Seahawks President Peter McLoughlin on Negotiation, Change, Management
Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais
Dr. Michael Gervais
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2017
⏱️ 106 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This conversation is with Peter McLoughlin - the president of the Seattle Seahawks. When most people think of professional franchises, they think of the athletes, coaches, or general managers. I wanted to better understand what goes into running the business of an elite sport franchise and to better understand how someone switches careers after 21 years of success in one industry to another. Currently, Peter is responsible for all financial and business operations, sales and marketing, sponsorship, and administration of the Seahawks and the business operations for the Portland Trail Blazers. He also directs the management of CenturyLink Field, CenturyLink Field Event Center and WaMu Theater. Before moving to Seattle, he served as CEO of the St. Louis Blues Enterprises from 2006-10. For 21 years prior to joining the Blues, McLoughlin served in a variety of executive roles at Anheuser-Busch. From 1998 to 2006, McLoughlin was vice president of corporate media and served as an officer of the company. He negotiated media agreements with television networks that included category exclusivity in 15 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and dominant presence in MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA and World Cup soccer telecasts. He and his wife Kelly have five children. From this conversation, I hope you learn about the art of setting a vision, risk taking, negotiation and the process of grief and loss.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think of a negotiation we did with NBC years ago where it was really important as part of this |
| 0:05.1 | sports negotiation we were buying baseball football NASCAR etc but the seller really wanted |
| 0:12.2 | a commitment to prime time television. |
| 0:14.0 | Call it $10 million a year. |
| 0:17.0 | Well, we weren't in the business of buying prime time television on a long-term basis. |
| 0:22.0 | And I'll just remember that it didn't seem like we're going to get a deal done, |
| 0:26.0 | and I was there with my boss, and I just said, |
| 0:29.0 | I think what's more important to you than us buying prime time |
| 0:32.0 | is that $10 million. |
| 0:35.1 | We'll commit the $10 million. |
| 0:37.6 | Every year for the next four years, that's your money. |
| 0:40.7 | Now, we're going to agree over time to decide where we spend it. It might be in |
| 0:45.0 | prime time, might be in late night, might be more sports, might be more NFL, but |
| 0:49.1 | let's get this deal done, you got the money, but don't commit us to prime time. |
| 0:52.4 | Deal got done, you got the money, but don't commit us to prime time. |
| 0:54.0 | Deal got done. |
| 0:56.0 | We left the room. |
| 0:57.0 | My boss, my boss, you said to me, that was bold. |
| 1:01.0 | Did you overstep? No, because we came away with the deal. |
| 1:06.0 | It's all about doing the deal. |
| 1:08.8 | You don't get remembered for the deal you lose. |
| 1:12.0 | You don't accomplish your marketing objectives on the deal you lose. You don't accomplish your marketing objectives on the deal you lose and in the sports industry that I have been in and remain in. |
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