Latest news with #AllisonHoward
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
WNBA Cleveland expansion team hires Allison Howard as president
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland expansion WNBA team hired Allison Howard as its team president, the franchise announced Tuesday. Howard will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, where she oversees corporate and ticket sales revenue and strategy, corporate partnership, membership sales and service, venue experience, ticket operations and youth sports programming. She will remain in this role until the end of the upcoming NBA season, while initiating and activating the operations for Cleveland WNBA. The franchise begins play in 2028. 'Allison comes to this role with an extraordinary track record of leadership in premier sports organizations and expanding the reach of women's sports. Her experience, coupled with her work ethic, will ignite connection with team members, fans and partners throughout our community,' said Nic Barlage, Rock Entertainment Group, Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Arena CEO. As team president, Howard will oversee all aspects of the franchise's business operations. This includes culture and team member development, community engagement, fan experience and the commercial operations of the organization. 'It has been energizing to feel the passion of Cleveland WNBA fans across Ohio and to see how quickly our community has already embraced our team,' she said. 'We're committed to making this team a source of pride for our city and broader region, to inspire future athletes and to create an environment where everyone belongs and feels welcome. We are building the most inclusive brand in sports. Together starts now.' Prior to joining Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Howard served as the first president of the Kansas City Current of the NWSL. ___ AP WNBA:
Washington Post
a day ago
- Business
- Washington Post
WNBA Cleveland expansion team hires Allison Howard as president
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland expansion WNBA team hired Allison Howard as its team president, the franchise announced Tuesday. Howard will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, where she oversees corporate and ticket sales revenue and strategy, corporate partnership, membership sales and service, venue experience, ticket operations and youth sports programming. She will remain in this role until the end of the upcoming NBA season, while initiating and activating the operations for Cleveland WNBA. The franchise begins play in 2028 . 'Allison comes to this role with an extraordinary track record of leadership in premier sports organizations and expanding the reach of women's sports. Her experience, coupled with her work ethic, will ignite connection with team members, fans and partners throughout our community,' said Nic Barlage, Rock Entertainment Group, Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Arena CEO. As team president, Howard will oversee all aspects of the franchise's business operations. This includes culture and team member development, community engagement, fan experience and the commercial operations of the organization. 'It has been energizing to feel the passion of Cleveland WNBA fans across Ohio and to see how quickly our community has already embraced our team,' she said. 'We're committed to making this team a source of pride for our city and broader region, to inspire future athletes and to create an environment where everyone belongs and feels welcome. We are building the most inclusive brand in sports. Together starts now.' Prior to joining Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Howard served as the first president of the Kansas City Current of the NWSL. ___ AP WNBA:
Associated Press
a day ago
- Business
- Associated Press
WNBA Cleveland expansion team hires Allison Howard as president
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland expansion WNBA team hired Allison Howard as its team president, the franchise announced Tuesday. Howard will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, where she oversees corporate and ticket sales revenue and strategy, corporate partnership, membership sales and service, venue experience, ticket operations and youth sports programming. She will remain in this role until the end of the upcoming NBA season, while initiating and activating the operations for Cleveland WNBA. The franchise begins play in 2028. 'Allison comes to this role with an extraordinary track record of leadership in premier sports organizations and expanding the reach of women's sports. Her experience, coupled with her work ethic, will ignite connection with team members, fans and partners throughout our community,' said Nic Barlage, Rock Entertainment Group, Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Arena CEO. As team president, Howard will oversee all aspects of the franchise's business operations. This includes culture and team member development, community engagement, fan experience and the commercial operations of the organization. 'It has been energizing to feel the passion of Cleveland WNBA fans across Ohio and to see how quickly our community has already embraced our team,' she said. 'We're committed to making this team a source of pride for our city and broader region, to inspire future athletes and to create an environment where everyone belongs and feels welcome. We are building the most inclusive brand in sports. Together starts now.' Prior to joining Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Howard served as the first president of the Kansas City Current of the NWSL. ___ AP WNBA:
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cleveland WNBA team makes first official hire, names Cavaliers' Allison Howard as team president
Cleveland's WNBA team has its first official hire. The team announced Tuesday it hired Allison Howard as its new president, per a press release. Howard joins the team — which does not have a name yet — with plenty of experience. She currently serves as the executive vice president and chief commercial officer with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Prior to that, she served as the president of the Kansas City Current, an NWSL team. Howard joined the Current as the team's first president as the expansion franchise prepped for its first season, so she's been in this exact position before. Howard expressed excitement over her new role, saying she's hoping to make the team "a source of pride for our city," per the team's statement. This story will be updated.
New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
Cleveland's WNBA expansion team hires Allison Howard as team president
Nearly three years before Cleveland's new WNBA team takes the court, the franchise has made its first official hire. Cleveland WNBA announced Tuesday that Allison Howard will be the team's first president. Howard is currently the executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, a role she will continue through the end of the 2025-26 NBA season while transitioning into operations for the WNBA team. Advertisement This is Howard's second foray into leading an expansion team. She was also the first president of the NWSL's Kansas City Current, where she oversaw business operations and secured naming rights for the Current's stadium, the first soccer stadium built specifically for a professional women's team. 'That was historic, and it's so special, and I'm so proud of everything that was built there,' Howard told The Athletic. 'This is quite a bit different, though. The NWSL is standalone. Kansas City Current was a standalone. Those are owners that had no sports experience whatsoever. Now we have Dan Gilbert, who owns multiple sports teams and has been doing so for multiple decades. 'His guidance and his vision, and quite frankly, his ability to give us any resource that we possibly need in order to make sure that we are providing the best experience for our players, for our fans and for the community is unlike anything I have ever experienced in sports.' The Cleveland WNBA team will fall under an ownership umbrella that also includes the Cavaliers (NBA), Charge (G League) and Monsters (AHL). Part of Howard's responsibility will be creating a brand for the WNBA franchise that distinguishes itself from the existing teams. The league's 16th team, which was officially announced as an expansion city on June 30, has a long runway ahead of its debut in 2028 — a 'long orange runway,' as Howard dubbed it. It is taking advantage of the lead-up to ingratiate the team within the community and seek out feedback from the WNBA, other team officials, and Cleveland itself. The organization has held youth clinics, including an all-girls camp in Aurora, Ohio, where all of the participants and coaches dressed up in WNBA orange. The summer All For Fun Tour is a mobile trailer that stops throughout Northeast Ohio with giveaways and special guests and promotes physical activity, especially for young girls. Howard says she wants fans to feel ownership of the creation of the team and the brand identity, and she's listening to their priorities. '(Fans) want to make sure that we're going to take care of the players,' Howard said. 'And they want an inclusive experience. So our commitment, and what we're building right now, is to be the most inclusive sports team in all of sports. That is really, really important to us. We want everybody to feel very welcome and very safe at Rocket Arena, especially during WNBA games.' Advertisement Part of that inclusivity is figuring out how to make the WNBA affordable for everyone despite the league's skyrocketing interest and demand for tickets and merchandise. It's a topic that is top of mind for Howard as Cleveland builds its business. The team is still considering whether to bring back the Rockers name from the previous Cleveland franchise that played from 1997-2003. At the very least, there will be Rockers throwback nights and corresponding merchandise. Cleveland is also involving former players such as Janice Braxton and Rushia Brown in community events to maintain a connection to the past. Howard attended All-Star weekend in Indianapolis and sat in meetings with league officials and other team presidents. The goal was to learn what other franchises are seeing in their communities, how the demographics of their season ticket members differ from their NBA counterparts, and what best practices they can share for an expansion franchise. 'I give tremendous credit to all of my co-workers around the league already for how open and transparent they've been,' Howard said. 'Everybody is in this for the success of the WNBA and women's basketball. It is a long trajectory that I believe in, and I can see it.' Given Cleveland's status as an expansion team and its connection to the Cavaliers NBA franchise, Howard cited the Golden State Valkyries as an example to follow for a debut. It helps that Golden State's president, Jess Smith, is an NWSL veteran like Howard. 'We probably work in parallel of how the Valkyries have done business,' Howard said. 'We certainly can learn from how competitive the Valkyries have been this year.' Cleveland WNBA also announced the hires of Tamzin Barroilhet as senior vice president of corporate partnerships and commercial strategy and Kierstan Green as vice president of ticket sales and service. The team received more than 3,000 initial payments for season tickets within the first 30 hours of earning the expansion bid. That number has since risen to more than 6,000 initial payments. Advertisement Cleveland is among five expansion teams set to join the WNBA before the end of the decade. The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will debut in 2026, followed by Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030, bringing the league to 18 teams. (Top photo of Allison Howard courtesy of Cleveland WNBA) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
