Samsung NBA Summer League founder Warren LeGarie is adding another aspect to the growing annual Las Vegas basketball event: a front-office training program.
LeGarie and partner Albert Hall are tailoring the program, called the Front Office Combine, to attract people who are interested in landing entry-level jobs in the sports industry. The specific tracks to be offered in the program are ticket sales; social media and public relations; sponsorship sales; and scouting and analytics. The program will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion, where 23 NBA teams and one select D-League team will play over a two-week period beginning July 10.
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Twenty-three NBA teams and one D-League team will play in the Summer League in July.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
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“We are always trying to keep things fresh and we’ve always done outreach programs to grow the game,” LeGarie said. “One of the missions is to develop talent.”
The cost to take part in the program, which runs July 10-14, is $2,800. That sum includes hotel accommodations, and organizers hope to cap enrollment at 45 people. So far, about 30 people have enrolled.
Applicants will be vetted, LeGarie said.
“There is a finite number of opportunities in sports, much less in basketball,” said David Kahn, the former Minnesota Timberwolves general manager who is working with LeGarie on the program. “It is totally geared toward the entry level.”
Organizers said the program will include classroom-type training in the morning, with on-the-job training in the afternoon during the Summer League games. Speakers primarily will be drawn from the pool of NBA and media executives in town for the Summer League.
While the curriculum is still being created, speakers currently listed on the combine’s website (frontofficecombine.com) include Tommy Sheppard, Washington Wizards senior vice president of basketball operations, and ESPN’s Sage Steele. LeGarie said Arn Tellem, vice chairman of Wasserman Media Group, also will speak.
Both LeGarie and Hall, who partner with the NBA in running the Summer League, will be speaking, as will Rob Sine, Pac-12 Conference vice president of ticketing and who is listed on the website as leading the ticket sales division for the combine.
The combine could be seen as an engagement option for people who were unable to land an internship for the Summer League. The Summer League turns down hundreds of intern applicants in selecting about 70 interns to staff the annual event, according to combine organizers.
While new to the Summer League, the “combine” idea is not new industrywide. Former Phoenix Suns executive Bob Hamer runs the Sports Sales Combine, a program marketed to those interested in entry-level ticket sales jobs. That combine was last held in March at the Prudential Center in New Jersey, with entrants paying $475 for a two-day program.
In 2013 and 2014, industry veterans Scott O’Neil, Bill Sutton and Chris Heck ran what was called the 5 Star Sponsorship Academy, which was marketed to sponsorship executives who last year paid $1,600 to attend the two-day event. Sutton said that program is not returning this year.
LeGarie hopes to grow his combine annually, not unlike how the Summer League has become a prime annual basketball event. What used to be mainly an on-court showcase featuring newly drafted players and select others on NBA rosters has in recent years become a gathering point for NBA league and team executives. The league now holds various department meetings as well as a board of governors meeting during the Summer League.
“One of the things that has been neglected has been how to grow talent around the talent,” LeGarie said. “Our idea is to put something together and provide real-life experiences.”
