Meltzer, who visited campus last fall, will talk about his experiences in the sports management field at 5 p.m. today in the School of Public Health.
“He made it more personal, which we thought was good because it’s easy for him to speak for his experiences and tell us what to expect from the real world in sports,” Co-President of SMAIU and IU senior John Cola said.
Meltzer reached out to SMAIU for the first time last fall, as he expressed interest in speaking with the organization while he was traveling around the Midwest, Cola said.
Cola said Meltzer and the Sports Marketing Alliance board enjoyed the event so much that they arranged another event for last spring.
The success of these two events led to SMAIU asking Meltzer to be the first guest speaker of the new school year.
The Sports Marketing Alliance brings in many guest speakers each year and has taken networking trips to Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other cities to help get members’ names out there, Cola said.
He said their professional connections set SMAIU apart from other organizations.
The alliance also sponsors sports management events around Bloomington.
“Driven,” Cola said when describing SMAIU in one word. “We want the best for everyone.”
Sports 1 Marketing is involved in many athletic events and entities, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl, and the ESPYs.
“Make a lot of money, help a lot of people and have a lot of fun,” Jake Pollack, co-president of SMAIU, said when describing Meltzer.
Pollack said these are the three things Meltzer lives by and continually stresses with fellow employees and his connections.
Meltzer initially went to school in Los Angeles to earn a degree in pre-medicine and to play sports.
“I went to Occidental College because it is one of the few places to let me play football and baseball,” Meltzer said.
After deciding pre-med was not for him, Meltzer said he went on to study pre-law to become a sports agent.
Prior to being CEO at Sports 1 Marketing, Meltzer was a part of the negotiating process for many sports-related contracts for Leigh Steinberg Sports and Entertainment in southern California.
“As CEO of Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment, David, along with Leigh and Warren Moon, negotiated over $2 billion in sports and entertainment contracts,” according to S1M’s website.
Meltzer is now a professor of sports law at the University of California-Irvine and an advisor for Tulane’s Sports Law Society, according to the S1M website.
Since becoming the CEO at Sports 1 Marketing, Meltzer has written a book with Harrison Lebowitz and Moon, titled “Connected to Goodness: Manifest Everything you Desire in Business and Life,” according to the S1M website.
Meltzer’s abilities in the sports management field have been noticed by many people in the business.
Rick Cohen is the president of Endorphin Entertainment, an all-purpose film production company based in LA
“David is the consummate professional who has provided marketing and financing for my production company,” Cohen said. “Without David’s expertise, personal relationships and fundraising abilities, my most recent production would never have gotten off the ground.”
