Why Renaissance Sports?

Sports, like our company, is a wellspring of human potential. And sometimes that potential needs to be “re-born” in order to be reached. In the case of Renaissance, we are a team of seasoned professionals whose overriding mission is to tap into the full potential of sports – not just its potential to draw a crowd and promote a product, but as an agent of positive social change that unites people, empowers youth, fosters health and enriches our culture.

Culture. We consider the Renaissance among the historic pinnacles of our cultural enrichment. At Renaissance we aim to elevate sports’ role as a cultural institution for the good of humanity – something that sports, at its best, does naturally for mind and body, and something that we as a company hope to do for you.

My Story

For those of us who love sports, we can probably remember when it first took hold of us. For me, it was baseball – not the easiest of sports, and one in which failure is a regular occurrence. Baseball gives you a context of failure before it allows you to succeed. You swing and you miss. But that is exactly what makes it so joyous when you finally do succeed. When you hit the ball, it is an empowering experience – that altering of a projectile’s direction, something that happens, at best, less than half the time, and even then, someone might catch it. But there is nothing like that first hit – a transformational moment that affects me to this day, as I make the 40 mile trek to join my softball teammates each spring, some of whom I’ve played with for almost 30 years.

Renaissance Sports traces its roots to Helios Partners, the recently disbanded company started in 2004.  My goal is to build upon the experience we gained with Helios and align our work with the great trends of our global community.

I started Renaissance Sports for the same reasons that all people start companies: I saw an opportunity. As a long time sports marketer, I have worked with companies, cities and sports property rights holders to help them invest in and benefit from their association with sports. In nearly all cases, these efforts tapped into something much larger than sport itself. Almost all of my clients have recognized the importance of sports as an agent of positive social change, and that element has become the basis for many effective marketing campaigns.

There is nothing surprising about this dynamic. Marketing as an industry continues to evolve, from standard advertising and brand awareness campaigns, to those based on values and social responsibility. CSR (corporate social responsibility) is no longer a risk-management add-on to conventional campaigns; it is instead the heart and soul of many of the most successful marketing initiatives as companies recognize that values are now the driver of customer preferences.

These trends, among others, have increased the power of sports. Not only is sports one of the last remaining bastions of the shared experience (now on an increasingly global scale), but it offers many of the most universal life lessons in our world. The playing field is a sacred place of unlimited possibilities and opportunities, not just for the best athletes, but for participants at any level.

And most importantly, sport transcends the playing field like few other institutions, inspiring us to do better and be better, physically, emotionally and intellectually. In that sense, sport is the Renaissance of our time – the path to enlightenment, to unity, and to strength in mind and body – in service to all of humanity.

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