networks.  Comcast Programming Group is composed of nineteen networks that draw upon Comcast’s unique multiplatform expertise to deliver cable television programming and non-linear content appealing to the passionate viewer looking for the best in entertainment, sports, lifestyle and children's programming. 

Comcast’s programming assets include the Comcast Entertainment Group, comprised of E! Entertainment Network, Style Network, G4, and FEARnet; Golf Channel, PBS KIDS Sprout, VERSUS, TV One, International Channel networks, and Comcast Sports Group who operates ten regional sports networks.  Under Mr. Shell’s leadership, Comcast's networks have grown in viewership and distribution and have successfully struck programming deals with national partners including The National Hockey League, Tour de France, The PGA, College Football, The Wiggles and Ryan Seacrest Productions. 

Prior to joining Comcast, Mr. Shell was CEO of Gemstar TV Guide International where he successfully navigated Gemstar through a number of legal and operational challenges. Before joining Gemstar, Shell held a number of positions within News Corporation including President of the FOX Cable Networks Group, where he oversaw the operations of FOX’s entertainment and sports cable programming businesses including FOX Sports Net, FX and the National Geographic Channel.  Shell also worked in the Strategic Planning Group at the Walt Disney Company and at Salomon Brothers Inc.

Shell received his Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and his MBA from Harvard University.  He currently serves on the Board of several non-profit organizations, including Green Dot and Big Picture Philadelphia.

Mr. Shell, his wife Laura, and their daughter Anna live in the Philadelphia area. 

Bill Shumard has served as President & CEO of Special Olympics Southern California since June 2005. Prior to taking over this position, he served as a volunteer for five years as a member of SOSC’s Board of Directors.

Shumard’s vision for the organization is to radically grow the number of athletes served, and he has instituted an aggressive Strategic Plan and accompanying business model to help achieve that goal. SOSC’s original base of 10,000 athletes grew by approximately 30% over the first three years of Shumard’s tenure, with much of that growth credited to new partnerships with school districts within SOSC’s footprint. Revenue generation has also been key to the organization’s recent growth. During the first three years of Shumard’s tenure, revenues increased from $6 million to $8 million annually as SOSC moved to strategically grow and strengthen its revenue streams including a strong emphasis on major and planned gifts, and internet fundraising.

Prior to coming to SOSC, Shumard enjoyed a long and successful career in sports management at both the professional and collegiate levels, enjoying associations with teams and programs that enjoyed both competitive and financial success. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University, Long Beach in 1972, Shumard was named as CSULB’s Sports Information Director. One year later, he moved to CSU Los Angeles to assume the same position for two years.

Shumard joined the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 1975 and was part of the organization’s unparalleled business success for the next 12 years. During that span, the Dodgers won a World Championship and participated in three World Series; hosted the 1980 All-Star Game and the 1984 Olympic Baseball competition. The franchise drew a record-setting three million fans in six different seasons—a mark no other club had achieved up to that point. As Director of Community Services & Special Events, Shumard coordinated the Dodgers’ many successful community outreach programs and a host of the franchise’s most popular promotions, including Opening Day, Oldtimer’s Day and Hollywood Stars Night.

In 1988, Shumard left the Dodger organization to become the Executive Director of USC’s Athletic Centennial, later becoming an assistant athletic director. During his tenure at USC, the Trojans participated in three Rose Bowls and he was part of a development staff that raised more than $7 million annually to support the program.

Shumard was named Director of Athletics at Cal State Fullerton in 1991, a position he held until 1994. He then moved to his alma mater, CSULB, where he served as Executive Director of Athletics until coming to SOSC in 2005. Shumard was the second-longest tenured AD in CSULB history. During his tenure, the department tripled the graduation rate of its student-athletes and raised more than $7 million for capital projects which included the naming of The Pyramid by Mike and Arline Walter, and the building of new student-athlete academic and fitness centers. CSULB was also a perennial mid-major power, finishing in the top 100 five times in the annual Director’s Cup competition. Several teams were nationally ranked each year, and CSULB alumni in the professional ranks include Misty May, Bobby Crosby, Troy Tulowitzky, Evan Longoria and Jered Weaver. Shumard hired two coaches -- Rick Azevedo (Men's Water Polo) and Alan Knipe (Men's Volleyball) -- who went on to become head coaches of USA Olympic teams. During his tenure, Long Beach State hosted a number of NCAA regional and national championship competitions, brining valuable exposure and additional revenue to the City.

Shumard serves as Chair of CSULB’s Graduate Program in Sport Management’s Advisory Board; Chair-Elect of the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership’s Governing Council in the CSULB College of Business; a member of the Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach Sports Councils; the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; and the Advisory Board of USC’s Sports Business Council.

Shumard and his wife, Kim, reside in Brea. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.

Adam Silver
Deputy Commissioner and COO, National Basketball Association

Through his business and leadership skills, Adam Silver has helped to establish the NBA as one of the world’s preeminent sports leagues, as a model for global sports marketing organizations, and as one of the largest providers of sports programming in the world.

Silver became NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer in July 2006 after his appointment was unanimously approved by the NBA Board of Governors. He assumed his role as the league’s second-in-command following more than eight years as President and COO, NBA Entertainment.

Silver has been instrumental in many league accomplishments, including playing a key role in the negotiations of the league’s last two television agreements, the last three collective bargaining agreements with the NBA Players Association, the development of the WNBA and NBA Development League, the partnership with Turner Broadcasting to jointly manage the NBA’s digital assets, the formation of iHoops – a partnership with the NCAA on a wide-ranging initiative aimed at enhancing youth basketball programs in the U.S., and the creation of NBA China as a separately incorporated operating entity.

During Silver's tenure, the NBA has seen rapid expansion of its digital activities as NBA Entertainment launched NBA TV – the league’s 24-hour television channel – and developed the NBA.com network, which consists of more than 60 unique Web sites, including NBA.com, WNBA.com, NBADLeague.com, team sites for the three leagues, and ten international sections of NBA.com. Silver also oversees the NBA’s and WNBA’s game telecasts, which are carried in 215 countries in 41 languages.

NBA Entertainment’s Global Merchandising Group – responsible for the product development, merchandising, licensing, sales development, e-commerce, retail, and direct-to-consumer initiatives of the NBA and WNBA – has seen record growth during Silver’s tenure, and sales of NBA and WNBA merchandise exceeded $3 billion at retail last year. Also under Silver’s supervision are the Global Media Properties and Marketing Partnerships divisions, as well as the advertising sales of the league’s extensive media inventory.

Silver has consistently been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports by BusinessWeek, the Sporting News and the SportsBusiness Journal. He has also been recognized by Time Magazine and CNN on their list of Global Business Influentials, which features 20 of the world’s leading corporate executives.

Silver joined the NBA in 1992 and previously served under Commissioner Stern as Special Assistant to the Commissioner; NBA Chief of Staff; Senior Vice President and COO, NBA Entertainment; and President and COO, NBA Entertainment.

Prior to joining the NBA, Silver was a litigation associate at the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he concentrated on media and antitrust cases. He also served as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Kimba Wood in New York City.

In addition to serving on the boards of NBA China, iHoops, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and the Duke University Library, Mr. Silver was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the New York City Sports Development Corporation. He is also a member of the University of Chicago Law School Visiting Committee.

Silver graduated from Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School. He resides in New York City.

David Simon
President, Los Angeles Sports Council

David Simon, President of the Los Angeles Sports Council, has played a significant role in virtually every major sporting event that has been brought to the Los Angeles area in the last 20 years. In lists published in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Business Journal, he has been recognized as one of the area’s “top 20” most influential sports executives.

Under his leadership, the Sports Council has been the area's driving force behind successful bids for events which have generated more than $1 billion in local economic impact, including the Super Bowl, the Breeders' Cup and the finals of both the World Cup and Women’s World Cup in soccer.

The Council is a recipient of the prestigious Sport Summit Award presented annually to the foremost organization of its kind in the United States. The Council's Board of Directors is chaired by noted attorney Alan I. Rothenberg and consists of a cross-section of local sports and business community leaders.

Mr. Simon has been active in international sports since 1977 when he became involved in Los Angeles' bid to host the 1984 Olympic Games. As Vice President of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) he worked for over five years as one of Peter Ueberroth's right hands in staging those Games. He became the founding President of the Sports Council in 1988.

His civic involvement includes serving on the Board of Governors for Southern California Special Olympics. From 1989 to 1999, he served as Chair or Co-Chair of the International Relations Committee for the United States Olympic Committee. He also serves on the boards of USA Badminton, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and is President of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games.

A native of Los Angeles, he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA and the UCLA School of Law. He is a member of the bar both in California and in Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Cheryl, reside in West Los Angeles with their daughter, Lisa.

William D. Simon
Senior Client Partner, Korn/Ferry International

William D. Simon is a Senior Client Partner in Korn/Ferry International’s Los Angeles office and Managing Director of the Media, Entertainment and Convergence sector.

Mr. Simon brings to the Firm an extensive background as an entertainment executive with a keen understanding of a wide variety of areas of the industry. The Media, Entertainment and Convergence sector that he oversees encompasses all aspects of traditional entertainment – film, television, home entertainment, music and publishing – and all digital content and platforms for broadband, games, wireless and mobile devices. Mr. Simon handles the full range of senior operating positions from CEO and COO through senior level creative and content positions.

Mr. Simon is recognized in Nancy Garrison-Jenn’s survey of the top 200 global executive recruiters and ranked among the top 35 in CableFax Magazine’s most influential in cable. Mr. Simon has served as the chairman of Korn/Ferry’s shareholder’s committee and on the Firm’s worldwide board of directors.

Before joining Korn/Ferry in 1988, Mr. Simon established the entertainment division at the investment banking and brokerage firm, Communications Equity Associates. He was involved in transactions that included music, home video, theatrical exhibitions and television programming. Earlier in his career, Mr. Simon served as vice president at Heron Communications, Inc., where he was involved in the development of new business for its home video company, Media Home Entertainment, as well as general corporate management.

Mr. Simon also served as the deputy staff secretary to President Jimmy Carter and he has held other government and political jobs.

Mr. Simon earned a bachelor’s in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.

John Skipper
Executive Vice President, Content ESPN

John Skipper, who in more than 12 years with ESPN has played key roles at ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, advertising sales and ESPN Enterprises (brand extensions) was named to the newly created position of ESPN’s executive vice president, content, in October 2005. Skipper is responsible for the creation, programming – including acquisitions and scheduling – and production of ESPN content across all media platforms, including television, radio, internet, broadband, wireless publishing, interactive games and home entertainment. He had been executive vice president, advertising sales & ESPN Enterprises, since August 2004.

Skipper also oversees the group charged with developing and producing new sports-driven content for all ESPN media platforms, ESPN Content Development (formally ESPN Original Entertainment). The unit launched the ESPN Films division in March 2008 to present quality scripted and documentary film projects for television and theatrical release, including the critically acclaimed “30 for 30” documentaries reviewing 30 topics from the 30 years in sports corresponding to ESPN’s 30th anniversary in 2009.

In 2008, under Skipper’s guidance, ESPN launched a high school content initiative, ESPN RISE, a multimedia brand dedicated to growing ESPN’s 12- to 17-year-old audience, while providing compelling high school sports content across all of ESPN’s platforms.

Skipper joined ESPN in June 1997 as senior vice president and general manager of ESPN The Magazine. He oversaw one of the most successful magazine launches of the 1990s. During its inaugural year, the magazine earned more than 20 awards, including "Best New Magazine" honors from both Advertising Age and AdWeek magazines, as well as a 1999 National Magazine Award for design. In January 2000, he added the same title for ESPN.com and in January 2003 was promoted to executive vice president.

Both ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine have continued to receive accolades over the years, reflecting Skipper’s impact on the respective industries during his tenure. In 2003 and 2006, ESPN The Magazine was awarded the National Magazine Award for General Excellence – its third overall nomination for the same award. The Magazine was also named to Adweek’s Top 10 Hot List of magazines five consecutive years (2001-2005), the only men’s magazine to do so in the 25-year history of the list. ESPN.com has twice won Sports Emmy Awards for broadband content, having received four nominations. The site has taken home two prestigious Online Journalism Awards, two Editor & Publisher EPpy Awards, multiple Webby Awards from the Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and was named to the AdWeek Web Site Hot List (2007), the Time magazine 25 Sites We Can't Live Without (2006).

In the Sporting News’ 2004 Power 100, Skipper was named No. 1 in the Media Executives category, up from No. 3 in 2003. In 2008, BusinessWeek’s “The Power 100” ranking of the 100 most powerful people in sports for 2008 had him at No. 30, up from 36 in 2007. He also was listed in Sports Business Journal’s list of the 50 Most Influential People in Sports for a third straight year, at #26, up from #36.

Before joining ESPN The Magazine, Skipper served two years as senior vice president of The Disney Publishing Group where he was in charge of all Disney's magazine, book and licensed publishing operations in the United States. Since 1990, Skipper was vice president of Disney Magazine publishing, overseeing Disney Adventures, Discover, FamilyFun and Family PC.

Prior to joining The Disney Publishing Group, Skipper held the title of president and publishing director at Spin magazine. Earlier he spent 10 years with Straight Arrow Publishing including eight years with Rolling Stone. At Straight Arrow, he rose to publisher of US magazine.

Skipper holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English Literature from the University of North Carolina and Columbia University, respectively.

Apple Inc. Hired Michael as VP Product Marketing in September 2009. Michael was the former General Manager of Nike Techlab, a sports technology innovation group within Nike chartered with developing new digital products and services for Nike's sport and fitness consumers.

As part of this role, Michael's group also managed technology partnerships including the partnership between Nike and Apple which led to the award-winning Nike+iPod system announced in May of 2006.

Prior to joining Nike, Michael spent 6 years in technology and marketing strategy consulting for technology companies including HP, IBM, Microsoft, Sony, Kodak GM OnStar and Disney.

Before consulting, Michael spent 10 years at Apple in Product Development, Product Marketing and Strategic Alliances, helping to define, develop and launch scores of hardware and software products. Michael helped found Apple’s first Multimedia Products group and headed up Product Marketing for Apple's first foray into consumer electronics, the Newton PDA.

Malcolm Thorpe
Consultant, Blenheim Chalcot

Malcolm Thorpe is an experienced sports business and marketing professional with specific expertise in Asia and the Middle East.

A qualified lawyer, Malcolm worked for IMG, the world’s largest sports and entertainment marketing company, between 1992 and 2005. Having worked on a wide range of projects with the company’s legal department in London, Malcolm spent 3 years in India helping to establish IMG’s business in that country and then followed that with 8 years as Director of Football, Asia, based in Hong Kong and working across the entire Asia region.

From 2005 to 2009 Malcolm was Marketing Director, Sports Business at Dubai Sports City. He was responsible for the overall marketing and communications programme for the ground-breaking sports and real estate development as well as for the management, implementation and commercial exploitation of all sports related activities within the project.

In January 2010 Malcolm started working with Blenheim Chalcot, a UK-based investment company with significant interests in India, including the Rajasthan Royals IPL cricket team and a joint venture with online gaming company Betfair.

Thorpe, 45, is originally from England and is married with three children.

Phil Wallace was project lead for Money Games during the 2008-09 academic year. He received his MBA from the Marshall School of Business in 2009. Prior to enrolling at USC, Wallace was a special projects analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball club, leading many of the team's marketing and branding initiatives. Wallace came to Tampa Bay in 2005 after serving as an international relations analyst for New York's 2012 Olympic Bid. He graduated with a BA in Political Science from Columbia University in 2004.

A native of Southern California, Wallace currently consults for pro sports teams in the marketing/branding area with Chivas USA being one of his clients. Additionally, he runs an internet startup AwardsPicks.com, and is a contributor on "The Filter with Fred Roggin" and LAObserved.com.

Larry Witherspoon
Chief Executive Officer, Tickets.com

As chief executive officer of Tickets.com, Larry Witherspoon is responsible for the execution of the company's overall direction and strategic plan, including global technology development, sales and marketing, and the operation of the business.

He joined Tickets.com in 2005 as chief information officer, overseeing information technology, product development, architecture, and operations.

Mr. Witherspoon has more than a decade of sports entertainment experience, along with an extensive engineering background. Prior to joining Tickets.com, Mr. Witherspoon served as vice president of technology services for the Seattle Mariners, where he was responsible for all aspects of the Mariners' technology services department, including information services, audio/video, ticketing operations and concession services. Previous to his position with the Mariners, Mr. Witherspoon was co-founder and chief technology officer of AccessOne Internet Services.

Mr. Witherspoon started his career at Science Applications International and has held various positions with AT&T Wireless and McCaw Cellular. He received an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington Business School and attended Central Texas College.

David Yu
CEO, Betfair

David Yu, formerly CTO and then COO, is Betfair's Chief Executive. David was previously Vice President, Engineering for Alta Vista's e-Commerce and International divisions. He has spent over 10 years working for internet-based businesses, and holds an MS Computer Science from Stanford University and a BS Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been a Director since January 2006.