Among the group’s ideas: developing virtual reality tours of colleges that the schools can use as a recruiting tool for prospective student athletes.īut it was the Million Dollar Arm contest that proved pivotal in his career. “Same concept, same execution, but instead of radar guns and baseballs, we have footballs and goalposts.”īack in the United States, Bernstein has joined forces with Mandt Brothers, the Hollywood producers who made the Million Dollar Arm film, to tap the power of virtual reality as a marketing tool. “It’s very similar to ‘The Million Dollar Arm,’” he told Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. And this January, he returned to India to launch yet another spin-off, Million Dollar Kick, a contest to find an Indian athlete with the skills to make it as a field goal kicker in the National Football League. The goal this time: find a North American baseball player who could make it as a cricket batsman in India’s Premier League. ![]() In 2015, he returned to sports reality contests with a twist on the Million Dollar Arm called Million Dollar Bat. His memoir Million Dollar Arm: Sometimes to Win, You Have to Change the Game was published in 2014, and a business book, Hey, Where’s My Big Idea, is in the works. Having an alumnus with his experience and expertise giving their time to the school and our students is invaluable.”Īnd Bernstein just continues to think big. “He is an example of the kind of big thinker and doer that Isenberg loves to engage on behalf of our students. “We’re thrilled to have J.B.’s involvement in some of our initiatives at Isenberg and in the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship,” noted Dean Mark A. In 2014, UMass honored him as a Bateman scholar. in Physics from the University of Southern California. If all this were not enough, he also continued his education, pursuing a personal interest and earning a Ph.D. As the co-founder and president of the Las Vegas-based Access Group of Miami, he promoted the athletic milestones of baseball’s Barry Bonds, and running backs Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. He served as head of licensing for Major League Soccer, creating the league’s merchandising program. He went on to earn an MBA from The London School of Economics, and then began his sports marketing career at The Upper Deck Company, where he developed the Wayne Gretzky 802nd goal campaign. Indeed, as an undergraduate at UMass, Bernstein got a jump on his business career by taking Professor Jim Theroux’s class in entrepreneurship at Isenberg. I was always willing to make that sacrifice to be successful.” “Isenberg and UMass force you to get out of your comfort zone. “I’m just like you-no silver spoon, no old boy network,” he told students during a recent visit to Isenberg. Those with the condition generally have high energy and high achievement, and Bernstein is no exception. One of a small percentage of the population known as “short sleepers,” he thrives on just two or three hours of shut-eye. ![]() Because, odds are, he’s not sleeping anyway. ![]() The thought of working hard certainly doesn’t keep Bernstein up at night. What they’re really saying is: that seems like a lot of work.” "When people tell you your idea is bad, you’re probably really on to something." “When people tell you your idea is bad, you’re probably really on to something. ![]() “When I first proposed the Million Dollar Arm contest, everyone said no, that it was the worst idea ever,” the 49-year-old Las Vegas resident told UMass students at a guest lecture last October. Today, he continues to advocate for the power of this kind of breakthrough insight-in work and in life. As in the movie, Bernstein’s cross-cultural experience turned his career around, led to his marriage, and gave him a new perspective on the things that matter. Jon Hamm plays the sports agent and entrepreneur, who in real life earned his bachelor's degree in political economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1990. If all this sounds familiar, it may be because the story of Bernstein and his “Million Dollar Arm” reality TV show became the Disney movie “Million Dollar Arm” in 2014. Growing up in India, the two had played cricket and were accomplished javelin competitors, but after winning the top two slots in a pitching contest that Bernstein brought to their country in 2008, they were signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates and became the first Indians contracted to play professional sports in the United States. Bernstein gave them a shot at throwing one for a living in the big leagues. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel had never held a baseball before J.B.
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