Larry Scott
Larry Scott came to college athletics in 2009 with an energy and bold vision that he has used to deliver monumental changes to one of the most storied Conferences in the country, the Pacific-10, and transform it into a modern 12-team Conference built for long-term success.
Scott succeeded Tom Hansen as the sixth Commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference on July 1, 2009. Scott came to collegiate athletics after serving six years as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (Women’s Tennis Association), where he helped generate unprecedented growth and popularity for women’s professional tennis on a global scale.
He has established a solid track record of innovation and growth -- across a range of different sports, at both the college and professional levels -- grounded in deep experience that goes back to his student-athlete days at Harvard.
At the WTA Tour Scott achieved the long-sought goal of equal prize money for women in tennis’ grand slam events. He also became the architect of the largest-ever sponsorship in both women’s sports and professional tennis, a six-year $88-million landmark title sponsorship agreement with Sony Ericsson. Among his many other WTA achievements are the largest television deal in women’s tennis history, and a reform package that led to a 40 percent increase in prize money - a record $86 million - and $750 million in facilities investment.
More recently, in his first four years as Commissioner of the Pac-10, Scott has led the Conference through expansion for the first time since 1978 by successfully adding Colorado and Utah, created a Football Championship Game for the first time in Conference history, transformed the Pac-12 basketball tournaments into must-attend events, secured agreement for equal revenue sharing for the first time ever, delivered a landmark media rights agreement with ESPN and Fox that dramatically increases revenue and national exposure for schools, and created Pac-12 Networks, the first-ever integrated media company owned by a college conference that is delivering increased exposure for all sports throughout the Conference. He has also orchestrated a rebranding of the Conference, with messages of innovation, excellence, and the advantages of West Coast location at its core.
Scott has earned major recognition for his visionary leadership: In 2012, Scott was a finalist for Sports Executive of the Year by the Sports Business Journal and was awarded the Vision Award by Cynopsis Sports. Also that year, the Pac-12 was nominated by Sports Business Journal as Sports League of the Year. In 2013, Scott was given the Americanism Award by the Anti-Defamation League in tribute to his work to affect positive change through sports. Scott also serves on the Board of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Scott’s career in athletics extends back to his captaincy of Harvard’s tennis team, where he was named an All-American, earned a B.A. in European History in 1986, and gained a lifelong appreciation for the importance of maintaining a careful balance between academics and sports. He went on to play tennis professionally on the ATP circuit, winning one title, and then going on to serve for more than a decade in key posts, including Chief Operating Officer, President of ATP Properties, and Executive Vice President of the International Group. In these roles, which included postings in Sydney, Monte Carlo and London, he was credited with significantly growing the global popularity of men’s tennis, establishing the Tennis Masters Cup as one of the sport’s most successful events, negotiating the renewal of the ATP’s 13-year partnership with Mercedes-Benz -- which remains one of the preeminent sponsorship agreements in tennis history -- and launching tournaments in such developing regions as China and the Persian Gulf.
Larry and his wife, Cybille, live in Danville, Calif., and have three children, Alexander, Sebastien and Alannah.
