Brad Fain celebrated as 2022 OHIO Undergraduate Sport Management Distinguished Alumnus recipient

The Ohio University AECOM Center for Sports Administration and the Department of Sports Administration proudly celebrated their 2022 OHIO Undergraduate Sport Management Distinguished Alumnus award recipient, Brad Fain (BSSM ’13), at the 2022 Darren Butler Sports Business Forum Oct. 12-14 in Athens, Ohio.

Fain is the vice president of ticket sales and service for the Detroit Pistons, where he oversees premium sales, business development, ticket sales, and member experience departments. He also works closely with the group sales department and its NBA G-League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, in his role.

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Fain received this honor at the 2022 Darren Butler Sports Business Forum (DBSBF) reception and networking event on Oct. 13. On behalf of the College of Business and undergraduate programs, Dr. Jim Strode shared stories about Fain personally and professionally. In his acceptance speech, Fain shared how his values and passion, as well as people, have shaped his career. His success thus far is centered around how to disrupt the way things are done to continue our impact on the sports and entertainment industry by empowering and challenging those around us.

Fain, who joins former recipients Doug Dawson (BSSS ’96), Dell Robinson (BSPE ’88), Allison Fillmore (BSSS ’98), Michael Morrow (BSSS ’00, MBA/MSA ‘02), and Adam Apicella (BSSS’03), was selected because of his countless contributions to both Ohio University and the sports and entertainment industry through his willingness to give his time, treasure, and talent to benefit students. Specifically, his servant leadership, mentorship, and diversity, equity, and inclusion advocacy are what makes the College of Business proud to celebrate him as this year’s distinguished alumnus.

DBSBF is the Center’s annual marquee event for undergraduate sport management students that features a case cup competition, speaker series, and industry-specific career fair. This year's forum started with the annual case cup competition on Oct. 12, where four undergraduate student teams created an name, image and likeness-specific marketing plan that included game day executions within a $25,000 budget for the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic courtesy of Bryan Delgado (MBA/MSA '12) and Rally Department, LLC. Student teams were given five days to submit their executive summaries and presentations before their team presentation to the judges. Sam Lawler (BSM '26), Drea Rog (BSM/FEEM '23), Danny Shockley (BSM '26), Ben Tyler (BSM '26), and graduate student coach Nate Rowell (MBA/MSA '23), who are in the same learning community this semester, were crowned champions and won Cotton Bowl swag, Cincinnati Bengals game tickets, and a year's worth of bragging rights. In addition to Delgado, Darren Butler (BBA ’03), Michael Stephens, and current faculty member Brandon Wright served as the case cup competition judges.

The DBSBF Speaker Series featured three speakers: (1) Ryan Holmes (MBA/MSA ‘10), director of corporate sales at the Cincinnati Bengals, (2) Cälee Williams, human resources generalist at United Soccer League, and (3) Walter Brock, co-founder of the CROSSOVR Collective, all of which shared their industry journey and sage advice on their lessons learned as sports and entertainment industry professionals.

The DBSBF Career Fair featured 31 employers seeking undergraduate students for practicum, internship, job, and experiential learning opportunities. At least 43 percent of this year’s employers were Bobcat alumni. Select students were invited by employers to participate in on-site interviews too.

In collaboration with COB Experience Day, a recruiting event for prospective students and their families, alumnae Destiny Price (MSA ‘16), founder and head transition coach at Transition to W.I.N., Jada Pollard (BSM ‘17), sales development manager at the Milwaukee Bucks Inc., and Kayla Hunter (BSM ‘19, MBA/MSA ‘22), talent acquisition consultant at Vanguard, led a session to inspire future Business Bobcats with advice from their book, The New Game Plan: A Transitional Guide to Life After Sports.