Rick Burton is the David B. Falk Distinguished Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University in the Falk College of Sport. Before joining SU in 2009, Burton was the Chief Marketing Officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and served as the Commissioner of Australia’s National Basketball League from 2003-2007. Prior to that he led the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center and earlier in his career served as the national advertising manager for Miller Lite beer.

A former journalist, Burton’s scholarly work has been published in numerous academic journals and he has co-authored several sports industry books and novels. He is a regular columnist for Sports Business Journal with Norm O’Reilly and their latest book, The Rise of Major League Soccer will be published by Lyons in May 2025. Burton is a 1980 graduate of Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and received his MBA from Marquette University in 1991.