Dr. Wm. A. Bill Sutton, is a sport management academic with more than 34 years of teaching and leading sport business academic programs at Robert Morris University, The Ohio State University, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, the University of Central Florida and founding director of the Vinik Sport and Entertainment Management program at the University of South Florida. He is the co-author of Sport Marketing (now in its 5th edition), Sport Promotion and Sales Management, and editor of the Handbook of Sport Marketing Research. Sutton is co-founder and former President of the Sport Marketing Association (SMA), past President of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and co-founder and former editor of the Sport Marketing Quarterly.
Sutton is also a retired executive of the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he worked with the late Commissioner David J. Stern to create the most recognized team services division in the NBA TMBO group. He was also the founder and principal of the consulting firm Bill Sutton & Associates which worked with professional sport organizations and specialized in organizational chemistry and revenue enhancement.
A feature writer for Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal for the past 20 years, Sutton has authored more than 230 columns under the byline Sutton Impact. A collection of these columns was published under the title Sometimes its more than Black or White. As a globally recognized expert in sport marketing, he has also spoken and presented more than 500 times in the United States and throughout the world.
Sutton has been recognized by his alma mater, Oklahoma State University (BA, MS, Ed.D.) as a Distinguished Alumni and a member of the College of Education Hall of Fame. The Sport Marketing Association has honored him by creating the Sutton Award which recognizes academic leaders who integrate theory and practice in the sport industry. He has received numerous lifetime achievement awards including the SEVT at the University of South Carolina, the Southern Sport Management Association and Ticketmaster.
Sutton is serving as Director/Professor Emeritus of the Vinik graduate program at the University of South Florida. He lives with his wife of 53 years Sharon and their two flat coat retrievers Neila and Maura in Wesley Chapel, Florida.
