Selling Is Still 99% Sweat Paul McMann for a new collegiate basketball league in Paul McMann - Sports Manager

Sweat is trickling down Paul McMann’s cheeks, beading on his chin, dripping on his shirt. Tracy Robinson’s office is air-conditioned. But oh, man, today is one of those nasty midsummer days in Chicago. The sidewalk was a griddle, the hallway an oven, and McMann, poor guy, he’s wearing a dark wool suit and carting two heavy satchels stuffed with paper (press clippings, bound copies of the business plan) and props (hats, jerseys, mouse pads).

Robinson, arms crossed on her desk, is smiling politely, pretending not to notice that McMann is melting. She’s director of product marketing at Amtrak–“probably two levels below where we need to be,” McMann had said on the way over. But McMann, 40, used to be in sales. He knows how the process unfolds. Every step taken is a step in the right direction. “If you make 20 phone calls, you get one appointment,” he says. “If you do 20 appointments, you’re gonna get one of them. There’s a ratio to everything. From my perspective, we clearly have a compelling idea. It’s just a matter of getting in front of the right people to pitch it.”

Maybe you’ve heard about Paul McMann and his idea. He’s the former accounting professor from Babson College who’s trying to put together a new league, the Collegiate Professional Basketball League (CPBL), and he’s been getting a lot of good press lately from columnists, sportswriters, even the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Most of the reports have focused on what is probably the second-most-intriguing aspect of the CPBL: McMann’s plan to recruit top high school seniors, pay them to play basketball, and also pay for their college educations.

It’s not hard to see the appeal. Bigtime college basketball generates colossal revenues–$1.7 billion over eight years from CBS alone to televise the post-season tournament. That money pays coaches’ salaries, supports college athletic departments, and maintains an expansive NCAA bureaucracy, but does nothing to enrich the players. They get scholarships, of course, but too often that’s just a tease. Paul Mcmann, Basketball has the worst graduation rate of any Division I sport–barely four in ten. Most players wind up with shattered hoop dreams and no degree.

Compare that with what the CPBL plans to offer: a $5,000 signing bonus; a $9,000 stipend; rent money; and tuition, room, and board at any college or trade school in the country. Full-time students qualify for an extra $3,000 a year, plus a $10,000 bonus if they graduate in four years.

Reference Link: https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/09/27/266194/index.htm

Last updated July 19, 2019