HUTCHINSON, Kan. – J.B. Bernstein, sports marketing expert, will be the second speaker for the 2015 Ray and Stella Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College. Bernstein will lecture on April 7, at 10:30 a.m. in the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The lecture is open to the public. Cost to attend the lecture is only $10, with students admitted free.
For more information on the series, or to become a patron, call Laurie Sawyer at 665-3505.
Bernstein has spent more than 25 years as a veteran in the sports industry. Bernstein was the CMO of Seven Figures Management, a sports marketing and athlete representation firm, when he came up with the idea for The Million Dollar Arm contest. The TV reality show was a talent search for baseball players in India, and yielded the first two Indian-born men to sign major league contracts. Bernstein’s unique idea was the inspiration for the Disney film The Million Dollar Arm which chronicled his work with the show and players who came to America to play baseball. Bernstein was also the creator of the licensing and merchandising program for Major League Soccer (MLS), securing more than 50 partners for the league and generating more than $50 million dollars in sales in 1997. He also founded the Access Group of Miami, and represented such notable athletes as Barry Bonds, Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. He also spent time with the Upper Deck company and developed more than 250 products for that company, including work on Wayne Gretzky’s 802nd goal program and Dan Marino’s all-time touchdown record.
On a side note, Bernstein has a doctorate in Physics from Southern California, and is working on a second doctorate in a related field.
For more information on the Dillon Lecture Series, or Hutchinson Community College, visit the college website at www.hutchcc.edu/dls.