Erik Moses didn’t set out to be a trailblazer, but his career path has made him exactly that.
Moses has opened doors and made history throughout his career, including in his new position as the executive director and CEO of the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, a role that adds another “first” to his resume; in this case, the first person of color to hold that title in the game’s 50-year history.
“I didn’t set out to be a trailblazer,” said Moses in an interview with The Arizona Republic in November. “I was looking for the next great opportunity and challenge in my professional journey.”
It’s been quite a professional journey for the 51-year-old executive, one that didn’t start out the way he planned.
“The path kind of found me,” Moses told me in our interview.
While that may be true, the trailblazing path was implanted in his blood as he comes from trailblazers. His Grandmother’s brother, John Kenneth Lee, was one of the first two Black men to attend the University of North Carolina (UNC) in 1951.
Maybe by no coincidence, Moses’ journey began when he moved to Greensboro, NC before his senior year in high school. He graduated from UNC and then traveled up the road and earned his JD from the Duke University School of Law.
Some would view that as a serious conflict of interest, but not Moses. While he loved both universities, he bled Tar Heel blue without having to expose it to Blue Devils fans.
“Carolina beat Duke seven consecutive times in basketball when I was there, so it made it real easy to be behind enemy lines,” Moses told the Arizona Republic.
Being around two sports-crazed institutions made sports a natural area of focus.
“I was always very interested in the business of sports and entertainment,” he told me.
Yet in the early 90s, sports management programs weren’t as abundant as they are now. So the opportunity to learn about the sports industry, or major in it, was limited.
But Moses recognized what he wanted to do in the industry.
He wanted to, ironically for the history-maker, represent.
“I went to Duke and wanted to be like [sports agent] Drew Rosenhaus,” he said. “I wanted to protect my friends who were athletes.”
Inspired by Rosenhaus’ trajectory in representing dominant athletes, and with a little indirect motivation from the Tom Cruise classic “Jerry Maguire”, he immersed himself in understanding athlete representation.
Recognizing his hard work and eagerness, Moses was invited to Grant Hill’s screening process while at Duke Law. It was an eye-opening experience that resulted in a revelation.
Athlete representation wasn’t the path for him.
The Path
Instead, he moved into private practice at a commercial law firm with a focus on media and entertainment.
Then, while working as the Director of Washington D.C.’s Department of Small and Local Business Development, he received a call from the Mayor that forged his future.
In June 2008, Moses was named the CEO of the DC Sports & Entertainment Commission. There he was responsible for almost everything DC sports. From the construction of the Nationals Park to the management and operation of RFK Memorial Stadium and the DC Armory to the general promotion of sports and entertainment across the District, Moses plunged into the field where he has remained for the last 15 years.
He spent more than a decade in the city and became an integral part of the DC sports scene, shaping and building it in every position he assumed.
Moses managed the biggest sports facilities in the city and helped plan, establish, and execute many of the biggest and most unique sporting events in the District, including the Military Bowl and the HBCU-focused AT&T Nation’s Football Classic. He also found time to teach sports management classes at Georgetown.
In 2020, Moses was named team president of the XFL’s DC Defenders, a role he took great pride in and one that he still believes strongly in today.
“It was really a dream job,” Moses told the Arizona Republic. “And so there was a very unique opening that we had there and that I believe we took full advantage of, and had it not been for the pandemic, we would have continued to take full advantage and provided a great product to people after the NFL season is over.
“And I hope, fingers crossed, that when they revive the league next year with Dwayne Johnson and those folks, I hope they’re successful, because I believe they were onto something.”
The XFL folded due to the pandemic, an emotional moment for a man conditioned to building, establishing and managing properties with success.
But when one door closes, another opens. That’s what happened to Moses, and that’s when he made history.
The History Maker
In August 2020, NASCAR called and Moses answered. For those who assume how NASCAR, and auto racing in general, treats people of a darker shade, you couldn’t be more wrong. I can personally attest to that as I worked in motorsports for years during my time at ESPN.
And while the thought of working in motorsports might not appeal to some, Moses viewed it as a new opportunity.
So in August 2020, Nashville Superspeedway named him their track president, making him the first Black president of a NASCAR track in the sport’s history.
And he loved it.
“It was great,” he told me. “I am a son of the South and I never had a negative interaction while working with and in NASCAR.”
I could hear the sincerity in his voice and knew he truly enjoyed his two+ years in Nashville. That was further evidenced when he told me that the most difficult decision he faced during his tenure with Nashville Superspeedway was deciding to leave both the job and the city for the Fiesta Bowl.
But after meeting with the Bowl’s Board of Directors and leadership, he liked what he saw and heard.
“They were like family,” he told me. “They were people I liked.”
So earlier this month, he made the move to Phoenix and made history alongside another trailblazer in Phoenix native, Latasha Causey. Causey was named president of Phoenix Raceway this past November, becoming the first Black female track president in NASCAR history.
Now Erik Moses possesses a new, exciting opportunity to impact and foster change in yet another rapidly growing city.
On Saturday afternoon, Michigan and TCU will do battle at the Fiesta Bowl in the first semifinal of the College Football Playoff. The game operations were already planned out, so Moses will be able to watch, and learn about, the process already in place.
But that doesn’t mean that he’ll be sitting idle. No, his mind is already in motion and he’s already working.
“How do I make sure our space is protected in the Bowl space,” he told me. “Most urgent is that I am cultivating relationships nationally with teams, leaders, and organizations so the Fiesta Bowl is highly regarded.”
Being highly regarded is something that Erik Moses can look in the mirror and see for himself. After almost two decades in the sports industry, he was been a part of, and led, some of the biggest developments in the cities he’s called home.
And while he’s driven success at every stop, his biggest challenge throughout his career is that has been that his talents immediately pushed him to the executive suite, so some don’t see the hard work it took to get there.
“It’s [the biggest challenge] usually that I’m the outsider,” he told me. “I didn’t have a traditional sports path and I came in as a CEO.”
But for a person whose path found him, and whose talents create the biggest challenge that he manages successfully, Erik Moses is someone to be inspired by, extremely proud of, and admire.
