A highly ranked NBA official will speak to University of Memphisstudents today about sports marketing and his NBA experiences.
Vice President of Team Services for the National BasketballAssociation William Sutton will speak today at 5 p.m. in theUniversity Center's third floor west lounge. Sutton has beeninvolved with the NBA for three years and will be speaking aboutsports marketing and his role with the NBA.
The U of M Sport Marketing Association, headed by Richard Irwin,director of the Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce, is sponsoringthe presentation "because he also has a lot of experience inacademia. He is someone who understands what you need to know inschool and how to apply it in the field."
Sutton has a long history in the sports marketing arena, both inan academic and professional manner. He graduated from OklahomaState University with a master's in physical education in 1980. Hehas taught sports management at Ohio State University, sportsmarketing at Robert Morris College in Pennsylvania and sportstudies at the University of Massachusetts, and he recentlyaccepted a position with the University of Central Florida's DeVossSports Business Program.
In addition to teaching, Sutton has been commissioner of theMid-Ohio Athletic Conference, vice-president of marketing andinformation services for DelWilber & Associates, a sportsmarketing agency, and also ran Audience Analysts, a consultingfirm, with Irwin.
Sutton's list of credentials includes co-authoring severalbooks, including "Sport Promotion and Sales with Irwin," and over75 national and international presentations for a variety oforganizations.
"He's been around the block," said Irwin. And that blockincludes having conceptualized and designed the Rapid AudienceProfile System (RAPS), an interactive computer based survey system.RAPS allows franchises to keep track of their patrons in order toget to know them better, like what type of food they buy at thestadium or even their birthdays and anniversaries, and use this asa marketing tool.
"He developed his current position," Irwin said of Sutton's newtitle with the NBA. According to Irwin, while Sutton was teachingat the University of Massachusetts, he had been complaining thatthe NBA needed a liaison between teams to share marketing ideas andsuch.
After some convincing, Sutton wrote a letter to NBA CommissionerDavid Stern explaining the problem. Shortly thereafter, Suttonreceived a phone call from Stern, which later turned into a joboffer.
Now Sutton works with about eight teams, sharing successstories, ideas and team objectives and acting as an analyst andconsultant for the teams marketing departments. Now NBA teamscoordinate their campaign efforts through him.
"He's extremely personable and candid -- he'll tell you like itis," said Irwin, "I hope to see a lot of" questions at thepresentation today.
For more information about the Sport Marketing Association orthe presentation evening, e-mail sma@cc.memphis.edu.
