Faculty Directory | Stephen Master

Professor Stephen Master is a sports media, marketing, and analytics executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning professional sports, media, consulting, entrepreneurship, and academia. Since 2004, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, where he teaches Sports Sponsorship & Media and the Business of Sports Betting.

Stephen is the Founder and Executive Director of Sports Biz Boot Camp; a premier academic program launched in 2025 to prepare high-achieving high school students for careers in the business of sports. He is also the Founder of Master Media Advisors, where he advises brands, agencies, sports properties, and investors on business development, sponsorship strategy, media, and data & analytics. In addition, he works with private equity and venture capital firms evaluating investments across the sports, media, and gaming sectors.

Stephen is also a Co-Founder of Amaze Media Labs, a podcast media company he launched in 2020. The company has built a network of more than 100 sports podcasts and develops branded audio content for leading brands including DraftKings, BetMGM, Ford, and Meta.

Previously, Stephen served as Global Head of Sports at Nielsen, where he built the company's esports practice and led a tenfold increase in sports revenue through the creation of the FANALYTICS platform, an industry-leading fan intelligence solution that transformed how brands and sports properties measure fan engagement. His research and insights have been featured by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, CNN, Bloomberg, and Sports Business Journal.

Earlier in his career, Stephen held leadership roles with the National Football League, where he focused on corporate sponsorship strategy; Octagon Worldwide and TSE Sports & Entertainment, where he developed integrated marketing partnerships for global brands. Stephen launched his career in sports at the National Basketball Association, where he served as the Director of Business Development and helped to expand the league's international business and global brand.

Stephen earned his BBA from the University of Michigan, where he serves on the Advisory Board for the Sport Management Program, and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.