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The Michigan Sports Business Conference has provided a bonding experience for the university’s sports business alumni.
Photo by: MICHIGAN SPORTS BUSINESS CONFERENCE
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After getting his MBA from the University of Michigan in 2001, Dan Griffis went the consulting route, never envisioning himself working in racing.
But about a year after graduation, Griffis got a call from his Michigan classmate, Tom Garfinkel, who was executive vice president at Chip Ganassi Racing. The racing team was looking for a relationship person who could help brands think strategically about enhancing their value through sports. Familiar with his skill set, Garfinkel thought Griffis was the perfect fit, and Griffis found the offer compelling.
“I always had an interest in working with Tom because he was very smart and very gifted,” Griffis said, “so I thought this was a really unique opportunity even though I didn’t know anything about the racing industry.”
Griffis spent the next 10 years of his career with Ganassi, the first four with Garfinkel as his boss. He went on to high-level marketing roles at Target, Ganassi’s longtime partner, from 2011 to 2015, and he’s now president of Narrative Partners, a division of Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff’s Oak View Group.
But he owes his career in sports to his Big Blue roots. “I’m in the industry, quite frankly, because of another Michigan alum,” Griffis said.
Griffis (MBA 2001) and Garfinkel (MBA 2001) are among the many leaders in sports business who attended school in Ann Arbor. Alums are spread throughout the sports business and at the highest levels of the industry in virtually every segment — leagues, teams, media, corporate sponsors and agencies.
Through their experience on the campus of 43,000-plus students, the high-level education, Wolverines football and, more recently, the Michigan Sports Business Conference, there’s a tangible bond among alumni. Like many Big Ten schools, most conversations begin with a discussion around the most recent Saturday football game, relationships quickly develop and business ensues. Simply put, in this world, when a résumé with “Michigan” on it comes across an alum’s desk, it goes to the top of the pile.
As many alums head back to campus this weekend for the fifth annual Michigan Sports Business Conference (see related story) and a home football game, they talked to SportsBusiness Journal about how their school ties have been integral to their sports careers. It’s a close network that has led to lifelong friendships, business relationships and a recurring pipeline of talent and connections. Here are just some of their stories:
‘We don’t need lawyers, we need sales’
When Len Perna (Class of 1982; J.D. 1985) was a young outside attorney for Cap Cit-ies/ABC/ESPN in 1985, he read a story in the UM law school newsletter about Al Harazin (J.D. 1967), who was vice president of the New York Mets at the time. Perna, who was interested to learn more about sports, landed an appointment with the fellow alum, who proceeded to lay out the industry’s job landscape: league jobs, team jobs, media jobs, agency jobs, corporate jobs, all down the line. Perna noted that law jobs were conspicuous in their absence.
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It’s all Michigan at the top of the Miami Dolphins organizations, with Tom Garfinkel (MBA, 2001) and owner Stephen Ross (BBA, 1962).
Photo by: MICHIGAN SPORTS BUSINESS CONFERENCE
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“I’ll never forget what he told me,” Perna said. “‘Len, it’s all about sales. The law degree is nice to have, but you’ve got to sell to be viable.’”
That advice helped land Perna his first job in sports. In applying for a job at the Detroit Red Wings, he found himself across the table from another Michigan grad, Jim Lites (Class of 1975), who was president of the team. During the interview, Lites echoed what Harazin had said: We don’t need law-yers, we need sales.
“I’m a sales guy! Jimmy, just hand me a phone and I’ll prove it,” Perna recalls himself saying.
Lites hired Perna, and within two years, Perna was running the sales group at the Wings. In 1994, Lites brought Perna along to help launch the Dallas Stars, which, according to Perna, led to the creation of Turnkey Sports two years later.
Dream assignment points back to Ann Arbor
In 2013, Perna’s Turnkey Sports executive search group was brought aboard to fill top-level positions for the Miami Dolphins, owned by Stephen Ross (Class of 1962). Perna recommended Garfinkel, who the team hired as club president.
During this process, Perna told Ross that his dream assignment was to lead the search for the new director of Michigan athletics. Thrilled with the job Garfinkel was doing in Miami, Ross — who has do-nated more than $300 million to UM — pushed for the school to hire Turnkey to lead the search to find a new AD after interim AD Jim Hackett stepped down, and the university agreed.
Perna’s search found Warde Manuel, another Michigan alum (Class of 1990, MBA 2005), who was named the university’s AD in January.
Need ratings research, call an alum
As global head of sports at Nielsen, Stephen Master’s (Class of 1990) Michigan connections have created leads for new clients and enhanced relationships with existing ones. Ahmad Nassar, president of NFL Players Inc. (Class of 2001), calls Master “the human Michigan LinkedIn. He knows where all of us are, and he’s great at connecting people.”
When Target had a research need in 2013, Griffis’ first call was to Master, who he had met through the MSBC.
“We use the [Michigan] network for introductions, and it’s not hard to get to people,” Griffis said. “And warm introductions from Michigan grad to Michigan grad certainly lead to deeper and more meaningful conversations than others, no doubt about it, and over the years, that can transpire into deals. It’s very active.”
The Ann Arbor connection also helped land business for Master.
When Howard Handler (Class of 1983, MBA 1985) joined MLS in October 2011, one of his first tasks as CMO was to put together a comprehensive marketing analysis. As he prepared a presentation for 10 or so owners in early 2012, he reached into his Michigan Rolodex and tabbed Master to prepare a ratings analysis.
“Stephen came in, and we’ve been connected ever since,” Handler said.
‘It’s the Michigan difference’
Ira Stahlberger (Class of 1993), senior vice president of talent marketing at WME-IMG, graduated from Michigan with a degree in business and history, and has used his Michigan relationships to the fullest. ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and Dick Vitale, both repped by Stahlberger, have starred in ads for Pizza Hut; Jared Drinkwater (Class of 1998) is vice president of marketing for the brand. Stahlberger also represents Seth Davis, college basketball analyst for CBS Sports, where David Berson (Class of 1994) is president, and the Big Ten Network, which is run by Mark Silverman (MBA, Class of 1991).
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WME-IMG’s Ira Stahlberger says there’s “common ground” among alums.
Photo by: MICHIGAN SPORTS BUSINESS CONFERENCE
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“As we like to say, [it’s] the Michigan difference,” Stahlberger said. “You have a connection, there’s common ground there. It’s no different than other schools, but I think in the sports and entertainment space, there might be a difference.”
“Because I have a relationship with Ira, I called him directly,” Drinkwater said. “There were no middlemen negotiating the deal. We closed Dickie V’s participation in our ad in a couple phone calls. It would have taken a lot more time than that had we gone through our agency partner.”
Carrie Brzezinski (Class of 2000), vice president of marketing solutions at ESPN, said when she and Stahlberger realized each other went to Michigan, “the relationship just changed. We work together constantly. He helps us, I help him. … To be able to have a conversation that starts with Michigan banter, we can get business done a lot easier, and that’s a game changer.”
“Michigan is a unique place,” Stahlberger added. “It’s a fabulous university academically, a fabulous university athletically, as well as socially. So you factor all those things together, and you have smart people who love sports that seem to be connected on many different levels, and they move into the sports and entertainment world. It’s remarkable how many people have ties to the university.”
Likewise, when there is a job to fill, a Michigan alum always gets a hard look from another Michigan alum.
“Literally today, I was interviewing a woman for an open position here. She went to Michigan and I joked, ‘We can stop the interview right now and probably make you an offer,’” said Nassar of NFL Players Inc. “The first few times I said something like that, [my colleagues] chuckled; the next few times they rolled their eyes because they were sick of hearing about Michigan; but now it’s to the point where they not only nod their head in agreement, they know that when we look at people who went to Michigan, particularly the [sports management] program, that they’re at the very least going to be very qualified candidates.”
Seth Ader, vice president of marketing at ESPN, summed it up by saying, “It’s to the point now in the sports marketing and media business where I’m more surprised when I meet someone if they haven’t gone to Michigan.”
Marcus DiNitto is a writer in Charlotte.
