Changing Lives in New Orleans

I have admired David Stern for many years.

Last week at the All-Star break, and what the NBA did all season in New Orleans, was different. Never before but I hope often again, has sport risen to such a height. The NBA served the public and made an amazing impact on New Orleans. I have spent nearly 10 weeks in NOLA since December of 2006. Our DeVos students have put forth an amazing effort since that first visit with the formation of the Hope for Stanley Foundation. The NBA’s year in NOLA has worked to counter the effects of our nation’s most devastating natural disaster which was followed by such a complete collapse of public responsibility. It has been an effort of an army of volunteers over more than two years that has brought any real hope in New Orleans. Last week brought that army’s biggest battalion to date thanks to David Stern’s vision.

Ann and I brought Stanley Stewart and his wife, Betty, to the two nights of NBA events. The NBA was gracious enough to give us tickets for them.

They were at our Consortium Banquet on January 29th. When they got back to NOLA the next day, he found out that his Dad, paralyzed since a stoke 15 years ago, had a heart attack and was gravely ill. He remained in ICU for nearly two weeks. The next day his 24-year-old nephew, who he and Betty helped raise, was shot 18 times a block from Stanley’s home. Stanley and his Mom heard the gunfire. They had the funeral last week. They were all in a terrible and sad place.

When we gave them the tickets the smiles on their faces erupted. Their eyes glistened. He and Betty were so happy. They were joyous at the events themselves. It is the power of sport, and no one delivers it better than the NBA.

I am privileged to be able to call David Stern a friend.

Richard Lapchick

Reporting from Memphis...

I spent the majority of last week in Memphis at the National Sports Forum, an event I have attended annually for the past 6 years. I had a number of commitments – the first of which was to support the DeVos Case Cup Team in attempting to defend their title won last year in Los Angeles. Alas it was not to be. Our team of Jez Ratliff, Marcus Sedberry, KT Lahey and Sheri Anderson analyzed a case relating to possible NASCAR changes and while giving it their best shot – came up short to Texas A&M. All of the participating schools Oregon, Ohio U, Arizona State, Memphis, San Diego State and Texas A&M fielded outstanding teams. We look forward to next year’s competition in Phoenix.

One of my favorite responsibilities during the conference is serving as the Moderator of the Daktronics "Brought to You By" Panel – a panel discussion focusing on sponsorship. This year I had the pleasure to work with Ray Bednar of Bank of America, Tom Lamb of Loews, Lynn Campbell of Autozone, Samira Zebian of Alltel and Peter King of Rogers Communication. Some of the topics discussed were ROI vs. ROO; the amount of clutter being caused by category fragmentation; analytics and measurement; and hot properties on the rise. This is a very enjoyable assignment for me and I am already starting to think about my panel for next year.

I also moderated a session seeking to find new ways that academics and practitioners can assist each other through directed research projects, student projects and other experiential factors. As I have long viewed myself as a pracademic – this again was a labor love. We discussed programs that have sales components – (Memphis, Ohio U, Mount Union, Baylor and UCF) and how these types of experiences are valuable for the sponsoring practitioner – not only in terms of revenue – but also in identifying sales talent and providing an entry-level labor pool. We discussed market research initiatives, special event assistance, and other ways that we can closer together. This was the first year we had had such an opportunity at the Forum and are hoping that this will become an annual event.

Finally – as with any conference of this size and scope - I spent a fair amount of time sitting in the lobby and seeing old friends – who will now become sources for DeVos-related student projects and internship placements. As our program becomes more and more national in scope, we need to continually identify new organizations in new locations. Looking at the class of '08 – we had 2 placements in California, 2 in Texas, 1 each in Colorado, Louisiana, South Carolina and Massachusetts along with our usual 2 more in North Carolina – which puts the number of DeVos students in that state to more than a dozen since the inception of the program – second only to Florida.

Dr. Sutton

True Global Impact

I recently returned from a trip to China, where I attended the NBA China games in Shanghai and Macao. Unlike most of my NBA-related experience, I was not working and was a guest thanks to the generosity of the Orlando Magic. Thus, I was able to spend even more time observing my new surroundings.

One of the most interesting experiences was meeting a group of Buddhist monks at the Temple of the Jade Buddha in Shanghai. I was approached by a professor who had been working with the monks as an English instructor - he noticed our group and asked if the monks could practice their English with me. I was happy to accommodate, as there were a number of questions I wanted to know about their monastic life and commitment to this particular temple. However as a good guest, I asked them if there was anything that they wanted to ask or to know about the United States. Imagine my surprise when the first words of English spoken to me were a pluralized version of the previous marketing slogan of the NBA: "We love this game." I obviously smiled and followed up by asking them about their interest in the NBA and found them to be surprisingly well-informed and excited about the NBA presence in China.

I also attended the China games and was impressed by the reaction of the Chinese fans to the NBA version of basketball. I saw countless LeBron James fans (one was even wearing a replica of LeBron's H.S. jersey) that were vocal in their support and anticipated his next move every time he touched the ball. I also enjoyed the reaction of the fans to the mascot and the Magic Dancers – they were hugely popular and communicated well event though no words were ever spoken, including a dunking routine which stunned the crowd.

I observed sponsor activation teams (many more than you would see at a similar event in the U.S.), the consummate presentation skills of the NBA through their Events and Attractions department (featuring our own Erin Alexander, whom I saw in Macao), and the diplomacy and media savvy of Commissioner Stern. While I still love this game, I can also attest to the appropriateness of the NBA's newest slogan which was recently introduced - where amazing happens. Basketball is truly, along with soccer (football), a global game - it will be interesting to see how the NFL game in London is accepted in a country that has its own versions of this type of game in football and rugby.

Dr. Bill Sutton

Hope for Stanley

As you read the grim news of events in the world, including wars, disease, natural disasters, and people acting in ways that can only hurt other people, it comes as a bolt of lightning when something of such enormous good as what happened recently in New Orleans takes place.

For those of you who follow the DeVos Sport Business Management Program and the creation of the Hope for Stanley Foundation, you already know that we began working in New Orleans in the Lower Ninth Ward in the rebuilding process after Hurricane Katrina. In December of 2006, we began to tear out the insides of the home of Stanley Stewart. Stanley became a symbol for us as the face of the people in the Lower Ninth. On the weekend of October 13th and 14th, 2007, my wife Ann, daughter Emily, ten students from the current DeVos program, a member of the Inaugural Class and her Mom and I converged at Stanley’s house to paint the walls of his recreated home.



We followed by a week the extraordinary efforts of Smitty Pignatelli, who was a member of the first trip in December. Smitty came earlier in the spring with a crew from Massachusetts to put a roof on Stanley ’s house to stop the erosion inside. In the first week of October, he brought a group of 25 skilled electricians, plumbers, sheet rockers, and carpenters, who installed new plumbing electricity, sheet rock, floors, windows, doors, cabinets and appliances. In other words, they rebuilt Stanley ’s house. Had this group have been charging for their normal services, it would have cost $15,000 a day, or nearly $90,000 for their labor. They also brought nearly $50,000 of donated material. I salute Smitty and his crew for their extraordinary dedication in helping Stanley Stewart’s family.

Now we pledge that the DeVos Sports Business Management Program, in conjunction with the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, will continue to build and rebuild homes in future trips that will allow at least some of the people who were wrenched away from their beloved City of New Orleans to return in comfort and safety.

I have never been more proud to work with any group than I have been with those who have devoted nearly six weeks of their time since last December. It shows that when you believe in what you can’t see, you can someday see it.

Dr. Richard Lapchick

A Leader in Sport Business

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Chicago was the opportunity to meet with Steve Schanwald, Executive VP of Business Operations for the Chicago Bulls, and have him present to the Class of 08. I have admired Steve since my time in the NBA and feel that he has been, and continues to be, one of the guiding lights in the team marketing area, not only in the NBA but in team sports in general. Steve is not quick to jump on the bandwagon and is very diligent in his examination of trends and best practices – preferring them to be the right thing for the Chicago Bulls regardless of how they are working for other teams. Steve stands firm in his convictions and is not afraid to be in the minority or in some cases actually be the minority. That being said, besides Michael Jordan, there is no one who has had a bigger impact in the business and off the court growth for the Chicago Bulls than Steve Schanwald.



Steve has built and presided over the business area of the Chicago Bulls from a time when NBA basketball was an afterthought in Chicago – to establishing the Bulls as a perennial sell-out in Chicago and one of the premier franchises in the NBA, annually ranking among the attendance and revenue leaders. Steve has built a solid fan base through full-menu marketing, exceptional sales and service departments, innovative promotional techniques, well thought out and orchestrated corporate partner programs, using community relations to create positive feelings about the Bulls and realizing that the game isn’t enough for some fans and establishing one of the best game entertainment departments in the NBA. Steve is an excellent judge of talent and has assembled a management team that has been consistent and visionary despite losing some top people to other teams and leagues.



As with any outstanding leader, Steve is respected and admired by his peers and his opinion is one that Commissioner David Stern has sought out to test new ideas and thoughts – regardless of where Steve may or may not stand on these particular issues. Because of this respect and willingness to take a stand, Steve serves on the TMBO Advisory Board for the NBA in terms of marketing and business operational issues.



Steve spent more than 90 minutes with us at the United Center and arranged for additional presentations from some of his key staffers followed by a tour of the venue. A number of students remarked to me that they felt Steve’s presentation was the best presentation that had received in their 18 months at UCF. I smiled thinking to myself how fortunate I have been to have benefited form Steve’s knowledge and guidance while at the NBA and seeing it come full circle to now enrich the lives of my students.

Dr. Bill Sutton

Hoop Dreams

As the Chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, I have had the opportunity to do so many things that were both meaningful and pleasurable. Now high on that list was the time we spent with Arthur Agee as part of our DeVos trip to Chicago last week. Arthur, you may recall, is one of the two people featured in Hoop Dreams, the great movie which followed Arthur and William Gates’ lives from the eighth grade as two young boys who dreamt about playing in the NBA through their college years. I have always thought it was the best movie ever made about sports, mostly because so much of it was about life in urban America. In one of the most poignant moments in the movie, I initially seized upon what Arthur’s mother, Sheila, said at Arthur’s 18th birthday party. “I’m so proud of Arthur. He’ll be the first Agee who ever graduated from high school.” My wife Ann pointed out to me what she said after that and how much more serious it was. Sheila Agee added, “…but I’m more proud that Arthur lived to be 18. A lot of his friends didn’t.”

Being with Arthur in Chicago, seeing him give hugs to all the DeVos students and seeing how much he has grown and changed his hoop dream into a dream to contribute to his community and be a good father, was a great feeling. I was involved with producers of the film, and we helped develop the curriculum that was used to accompany the movie in schools all across the country. I have shown Hoop Dreams to more than 50 audiences in and outside of the United States, including in Italy and South Africa. I start my ethics and sports class every year with a viewing of Hoop Dreams and a discussion of all the ethical values and the racial situations presented in the film. As I watched our students in the first five DeVos classes react so deeply to the film, I dreamt that someday some of those students would have the chance to meet with Arthur. Thanks to the generosity of the Magic who donated their plane to get us to Chicago, and to the corporate partners who our sports marketing classes served last year for the fees that helped us pay for all the other expenses, we fulfilled that dream. More dreams to come. Hoops and otherwise.

Dr. Richard Lapchick

Welcome!

We are glad you have found the professors of the DeVos Sport Management Program at the University of Central Florida. We are all passionate about our work and about developing students who understand the power of sport to make a positive impact on society.

This blog will be updated at least once a week, so check back often to see how we stay so busy!

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