Draft:Matt Levine
An overview of Matt Levine's contributions to modern sports marketing.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew Arnold Levine (born February 18, 1939) is an American sports marketing executive who is regarded as a pioneer in modern sports marketing.
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A profile in Sport Marketing Quarterly, written by Stephen Hardy, states he was among the first to work in this field and that his ideas have had a lasting impact.[1] A key textbook, Sport Marketing, (updated in 2014) by Bernard J. Mullin, Stephen Hardy, and William A. Sutton, calls Levine a pioneer in sports marketing. He helped make the study of how sports fans think and behave an integral part of how teams approach engaging fans, and an important area of research. This has led to a deeper understanding of sports fans and how to market sports to them. The principles of Levine's work are still widely used today;[2] and he has been called "the father" of modern sports marketing.[3]
Beginning with the Golden State Warriors, Levine developed the "Audience Audit," the first marketing research tool of its kind in professional sports.[4][5] Levine co-founded Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems (STATS Inc.) with sabermetrician Dick Cramer in 1981, which produced the Edge 1.000 baseball statistical analysis system used by Major League Baseball clubs in the early 1980s.[6]
In 1990, he began work as the Executive Vice President of Business Operations and later became the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Broadcast for the San Jose Sharks during the franchise's inaugural years in the National Hockey League.[7][8]
Early life and education
Levine was born to Sara Cohan Levine and Samuel Levine.[9] He went to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. While he was there, he worked on the school newspaper, The Trinity Tripod, as the sports editor.[10] Levine graduated in 1960 with a degree in English literature from Trinity College.[11] and entered the United States Coast Guard.[12] Later, he attended Columbia Business School, where he earned a degree in finance. After finishing his business degree, Levine started working at Scott Paper Company,[13] selling products to stores in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. Over time, he moved into marketing research, brand management, and product development, before joining McKinsey & Company consulting firm. By 1971, Levine was the chairman of his own company, Pacific Select Corp. in San Francisco.[14]
Career
In 1974, Levine was hired by the National Basketball Association's Golden State Warriors, under general manager Dick Vertlieb,[15] as a consultant to help increase attendance. During this engagement, he developed the "Audience Audit," a fan-research instrument designed to gather demographic, psychographic, and behavioral information by polling fans on topics ranging from preferred start times to halftime entertainment. Levine compiled a demographic profile of the Warriors' supporters and isolated them by zip code for specialized promotions. The 7th edition of Principles and Practice of Sport Management (2022) credits this work with helping establish customer research as a standard foundation for marketing strategy in professional sports.[16]
In the early 1980s Levine, through his Pacific Select Corp., co-founded Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems (STATS Inc.) with researcher Dick Cramer.[17] Cramer and Pete Palmer developed the Edge 1.000 baseball analysis system, initially for the Oakland A's, built around an Apple II personal computer and a Digital Equipment mainframe.[18][19] The Edge 1.000 was used by Major League Baseball clubs in the early 1980s, predating the broader public attention brought to baseball analytics by Michael Lewis's Moneyball (2003).[18][20] Levine had previously worked with several MLB franchises, including the Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants,[21] helping improve fan experience and ticket sales.[22] He subsequently offered the Edge 1.000 system to MLB teams; early adopters were the Chicago White Sox[23] and the New York Yankees[24].[18] The White Sox used the Edge 1.000 system to analyze in-game and season data in the early 1980s.[25] The system generated statistical split information for use in game broadcasts by teams, including the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, and New York Yankees.[19]
In 1985, during David Stern's early tenure as NBA commissioner (Stern became commissioner on February 1, 1984),[26] Cash Box reported that MCA recording artists New Edition collaborated with NBA players to produce what it described as the first music video shot with completely new sports footage. The video was built around New Edition's song "My Secret (Didja Gitit Yet?)" Trade press reported that the video—produced for MCA by Bob Brand of the Pacific Select Corp. and shot before, during, and after a Portland Trail Blazers–Los Angeles Lakers game at the Los Angeles Forum on April 7, 1985 was aired during CBS-TV's NBA playoff telecasts beginning May 18, 1985, and then distributed by MCA to music video outlets. The article also noted additional footage involving Lakers coach Pat Riley and other staged/action sequences filmed around the game, and identified participating Lakers players including, Magic Johnson, Bob McAdoo, and Mitch Kupchak.[27]
As Executive Vice President for Business Operations of the San Jose Sharks, Levine was responsible for early business and marketing operations, including the team-naming process and logo development, as the franchise prepared to begin play in the 1991–92 NHL season.[28][29]
Further contemporary media coverage reported that the Sharks' colors and logo became an international fashion trend and that the brand gained worldwide popularity. A famous photo shows Prince William wearing a Sharks cap while on a ski trip with Princess Diana.[30]
Despite early on-ice struggles that led to losing seasons, Levine's work helped develop a global fan base and drive merchandise sales. The New York Times reported (December 1992) that Sharks merchandise sales totaled about $150 million, or roughly 27% of total NHL merchandise sales at the time.[31] In a later retrospective, NHL.com described the original Sharks logo as a "sports merchandising sensation."[32]
During the Sharks' first season, the club focused on in-arena presentations and spectacle to entertain fans during the season's opening week. In one instance, Levine said the Sharks hired the producers of Pink Floyd concerts for the animated-laser intro.[33] Retrospective video coverage also highlighted the Sharks' 1991–92 opening-night laser show.[34]In 2015, The Hockey News ranked the Sharks' original sweater No. 1 on its "Top 100 hockey jerseys of all time" list.[35]
The team later adopted a signature player-entrance feature, built around a "giant head" structure; NHL.com credited Levine and Bob Brand with dreaming up the shark-head entrance and later reported that its origin was traced to Disney. This iconic entrance is still a signature part of the team's identity.[36][37]
The Sharks extended their brand marketing efforts into community outreach during their early years. In 1991, the Los Angeles Times wrote about the team's "Sharks and Parks" street-hockey program, which aimed to get kids involved in the community. This program worked with schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, community centers, churches, and synagogues to provide kids with the equipment and instruction they needed to play street hockey. The goal was to engage young people in the sport and to make it accessible to everyone. This positioned the Sharks to make a positive impact on their community and helped kids develop a love for hockey.[38] A subsequent Los Angeles Times report quoted an NHL executive saying the league planned to pattern national street/roller initiatives after San Jose's program, and it cited similar programs in other NHL markets, including the Chicago (Blackhawks) team's "Blackhawks & Black Tops" and the Washington Capitals' "Caps & Kids."[39]
Outreach programming also included educational resources such as "Science of Hockey with the SJ Sharks," a collaborative hockey-science learning resource hosted by the San Francisco Exploratorium.[40] A Hewlett-Packard corporate publication highlighted the Sharks' "S.J. Sharkie's Think Tank" as a downloadable educational resource offering lesson plans and worksheets in geography, math, science, and health for 4th- through 6th-grade teachers.[41]
Levine has been honored for his many years of contributions to sports marketing. In 2018, he received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sport & Entertainment Analytics Conference,[42] held at the University of South Florida. The same year, he was also inducted into the Northern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame during a special ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco, in recognition of his significant contributions to the world of sports.[43]
Levine has served, or is serving on, the Board of Trustees of Palo Alto University,[44] as an advisor to the York Theatre Company in New York City,[45] and the Silicon Valley Advisory Council of the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California.[46]