Michael Stanfield was named Senior Vice President of Sales for the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans in June, 2012. He oversees all consumer and corporate sales efforts for both clubs.
Entering his 18th season with the Saints and sixth with the Pelicans, Stanfield is responsible for all of the club’s sales efforts – directing the sale of season and group tickets and corporate partnerships, developing sales executives to the next level in their field, supervising the lease of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and Smoothie King Center luxury suites, managing food and beverage for both facilities, overseeing the sale of all team merchandise as well as maintaining the clubs’ high standards of customer service and retention.
Since taking over leadership of the Pelicans’ ticket sales and merchandising efforts, the organization has seen an increase in season-ticket sales and merchandise sales that were the second-biggest growth in the NBA in 2013, followed by additional significant increases.
Under his direction, the Saints have surpassed the majority of the club’s ticket sales milestones, including selling out on a season-ticket basis for the first time in franchise history in 2006 – a feat that has reached 11-straight seasons. In addition the club has leased every Superdome suite since the beginning of the 2008 campaign. Saints official merchandise has grown annually into one of the NFL’s top sellers. Stanfield also supervises the ticket, suite sales and box office personnel on a daily basis, in addition to serving as the food and beverage service liaison with the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Since Stanfield’s arrival in 2000, the Saints have sold out every contest in the Superdome but one. Prior to the 2006 season, an innovative season-ticket marketing program fueled the rise of filling the stadium on a season-ticket basis. Fans on all economic levels were reached in an effort to retain existing accounts while cultivating new ones, and those efforts built a waiting list that has continued to grow for season tickets for the first time in franchise history. In 2014, the team established a single-season regular season attendance record for games played at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with 584,900 fans attending Saints games.
Stanfield has also helped oversee the institution of a direct mail and email database to generate ticket sales and excitement surrounding the club and initiated other creative promotional campaigns by using the club’s ever-expanding social and new media platforms. The Saints have also been recognized as one of the top organizations in professional sports for their customer service initiatives and outreach programs, including being named the top professional sports organization by ESPN The Magazine in June, 2010.
In 2007, Stanfield completed the Stanford Business School’s Executive Education NFL-Stanford Program for Managers, an educational program and honor known league-wide as an important training ground for promising executives.
In prior work experience, Stanfield was served as director of ticket sales for the Detroit Tigers in 1998 where the Major League Baseball club achieved a then-club record for ticket revenue over a two-year span. He previously served as the director of ticket sales for the International Hockey League’s Detroit Vipers in 1997. He was a member of the ticket sales staff for the Florida Marlins expansion franchise in 1993.
Stanfield is on the Board of Directors for the Jefferson Chamber, and served a member of the Super Bowl XLVII Host Committee and the Executive Host Committee for the 2014 and 2017 NBA All-Star Games. He is currently serving as a participant in the Jefferson Leadership Class of Eight, whose mission is to develop a diverse network of dedicated business and community leaders with the capacity to improve the quality of life for all citizens in Jefferson Parish and the Greater New Orleans region. Stanfield is a graduate of St. Leo University (Fla.). A sports industry public speaker, Stanfield has given presentations at many national events. He is also an active speaker at numerous youth foundations and professional groups throughout the Gulf South.
