Emilio Collins
Chief Business Officer
Excel Sports Management
As Partner and Chief Business Officer, Emilio Collins has led the growth and diversification of Excel over the past 8 years. Collins oversees agencywide sales and business operations as well as Excel’s corporate business lines, including its brands and properties verticals, where the agency supports some of the biggest brands, teams and leagues across a wide variety of marketing and commercial services. Collins has launched multiple new businesses within Excel, while also leading strategic acquisitions including the creative shop Game Seven, data company Block Six Analytics, and executive search business Nolan Partners. Collins also serves as a member of the Excel Board of Directors.
Collins joined Excel in 2017 after a 15-year career at the National Basketball Association, where he served as Executive Vice President, Global Marketing Partnerships, overseeing the league’s marketing partnerships business. Under Collins's leadership at the NBA, his department doubled global sponsorship revenues and secured a record number of league marketing partnerships. Collins oversaw numerous league sponsorship innovations, including developing the first-ever leaguewide timing partnership, and selling the first-ever entitlement to the NBA’s development league, now the Gatorade “G” League. From 2008 to 2010, Collins served as Senior Vice President of International, managing the development of the league's global business. Previously, Collins served as the NBA's Vice President of Global Marketing Partnerships, overseeing many of the league's biggest sponsor relationships. Collins began his NBA career as Account Director in 2001.
Prior to joining the NBA, Collins worked at SFX Sports Group, where he led the company's events division, including hospitality, tennis, golf and special events. He joined SFX in 1999, when they acquired Integrated Sports International, for which Collins had been working since 1996.
Collins is involved in a variety of community initiatives, including serving as Vice Chair for Beat The Streets NY, a non-profit organization providing underserved youth with access to wrestling and life skills development. He is also a member of the Sports Business Advisory Board at Michigan State University and the Alumni Advisory Board at the Ohio University Sports Administration Program, where in 2020 he was named the program’s Distinguished Alumnus. In 2012, Collins was recognized as a Forty Under 40 recipient from the Sports Business Journal.
Collins received his BA from Michigan State University, where he was also a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, and holds a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University. He and his wife, Kate, have two teenage daughters, Naiyah and Zadie.
Collins joined Excel in 2017 after a 15-year career at the National Basketball Association, where he served as Executive Vice President, Global Marketing Partnerships, overseeing the league’s marketing partnerships business. Under Collins's leadership at the NBA, his department doubled global sponsorship revenues and secured a record number of league marketing partnerships. Collins oversaw numerous league sponsorship innovations, including developing the first-ever leaguewide timing partnership, and selling the first-ever entitlement to the NBA’s development league, now the Gatorade “G” League. From 2008 to 2010, Collins served as Senior Vice President of International, managing the development of the league's global business. Previously, Collins served as the NBA's Vice President of Global Marketing Partnerships, overseeing many of the league's biggest sponsor relationships. Collins began his NBA career as Account Director in 2001.
Prior to joining the NBA, Collins worked at SFX Sports Group, where he led the company's events division, including hospitality, tennis, golf and special events. He joined SFX in 1999, when they acquired Integrated Sports International, for which Collins had been working since 1996.
Collins is involved in a variety of community initiatives, including serving as Vice Chair for Beat The Streets NY, a non-profit organization providing underserved youth with access to wrestling and life skills development. He is also a member of the Sports Business Advisory Board at Michigan State University and the Alumni Advisory Board at the Ohio University Sports Administration Program, where in 2020 he was named the program’s Distinguished Alumnus. In 2012, Collins was recognized as a Forty Under 40 recipient from the Sports Business Journal.
Collins received his BA from Michigan State University, where he was also a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, and holds a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University. He and his wife, Kate, have two teenage daughters, Naiyah and Zadie.