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A TRUE STORY OF FINDING THE AMERICAN DREAM . . . ABROAD India is a country with more than one billion people, a fanatical national cricket obsession, and exactly zero talent scouts. There, superstar sports agent J. B. Bernstein knew that he could find the Yao Ming of baseball - someone with a strong arm and enough raw talent to pitch in the major leagues. Almost no one in India is familiar with the game, but Bernstein had heard enough coaches swear that if you gave them a guy who throws a hundred miles an hour, they could teach him how to pitch. So in 2007, Bernstein flew to Mumbai with a radar gun and a plan to find his diamond in the rough. His idea was The Million Dollar Arm, a reality television competition with a huge cash prize and a chance to become the first native of India to sign a contract with an American major-league team.
About the Author
J.B. Bernstein (born February 5, 1968) is the CEO of Access Group, an athlete management firm and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Seven Figures Management, a sports marketing and athlete representation firm. Bernstein created The Million Dollar Arm contest in India, which yielded the first two Indian men (Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel) to ever sign pro sports contracts in the US (with the Pittsburgh Pirates) .Bernstein received his bachelor's degree in political economics in 1990 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, obtaining his MBA at The London School of Economics. Bernstein started his career in brand management at Grey Advertising working exclusively P&G accounts. Bernstein started working in the sports industry during the early years of The Upper Deck Company and as Director of Development for their memorabilia division Upper Deck Authenticated. He developed over 250 products and is widely known for his work on Wayne Gretzky's 802nd goal program and Dan Marino's all-time TD record. Bernstein's services were retained by the MLS from 1995??97, where he acted as their head of licensing and created the league's entire merchandise program. He secured over 50 national partners and reached $50 million in MLS-licensed sales in just its second season. Bernstein became a partner in Pro Access Group in 1997 and created a platform of milestone marketing campaigns to mark significant achievements in sports history. He went on to represent Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, and Barry Bonds creating unique partnerships with elite brands including Pepsi, Wheaties, Dave and Busters and numerous licensed products. Bernstein's involvement with Singh and Patel is the basis for the upcoming film, Million Dollar Arm. Bernstein will be portrayed by Jon Hamm.
