Super Bowl 50: CEO Keith Bruce Visiting Illini Campus

Keith Bruce, the CEO of Super Bowl 50 and Illinois Alum, Class of 87, will be on campus Sunday and Monday.

In advance of his visit to campus, I interviewed my brother about his time at Illinois, his experience in the sports marketing industry, especially as CEO of SB 50, and his opinion about Illinois sports.

So you’re an Illini grad. We’ll get to Illinois sports, but first tell us a little about your time there.

KB: Illinois was a great experience. I started as an architecture major, then transferred to the business school my sophomore year, and graduated with a degree in marketing. I was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and enjoyed a very active calendar each year with sports clubs and other extracurricular activities. I also started a business selling ‘party favors and premiums’ to fraternities and sororities my junior and senior years. That is where I really got my entrepreneurial spirit and early stage sensibilities about how to run a business. It was just a great four years for me.

What years were you there?

1983-1987

What do you remember most about your time at Illinois?

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Illinois Fighting Illini

Mostly my senior year. I was doing so many things…school, my business, searching for a job post-graduation, focusing on life after college. It was an important transition year, but I really took advantage of everything the U of I had to offer in my last year on campus.

How important was the education you received at Illinois to your success over the years?

Huge impact. My business school experiences and the things I learned are still contributing to my ability to successfully run and operate a company. Also, I think the social skills and relationship building capabilities I learned while on campus have contributed to my ability to recruit and retain great employees, and build a culture of success.

Did you graduate with honors?

Yes, Summa Cum Laude. With highest honors.

Tell us a little about your career trajectory after your graduation.

I graduated almost 30 years ago, and I am proud of the fact that with every career move or job change I have made, it was a move up in responsibility and scope from the prior job.

Where did you start your career?

Leo Burnett Advertising, 1987.

How did you shift gears from advertising to sports marketing?

About three years into my position at Leo Burnett, I was assigned as an account executive position working on Marlboro racing and Virginia Slims tennis. This was in the early 90’s when tobacco products were still allowed to market themselves in advertising and sporting events. But the experience really opened my eyes to the business opportunities in sports, and it catapulted my desire to get more into sports marketing as a career pursuit.

So after six years in advertising at Leo Burnett, I moved to another agency to work in the Gatorade brand, and that is really where I got my “MBA” in sports marketing…working for the largest non-equipment sports brand in the world, working with Michael Jordan at the peak of his career, and getting real experience in negotiating marketing deals with all the big leagues, teams and events. It was really the tipping point for me career wise and reinforced my desire to make sports business my long term career.

Tell us a little about your gig as CEO of the SB 50 host committee.

It was both a thrill and a huge responsibility to be the CEO of Super Bowl 50. Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. The ability to be in charge of the single largest annual sporting event in the world, in a city I have called home for over 20 years, was a huge honor and a responsibility I took very seriously. It was an amazing three-year run, and I am very proud of what my team and the collective stakeholders of Super Bowl 50 accomplished together. We set records and made history.

What was your job description?

In my role as CEO, I was responsible for the Host Committee organization, including the planning, operations and delivery of the Super Bowl activities and programming leading up to and during Super Bowl week in the Bay Area. Myself and my staff were responsible for all fundraising, partnerships, and sponsorships, marketing, production, operations planning, logistics, hospitality and events related to Super Bowl 50.

Basically, the easiest way to describe it is we were in charge of all aspects of Super Bowl 50 week and supported the NFL on Game day operations. So everything really except the Game itself and the Halftime Show. That responsibility belonged to the NFL.

It seems like it was a huge success, is that right?

Super Bowl 50 was a record-setting and historic event for the NFL and the Bay Area. It was the most-watched Super Bowl in history with 167.0 total television viewers. Over 1.1 million people visited Super Bowl City and the NFL Experience in downtown San Francisco, making it the largest single event in the history of the Bay Area. Commissioner Goodell and many in the NFL feel it was the best Super Bowl ever in terms of fan experiences and exceptional event operations.

The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, under my leadership and thanks to my incredible team, also achieved all of the core goals that were established early in the Host Committee’s tenure.

How would you measure the success of an event like that?

I am a very metrics driven CEO and leader, so we established four high-level goals that became the benchmarks of success for our performance at the Host Committee. I am very proud of the fact that we accomplished all four goals, and then some.

The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee and its philanthropic arm, the 50 Fund, raised over $13M for local Bay Area charities and non-profits, making it the most giving and philanthropic Super Bowl in history, exceeding a very important goal. In addition, the Host Committee raised over $50M in corporate partnerships to provide the funding required to both operate the Host Committee business entity, as well as fulfill it’s obligations to the NFL, the host region and the Super Bowl 50 bid.

Is there anything you’d do differently in hindsight?

Well, it had been 30 years since the Bay Area last hosted a Super Bowl, so sure, in hindsight, there are always things you look at or wish you had done a little differently. But I look at it more from a view of what would we do to make it even better next time. A few things like transit routing, venue planning, locations of certain events, etc. But overall, we were very happy with our plans and how things turned out. The final results are now in and they are all very positive, as are the reviews of our work. It was a highly rated event across just about every perspective—the NFL, the media, the fans, the corporate sponsors and of course, Bay Area residents. So now you just have to build on that success when we host the next one down the road.

Back to the U of I. I guess you’re going to be on campus Sunday and Monday. What’s up?

Yes, I will be on campus early next week for a couple of things. First, I was invited by the College of Business to meet the new Dean of the College of Business, Jeff Brown, and meet some of his senior faculty. I am also meeting with the new AD, Josh Whitman for breakfast and to get a tour of the new athletic department facilities. I am then going to speak to three groups of business school classes about Super Bowl 50 and my experiences as the CEO of the event and the Host Committee. The day prior, I will be giving out a national award and delivering a keynote speech at an event for my fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. It should be a really fun two days and I am very excited to return to campus…it has been over 10 years since I was last there so I am overdue for this visit.

OK, turning to U of I sports, and looking at it through the lens of a CEO, what did you think of the Josh Whitman hire as AD?

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It was a great hire. Exactly what the University needed. Josh is one of us (as an alum), and he is a smart and very innovative thinker. I think he will protect the house more because he came from the house, and I think he will really be invested in turning the athletic department into a serial winner across all sports, as opposed to the way it is now with success being realized in just some sports. I think he will bring a strong business like approach to the athletic department.

What are your thoughts on the football program’s recent shake-up?

Lovie it!

Care to make a prediction on what their record will be?

No. My Super Bowl executive training taught me to never go on record with predictions on records or who will play in a championship. But I think they will be a good team this year.

How about the basketball team? As you know, the Illini recently received a verbal commit from 5-star center/forward Jeremiah Tilmon. He joins three other excellent recruits, including Frank Williams son, Da’Monte and 4 star PG Trent Frazier. What are your thoughts on the direction of the basketball team?

The recent recruiting success is huge, but I think they have to make the NCAA Tournament this year, or the department will need to re-evaluate the basketball program in totality. To miss the tournament four years in a row, with all of the success that the Illinois basketball team has realized over the past few decades, would really be unacceptable to fans, alumni, and everyone else involved with the University.

Overall, are you excited about the direction of Illinois athletics?

It has been great to see the continued success and championship winning teams in sports like tennis, golf, baseball, and volleyball. I think if Illinois can get their basketball and football programs back on a track of consistent winning, then it will have a very positive aggregate effect on things like revenue, recruiting and reputation.

Next: Former Illini Player Preseason NFL Update

Finally, after being CEO of such a huge event, how do you follow that? Any plans, or are you content with pruning your little vineyard for now and basking in the sun of the golden state?

Hah, there is no retirement in sight for me. I am actively looking at some new leadership opportunities in the sports and sports technology industries. It is a very exciting time to be in the sports business right now, with a strong global economy, new game-changing technologies coming at a rapid fire pace, and fan social media and engagement at all-time highs. It adds up to some really exciting opportunities and I look forward to leading a new and exciting sports-related organization in the near future.

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