Leadership at the team level is evolving and specializing, with fewer singular executives sitting atop the entire organization.
Bifurcation: “If you rewind the clock 10 years ago, there used to be a lot more [team] CEOs that ran the sports side, too,” said Playfly Sports President Chris Marinak, who was COO and CSO at MLB through last season. “Now you’re seeing a pretty straight divide between the CEO, who really runs the business, and then there’s a head of sport that runs the sports side. What that’s allowed you to do is have people with much more nuanced business skills that are in that job.”
Marinak noted that more of the sports operations bosses wanted a direct line to the owner, rather than working through the conduit of a CEO. That, he said, indirectly helped the overall organization and “is making a better business,” adding that it’s hard to find people who are sufficiently well versed in AI, business intelligence and technology who can also lead on the sports side.
College too?: ZRG Turnkey Chairman and CEO Len Perna believes many college athletic departments would benefit from a similar structure as pro franchises, giving Clemson as a recent example of a split after Michael Drake was hired as the CEO of Clemson Ventures. “Technically Michael Drake is really a peer to the athletic director, Graham Neff,” Perna said. “They’re working in two organizations that are bolted together. There’s a common board above it, so there’s a governance structure that allows them to work together.”
Traditional model can still work: Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White is a good example of an athletic director well positioned and qualified to lead both sports and business. A former Division I basketball player who spent time on coaching staffs after graduating, White then spent most of his career in revenue-generating roles, working in development and now as an AD at three schools. “It’s hard to find somebody like Danny that can do all of that,” Perna said. “There’s not that many people that can do it all.”
White said he enjoys having involvement in oversight on both sides of the house, but acknowledged that the role is expanding, placing more importance on having strong deputies. “The less people that report directly to me, the more we get done,” he said, adding that UT’s hierarchy helps him succeed. “I’m fortunate to have great alignment with my chancellor and our system president and our board, but not all of my colleagues have that same alignment.”
Role of the owner: Matthew Caldwell holds the CEO title for the Timberwolves and Lynx and previously for the NHL’s Panthers but, he said, “Ultimately the owner is really the CEO, whether he calls himself that or not.” Caldwell had more involvement with the Panthers’ hockey operations than he does currently with basketball ops. But with roughly 75% of the franchise’s expenses coming from the team side, he doesn’t believe a full church-and-state separation will work.
“You’ve got to be able to reach across to the team side and build relationships and communicate and not come off threatening,” Caldwell said. “Having integration between the two sides is vital to a championship organization.”
Outward evolution: Max Siegel has been CEO of USA Track & Field for 14 years, during which time his role has shifted from primarily being focused on internal governance to one that’s more external facing. Though Siegel noted that he does no coaching, the performance of the governing body’s athletes is under his jurisdiction, meaning it’s his responsibility to ensure that the necessary resources and personnel are in place — all while building and maintaining a positive culture.
“If you’re the leader of the organization, you’re where the ultimate accountability lies,” he said. “So, I have a chief of sport performance, and I have 60 coaches and we have 250 athletes. But the expectation is if their needs aren’t being met, someone has to be held accountable. And so, it’s now about revenue generation, it’s about being a global ambassador.”
