Menu
People and Pop Culture

Longtime Millsport exec Basche leaving

Bob Basche, The Marketing Arm’s chief relationship officer and chairman of Millsport, is leaving after a combined 30 years with the two agencies.

Bob Basche
With The Marketing Arm’s leadership and headquarters centered in Dallas for some time, and Basche based in the East, he said it was time to move on. Basche noted that his separation agreement does not include a non-compete clause. Accordingly, he is looking for opportunities within the consulting, marketing agency, or client spaces.

“I’m certainly not retiring,” Basche said. “It is more of a fresh start and using the relationships I have with brands like NASDAQ and Izod to do new things.”

Basche joined Millsport in 1982 from NBC Sports, where he coined the term “Breakfast at Wimbledon” and won three Emmy Awards. An internal email from Marketing Arm parent Omnicom noted his achievements in fashioning Frito-Lay’s title sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl in 1995 for its Tostitos brand, as well as in founding The Marketing Arm’s motorsports practice and the agency’s Charlotte office.

“Bob’s loyalty, energy, and cheerful attitude have made him a valuable part of TMA’s team for the last seven years,” according to the internal email.

Other highlights noted by Basche included helping Visa wrest Olympic rights from American Express in 1988, forging a decade-long relationship between GTE and the NFL, which included the use of branded headsets on sidelines by NFL coaches for the first time, and signing Jeff Gordon for Pepsi when the popular NASCAR driver had been sponsored by Coke.

Basche’s departure could signal the end of the Millsport name. Millsport has been part of The Marketing Arm since 2004, but the latter has recently been de-emphasizing the use of the Millsport name, the agency that was founded by Jim Millman in 1975 and majority owned by Omnicom since 2000.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/15/People-and-Pop-Culture/Basche.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/15/People-and-Pop-Culture/Basche.aspx

CLOSE