It didn’t take long for the jacket to come off and the trademark truculence to emerge.
Brian Burke, President of Hockey Operations for the Calgary Flames, spoke to Western and Ivey students in the BMO Financial Group Auditorium, bringing along stories of sports marketing in the NHL, the importance of character in an organization and his distaste for the shootout.
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The Harvard-educated lawyer spoke about the challenges of entry into the sports marketing business (“If you work hard, it’s something that can happen for you”); the importance of community service for everyone in his organization (“If I demand that of my players, I also expect it of my employees”); and, character (“Most teams will tell you they focus on character… that’s bull****. We build it into everything we do with our people and our teams”).
Burke’s two-hour talk and Q&A session was presented by the Western Sport Business Club. Ticket proceeds were donated to the 'You Can Play Project', a charity created in honour of Burke's late son Brendan and dedicated to ensuring equality, respect, and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation.
