BOWL STAFF

Lea Miller-Tooley, a sports marketing executive who has helped bring several high-profile events to the Bahamas, serves as the Executive Director of the Bahamas Bowl.

One of the founders of the Bahamas Bowl, Miller-Tooley oversees the bowl’s operations and staff, is the bowl’s liaison with ESPN Events and serves in a key role with the bowl’s governmental relations with the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

Miller-Tooley, the founder and president of Complete Sports Management, an all-encompassing sports marketing agency, leveraged her global connections to bring collegiate sports to the Bahamas in 2010. That year, she was retained by the Atlantis as an independent consultant to manage the Battle At Atlantis, a Division I men’s basketball doubleheader. The following year, the doubleheader became a full-fledged tournament – the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis – which boasts one of the most impressive fields of participants each year and is one of the most-successful early-season NCAA Division I tournaments in history.

The Battle is held in the Imperial Ballroom of the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, which is transformed each year into Atlantis Arena. Miller negotiated broadcast agreements with ESPN, NBC Sports Network and AXS-TV, which promotes the Islands of the Bahamas as a premier sports tourism destination.

In 2021, the Bad Boy Mowers Women’s Battle 4 Atlantis tournament was added to the schedule, also boasting a strong field of teams for the inaugural event at the Atlantis.

The continuing success of the Battle led Miller-Tooley and CSM to seek an opportunity to bring college football to the Bahamas. With the NCAA lifting a three-year moratorium on new FBS bowl games for the 2014 season, CSM partnered with Conference USA to get the Bahamas Bowl sanctioned by the NCAA, the first bowl game outside either the U.S. or Canada since the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba.

She helped negotiate six-year contracts for the game to be played at Nassau’s Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium and with television partner ESPN to broadcast the game.

CSM also runs Division I men’s basketball foreign tours all over the globe. Most notably, CSM ran Villanova’s 2016 trip to Barcelona and Madrid, Spain and Kentucky’s 2014 and 2018 tours to the Bahamas. For Kentucky’s 2018 tour, Miller-Tooley negotiated to bring in three National Teams from Canada, Serbia and Argentina to complete against the Wildcats’ on-site at the Atlantis in the Imperial Arena where the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament is played. The tour was the most widely televised foreign tour in collegiate basketball history.

She was also retained by the NBA to help organize Basketball Without Borders, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program, in the Bahamas for the first time ever in July 2017.

Prior to founding Complete Sports Management, Miller-Tooley worked for IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, in business development. She also worked in finance in New York City for Morgan Stanley and BMO Capital.

She was a college tennis student-athlete at Wake Forest, and then Georgia Tech.

A native of Gainesville, Georgia, Miller-Tooley splits her time between Denver and the Bahamas. Her husband, Jim, is CEO of USA Basketball.

Mallory Shurtz joined the Complete Sports Management Team in the Fall of 2018. Prior to coming on board with CSM, Mallory spent over 9 years with Old Dominion University Athletics. During her time at Old Dominion, she served 5 years as the Football Events Specialist where she was responsible for all football related special events, on-campus recruiting and team travel. Mallory spent her last 4 years at ODU as the Director of Premium Seating and Special Events with the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation. Additionally, she was responsible for Sport Specific Enhancement Account Fundraising.

Mitch Newell joined ESPN Events in the Fall of 2017. He began his career with ESPN as an Event Assistant on the 2017 Bahamas Bowl. Mitch has been a part of 4 different Bahamas Bowls and assist with game operations and team experience for the Bowl. In addition to his involvement on the Bahamas Bowl, Mitch also is heavily involved on the basketball operations for a number of ESPN Events early season college basketball tournaments.

Charley Green joined the Bahamas Bowl staff as media coordinator in 2022. He serves in the same role for ESPN Events for the State Farm Champions Classic, ESPN Events Invitational and Armed Forces Classic.

As president of BreakAway Sports Marketing, Charley also manages the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy, a role he began in 1999 with the Bowl Championship Series.