W
hen the FIFA World Cup pooled its rights globally for the first time in 1979, Maidie Oliveau helped Coca-Cola cut the first deal. When the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee became the first to offer exclusive rights to marketers, she was there too, working for that group. More recently, she represented the Los Angeles Lakers in the negotiations that resulted in that team’s massive RSN deal. And since 1997, Oliveau has served as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Oliveau has been a change agent with some of sports businesses’ biggest entities.
“Sports have become a marketing license,” Oliveau said. “What we are dealing with now is the sophistication and multiplication of that effect.”
As for advice after more than 30 years in the business: “Remember that your relationships are lifelong,” she said. “People in the sports industry hang around. They might change jobs, but they are generally in it for life.”
— Terry Lefton
“Maidie is fiercely bright, and from all angles — legal, business and competitive — she has as comprehensive an understanding of how this business works as anyone I know.”
— Gary Stevenson | President and managing director |
MLS Business Ventures, and 30-year industry veteran
