Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment

“Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment”

Mr. Baker, a resident of Jefferson County, native of Pueblo, Colorado and partner of Gold Crown Management Co. is active in the community and is currently serving, or has served, on the following:

Community:
Current Member, Colorado Economic Recovery and Accountability Board
Current Chairman and board member, Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball Stadium District (Governors Romer, Owens and Ritter)
Current Chairman and board member, Metropolitan Football Stadium District (Governors Romer, Owens and Ritter)
Former Chairman, Colorado Commission on Higher Education Capital Development Committee
Member, Judi’s House Endowment Board (Brian Griese)
Former Lakewood High School Softball Coach
Coach of the Year, Lakewood High School Softball by the Denver Post, (1997-1998); Rocky Mountain News (1997-1998), and the Jefferson County School Athletic Directors for 1998
Past President, Colorado Apartment Association
Past President, Apartment Association-Metro Denver
Former member, Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel (Gov. Romer)
Former member and Chairman, Colorado Economic Development Commission
Former member and Commissioner, Colorado Commission of Higher Education
Former board member, Denver Zoological Foundation
Current member, Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel (Gov. Ritter)

Business:

Antranig Balian is a 2nd-year MBA student and has been a member of Professor Carter's research team since October of 2008. Currently the EVP of the Marshall Sports Business Organization, Antranig has a passion for sports business and has interned with the USC Baseball Team, Universal Sports, and the Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club during his time at USC.

Antranig graduated from UCLA in 2001 with a major in political science before earning his J.D. at Loyola Law School in 2004. He then spent 3 years as a criminal prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office before enrolling at the Marshall School. A native Angeleno, Antranig lives in Hermosa Beach and enjoys Led Zeppelin, reading historical non-fiction, and any activity that incorporates the Hermosa/Manhattan Beach Strand.

Mike Bidwill
President, Arizona Cardinals

After practicing law for six years as a federal prosecutor, Michael Bidwill joined the organization in 1996 as Vice President/General Counsel and today serves as team President. In that time, no one has been more influential in steering the organization on its path towards an eventual NFC Championship.

In addition to guiding the Cardinals, Bidwill has also taken on an ever-increasing role in the National Football League and the greater Phoenix business community as well. In 2007, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appointed Michael to the league’s Business Ventures Committee, one of the NFL’s most prominent. In September of 2008, he took over as Chair of the influential Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC). He is also a member of Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL), an organization composed of the region’s top business and civic leaders.

Within the league, Michael chairs the NFL Security Advisory Committee, a group of eight club executives that oversees and develops best security practices for NFL facilities. He additionally serves on Arizona’s Super Bowl Host Committee which successfully staged Super Bowl XLII at University of Phoenix Stadium last February and will seek to bring the game back to the state.

Among his most significant roles with the Cardinals has been the development of University of Phoenix Stadium, a project that he spearheaded from its inception. The venue has been a major factor in the transformation of the Cardinals and a catalyst for the team’s success. It has received worldwide acclaim for its distinctive architecture and cutting-edge design and even before it opened, it was selected by BusinessWeek as one of the 10 most impressive sports facilities in the world and has received numerous honors in its three full years of operation.

From 1990–96, Bidwill was a federal prosecutor in Phoenix where he specialized in homicide and other violent crime cases. He also directed three task forces, including the FBI’s gang task force on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeast Arizona.

Bidwill earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from St. Louis University in 1987 and in 1990 earned a law degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

George Bodenheimer
President, ESPN, Inc. and ABC Sports
Co-chairman, Disney Media Networks

An ESPN and cable industry pioneer, George Bodenheimer, 51, was named ESPN’s fifth President in 1998, and as the company’s longest-tenured top executive has led an unprecedented period of growth for ESPN. Bodenheimer’s path to leadership mirrors that of ESPN itself - with his sharp focus on creativity and cutting-edge innovation, his emphasis on always enhancing value for ESPN’s fans and business partners, and his conviction for teamwork. In 2003, he was also appointed President of ABC Sports, overseeing all the multimedia sports assets of The Walt Disney Company, and in 2004 he assumed the role of co-chairman, Disney Media Networks, encompassing strategic planning for Disney’s media assets.

As President of ESPN, Inc., Bodenheimer leads one of the world’s premier brands with over 50 business entities and counting - including six domestic television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU); 46 international television networks; ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS and ESPNU HD (simulcast services in high-definition); ESPN 3D launching in June 2010; ESPN Regional Television; ESPN.com; ESPN Radio; ESPN The Magazine and books; the ESPN Zones (sports-themed restaurants); and other growing new businesses including ESPN360.com (broadband), ESPN Mobile (wireless), ESPN on Demand and ESPN Interactive.
Under Bodenheimer’s leadership, ESPN offers more leading platforms than any other media entity and has acquired a collection of rights unparalleled in scope. Recent major acquisitions including The Masters, the SEC, the BCS, Premier League, golf’s British Open and tennis’s US Open were added to the stable highlighted by Monday Night Football, NBA, MLB, college football and basketball, World Cup Soccer and Wimbledon. The number of recent agreements and the unprecedented length underscore Bodenheimer’s focus on ESPN’s mission to serve sports fans.

As President of ABC Sports, he oversees one of the broadcast industry’s most comprehensive sports programming schedules, which is now branded “ESPN on ABC.” Among the premier programming is the NBA Finals, NASCAR, college football including the Rose Bowl, college basketball, World Cup Soccer, the Belmont Stakes, Little League World Series, the Indy 500 and more.

Bodenheimer’s vision has led to numerous company and industry-leading innovations in integrated sales and marketing, original programming, rights and business acquisitions, and new technologies, highlighted by ESPN’s state-of-the-art Digital Center in Bristol, a West Coast production facility in Los Angeles, an Innovation Lab in Orlando and, in conjunction with Disney, a Media and Ad Lab in Austin. He established an organizational structure with leaders focusing on six areas: content across all media, technology, international, sales and marketing, finance and administration.

Bodenheimer joined the company after college in January 1981 as a driver in the mailroom. He rose through the ranks becoming Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing in 1996. He graduated from Denison University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, and he is married with three children.

Bob Bowman joined Major League Baseball Advanced Media LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, as President and Chief Executive Officer in November 2000 following 3 years of work in the Internet space. MLBAM was created in June 2000 when the owners of the 30 professional baseball teams voted to centralize all of Baseball’s Internet operations under one roof. MLBAM operates the official League site, www.MLB.com, as well as each of the 30 individual team sites.

Prior to joining MLBAM, Mr. Bowman was President and Chief Operating Officer of ITT Corporation one of the world’s largest and pre-eminent conglomerates. He joined ITT in 1991 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ITT Sheraton, the Boston-based global hotel network. In 1992 he was named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the parent company before being named President and Chief Operating Officer in 1995. Following the trivestiture of the Company’s business divisions in 1995, Mr. Bowman successfully oversaw the growth and operations of the $8 billion conglomerate until it was acquired by Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 1998. During his tenure, Mr. Bowman and the senior management team at ITT created more than $25 billion of value for the company’s shareholders.

Before joining ITT he served as Treasurer for the State of Michigan from 1983 to 1991. The youngest State Treasurer in the nation at the time of his appointment, during his eight year term he grew the State’s pension system from $6 billion to $19 billion in asset value.

Prior to his appointment in Michigan, Mr. Bowman also worked as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs & Company, and from 1979 to 1981 he served in the US Department of the Treasury as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Domestic Finance.

A native of Milwaukee, Mr. Bowman graduated from Harvard College in 1977, and received his M.B.A. from The Wharton School in 1979. He serves as President of the Michigan Education Trust and is a member of the Board of Directors of Blockbuster, Inc., Take-Two Interactive Corp. and Warnaco Corp.

A proven innovator in both the public and private sectors, Mr. Bowman is a frequent lecturer and has been a regular guest commentator on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox Business News, the CBS Evening News and the Newshour with Jim Lehrer and he has been the subject of personal features in Fortune, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others.

J.P. Brocket
Manager, Open Services and Infrastructure
Sprint

Courtney Brunious
Student Researcher, USC Marshall MBA, 2010

Courtney Brunious has been working with the USC Marshall Sports Business Institute and Professor David Carter since September of 2008. A graduating member of the USC Marshall MBA class of 2010, and current president of the Marshall Sports Business Organization, Courtney has also been project lead for Money Games throughout the 2009-1010 academic year.

Prior to enrolling at USC, Courtney worked in land acquisition for National Home Builder KB Home, dealing with acquisitions throughout San Bernardino County. A licensed attorney, Courtney has also worked in the legal field while residing in the city of Chicago. He graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan in 2001 and a J.D. from the University of Southern California in 2004.

David Campbell
President & CEO, AEG Europe

David Campbell is President and CEO of AEG Europe, a role he undertook in March 2005. David has overseen the transformation of The O2, Europe’s state-of-the-art entertainment destination. In its opening season The O2 became the world’s most popular music arena and was crowned Venue of the Year at top industry awards - Music Week, Pollstar and the ILMC - within a year of opening.

Formerly Chief Executive of Visit London, Campbell has more than 25 years marketing and management experience at General Mills, Pepsi and Virgin, where he co-founded Virgin Radio.

In 1997 he set up Ginger Media Group with Chris Evans, which they sold for £225m in 2000. After that, he was Vice Chair of Ministry of Sound and Non-Exec Chair of Zenith Entertainment, before helping create Visit London in 2003. In 2004 tourism delivered an incremental £770m into the London economy, taking it to roughly 10% of London’s GDP. As CEO he oversaw 2 consecutive years of growth in London’s worldwide market share – the first increases for 10 years.

Campbell’s interests outside work are his family, home, live music and travelling - he was once a licensed helicopter pilot. He is married with four children and lives in West Sussex and London.

David M. Carter
Executive Director, USC Marshall Sports Business Institute

David M. Carter is the Executive Director of the University of Southern California’s Sports Business Institute and is a professor of sports business at USC’s Marshall School of Business.

Additionally, he founded the Sports Business Group in 1999 following more than ten years of consulting for the sports and entertainment industries.

As a sports business consultant specializing in strategic marketing, Mr. Carter has consulted for corporations, sports organizations, sports and entertainment venues, law firms, municipalities, and individual athletes.

Further, Mr. Carter regularly provides sports-business commentary to national media concerns.

He has also authored three books about the sports business industry.

Mr. Carter is a graduate of the University of Southern California where he obtained both a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in finance.

Arturo Castro
Student Researcher, USC Marshall MBA 2009

Arturo Castro is a brand manager at THQ, a leading video game publisher in Agoura Hills, CA. Since beginning his tenure at THQ, Mr. Castro has managed a variety of projects and is currently leading the brand management for the UFC Undisputed franchise. Under Mr. Castro’s management, the UFC Undisputed franchise has established itself as a premier sports/fighting game with over 3.8 million unit sales in its first year of release in 2009.

Prior to working at THQ, Mr. Castro worked for 5 years as a research scientist for Pfizer Global Research and Development. During his time at Pfizer, Mr. Castro worked on a variety of drug development projects in the field of biochemistry for such diseases as glaucoma, cancer and diabetes.

After his time at Pfizer, Mr. Castro decided to change careers and follow his aspiration to work in sports and entertainment. He enrolled at USC Marshall School of Business in the Fall of 2006 and quickly began to work with Professor David Carter on a variety of projects for the USC Sports Business Institute (SBI). Mr. Castro eventually became the co-lead for the “Convergence of Sports and Entertainment project” with fellow classmate Todd Jacobs and in the Spring of 2008 participated in creating the foundation for the book, “Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment.” Mr. Castro’s work with the SBI led to his summer internship for Nike’s Global Basketball Brand in the summer of 2007 as well as short internship at Fox Home Entertainment in the Fall of 2007.

Arturo currently resides in Studio City, CA and is happily married to his beautiful wife Iliana Guzman Castro, who practices law at Dapeer, Rosenblit & Litvak, LLP.

Fred Claire
MLB Analyst

Fred Claire was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office for 30 years, advancing from publicity director of the team to the position of Executive Vice President with responsibility for player personnel decisions and baseball operations.

In a distinguished career with the Dodgers, Claire served the team as a publicity director; vice president of public relations, promotions and marketing; Executive Vice President in charge of day-to-day operations; and Executive Vice President and General Manager in charge of player personnel.

Claire joined the Dodgers in 1969 and he proved to be an award-winning executive at every stage of his career. Claire was directing the team’s marketing efforts when the Dodgers first hit the three-million mark in attendance and established a period of record-setting attendance figures.

In April of 1987, Claire was named general manager of the Dodgers and when the team won the World Series in 1988 he was selected Major League Baseball’s “Executive of the Year” by The Sporting News. Claire became the fifth Dodger executive in the team’s history to win the award, following Larry MacPhail (1939), Branch Rickey (1947), Walter O’Malley (1955) and Buzzie Bavasi (1959).

Since his departure from the Dodgers in June of 1998, Claire has maintained an active schedule as a columnist and analyst for MLB.com. He was the host to the weekly radio show “The GM Corner” on MLB.com radio for two years and served as the host of the show “The Scouts Section.”

He also has served as an instructor at the University of Southern California and as a consultant to companies involved in sports while maintaining an active schedule in civic involvement.

A book on Claire’s career with the Dodgers (“Fred Claire: My 30 Years in Dodger Blue”) was released in March of 2004 by Sports Publishing LLC. The book was co-authored by Claire and Steve Springer of the Los Angeles Times and it was recognized on the Los Angeles Times’ “Bestsellers” list.

During the spring semesters of 1999 through 2001 Claire served as an instructor at USC in the presentation of a class titled “Sports, Business and the Media in Today’s Society.” He continues to lecture on the business of sports at USC and is a member of the advisory board for both the USC Sports Business Institute and the student Sports Business Assn. Claire also serves on the advisory board for the Sports Management graduate program at California State University, Long Beach.

Claire is a partner in the venture AriBall.com, offering analytical programs to Major League Baseball teams and media companies.

Claire is a member of the board of directors of the Rose Bowl Operating Company and his civic involvement also includes board of director positions for the Special Olympics of Southern California; the Los Angeles Sports Council; and Life Skills FORE Pasadena Youth, Inc.

During the time Claire headed the Dodgers’ public relations and marketing efforts, the team received the Diogenes Award for ethics in marketing by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Los Angeles and the Dodgers were saluted for achievements in marketing by both Major League Baseball and the Advertising Club of Los Angeles. In 1986 Claire received the Robert O. Fishel Award, an award presented annually to an industry executive who excels in promoting the game. Claire received the “Good Guy” award from the Southern California Sports Broadcasters in the Spring of 2000.

Claire served Major League baseball in a number of capacities, including a role as a member of the Board of Directors for MLB Properties, as a member of the Broadcast Advisory Group and as a member of the Baseball Operations Committee. In 1990, Claire received the Award of Honor from the American Baseball Coaches Assn. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner-cities).

Prior to joining the Dodgers, Claire spent 12 years in the newspaper field as a sports editor, columnist and baseball writer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Pomona Progress-Bulletin and the Whittier Daily News. During the time Claire was the sports editor of the Progress-Bulletin the newspaper was saluted for its sports section by the California Newspaper Publishers Assn.

Claire was graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. He holds an Associate of Arts degree from Mt. San Antonio College and has been honored by the college as an outstanding alumnus. Claire also attended El Camino College and was selected as the college’s first Alumnus of the Year. In March of 2000, Claire was inducted into the California Community College Sports Hall of Fame.

During Claire’s tenure as the Executive VP in charge of baseball operations, the Dodger teams had a record of 917-867, the third best winning percentage (.519) in Major League Baseball during this period.

In Claire’s final four full seasons with the Dodgers—1994 through 1997—the team reached the post-season twice (1995 and 1996) and was leading its division when the strike halted play in 1994.