Episode 54: Bringing Surfing Into the Mainstream

Mark Noonan joins Tom this week for a conversation on the business behind surfing. Mark Noonan is the Global Chief Commercial Officer for the World Surf League (WSL), which is the worldwide sanctioning organization for men’s and women’s elite professional surfing. In this role, Noonan serves on the company’s Executive Committee and is responsible for securing and managing comprehensive partnerships across all WSL Tour properties. Prior to joining the WSL, Noonan was the President of FocalSport, a sports marketing and media agency he founded, where he worked with major sports entities such as the New York Mets on the groundbreaking naming rights deal for Citi Field, FIBA, the International Basketball Federation for U.S. broadcast rights, Major League Soccer and the R&A. From 2000-2004, he served as the Executive Vice President of Marketing at Major League Soccer (MLS) and Soccer United Marketing (SUM), and he was the Chief Marketing Officer for the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1998-2000.

In this episode, Mark talks about the groundbreaking digital strategy of the WSL both on social and with OTT. Mark also shares some key ideas for people looking to make it into the sports world. You can find Mark on twitter @MDNOONAN and WSL @WSL , be sure to check out his company’s website: http://www.worldsurfleague.com/

The Facts

The CUSP Show is a production by the faculty of Sports Management at Columbia University. You can get in touch with the program on Twitter @CU_SPS_Sports Our presenters are Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR).