Minor League Baseball has hired former senior Major League Soccer executive David Wright as its new chief marketing and commercial officer, marking the start of another phase in the affiliated minors’ developing national sponsorship efforts.
 |
WRIGHT
|
Wright was MLS senior vice president of global sponsorship before departing in August, and was a 2012 SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 honoree. In the new position, he will assume the role previously held by Michael Hand, who was at Minor League Baseball for two years and helped launch the property’s Project Brand initiative before departing last May. Wright officially starts today and will relocate from New York to MiLB’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, where he will report to Pat O’Conner, MiLB’s president and chief executive.
Project Brand is the organization’s overarching effort to position itself to national marketers and generate additional collective revenue. It followed the Baseball Internet Rights Co., which pooled the affiliated minors’ online rights.
Project Brand’s beginnings, like BIRCO’s, were marked by some initial struggles to balance O’Conner’s push to create more shared revenue, under a mantra of “the power of one,” with MiLB’s historical nature as a more team and locally driven property.
That issue played a role in Hand’s departure. But O’Conner, who also assumed the marketing and properties role on an interim basis, said the arrival of Wright, a seasoned sports sales executive, will help to create a new trajectory.
“He’s sold a major sports property nationally and internationally and gives us a ton of experience, and somebody who is very professional, very polished,” O’Conner said. “I sort of liken this to Project Brand and MiLB Enterprises 2.0. Initially, we had to build a company and a new national sales effort, something that Michael did a lot to help us create. That is now in place, we’ve continued to evolve, and with David now on board, we believe we are positioned for significant growth.”
MiLB used search firm Eastman & Beaudine of Plano, Texas, to aid with the selection process.
Wright branded the MiLB job as “the next great opportunity” in his career development after taking a five-month break following his departure from MLS.
“I spent a lot of time at MLS in its formative stages, and I think a lot of the learnings from that period will translate over to this position,” Wright said.
