The lights above Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went out momentarily after he chastised the NCAA and college administrators for their use of the term student athlete, calling it “one of the most hypocritical terms in the universe.”
Cuban was giving a keynote speech to about 1,000 college athletics administrators attending the 39th annual convention of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He responded to the lighting malfunction by jokingly saying “Ahh, somebody from the NCAA was here, huh?”
The criticism was a digression from a speech on marketing and sales strategies. In it, Cuban described athletic directors as entrepreneurs. He also emphasized the need for ADs to define their business, and he shared his advice for developing that business.
 |
| NBA team owner Cuban: “Every minute of every day is selling time.” |
“Sales cures all,” Cuban said. “Every minute of every day is selling time.”
He advised athletics programs to build their sales staffs and base their sales strategy not on wins and losses, but rather on fun and on the experience of going to college sporting events.
“You have to always make sure that [your event] is the answer to ‘Honey, buddy, friend, business associate — What are we gonna do tonight?’” Cuban said.
Cuban emphasized the need for customer service in any business and the need for every organization to identify one person who can be accessible to address the customers’ needs.
SPONSOR PITCHES: In between sessions at the convention in Dallas, athletics administrators had the chance to browse an exhibit hall featuring about 200 vendors pitching everything from scoreboards and stadium seats to insurance and apparel.
NCAA sponsors Coca-Cola and Monster had prominent displays, as did scoreboard maker Daktronics and apparel suppliers Adidas and Under Armour.
Coca-Cola, in addition to setting up an interactive Coke van, was promoting its recently launched C2 soft drink. Monster was pushing its Booster Club program, which gives companies a chance to allocate a portion of their spending with Monster to an athletics program of their choice.
CSTV, in addition to exhibiting at the convention, ran a programming loop for much of the convention on one of the television channels at the host hotel, the Wyndham Anatole. The programming gave convention attendees who do not have CSTV in their markets the chance to see some of its offerings. The loop included magazine shows on former Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable and UConn’s basketball programs.
FULL HOUSE: This year’s James J. Corbett Awards luncheon, which included presentations of the James J. Corbett Award, SportsBusiness Journal’s AD of the Year Award and the NACDA/NIT Award, was the largest-attended Corbett luncheon in NACDA officials’ recent memory.
The room was set for 1,000 attendees, but more than 100 people ended up without seats.
“We have never had to do that before,” said Lauris Garrison, NACDA assistant executive director of communications. “We were surprised.”
Garrison said NACDA typically sets its luncheon room for 1,000, expecting 800 to 850 people. Officials attributed the increase in attendance to the relatively new convention format, debuted last year, that combines the NACDA meetings with meetings of affiliated groups, such as college marketers, licensing directors and business managers. About 1,700 college athletics administrators were in Dallas through the course of the weeklong event.
Garrison said NACDA officials will address the seating situation for future conventions. Next year’s NACDA convention will be June 15-18 in Orlando.
Jennifer Lee may be reached at jlee@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
