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Adam Schwartz signed Geico as a client in 2006, shortly after he joined Horizon Media as a general market TV buyer. At the time, Geico did not spend any money in sports, preferring the cheaper costs of basic cable networks.
As Geico’s budgets grew, it wanted to start buying ads and sponsorships in sports. But its executives had sticker shock whenever they saw the ad rates in sports.
It was up to Schwartz to convince the networks to get pricing to a place where Geico was able to pay it.
“We really just hammered the networks,” Schwartz said. “Slowly but surely, we would leverage Geico’s ability to spend in some of the lesser sports that the network had more difficulty selling in order to get pricing benefits on the NFL.”
CBS was the first to sign a deal — a three-year agreement that covered SEC football, the PGA Tour, U.S. Open tennis and the NFL. Then came ESPN.
Now, Schwartz controls $500 million of Geico’s sports media spend, a figure that doesn’t even include what the insurance company spends with the leagues or individual teams.
In 2009, as Schwartz kept signing ad sales clients, he launched a sports buying unit called Horizon Sports. Horizon Sports’ billing has jumped from $30 million in 2009 to $850 million today.
He also negotiated Capital One’s NCAA Corporate Champion position and Geico’s official partner positions in the NHL, MLB, NCAA and NASCAR.
Schwartz’s approach has won him many fans in the business.
“He’s authentic and has a unique ability to communicate clearly, simplifying complicated issues seamlessly,” said Mark Evans, Fox Sports’ senior vice president of ad sales.
Senior Vice President, Director of Sports Media Investment, Horizon Media
Age: 39
Born: Brooklyn
Education: Columbia University, B.A., political science
Family: Wife, Kyle; daughter, Sloan Mattingly (10 months)
I get fired up by … : Yankees baseball.
Advice to my 20-year-old self: Concentrate on the big picture.
Profession I’d most like to attempt: I come from a family of ironworkers and my parents wouldn’t allow me to hit the iron, so I’ve always been interested in attempting to to be an ironworker.
Guilty pleasure: Buying sneakers.
Could not go a day without: Listening to music.
Cause supported: Helen Keller Foundation.
Person in the industry I’d most like to meet: Brian Cashman.
Most unusual question asked while networking: Do you think the NFL is going to collapse in the next five years?
Sports business leaders should be more mindful of … : Being inclusive and mentoring the next generation of leaders.
