THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260573
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRED KIRSCH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
When the National Football League was looking for someone to head NFL Properties, its powerful licensing, marketing and sponsoring division, it went long.
The NFL's button-down corporate world drafted Music Television Video president Sara Levinson, a Portsmouth native.
Dan Marino doesn't go that long.
Not only is the 44-year-old Levinson the first woman to invade pro football's hierarchy. This is also the woman who knows Nirvana from Nine Inch Nails but two months ago couldn't tell Deion Sanders from Barry Sanders.
Levinson, though, has always known what ``Prime Time'' is all about.
Under Levinson, who graduated from Wilson High, MTV became ``America's cable station,'' expanded into the publishing and merchandising world, and forged into international markets as far away as Asia and Australia.
NFL. MTV.
Levinson says she might have changed uniforms (``Now I wear skirts and jackets that match'') but she's still playing the same game.
Still making music. It's just the lyrics that have changed.
``They're both a lot alike,'' said Levinson from her Park Avenue office in New York. ``MTV and the NFL both have such passionate fans. And they're both about people and fun.
``The difference is, MTV fans are younger (12-34) and move on. NFLfans are loyal for life. And that's one of the things that makes it so special.
``I couldn't be involved with marketing food or deodorant or something like that. That wouldn't work for me.''
Levinson, who put on her NFL game face last month, isn't just one of pro sports' few female executives. According to The Sporting News, which lists the 100 most powerful people in sports, she could be the first woman to have a significant impact on a major professional sports league.
Levinson is in charge of the most important number anyone is going to put up in the NFL this year - $2.5 billion.
That's how much NFL Properties generates in annual sales. That breaks down to putting a $10 cap on the head of every man, woman and child from Joe Robbie Stadium to the Kingdome.
As a kid growing up in Portsmouth, Levinson ``had no idea'' what she wanted to be.
``That I'd end up involved in sports wasn't even a remote possibility,'' said Levinson, who is one of five children.
``Women weren't even running many business, let alone involved in sports. And I didn't have much interest in sports, anyway. My only involvement with sports was going out for cheerleaders. I got cut.
``Portsmouth was a great place to grow up. I think it shaped me by giving me perspective about what people are really like all over. I don't think I'd have the same perspective if I had grown up in a place like New York.''
After graduating near the top of her class at Wilson (``Do you have to tell that?''), Levinson went off to Cornell during the time Ed Marinaro was the Big Red Running Machine.
``I knew who he was. He didn't who I was,'' she says, with a laugh. ``I was probably the only kid to go to college whose mother said, `Try not to study so hard. Have some fun, please.' I guess I was pretty serious.''
Levinson then earned a master's in business administration at Columbia University. In 1980, she joined Viacom's Cable Division to direct corporate marketing, and she later headed development at Showtime/The Movie Channel.
In 1986, she joined MTV, helping the network do for music what ESPN has done for sports. In 1993, she became president and pioneered growth in international markets, syndication, and audio and video products, among other things.
The NFL, which has a reputation for being tighter than a Joe Montana spiral, is asking Levinson to do a lot more than just increase its sales - which grew by 24 percent last year.
It's hoping that Levinson can bring to the NFL some of the energy and enterprise she brought to MTV, and tap the vast numbers of potential young fans without alienating its old faithful.
``That's the challenge,'' she says. Tony Ponturo, vice president to corporate media and sports marketing at Anheuser-Busch, told The Sporting News the hiring of Levinson is a signal that NFL executives ``want to make sure they stay relevant.''
Levinson says she's going to look into ``every avenue to keep the NFL No. 1,'' but not to expect halftime shows from Soundgarden or the Urge Overkill.
``I think there a lot of creative avenues to explore. I don't think the NFL has near realized its marketing potential, either here or abroad.
``One thing that strikes me is that we have teams with definite personalities. We tend too much to think of the NFL as a whole and not not so much individual teams. That's where the loyalty and tradition is.''
But Levinson says she is going to be doing a lot of watching and learning during her first year.
``I ask a lot of questions,'' she says.
Levinson would probably still be at MTV if she hadn't been approached by NFL president Neal Austrian, who worked with her at Viacom.
At first Levinson was on the NFL's ``long list,'' but the more the search committee - which included NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue - thought about it, Levinson was the woman for the job.
``She came to us at a time when we were poised to make another leap forward,'' Austrian said. ``She had a proven marketing record, experience in international entertainment and had a philosophy of team building. She had everything we were looking for.''
Levinson, who lives ``in a house full of Giant fans,'' including husband Charles Hairston, stepson Jason and son Avery, wasn't sure she wanted the position until she told her stepson about it.
``He's the No. 1 MTV fan,'' she said. ``I figured he'd tell me I was crazy. He said, `The NFL. Are you kidding? Wow.' That clinched it.''
Tee it up.
Not everything has changed for Sara Levinson since she traded MTV for the NFL. She's still a ``workaholic,'' and not many people know what she looks like.
``To the public, I'm really behind the scenes like I was at MTV,'' Levinson said.
``One time I went to the Grammy awards when I was at MTV and this woman who must have been from Idaho came racing up to me and told me what a big fan she was. Could she have my autograph? I was touched until I realized she thought I was Bette Midler.''
At least no one will mistake her for Boomer Esiason in her new job. ILLUSTRATION: NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE color photo
Sara Levinson graduated from Portsmouth's Wilson High before moving
on to Cornell and then to MTV in 1986.
by CNB