Don Gibson has more than 30 years of experience as an attorney, business executive and entrepreneur in the sports and entertainment industries. He has represented entertainers, athletes and companies in business and in legal matters, and has spent more than 20 years in senior leadership positions with major sports organizations.
Professor Gibson worked eight years with Major League Baseball. He first served as an attorney in the Commissioner’s Office, then as vice president and General Counsel, and as senior VP/acting president, of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., the division responsible for Major League Baseball’s licensing, corporate sponsorship, special events and marketing. Following his tenure with Major League Baseball, he served as the chief executive of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was responsible for all day-to-day administration of the institution, including management of the $103 Million new Hall of Fame Riverfront development project.
After four and a half years with the Basketball Hall of Fame, he left to pursue entrepreneurial interests in Los Angeles. He formed his own sports management agency, XL Sports, and then became a principal and co-founder of Section 1, a sports and entertainment consumer products company. He subsequently returned to private law practice, joining the law firm Dreier Stein Kahan LLP based in Santa Monica, California as a partner, heading up the firm’s new sports law practice. He also simultaneously launched and became Chief Operating Officer of Dreier Sports Opportunities, which provided sports marketing and business development services to athletes and businesses.
In 2009, Professor Gibson launched Kavi Sports & Entertainment, a consulting firm that provides a broad range of services to clients in the sports and entertainment industries, including strategic planning, licensing, branding and business development. In 2014, he co-founded and launched Brandtheon, which provides brand development and brand management services to sports and entertainment personalities. Since 2015, he has been a Professor of Practice with the Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, teaching courses in sports law and business.
