Fast-moving Bob Reif '89 takes the wheel at the Indy 500
Fast-moving Bob Reif '89 takes the wheel at the Indy 500 By Matt Golden
When it comes to his job, Bob Reif '89 is not afraid to take chances. Maybe that's because he already lost everything once. Working on the island of St. Croix in the real estate business after graduating from Princeton, Reif was wiped out when Hurricane Hugo devastated the island and robbed him of everything he owned.
Two years later, feeling unfulfilled in his stable and lucrative financial analyst job with Hilton Hotels in New York City, Reif didn't hesitate to make a change. The former Princeton football player bolted Manhattan for a sports marketing job in California. He recalls, "It was like a sweatshop. I was making $250 a week with no benefits and was basically dialing for dollars - cold-calling for sponsors."
Photography courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway
That first position may not have been glamorous, but it launched Reif on his sports marketing career. Through chutzpah and luck, he eventually landed a job at well-known agency IMG, where he represented such sports notables as golfer Arnold Palmer, quarterback Joe Montana, and football coach Mike Ditka. Then it was time for Reif's boldest move yet. Three days after the Dallas Cowboys announced a ground-breaking sponsorship deal with Pepsi, he made a late-night call to Blockbuster owner and Florida sports mogul Wayne Huizenga. "It was 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday night, and I cold-called Wayne," Reif explains. "I pitched an idea to bundle the Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers, Florida Marlins, and Joe Robbie Stadium [all owned by Huizenga] for marketing purposes."
Huizenga was sold on the idea and on Reif, convincing Reif to head up his sports marketing ventures. Within 50 days of joining Huizenga, Reif had sold naming rights for the Dolphins' stadium (then named for the team's former owner Joe Robbie) to Pro Player, a sports apparel division of Fruit of the Loom, for $50 million. With Reif as his point man, Huizenga formed Front Row Communications to represent his sports entities and bought SportsChannel Florida. Reif, who became Senior Vice President of the Dolphins, boasts, "We controlled everything in Florida professional sports south of Orlando."
Huizenga eventually sold off much of his sports empire, and in December 1999, Reif left the warmth of sunny Florida for the frozen winters of Indianapolis, where he is currently Chief Marketing Officer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League (IRL). "I had a great situation with the Dolphins," Reif explains, "but how much better can things get for that franchise? This is a great opportunity for me to leave my thumbprint on something in sports."
When Reif arrived, the four-year-old IRL was struggling. So Reif hired people from professional football, basketball, baseball, and soccer who had an understanding of sports marketing. And now, Reif says, "The product has really taken off." The IRL has a new sponsor, a five-year TV contract, and more races. Meanwhile, the Speedway annually hosts three of the largest single-day sporting events in the world: the Indy 500, which attracts over 400,000 spectators, the Brickyard 400, and the U.S. Grand Prix. Reif also runs those events, overseeing sales, marketing, retail, television production, food and beverage, and a number of business fronts.
But he isn't satisfied yet. "We want to be the premier racing organization in the world," he says. "Bigger than NASCAR or Formula One!"