reveries.com - reggie williams - disney sports marketing

MAY 1997

The birds have gathered yet again outside Reggie Williams' window. Williams thinks they are playing a game with him.

Could you excuse me for a minute?" he asks. "I've got to shoo these birds away." He gets up and rattles the shades. His feathered friends beat a hasty retreat.

"These birds come and sit on my window and they just look at me," he marvels with a smidge of mock incredulity. "They think it's playtime."

And why wouldn't they?

Former NFL star and current Disney visionary Reggie Williams thinks everyone should have a chance to play in their own World Series, Final Four or Super Bowl. It matters not whether the player is man, woman or child. So why should it matter if you're a bird?

Playing games, after all, *is* the very essence of the just-opened, $100 million Walt Disney's Wide World of Sports -- a 200-acre village composed of facilities for 32 different kinds of sports -- the latest and greatest line extension of the Disney brand. Reggie Williams, who himself played in two Super Bowls, is its prime mover, its visionary, the keeper of the flame.

Some marketing people dream of being a sports star. Reggie Williams did the reverse commute. Williams' purview, though, is so much larger than sports, marketing or even the high-octane combination of the two.

What's the big idea behind Walt Disney's Wide World of Sports?

I think the premise is, "how big is sports?" Our complex is complementary to the growth and passion that sports has worldwide, because in all of that sports interest there's one common denominator and that is, *where* are you going to do it?

We want to be that place for that ongoing celebration of sports, that day-to-day love affair that exists around the world, where culture and language aren't prerequisites.

Could you paint a picture of what the complex is like?

The whole ambiance is conducive to a celebratory experience. The architecture is Florida Picturesque. The buildings are a really unique, trophy-gold color, with green-tiled roofs. Then there's the swaying palms under the blue, sunlit sky.

We have the spring training home for the National League defending champions Atlanta Braves. There are also two youth baseball fields which are just as immaculately manicured as the major league facilities. They have the same Bermuda grass, imported red clay and crushed gravel warning track. We have eleven tennis courts, the home of the U.S. men's clay courts championships.

There's so much to see on this globe, so many cultures to acquaint oneself with, so many tastes to savor, so many sounds to appreciate.

There's a softball quadraplex with the same grass and infrastructure as the major baseball league facilities. We have beach volleyball courts, a fully-enclosed track and field complex and four internationally-sized soccer fields.

We have a field house, which has six basketball courts under one roof, several hundred lockers, doctor's offices, classrooms, training and conditioning rooms. This is all circling a town green which is a common celebration location for the different participants and spectators and sports. We have a location for medal ceremonies, for corporate and team hospitality.

How does the famous Disney flair for entertainment come into play?

What Disney does best in entertaining is tell stories. Nowhere are there more story opportunities than the live world of sports.

Not every story ends on a happy note, of course. You're not guaranteed a fourth strike, we can't put more time on the clock. We can't make the hoop a little bit larger. It is about authenticity, and the real lessons of sports and the real lessons of life and how those two collaborate.

There is a sense of magic that occurs here because sports is captivating in itself. There's something about live sports where on any given day an individual or team can reach down inside and give you a performance that has never been seen before. You know, the come from behind victory, that gutsy performance, that individual best, that team momentum. All the things that really drive the tremendous allure of sports.

When the amateur, grass-roots youth international athletes play on these surfaces, we want them to get the sense that they can perform at their optimum. And when you're in a position to perform at your optimum there's very little to regret about the game.

And yet, we recognize, in the world of sports, historically and mathematically, there are more losers than winners. And we want to be that place where champions are crowned, but the losers still get to go to Walt Disney World!

Why did you decide to join Disney? How did all of that happen?

The focus on personal responsibility is on who you are and what you can become and what sphere of influence you can have individually on those around you.

At the time I was working for the National Football League in their Super Bowl Legacy project. Ultimately that became NFL Youth Education Town, which consists of multi-faceted education and recreation facilities in at-risk neighborhoods for at-risk youths. The first was in South Central L.A. and Compton. Now there are NFL Youth Education Towns in Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, New Orleans. So the concept is growing.

But several Disney executives were also involved in community service efforts in South Central and I had the chance to meet and talk with them.

At that time Disney had just bought The Mighty Ducks and was very much interested in long-term, strategically how to best utilize some of their existing assets as they relate to sports. They asked if I was interested in championing that effort. With Walt Disney World being their biggest asset, it made sense to begin here.

Did you ever dream, Reggie -- in your wildest reverie -- back when you were in the Bengals, that you'd be involved in something like this?

No, not really. I had committed my career to really trying to emulate what a scholar athlete should be. I went to Dartmouth on a non-athletic scholarship, having been rejected by the University of Michigan for what my level of prowess was then.

I always envisioned a Super Bowl ring as being that one shining symbol that would carry me past my playing days and provide that platform to always try to communicate an academic, scholarship and community service and athletic responsibility; the honor of being a role model.

The Super Bowl is still sixty minutes of football from the player's perspective. You only have problems if you step out of that sixty minutes of playing.

Unfortunately, Joe Montana sort of dashed those plans twice! There is just something missing. It's the same message, there's just something missing when you have your second best ring on.

So, the Disney Wide World of Sports project, vicariously is that Super Bowl ring for me. It's that opportunity for everyone to have their shot at being in the biggest game of their life -- their World Series, their Final Four, their own Super Bowl. It's something that very few athletes get to achieve. Even in losing there's honor.

You've been outspoken about opening doors for women in sports, and also a champion of the idea that there's a direct connection between good sportsmanship and good citizenship. Is it fair to say that you view the Disney Sports Complex as serving a larger purpose -- for women and children, in particular -- in our society?

Absolutely. It is a beta site for what's right in sports. Having said that, we have to deal head on with all that is wrong in sports today. Day by day, we have to open our doors to new ideas and new ways of looking at things. We sort of would love to challenge ourselves to be a laboratory for sports.

We have the good fortune of partnering with Northeastern University's Dr. Richard Lapchick, who is director for the study of sports in society and is going to be opening an office here. We're engaged in partnerships that challenge the status quo, as we always want to challenge ourselves.

Certainly every man, woman and child should have an opportunity to play in the finest facilities and have the finest coaching and camp and clinic opportunities. That's what we've built and are committed to providing.

We are not a charity organization. We have to operate as a good, solid business. But we think that there is a lot that we can give back. And there are a lot of partnering opportunities for those who are committed to the essence of the positive side of sports.

The complex actually sounds like a Mecca for sports marketers. What are the sponsorship opportunities?

Well, certainly the Disney company has a variety of long-term partnerships, or sponsorships. Those carry over to Disney Wide World of Sports, which include Coca-Cola, American Express, Kodak and a number of others.

We have a number of unique sponsors like Toro, which is providing the best quality surfaces right down into the infrastructure, the drainage and the irrigation systems for the grass. And, of course, they provide the best mowers to keep the fields level for optimum performance.

At what point, Reggie, do you think that sponsorships become too intrusive and actually threaten the credibility of the game?

Oh, I think there's a definite ebb and flow of when that occurs. It certainly is very prolific now. One of our goals is to give our partners the strategic association that supports them by ensuring that we don't have a cluttered environment.

But I think the sponsorship interferes with the credibility of the contest, when, for example, you're wearing a certain shoe that may not be the best shoe for the surface. So, your ability to be competitive is compromised to address the contractual obligations to the sponsor. We all know that's the case. You'd love to say every shoe company provides the very best surface for when the rubber meets the road athletically. But it's all dependent on a lot of factors.

Raising kids in this day and age is just as tough as anything I faced when I was growing up. I'd love to have more time with them.

There's issues when time-outs can definitely affect the momentum of the game. But you certainly recognize that you've got to give sponsors the chance to tell their side of their participation. So I think that there's an ongoing experiment with what the market will bear. European soccer has dealt with sponsors in the most straightforward way; they just wear the logo right on the uniform. They just dispense with commercialism and make it part of what's expected.

Do think this business of athletes always wearing logos has gone over the top? I mean, at this point, Tiger Woods -- and a lot of other stars -- might as well have the Nike logo tattooed on their foreheads. It's always there.

I don't know if it's gone over the top. There is authenticity in many of the sports brands that add to the aura of the individual or the contest they compete within. If it was the American flag would there be a difference in the debate? I don't know.

Certainly, with Tiger, you know he's got his two swooshes on, but they are discretely placed. If he had more than two American flags, would people be as outraged? I am in no way, shape or form, drawing a favorable analogy between the Nike swoosh and the American flag. I'm simply talking about quantity of icons that can generate the debate on over-saturation.

You once said that you were a sportsman doing business, not a businessman doing sports. What's the difference?

Well, I guess the sportsman would know the difference. I'll just cite a recent example. We just had the U.S. wrestling national championships here. One of the wrestlers needed to find a sauna.

Theoretically, as a businessman, time being money -- big meetings awaiting --that is something I should delegate. But, having been a former wrestler, I knew how important this was. This individual had trained for months and got his weight down to a finely-tuned competitiveness and had one more night to get through until it was time to lay it all into those five minutes on that mat.

For him, at that moment, having a sauna, was as important as a chance to walk in space. I found him a sauna.

Your level of intensity is staggering. You didn't just go to college, you went to Dartmouth. You didn't jut play some football, you went pro and played two Super Bowls. You didn't just get involved in your community, you ran and were elected a City Councilman in Cincinnati. You didn't just get a job post-Bengals, you went to Disney and expanded the vision. Can you explain how you achieve this level of intensity and achievement to the rest of us mere mortals?

I would not put myself on any separate plane. I feel very fortunate to have had a great set of parents, who still live, and were always very encouraging.

I think I'm sort of a product of the times I grew up in. I was born in 1954, which was the year of the *Brown v. Board of Education* decision, which to me was a challenge to avail myself of educational doors now opened. Certainly, the civil rights movement, which was a challenge societally to tear down injustice and persevere through unrighteousness. Certainly the Vietnam War was an additional log on the fire about change when my hero, Muhammed Ali, decided to become very vocal on that issue.

A number of things impacted the collegiate experience such as Kent State. Certain things affected the political experience such as the riot in Chicago. There certainly were a lot of things that affected me personally, since some of the best athletes that I grew up with in Flint, Michigan, ended up being drafted to go to Vietnam. Those that did return -- and most didn't -- became junkies or worse.

I had great coaches as an undergrad at Dartmouth. My Dartmouth coaches expected me to lead, expected me to perform better, expected me to study to improve performance. The relationship of study in the classroom and study of game fields was appropriate. That learning transfers. If you can apply those same study habits that are successful to get through an Ivy League school to using what physical assets you do have to compete athletically, then you can have a productive career.

I never envisioned fourteen years in the NFL, but certainly it was the result of having a lot more confidence and self-esteem than I had coming out of high school.

I'll bet there are plenty of people back in Ohio who think you'd be the perfect guy to replace John Glenn after he retires from the U.S. Senate. Ever thought of running for public office again?

No, those days are over. I think every American should do that in their lifetime. It's unfortunate that the political process has become so maligned. Some of our best leaders are shying away from the service to mankind that political office is.

I love to get in a boat and just float, turn the music up, enjoy the sun, the sunsets.

It used to be that everyone would love to grow up to be President of the United States. Now it's one of the least favorite career aspirations. That's not in any way, shape or form meant to give commentary on the quality of the current political officeholders. It's just that you need more people in the chute, in the funnel, to ensure that the cream really does rise to the top.
I think everyone should serve sometime, in some political office. That just said, I've had my time (laughs).

We could star

t a Reggie Williams for Senate boomlet right here!

(Laughs) No, I've had my time. And like Roberto Duran, "no mas!"

Do you think you have a streak of genius in you, and if so what is it?

Well, I don't know. I'm not sure if genius is the right way...I'm trying to keep my ego in check...

We're really talking about a just *little* bit of genius, not necessarily your whole being...

I consider myself very visual. A lot of that comes from the fact that I'm hearing challenged and was so as a child, which resulted in a speech impediment, which resulted in a lack of verbalizing and a lot of insecurity then.

I was always very acutely visual about what I saw versus what I would have liked things to be. The delineation between what was and what one would desire I think is part and parcel a major driver of some of the situations I find myself in. I probably would do very poorly in a perfect world.

I never held to a quota on heroes. The more heroes the better.

What's it like being in the Super Bowl? It's hard for an ordinary person to imagine that.

Each game has an intensity of remembrance. I would have loved for that intensity of remembrance for my Super Bowl games to have included throwing the coach up on our shoulders, throwing Gatorade on our coach, whooping and hollering on our sidelines. But it didn't. That doesn't mean the intensity and the vividness of the moment is any less. And it doesn't mean that it carries any less appeal.

I think I have, as I sit here today, an ongoing sense of urgency to accomplish. And not just to reflect on what was. So, losing may have been the best thing that ever happened to me, but (laughs) I will debate that one forever! I would have preferred a Super Bowl ring!

What is next for you at Disney?

Oh, I'm focused on trying to ensure the success of what we currently have developed here. It's quite a big challenge. I think I have the best job in the company so I'm not sure what else I'd be looking for.

Just that Disney Wide World of Sports is going to be as successful as its opportunity to interact with every aspect of the sports marketplace. We, as an organization, and I as an individual actively want to engage people. What do you think? What do you want to do? What do you want this place to be and what role do you want to have in that place.