LEAWOOD, USA // Michael Bucek is in his tenth season as the Royals Vice President-Marketing & Business Development. He oversees Royals marketing and branding, ticket sales and service, corporate partnerships, content for social platforms, radio broadcast sales and game entertainment. The Royals two trips to the World Series in 2014 & 2015, translated to a franchise attendance record and new benchmarks for corporate sales and unprecedented growth across all digital platforms. Royals marketing efforts have been recognized with numerous awards including a Gold Clio in 2015, a Bronze Clio in 2016 and a Silver Clio in 2018. Additional recognitions include a 2013 Silver Obie, a 2018 Bronze Obie and ADDY awards for 2012, 2014 & 2017. The Royals also won a 2015 Bronze Telly and in 2018, a Silver and a Bronze Telly for regional television creative.
Prior to joining the Royals in 2009, Bucek spent five years with the NHL Arizona Coyotes where he was the club’s Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer. During Bucek’s tenure, the Coyotes’ marketing department created numerous initiatives designed to grow the sport of hockey in a non-traditional market and received several prestigious awards, including the NHL’s Best Member Club Marketing Campaign.
Bucek spent two years with the Indy Racing League where he served as Vice President of Sales and Business Development. In this capacity, Bucek was responsible for managing corporate sales, fulfillment, and business development for the IndyCar Series.
Bucek also previously was with the Milwaukee Brewers as Vice President of Ballpark Development for six seasons. He played an integral role in the development of Milwaukee’s ballpark and negotiated the naming rights and concessions agreements for Miller Park as well as primary sponsorship and broadcast rights agreements. He supervised the suites sales campaign and participated in the ballpark design process. Bucek developed new branding for the Brewers and for the 2002 MLB All-Star Game in conjunction with Major League Baseball.
He served as the Director of Marketing and Broadcasting for the Chicago White Sox for seven years. He was responsible for corporate sales and fulfillment, marketing, promotions, broadcasting and game entertainment. He negotiated sponsorship and broadcast agreements for the White Sox and created new branding for the franchise, producing unprecedented licensed product sales in the early 1990’s.
Bucek’s career in sports started with a three-year stint in the Pacific Coast League with the San Francisco Giants Triple-A affiliate Phoenix Firebirds from 1985 to 1988.