A trailblazing marketing executive with the Chicago Bulls has committed to give $18 million to his alma mater, the University of Maryland, to support the athletics program that launched his career—and the new sports management program that he hopes will launch many others.
The university announced on Tuesday that Stephen Schanwald ’77 has directed $10 million to Maryland Athletics to support its top priorities, and $8 million to the Robert H. Smith School of Business to endow its Sports Management Program and to provide scholarships for students taking courses in it.
“It’s a great blessing at this stage of my life to be able to have the opportunity to try to help young people grow and achieve their dreams,” said Schanwald. “The most rewarding thing to me is mentoring people and helping people climb the ladder the way I was helped.”
In recognition of his generosity, the Sports Management Program as well as the Xfinity Center Pavilion and Football Practice Fields at Jones-Hill House will be named for him; the Stephen M. Schanwald-Russ Potts External Operations Suite in the Xfinity Center will honor him and his former mentor at UMD.
“Stephen Schanwald left an indelible imprint on the NBA,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. “Now he’s doing the same for the University of Maryland and current and future generations of students, student-athletes and Terps fans.”
Schanwald calls the unpaid internship he sought and held in Maryland Athletics for three years under Potts, who in 1970 became the first sports marketing director in the history of collegiate athletics, “the greatest decision I ever made.”
Upon graduating from UMD with a degree in general studies, Schanwald followed in Potts’ footsteps, becoming the first director of sports promotions at the United States Air Force Academy. After a stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he earned a World Series championship ring, Schanwald became assistant vice president of marketing of the Chicago White Sox.
He stayed in town to join the Bulls in 1987 and over the next 28 years, as executive vice president of business operations, he reimagined the action inside an arena between the whistles.
Photo by John T. Consoli
Gone was a halftime spent watching a ball cart “sitting at center court, waiting for the players to come out and shoot around,” as he recalled from his childhood. Inspired by Las Vegas-style magic shows, he recruited acrobats, Elvis impersonators and Blues Brothers-themed acts to transform 48-minute basketball games into two-and-a-half-hour spectacles. He staged basketball contests between corporate mascots, pitting Ronald McDonald against Tony the Tiger. He debuted the now-standard stunt of lining up babies across the baseline to see which could crawl faster to their mothers at half-court.
At one point, Bulls coach Phil Jackson told Schanwald the stagecraft distracted the team from winning.
“We still managed to win six championships,” Schanwald said. “He came around.”
During Schanwald’s tenure, the Bulls also racked up 13 straight sellout seasons. And through the sale of suites, naming rights and signage, he funded the creation of the United Center arena in 1994, generating further income from concerts, concessions and collegiate athletics. Bulls tickets remained a prized commodity even following MIchael Jordan’s departure after the 1998 season and several years of poor performance.
A pioneer of marketing pillars like corporate sponsorships, community relations, broadcasting and digital advertising, Schanwald was a “trailblazer in every sense of the word,” former NBA Commissioner David Stern once said.
By endowing the sports management program based in the Smith School, Schanwald wants to give the Terps of today and tomorrow a springboard into the industry. “Nothing feeds my soul more than helping people get ahead in life,” he said.
The program, launched last year by the business school, the School of Public Health’s Department of Kinesiology, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism’s Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and Maryland Athletics, prepares students for sports careers through specialized courses, meetings with industry leaders, networking and other professional opportunities.
Smith School Dean Prabhudev Konana said the endowed fund will help turn the program into one of the best of its kind.
“Steve is a giant in the sports industry, and he has a true passion to help students succeed,” Konana said. “We are so grateful to Steve for his generosity and vision. This transformative investment, combined with our existing strong curricular and co-curricular opportunities, will make the Smith School a truly exceptional place for young people to launch a career in sports.”
Schanwald’s gift, which ranks among the top four in Maryland Athletics history, marks the second consecutive year of a $10 million commitment to the athletic department.
“It is an honor to recognize Steve for his philanthropy at the University of Maryland and specifically with Maryland Athletics,” said Damon Evans, the Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics. “With the naming of the Schanwald Pavilion, Schanwald Football Practice Fields and Schanwald-Potts Marketing and Revenue Strategy Suite, we are honoring Steve’s legacy along with his values and principles when it came to treating people the right way and how to make the game experience the best it could be for fans. He is a true Terp for life.”
