Get to know Adam Aron, the new CEO of the 76ers
In early August, Adam Aron decided he wanted a new career challenge.
Aron was a long-time successful business man in the travel industry, who had worked with Joshua Harris for 15 years. Harris was the honcho of a group buying the Philadelphia 76ers and Aron, a Philadelphia native, wanted to run the team. Aron walked into Harris’ office and said just that.
We can assume the conversation went well because this past week Aron was extremely busy fulfilling his duties as CEO of the Sixers – his first week wearing that hat in an official capacity.
Aron, who is also an investor, couldn’t be happier spending many hours designing ways to improve the experience for fans who attend Sixers games, whenever those games come to fruition. The NBA has been in a lockout for 114 days and counting.
“We announced that we reduced ticket prices,” Aron said. “We announced that we were going to listen to our fans, that we put out a website, newsixersowner.com, to tell people: Tell us what you think.”
The first day the website launched, more then 5,000 fans voiced their opinion. Aron stayed up until 3 a.m. sifting through the fans’ ideas. The more he read, the better he felt about being able to create a game experience that equaled his childhood sports memories.
“My father, may he rest in peace, had season tickets upper deck, end zone, at Franklin Field,” Aron said. “And I remember going just about every week to Eagles games for years and years. I still remember the taste of the hot chocolate that they sold at Franklin Field, because it actually didn’t taste very good, but it was hot. I remember the bleacher bench seats with no backs and it was so cold your feet were like two giant cubes of ice at the end of a game but we had a great time.”
A great time is the goal.
Aron attended Abington High School, where he played hockey. But he liked all four major sports teams in the city. He remembers going to Sixers games at Convention Hall. And when asked if he had a favorite basketball player he had a hard time choosing between Billy Cunningham and Wilt Chamberlain. Ultimately he gave Wilt the nod because he couldn’t ignore the center’s ability to score 100 points in a single game.
Aron is a fan. He, like many Sixers fans, is happy to have Doug Collins as the team’s head coach. In addition, Aron and Harris have said Rod Thorn is the “captain of the ship.” They’re leaving the basketball decisions to the basketball minds.
Meanwhile, Aron’s marketing mind is turning.
“What a good marketer does is designs a product that people want to buy and then all the things that go on around it,” Aron said. “So for the Sixers, that is getting inside the heads of sports fans and that is pretty easy for me to do because I am a sports fan. And I'm kind of a layman's sports fan. There are some sports fans who understand every single wrinkle and every single nuance. Most sports fans just kind of enjoy it. They don’t quite have the same degree of fanaticism. So I'm excited about the fact that here, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, I can try to help create an experience that sports fans, the fanatics and laymen both, are going to have a great time.”
Aron is making a conscious effort to have a product that appeals to the masses. He’s a part of the masses and has even moved to South Philadelphia.
“I kind of like the notion of being a man of the people and being on the side of the little guy,” he said. “But there was one other deciding factor, actually two. It was also a six minute drive to Wells Fargo Center, which was pretty good. The other defining factor is I really like Italian food and I really like Asian food and I'm within five blocks of the best red sauce joints I can imagine so I'm a happy boy where I'm living.”
In addition to having a strong affection for Italian and Asian food, Aron claims sports and travel as his hobbies.
“It’s funny because in the last 20 years I worked in the travel industry and sports were kind of a hobby,” Aron said. “I do love to travel so I now work in the sports industry and I'm going to travel a lot. The two things that are probably my life, starting when I was about 25 years of age are my work and my hobby. Now they're just flipping.”
Aron’s resume has multiple CEO titles, including World Leisure Partners, Inc., Vail Resorts, Inc., Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. He’s a journeyman and that’s a compliment.
Aron has visited 63 different countries. He definitely has his favorite places to visit, but to his credit he puts his favorites into two categories: the United States and abroad.
“Nairobi in 1975 was an unbelievably gorgeous place,” he said. “You would drive an hour outside the capital and you would see herds and herds of elephants and zebras and lions and giraffes and it wasn’t a zoo, they lived there. Pretty amazing.
“I used to go to Rio de Janeiro and let me tell you the beaches of Rio de Janeiro were pretty spectacular. Everything they say they are. So that would be two. And just going to London, one of the greatest cities in the world.”
In the United States, Aron’s list of must-sees went on and on but being the marketing specialist that he is, Aron was quick to point out how our backyard is as good as it gets.
“The Delaware Valley is a pretty special place,” he said. “The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States with the rolling hills. In the Philadelphia area, we live in a beautiful part of the United States. So from Philadelphia to Virginia the typography is very similar. You go to the nation's capitol and the monuments and museums in Washington D.C. are great. If you like theater you go to New York and see Broadway, so I mean what's not to love about the United States of America?”
Aron is hoping in a short time Philadelphia fans will say the same about the Sixers. What’s not to love?
