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ACROSS THE
BOARD
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The St.
Louis Sports Commission
By Pam Droog
What would St. Louis Sports Commission president Frank Viverito
like to see happen in St. Louis? “We could say we want to make St.
Louis America’s best sports city, but we did that already,” he responds,
referring to The Sporting News naming St. Louis the Best
Sports City in the U.S. last year. “So let’s bring in a Super Bowl!”
He knows with the support of the Sports Commission’s hardworking
board of directors, nothing is out of the question.
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Front row (left to right): George Klenovich, Evelyn
Rice-Peebles, Jack Stapleton, Walter Lamkin, Sports
Commission President Frank Viverito, Linda Locke,
Dan Rosen, Charlie Wiegert.
Back
row (left to right): Joel Rovics, Brad Hewitt, David
Weber, Brian Ulione, Jack Donovan, Doug Woolard,
Rich Sauget, Bob Bedell, Doug Albrecht, Frank Trulaske.
Not
pictured: Bob Wallace, Kathy Casso, Cynthia Dunne,
Terry Egger, Gregg Eisenberg, Doug Elgin, Tom Engle,
Steve Felker, Dick Fleming, Kathy Flemming, Shaun
Hayes, Steve Hoven, Brent Karasiuk, Al Kerth, Mark
Lamping, Steve Lanter, David Mason, Patrick McGinnis,
Scott Meader, Mark Morley, Chris Mueller, Steve
Noles, John O'Connell, Perry Roberts, Steve Roberts,
Ed Ryan, Scott Schnuck, Mike Shanahan, Jr., Ellen
Sherberg, Matt Springman, Rob Trulaske, Steve Uline,
Mark Zorensky, Jim Zweifel.
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The St. Louis
Sports Commission is the regional non-profit group that benefits
St. Louis through sports by attracting and managing sports and athletic
events. Past events include the Big 12 Conference Football Championship
Game, Tiger Woods Foundation Clinic, U.S. Open Track & Field’s Farewell
to Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Sports Commission chair emeritus), NCAA
Wrestling Championships and John Hancock U.S. Gymnastics Championships.
The Commission began in 1989 as a committee of the RCGA, and was
instrumental in bringing the U.S. Olympic Festival to town in 1994.
Since then, the organization has become an independent non-profit
with more than 300 members, nearly 50 corporate partners and a 50-member
board of directors, led by board chair Walter Lamkin, an attorney
with McCarthy, Leonard, Kaemmerer, Owen, Lamkin & McGovern LC.
“It’s a big board, and we’ve increased it over the years,” Lamkin
says. “In the past we recruited heavily, but now we have many more
people interested in serving on the board than we have seats for,
but that’s a good thing.” Members serve staggered, three-year terms.
The commission recently created 10 institutional seats on the board,
including the Savvis Center, the Missouri Valley Conference, the
Cardinals, Blues and Rams. Lamkin explains, “We wanted to make sure
we’d always have someone from these important institutions on our
board, to take part in our decision-making efforts regarding regional
sports.”
Other seats are held by the Sports Commission’s corporate partners.
“Some of our partners’ financial commitments are quite substantial,”
Lamkin says. “We believe if a company is willing to make that kind
of long-term commitment to us, we can offer a seat on the board
so they can monitor our progress.”
Two standing committees are the six-person executive committee,
which handles the commission’s daily business and reports to the
entire board quarterly, and a nominating committee of 12, which
brings in names to consider when vacancies arise.
“It’s an extremely democratic process,” Viverito explains. “As a
result, the board consists of business people and sports-business
people. It’s diverse in terms of geography, amateurs and professionals,
media. But everyone shares one thing and that’s a passion for sports.”
After the success of the Olympics Festival, Viverito says the group
had money in the bank, but not enough to sustain growth. Soon after,
Civic Progress ended its annual $100,000 donation. “We didn’t have
an active development function then, so things swung into high gear,”
he says. “We sought out corporate sponsors and had the board invest
on their own, and they’ve come through with flying colors.”
Viverito emphasizes, board members are successful business people,
and that means they’re busy. “I want them to be involved where and
as much as they want to be,” he says. Right now, several directors
are involved in evaluating the positive impact of last month’s NCAA
Women’s Basketball Final Four. They’re also anticipating the State
Games of America, which will bring 9,000 athletes to 15 regional
venues in August. “Our board member, Steve Hoven of SSM Health Care,
helped arrange this event, which will have a multi-million dollar
impact,” Viverito says. “There won’t be many recognizable names,
but there will be a lot of great stories.”
Other board members are working on bids for NCAA events including
the Division I Ice Hockey Championship, the 2006-7 Women’s Basketball
Final Four and the 2004-7 Wrestling Championship.
“A special event committee is very intent on putting together an
annual college basketball event under the Sports Commission’s name,”
Viverito says. “And we recently announced a series of Mizzou-Illinois
college football games for 2002-2003 and, along with host Missouri
Valley Conference, the 2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.”
Speed skating, soccer, “there are so many events we could bring
here!” Lamkin says. “We’re always bidding on events, three, four,
10 years out. We compete against every major market, and the good
news is we have produced.” The bad news, he notes, is “it’s not
inexpensive to bid on these events.” That’s why the Sports Commission’s
board recently established a bid fund with the goal of $200,000.
St. Louis Sports Commission board members also serve on the board
of the Sports For Kids Foundation. “There are many ways we can benefit
the region and we think helping kids is one of the most important,
because sports has this huge power to keep kids on track, to help
them learn and grow into productive St. Louisans,” Viverito says.
The foundation distributes tickets to sporting events, sponsors
an annual Sports Career Day for high schoolers, conducts a Coach
It Right program featuring a yearly celebration to honor youth coaches
and generously and regularly gives gifts and grants.
“One thing I really want to focus on is not raising money, but spending
it,” Lamkin says. “Find me organizations that are helping to change
kids’ lives, and whatever they need, a gym painted or new team equipment,
find them and I’ll find the money.”
Pam Droog is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
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