The Business Leadership Podcast episode

TBLP033 | Mark Cohon: Building a Global Toronto

Mark Cohon is an experienced sports and entertainment executive, proven turn-around expert, active public speaker, proud builder of Canadian brands and entrepreneur at heart.

In sports, Mark is best known for his leadership as the 12th Commissioner of the Canadian Football League. Mark was the driving force behind the renaissance of the league. His eight-year stewardship of the CFL was a remarkable run that saw the CFL’s business model transformed and its brand rejuvenated.

Strong attendance, record television ratings, $2 billion in new stadiums, strengthened corporate partnerships, a return to the nation’s capital and the almost tripling of team distributions from the league office were are all part of Mark’s legacy.

Mark is routinely listed among the most influential people in Canadian sport. He is a former executive with Major League Baseball International (MLB), where he was Director of Corporate and Game Development, and the National Basketball Association, where he was recruited by then-Commissioner David Stern to serve as Director and Group Manager of International Marketing, Managing Director of NBA Europe, and Vice-President of Business Development.

Former Chief Development Officer for Petopia, a multi-channel retailer in the United States, Mark was also the President and CEO of AudienceView, an event ticketing firm that grew under his leadership to claim such prominent international clients as the Toronto Blue Jays, the new Wembley Stadium, Churchill Downs and MGM Inc.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

What he loves about Toronto and why advocates for the city
The advice that then-Commissioner of the NBA, gave when he took the job as the Commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL)
How he was able to turn around the CFL during his 8-year tenure
Lessons he learned from his father, a successful business person who brought McDonald’s to Canada and Russia