01 cover sbi 152.indd - FIFA/CIES International University Network

THE WORLD’S TOP 20 … MOST INFLUENTIAL
INDIVIDUALS IN THE SPORT BUSINESS
Here are the results and analysis of the first SportBusiness poll to identify the individuals who
have done most to shape the business of sport in 2009. The list has been complied from the
results of voting in our readers’ poll on sportbusiness.com and the analysis of an expert panel.
Of course, such lists always engender strong opinions, so we expect you to fully debate the final
Top 20 at www.sportbusiness.com/poll.
SportBusiness
International’s
take each
month on
the 20 most
influential
people or
factors within
specific sectors
of sport...
20. Casey Wasserman (WMG)
As CEO of the company bearing his
name, Wasserman is at the reins
of the beast challenging IMG in the
realm of sport representation through
a series of mergers and acquisitions.
Wasserman Media Group represents
high-profile athletes in many US
sports as well as golf, rugby, football
and extreme sports. But management
is only one arm of a company that
also extends notably into the sale of
naming rights. Wasserman set up his
agency in 1998 and, around a decade
later, it has annual revenues that
approach $100 million.
19. Mohamed Bin Hammam (AFC)
As AFC President, Bin Hammam has
overseen the creation and subsequent
revamp of the AFC Champions
League for the top clubs in Asia and
the move of Australia into the AFC. In
the words of no less an authority than
Richard Scudamore, Bin Hammam’s
vision for football development in
Asia is both “progressive and exciting,
providing opportunities to help the
game flourish throughout the AFC
for the benefit of football right across
the region.” Also a member of FIFA’s
executive committee, Bin Hammam
has been heavily involved in sport
in Qatar, a small gulf state with big
sporting ambitions.
18. Silvio Berlusconi (AC Milan)
Into his third term as Italy’s prime
minister, Berlusconi’s influence
is undimmed. His investment
company controls Italy’s three biggest
private TV stations and in office,
his appointees run the three public
ones. His private business empire
also spans advertising, insurance,
food, construction and Italy’s most
successful football club, AC Milan. His
investment in the club ushered in the
most successful period in its history,
with seven domestic championships
and five European Cups.
17. Herbert Hainer (adidas)
Under Hainer’s management, adidas
has undertaken the titanic task of
challenging Nike in the American
market through sponsorships of the
NBA, MLS, NFL and NHL, the latter
two through subsidiary brand Reebok.
Hainer was at the forefront of one of
adidas’ finest moments two years ago
when he survived a challenge from
Nike to sponsor the German football
federation, securing the sponsorship
instead for adidas for under half the
cash put on the table by its rivals.
16. Ted Forstmann (IMG)
The chairman and CEO of one of
the world’s leading sports and
entertainment groups, Forstmann’s
influence stretches through
investments in academies for
young sports talent, to ownership
of sports events, to elite athlete
representation. Since acquiring IMG
in 2004, Forstmann has expanded its
business beyond sports and under
his leadership, IMG helped create the
Indian Premier League and signed a
long-term joint-venture with CCTV to
develop sports in China.
15. Richard Scudamore (EPL)
Scudamore heads up the richest and
most powerful football league in the
world. Chief executive since 1999, he
has overseen growth in popularity of
the league on an almost exponential
scale, particularly in the Far East.
Despite being shot down for his idea
of a 39th game played outside of the
UK, Scudamore came out of the latest
domestic TV rights bidding smelling
of roses having achieved a £1.782
billion deal and is set to comfortably
exceed the current international
rights revenue, all despite a faltering
domestic and global economy.
14. Lalit Modi (IPL)
As chairman and commissioner of the
IPL, Modi oversees all that he surveys.
One of the scions of Modi Enterprises,
the industrial conglomerate founded
in 1933, he is currently believed to be
sitting on an empire worth around
$1.5 billion. In 2005 he became the
youngest vice-president of the Board
of Control for Cricket in India and
used this influence to put forward
a proposal for the IPL. Set for its
third season in 2010, the league has
become a by-word for innovative
marketing in the launch of a new
sports property.
13. Philip Anschutz (AEG)
Owner, among other interests, of
the Anschutz Entertainment Group,
Anschutz has built and created some
of the world’s top sports venues,
including the Staples Center and the
Home Depot Center in Los Angeles,
the O2 in London, and O2 World in
Berlin. Through AEG he also owns
stakes in an impressive list of sports
ventures, including basketball teams
the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los
Angeles Sparks; football teams Los
Angeles Galaxy, Houston Dynamo
and Hammarby IF Fotboll; and ice
hockey teams the Los Angeles Kings,
the Manchester Monarchs, Eisbären
Berlin and the Hamburg Freezers.
12. Dick Ebersol (NBC Sports)
As chairman of NBC Universal Sports,
Ebersol is widely known as US TV’s
‘Mr. Olympics’. He has been inducted
into both the US Olympic Hall of Fame
and the Broadcasting & Cable Hall
of Fame. He oversees every aspect
of NBC Universal’s Olympic Games
coverage and his most significant
achievements have been establishing
NBC as the home of the Olympics
and negotiating the six-year NFL deal
which through to the 2011 season with
Super Bowls in 2009 and 2012.
11. Roger Goodell (NFL)
Goodell is the top guy at the top
sport in America, making him a
very big fish in a very big pond. He
manages one of the most sprawling
and complex businesses in sports
and is answerable to 32 franchise
owners. The NFL is by far the biggest
TV sports property in the US and its
annual revenues are over $6 billion.
Like the other Major League, US
sports, his imperative of late has
been in spreading the NFL message
overseas. Under Goodell, the NFL
has hosted regular season games
in London and introduced a stripped
down version of the sport into Chinese
schools - moves the Commissioner
hopes will win over new fans.
10. Florentino Pérez (Real Madrid)
A building magnate by ‘trade’,
Florentino Pérez’s marketing vision
for Real Madrid has seen him reprise
72 SportBusiness International • No.152 • 12.09