SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily are pleased to announce the nominations for the fourth annual Sports Business Awards, which will be presented during a live ceremony in N.Y. on Wednesday, May 18. The '11 awards recognize outstanding achievements in sports business from March 1, 2010, through Feb. 28, 2011. The 73 nominees across 15 categories were selected by committees of the editorial staff from SportsBusiness Journal/Daily, who studied hundreds of nominees over the past two months. Among this year’s highlights is a record 73 nominees, with 37 companies or individuals being nominated for the first time. The top nominees are ESPN and Turner Sports with four each. Now that the nominees have been selected, we are following through on the changes in the voting procedure we announced months ago. We are embarking on a significant overhaul that we think will add more transparency to the process and clearly establish the Sports Business Awards as true “industry” recognition. The final selection discussions will include a panel of sports industry execs who will study the nominees and serve as category judges. Industry execs and members representing SportsBusiness Journal/Daily will evaluate the nominees and determine the winners of 13 of the 15 categories by a private vote. The list of judges for each category will be announced in the May 16 issue of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily. The categories of Executive of the Year and Athletic Director of the Year will continue to be judged solely by the editorial staff of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily. We are including outside judges to add more expertise, more transparency and more points of view to the final selection process. We are not identifying the members of the selection committees until after the votes have been cast to prevent lobbying and outside influence during the deliberations. We have targeted well-respected executives who we feel will add great value to the awards. We look forward to announcing the winners during the live ceremony on May 18 in N.Y. We hope to see you in what promises to be a fun and special celebration of the best in sports business.
SPORTS EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
George Bodenheimer ESPN/ABC Sports
Chip Ganassi Ganassi Racing
David Levy Turner Broadcasting System
Kevin Plank Under Armour
Pat Riley Miami Heat
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Bob Bowlsby Stanford University
Tim Curley Penn State University
Chris Del Conte Texas Christian University
DeLoss Dodds University of Texas
Chris Hill University of Utah
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LEAGUE OF THE YEAR
Major League Soccer
National Basketball Association
National Football League
National Hockey League
Ultimate Fighting Championship
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Ganassi Racing
New York Jets
Orlando Magic
Pittsburgh Penguins
San Francisco Giants
SPORTS EVENT OF THE YEAR
ING New York City Marathon – 2010
NBA All-Star Game – 2011
NCAA Final Four – 2010
Winter X Games – 2011
SPORTS SPONSOR OF THE YEAR
Papa John’s
Phillips-Van Heusen
Subway
T-Mobile USA
SPORTS FACILITY OF THE YEAR
Amway Center
Arrowhead Stadium
Consol Energy Center
New Meadowlands Stadium
Red Bull Arena
Target Field
BEST IN SPORTS MEDIA
CBS Sports
ESPN
Fox Sports
National Football League
Turner Sports
BEST IN SPORTS TELEVISION
ESPN Networks
Fox Sports
HBO Sports
NBC Sports
Turner Sports
BEST IN DIGITAL SPORTS MEDIA
CBS Interactive Media
ESPN Digital Media
MLB Advanced Media
Turner Sports
BEST IN SPORTS TECHNOLOGY
Daktronics
Fanvibe
IOMedia
MLB Advanced Media
BEST IN CORPORATE CONSULTING, MARKETING AND CLIENT SERVICES
GMR Marketing
GroupM ESP
IMG
Octagon
Team Epic
Wasserman Media Group
BEST IN PROPERTY CONSULTING, SALES AND CLIENT SERVICES
AEG Global Partnerships
CAA Sports
Home Team Marketing
IMG
BEST IN TALENT REPRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT
Boras Corporation
CAA Sports
IMG
Octagon
Wasserman Media Group
BEST IN SPORTS EVENT AND EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
BaAM Productions
BeCore Promotions
Intersport
The Marketing Arm
Momentum Worldwide
SportsMark
