Jon Spoelstra (born June 19, 1946) is an American author, sports marketer, and a former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) executive for the

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball franchise based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division from 1970 ...

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

, Denver Nuggets and

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. He is the co-founder of SRO Partners, and he currently serves as president of

Mandalay Sports Entertainment Mandalay Baseball LLC is a subsidiary of Mandalay Entertainment Group. MSE previously owned a number of minor-league baseball teams, via its former Mandalay Baseball subsidiary, and was responsible for managing others. Teams previously owned * La ...

. Spoelstra graduated from Notre Dame in 1966. He was a judge at the

Miss America 2004 Miss America 2004, the 77th Miss America pageant, was broadcast from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 20, 2003 on ABC Network. Results Placements Awards Preliminary awards Quality of Life award Final ...

contest. He and his Filipino wife Elisa Celino have two children: Monica and Erik, the head coach of the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

. Spoelstra's father was sportswriter Watson Spoelstra.

NBA and business career

After graduating from Notre Dame in 1966, Spoelstra founded his first marketing company in 1970, The New School of Youth Marketing and Other Phenomena Inc. In the mid-1970s, his company obtained the rights to syndicate Notre Dame basketball games for $2,000 per game. In 1977, Spoelstra's career in the NBA began when the

hired him as vice president of marketing. One of his biggest tasks he was assigned was to prevent a relocation of the Braves, although the team moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

ten months later. In 1979, then

owner

Larry Weinberg Larry Weinberg (January 23, 1926 – January 1, 2019)

hired Spoelstra as senior vice president and general manager where he would serve for ten years before resigning. The Denver Nuggets hired Spoelstra in 1989 as president and general manager, but he was fired after 90 days due to a dispute with management. Spoelstra returned to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, where he co-founded SRO Partners, and began teaching

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 ...

at the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

. He began consulting for the

in March 1991, and became the team's president 1993. During his time with the Nets, Spoelstra implemented marketing tactics that increased the team's home game attendance from last in the league when he initially arrived to first in the NBA. His most famous marketing gimmick came in 1994, when he sent

rubber chicken A rubber chicken is a prop used in comedy. The phrase is also used as a description for food served at speeches, conventions, and other large meetings, and as a metaphor for speechmaking. Description A rubber chicken is an imitation plucked fowl ...

s through direct mail with the tagline "Don't Fowl Out!" to Nets season ticket holders who had not yet renewed their season tickets.

Bibliography

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spoelstra, Jon National Basketball Association executives Living people Portland Trail Blazers executives Denver Nuggets executives Brooklyn Nets executives Los Angeles Clippers executives Place of birth missing (living people) 1946 births

NBA and business career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links