Professional Services Inc., (ProServ) was one of the first
sports management firms. Initially focused on tennis, the company would grow to become among the world's largest
sports marketing
Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades, however, a generally accepted definition does not exist.
Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...
, athlete management, event production, and TV companies.
Background
Donald Dell
Donald L. Dell (born June 17, 1938) is an American sports attorney, writer, commentator, and former tennis player. Dell was the first sports agent in professional tennis, and represented Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl duri ...
became the first sports agent in
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
when he founded the Law Offices of Donald Dell in 1970. His first clients were
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Un ...
and
Stan Smith, his former teammates on the undefeated 1968 and 1969 U.S.
Davis Cup teams. After adding partners, the name of the firm became Dell, Craighill, Fentress, and Benton. In 1976, the firm started ProServ to handle athlete recruiting and marketing.
At its peak, ProServ had 16 offices around the world with 300 employees and represented more than 200 professional athletes and coaches, including
Michael Jordan,
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the N ...
,
James Worthy
James Ager Worthy (born February 27, 1961) is an American sports commentator, television host, analyst, and former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Big Game James", he played his entire professional career with the Los Angeles Lakers ...
, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe,
Pete Sampras,
Stefan Edberg,
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Ann Kerrigan (born October 13, 1969) is an American figure skater and actress. She won bronze medals at the 1991 World Championships and the 1992 Winter Olympics, silver medals at the 1992 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympic ...
,
Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...
and
Jimmy Connors. The company also managed and promoted professional sporting events and created ProServ Television to handle sports television production and rights representation.
ProServ Television created and produced thirty pre- and post- Olympic shows in 1984 as well as many sporting events. ProServ Television created the Emmy Award winning documentary
A Hard Road to Glory, with Arthur Ashe, about the history of black athletes in America. ProServ represented the
USTA
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...
in the sale and distribution of the international television rights to the U.S. Open for many years, and represented the French Federation of Tennis for the American television rights for the
French Open.
Through the 1990s, ProServ expanded into football, golf, baseball, figure skating, gymnastics, and also became heavily involved with beach volleyball and the original AVP Tour.
ProServ was one of the first agencies to negotiate the naming rights for stadiums such as
FedEx Field
FedExField (originally Jack Kent Cooke Stadium) is an American football stadium located in Summerfield, Maryland, east of Washington, D.C. The stadium is the home of the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 un ...
,
M&T Bank
M&T Bank Corporation (Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company) is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 1680 branches in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts ...
, and
Philips Arena
State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey Leag ...
.
Acquisition
ProServ was acquired in 1997 by The Marquee Group, which in turn was acquired in 1999 by
SFX Sports Group (itself now a subsidiary of
Clear Channel Entertainment
Live Nation was a former American events promoter and venue operator based in Beverly Hills, California. Founded in 1996 by Robert F. X. Sillerman as SFX Entertainment, the company's business was built around consolidating concert promoters int ...
).
Survey puts CAA tops in player salaries
''Sports Business Journal'' (2008)
See also
*IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image.
img or IMG may also refer to:
* IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...
Notes
{{reflist, 2
References
Sports event promotion companies